Arm strength from second base matters how much?

I couldn't believe Yost just stuck him in there against the meaty left handers like that. Yost nearly cost us this game.

Meh, his jump-turn-throw was meh! LMAO

Depends on the situation. If trying to turn a DP on a speedy runner after a weakly hit grounder or attempting to throw out a runner at home on a relay throw, it is pretty important.

How Yost isn't explicitly asked about using Collins against lefties is maddening.

mind-bottling

Yes. /CP

If Gio sucks that much then they should just designated him for assignment and move on.

Yost is a douche who has no feel for anything

some guys can suck and they will play every day ... others he yanks around like a YoYo.


If Gio and Lough can add some offense at the bottom of the order then our lineup is SO much better. We should give them every chance to do just that.

Hope Yost doesn't **** it up.

The game is 9-7 when Gio is replaced, not 1-0; offense has been pretty ****ing important, but let's close our eyes and avoid reality.

In the end, did it matter? No. But results don't justify decisions.

johnny g 3 for 4. I like it. disappointing minor league season but hes really our best option at this point. I mean tejada is a better option than Johnson or getz. I had no idea he was coming up, is John G here to stay or was there an injury or something? I didn't hear about anybody coming up

I'd say he's here to stay barring a trade.

I love how Gio looked today. It was nice to see a lineup that I didn't consider any spot a guaranteed out. I just thought the complaining about putting Johnson in for defense seemed like Ned bashing for the sake of wanting something to bitch about. Personally, I didn't see it as Ned not being comfortable in Gio's abilities. I could be wrong. Lord knows I've been wrong before.

a) Gio's minor league season was far from disappointing.
b) We DFA'd Frenchy

i don't know what is going to happen with Gio, he might suck.

but finally getting some pop at 2nd base is worth the risk.

Day 1 and you pull him ... don't like it.

If he starts screwing up on defense then you react.

don't scream fire before you see any smoke

jmo

There was no reason to pull Gia. There was no reason not to have him up at the start of the season. When he has come up in the past he has played better than Getz, that's for sure.

Maybe marginally... really he hasn't been any better than Getz, but it's a relatively small sample size of 100 games or so. He definitely has a bit more pop, but he also hasn't walked much and struck out a lot.

I'm sick of Aaron Crow serving up meatballs every outing. Dude is a zero WAR player tho year.

Wow. What a crazy game. Nice to see them win a game despite crappy pitching for once.

what is the biggest problem for the Royals, each time a pitcher struggles or a batter doesn't Hit?

confidence

Moose needs to be confident and trust his ability ... not think so much.
Pitcher needs trust his stuff and pitch more to contact
Team needs confidence to win

So what does Yost do on the very first day a guy gets called up? Reminds him of his weakness, slaps him in the face after he goes 4 for 5 at the plate.


it should of been "Gio ... you got this, go do your thing. You're a big leaguer"

instead Gio gets kicked in the nuts


Yost always acts like he's worried about confidence but this wasn't a confidence move.

ROFL

That's why they call him "Nervous Ned"

Only 4.5 out going into July. This I like.

well then Nervous Ned needs to go because we need a manager that can get this team of young players to focus and believe in themselves.

a top priority

I had to leave when the 9th started because I had to go grocery shopping. ROFL

Came back and watched the end. Hosmer looks ****ing awesome. Holland has major nuts.

One hole we have on the roster is a reliever who can come in and induce ground balls or double plays. Every one of our relievers is a strikeout specialist. We need Louis Coleman. Maybe we can get a bag of balls for Hoch and bring him up.

Hasn't Hoch been good this year?

Nobody pays 4.5 million for a middle inning reliever who wilts in high leverage situations.

I've seen people bitch about Collins, Herrera, Holland, and Crow this season.. and I'm sitting here trying to figure out how we have the lowest bullpen ERA in the AL.

Cleveland just moved into a tie for first. That team has shit pitching and a bunch of no names and they're where the Royals should be.

Greg Holland and Hochevar.

Then it's time to go take it. If it's ours, we will take it in this next series. It's a shame they'll miss Ervin.

The alternative was probably spending $500k on Louis Coleman and David Glass pocketing the $4 mil.

