DeJesus continues to make an impact in the community

A few interesting tidbits about the Royals are in the news:

David DeJesus

Imagine traveling to a city you’ve never been to so a loved one can receive treatment for a rare form of cancer and on top of all that stress, you have to figure out how you are going to pay for your living expenses for your extended stay. Royals outfielder David DeJesus wants to do something about that. He wants to build a home near a sarcoma treatment center that will house families with loved ones suffering from the disease. One of his cousins died from the disease.

“Some families don’t have enough money to fly out here and rent hotels and cars. This would be a place where they can stay and where they could also get more information about the disease,” DeJesus is quoted as saying in an article on MLB.com. “It would take away that one stress in their lives and they wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

Very cool David.

Coaching Changes

The Royals have decided to go in a different direction for 2010 regarding their bullpen and first base coaches. John Mizerock, now the former bullpen coach, was not offered a contract by the He’s been with the Royals since 1992. Rusty Kuntz, now the former first base coach, will become a special assistant to Dayton Moore as well as an outfield and baserunning instructor. Eddie Rodriguez will become the new first base coach. The Royals are looking for a replacement for Mizerock.

So John Gibbons, Bob McClure, Dave Owen and Kevin Seitzer will return for 2010. The only one of those coaches I have a real problem with is Dave Owen. He got more guys thrown out at home in one season than should ever be the case.

Personnel Changes

The Royals decided to retain Scott Thorman, who had a nice season in Omaha (19 HR, 63 RBI, .297 AVG in 97 games). Like so many other players in Omaha, Thorman is getting a little long in the tooth to be stuck in the Minor Leagues. He’s 27, but he’ll offer a little depth at first base and the outfield if the Royals get desperate at one of those positions. Unfortunately, when Thorman got a shot with the Braves at the big league level in 2006 and 2007 he hit just .222 with a .260 OBP in 175 games.

The Royals decided not to retain Brandon Duckworth. Justifiably so. He’s 33 and he wasn’t even very impressive in Omaha this season. He was 3-6 with a 5.31 ERA in 20 games there. You have to wonder if this won’t be the end of Duckworth’s career.

Talking Royals baseball with Craig Brown

Craig Brown over at Royals Authority invited me to appear on his radio show on SportsRadioKC.com. He’s a gracious host and I hope you’ll enjoy the show. You can listen tomorrow at 9:00 am (Central). I made a mistake during the interview when I said Yuniesky Betancourt had the worst fielding percentage of all MLB shortstops in 2009. He was actually tied for 17th out of 22.

Soria wins MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award

Joakim Soria has been named the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month Award winner for September. Soria had 10 saves in September without allowing a single run all month. He is the first closer for the Royals to have back-to-back seasons with 30 or more saves since Jeff Montgomery did it during the early 90s.

Imagine what this team would look like without Joakim Soria. Not only did he save nearly half of their wins this season, but in seven of his 30 saves he pitched more than one inning to get the save. Of course, that begs the question—does it really matter if a team that loses 97 games has a closer? So what if they lose ten more games without him, right? Why not just trade him for prospects?

You’ll get no argument from me about that, but I do know that losing wears on fans and that having Soria takes the edge off—even if just a little—and it gives us something to cheer for in the midst of an otherwise awful season.

The five big surprises of the 2009 Kansas City Royals’ season

I’m not going to include Zack Greinke on this list because we’ve seen glimpses of his greatness over the past couple of seasons. Sure, his 2009 campaign was one of the best we’ve ever seen in a Royals’ uniform, but I don’t think any of us were stunned by it. He has dominant stuff, so it was just a matter of him staying focused on executing his game plan.

On to the list:

Billy Butler’s breakout season. It’s hard to call this a surprise because Billy Butler has hit at every level he’s ever played at, but in the first two years of his Major League career it looked like he may have met his match. Somewhere around the All-Star break, Butler caught fire. He looked more relaxed at the plate than I’ve ever seen him and he became a doubles machine. He hit .363 in October with a .459 OBP—good enough to win the AL Player of the Month for September. He ended up hitting 21 HR with 93 RBI and you have to think he is on the verge of establishing himself as the player we all hoped he would become.

