Here’s the thing: Last year, there were seven players in baseball who qualified for the batting t...

Here’s the thing: Last year, there were seven players in baseball who qualified for the batting title with OPS+ of 80 or less. You got that number in mind? Seven.

– Two of those players — Yuniesky Betancourt and Jason Kendall — have been locked up by the Royals.

– Jose Guillen had an OPS+ of 80, but did not get enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title — he and his $13 million contract will be in the everyday lineup as either a DH or (gasp) a right fielder.

– Chris Getz, who had an OPS+ of 74 in 415 plate appearances (not enough to qualify) was acquired by the Royals and figures to be in the everyday lineup at second base.

– And now, Brian N. Anderson, with his career 69 OPS+ is the leading candidate to be the Opening Day centerfielder.

So — there were seven every day players in all of baseball last year with OPS+ of 80 or less. The Royals project to have FIVE IN THEIR OPENING DAY LINEUP. And that is assuming that Josh Fields, with his 68 OPS+ in 268 plate appearances last year, does not win a place in the lineup. And he could. The Royals like his bat.

JoPo: Depressing Royals Story of the Day

7 months ago RoyalsRetro 27 comments 3 recs |

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I have added Drano to my last second Chirstmas wish list.

You really should get professional help. Your obsession with ND football is not healthy. ---Dr. lookingdeadred

by averagegatsby on Dec 23, 2009 2:11 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Also, I think Maier can be added to the list of possible starters, so...

we could be going for six of the nine being below 80+ OPS.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Dec 23, 2009 2:54 PM EST up reply actions

Isn't that sad?

Wanna know what’s sadder?

The fact I get laughed at on RC for suggesting the Royals are PURPOSELY trying to lose. Can you give me any other explanation of why on earth 5 of the spots in the 2010 lineup will be populated by these guys?

Why Dayton insists on running out flip-flop pitchers like Hooch, Davies and Bannister?

As I said before..With the new collective bargaining agreement coming up, I am sure there will be a whole new process for paying out teams who sink to the bottom, and once this happens, I think the well dries up for the Glass family, and in my prayers…he sells off the team, having siphoned off a fortune…….so, might as well go out with a bang and make the last year or 2 its possible…the biggest windfalls he can.

I know from a baseball fans perspective, its “too Major League-ish” but I am looking at from a realists perspective. There is NO other logical reason for major league baseball teams to be striving to get better and our team is actually striving to get WORSE.

by KennyPowers_from_Scout on Dec 23, 2009 2:12 PM EST reply actions

Here's the thing, however

that sounds good for the conspiracy theorists, but the team does need to try some of these options out to see if they can find anything. not intending to defend DM, because I think he has made some bad moves that are hurting this team.

If Glass wanted to do that, he simply could have put together a bargain-basement payroll like the Marlins. Why spend on Meche or Guillen? Why sign Cheslor Cuthbert or Noel Arguelles?

I can’t really argue anymore that DM is going to be a good GM…who really knows at this point? The Kendall signing was stupid IMO.

I am starting to liken DM to when you go into a fantasy football/baseball draft. You know what you need, but people pick players ahead of you, you reach on a guy, and then suddenly you look and your team is absolute shit. With some of the players the Royals are throwing out there, it’s starting to look like that.

But, doing it on purpose? No chance. DM/Glass could have put together a shitty team like this a lot more cheaply than they’re doing now. They could have saved $2.25 million and just let Brayan Pena butcher the catcher position defensively instead of trying to “upgrade” with Kendall. They could have treded Zack Greinke for some "prospects’ and saved themselves $38 million over the next 4 years.

To me, the problem is that we’re still in a situation where we’re just trying to plug holes, and DM has made too many mistakes, and this is what you get. The hope (and it’s a big IF) is that Gordon comes around, Aviles can bounce back, Getz shows some upside, the bullpen and defense get better, maybe Fields finds something, Maier continues to improve and maybe is a tolerable CF, and the pitching comes back. That is a lot of uncertainty. But, at least we’re in a position to where we can take some fliers, find some things out about some guys, and see if we can establish some pieces for 2011 and beyond.

Believe me, I’m sick and f-ing tired of waiting year after year for these jackasses to get it right, but this approach is probably a lot better than signing Jacobs and Farnsworth because you think you’re a couple of players away from competing. It might not work, hell it PROBABLY won’t work, but at least this is closer to the “full rebuilding” that people have been wanting.

"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Dec 23, 2009 3:07 PM EST up reply actions

I agree that it's not done purposely but that's even more damning. At least that would be a reason that DM was so bad.

Everyone cites the Marlins as a “cheap, bargain basement” FO approach—maybe it is, but that approach produced 87 wins last year at approx. $430,000 per win. That’s 22 more wins than the DM Royals and we spent approx. $1,250,000 per win. I’d take that FO over ours anyday.

by Steve Hovley on Dec 23, 2009 4:32 PM EST up reply actions

and isn't it the case that Glass cannot profit from the selling of the team?

i don’t remember the specifics, but i though the deal included something like that

Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot...buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond, I don't know...I don't know if we'll have enough time.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Dec 23, 2009 7:37 PM EST up reply actions

I think you are right

But I’m sure he’s profited pretty nicely from the operation of the team over the course of his ownership. That said, I think it’s a pretty big stretch to say that he is losing on purpose.

by KCBear on Dec 23, 2009 8:00 PM EST up reply actions

i think that's a perfect back-handed compliment for him

oh, no, you’re not losing on purpose! (you’re just that bad at being an owner)

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Dec 23, 2009 10:07 PM EST up reply actions

Wow if you are a starting pitcher, go for shutout 8 inning games.

