It is getting tougher and tougher to find a reason to watch the Royals. The reasons I find for not watching them seem to out number the reason to watch:
Reasons I don't watch.
The greatest farm system in baseball has almost all arrived and the luster is beginning to wear off. When will Hosmer hit a home run (and his mom go crazy)? He already has and is now hitting 0.233.
The starting pitchers. This group of pitchers is a mess. Not one of them is good enough for me to watch for any set night. No Greinke night. No Duffy night. Heck, I was even getting to the point of watching Sanchez nights to see how short his night was going to be.
Some MLB ranks for the starters:
- ERA: 28th in the league (5.39)
- K/9: 21st (6.8)
- BB/9: 30th (3.6)
- WAR: 25th (4.1)
Yuni. His fielding is just atrocious. I have thought that Butler may have more range than Betancourt. Maybe if I get bored this off season I can watch some video on the range of the two. I figure I won't have to count over 2 steps taken for either one.
Frenchy. What a waste of money and a roster position. Here is Frenchy's OPS compared to the average values at various positions in the league:
RF: .771
C: .715
2B: .701
SS: .686
PH: .683
Jeff: .654
Francoeur is not even an average pinch hitter. Heck, even Hosmer has a higher OPS (0.665)
Rex and Monty - Each is terrible in his own way, too spastic or too dry. I am wonder if they were combined would the announcer actually be tolerable or would the ear drums of those listening explode within half an inning. We probably shouldn't find out.
Record. 40-55. Half a game away from the worst record in the AL [Central].
Reasons I do watch.
Cain and Perez: Finally, it is nice to see these two play on a semi-regular basis. Both have a nice stroke at the plate and seem to care when they play defense.
The Bullpen. Too bad they have not had many leads to protect this season. Here are their MLB ranks:
ERA: 10th (3.25)
K/9: 14th (8.5)
BB/9: 20th (3.6)
WAR: 1st (4.4)
Moustakas - He is turning into one hell of a player. He he as a cannon for a bat and an arm.
I love car wrecks. Sometimes you just have to stop and see how actually bad is the accident.
Reasons I may watch later this season.
Odorizzi and Myers get the call. I will be nice to see these two this year. With Odorizzi up, I would at least watch every 5th day.
Players picked up at the trade deadline. I don't see too big of a haul, but a new face is a new face.
Any new starter I haven't seen in the bigs pitch yet. I enjoyed watching Will Smith's first start.
If the Royals HR record gets threatened. Butler is just too far away right now to get close to it. If he would pull off a week where he hits 4-5 HRs, it will make the chase a little more interesting.