Not bashing Yost at all, but simple question here. How many more wins would the Royals have with Larussa as manager compared to Yost in your opinions? Just play along please.

5-10

Yost could **** up a bullpen of Bell, Rivera, Soria, Wilson, Hoffman, Eckersleyk, Quiz and Lee Smith

Maybe 2. The Royals have shit for starting pitching. The worst starting pitcher of all time, a pitcher who shouldn't be in the league and one who absolutely goes in to a shell when anyone gets on base.

LaRussa would've never allowed us to go into the season with this rotation. He would've demanded Davies cut long ago.

Thanks guys. Just wondering at what point is over paying for a top shelf manager make more sense then spending money on players.

Somewhere between negative 2 and +2, due to pure randomness, nothing more.

The baseball manager is one of the most irrelevant manager/coach/leader guys in all of sports. A stupid baseball manager can cost you some wins, but Yost doesn't fit that definition, and a good manager does not get you much, if anything.

In baseball, its basically all about the general manager.

How many wins does a Trey Hillman cost a team by abusing top shelf starting pitching?

depends. If no one breaks down maybe none, but he's more likely to kill a pitcher than not. If he breaks a young ace it could be as many as 5 or more. In any case, Hillman is likely to cost a couple wins or more just due to his small ball crap in the AL.

I want a manager who knows he's in the AL (and doesn't bunt all the damn time early in the game), and who wont kill his pitcher's arms. Yost is the first we've had who fits that definition in a while. Yost is nothing special, but at least he's not costing us a lot of wins, so that is a start.

Still hate the way he uses the bullpen. Why not let Holland throw 6 and 7 last night? Blake Wood is lights out when we are down 3 or 4 runs. Throw him out there in a tight game and he's sure to do exactly what he did last night.

Tony LaRussa, along with Lou Pinella, are the most are overrated managers in baseball history.

Nonsense. LaRussa showed how brilliant he was by turning in that wrong lineup card last week. They won didn't they?

Royals' record not due to offense
Pitching needs to turn it around in second half
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com | 07/15/11 9:37 PM ET


MINNEAPOLIS -- Royals manager Ned Yost was looking downright professorial as he sat behind his desk, occasionally passing his hand through his hair as he peered through spectacles at sheets of statistical data.

Outside late Friday afternoon at Target Field, it was pouring rain, but in his office he was poring over RISP figures -- hitting with runners in scoring position.

"Where do you think we rank?" he asked, then answered his own question. "We rank fourth in all of baseball."

That's behind only St. Louis, Atlanta and Cleveland among the 30 Major League clubs, with a .267 average.

"It's higher than I thought," he said, "but we're also ranked like 13th with two outs."

Still, that's in the middle of the pack.

"We actually have 224 hits with runners in scoring position which is second in baseball," he said.

The more Yost looked at various other offensive stats, the better they sounded. The Royals, for example, in the American League ranked sixth in runs, RBIs and total bases, third in average and hits, first in stolen bases and sacrifice hits and flies and so on. OK, just ninth in slugging but pretty good numbers overall.

In defense, the Royals ranked seventh overall, but they were first in assists and total chances, and second in double plays. Not bad at all.

Bottom line, the Royals are in last place in the AL Central with the third worst record in the Majors.

"Part of the job is analyzing where we are right now and what we've got to do to fix it," Yost said. "And every finger points to the pitching, predominately the starting pitching."

Sure enough, the Royals' pitching overall ranks second to last in the AL -- only Baltimore is worse -- in ERA and victories and near the bottom in other key categories.

Among just starting pitchers, the Royals rank last with a cumulative 19-40 record and 5.15 ERA. The relievers have done better, ranking 10th in the AL with a 3.64 ERA along with an 18-15 record and 18 saves.

A primary project for Yost and pitching coach Bob McClure in the remaining part of the season is to turn that around.

"I'm not looking to bring a bunch of new guys in. We've got to fix what we've got," Yost said.

There's a plan for that, but Yost isn't giving out any of his secrets.

"I've got an idea of what we have to do, now it's up to them to go do it," Yost said.



Frenchy at home in KC, doesn't want to leave
MINNEAPOLIS -- Naturally, the rumor mill will touch on Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur as the Trade Deadline approaches, but Frenchy would like to stay in Kansas City.

He's expressed that to Royals general manager Dayton Moore.

"I told him I'd like to be here because I like the guys, I like the coaches, I like where the organization is going," Francoeur said. "But Dayton was great, he said, 'Jeff, I'll be honest with you. When people call, I'll let you know. If you want to know where you stand, I'll tell you.'"

Boston, Detroit and Philadelphia are among the clubs that supposedly have some interest in Francoeur, who went into Friday night's game leading the Royals with 12 homers and 56 RBIs and batting .263.

Francoeur feels that at 27 he fits in with the Royals' youthful club, and there's no doubt that he's become a team leader in the clubhouse as well as on the field.

"I love it," he said.

Orioles lost last night, making the Royals fourth worst now! They're improving!

Obligatory KFD...

It's all perspective folks.

All this means is if the season ended today there would be 3 can't miss prospects in the draft with the Royals drafting 4th. Seems to happy a lot!