KC Royals - August

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Just got back from lunch and saw this!!! It's about time
Royals cut ties with starter Davies

ST. PETERSBURG -- Kyle Davies, a member of the Royals' starting rotation for most of the past 4 1/2 years, will make his next start for another team.

Davies was placed on unconditional release waivers by the Royals on Wednesday, clearing space on the 40-man and active rosters for catcher Salvador Perez, who was called up from Triple-A Omaha.

In 99 starts for the Royals from 2007 through this season, Davies had a 29-44 record and a 5.34 ERA

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Perez, catcher of the future, called on by Royals

Perez, called up from Triple-A Omaha, has adapted well since his promotion to the Pacific Coast League. In 12 games, he's batted .333 (16-for-48) with five doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs. In the Texas League, Perez hit .283 with eight homers, 43 RBIs in 79 games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

"He's done a great job," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. "He's a very advanced catcher from the receiving, throwing, game-calling and blocking aspects. And, offensively, he just keeps getting better and better and we just felt it was time to get him up here and get his feet wet and see how he adjusts to the Major Leagues. He's going to stay the rest of the year."

If manager Ned Yost uses Perez as the primary catcher, he'll be the fourth player from Omaha promoted this year to become a lineup regular, joining first baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas and second baseman Johnny Giavotella.

"Ned will decide how much but we wouldn't bring him up if we didn't think he was going to play a lot. So we'll give him a strong look," Moore said. "It's important that we continue to continue play well at the Major Leagues and win as many games as we can but we also have to balance that out with how we potentially prepare for 2012 and beyond."

As the Royals' lineup continues to evolve, tapping into the rich Minor League organization, it is indeed looking more like a blueprint for the 2012 season.

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Starsky needed Hutch, Lone Ranger needed Tonto, when is Hoz getting Moose back?

This season has been largely about development for the Royals. There was that brief time in May when it looked like the division might be up for grabs, so the Royals seemed to be going for it, but that window closed pretty quickly once the hot start ended. Once they started losing games at rates that the fans and the organization was accustomed to, the focus shifted entirely toward 2012 and beyond. Realistically and frustratingly, the year for contention is now set at 2013 as the Royals process took a bit longer than I think Dayton Moore had originally planned. Now, though, one more piece of the process is on his way to the big leagues in the name of Salvador Perez. So most of the guys are together on the offensive side of the ball and they’ve all had their moments. The one thing the Royals are going to be missing with this current crop of players is that one basher in the middle of the lineup. They’re missing the guy who can win a game with one swing of the bat.

Enter Mike Moustakas. Anybody reading this knows that Moustakas has the kind of power that scouts drool over and that causes pitchers to quiver as he strides to the plate. He doesn’t have the body of a guy like Frank Thomas or Jim Thome, but he has every bit the power that they did/do. Unfortunately for the Royals, Mike Moustakas has shown essentially none of that for the Royals since he was called up on June 10. To be honest, it’s a little confusing as to why not. In 189 plate appearances, Moustakas has just seven extra base hits and ISO of just .053. He’s not exactly Chris Getz, but he’s much closer to Getz than, say, Alex Gordon. This is a big concern for the Royals. While Hosmer will be the centerpiece of the offense and Giavotella has a chance to be the sparkplug and Alex Gordon can be the good at everything hitter, the Royals need Mike Moustakas to be blasting extra base hits all around Kauffman Stadium.

Looking at the numbers, the thing that stands out to me mostly is the fact that he’s just not hitting the ball hard as much as he did in the minors. His line drive percentage is just 15.8% which is pretty low for anyone, but especially low for someone who was expected to be a guy who just hit the ball hard everywhere. The other number that jumps out at me is the fact that he has just a .221 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) which says to me that he’s getting at least a little bit unlucky. A low line drive percentage will typically lead to a lower BABIP, but certainly not as low as we’ve seen from him this season. I think there’s room for improvement there. The other number that is glaring to me is the fact that he’s hit a homer on just 1.6% of his flyballs. That number should probably be around 10% for a guy like Moustakas. Typically, when you see a guy who used to hit homers and isn’t in a given season, it makes sense to check out his HR/FB percentage. It’ll probably be low, which means that his luck will turn around at some point.

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Perez stays busy in fine Major League debut

Assigned uniform No. 13, Perez was welcomed by his teammates; huddled with starting pitcher Felipe Paulino; undertook radio, TV and press interviews; took his swings in batting practice. He was in the Royals' lineup batting seventh and he's here for the rest of the season.

"He'll play quite a bit," manager Ned Yost said without being specific.

And he had a very busy debut in what turned into a numbing, 8-7 loss to the Rays. He got his first hit, a single up the middle, drove in a run and scored one. Most impressive, though, was his defensive work.

