Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ned Sense: Injuries are for the injured


"I would like to give him just a break, but he's swinging the bat too well right now," Yost said. "We need to win games, and we've got to put the best lineup in there right now. We're not afforded the luxury of giving guys a break because we're doing well. We have to put our best foot forward every day to try to win some games and get closer to that .500 mark."

Yet another gem for the Ned Yost quote book. This was his response when asked about giving Cain a day off while recovering from an injury. Ned thinks that risking injury for important players is justified when trying to chase down that .500 mark. Oh, by the way, the Royals are now just a 14 game wining streak from getting to that .500 record, and obviosly there is no way of starting a winning streak without L. Cain in the line-up. COME THE F**K ON NED. Is he really serious with this? Does Ned ever think about putting a plug in that giant mouth hole he uses to say stupid things?

So if Cain re-injuries his leg, Ned thinks he can justify this because the team is trying to get to .500. Nobody is asking for Ned give up and accept the fact that his team is out of it this year, but saying things like this really makes you question the marble rolling around in Yosty's over-sized hat rack. You'd think four Tomm Johns, two knee surgeries, a record of 40-54 and the TWO MONTHs already missed by Cain would serve as a good reminder of how important health is to your team's success, and unfortunately if the Royals are to have any success it won't be this year. However, if they lose the chance to make sure Cain is the immediate future in CF because Delusional Ned thinks we're still chasing .500 this season he should be fired for saying this.

This isn't the first time Ned's Blow Hole has indicated a serious lack of understanding when it comes to medicine and health concerns. Here is Ned Yost openly ignoring the recommendations of the very people trained to evaluate injuries:

“The trainers are saying three days a week,” manager Ned Yost said, “and I’m thinking five days a week. So I’ll probably catch him, up through the All-Star break, four days a week.”

Once again, risking injury to a player who has recently returned to the line-up after missing several months due to an injury is justified in Yosty's world. Plain and simple, he likes Salvy Perez better than Bryan Pena, therefore Salvy's knees suffer the possibility of overuse because General Yost doesn't trust medical science. Maybe Yost was just being funny and the trainers didn't really say that, but I doubt it. This sounds like exactly the "I've got a hunch" type of logic employed by managers still using sacrifice bunts like its 1955. Your medical staff is telling you that there exits the possibilty of re-injury if used in excess, excessive use threshold = X, therefore Ned Yost will employ the following formula:

X + 1 (over the excess) for the first few weeks and then X + "whatever I feel like because in my completely uninformed medical opinion, Salvy's knees are fine"    

Yost doesn't understand that the difference between having Sal Perez play one or two extra games each week is actually worth something like one or two wins to the team over the entire season. The same for Lorenzo Cain, if he were to play like 2001-2004 juiced-out-of-his-mind Barry Bonds it might mean one extra one over the rest of this season (not the 14 need to get to .500). However, starting the year without these guys next season could mean the difference between actually having a shot at that aforementioned .500 record and Ned Yost losing his job by the All-Star break.

Just another day in the life of Ned Yost, fearless leader of your Kansas City Royals.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Wrong answer, Dayton

"You want them all to work out, but most of the time they don't, unfortunately,'' Royals general manager Dayton Moore said Tuesday.

This is what Dayton Moore came up with today in response to the inevitable dumping of our prize offseason pitching acquisition. Our General Manger takes the position that "most times" trades don't work out? Is this how D-Moore really operates, most times it doesn't work out? Why yes, Dayton, for a team that has been losing for 26 years, most times it does not work out. BUT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THAT. IT'S YOUR JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I realize that this quote might have been taken slightly out of context, or that Dayton simply misspoke a little, but it left me feeling like writing a frustrated blog post venting about the current state of the Royals. No one blames Dayton for this one. People blame him for Jose Guillen, the demise of Gil Meche, Frenchy and Yuni part II and the Midwestern heat wave from hell. But he gets a free pass on Jonathan Sanchez. Even Royals fans who saw All Star MVP Melky Cabrera drop a bomb just a few days ago only to watch Sanchez's masterpiece final act yesterday don't hold too much of a grudge. If Melky Cabrera is arrested tomorrow for spying on the US for Fidel Castro, the Royals have still lost this trade. That said, this was a good trade at the time, unfortunately we have seen the worst result possible.

So Dayton should have simply chalked this one up to bad luck. But as Dayton seems to do, he tried to explain this in terms of fundamental baseball laws that not everyone understands. Hey guys, this is just the business, you all don't get it: most times it doesn't work out. Is Dayton writing a County & Western song? For someone who frequently talks about creating a "winning culture" this comment is very much that of a loser. Your goal should be that most times it does work out, are you admitting that you are less intelligent than most other GMs? The correct response was most times it doesn't go this bad, but I'll trade upside starting pitchers for reliable hitters any day of the week.

This has been a frustrating year for the Royals and Dayton has had a really bad run; the Jeff Francouer-Wil Myers saga, Bruce Chen returning to earth, four Tommy Js, the player formerly known as Eric Hosmer, the top prospect formerly know as Mike Montgomery, Luke Hochevar's 65th corner turning start and Melky Cabrera's revenge on top. However, I said it earlier this year, total failure might be the best thing for the Royals, Moore and Ownership. It's Your Time, now!