Alberto Callaspo’s offensive numbers. As bad as Callaspo was on defense, he was able to stay in the everyday lineup because he can flat hit. He ended up hitting .300 (second highest on the team, with a .356 OBP (also second highest on the team). He also ended up with 41 doubles. He could be regarded as a mini-Billy Butler. Who would have expected that? Now, if the Royals could just figure out a way to put Callaspo and Frank White together during Spring Training next year to get Callaspo’s glove work figured out, Callaspo could be the long-term answer at second base.

Miguel Olivo had a career year at the age of 31, hitting 23 HR. In his nine previous seasons, he’d never hit more than 16 home runs. Granted, he’d only seen the bulk of the action in three of those nine seasons, but he was a back up for a reason. Toward the end of the 2009 season, he even began to take a few walks. The Royals and Olivo hold a mutual option for 2010 and I’d be surprised if the Royals pulled the trigger on their end. And I certainly don’t see them re-signing both Olivo and John Buck.

Robinson Tejeda’s effectiveness as a starter. He was pushed into the starting rotation late in the season after injuries to Gil Meche, Brian Bannister, and Kyle Davies and he went 3-1 in six starts with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He only averaged a tick over five innings per start, but that’s understandable since he came out of the bullpen. If you look at his career numbers as both a starter and reliever, they look quite similar (as a starter he’s 17-18 with a 4.52 ERA and as a reliever he’s 3-3 a 4.55 ERA), but the Royals would be foolish not to give him a shot at the rotation in the Spring.

The Royals led the American League in triples with 51, which seems pretty unlikely considering their lack of speed and below average ability to run the bases. No other AL team was even close (the Twins were second with 40). David DeJesus had nine triples; Willie Bloomquist had eight; so did Callaspo; Yuniesky Betancourt had six; and the Royals even had nine triples from catchers (Olivo had five and John Buck had four). I don’t know what to think of all the triples other than saying the Royals had a knack for finding the nooks and crannies of the various different AL ballparks.

The five major disappointments of the 2009 Kansas City Royals’ season

The season started with so much promise: a revamped stadium, a 12-10 start in the month of April, a 6-0 start by Zack Greinke and an appearance on cover of SI, and optimism from fans, the likes of which haven’t been felt in a long time. Then, everything seemed to crumble in May. The defense was atrocious, the bats grew silent, and the losing began. So much so, that it looked like the Royals were headed for another 100 loss season. They barely avoided it.

A season that start with so much promise ended in major disappointment. Let’s look back at the five major disappoints of the 2009 season:

The signing of Yuniesky Betancourt. Not only is he one of the worst everyday players in the Major Leagues, he came with a big contract that runs through 2011. The Mariners paid his salary this season. He’ll make $3 million in 2010 ($2 million paid by the Royals, $1 million by the Mariners). And he’ll make $4 million in 2011 ($3 million paid by the Royals, $1 million by the Mariners). You know a player is bad when his former team is willing to pay several million dollars so you won’t put on their uniform any more.

Dayton Moore, for so many reasons. For saying he wants guys who play the game the right way, but then going out and acquiring guys like Yuniesky Betancourt. For saying he wants guys of high character and then going out and acquiring guys like Sidney Ponson, Ryan Freel, and even Jose Guillen for that matter. For not taking defense into consideration when assembling the team. For overpaying for Kyle Farnsworth. For disassembling a good bullpen with the belief that he could easily rebuild it. For being defensive when criticism came. For being arrogant when questions came. And more.

Alex Gordon. Gordon got hurt the first week of the season, and that’s not his fault, but it was still a major disappointment. It moved Mark Teahen from second base to third, which put Alberto Callaspo at second. More about that in a minute. When Gordon was able to come back, he wasn’t good. He didn’t move well defensively and his timing was way off at the plate. He spent several weeks in Omaha before coming back to KC to finish the season. The Royals needed him to have a breakthrough season. Instead, people began to whisper about him being a bust. That’s probably pre-mature, but 2010 is huge for Gordon.

