P-p-p-poker face

Jose Lima was part of one of the most enjoyable summers the Royals have put together in recent memory and even though it faded in the end it was fun while it lasted. According to Sam Mellinger's salute to Lima Time in a typical Lima effort to keep the clubhouse loose and fun he organized Texas Hold ’Em games, which I'm willing to bet Lima dominated, and leads to the PBR's send-off to the man who seemingly pitched with his best poker face on all summer long trying to bluff the Royals into a division title. Here is a look at what type of poker players we have on the current roster:

Brian Bannister - He's the pitcher who probably most reminds you of Lima, in that he gets it done with less than most pitchers have. This is also probably how he plays poker, through a combination of a good poker face and knowing when to pick his spots he can win hands with less than great cards.

Jose Guillen - Probably the worst poker player on the team; you know he whines and pouts when things aren't going his way, but by God if he ever wins you will hear about it. Also the type of guy who shows you his hand when he wins a bluff and brags about it for days, but in general always loses his money.

Jason Kendall - Another bad poker player, but he's the type who will always tell you what you did wrong and always thinks that he knows what you've got but then folds.

Willie Bloomquist - Good sport, never wins and doesn't see the need for the use of such bad language at the table.

Tejada & Betancourt - They're still learning the rules.

Mike Aviles - Wins a lot of big hands, he's the guy that always hits flushes and full houses on the river and you are left wondering how your Aces and Kings got beat.

Billy Butler - Never quite has the big hands but always plays his pair. He's the Guy that with three people in and an Ace, a Queen and a Jack on the table he'll still play that pair of Tens. Kendall always tells Billy his mistakes but Billy doesn't listen.

Kyle Farnsworth - Is he still on the team?

Gil Meche - He used to be a good poker player but one night he played too late lost all of his money and just hasn't been the same since.

Zach Grienke - He just wins, he's probably memorized every hand combination possible and watched over 2000 hours of World Series of Poker tapes. His favorite movie is Rounders.

Alex Gordon - No room at the table for him, so he and Kila have their own game up in Omaha and take money off poor league minimum minors.

Getz and Posednik: Their skills do not translate into poker and they always run out of money really FAST because they think that pairs of Twos and Threes play.

Help round-out the roster and give us your thoughts on the rest of the team at the poker table. And thanks to Lima Time for giving the Royals a bright spot in a lot of bad memories for our team.

Who are we?

After yet another Grienke hiccup, the end of the Yost bullpen string of luck and a nagging feeling that things will always be the same, the Royals and their Fans find themselves in period of deep soul-searching...

How much longer will I dawn the powder-blue uniform?

Jose Guillen is basically swinging the bat as hard as possible to get off the team; he knows, the fans know and management knows that if any team were willing to give up slightly more than an autographed team photo for his services then that team could have Jose. He can't want to be here any more than we want him here and I'm willing to bet that for about 1/12th of his salary management would pull the trigger regardless of whether or not they were returned more than a supplemental pick in next year's bat-boy draft.

Pods, DDJ & Ankiel; AKA, the starting outfield. They're all probably on the block barring the most amazing comeback in MLB history. However, it is hard to imagine more than luke-warm interest unless the Royals employ snipers to start picking-off the starting outfields of all the contending teams.

Pitchers not named Hochevar & Grienke: You never know, its about the time of year when teams start the annual I-need-a-pitcher-dread and with fair value just about anyone would be there for the taking.

Where will I be in 5 years?

Zach Grienke? Still in KC going 10-10, but making Joe Mauer prodigal son money? On the big stage in one of the coasts, stopping by the Midwest only to pick-up a win against mediocre competition? Winning the Daytona 500 because I quit baseball again.

Billy Butler, I will always be able to hit .290, thus someone will pay me. But will I ever hit 30 hrs? If yes, then I'm valuable to KC and they will sign me long-term, if not, then I will never quite be the big bat the team needs but they will still probably sign me long term. I'm just never going to be Ryan Howard, am I?

Chris Getz, it has been a roller coaster of emotions this year; first I was traded for Mark Teahen, ouch! Then I'm the new starting 2B on another team and the jewel of the owner's eye, next I get hurt only to come back and displace a .300 hitter along with a former all-world prospect. Then this Mike Aviles guy comes along and won't stop hitting the ball really hard. Now I have to wait for a Cuban defector to fuck-up and move Aviles out of my position. I'm not worried though because I hustle, bunt well, run fast and dog-gone-it coaches LOVE ME!

Alex Gordon, in the minors on my 50th rehab assignment going for a Crash Davis-like homerun record? All-star LF for the Royals? Hitting 30hrs/year for Boston while KC fans storm Dayton Moore's office for trading me for Chris Getz part II?

