The Royals in July

[SubGod22]

Crow has to find a third pitch

[SubGod22]

Royals earn first pick in new Draft Lottery

The Royals won the first pick in competitive balance Round A, which immediately follows the first round. Selecting after Kansas City in Round A will be the Pirates, D-backs, Orioles, Reds and Marlins. The Padres, Indians, Rockies, A's, Brewers and Tigers will select in competitive balance Round B, which immediately follows the second round.

Smith latest addition in Royals' rotation shuffle

Kansas City opted to push back the starts of Luke Hochevar, who will pitch in the series opener with Minnesota on Friday, and Luis Mendoza, now slated to pitch Saturday against the Twins. Lefty Everett Teaford will make his scheduled turn on Sunday.

Water Cooler Talk: Jonathan Broxton To The Metropolitans

The Mets are looking for bullpen help and the Royals Jonathan Broxton has been linked to them. The 6’4 300 pounder is having a fine turnaround season from his injury riddled 2011 when he was 1-2 with a 5.68 e.r.a in 14 games. This season he was on the fringe of being an AL All Star and currently is 1-1 with a 2.14 e.r.a and a 23/14 k/bb ratio in 34 IP.

* On a side note I would love to see the Royals include a David Lough or Derrick Robinson in this trade because they are not going to have the opportunity in KC and the Mets could be a nice fit for either player.

I don’t know if Broxton can bring a front line prospect in a deal but you certainly have to ask.

The Top Prospect the Royals should ask for:

I'm down.

What Are The Royals Doing?

In spite of last night’s exciting walk-off homer by Billy Butler, a tailspin that has surrounded the break has been a defining time in the Royals season and dropped them from the precipice of contention to a short losing streak away from the AL’s worst record. Some of the decisions the Royals are currently making have been drawing questions. These questions have come from me, many of you and some of the so-called experts. While I know this isn’t the case, it does seem as if the Royals are sometimes unaware of their place in the standings and that the time is now to find out about certain players. Last year is the exception and this year isn’t as bad as we’ve seen in the past when they’ve done things like run Jose Guillen out there every single day. Still, I certainly have some questions.

Why does Eric Hosmer continue to bat third?
Ned Yost explains this by saying that he is working to develop Eric Hosmer as a number three hitter. And it’s hard to argue from looking at Hosmer’s minor league numbers, his rookie season’s numbers and his pedigree that he will be a middle of the order threat whether it’s third, fourth or fifth. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Hosmer is lost right now and has no business batting in the middle part of a big league lineup. Some will argue with me on this, but I don’t see what he has to learn from going back to AAA, so I don’t see that as a real option. He needs to play and he needs to play in the big leagues to get himself out of this, but I don’t see why he can’t do that hitting in the bottom of the order. Hosmer hitting eighth would actually make the lineup look better. You can move Moustakas to the third spot, which isn’t ideal, but it’s not bad. Then you move Perez to fifth or sixth with the other spot going to the currently red hot Lorenzo Cain and that lineup looks pretty solid. I see what Yost is saying. I just think it’s stupid. Update: I wrote this part during the game last night and Yost said he was dropping Hosmer in the order. He’s done it before. Let’s see how long it sticks or if he’ll wait for a 5 for 12 stretch before moving Hosmer up. And to add onto the point, wasn’t it just two days ago that Yost vehemently defended batting him third? Weird.

[BostonWu]

I think Crow needs one more chance as a starter. What the hell do they have to lose?

Exactly. What good is he doing as a setup guy when the starting rotation can't produce quality starts?

[SubGod22]

Without a semi effective change he wouldn't help the rotation

[ShockTalk]

Crow has to find a third pitch

Without a semi effective change he wouldn't help the rotation

Well then, shame on the Royals farm system and parent team (and maybe Missouri U). He was a starter his whole, but brief, time in the minors and in college. Perhaps a little more time on the farm could have developed that third pitch instead of rushing that 5.00+ minor league ERA to the majors.

Adcock should also get some more starts. Why not bring Odorizzi up as well? It might also be a good idea, at the end of the season, to flush out Montgomery, O'Sullivan, and Mazzaro for some new starting blood.

[SubGod22]

SOS was traded about a month ago.

Crow has two plus pitches. He never really had much success as a starter in the minors. They've tried to work with him. But until he trusts it and learns to throw it with confidence, he has no chance as a starter. If he can work on it in the offseason then he may get a chance at the rotation, but I'm not holding my breath on that one at this point.

Monty has been sent back to AA to work with the pitching coach there. There's some thinking that it may help him. We'll see what happens. Kendall may help him as well.

The word on Odorizzi seems to be that he throws too many pitches and needs to work on that. I'd love to see him up soon, but it sounds like we'll have to wait 2 more weeks at the earliest. He's on an innings limit and bringing him up in early August may get him 4 or 5 starts before being shut down. He definitely needs some major league experience going into next year.

If someone out there is still intrigued by Monty, he may be packaged in a deal to bring in a pitcher. He's still got great stuff, the control has just been an issue. Someone may take a chance on that.