Injuries. Coco Crisp, Mike Aviles, Alex Gordon, Gil Meche—on and on it went. The first three were devastating for the Royals. Crisp was supposed to be the guy who set the table offensively for the Royals. Mike Aviles simply needed to do what he did in 2008. And we’ve already covered Alex Gordon. Meche battled back injuries all season and never really looked like the Meche we’ve grown accustomed to. The Royals had a couple of more injuries to guys like Brian Bannister, but by then, the season was already over. The Royals aren’t deep enough to overcome injuries to key players.

Defense. I don’t want to overstate this or exaggerate, but as I search my memory banks going back to the late 70s when I first became a baseball fan, I cannot remember a worse defensive team than the 2009 Royals. Injuries played a role. Alberto Callaspo wouldn’t have been the everyday second baseman if Alex Gordon hadn’t gotten hurt and we wouldn’t have been subjected to his clueless defensive play. Put the injuries aside for a minute and think objectively about this defensive infield: Billy Butler at first (sub-par to slightly below average), Callaspo at second (one of the worse everyday second baseman ever), Betancourt at short (might be worse than Angel Berroa when it comes to making the routine play), and Alex Gordon at third (who doesn’t look natural at the position). Throw in the missed cut off men from the outfield, catchers who were routinely out of position for plays at the plate and you have one terrible defensive baseball team.

There you have it. In the coming week, we’ll look at some of the surprises (in a good way) of the 2009 season.

It’s almost over

Game Date: September 29, 2009
Kansas City @ New York
Yankees 4, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Bruney (5-0), LP: Farnsworth (1-5)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 64-94 / Record in September 14-13

Bad defense. A blown save. Another good performance by a starting pitcher down the drain. All in a day’s work for the 2009 Kansas City Royals.

Hochevar hit hard again

Game Date: September 28, 2009
Kansas City @ New York
Yankees 8, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Gaudin (2-0), LP: Hochevar (7-12)
KC Home Runs: Teahen (12)
Royals Record: 64-93 / Record in September 14-12

There is no way to sugarcoat what Luke Hochevar is going through right now. He’s getting shelled. He’s only won one game in the last two months. His ERA has climbed to 6.24. And he continues to struggle with his location. I think he has the stuff to be a solid big league pitcher, but he’s not going to be successful if he continues to locate so poorly. It’s too late now to give him a look in the bullpen, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Royals give him a try there during the spring.

On a positive note, if there such a thing when you are nearly 30 games under .500, Mark Teahen was not only in the lineup—which was nice to see since he’s missed so much time lately with a sore back—but he also went deep. It’s the first home run he’s hit since August 29 against Seattle. Overall, he’s had a disappointing season. In over 500 at bats, he has hit just 12 HR with 48 RBI. But if you look at his numbers from previous seasons, they aren’t all that different from this season. His best season was 2006 when he hit 18 HR and drove in 69 runs while hitting .290. As he finishes up his fifth full season, it looks like we’ve got what we’ve got in him. Offensively, I expected more. But his decent glove work and versatility make him a guy you want to keep around. I do wonder however if he shouldn’t be considered a utility guy rather than an everyday player.

Unfortunately, the Royals will take on the evil Yankees again tomorrow night in New York. It’s hard to feel good about this match up.

Greinke wins again, continuing his magical season

Game Date: September 27, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City 
Royals 4, Twins 1 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (16-8), LP: Liriano (5-13), SV: Soria (29)
KC Home Runs: Betancourt (6)
Royals Record: 64-92 / Record in September 14-11

While I was following the game this afternoon on Game Day and tweeting with fellow Royals’ fans, one guy said that this was the third time he’s taken his son to see Zack Greinke pitch this season and he was already looking forward to what that would mean as his son got older. He’s on to something. We’ll be referring to Greinke’s magical season for a long time to come. He picked up his 16th win of the season this afternoon—the final home game of the season for the Royals.

