Royals Review - All Posts

Royals offense continues to disappoint in 2-1 loss to Athletics

2013-05-19T04:27:46Z

It's Groundhog Day for the Kansas City Royals against the Oakland Athletics, as the team wasted a second strong pitching performance with another miserable offensive effort.

Kansas City jumped on the scoreboard first with a two-out rally in the top of the half first inning. Alex Gordon smacked a two-out double, and Billy Butler drove him in with a single to rightfield.

That would be the end of the runs scored for the Royals, but the team had a chance to blow the game wide open in the top of the second against Tommy Milone. Salvador Perez hit a leadoff single to start then inning. Milone then issued walks to Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur to load the bases.

With the bases load and nobody out, Elliot Johnson swung at the first pitch he saw and promptly popped out. Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar fared no better, as Cain struck out looking and Escobar stuck out swinging.

The Royals offense floundered for most of the game after the second. Perez and Butler had multi-hit games, while Gordon was the only Kansas City hitter to collect a hit. Milone was able to toss six innings despite throwing 63 pitches in the first two innings.

Ervin Santana did not have his best stuff tonight, but still managed to give the Royals a great start. Santana tossed seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits. The starter struck out five, but did walk three batters.

Oakland scored their two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Eric Sogard smacked a leadoff double, then advanced to third on a wild pitch/passed ball. Coco Crisp then drew a walk, and was followed by a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly. Brandon Moss hit a two-out triple following a Yoenis Cespedes flyout, plating Crisp to give the Athletics the lead and the win.

The Royals are now 20-19 on the season. The team will send Luis Mendoza to the mound tomorrow against A.J. Griffin in an effort to avoid the sweep.

Game 39 Preview - Oakland vs. Kansas City

2013-05-18T20:27:22Z

The Kansas City Royals hope to put Friday night's disappointing loss behind them, as the team plays their second game of the series Saturday against the Oakland Athletics. The Royals offense, however, will likely need to score more than one run to get the job done.

That isn't to say that Kansas City starting pitcher Ervin Santana doesn't have the ability to shutout Oakland in him. Santana has pitched quite well in 2013, as he owns a 2.79 ERA after his first seven starts of the season. The right-hander has a 20% K%, which is exactly league average, but owns an absurdly low 3.1% BB%, which is 5% below league average. Santana continues to pound the strike zone at an above-average rate, and is also getting hitters to chase his slider outside of the strike zone.

In his last start, however, the New York Yankees utilized an optimal approach against the starter. New York, a patient team at the plate, did not attempt to work walks against Santana, since the starter has shown the ability to consistently throw strikes this season. The Yankees did avoid chasing his slider in two-strike counts, as they took numerous sliders in the dirt during the game; Santana only fanned four Yankees hitters in 6 1/3 innings pitched,

The Yankees were able to put Santana's fastball in play, tagging the starter for eight hits and four runs. They also smacked a pair of home runs, an always worrisome sign given Santana's struggles with homers in the past.

If the Athletics hitters are well prepared, they will have watched the Yankees approach at the plate and attempt to emulate it. Santana could still give the Royals some quality starts even if teams avoid chasing his slider, but he is unlikely to dominate like he did earlier in the season.

Tommy Milone will start for the Athletics. The southpaw has also started the season strong, as he owns a 3.71 ERA through his first 8 starts of the season. Milone peripheral stats resembles Santana's, as he owns a 21.1% K% and a 4.2% BB%. The 26-year-old is also a flyball pitcher; his career GB% is 36.7%.

Milone appears to be a poor matchup for the Royals, since he does a good job limiting walks and keeps his homeruns in check despite the high number of flyballs; his career HR/FB% is 9.8%. Kansas City hitters have drawn the fewest walks in the league and have hit the second fewest number of home runs. Milone should be able to exploit these weaknesses in the Royals offense, so the team will either need to bunch some hits together or hope Milone is off his game.

This game will likely be another low-scoring affair, so it's time to get in the mood for another pitcher's duel. Hopefully, the Royals will emerge on top this time.

