Needless to say, Buddy Bell is to blame for this.

Bell benched Reggie Sanders (a day after a 3 inning game that was wiped out, which Sanders hit a grand slam home run)

He started Kerry Robinson in right field, and put German in center.

The combo of "No clue"/"No experience"/"No arm" in left/center/right cost the Royals the game.

Buddy Bell needs to end that crush he has on Emil Brown and realize that Brown doesn't need to be in every game.

The Royals biggest problem is that their offense sucks.

Going into Sunday's game, their team OBP is .300

The following players are above .300 in OBP: German (23pa), Costa (63pa), Grudzielanek (85pa), Mientkiewicz (71pa), Sweeney (75pa), Stairs (16pa)

The following players have OBPs below .300: Berroa (76pa), Reggie Sanders (75pa), Mark Teahen (65pa), Emil Brown (76pa), Graffanino (29pa), Buck (50pa), DeJesus (26pa), Gabor (18pa)

It's probably a sign of great woe when Mark Grudzielanek is an OBP champion on a team.

But here are the hit/walk ratios for the Royals

German: 8/4
Costa: 19/1
Grudzielanek: 23/4
Berroa: 21/1
Mientkiewicz: 17/4
Sanders: 17/2
Teahen: 13/5
Brown: 15/8
Graffanino: 6/0
Buck: 9/4
Sweeney: 12/10
Stairs: 2/4
DeJesus: 4/2
Gabor: 2/1

Some of the things which need to change for the Royals

#1 - Fire Allard Baird
#2 - Fire Buddy Bell
#3 - Devise a strategy to trade Sanders, Grudzielanek, Mientkiewicz, and maybe Brown. If any teams are interested in June or July, ask for high OBP players in return. Call Jim Bowden first.
#4 - Stop acquiring players who can't draw walks.
#5 - Use the low rounds of the draft to stock up on cheap college players.

Basically that's 5 or 6 steps forward.

Oh yeah, an add-on to part 3. Trade Mays and Redman

Cheap college players are the last thing the Royals need to waste their high picks on

I said "low rounds", which would be around the 7th to 12th round or so.

At the very least, stocking up on 23 year old college seniors will probably eventually end Omaha's dependance on 30 year old minor year superstars, replacing that with 27 year old minor league superstars.

German clearly lost the ball in the sun and should not have been given an error on the play (I have Swisher on my team..so I gots steaks on this here grill!)

Buddy Bell, on the Royals play...

"I've seen things here recently that I haven't seen in Rookie League. Guys not having some glasses on, or guys not covering first."

"That's not an issue of playing hard or whatever, it's just when the game starts moving a little bit too fast, we don't have the ability to slow it down."

Plus, the AP story has both Swisher and Chavez hitting German in the mouth...and that's just not fair!

German, the second Royals center fielder to leave a game early in as many days, appeared to misjudge Nick Swisher's deep drive to left-center. The ball missed his glove, hit him in the face and rolled along the wall as German lay on the warning track.

...Chavez, who was credited with a sacrifice fly, reached third on the error as two runs scored, giving the A's a 10-5 lead. They scored six runs in the inning to go up 11-5.

The jackass laid on the turf for 10 minutes after booting that pop fly. They finally called a groundskeeping vehicle out to drag his carcass away, and the gamer decided he could walk off the field with a cut lip. He proceeded to do a deathly slow walk whose pace seemed to be set by my 93-year old grandma.

I left soon after. If the Royals don't give a #### about the product on the field, why should I?

The jackass laid on the turf for 10 minutes after booting that pop fly. They finally called a groundskeeping vehicle out to drag his carcass away, and the gamer decided he could walk off the field with a cut lip. He proceeded to do a deathly slow walk whose pace seemed to be set by my 93-year old grandma.

I left soon after. If the Royals don't give a #### about the product on the field, why should I?

I don't get it. He was hurt, and took awhile to get off the field, so the Royals don't care about how they play?

Call me crazy, but losing a third center fielder can't be in the Royals' carelessness.

"I said "low rounds", which would be around the 7th to 12th round or so.

At the very least, stocking up on 23 year old college seniors will probably eventually end Omaha's dependance on 30 year old minor year superstars, replacing that with 27 year old minor league superstars."