With Royal Reflections about to join the Fan Huddle network in the next week, one of the things I’m thinking about doing is re-living all of Greinke’s starts—one by one. Wouldn’t that make for a fun off season? I’d pull info from various sources, including some of my own thoughts as I wrote them here, and we’d steadily march through his season all over again. Let me know if that might be something that would interest you.

As for this particular game, Yuniesky Betancourt hit a three run home run in the second inning and the umpires might as well have called the game at the point. Not really, but you had the feeling that Greinke was going to grab onto that lead and never let it go. I wasn’t surprised to see Hillman using Soria for another six-out save. I’m sure he really wanted to nail this one down for Zack. And now that he’s at 16 wins with an ERA hovering around 2.00, he has to win the Cy Young, doesn’t he?

Tonight, at 10:00 pm Central, I’ll be a guest on the SethSpeaks podcast. Seth Stohs is a Twins blogger and we’ll be doing a review of the Twins-Royals series. Tune in at the beginning of the hour if you get a chance (or listen to the archived version of the show at your convenience).

Butler hits 50th double in Royals loss

Game Date: September 26, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 11 Royals 6 / Box Score
WP: Baker (14-9), LP: DiNardo (0-2)
KC Home Runs: Pena (6), Callaspo (11)
Royals Record: 63-92 / Record in September 13-11

It’s always interesting to see what will happen when two hot teams run into each other for a series. In this case, the Twins are simply taking it to the Royals. In the middle of the Twins five-run fourth inning was All-Star shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt making yet another error. Yes, I’m being facetious.

Putting that aside, Billy Butler gives us a good reason to get serious. He picked up his 50th double of the season. He’s closing in on Hal McRae’s club record (54), set in 1977. Coming into this season, I was growing skeptical of Butler. That probably wasn’t fair, but we’ve seen so many guys come through here who are supposed to be the next big thing that it causes one to be slower to accept the fact that we might actually have one of those guys.

I saw an interview with him earlier this season in which he said he wanted to be like Mike Sweeney. He wanted to make an impact in the community and he wants to carry himself as a teammate like Sweeney did. Those are big shoes to fill, but his recent answers to questions about his breakout season sound a lot like something Sweeney would say.

The Royals are planning to call Cooperstown to see if they want some artifact from Butler since only six previous players have had 50 doubles in a season before their 24th birthday (Hank Greenberg, Enos Slaughter, Stan Musial, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera). Last night, when a reporter mentioned this to Butler he said:

“I just play baseball, I don’t worry about that kind of stuff. I let other people worry about it and just go out and play the game. I’d rather be remembered as a guy that plays hard, not a guy who had a lot of talent and didn’t respect it. That’s what I care about it.”

Can’t you just hear Sweeney saying that in a similar circumstance.

The truth is, there was only one Mike Sweeney, just like there’s only one Billy Butler, but if Butler is going to model himself after any other player, he’d be hard pressed to find a better guy than Sweeney.

Royals drop third straight game

Game Date: September 25, 2009
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Twins 9, Royals 4 / Box Score
WP: Pavano (13-11), LP: Tejeda (4-2)
KC Home Runs: Butler 2 (21)
Royals Record: 63-91 / Record in September 13-10

That wasn’t the Robinson Tejeda we’ve seen since he became a starter. Seven walks, five earned runs, and more balls in the dirt than should ever happen in one game. The defense behind him didn’t help much either. And with the exception of Zack Greinke and Billy Butler, this team looks like it’s coming back down to earth.

Ejections, warnings, and errors

Game Date: September 24, 2009
Boston @ Kansas City 
Red Sox 10, Royals 3 / Box Score
WP: Buchholz (7-3), LP: Lerew (0-1)
KC Home Runs: Butler (19)
Royals Record: 63-90 / Record in September 13-9

The Royals have had several bizarre games this season. Add this one to the his list:

Five Errors

Gordon, Betancourt, Callaspo, and Butler—I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse defensive infield. Three of them made four errors tonight. Betancourt made two of them and he probably should have been tagged with another. The five errors were the most the Royals have committed since 2002, when they committed five errors against Seattle.