Jason Kendall, Bear Wrestling, Ultimate Fighting competitions? STILL catching 130 games/year? Ned Yost's bench coach, Dayton Moore's Director of Player Philosophy? I guess as long as I'm not on your team you don't care, do you?

Why am I a Royals Fan?

Why you shouldn't be is a much easier question to answer but we will be rewarded for our patience or something like that.

Lost in Translation

Of course everyone knows that Hillman is gone and the KC Royals are in a period of "regime change," so after a few days of careful consideration as to exactly how to address his goodbye, we here at the PBR just want to say thanks. The original name of this blog was Lost in Translation - the reference is obvious for anyone who has seen the movie - and was inspired by the fact that Trey seemed to be speaking another language and his managing only made sense to himself. Posnanski has basically summed up the why behind this, so as opposed to going into some "we told you so" bitter blog post kicking old Tokyo Trey while he's down we just wanted to say thanks for being our muse here at the PBR and we do hope the bass are biting down in Texas. We admit, we probably couldn't have done any better.

Morning Line: Royals Preakness

In the spirit of the second leg of the Triple Crown, The Preakness, the handicappers here at the Powder Blue Room have handicapped a fictitious race in which the field is comprised of current Royals players.

The following are the morning line odds with a description of each horse (player). Keep in mind the winner of this race will simply be the best overall baseball player and not necessarily the "fastest" (as in run the fasteset). Is there an OTB (Off Track Betting Center) near Aurthur Bryant's?

All horses trained by Trainer Trey Hillman, listed with morning line odds:

Note: I just learned that Trey Hillman was fired but we will press on as a momento to Trey. Hint: Race horses run as "rookies" as two-year olds. They run in the Triple Crown as three-year olds.

Horse;Odds

Mike Aviles; 10-1

Hard runner who always finishes in the money. Injured last year after a solid two-year old campaign. Lacks the true arm strength to compete with the gems of the Triple Crown circuit but worth a play on the exotic bets. Handily beat fellow Preakness entry Yuniesky Betancourt last time out.

Willie Bloomquist; 40-1

No one really knows why Trainer Trey keeps trotting this horse out there time and time again. Comes from the long line of disappointing nags out of the Seattle Mariners stable. Willie trains hard and is a breeze to have around the barn except that he can't run with the others at this level. Willie will show up early and be the first out of the gate, but will be far back by the three quarters poll.

Zach Greinke; 1-15

The obvious favorite here and the class of the field far and away. He will break slow and spend the first half mile off the pace lofting 68 mph curve balls before turning it on at the mile poll. The only way he looses is if Trainer Trey attempts to switch out jockeys for the stretch run using Bruce Chen's jockey "to create a better match-up". Zach is an independent colt and knows better.

Brayan Pena; 15-1

Pena brings excellent value to the betting window as a quality, unraced horse. Trainer Trey seems insistent on running his aging stable-mate Mr. Ed (Jason Kendall) but the Royals Stable ownership (Glass family) finally decided to give the young horse a chance.

Billy Butler; 6-1

The only other horse in the field with a chance to give Zach a run at the end. Billy is prone to swinging 6 horses wide in an attempt to start his powerful stretch run. He brings a good finish every time, just sometimes misses the mark.

Rick Ankeil; 25-1

Rick was a champion 2-year old horse who set the word on fire in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. Then Rick forgot how to run and had to go retrain himself as a harness horse. Gotta give the horse credit for learning how to switch running styles, but no shot for the win on this one. Might be worth a look in an exotic bet on one of his good days.

Joakim Soria; 8-1

This track doesn't really fit his style as a (ahem) closer. Not firing like he has in years past, but of course its hard to be a closer when no one sets the pace or scores any runs to ever have a lead. Soria was picked up in Mexican claiming race as one of the Royals stables' best finds in recent history.

Bruce Chen; 2,309,309,0249-1

Bruce breaks from the gate, realizes he's outclassed at this level and does the world a favor and retires before anything serious can happen.

Kyle Farnsworth; 20-1

A menacing looking horse at 17 hands and 1400 lbs and has some front running ability. Kyle never seems to get it all going at the same time despite flashes. Look for him in the exotic bets.

Field:

Dusty Hughes
Kyle Davies
Chris Getz et all

seek help

Trey's response to all of those people who thought he enjoyed losing:

“For people who don’t think that I’m frustrated, all you have to do is look at a picture of when I was hired and look at my face and my hair now.

“I’ve had more people tell me this year that I better get the Grecian Formula out than ever before.”

