these lists

That is how bad it was.

Gordon is hitting .876 OPS when hitting fifth, but he’s only had 43 PAs there.

I know its not a guarantee but I heard a story about Cleveland sending Lee down to AAA because he worked well with that coach. Also Boston moved Buchholz to AA for the same reason. If Gordon/Butler work well with that AA coach shouldn’t KC use him as their hitting coach or a consultant. I know coaches are thought of as overrated but I would think younger players could be helped more and KC should be committed to these young guys. Also I would like to know what happened to Butler, after the allstar game he game back slugging now he is back to hitting singles. Is this from working with Barnett or doing something himself? Seems funny that he had to take a all star break to make that adjustment. What does Barnett do again?

I do think Gordon showed substantial improvement at the plate, both compared to last year and over this year. Superstar? Well, probably not yet, anyway. If he improves next season at the same rate he did this season (and that might be asking a bit much, considering how bad 2007 was), he’d be an above-average hitter at 3B or even as a corner outfielder. Not a superstar. Of course, this real question at the moment is whether is can/should stay at third (Rany’s at it again, I think he might be reading RR… or at least the fanshots on his blog). I say yes, at least for next year, just to see where he’s going. Whatever one thinks of 2010, 2009 is going to be another season to “try things.”

Like Billy Butler playing first everyday. Yeah, he’s been disappointing as a hitter. The splits, other than lefty/righty, aren’t even that encouraging this year, at least at a glance. FOr example, in August he’s OPSing .655. Bad enough. But his BABiP is .323. Ugh. but there’s hope there, somewhere, in his minors performance, last year, and so on. If only he could hit the ball in the air.

Hochevar is another guy who’s shown flashes, but not superstardom. Hopefully, he’ll improve next year (and better infield defense would help… O-Dog or Furcal).

Teahen I like, but have given up on him being a league-average starter. I can’t wait for him to be a .880 OPS guy for some NL team in 3-4 years.

Buck isn’t all that young anymore. I do think he’s had a bit of bad luck. Giving a chunk of his PAs against lefities to Olivo hasn’t helped his line, though. And he’s shown flashes of power. Maybe he can hit above average for the position again.

DDJ still gets hurt a lot (FAKER!!!!!!!111111). But he’s been good this year. Again, though, he’s in his prime, not all that young.

Greinke’s been very good, and is, after everything, looking like the most likely of these guys to be a superstar soon (unless Soria keeps closing and the national media keeps talking about how he’s “under the radar” and “how the Royals would be crazy to move him to the rotation” and comparing him to Mariano Rivera.).

Soria needs to start yesterday.

Now, not being superstars doesn’t mean these guys suck, or even that they won’t be above average. Other than Greinke, I still think Gordon has the best chance to be in “that area.” If he’d hit lefties this year like he did last year, he’d be around an .800 OPS for the year. Not world-beating for a 3B, but I think people would feel better about him. Combine that with this second-half improvements, and I think a (prediction time) .833 OPS is realstic, and optimistic. That would be above average or above for a 3B (this year, anyway). I can see him doing substantially better than that. Maybe not a .900 overall (although against righties, I’m guessing he will or come close). If his defense can get back to 2007 form (can’t believe I just typed that) or somewhere close, then he’ll be onto something. And only 25.

So the year hasn’t been fun. I agree that even if the Royals had the same record but Gordon or Butler was hitting like Evan Longoria was, it would be easier to take. And there isn’t much exciting outside of those guys (I love DDJ — and he’s very good. I just mean that this year isn’t something he’s going to “build” to become another Sizemore/Granderson type).

Rosa is done for the season. I wouldn’t count on seeing Kila unless Gload would get hurt.

That would be really interesting, because Longoria has probably been the best overall hitter on the Rays, one of the league’s top teams.

to remember the important stuff.

Retro hasn’t posted a new top 100 post. (cry)

no matter how much you like/dislike him the only this team can win longterm is by building up the minors. I’m going Wednesday I can’t resist car wrecks and Bannister vs Texas could be just that.

Kind of ironic how this season’s best offensive performer was an afterthought that no one saw coming.

Oh, SNAP