Greinke Ejected

Zack Greinke questioned where home plate umpire Greg Gibson’s strike zone was and he got tossed. Greinke wasn’t even on the mound tonight. He made his comments from the bench. He probably shouldn’t have done it, but I like the fact that he did. It shows how engaged he is and how much he wants to see the Royals win.

Lerew Warned

Lerew threw a 76 mph breaking pitch inside to Mike Lowell and Gibson, in demonstrative fashion, warned Lerew and both benches. Gibson made himself part of the game and he shouldn’t have. Lerew wasn’t throwing at Lowell. If he was, somebody needs to explain to him that throwing a 76 mph at somebody isn’t all that intimidating.

Hillman Ejected

Gibson tossed Hillman out of the game after Hillman argued with him about the warning he gave Lerew. I’m surprised that Gibson just didn’t toss the entire team out, causing a forfeit. The guy seems to have pretty thin skin—which isn’t a good thing to have for an umpire.

Last night, I made a brief appearance on the SethSpeaks podcast (look for the show dated 9/24/2009). Seth Stohs is a Twins blogger and he did a preview of the upcoming Twins-Royals series. I joined the show about half way into it. And, if all goes as planned, I’ll be back on the show on Sunday evening to do a review of the series.

No use crying over spilt beer

Game Date: September 23, 2009
Boston @ Kansas City 
Red Sox 9, Royals 2 / Box Score
WP: Beckett (16-6), LP: Hochevar (7-11)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 63-89 / Record in September 13-8

The most entertaining moment of this game might have been the fun Ryan and Frank had with the video replay of the young woman who accidentally spilled her beer on the camera man in right field. It sure wasn’t the six run Red Sox explosion in the fifth inning against Luke Hochevar.

We could get excited about Mitch Maier’s three hits or Yuniesky Betancourt’s three hits. But in reality, this came turned into a dud after Hochevar allowed another big inning. I know he just tossed a shutout, but I still think he’d might be better suited for long relief.

With all of the injuries in the rotation, the Royals are going to give Anthony Lerew a shot tomorrow night. He’s been pitching in NW Arkansas and over his last ten starts he’s 6-2 with a 2.42 ERA. He’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched for the Braves, but not successfully. In 21.2 innings of work with Atlanta, spanning three seasons, he has an 8.31 ERA and a 1.985 WHIP. Yikes. But if you look at his career Minor League numbers (53-44 with a 3.52 ERA in 176 games) you can see why the Royals signed him.

Greinke makes a statement by defeating Boston

Game Date: September 22, 2009
Boston @ Kansas City 
Royals 5, Red Sox 1 / Box Score
WP: Greinke (15-8), LP: Byrd (1-2), SV: Soria (28)
KC Home Runs: None 
Royals Record: 63-88 / Record in September 13-7

It’s beginning to feel a lot like April. The Royals are scoring runs and Zack Greinke is on another great run. And the wins are mounting. I love seeing the Royals win, regardless of what month it is, but this September burst doesn’t feel exactly like April.

In April, we had hope. Now, we have questions. In April, all was right with Dayton Moore and the fans. Now, we feel like estranged family members who are tolerating each other. In April, it looked like we were on the verge of seeing a new and improved Royals. Now, we are wondering why the Royals couldn’t play this way when it mattered.

Seeing Greinke pitch the way he did tonight and seeing him smile in the dugout after he was removed from the game—well, it eases the pain of a dreadful 2009 season. I love seeing fans at the ballpark with signs honoring Greinke and what he’s done this season. And I love the way they begin to anticipate his strikeouts, even early in the game, and how, with each strikeout, the anticipation grows.

His ERA is down to 2.08 and you really get the feeling that he could get it under 2.00 before the season is over.

Felix Hernandez has had a great season for Seattle. He’s 16-5 with a 2.45 ERA. But Greinke has been superior. His ERA is considerably better. He’s struck out more guys and he’s walked fewer. Several other guys are having great seasons too—Roy Halladay and C.C. Sabathia to name a couple—but again, their stats don’t measure up to Greinke’s.

And now that Greinke has silenced the bats of the Red Sox, he might have just solidified the Cy Young Award.