Trey, buddy, its time to start looking out for old numero uno. Take some time off, re-assess things, and see where you're at next year. We promise we'll hold your spot open, we believe in you. But health first, you're obviously going through a really stressful time in your life and we don't want to see your health suffer. Take a vacation, Alaska maybe, hang out with the Fam but stay far far away from the Royals for a while, really doctor's orders!

Maybe its even time for a career change you seem to have real potential as a TV spokesman, see if you can get a job with Kieth Hernandez and Walt Frazier on the next Just For Men shoot.

Alex Gordon: Further Observations

This might be a little late to the party concerning the Alex Gordon extravaganza but sometimes a little reflection is required even after all the reports claiming the new found success in his new home; left field.

A recent Joe Posnanski blog entry further brings up the often repeated draft order surrounding the Alex Gordon pick, back in 2005.

The often reviewed list is as follows:

1) Justin Upton
2) Alex Gordon
3) Jeffery Clement
4) Ryan Zimmerman
5) Ryan Braun

There is the age old debate as to whether drafting college players (especially hitters due to the literal “material” difference in bats between college and the pros) has a disadvantage to drafting high school players. One theory might be:

“while Alex Gordon was busy running around chasing sorority girls at the bar on Wendsday, taking a charter plane to play Texas on Thursday afternoon, having his “tutor” do his homework for him on Friday afternoon and then hitting off of some other college player with a bat made of materials that would make a weapons defense manufacturer jealous…..

"Billy Butler signed at 18 years old and got right to business hitting with the wood against some other professionally paid player and thus by the time he was 22 years old he had been playing baseball for four years in an environment much more resembling the major leagues than the glorified traveling baseball circuit of suburban white guys that is Division I baseball.”

Except here’s the rub, Gordon, Clement, Zimmerman and Braun were all college players too. All four were 4 year guys born between 1983 and 1984. A quick chart:

Name---------MLB Debut-----GP 1st yr in ML--G.P. in 2nd Year

Alex Gordon--------April 2007 ---------151------------------134
Jeffery Clement----Sept 2007-----------9--------------------66
Ryan Zimmerman--Sept 2005----------157------------------162
Ryan Braun--------May 2007----------113-------------------151

Everyone is quick to lament the fact that both Zimmerman and Braun have exploded into downright major league hitters. Zimmerman obviously got there quick buy signing quick and getting in 134 games in the year he was drafted (which is rare, most players spend the summer after they are drafted attending Scott Boris self-help seminars).

Braun spent two years in the producing solid numbers. Clement was by far the least impressive minor league player and could be labeled just as big a bust as Gordon. Take a moment and scan the minor league stats of those three players, Braun, Zimmerman and Clement.

Below are the numbers for Gordon’s only full year in the minors:

Year_L_G_AB_R_H_2B_3B_HR_RBI_SB_BB_SO_BA_OBP_SLG_OPS
2006_AA_130_486_111__158_39__1_29_101_22_72__113__.325_.427__.588__1.016

These are good numbers, certainly on par with deciding that after a little bit of corporate run-a-round, one should be called up to the show and see if they can be replicated.

Here are the first full season in the majors for each respective player.

Braun
Year_G_AB_R_H_2B_3B_HR_RBI_SB_BB_SO_BA_OBP_SLG_OPS
2007__113_451_91_146_26__6__34_97__15__29___112__.324__.370__.634__1.004

Zimmerman
Year_G_AB_R_H_2B_3B_HR_RBI_SB_BB_SO_BA_OBP_SLG_OPS
2006__157_614_84_176_47__3__20__110___11__61__120_.287__.351__.471___.822

Gordon
Year_G_AB_R_H_2B_3B_HR_RBI_SB_BB_SO_BA_OBP_SLG_OPS
2007__151_543_60_134_36__4__15___60___14__41__137__.247__.314__.411__.725

Obviously, Braun and Zimmerman really gave their respective organizations no argument as to what the term “potential” meant. Braun and Zimmerman also spent the next two years playing baseball while Gordon spent them running up co-pays on his health insurance.

But this leads us to a couple of real questions. Is it really just a crap shoot as to who pans out at the major league level? Does a guy who spent four years supposedly learning his craft in college really deserve two or three “introductory” seasons in the show before “their full talent is realized”? Last of all, were there scouts who actually stated on the record why they would have taken Braun or Zimmerman ahead of Gordon and Clement if they were available?

It appears (and I know this is a negligible sample size by scientific standards) that if you draft right and know who you are drafting out of college as far as hitters go, the beauty of it is that you get a player who is almost ready to go. The next question might be “is it worth it to mess around with a 26 year old who still needs polising”?.

