The Race is On!

by buddyball on Jul 8, 2009 10:27 PM EDT Comment 14 comments

The Royals have an interesting situation that I am calling the Race for the K. It pits K monster Zack Greinke, K getter Gil Meche, and surprising K getter Brian Bannister vs. the hack-tastic line-up of regular players. As of tonight, here is how the race stands.

Player        K’s
Zack        129
Gil            81
Jacobs     78 (247 AB’s)
Miggy       73 (213 AB’s)
Teabag    66 (296 AB’s)
Banny    55

I think Jacobs and Miggy will breeze past Gil. Zack is probably out of reach. Teahen is trying his best to catch up. Is this an indication of the hacktastic approach or an inability of our pitchers to strike people out?

Poll

Who do you think will come in second behind Xaq?

Jacobs

10 votes

Miggy

12 votes

Teabag

1 votes

Gil

13 votes

Banny

0 votes

Someone else

1 votes

37 votes | Poll has closed

1 recs | Comment 14 comments

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Comments

Great idea for a poll

I voted Miggy, but it’s a tough choice. I’m not sure Moore can talk himself into trading him, and he’ll whine if he doesn’t get his PAs….

Jacobs might just be bad enough to get benched, even Trey and Dayton have to see that. If Kila comes up and doesn’t anything…

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jul 8, 2009 11:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i just figured out why he whines....

he’s got like 700k each year tied up in PA and starts bonuses…thank you cots

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jul 8, 2009 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wonder if that worked for G-Load?

maybe Esty didn’t bitch enough in the locker room, and that’s why he’s gone

Leave it to Ryan Freel to make me miss Joey G.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jul 9, 2009 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is a fun poll

thanks for putting it together, this is fun and funny

soon to change name to, "The Not So Curious Case of Benjamin Bratt"

by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Jul 8, 2009 11:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

and it is good and good for you!

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Jul 9, 2009 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"or an inability of our pitchers to strike people out"

Err, what?

Last year, the Royals pitching staff shattered the previous franchise record for strikeouts (1085 vs. 1006 in 1990).

They’re on pace to break it again this year (on pace for 1107).

This space for rent.

by jonfmorse on Jul 9, 2009 4:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

(Interesting aside)

The worst season in Royals history for K/9?

1976.

Go figure.

Inexplicably, despite that staff’s inability to strike anyone out, it was also the Royals’ best season in HR/9 (a mere 0.40) and ERA (3.21). WHIP, BB rate and defense don’t explain it either, as none of those stats were particularly awesome compared to other years.

This space for rent.

by jonfmorse on Jul 9, 2009 4:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hmmm...

Once I get Rally’s dbase on my computer, I’ll check it out, if Jeff doesn’t beat me to it.

Briefly, on defense (1976):

Frank White had a great year +15

Brett above average +5

Mayberry +9

A.O. -6 (!)

Cowens +11

Patek +7

Poquette +3

Wohlford +9

I know this doesn’t exactly address your point, morse, but I thogut it was interesting. Good defense, although I don’t know how it compared to other seasons.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jul 9, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

wow the A.O. number is really surprising!

I’m in that generation where I compare all these young guys to these exact guys that will always be superheroes to me. I was 11 years old that season, and really starting to “get it” and these names are of men that I saw as Larger Than Life. So, unfairly, I will always have the mentality that there won’t be any players ever as good as they were.

Christ, you don't need a quadrophonic Blaupunkt! What you need is a curveball! In the show, everyone can hit heat.

by BillyMojo on Jul 9, 2009 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A.O. was till an outstanding player for KC

arguably the second greatest player in franchise history (he is Bill James’ favorite player ever).

Remember that defensive stats in general are far from perfect. Rally’s TotalZone (the number listed above) is probably the best Retrosheet-based system out there at the moment, and although he does really well with it, it’s not perfect.

A.O’s number go up and down during his KC years — he seems to have had some good years on defense, some not so good. He was an excellent hitter and baserunner though, and his 1978 season was especially awesome.

He was and is well-worthy of our admiration.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Jul 9, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs