clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Royal Rumblings (12/3/13)

In other Royals news ....

By Jeff Zimmerman
Nice cup holder KCK.
Nice cup holder KCK.
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Getz Non-tendered, part two done.

When the off-season started, I outlined four keys for the Royals.

Well, number two is completely done after the Royals non-tendered a contract to Chris Getz yesterday (Mendoza getting release to play in Japan was the other move). Additionally, the rotation looks to be set, but it would be nice to add a little more depth.

.

Dayton Moore fluff article

I have never read such a rainbows and unicorns article as this one at mlb.com. To keep you from losing your lunch reading the whole thing, here are some "highlights".

First some Dayton Moore toughness

After Moore watched his team lose at least 90 games in six of his first seven seasons, he must have had trouble seeing progress at times. In the lowest times, he simply returned to his core beliefs that he had surrounded himself with competent people and that sometimes progress comes an inch at a time.

What Glass saw was that he had a general manager of wisdom and integrity, a general manager who would eventually get it right. Sometimes, the toughest thing in the world is not to make changes and to ignore the noise from outside.

A huge defense of Yost is thrown in the middle (I bolded the text).

Moore did that himself last summer when he refused all those calls to dismiss manager Ned Yost. There's a time in baseball to change the voice the players are hearing, but as long as they're playing hard and as long as there's a cohesive clubhouse, change for change sake does nothing except shut up the people who don't know what they're talking about anyway.

One last quote

Moore knows that October baseball will be every bit as spectacular in Kansas City as it was in Pittsburgh. ... And that's why he's so happy about the confidence his bosses have shown in him.

So why were the Pirates able to turn it around faster?

..

Johnny Giavotella vs Player X

While doing some 2014 preview work for FanGraphs, I came across a comparable player to Giavotella. Here are their age 25 seasons.

Season Team Age G PA HR SB BB% K% AVG OBP SLG ISO wRC+
2013 Royals (AAA) 25 100 426 7 8 12% 14% 0.286 0.369 0.408 0.122 106
2011 AAA 25 130 535 12 5 16% 13% 0.302 0.419 0.465 0.164 126

Comparably, Player X had an OPS of .874 in AAA while Gia only had one at .843. While Player X was a bit better, he was late blooming non-propsect who ended up being one of the leagues best players last season (7.0 WAR). It seems that the Royals have given up on Johnny (personally, I think he rimmed Ned's coffee), but just think where the Cardinals would have been without Matt Carpenter last season.

...

Royals Bench Carries the Season

Chris Jaffe at the Hardball Times looked at how much a team's bench, both pitching and hitting, contributed in 2013. Kansas City had the third most runs added behind only the Rays and Cubs.

Team Starters SP Bullpen Total Runs
Rays 22 37 12 71
Cubs 37 26 -2 62
Royals -4 22 40 58

The Royals made all their gains with pitching, especially the bullpen

Two teams really stand out here, Milwaukee and Kansas City. The Royals, please note, had the best overall bullpen ERA by an AL team since the 1990 A's. Their bullpen was fantastic on top and on bottom.

While the 2014 bullpen will regress some, hopefully they can stay near the top of the league.

....

Royals Currently Ranked the 5th Best Team

Chris Carruthers at Breaking Blue has the Royals as the 5th ranked team in the majors using current rosters.

1. Red Sox
2. Tigers
3. Angels
4. Rangers
5. Royals

These rankings will change as more and more free agents are signed (and the Tigers dump off their pitching).

....

Scouting Reports on Zimmer, Mondesi and Others

Murray Watts (former? Royals prospect) at Pine Tar Press gives his take on five Royal prospects.

Some excerpts:

Kyle [Zimmer] was dominant with his fastball when facing young hitters who couldn't adjust to the velocity. When he would face more advanced hitters, I noticed that his fastball wasn't as devastating. He began to make adjustments and I noticed that at lower velocities (93-96} his fastball had more life.

and

As good as an arm Raul [Mondesi]had, [Jorge] Boni[facio] had an even more impressive arm from Right Field. His effortless release fooled many coaches and base runners at the beginning of the season that is until they just stopped running altogether.

......

Bob Dutton Mole?

Maybe he was sent to blow up the Mariners. If so, he made his intentions a little too clear.

......

Jason Adam Performance Dropoff

If Mr. Adam performance ever drops off, I have good idea of the cause.

........

Baseball Viewing

A 20-minute documentary on the Cape Cod League

More From Royals Review