This is the Royals’ conundrum as we speak. There have been the rumors that Gordon will not change his swing and the reason for the demotion last year was to send him a message. If this is the case, then the PBR wonders if Mr. Braun and Zimmerman also had this "hole" in thier swing as a college player. Who was the cross-checker that saw Gordon play at Nebraska that didn't realize this "hole". It sounds a lot like the bank executives that "didn't know about the derivatives on their balance sheets". If Alex Gordon has a hole in his swing, its probably been there a while and if Dayton can't see it or Datyon can't hire someone to see it, the Kansas City Royals are in a real pinch.

The Powder Blue Room would like to querry the people in charge as to why they used the second pick in the entire draft on a player who will require a swing revamping before being successful in the show, especially when said player is a 23 year-old college player who should be close to having it all ready to hit the ground running. Had Alex not been to enough baseball camps by 23 years of age to have that swing ironed out?

This is an entirely different situation than having a raw 17 year old Dominican kid or a wild swinging 18 year-old Billy Butler who needs to work out a couple of kinks in the ball-swing.

As stated in an earlier Powder Blue Room article, the Royals appear to be sacrificing a small upgrade defensively at second base in order to show Alex Gordon who is boss. For an organization in need of real major league hitters this excuse is lacking and trust me it is much more difficult to find real major league hitters than it is find players that will do whatever that horrible Trey Hilman quote describes:

Trey Hilman describing why Chris Getz plays baseball:

“It may not be those standout things like a double in the gap or the great diving play every night, but he’s going to turn the double play. He’s going to range up and the middle and, especially, into the 4-3 hole”.

What Trey is describing would be an excellent observation if the Royals organization were really one of those teams that could claim "we are one player away" or "its the little things that count". My friends, the Royals are "many many many things away" and its the big things that count at this point, the big things being developing big league hitters, the kind that are real Major League outs. These are not tinkering kind of things and certainly can't be made up for with a small dose of "ranging up the middle".

And after all this meandering around, here is my final verdict:

The Royals should tell Alex that he is playing third base at the major league level for the rest of the year. You tell Alex that he may use whatever swing he likes, just hit the ball. Inform Alex that he will play every single game regardless if he has a shrapnel wound or if he was out at the P&L district until 3:30 am the night before (throw in George Brett’s cell number for hangover tips on gameday). Tell Alex he has the whole year to do whatever he likes and you will re-evaluate at the end of the year.

Callaspo goes back to second base and tell Trey that when the Royals have a legitimate major league hitting line-up consideration such as “range up the middle and the 4-3 hole” will begin to have some clout in personel decisions.

Chris Getz just has to deal with this situation or have Dayton Moore find someone else in the league to over values “range up the middle and the 4-3 hole” as much as Trey Hillman (good luck).

Royals Morning Sickness

As Royals fans go these days its pretty tough to wake-up and read the morning paper and see what's happening with the team. Your stomach starts to churn a little bit, then come the shooting migraine-like splitting headaches, blurred vision, loss of motor control - more or less like a hangover but without the night of good times to remember. Here's how my list looks:

#1 - Yuni is fined for dropping a pop-up??? This is what management decides is appropriate action for a Major League Baseball team; fining players for errors because of bad technique. It's okay for Jason Kendall to drop pop-ups so long as he uses proper technique. What's next, fining Rick Ankiel for too many swings and misses? Meche walked 7 yesterday, doesn't that look just as bad as dropping a pop-up, Gil write a check for a mil, your making the team look bad. There was a real easy solution to this, START Mike Aviles until he drops a pop-up trying to catch it between the legs. Does no one realize that its these types of things that make you look like a pathetic organization? This was what caused my shooting headache.

#2 - The Soria blown save. This one was about as bad a loss as you could have in terms of demoralizing a fan. Everything went right, huge comeback, big hits, taking the starter off the hook, solid performance from Tejada and then Soria comes in and gives up back-to-back homers. I could hear grown men weeping throughout the KC area, the worst part is there is no one to get mad at, the feeling that maybe you should stop caring and grow-up sets in a little deeper. This was the cause of my frequent trips to the bath room.

#3 - Zach Grienke box scores. There have been so many recent articles detailing how bad the Royals have performed in his starts that its not worth recounting but there is just no better sign of how hopeless the team is than having a losing record when this guy starts. You read the box score and wonder if its a joke, but its not and it really isn't funny. This leads to blurry vision.

#4 - The lack of big hits. How many times have you wanted to throw things while watching the offense squander opportunity after opportunity. With the one exception during the Soria-blown-save-game, last week has been glaring evidence that we still do not have a big bat in the line-up. I have a real loss of motor control and my remote control, cell phone and computer won't make it through another stretch like this.

The worst part about all of this is that you know its going to be like this until the end of September, granted some days will be better than others but its not going away anytime soon.