Then you might have a chance to win.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Dec 23, 2009 2:52 PM EST reply actions

at least there's a quality defense there to help with that

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Dec 23, 2009 7:38 PM EST up reply actions

Let's see

Theoretically, with 162 games and five starters, each guy will go out there 32-33 times. (Yes, I know they skip the #5 guy when possible, so the ace actually gets about 35 starts.) We ought to get at least 20 wins out of the games Zack starts, assuming he continues to be as great as he was last year. Meche is a solid professional. We should get around 17 wins out of the games he starts.

Then what? If we’re lucky, we’ll get 15 wins out of Banny’s starts, and 10 wins each from the last two (or seven or whatever) starters.

In other words: 62-100.

It's pronounced Poo-ZHOLS in Catalan.

by Juancho on Dec 23, 2009 4:02 PM EST reply actions

They'll be lucky to get 62

by AxDxMx on Dec 23, 2009 6:12 PM EST up reply actions

sorry, but

20+17+15+10+10=72 not 62. If this team could win 72-75 games next year with players showing some improvement and some questions definitively answered in the positive, I don’t think that would be the worst thing in the world.

"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Dec 23, 2009 10:53 PM EST up reply actions

Didn't bother to check the math.

I think those pitchers are capable of that with a league average offense. However, we are the worst offense in the league. Revise those numbers by 20%, about 14 wins, for a total of 58. So 58-103! Hurray!

by AxDxMx on Dec 24, 2009 12:47 AM EST up reply actions

I can't do math either.

58-104. Or I’m projecting for a late season game to be cancelled. :)

by AxDxMx on Dec 24, 2009 12:47 AM EST up reply actions

Absolutely correct.

I need to revise my specific predictions.

19 wins from Zack plus 15 wins from Meche plus 13 wins from Banny plus 8 wins from Number Four Starter plus 7 wins from Number Five Starter equals 62-100. Now let’s assume that all the gritty awesomeness of our lineup gains us five wins above that, just because they know how to play baseball The Right Way. That makes 67-95.

It's pronounced Poo-ZHOLS in Catalan.

by Juancho on Dec 25, 2009 8:11 AM EST up reply actions

You sure the grittyness doesn't make the record worse?

by AxDxMx on Dec 25, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

So...

If Yuni and Kendall are 2 of the 7, who are the other 5? Should we be watching to see when we acquire them too?

Tension is the enemy. - Charlie Lau

by aHorseWithNoName on Dec 23, 2009 4:06 PM EST reply actions

The full list of seven:

BJ Upton (79)
Randy Winn (75)
Kaz Matsui (74)
Jason Kendall (72)
Edgar Renteria (66)
Yuniesky Betancourt (65)
Emilio Bonafacio (61)

….so technically Joe’s statement that there were seven regulars (with us having five) is incorrect. We have 2 of the 7 who qualified for the batting title. There are plenty of other “regulars” who didn’t qualify for the batting title with a OPS+ of less than 80:

Other players of interest:
Jason Smith -100
Tony Pena Jr -33
Tug Hulett -27
Tony Graffanino -8
Mike Aviles 21
Ryan Freel 36
Joey Gathright 51

But more relevant info for Joe’s Jose Guillen/BAnderson/Getz comparison…guys with over 300+ PA:

Willy Taveras 48
Dioner Navarro 52
Ronny Cedeno 57
Bill Hall 58
Adam Everett 59
Alex Gonzalez 64
Gerald Laird 64
Cesar Izturis 64
Carlos Gomez 64
YUNIESKY BETANCOURT 65
Garrett Atkins 66
Jack Hannahan 66
Nick Punto 67
JOSH FIELDS 68 (didn’t get 300+ pa’s)
Alex Cora 69
Jarrod Saltalamacchia 70
Nick Green 71
Mike Fontenot 72
JASON KENDALL 72
Alberto Gonzalez 72
Joe Thurston 72
Rod Barajas 73
Ivan Rodriguez 73
Anderson Hernandez 73
Josh Bard 73
Jack Wilson 74
CHRIS GETZ 74
BRIAN ANDERSON 75 (didn’t get 300+pa)
WILLIE BLOOMQUIST 76 (unfortunately did get plenty of pa’s)
JJ Hardy 76
Rick Ankiel 76
Augie Ojeda 76
Brendan Harris 77
Pat Burrell 78
Brandon Moss 78
MITCH MAIER 78
Melvin Mora 79
Ryan Spilborghs 79
Geovany Soto 79
Gabe Gross 79
Chris Young 80
Jason Varitek 80
Geoff Blum 80
JOSE GUILLEN 80

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2009-standard-batting.shtml

by Fernando Vina School of Linguistics on Dec 23, 2009 6:05 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

Good work

by AxDxMx on Dec 23, 2009 6:13 PM EST up reply actions

Actually

I believe that Joe was saying that there were 7 guys in all of baseball (that had enough PA’s to qualify for the the batting title) with under 80 OPS+ this year, and the Royals COULD have 5 guys do it next year (since we already have 2 that have proven they can do it last year and 3 others only lacked enough PA’s).

I guess we can expect/predict acquiring the other 5 of the 7?

Tension is the enemy. - Charlie Lau

by aHorseWithNoName on Dec 23, 2009 6:44 PM EST up reply actions