James Shields Officially Hates His Teammates Now; Royals Fall 2-1

2013-05-18T05:25:39Z

James Shields looked like the true ace the Royals meant to acquire, going eight innings, tying a season high with nine strikeouts, walking just one, and sprinkling six hits and just two runs. But by old school conventional logic, James Shields was a loser because he just didn't have THE WILL TO WIN tonight, as his efforts led to a 2-1 Royals loss.

The Royals managed just five hits of offense all night. They had just three runners in scoring position all night. Of the seven baserunners they had all night, one was erased on a double play, and one was picked off in a terrible baserunning gaffe by Eric Hosmer. The team was rather punchless.

The new guy - David Lough - was one of the the only bats to show up tonight, collecting two hits including the only RBI for the Royals. He drove home Salvador Perez in the third, although Lough was nearly caught at second when he inexplicably tried to take an extra base on a shallow blooper to Coco Crisp. Isn't Rusty Kuntz supposed to be our base-running guru?

Lorenzo Cain also had a pair of walks. He leads the team in on-base percentage, so let's hit him sixth, after Eric Hosmer.

Coach Ned, obviously stung by the criticism that he pulled James too early in his Chicago start a few weeks ago, left Shields to close this game out, and Shields gave up solo home runs to Josh Donaldson in the seventh (on a pretty decent pitch down and in) and Adam Rosales in the eighth (left it up and Rosales blasted it). The Royals are going to get solo-homered to death this year.

Shields ended up with 122 pitches for the night. He is now 2-4 with a 2.45 ERA. What a loser.

Poll

How many wins will James Shields end up with in 2013?

Game 38 Open Thread: Kansas City Royals (20-17) vs. Oakland Athletics (20-22)

2013-05-18T01:32:44Z

Big Game James goes to the hill and should expect another 1-0 game because (a) Oakland is a pitcher's park (b) Jarrod Parker was a pretty good pitcher last year (but has struggled this year); and (c) Jeff Francoeur is not in the starting lineup and how do you expect to score runs without the heart and soul of your team?

On the plus side, the A's pitching staff has a 6.69 ERA over the last week and the club has dropped 20 of its last 31 games. A rundown of their club:

Coco Crisp (remember him? No homo) leads the team with a .914 OPS due to some uncharacteristic pop. He has five home runs already, even though he has only reached double digits in dingers three times in his career with a high of 16.
Jed Lowrie has appeared in 40 of Oakland's 42 games. I think that is a career high for him (kidding).
The A's have nine hitters who are in double digits in walks and a tenth who has nine walks (Yoenis Cespedes). The Royals have four hitters with more than seven walks this year.
Remember who Oakland used to be a slow, base-clogging team? They've swiped 26 bases this year, good for sixth in the league, and have been caught just six times, good for an 81% success rate.
Josh Reddick, who had a sensational 2012, is having a miserable 2012. His OPS is .516, and he's hitting just .129/.282/.194 over his last 12 games. Of course, that .282 OBA is still better than the .258 OBA Jeff Francoeur has posted for the entire season.
Daric Barton is back in the big leagues and still not hitting. In seven games, he's "hitting" .111/.200/.278. Just three years ago the guy led the league in walks. Since then he hasn't posted an OPS over .635.
When Jarrod Parker faces Mike Moustakas, it will be the battle of 2007 first round picks. Parker was selected ninth (by the Diamondbacks), seven slots behind Moose. Moose barely edges him in WAR in their young careers 3.9 to 3.6.

Let's win this one for Jason Grimsley. For Mike Sweeney. For Luis Ordaz. For all those 2002 Royals that were humiliated by their portrayal in the movie "Moneyball."

This one's for you boys.

Poll

The film "Moneyball" was....

Game 38 Preview: Kansas City Royals vs. Oakland Athletics

2013-05-18T00:13:06Z

The Royals continue their West Coast swing by heading up to Oakland to face the Athletics this weekend. The A's have been celebrated by not only the stat community but by Michael Lewis, who wrote the bestselling book "Moneyball", published in 2003 and made into a smash Oscar-nominated Hollywood film in 2011.

