Alex Gordon depresses me

by CollininCalifornia on Mar 9, 2010 3:31 PM EST

Nobody is talking about it... perhaps because it's too painful to mention... perhaps because nobody really cares... or perhaps because nobody knows it happened. Whichever category you fall in, you have to admit the subject of Alex Gordon is pretty damn depressing.

Let's start with the news that nobody has mentioned (at the time of this writing)

Alex Gordon breaks his thumb, out 3-4 weeks.

I found out about this on the KCStar website... there is the little picture slideshow on the upper right side of the front page and, much to my chagrin, one of the pics is of Alex Gordon breaking his thumb on a headfirst slide into 2nd base. I'm not really following Spring Training that closely, but dammit, this is about as bad as it gets... short of (knock on wood) Greinke blowing out his elbow.

True, it's not the end of the world for Gordon. He'll be ready to go for the regular season and will be in up to speed by the 3rd or 4th week. But, still, this injury depresses the hell out of me. Can this guy stay healthy? Will his lack of fundamentals (sliding, catching pop ups etc) ultimately cost him everything?

I'm getting worried that Alex Gordon is never going to amount to anything. I'm getting worried that he'll never be able to harness his massive potential into Major League success. Some of it is out of his hands (being rushed, tearing his hip muscle) and some of it is his own undoing (breaking his thumb sliding headfirst). But at some point I have to stop holding out hope and just get depressed because so far Alex Gordon hasn't put it together.

The immediate success of the Royals still depends on Mr. Gordon. Obviously they'd be in much better shape if Gordon was doing a Ryan Braun or Ryan Zimmerman impersonation. Couple that with Butler, Greinke and Soria and the Royals are at least middle of the AL Central pack. But with the current state of Alex Gordon, it seems he's not going to save the organization. That hope lies somewhere else... on someone else's shoulders who is recently drafted or perhaps even still in High School. Sorry Greinke, Butler and Soria: It seems the puzzle won't fit together for you guys during your stay with the Royals.

That's f-ing depressing.

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I feel depressed about it, too

but let’s not get overdone — I did the “math,” I have the Royals at 73-74 wins this season. If you turn Butler and Gordon into Teixeira and A-Rod, the Royals are a 78 win team.

So while I’m down because of the Gordon situation, let’s not kid ourselves about what it’s going to take for the franchise to win anytime soon.

And also, let’s avoid putting useful pieces like Butler (a 3 WAR player, maybe, if you ignore baserunning), Soria (2.5 WAR if everythign breaks just right — I enjoy his appearances as much as anyone, but as a closer, like almost all closers, he’s the most overrated player on the team), and perhaps Gordon anywhere near the same category as Zack Greinke, the best pitcher in baseball, and maybe one of the best 5 players period.

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

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

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 9, 2010 4:40 PM EST reply actions

absolutely right, Matt

i guess my sentiment was/is based on what I thought Gordon meant to the franchise back in March 2007… where it appeared like he’d be the next ROY and MVP. I guess this broken thumb crushes the last little bits of hope I still had. Gordon < Greinke, for sure… but Reality > Hope… and that hurts sometimes.

The Alex Gordon era - www.number4thesmirk.com

by CollininCalifornia on Mar 9, 2010 5:13 PM EST up reply actions

Nah, I'm as in thrall to the "spell of Gordon" as you are/were

The truth is, we’re probably all overreacting a bit to the thumb injury — he’s not better or worse than he was a week ago, it will just take us a little longer to know

We’ll just have to see what happens.

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

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

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 9, 2010 5:20 PM EST up reply actions

I feel depressed about the Royals

And Alex Gordon is about 413th on the list of why.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 9, 2010 8:21 PM EST reply actions

sucks like a leach.........

I’m looking forward to Will “Powered by Mike & the Mechanics and fueled by Root Beer Shasta” Caroll’s take………is the thumb something that will nag him all year? In other words, could we legitimately be in the same place a year from now and say, “you can basically draw a line thru the last two seasons because of the injuries” . . . . . its hard to be patient when you suck so bad. Gordo is going to get left at the gate….AGAIN. Very frustrating. When I blocked the sunshine out of my ass from blinding my eyes, I could convince myself that he maybe probably could blossom into a borderline star,this year a la Butler circa 2009.

by Nighthawk at the Diner on Mar 9, 2010 9:54 PM EST reply actions

If Gordon were a stock...

…it still wouldn’t be time to buy. He’s still got plenty of supporters. Lots of people still think that he’s got potential. Most likely outcome is that he’s going to turn into Carlos Pena. He’ll have two more star-crossed seasons of bad production and injury issues. The Royals will cut him loose and he’ll immediately hit 40 HRs with lots of Ks and lots of BBs with the Angels or something. Depressing indeed.

by billexgordler on Mar 10, 2010 12:18 AM EST reply actions