Top 10 complaints about the 2010 Royals
1. The more things change, the more they stay the same. As I rejoiced at the departure of unwanted veterans from S. Pods to J. Kendall and finally Lil' Wil Bloomquist, I saw a team that I did actually want to win and could root for, but in the end they just didn't have it. We're all hoping that this is the start of new era in KC Royals baseball and now that those past 25 years are out of the way we'll be playing at this time of the year, or at least waiting until this time of the year to talk about the Chiefs and College football.
2. Pitchers with ERAs north of 5.50:
| ERA ▴ | |
|---|---|
| Josh Rupe | 5.59 |
| Gil Meche | 5.69 |
| Jesse Chavez | 5.88 |
| Sean O'Sullivan | 6.11 |
| Bryan Bullington | 6.12 |
| Brian Bannister | 6.34 |
| Brad Thompson | 6.41 |
| Greg Holland | 6.75 |
| Anthony Lerew | 8.54 |
| Victor Marte | 9.76 |
| Roman Colon | 18.00 |
| Luis Mendoza | 22.50 |
3. "The Player Who Wouldn't Go Away: The Jose Guillen Saga" Watching this unfold was like watching your least favorite movie of all time, while someone scratches their nails on a chalk board and at the same time a landscaping crew is running multiple weed eaters and leaf blowers outside the window. You just wanted it to end, Jose is another in a long history of bad free agent signings by the Royals and by him having a decent year and the Royals trying everything in their power to trade him, it was just pathetic and became a serious drag on the season in a season that did not lack for reasons not to be interested.
4. Still no power. Since 2005 the Royals have finished, 14th, 14th, 14th,13th,13th and 12th, respectively, in the AL (out of 14) in home runs hit! Give me all of the Bob Costas monologues about great pitchers duels you want, but as a fan I want to see balls flying over the fence, that is from players wearing our jerseys. Jose Guillen played his last game for the Royals on August 4th and in two full months no one could overtake him as the team's home run leader, it took an unprecedented late season charge by Yuni just to tie him. Blame it on the stadium, the players or whatever just give us a few guys on the team who pitchers have to take seriously at the plate.
5. The 2010-2011 offseason. At least before we could sit around and talk about who we could get in the offseason, who we should trade or wait around to ridicule whatever decision was made by management. However, this year will probably be different and if the Royals do anything bigger than offer a slew of minor league contracts or resign Bruce Chen, it will be deemed exciting. Not that I'm complaining about not signing anymore Jason Kendalls, but there literally might be nothing to discuss as a Royals fan until opening day 2011.
6. Brian Bannister. He has given us some hope, seems like such a nice guy and we wanted him to be a successful Royals player, but his second half train wreck of a year destroyed all of that and as a result he may no longer be a Royal. Should he be a John Buck-like victim of over inflated arbitration salaries, he will almost certainly go on to be a decent pitcher next year for some other team, ie John Buck. It's a shame, but that's life as a Royals fan.
7. Minors not Majors. Sooooo much talk about the minors this year; yeah it's great to have a bunch of young guys who are highly touted prospects, but who wants to talk about 2012? This was one of the best things to come out of the Royals' organization this year, but until they are our Jason Heywards/Buster Poseys it gets really boring talking about a bunch of 20-year-old kids who dominate the minors.
8. Alex Gordon. He's got one year to figure it out, that's it. Sorry Alex, but this is your last chance and you've been given the benefit of the doubt several times now. You've changed positions, uniform numbers, grown a beard, shaved it, tweaked your batting stance 27 times, failed to live up to George Brett expectations and on top of all of that you promised us that you are going to "dominate" next year. Well...good luck; no injuries, no complaints about pressure, NO EXCUSES, you must at least put-up David Dejesus-like numbers (OPS. around .800) next year or it's a bust.
9. Jason Kendall. This only made number 9 on the list because I'm tired of writing his name, but he wins least productive/exciting player of the year hands down. Get well soon!
10. The Rays, the Twins, the Rockies, the Padres AND the Reds, what's next the Pirates? Sitting around feigning interest in this year's postseason is tough because the aforementioned teams were in the playoff race or made the playoffs and it makes you wonder if they can, why can't we? It's one thing to just dismiss the Yanks, Phils or Red Sox as East-Coast cash machines that buy everything in sight to get to the playoffs, but what do you say about the Padres who did everything in their power to get rid of anyone making above minimum wage. I guess it should serve as hope, but my Royals souvenir mug is always half empty.
Here we stand a quarter of century without playoff baseball in KC and seemingly as far away as ever. Will 2011 be the promise year, the year we see underachievers achieve, the hyped rookies surface at the majors and all live up to expectations, a David DeJesus and the Miracles type season? Or will we be looking forward to the most pathetic, inept group of guys ever assembled on a baseball field? Fortunately, we've got a lot of time to think about it.
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