Just ten years later, the Royals seem to have gotten around to reading it, and perhaps understanding the book's core concepts. While the main theme of the book was about finding inefficiencies in the market, one of the spokes holding up that theme was the idea that outs are sacred. Getting on-base was the only way to avoid outs, so that should be the primary goal of every hitter, whether it be through a hit, a walk, or catcher's interference. Get. On. Base.

The Royals organizational philosophy, even going back to their successful heyday, has been to get the ball in play, make something happen, be aggressive. Walks are passive. Put the onus on the other team.

Let's look at how the Royals and Athletics have ranked in "Moneyball" categories since the strike.

Kansas City Royals

Oakland Athletics

Walks

OBA

SLG

Runs

Walks

OBA

SLG

Runs

1995

13^th

12th

14^th

4^th

9th

7th

8^th

1996

12^th

14^th

7^th

10^th

6^th

10^th

1997

9^th

10^th

12^th

2^nd

8^th

7^th

11^th

1998

12^th

11^th

13^th

2^nd

9^th

12^th

9^th

1999

10^th

8^th

10^th

7^th

1^st

4^th

8^th

4^th

2000

14^th

8^th

11^th

5^th

2^nd

3^rd

5^th

3^rd

2001

14^th

10^th

1^st

3^rd

5^th

4^th

2002

8^th

10^th

12^th

11^th

3^rd

5^th

7^th

8^th

2003

9^th

6^th

7^th

4^th

10^th

8^th

9^th

2004

13^th

13th

13^th

11^th

3^rd

5^th

7^th

9^th

2005

12^th

13^th

12^th

3^rd

5^th

10^th

6^th

2006

10^th

11^th

14^th

12^th

2^nd

7^th

13^th

9^th

2007

13^th

14^th

13^th

2^nd

6^th

11^th

2008

14^th

12^th

4^th

13^th

14^th

2009

13^th

12^th

13^th

10^th

11^th

14^th

9^th

2010

9^th

8^th

9^th

10^th

7^th

9^th

12^th

11^th

2011

11^th

5^th

6^th

12^th

2012

14^th

8^th

10^th

12^th

4^th

12^th

9^th

8^th

2013

15th

9^th

10th

12^th

1st

6^th

12^th

2^nd

The A's are still walking just as they've always done, but their runs have fallen off in recent years due to a lack of power. Their power is still gone this year, but they've gotten off to a good start in the run department, although we'll have to see how long that holds up.

Meanwhile, the Royals have not finished higher than eighth in the league walks since 1989. Five times since that year have they finished in the top half of the league in runs scored:

In 2011, the Royals stole a ton of bases (second in the league) and hit for a high batting average (4th). This had been pretty much their ideal formula for success, and it got them the sixth most runs in the league.
In 2003, the Royals finished in the top half of the league (7th) for the first time since 1977. They drew a fair number of walks (9th in the league) and finished 4th in batting average. They also seemed to have an amazing amount of luck that year.
In 2000, the Royals scored their most runs ever. They were dead last in walks, but led the league in batting average. They were third in steals, but twelfth in doubles.
In 1999, the club fit pretty much the same pattern, getting a lot of hits, but little power and no walks.
in 1990. the Royals led the league in doubles, were second in triples and third in batting average. Again, not many home runs or walks.

So the Royals strategy of getting lots of hits and making things has happen has had some limited success. But with the variability in batting average, is it a sustainable philosophy? Is it the approach that makes the most sense for this era in this ballpark?

The Royals might be reconsidering that approach. The hitters held a meeting this week to discuss "brain-dead hacking." As Uncle Ned put it:

"It means we don’t have great approaches right now," Yost said. "It changes with discipline, learning, experience. If you’re not taking your walks, that means you’re making outs far more frequently than you need to on the pitcher’s pitch."...

"You still have to be able to control your aggressiveness." he said. "It’s a process that we work on. We’ll work on it every single day until we get more proficient at it."