Oh my bad...i thought you meant low rounds as in low numbered...like 1-3.

still i wouldnt like to see the Royals do that in mass even then but its a lot more reasonable

I don't get it. He was hurt, and took awhile to get off the field, so the Royals don't care about how they play?

Call me crazy, but losing a third center fielder can't be in the Royals' carelessness.

I don't recall ever saying the Royals don't care because German took a while to get off the field.

They don't care because they put Luke Hudson in the game just after tying it up in the fifth inning...while our best middle reliever, having not thrown since Wednesday, wasn't brought into the game until the Royals were down by 7 runs. They don't care because they have Estaban German playing in centerfield, a position he never played before in his major league career. They don't care because they have Doug Mientkiwitz starting at first base instead of Justin Huber. They don't care because Reggie Sanders was sitting on his butt today so Kerry Robinson could play right field. Or Mark Grudz was sitting in favor of Tony Graffanino. There is a whole laundry list of things I saw today that shows me the Royals don't care about winning or losing.

Considering the high amount of turnover in Royals roster spots, it's probably smart to keep the minor league system stocked with players who don't require a lot of money to obtain.

So, what's the EAD (expected arrival date) on Alex Gordon?

Gordon's stats from Wichita: 30 for 88, 8 doubles, 6 homers, 8 walks/20 strikeouts, .341/.398/.636

And when it comes to people who walk in the system, here are a few "BB all-stars" so far

Catcher Matt Tupman (AA): 13 walks in 19 games
Centerfielder Chris Lubanski (AA): 12 walks in 22 games
Shortstop Angel Sanchez (AA): 10 walks in 20 games
First Baseman Kila Kaaihue (AA): 11 walks in 15 games
First Baseman Justin Huber (AAA): 14 walks in 21 games
Outfielder Aaron Guiel (AAA): 16 walks in 20 games
Outfielder Michael Galloway (High A): 11 walks in 20 games
First Baseman Mike Stodolka (High A): 9 walks in 17 games
Third Baseman Mario Lisson (Low A): 12 walks in 20 games
Shortstop Joshua Johnson (Low A): 14 walks in 15 games

I'm not sure on Tupman's story.

Lubanski might be improving, which is a pretty good thing because he could get a job the next time David DeJesus goes down for a month or so.

Angel Sanchez might be spotty at fielding, but his hitting looks good.

Kaaihue has had an ugly year so far, but he walks often.

Huber is probably due for the majors if we dump Mientkiewicz on someone. Granted, he might still be a project. So he might need to go to the "Doug Mientkiewicz School of Fielding First Base"

Guiel will need to save Allard Baird from a fire before he gets promoted.

I don't know a lot about Galloway.

Mike Stodolka's line in High Desert: .362/.443/.655, 21 for 58 with a home run and 12 doubles. At the very least, hitting more doubles than singles is an interesting way to start off your return to hitting.

Lisson has been in the system for awhile and has hit well too. He'll need to find a way to impress people in the usually 'low-hitting' Midwest League.

Johnson was one of the draft picks from last year.

At the very least, we're not producing an army of hacktastic players, some of them appear to be pretty decent on their current teams.

Plan R for the Royals is "Buy as many Mexican Leaguers as you can until a few of them turn out good"

They don't care because they have Doug Mientkiwitz starting at first base instead of Justin Huber.

I think the plan with Mientkiewicz is to run up his value a bit, and then dump him for some prospects. While also giving Huber a quiet place to figure out the art of fielding first. Sure, it doesn't matter, but it's helpful with guys like Berroa and Teahen around.

Speaking of fielding first base, did the tarp eat Ken Harvey over the offseason, or is he due back any time during the season?

And Esteban German isn't as bad as Desi Relaford when it comes to being a centerfielder, although he's getting close after the "Flyball of Doom"

I'm guessing Gordan comes up once the Super 2 arbitration class is settled. No use starting his clock this early. A quick look at our roster: 3 outfielders, two catchers, two DH's, and 6 infielders. Awesome roster composition there Allard!

"Or Mark Grudz was sitting in favor of Tony Graffanino."

