Looking at where the Royals are
Been awhile, eh?
In getting myself caught up with the team, the first thing I noted was how very mediocre this team is playing! I don’t mean that in any condescending way. I mean that in a the-Royals-might-not-lose-100-games-finally way. Observe:
Year: Winning percentage
2004: .358
2005: .346
2006: .383
2007: .443 , so far
And that’s without noting that the Royals are underperforming their Pythag record of 54-61 by three games.
Over the last 30 games, the Royals are 15-15—that’s .500 baseball, for those of you without a scientific calculator within reach.
There are six baseball teams currently with a worse record than the Royals, which is better than the usual zero or occasional one.
Here are some W-L splits for the team as a whole, via B-Ref:
16-24 vs. the AL Central
15-11 vs. the AL West
(10-21 vs. the AL East)
5-7 in extra innings games, and 16-14 in one-run games.
Now let’s stop and look at those one-run games real quick. Maybe you aren’t baffled or amazed by it, but let’s put 16-14 in context:
Year: W-L in one-run games
2004: 14-19
2005: 18-30
2006: 14-24
2007: 16-14, so far.
2007 has been the only year the Royals have been above .500 in one-run games over the last four years, or even close to .500 for that matter. Now I forget if the common idea is that one-run games are largely luck (I think it is), but either way, it’s incredibly encouraging to see the Royals win the close ones. As a lousy analyst but close fan of KC, let me say that many, many, many times a very close loss always seemed to hurt me, almost personally. It’s great to see that trend reverse, if only to keep my Pepto supplies up.
Finally, the Royals are 13.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race (why not?).
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Also, a quick note about Leo Nunez—how about that kid?
His game log, via B-Ref:
July 17—4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K | 2.25 ERA to date
July 29—6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K | 0.90 ERA to date
Aug. 5—4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K | 1.93 ERA to date **
Aug. 11—6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K | 1.80 ERA to date
**All but August 5th was a start, but still—not bad, even for a small sample size.
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I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. I’m moving tomorrow though, so maybe not too soon. Still, feel free to use this thread for any kind of discussion you like.
Reader Comments and Retorts
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So whats your opinion of our offseason? I know this sounds a little off, but I think with Soria added to the starting rotation, and Nunez, Meche, Rosa, and Bannister we have a solid rotation, so maybe we can spend this offseason looking for a position player. Reviewing the potential FA's I would like to see Teahan moved to 1B, and go after Andruw Jones. Im only picking Jones because Byrnes signed the 3 year deal with AZ.
I get the score of each Royals game automatically in a text message to me after every game, and it's actually been kind of fun over the last couple months, because it's been in the Royals' favor so often.
The free agent market largely sucks. I'd rather the Royals stay away unless they can somehow lure Carlos Silva away from Minnesota for a fair price. They need to wait on Gordon and Butler (and Lubanski? Huber?) becoming big hitters, and continuing to improve the pitching staff. If they want to invest money in a bullpen, I think that's a decent investment for a team trying to develop young starting pitching, but otherwise, I think the Royals are better off saving the money and using it for to invest in Latin America and the draft.
Or is there going to be another Affeldt fiasco?
Probably because we remember when Willie Wilson and Amos Otis was in the OF. We have long memories....we have to.
This was a big deal back then. A lot of ego massaging had to go on. Wilson started in LF, then Otis was persuaded to move to LF so Wilson could play center.
I don't think they've said, but for some reason I think they will keep Greinke in the pen, which would be a mistake IMO.
The biggest problem with the Royals right now is that they're young, and make a lot of mistakes. That's not a bad place to be for a bad team. Eventually they will make far fewer mistakes, and therefore will be considerably better. But the kinds of mistakes they are making are good ones - they're mistakes born of aggression, rather than mistakes born of general cluelessness and befuddlement. That's a huge improvement over, say, 2004 or 2005.
I'm really pulling for the Royals to turn it around. I've never been much on the Tigers or Indians, I hate the White Sox, and the recent editions of the Twins bug me. Someone's got to win the Central, I want it to start being KC.
I don't think Andruw Jones would play RF for just anyone, least of all the Royals. Thus, he'd need to play center and DeJesus would be moved, either to another team or position.
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