A real test

Seattle comes to town this weekend as perhaps the most pathetic organization in baseball and the test for the Royals will be to prove that yes they are even more pathetic than us (despite others assertions). They’re offense is so pathetic that trading to get Yuniesky Betancourt back would provide them with a substantial offensive upgrade. As the Royals come off of a road trip that saw them go 3-2, we get to see how good the M’s offense can make our starting pitching staff look; because if any team can make Chen and O’Sullivan look good it’s these guys. Here’s what else to look for when your dominant Royals return to beautiful Kauffman Stadium (I’m pleading for fans to actually show-up).

Aviles is back and the battle is on…


As others have already pointed out, there is an actual battle taking place among a group of Royals’ position players. This is not your typical Royals-of-the-past logjam of players who are indistinguishably bad, this is a real legitimate case where four players are actually deserving of only three spots, who can name the last time we’ve seen this? After Mike’s performance yesterday, how do you pick between Getzie, Mikey, Betty and Kily (Yosty just loves to tack this on to every players’ name - he’s such a baseball coach)? As long as Getz keeps hitting singles and drawing a few walks, he seems like the best option at second given the Royals’ new run-and-gun approach, but as soon as the singles stop falling he should definitely get a rest against any southpaw. Between Wilson and Mike, one of them will eventually have to prove that they are capable of fielding and throwing a baseball better than a high school player, but the truth is sooner or later it won’t matter and Mike Moustakas will be your everyday 3rd basemen and Aviles will be a professional back-up (not a bad life) and Wilson will have to hope someone needs a bat going into the playoffs. As for Kila, Yost has thankfully done enough to make us believe that he really does prefer the “young guys” and will stick with them until they fail miserably, not to mention Billy has continually proven that he does not belong in the field with a glove on his hand.

Irish beats Italian (for now)


We all knew that sooner or later Shaun O’Sullivan was going to get another chance to be a 5th starter. This chance will now come on Friday, and if he can’t keep Seattle’s offense under three runs then we should probably just let him go. Apparently Vinnie had himself a tough time down in Omaha the other night and necessitated the Royals delaying the timeline to see if we actually netted anything from the DeJesus trade other than Jeff Francouer. If either one of these guys has consecutive years in the majors where they make 30+ starts you can have the gross income from the Powder Blue Room.

Do we really have a middle-of-the-order?


This question continues to persist in my mind and will not be fully answered until game 162 has come to an end and Alex AND Billy both have and OPS of over .800. Then I might start believing, but for now I’m not holding my breath. Not since the days of Dye & Sweeney (Beltran and Ibanez too) have we had what you would actually consider a real middle of the order and this is one of the things fueling this early season steak of well played baseball and making us look like a respectable team.      

This long four-game weekend series against a team that has fallen as far as possible will provide the Royals with the perfect opportunity to showcase that they are not that (Seattle) bad.