Got that Frenchy?

via assets.sbnation.com

It's not a platoon!

2013-05-17T18:21:55Z

It's not a platoon, damnit.

Both Jeff Francoeur and Chris Getz have seen their playing time reduced in the last week. You can't help but be shocked that these two have been drags on run scoring production. I mean, if we only had a stat that could tell us these two aren't that good when it comes to swinging the bat. But I digress.

So while Jarrod Dyson and Elliot Johnson have seen their names on the lineup card with a little more frequency of late, we're not seeing a platoon situation. That's according to the man who fills out the lineup himself, Frank Ned Yost.

Quoth the Yost:

"I could play Francoeur on Friday against a right-hander, then it's not a platton. I'm going day to day right now."

Fine. Be that way.

Since the Great Lineup Shakeup of 2013 took place on May 9, the Royals have played seven games. Francoeur has appeared in four of those contests. Twice he was in the lineup against a right handed starter. He started against Freddy Garcia in Baltimore on the 9th and against Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees on the 12th. I loathe Pitcher vs. Batter stats as much as the first inning bunt, but worming my way into the mind of Yost, I found that Francoeur has five hits in 14 at bats against Kuroda and three hits - one home run - in 10 at bats against Garcia. Interesting. Sadly, my hypothesis doesn't hold water. Against Joe Blanton - a pitcher Francoeur sat against this week - he has six hits in 14 at bats. Damnit, Frank!

So even with Yost's threat to play Francoeur on Friday, we truly haven't seen a platoon in the strictest sense. We've seen a manager who is limiting playing time. He's been holding Francoeur out against some - not all - right-handers. Granted, it's not enough, but it's a start. Although I worry that when Francoeur is still hitting around .220/.250/.300 in a month, the party line will be he wasn't able to get consistent reps in the lineup because Dyson was so damn good.

(As I write this, word comes that Dyson is on the DL, with David Lough coming up as his replacement. I can only hope Yost sticks to his guns and gives Lough the playing time that would have gone to Dyson over the next few weeks. But you know he won't. Damn.)

Meanwhile you have Getz. Remember how it was fun when he hit his home run in Atlanta? How we joked when, for a moment, he was leading the team in slugging percentage? Yeah. That's over. Since going yard, Getz has four hits - all singles - in 47 plate appearances. In the game of arbitrary endpoints, that's a slash line of .093/.152/.093.

Ick.

For his career, Getz doesn't really have a platoon split. He's pretty deficient no matter what hand the pitcher uses. Last year was really the first time he held an edge over a right-handed pitcher versus a lefty. He's not really a platoon candidate. But in the last seven games, he's been in the lineup twice. Once was against Garcia in Baltimore. (That game was more about moving the pieces of the lineup while the band played. Yost didn't start shifting guys in and out until the next day against the Yankees.) The other game was against Blanton to open the series in Anaheim. That was the night of the Royals 19 hit attack. Getz was 0-5 with two strikeouts. OK.

Who cares what Yost calls it? In the last week, he's removed dead weight from the Royals lineup on a semi-regular basis. At this point, I'll take it if Johnson and Dyson (or Lough) are marginal upgrades. As long as I don't have to watch Francoeur swing at the first pitch and Getz ground out, I'll take it.

Jarrod Dyson to disabled list, David Lough likely promoted

2013-05-17T12:56:33Z

The Kansas City Royals are expected to place their first player on the disabled list this season, as Jarrod Dyson appears destined for the 15-day DL after suffering an ankle injury, Bob Dutton is reporting. David Lough is expected to fill Dyson's spot on the 25-man roster.

This news should not com as a huge shock for Royals fans, as Dyson's ankle injury looked fairly serious. The outfielder injured himself attempting to rob a Mike Trout home run Wednesday, and limped slowly off the field following the play.

Dyson had started five of the Royals previous eight games after receiving sparing playing time to start the season.The left-handed hitter swung the bat well in his first 42 plate appearances this season, hitting .268/.286/.561.

