Staff Takes More Hits

Our rotation took a couple of hits over the break. As you know by now, Brian Anderson is done for the season. And Denny Bautista is out indefinitely. So Lima’s spot appears to be safe. And unfortunately, so does J.P. Howell’s. In a situation like this, we might as well let Lima finish out the season to see if he can turn things around. What’s it going to hurt now?

Howell is another story though. His situation reminds me of Jimmy Gobble and Zack Greinke to a lesser degree. Both were rushed to the majors simply because we needed starters. Neither faired well. And now we’re doing it to Howell. Makes you wish we would have been willing to pay guys like Suppan to stick around another year or two so some of our younger guys could have had more time to develop in the minors.

Last night, we got more bad news when Carrasco was a late scratch with shoulder stiffness. Lima stepped in at the last minute and pitched relatively well, giving up 3 ER in 6 IP, but the Royals lost 4-1. Looks like Carrasco will pitch on Monday in Cleveland. At this point, it’s better to make sure that Carrasco is okay. We certainly don’t have any reason to rush him back. This season is a wash anyway.

I’ve been looking over season statistics for the Royals and I’m amazed at how few of our regulars have more than 20 walks. Look at some of these totals:

Angel Berroa (11 BB)
Mike Sweeney (14 BB)
Ruben Gotay (19 BB)
John Buck (15 BB)
Mark Teahen (15 BB)

Combine their lack of patience with their sub-par power numbers and what are you left with? We only have two guys (Sweeney and Stairs) in double digits in home runs. And one of those guys isn’t even a starter. We only have two (DeJesus and Sweeney) guys with 40 or more RBI.

As a team, here’s where the Royals stand offensively:

HR (69, second to last in the AL)
RBI (354, last in the AL)
BB (233, second to last in the AL)
AVG (.263, fourth from the bottom in the AL)