clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Royal Rumblings - Jimmy Paredes Edition

Well, it was a good run with Maikel Cleto on the 40-man.

By Jeff Zimmerman
Bob Levey

• The Royals picked up Jimmy Paredes off of waivers yesterday from the Astros and designated Maikel Cleto for assignment. I kind of wonder if Paredes will help to fill the Royals free swinger, no contact void during spring training since Frenchy and Yuni aren't around any more. To put the three into perspective, here are the projected Oliver projections for the trio:

Jimmy: .223/.274/.333, 26% K%, 6% BB%
Yuni: .234/.267/.385, 16% K%, 4% BB%
Frenchy: .220/.265/.329, 23 K%, 5% BB%

At least on the bright side, the Royals didn't pay millions of dollars for a sub-.300 on-base guy. I feel I should actually look up the total contract dollars wasted on those two black holes, but why start my day drinking. Well, at least start drinking for that lame reason.

For some possible good news on the pick up, he may be able to teach Carlos Peguero (36% K%, 7% BB%) some plate disciple while the pair plays together in Omaha.

• My fellow FanGraphs writer Eno Sarris has a an unhealthy obsession with the swinging strike rates for different pitch types. He recently wrote and article looking at the average values and listed the pitchers on the extreme ends. Well, the Royals #2/#3 starter, Jeremy Guthrie, showed up twice.

His slider was the 5th worst at a 7.7% swing strike rate (15.2% is league average). He wasn't the lowest Royals with Bruce Chen coming in at 3rd at 6.7%. Moving down to the worst change-ups, Guthrie was the 4th lowest at 5.3% (14.9% is league average). Since Guthrie can't get hitters to miss, especially on his swing-and-miss pitchers, he may again find himself with the league's lowest K/9 among all qualified starters.

• It looks like Kyle Zimmer will not get a ton of work during spring training. Not because he is hurt, but because the Royals want him around at the season's end.

Well at least the Royals > Nationals on the medical front.

• Baseball America featured Christian Binford in a recent article. A couple of interesting points from the article.

"I hate walking guys," Binford said. "I absolutely hate it. I would rather give up a double off the wall than give a guy first base."

Craziness I tell you.

Binford, who has an 88-92 mph fastball, averaged 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Yet he is a groundball machine.

"I've learned how to throw a sinker and really mix speeds," Binford said. "That's where I make my money. I like throwing that low-and-in sinker and getting a lot of groundballs. That's where I live."

Binford is definitely one to keep an eye on to see if he stuff works at the higher levels.

• And finally, "Sir, what are you still doing around here, sir".

I kind of wonder if there was a glitch in payroll and the team just needs to fix the glitch.

More From Royals Review