In the bottom of the fourth, Perez gave a demonstration of his strong, quick arm by snapping off a throw that picked off Casey Kotchman at first base. In the eighth, Perez again worked his pick-off magic, firing down to third base to nab Sam Fuld, who had strayed off on a busted squeeze play.

Those were the first pickoffs by any Royals catcher all season.

"I don't think we've even had a guy attempt to pick a guy off base all year long," Yost said.

We may have a keeper here!

Royals stung by Rays in five-run ninth. Crow has really been struggling lately and Jack didn't do much better last night. Unfortunate considering how well KC played.

[ShockerGorilla]

In the bottom of the fourth, Perez gave a demonstration of his strong, quick arm by snapping off a throw that picked off Casey Kotchman at first base. In the eighth, Perez again worked his pick-off magic, firing down to third base to nab Sam Fuld, who had strayed off on a busted squeeze play.

Those were the first pickoffs by any Royals catcher all season.

In the first inning, he snapped a throw back to 2nd base and almost picked off the runner there. I don't remember ever seeing a catcher come that close to picking off a runner at 2nd. He also showed off his blocking skills. He is going to be fun to watch if he keeps this up.

[SubGod22]

In the bottom of the fourth, Perez gave a demonstration of his strong, quick arm by snapping off a throw that picked off Casey Kotchman at first base. In the eighth, Perez again worked his pick-off magic, firing down to third base to nab Sam Fuld, who had strayed off on a busted squeeze play.

Those were the first pickoffs by any Royals catcher all season.

In the first inning, he snapped a throw back to 2nd base and almost picked off the runner there. I don't remember ever seeing a catcher come that close to picking off a runner at 2nd. He also showed off his blocking skills. He is going to be fun to watch if he keeps this up.

He's going to force baserunners to keep their leads in check which could help the rest of the D. Hopefully fewer steals as well. I'm excited!

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There Will Be Days Like This

Last night’s five run debacle in the bottom of the ninth brought back memories of some really, really bad Royals’ teams of the past. Although charged with just one error in the inning, the Royals committed enough gaffes and bobbles to make one wonder if the ghost of Chip Ambres was not lurking somewhere near.

Let’s start at the beginning.

After Melky Cabrera mashed a three run homer in the top of the ninth to give Kansas City a four run lead, Ned Yost opted to go with Aaron Crow instead of Joakim Soria to start the bottom of the inning. Soria, who had not pitched since throwing 11 pitches on Sunday, was already warm when the decision was made to switch to Crow. I can only assume that the primary driver behind this decision was that the bottom of the ninth was no longer a save situation.

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Mama Said There’d Be Days Like These

Having a young team on the field can be exciting to both the fanbase and to those actually on the field. The energy with which a young team plays is contagious and makes watching them more fun than watching a team like the 2007 Royals who were both old and bad. Of course, with a young team comes the mistakes that young players tend to make. Mistakes like a third baseman not stepping up to make sure a throw doesn’t get away that allows the winning run to score. Mistakes like not making sure you set your feet on a throw to first to make sure you throw accurately and are able to get the runner. Last night’s game is one that I will likely not soon forget, but wish that I could because it was about as ugly as it gets in terms of giving it up.

There are many culprits in last night’s game. I’m not going to get too much into Ned Yost’s bullpen usage because I devoted an entire post to it earlier this week, but the way he handled the ninth was criminal. He managed to the save, which I hate. I saw some explanations that people were okay with it because that’s the way baseball is run now, but I despise that argument. Just becuase it’s the status quo doesn’t make things right. As soon as Cabrera blasted his three run homer in the ninth, it was no longer a save situation, so Aaron Crow replaced Soria on the bullpen mound. Of course he didn’t have enough time to warm up to come in for the bottom of the ninth, so Greg Holland took the warmup tosses before Yost pulled him in favor of Crow. Then, when Crow predictably struggled, he was pulled as soon as it became a save situation. I’m not giving Soria a pass for the way he pitched, but when you’re up and down like he was last night, I think it’s excusable that he didn’t have his best. Soria should have pitched the ninth no matter what because he was ready. Baseball has some serious mental aspects to it and having your role changed back and forth can’t help

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Soria matches career high in blown saves

ST. PETERSBURG -- When Joakim Soria gave up three hits and let the Royals' four-run lead melt away on Wednesday night, it was his seventh blown save this season, a career high.

That left him 21 for 28, just a 75 percent ratio.

"That was really bad for us, really bad for me," Soria said in the aftermath of the 8-7 loss to the Rays. "Their guys hit the ball really quick and made me work in the counts. It's been a bad year the whole year, but we have to learn from this. But we'll make adjustments for the next outing. I have to make better pitches."