We are overpaying for Hoch in a major way. The guy was a #1 pick and now he is doing pen duty and hardly in pressure situations. That being said today was a perfect day where he should have been brought in for the 7th instead of Collins. Hoch is good when he starts an inning as opposed to coming into the middle of one and that is to be expected.

Ned has to realize that Collins is less than good against left-handed hitting.

Yep....

3 1/2 more weeks and they bring us all the way to training camp.

When's the last time the "dead period" (no NBA, no NHL) actually had some interest (besides the QB challenge they air a few weeks before training camp opens)???

Gonna enjoy it while it lasts....

He's just the manager man, give him a break. He can't be in charge of knowing everything.

Yeah, that's cause they can hit home runs.

Don't look now but this team has suddenly found their HR swingl. Let's hope it lasts and isn't a fluke.

Salvy and Gordon both crushed balls today I thought would go but the wind really knocked them down just enough

Still think we should go about acquiring an RF with some pop ASAFP. Lough had a great game today, but he's a 4th OF imo.

If we could put together a package to get Stanton, that would be dreamy. Plus if Utley is available on the cheap, push all in. Adding two bats would be nuts.

Gordon
Cain
Utley
Stanton
Hos
Butler
Moose
Perez
Escobar

I would quit my job and travel around the country watching this team if this happened.

Great to dream, but why do you keep putting Cain at 2nd? He's, optimistically, the 6th best bat in that lineup.

Can Lough play center field? Cain has been atrocious lately. I'd much rather see Gordon/Lough/Phantom RF Power Bat Trade Acquisition than Gordon/Cain/Phantom RF Power Bat Trade Acquisition.

I know they have, but I'm analyzing the season as a whole. Cleveland is 6th in the majors in HR; KC is 29th.

He's the only RH bat that projects to that spot. Who else are you going to put there without stacking all your left handers?

Jose Canseco.

I don't care about the L-R-L-R thing. I think that gets way overblown.

Get your best hitters as many as ABs as possible. Beyond this, it doesn't really matter.

Until someone gets to bring in their LOOGY and blow away your three best hitters with him. These splits matter from a strategic perspective.
ex:
A guy like Louis Coleman gets crushed by lefties but dominates righties. So, if they have 3 righties in a row, I just put a guy like Coleman in and crush the side with his closer-level performance against righties. However, you throw a lefty in there and now I may have to burn him after one guy.

The impact this has on bullpen management is crucial and underrated, imo.

have to agree with NF this time, you want to alternate as much as you can for pitching matchups.

too many in order and the specialist can have much more impact than it should

In the 7th inning or later. Put you're best 4 hitters(OBS) in the top 4 and go from there.

Yep. That's the point.

I'd position that lineup this way:

Gordon
Utley
Butler
Stanton
Hosmer
Perez
Moose
Cain
Escobar

(Not that this lineup is going to happen)

The 2 spot in the lineup is, statistically, a very important spot in the lineup. You HAVE to have one of your best bats filling that spot, IMO.

Honestly, if Hosmer keeps up what he has done in June, I'd flip he and Utley.

L-R construction of the lineup DOES matter for late-inning bullpen matchups, but your hitters are likely to get at least 2-3 ABs before a team is into its specialists. The lineup construction has to be optimized for those ABs as well.

With a guy like Utley, who has a career .852 OPS vs. LHP, my lineup is not as vulnerable to a Phil Coke type as you might think. Same thing with Giancarlo Stanton vs. RHP (.866 OPS).

Back to reality... let's talk about Lorenzo Cain for a minute. He had a really rough June and needs to show some signs of life. I still love what he brings to the table with the glove. Hopefully, they can leave him in the 6-7 range in the lineup and let him get comfortable. With his D, .270/10 HR/.330 OBP/.425 SLG would play very nicely for a few years in CF.

Oh, and... Here's Hosmer's final line from June:

.303/.347/.541
6 HR
17 RBI
8 BB/13 K
6 2B
1 3B

So... basically, his month of June was what we THOUGHT we would get from the guy every month at the start of the 2012 season.

I'm not COUNTING on that guy sticking around... but I again have hope he CAN.

ROFL Suuuuure