And back to Crow. A lot of colleges don't develop a third pitch, or at least don't stress it as a major need if it's not quality. You can be a successful starter in college relying on 2 pitches.

[ShockTalk]

Don't follow the Royals farm teams (or thread here), except to look stuff up based on things said on the Royals thread. Moving "SOS" should be a plus for other starters.

I almost didn't mention Mizzu (as you could tell) regarding Crow. Do you really believe 32 starts in his whole minor league career is enough time to develop/get confident with a third pitch? I don't. They rushed him up to the majors making him "successful" being a reliever with 2 pitches for his first 3 months in the majors. Of course, since those first 3 months, he's gone 63 innings and allowed 31 earned runs for a mid 4 ERA. Well, perhaps only 2 pitches as a reliever isn't enough either, at least for him.

Now the Royals have a glut of pretty good relievers compared to a nearly non-existent starting rotation. Might have been nice to had let him try to learn under less pressure in the minors and they might have had a more skilled starter by now. I know, I know. This is all hind-sight, but many of their young relievers have only been relievers in the minors. Would be nice to see what Crow and Adcock (past starters) could do the rest of this season.

[shoxlax]

Crow has to find a third pitch

Yeah well some of the guys they have tried need to find a first and second pitch.

[SubGod22]

Trade Bait: Jonathan Broxton

It’s the middle of July, which means rumors fly all over the place.

Usually, teams are looking for another starter for the playoff push or to bolster a bullpen. Enter Jonathan Broxton.
The Royals signed Broxton in the offseason as speculation. Before arm troubles in Los Angeles, Broxton was one of the best setup relievers and then one of the more dominant closers once he took over the job for the Dodgers. When Joakim Soria succumbed to a torn UCL and Tommy John surgery, it left Broxton as the first choice for Ned Yost when it came time to name a closer. Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera and Aaron Crow also looked like possible fits for the job, but Broxton had closer experience, and managers lover closer experience.

Why the Royals Want to Trade Broxton

By signing Broxton to a one year deal this winter, the Royals were treating him as a reclamation project. They didn’t commit a lot of resources and didn’t saddle themselves with a long-term deal. If he didn’t stay healthy or couldn’t approach his past performance, they’re just out the innings and some salary and move on next year.

If he did perform well, he would be just what he is now – a trade chip.

Friday Notes

Yikes. That’s about the best word I can use to describe what has come of this Royals season as it’s completely unraveled over the course of the last three or so weeks. After that first game of the road trip before the break, the Royals had made it to just four games below .500 for the first time since they were 3-7. Now, well now they’re not exactly that close to .500. It’s been a pretty rough time for Royals fans over the last couple weeks, but we’re back in a familiar position of waiting for next season, which is something we as fans have gotten quite good at. Let’s get to the notes.

• I have a real problem. The game yesterday was obviously a day game and I had a busy day at work, so I didn’t have the opportunity to even follow along with the game especially closely. I saw the numbers and I saw some of the comments throughout the interwebs about the game and I found myself very curious to see the game and see exactly how Will Smith did. I saw the numbers, and they weren’t good. I watched the start, and I have to say that he looks like he might actually be able to contribute at the big league level. When he got himself in trouble, he did so by leaving too many pitches down the middle of the plate. The same can be said about a lot of pitchers who get in trouble, but from what I saw, Smith actually has the potential to be worth working that out. I saw a couple pitches that were above average and an ability to work out of trouble outside his tough inning. I’m looking forward to seeing him against better offensive teams than Seattle.

[SubGod22]

Royals acquire Jeremy Guthrie from Rockies for Sanchez

The righty was the Rockies' Opening Day starter, but he was removed from the starting rotation in mid-June due to a string of rough outings. Before being removed, he had given up six or more runs in six of his 11 starts. On July 4, though, Guthrie was reinserted into the Colorado rotation. He is 0-2 with a 5.59 ERA since.He struggled at Coors Field this season, going 1-5 at the Rockies' home ballpark with a 9.50 ERA. Away from Coors Field, he's 2-4 with a 3.67 ERA.

I'm hopeful that it's a Coors Field thing and maybe he can help. Can't be any worse than Sanchez

[SubGod22]

Royals acquire Jeremy Guthrie For Jonathan Sanchez

The issue with Guthrie now is that he doesn’t miss bats very well and he gives up way too many hits. If he can carry his road numbers over with him, the Royals have themselves a pitcher who can succeed in Kauffman Stadium. Guthrie mixes a four-seam fastball with a sinker with both pitches averaging around 93 MPH this season. He also throws a slider, curveball and a changeup. While he throws the sinker a lot, he doesn’t get an especially large amount of ground balls. After posting HR/FB rates around 10% for the bulk of his career, the rate is sitting at 18.6% this season. His best attribute right now for the Royals is that he can eat innings, which is something of value that I’ve talked about quite a bit over the last few weeks.