Whats the difference?

this is why people call for Allard Baird and Buddy Bell's jobs.

Since they put Dejesus on the DL (9 days ago), the royals have been playing with 3 outfielders.
Instead of bringing up one of the 10000 AAAA outfielders they have in omaha, they brought up an extra arm (not a bad idea actually, they royals need pitching quantity).

P.S. with Dejesus out Estaban's the best player on the team, MF should be playing every day.

ideal lineup

3B- German
CF- Dejesus
2B- Mark Grudz
RF- Sanders
1B- Doug Minky
DH- Tony Grafo
LF- K Robinson
SS- Andres Blanco
C- Paul Phillips

ideal lineup
Ideal, yes, for a sadomasochist.

Graffanino as a designated hitter makes as much sense as Billy Joel being a designated driver

The Royals already draft cheap college players in the low rounds. Most of them suck.

There was an interesting story in the Wichita Eagle about the Royals draft tactics. They drafted Mike Aviles in the 7th round a few years back. He said he expected to be taken in the 10-15th rounds. He was a college senior. Other players drafted in the 7th got bonuses up to $100,000. Since he was a college senior, the Royals offered $1,000. He begrudingly accepted.

I think that sums things up for the Royals.

I don't recall ever saying the Royals don't care because German took a while to get off the field.

I thought that was what you meant in #6, also.

The Royals do not look good in the low minors - High Desert, offhand, may have more retreads and never-weres than any other club in high A ball. Galloway, for instance, was in indy ball last year (IIRC, he was a good hit, no field corner outfield guy in the MAC (Ohio?) a few years back).

BTW, Johnson's walks are for real. Unfortunately, he can't hit yet.

This echoes the above: I think the Royals should consider taking a page from the Cardinals draft strategy in recent years - paper over a decrepit system with a bunch of relatively polished college guys - KC needs depth at all levels, not just stars - once that's successful, then they can diversify their draft a little more (since low-priced potential stars are ultimately what KC will need to compete for championships; right now, they need to find a way out of the cellar).

Tupman is a 26 year old catcher who has been in the Royals system forever, but had decent walk numbers last year.

High Desert is littered with rejects and indy ball signees. Burlington has a decent team - Kiel Thibault, Jeff Howell, Wilver Perez, Chris McConnell (who is off to a terrible start), Valentino Arce. Good pitching too - Matt Knigyzyky, Ryan DiPietro, Carlos Rosa, Rayner Oliveros.

I didn't mean to denigrate Burlington (not that they are super interesting, either) and I remember being impressed by Rosa the one time I saw him pitch.

I don't think Burlington has any studs, but they have few pitchers that may end up being serviceable, and I like Thibault and Howell a lot. No one is hitting at all though, although I think that is the norm in the Midwest League.

I find it encouraging that there are already 20+ posts on a Royals thread. It is the only encouraging thing about the Royals this season however.

Valentino Acre is also pretty interesting, he's a high OBP guy purely because he gets hit by pitches so often.

Butler and Gordon are the only two players in the royals system worth a damn, I have doubts about Huber.

The royals should take nothing but college players, not for any Moneyball reason. Just beacuse most college players have been coached for at least three years by better coaches then they'll be coach by in the royals system, less chance for the royals to screw up the players.

The royals should take nothing but college players, not for any Moneyball reason. Just beacuse most college players have been coached for at least three years by better coaches then they'll be coach by in the royals system, less chance for the royals to screw up the players.

This assumes that anybody in the Royals organization could identify talent in the first place. Just because they're ridiculously bad at developing players doesn't preclude them from being more mundanely bad in other ways.

You know, German seems like a nice kid and Bell had no business putting him in center field. So, I really shouldn't laugh at his misfortune but the local news has been playing the footage repeatedly of his getting whacked in the face trying to make an easy catch even the most inept little t-baller would snag with ease and...I laugh. I can't help it. The face-ball sums up this season, this team, this terrible management both on-field and front office so well you either have to laugh or storm the field in a rage, and that would only get you jail time.

These guys are like the Bad News Bears redux - enjoy them not for their taut, skillful baseball but for their clown-like slapstick antics.