Royals come from behind to beat the Red Sox

Game Date: September 21, 2009
Boston @ Kansas City 
Royals 12, Red Sox 9 / Box Score
WP: Yabuta (2-1), LP: Bard (2-2), SV: Soria (27)
KC Home Runs: Jacobs (18)
Royals Record: 62-88 / Record in September 12-7

What do you say about this team in terms of analysis? They started well; they are ending well; and everything in between was awful. I don’t know what to make of that, but how can you not be enjoying this flurry of wins? Last night, the Royals had a six-run sixth inning to come from behind to beat the Red Sox. And everything seems upside down.

DiNardo got bombed. Yabuta got the win. Wright pitched two scoreless innings. Bloomquist stole two bases. Olivo stole one. Betancourt had two hits, brining his average up to .240. The Royals had 11 walks, which is closer to a typical week than one game. Heck, the Royals even flashed a little leather in this one.

Whatever caused this guys, keep it up.

Tejeda does it again

Game Date: September 20, 2009
Kansas City @ Chicago
Royals 2, White Sox 1 / Box Score
WP: Tejeda (4-1), LP: Garcia (2-3), SV: Soria (26)
KC Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 61-88 / Record in September 11-7

Robinson Tejeda was a starter before coming to Kansas City. He started 13 games for the Phillies in 2005, 14 games for the Rangers in 2006, and 19 games for the Rangers in 2007. He also spent portions of all of those seasons in the minor leagues and he was used primarily as a starter down there too. But the Rangers put him in the bullpen in Oklahoma City in 2008 while also mixing in a few starts and he posted a 2.18 ERA. He didn’t fare so well at the big league level for them out of the pen (9.00 ERA in 2008), but when he came over to the Royals in 2008, they used him almost exclusively in the pen (he did make one spot start) and he ended the season in Kansas City with a 3.20 ERA.

We expected more of the same from him this season and for the most part, he’s met our expectations. But none of us could have expected what he’s doing since he’s been pressed into the starting rotation. He’s been amazing. In his four starts this season, spanning 22.1 innings, he’s given up just two earned runs. During that stretch, his ERA is 0.81 and batters are hitting just .117 against him. He’s not going deep into games, but you can’t really expect him to since he’s been coming out of the pen all season.

If you break his career numbers down by role, you won’t see a big difference. As a starter, he’s 17-17 with a 4.41 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP in 51 games. As a reliever, he’s 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 70 games. But you have to wonder if he hasn’t figured something out this season. A.J. Pierzynski notices something different:

“He’s good. The difference was when he was coming out of the bullpen he was throwing 97, 98 mph, now he is 91, 92 and he spots it a lot better and doesn’t fall behind too many guys. It’s pretty amazing seeing the transformation a guy can make from going from the bullpen to being a starter and having the success that he’s had. He’s done it four or five times now so it’s not a fluke.”

Tejeda picked up his fourth win of the season yesterday, pitching six innings and giving up just one earned run. Unfortunately, he’s been fighting against a blister on his pitching hand. Let’s hope it doesn’t keep him from making his final couple of starts.

Roman Colon pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless ball. And Joakim Soria got a five-out save to nail down the win.

The Royals didn’t manage much offense, but Willie Bloomquist scored in the first inning on a wild pitch and Mitch Maier drove in Josh Anderson with a single in the third and that was enough. Speaking of Anderson, did you see his nice catch in center field? He went over the wall and brought it back. You can watch the video of the play on the Royals’ website. Tejeda promised Anderson a dinner for making the play.

They Royals have won 10 of their last 13 and surprisingly they have caught the Indians, who have lost eight games in a row, in the AL Central even though they have scored nearly 100 runs less than the Indians this season.

The Royals begin a new series tonight against the Red Sox. Lenny DiNardo (0-1, 5.23) goes up against Tim Wakefield (11-4, 4.22). DiNardo is 1-0 against the Red Sox in his career with a 3.60 ERA in 15.0 IP. Wakefield is 11-6 against the Royals with a 3.79 ERA in 142.2 IP.