2008 Royals - June

[RoyalShock]

Royals continue winning, beating the Rocks 8-4. They've now won 8 or their last 9 games. If they can win a couple more they'll be close to compensating for the 12-game losing streak.

[newshock1234]

i heard a stat the only night that kind of made me chuckle. Our pitchers batting average is 55 points higher than tony pena jr. average.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Based on the last couple of games ESPECIALLY Sundays game, I would say the TPJ experiment should be over.

however he's still playing.

Good win last night. Hopefully this momentum continues. The goal now is .500 ball. Anything over is nice.

[SubGod22]

TJ should probably be in Omaha where he could work on his hitting everyday. That's not going to happen in KC the way Aviles is swinging.

[RoyalShock]

TPJ is now a utility player. He's being used accordingly. Grudz is going to need a day off here and there. When he does, Aviles slides over to 2nd and TPJ gets the start at SS. Although I'd rather have Callaspo getting the duty. He needs to playing at every opportunity.

I'm really hoping that the recent power bump we're seeing from Teahen is here to stay. I wouldn't mind seeing him get his average up to .270-.275 but his OBP is at least respectable at .332. If he starts producing a bit more (RBIs) then he'll be a servicable corner OFer.

[7hottamales]

TJ should probably be in Omaha where he could work on his hitting everyday. That's not going to happen in KC the way Aviles is swinging.

I believe TPJ is out of options...of course I'm not sure if any team would want to claim him forcing them to put him on their active roster. He is quite possibly the worst hitter in the history of MLB. .373 OPS through 166 ABs? That just seems impossible.

[7hottamales]

I'm really hoping that the recent power bump we're seeing from Teahen is here to stay. I wouldn't mind seeing him get his average up to .270-.275 but his OBP is at least respectable at .332. If he starts producing a bit more (RBIs) then he'll be a servicable corner OFer.

Shifting Teahen to the outfield after he had created value for himself at 3B in 2006 instead of trading him was a pretty big mistake by this organization. I agree with clearing the path for Gordon, but those last 80 games or so of 2006 took a guy with limited trade value and showed just enough potential to where the Royals could have gotten a couple of quality prospects for him. It wouldn't have taken much for a team to convince themselves that Teahen was going to become a plus defensive 3B with a solid bat...something extremely valuable.

Instead they took a guy that showed the first flashes of ability to drive the ball consistently in his life (including college) and minimized his value as a corner outfielder. The fact that he has not been able to repeat the offensive performance of those 3 months combined with him being a non-entity on defense has made him a marginal major leaguer with virtually no value on the trade market...basically it's been the worst nightmare the Royals could have imagined for the situation in 2006.

[RoyalShock]

Which is why I only see three options in Teahen's future:

1. His power stays and becomes a servicable OF in KC.
2. His power leaves and becomes a utility man in KC.
3. His power leaves, average dips and he gets released.

I don't really see a trade in his future, unless he's a throw-in just to get a player DM really wants.

Right now, his power-potential may be the only thing separating him from Mitch Meier (hitting .295 in Omaha) in the near future.

Speaking of Royals minor-leaguers, Ryan Shealy is starting to make contact. He's on a 5-game hitting streak with 4 multi-hit games. The only problem is that of the 10 hits in that span he has 1 HR, 0 doubles, 0 triples and just 2 RBI. Hopefully, those hits will start travelling further and he could become trade bait. But I'm not holding my breath.

[Indy23]

This is not a joke. It's from the Royals promotional schedule:

Sat., Sep. 6 Indians Viva Los Royals -
Hispanic Heritage Night Sprint Wireless
Tony Pena Jr. Bobblehead First 20,000

Think with a little sanding and painting, they could be Soria dolls? What are the chances TPJ is still with the Royals September 6?

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/schedule/promotions.jsp?c_id=kc&y=2008

[RoyalShock]

If I were attending that game (which I won't since that's also my anniversary), I would probably just say "No thanks. Besides, shouldn't you have sold these to (insert name of AAA team not in the KC organization)?"

[RoyalShock]

And the winning continues. 7-3, good guys. 11-3 in interleague games.

It would appear Ramon Ramirez has a lingering issue with Yorvit Torrealba. RamRam threw the 1st and 3rd pitches of a 4 ptich walk behind him.

[SubGod22]

I wondered about the first one. But then the 2nd was so far off the plate to the outside I thought maybe he was having issues. I wonder what the story is... Buck seemed a little confused by it in the post game.

[newshock1234]

yea its gonna be interesting game tonight, to see if Colorado throws at us now. I wouldnt be shocked if a fight broke out.

[RoyalShock]

If they do, it probably won't be until the later innings. I doubt they would risk getting Aaron Cook ejected early. They need to get back on the winning track and putting your top starter in that position would be stupid.

[SubGod22]

Did you see how irate Jamie Quirk (sp) was after the game? That kinda made me laugh :D

But I will admit I'm afraid someone's going to get hit tonight and it won't be an accident.