Is it a coincidence that his struggles seem to go with his request to not be called the Mexicutioner? Either way, his trade value has taken a hit if that's something the Royals were looking at in the offseason.

Perez makes catching history in debut

ST. PETERSBURG -- Catcher Salvador Perez's busy debut on Wednesday night included catching five popups. Unusual, to say the least.

In fact, since STATS Inc. began recording such statistics in 1974, Perez is only the fourth catcher to snag five or more popups in a game.

The others were the Cubs' Keith Moreland, who caught six on June 13, 1982; the White Sox's Jim Essian with five on July 7, 1976, and the Mariners' John Marzano with five on June 11, 1997

Perez also made the Royals the rookie leaders in the Major Leagues. He became the 15th rookie to play for the club this year, one more than the Rays and the Astros.

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Offense can't back Duffy's solid start in finale

Danny Duffy, the Royals' left-handed rookie starter, outlasted Niemann.

But he fell behind in the third inning when the Rays got a two-run triple from Ben Zobrist, a rocket off the left-field wall, after Johnny Damon walked and Evan Longoria singled.

Rays rookie Desmond Jennings got a triple on a looper that Cabrera, rushing in from center field, tried to catch at his shoe tops but only succeeded in knocking the ball away. That allowed Jennings to scamper all the way to third. He scored on Longoria's sacrifice fly to give the Rays a 3-1 lead.

Duffy pitched seven innings, giving up five hits and three walks.

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I'm hearing reports that Davies was arrested in Tampa, the day before he was released, for being intoxicated. If I find an article on it, I'll post it. Interesting that he made it an even easier choice for the team...

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As expected, Pena returns to team, Pina sent down. He'll be back up in a few weeks. If/when Treanor is cleared, he'll be on rehab until September before coming back t KC. Perez is the man the rest of the way.

[ShockerGorilla]

I'm hearing reports that Davies was arrested in Tampa, the day before he was released, for being intoxicated. If I find an article on it, I'll post it. Interesting that he made it an even easier choice for the team...

Here you go -- with a nice bonus mugshot!

Davies arrested for disorderly intoxication

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Thanks for the find. My brother heard it on 610 and passed it along. I hadn't begun to look into my daily Royals info at the time.

Friday Notes

It’s been a pretty interesting week for Royals fans. On one hand, we’ve had the opportunity to see pretty much the entire process on the offensive side unfold. There are just a couple more potential pieces who have yet to be added to the big league roster. On the other hand, the Royals got swept in Tampa Bay in a four game series and lost two of those games in the bottom of the ninth, one of which was characterized by a four run lead being blown in record time. I suppose that’ll be the life of the Royals fan for the next couple of months, and I can’t say I’m too terribly upset by that. We’ll enjoy watching the young guys play, but like I talked about yesterday, we might have to endure some tough innings/games like the one we saw on Wednesday. Now it’s on to Chicago where hopefully Adam Dunn doesn’t pick this weekend to remember that he used to be good.

And even more importantly, it’s now on to the notes:

Notes include Gordon's head as it relates to playing in Tampa, Sal Perez, playing with injuries, September call ups and Hochevar.

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Here's a quite interesting article from Royals Authority. Anatomy of a Strikeout

One of the more interesting moments from Thursday’s fourth and final loss to the Rays came in the top of the seventh inning. At this point, the Royals were down 3-1 and got a leadoff single from Melky Cabrera.

(Let me join the crowded chorus of those who continue to be amazed at the career renaissance experienced by the Melk Man. A line of .306/.339/.471 currently represents a career high in batting average and slugging, and it’s his second highest OBP since his rookie year in 2006 when he finished at .360. His current wOBA of .354 is the highest of his career. Well done, Dayton Moore… Cheap and productive.)

After Billy Butler flied out to right for the first out of the inning, the Rays went to the bullpen to play the platoon match-up and brought in the left handed JP Howell to face Eric Hosmer. Howell threw two pitches, Hosmer swung at both and on the second pitch, knocked it into the opposite field for a single, putting runners on first and second with just one out.

(Absolutely the right call to bring the lefty in to face Hosmer, who does the majority of his damage against right-handed pitching. He’s batting .300/.356/.508 against right-handers and just .220/.271/.250 versus the lefties. Obviously, in that situation you don’t want to give up a game-tying home run. It likely wasn’t going to happen with Howell on the mound. All 10 of Hosmer’s homers have come against right-handers.)

The Royals have a little something going now in the late innings, and this brings up Jeff Francoeur. The Rays go back to the bullpen for Joel Peralta. Here’s the pivotal point in the game for the Royals.