Horse #1: C'est la vie Frenchy. Poor Dayton Moore had to put down his favorite old horse, he had been trying to convince the world that there was still life left in old Mr. Frenchy, but the vet finally got through to Moore and he was sent to the glue factory on Saturday night. As opportunistic bloggers, how should we react to this news? Should we hyperlink the 20 posts when we mentioned that signing him for two years was a bad idea? Should we go the soft route and talk about how it was a good signing at the time, but unfortunately it just didn't work out and kudos to Dayton for knowing when to pull the plug? Should we be realistic and separate the man from the decision and say that cutting an overpaid 5th outfielder is a relatively easy decision? Having paid $13.5 million for two years of service from the worst RF in baseball will naturally make Dayton Moore look like a bit of a fool, but in the history of overpriced MLB outfielder contracts this one is far from the worst. The one thing that made it so bad was when Ned and Moore refused to see what everyone else did, but recently it was clear that Frenchy had lost his job and this last move helps to prove that they aren't so blind, so there really isn't much to fault them for in this years use of Frenchy. If day one of the post Frenchy era was any indication of what is to come then we're probably going to win the World Series. However, the truth is, all the Royals have to do is replace Frenchy with an average player, he was so bad that ANYTHING was going to be better. Au Revior Frenchy, you made us laugh, cry and yell at the TV more than any Royals player in history, congrats.
Horse #2: Wade Davis-Luke Hochevar comps. It was all going in the right direction, Wade Davis had gone four starts without allowing more than two runs, he had his ERA back under 5.00 and then came Saturdays 1 IP, 5ER masterpiece. Now we have to start asking the questions again. Is he more suited for the bullpen? When will Danny Duffy be ready to replace him? Does Dayton more look like a giant sucker for taking him in the Myers-Shields deal? In my professional scouting opinion, Davis' problem seems to be that he gives up too many hits and walks too many batters, which is to say he isn't a very good pitcher. As good as James Shields has been, if you combine their numbers you have exactly 200 IP with a 4.05 ERA; this is much closer to two more Jeremy Guthries than the dominant Ace and #3 starter we would like to see. The point is, Wade Davis' performance has been bad enough to completely offset the dominance of James Shields, so if he doesn't pick it up soon things will have to change. We all want Davis to be better, but we wanted Jeremey Affelt to be better, we wanted Kyle Davies to be better and we wanted Luke Hochevar to be better, but they weren't and Davis might not be anything more than promise either. The real question is how long the Royals let this be talked about before they act? Hopefully the Tampa Bay Ray in Davis shows itself and he comes around to be a solid starter for the rest of the year, but if not there will be another driver for the Dayton Moore is an Idiot bandwagon.
Horse #3: Giavotella over Gets, Finally! The question as to why Chris Getz got so many opportunities will never be answered. The short answer is that Ned and Dayton always wanted him to be the coaches favorite little Jimmy Hustle player who bunts well, plays great defense, gets on base, runs fast, does the little things, blah blah blah. As much as they wanted this, Getz never became that player no matter how many times Ned hit him leadoff or second. The PBR is one of the Royals Blog league leaders in negative words written about Chris Getz, but the truth is nobody would have ever noticed the immortal Getzie if Hosmer and Moustakas were Trout and Machado. He could have been just the irrelevant 9-hole hitter if the Royals big hitters were actually big hitters, but unfortunately our middle of the order is just middling. Again, Getz was so bad that anything would have been an improvement and hopefully Gio will keep this up just enough so that we never have to see Getz again, but I don´t think we just added vintage Dustin Pedroia to our line-up. Time will tell, but as long as I don´t have to write another word questioning Ned Yost´s decision to bat Getzie second (that will be reserved for Alcides Escobar, soon), I will be happy.
Horse #4: Eric Hosmer is hitting HRs (fingers crossed).
This...
is the only thing that can make us forget about this...
Horse #5: The Royals need to get to .500. This is perhaps the most overused phrase associated with losing teams. Yes, it is historically impossible to make the playoffs when you don´t get to .500, but the dream of chasing .500 means that you are currently a loser. Short of trading for Giancarlo Stanton and Chase Utley, the Royals have pulled out all of the stops to be a winning team this year. With the Detroit Tigers trying their best to prove that the AL Central is the worst division in baseball, the Royals have done nothing to take advantage of this. Just because someone else is losing doesn´t make you a winner, you still have to win games. So hopefully as the Wil Myers vs. David Lough Rookie of the Year debate heats up, so will the Royals. Talking about getting to .500 needs to give way to being over .500 and not having to talk about .500 EVER. It is exactly the mark of mediocrity, if that's what the Royals are shooting for so be it, but right now thye are just reinforcing the fact that they´re not even mediocre. That's the Royals in a nutshell.
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