Greinke Watch: Apparently, Jay Jaffe has been reading Royals Review too. In the latest edition of the Baseball Prospectus Hit-List, which ranked the Royals as the 30th best team in baseball, Jaffe wrote:
Given Zack Greinke's struggles (9.90 ERA since June 1, 6.09 overall, to go with a 1-10 record), it's fair to ask whether the team would be better off sending their brightest hope to Omaha to escape the brutality and perhaps conserve some service time while shoring up his confidence.Make the right call here Allard.
Frankly, would it be the end of the world if Greinke's million-dollar, young as hell arm, was actually rested for a couple weeks, maybe a month? He's been pretty injury-free thus far, which has been in part a testament to the Royals smart limiting of his pitch count. However, he's also never gotten an extended break due to some freak hang-nail injury or somesuch. On the whole, I just don't see the point of relentlessly sending Greinke out there. But then again, I haven't seen it for two months.
Attendance: Through 40 home dates, the Royals have averaged 19,196 patrons at the K, good for the 29th among ML clubs. The extinction of the Expos has meant that the Royals and Devil Rays are seemingly destined to spend the next decade fighting one another hand-to-hand each season for the Worst Attendance Crown, although the Marlins, Pirates, Indians and Tigers are always strong clubs as well. The Devil Rays have completely dropped off the earth this season, averaging only 13,466 to date. Surprisingly, Cleveland's not doing too much better than the Royals, pulling in only 22,110 a game, despite a) a better team, b) a supposedly newer, better ballpark and c) the long-cherished notion of Cleveland as a revived baseball town... I'm not seeing it.
Bell: Buddy Bell is now 13-18 as the Royals' Manager.
Former Royal Update: Hmm... where to begin? Lets just go with the big names.
Johnny Damon is doing quite well, hitting .338/.381/.471, while Carlos Beltran is doing his best John Buck impersonation in New York, hitting .266/.323/.431. Jermaine Dye never quite became what it briefly looked like he could, but his power is creeping back, hitting .269/.326/.526 with 18 bombs. Raul Ibanez is still doing OK in Seattle, posting a .294/.357/.475 line while playing alot of first base. Finally, Joe Randa's proving that he can still hang around on a major league roster, hitting .296/.367/.496. I'm shocked that Randa's plate discipline has now out-paced Mike Sweeney's. Never would have guessed that in 2001.