Dyson hit for far more power to start 2013 than he has previously shown in his entire career. He posted a .062 ISO last season in 330 plate appearances, but has an ISO of .293 this season. Dyson should hit for much less power whenever he returns to the lineup, but should also reach base at a more consistent clip.

Lough started the season in Triple-A Omaha for the fourth straight year, hitting .340/.398/.477 through 171 plate appearances. Despite Lough's strong numbers to start the season, the outfielder still looks like the same hitter who hit 15 percent below league average in Triple-A last season, as his BB%, K% and .ISO are similar. The big difference between this season and last season for Lough is his BABIP; he had a .296 BABIP in 2012, but has a .377 BABIP in 2013.

Since Lough's strong minor league numbers are mostly fueled from a unsustainable BABIP, it's difficult to tell how much progress the outfielder has made at the plate. The 27 year-old received some brief playing time for the Royals last season, hitting .237/.292/.305 in 65 plate appearances.

It will be interesting to see how well Lough plays in Dyson's absence. I personally think that Lough will be a step down from Dyson in terms of value, but you can make the argument that the two could provide similar value given similar playing time. Steamer projects Lough to hit .275/.319/.404 this season, numbers I would take in an instant the outfielder.

Even though I don't have high expectations for Lough, I would still like to see Ned Yost send him out to rightfield against most right-handed pitchers. That has more to do with the dismal performance of Jeff Francoeur than expecting Lough to set the world on fire. Francoeur has hit .221/.258/.311 in 128 plate appearances this year, a full 50 percent below league average as a hitter. I have little doubt that Lough can top those numbers, especially against righties.

I'm not sure how much playing time Lough will see, however, as Yost will not commit to a platoon in rightfield or second base. Yost said the increased playing time for Dyson and Elliot Johnson was simply him riding the hot player.

Lough probably needs to swing the bat well in his first few games to see a similar amount of playing time that Dyson did the past week. Yost could surprise and continue to use the not-platoon with Lough in place of Dyson, but this seems like a good opportunity for the manager to allow Francoeur one last chance to reestablish himself as a viable major-league hitter.

Dyson's injury could hurt the Royals if it means the return of Frenchy as a full-time player, but that decision would fall on Yost, since Lough is an acceptable platoon partner. Hopefully Lough receives the opportunity to fill the role Dyson has this week, and provides similar value.

Today in Royals history: Kauffman sells team

2013-05-17T11:28:05Z

Ewing Kauffman had been in poor health. He worried about what would happen to the Kansas City Royals once he was gone.

It sounds like a script from the early nineties, but this scenario actually played out almost a decade earlier.

After having a benign tumor removed from his rib cage in 1981, Kauffman began to look for someone to take over his club that would be committed to keeping them in Kansas City. He had several opportunities to sell over the next couple of seasons, but deemed the offers insufficient or the buyers unsavory.

Enter Avron Fogelman.

A Memphis real estate mogul, Fogelman built his fortune on apartments. He had a cookie cutter approach to his method and folded the entire process - from land acquisition to development to management - into a single corporation. His wealth made him a player in Memphis. In the early ‘80s, he was the owner of the Memphis Chicks. It was the Double-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos. Fogelman also owned an ABA franchise.

In 1983, the Royals were worth $22 million. The deal Kauffman and Fogelman structured was for Fogelman to purchase 49 percent of the team for a total of $10 million. He also paid $1 million in option money to go toward the remaining $12 million for the leftover 51 percent.

The option could be exercised by Kauffman anytime after 1988 and it could be exercised by Fogelman any time after 1991. Kauffman handed over 1 percent of the team at a later date, giving both men a 50-50 stake in the Royals.

The options and initial 49 percent stake were strange parameters in a deal for a sports franchise. But Fogelman would show he was no stranger to working strange (and damaging) deals.

Seven years later, Fogelman's fortune was dwindling and he was under serious financial pressure from creditors. Kauffman bought Fogelman's share of the team at auction and regained full control of the club in 1990.

It's strange to think, but if Kauffman had found a more suitable partner thirty years ago, David Glass wouldn't be in the picture today.