FanShots

Buck on bereavement; Tupman up

Buck will be out the Florida series, not for sad reasons, but because he is the new father of twins! They came early, so although they're fine, there were some minor concerns so Buck will be with his wife Brooke.

In the meantime, Matt Tupman will be with the team.

Congrats to John Buck!

about 4 hours ago RoyalsRetro comment 3 comments 1 recs

Bannister on the source of his day/night splits

Hopefully, regulars at this blog ready JoPo's as well, but I just loved this quote:

"The hitters tell me my fastball looks faster when they’re still a little hungover."

Plus, more creepy texting from Bannister and his writer-in-home-port Posnanski.

about 9 hours ago devil_fingers comment 7 comments 0 recs

Self-made nicknames

Ah, Gerald Laird... Surely we can try to guess what different Royals would "name" themselves.

1 day ago devil_fingers comment 1 comments 1 recs

Mellinger Interview With Hochevar

He's boys with Colquitt.

1 day ago royalsreview comment 0 comments 0 recs

Twinkie Town Interview with Twins Asst. GM

Remember all those big interviews I've pulled on RR?

This is a good read...

2 days ago royalsreview comment 4 comments 1 recs

Rany Needs Your Nickname Ideas

The Royals need some good nicknames, don't they? Please head over to Rany's blog and throw in some suggestions. I like this idea a lot.

2 days ago royalsreview comment 4 comments 0 recs

Fielding Bible Plus/Minus

ACTA Sports shows us baseball's top defenders at each position. Sadly, no Royals. The Fielding Bible is now available at www.billjamesonline.com. The only Royal in the top ten at his position is Mark Grudzielanek, 8th at 2B. Look like thus far we're pretty mediocre, no one really great, no one really awful.

Gload -1
Grudz +3
Pena +1
Gordon -3
DeJesus -2
Guillen +2 in LF, -2 in RF
Teahen - 4 in LF, +2 in RF

2 days ago RoyalsRetro comment 6 comments 0 recs

Plate Discipline is not the Problem

Interesting theory by Craig Brown over at Royals Authority. He claims that the Royals lack of plate discipline is not the issue. His study finds that the Royals are generally good about not swinging at pitches outside the strike zone (with the exception of Olivo and Pena). The problem, he says, is (a) our power hitters fail to make contact at sufficiently high rates; and (b) we are lousy with men on base. Really interesting read, check it out.

My feeling is plate discipline isn’t the problem for this team. I don’t have a problem with the Royals being among the bottom as far as pitches seen per plate appearance, because the data says they’re not swinging out of control.

Part of the problem is the fact they’re not making enough contact on pitches in the zone. If they’re swinging and missing at pitches, they’re either falling behind in the count or they’re striking out. Either way, it’s not a good situation.

And what compounds the lack of contact is the fact they can’t move runners around the bases.

The best contact guys are hitting at the top of the lineup which is ideal. But the meat of this lineup is woefully inadequate. Guillen, Gordon and Butler have been underperforming in RBI opportunities and Teahen no longer has any business hitting in the heart of the lineup.

There’s no easy solution to this. Guillen is supposed to warm up with the weather. Whatever. Butler and Gordon are in their second year and still developing so the jury’s still out on what their limited track record means. For better or for worse, these are our guys.

But simply put, this is not a lineup that is capable of scoring runs. It’s just not.

Dayton Moore has done an outstanding job repairing a pitching staff that was in tatters. It’s time for him to turn his attention to the lineup.

2 days ago RoyalsRetro comment 2 comments 1 recs