I think this is a decent move, but nothing to get too excited about (or too down about). Like I said, Guthrie will eat some innings and should be much better away from Coors Field. Because of the salary remaining, it’s somewhat of a gamble because the peripherals didn’t match his road ERA, but it’s a gamble the pitching starved Royals probably needed to take at this point simply to save their bullpen for the rest of the season. And to get anything of any kind of value for Jonathan Sanchez is a win in my book. No, this trade doesn’t actually solve any of the problems, but hopefully Guthrie can come in and help stabilize this rotation a little bit. I know other teams were kicking the tires on him as well, so there’s always the off chance that Dayton Moore can turn around and use him to maybe sweeten a deal for something else. That seems unlikely, but the idea has to be considered.

If he can come in and pitch into the 7th inning every 5th day, fantastic. And if he can be flipped in a deal, even better.
Royals Trade Jonathan Sanchez To Colorado Rockies For Jeremy Guthrie

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported that the Royals sent Jonathan Sanchez and his 7.76 ERA to Colorado for Jeremy Guthrie and his 6.35 ERA. It’s a typical “change of scenery” deal as both have struggled this year, though Guthrie’s troubles can be somewhat attributed to Coors Field, as he has a robust 9.50 ERA in 41.2 innings there this year but a 3.67 ERA in his 49 innings outside of Denver.

The two are different pitchers. Sanchez has always been a high-strikeout, high-walk guy and Guthrie has been the opposite. His career strikeout rate is 5.4 K/9. He’s walked 2.7 per nine innings over his 1111 career innings.

[SubGod22]

Royals saddled with extras loss against Twins

Jonathan Broxton came on in the 11th and gave up a leadoff double to Joe Mauer, who scored the decisive run on Josh Willingham's single, as the Twins earned a 2-1 victory in the series opener at Kauffman Stadium.

If the Mets and/or Red Sox are still interested in him, trade him NOW!
Royals Today: 7/21/12.

- Our long national – or at least local – nightmare is over. Jonathan Sanchez has been released back into the wild, and it only took the Royals giving him two additional starts after he had proven to anyone with even a modicum of common sense that he was done, damaged beyond repair and devoid of hope. In those two starts, he threw a total of seven innings and allowed 11 runs; the Royals lost both games.

I want to be fair here; it’s easy for me to say after his June 30th start, as I did here, that Sanchez needed to be released. It’s much harder for Dayton Moore to go to ownership and ask for permission to release Sanchez, eight months after he traded for him, and with Melky Cabrera leading the NL in hits. (His job wasn’t made any easier when Cabrera won All-Star Game MVP honors at Kauffman Stadium.) The Royals eventually came to the right conclusion; compared to the Denial Tour that was Jose Lima’s 2005 season, this time they were downright sensible.

But I just want to make the point that there are times when the Royals – or any front office – make decisions which are not just inexplicable, but indefensible. And just because I or another analyst isn’t privy to inside knowledge doesn’t mean that we aren’t completely justified in ripping that organization a new orifice for making that decision. After 15 years of doing what I do, I’ve recently sensed some pushback from some parts of the analytic community, a sentiment that front offices have access to far greater amounts of information than outsiders like us can possibly have, and therefore they have reasons for making decisions that we can not possibly fathom.

I don’t doubt the validity of that. But just because an organization makes more informed decisions doesn’t mean they make better decisions. Knowing little more than Sanchez’s stat line and the track record of similar pitchers in the past, I knew that Sanchez was toast weeks ago. It’s not like I had an axe to grind with Sanchez – I was generally positive about the decision to trade for him. The Royals undoubtedly had access to the same database that I did, and chose to let him torch a few more games before pulling the plug.

[Shocker85]

Royals acquire Jeremy Guthrie from Rockies for SanchezI'm hopeful that it's a Coors Field thing and maybe he can help. Can't be any worse than Sanchez

Great. One sack of $hit for another. I thought just about any move would be an improvement, but we'll see about this one. I'm not anticipating any sort of miracles from Guthrie - he isn't right after his biking accident in April.

Why bother?

--'85.

[SubGod22]

Great. One sack of $hit for another. I thought just about any move would be an improvement, but we'll see about this one. I'm not anticipating any sort of miracles from Guthrie - he isn't right after his biking accident in April.

Why bother?

--'85.

He's been pretty effective away from Coors Field with an ERA under 4. He's a guy that will save the pen some as he should put together mostly 6 and 7 inning games. He's also a quality guy who will be good in the clubhouse. All things that couldn't be said for Sanchez. As he sucked everywhere, only made it into the 6th once I believe and didn't appear to be much of a clubhouse guy. And he didn't give a damn. Guthrie is no savior, but he should help. The only bad thing is it moves Teaford into long relief for right now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them go with a six man rotation at some point.

[Ta Town Shocker]

Great. One sack of $hit for another. I thought just about any move would be an improvement, but we'll see about this one. I'm not anticipating any sort of miracles from Guthrie - he isn't right after his biking accident in April.

Why bother?

--'85.

Not sure that I buy a bicycle accident had much of an effect on his arm. Also I am happy we received anyone in compensation for Sanchez. I was expecting him to become a free agent. Guthrie is a guy with big league experience who has done well away from Coors Field this season as with you though I don't expect any miracles from him but I do expect more from him than I did from Sanchez.