alnorth
04-16-2009, 12:07 AM
Very good and upbeat column from Rany today. I was kind of surprised to read all the positive comments on Trey Hillman after his brutal attack on opening day. He's always the eternal optimist every spring, but he puts up some good arguments for why this might not be a mirage.
http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2009/04/first-place-for-now.html
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Let’s try to keep things in perspective – last year the Royals started 6-2 and I was equally excited. (They then lost 11 of their next 14 games.) Still, there’s a lot to like here.
- You know all that concern about the quality of the team’s defense? The Royals seem to have hit upon a really effective solution to that problem – simply keep the defense from being involved. Through eight games, the pitching staff has struck out 76 batters – which leads the majors, comfortably – in just 71 innings. That is, in a word, sick. Just two years ago the Royals were next-to-last in the league in strikeouts; the year before that they were dead last. Last season the Royals ranked 7th in the league, which was their highest ranking since Cone and Appier led the Royals to 6th in strikeouts in 1994. From 1999 to 2006, the Royals ranked in the bottom three in the league in whiffs every single year.
They’re not going to continue to strike out more than a batter an inning, but this is a genuine power staff. The bullpen, in particular, is ridiculous – in 23 innings, they’ve whiffed 28 and surrendered just 14 hits. I’ve said this before, but in terms of “power stuff”, however that’s defined, Joakim Soria is only the fourth-most overpowering guy in the pen. If the Royals only have to rely on their defense for 65-70% of their outs instead of their usual 75-80%, suddenly the idea of Mark Teahen at second base or Mike Jacobs anywhere on the field is a lot more palatable.
...
if the Royals are in the race, a trade of Kila Ka’aihue for a good starter in the last year or two of his contract is a distinct possibility – but in the short term, if Hochevar or Bannister (three hits in seven scoreless for Omaha yesterday) replaces Horacio Ramirez, I have no qualms with seeing Ponson in the #5 role in the near term.
...
- You know what’s even more amazing than the strikeout ratio? The pitching staff has surrendered two homers in nine games – that’s as many all year as John Buck hit in one game. That’s two homers in 80 innings. Yeah, that won’t last. But it’s still impressive.
...
- A double, a popout, a tie-breaking single, a balk, and a walk. Ladies and Gentlemen, Kyle Farnsworth! I can’t pin this one on Hillman; it’s a tie game in the seventh inning, Juan Cruz threw two shutout innings last night, and someone has to pitch. No, Dayton Moore can try to dodge the overripe vegetables this time around. That sound you hear is Farnsworth sliding down the reliever totem pole; the next time the Royals need a middle reliever in a tie game in the middle innings, I suspect Robinson Tejeda will be that someone.
- Since Opening Day, Hillman has done a very solid job with the bullpen. Some may question having Ron Mahay start the ninth with a 4-0 lead on Monday, then switching to Soria after the first two batters reached base and lefties coming up. I’m fine with this move, though. Soria is more effective against lefties than righties, and Mahay doesn’t have a huge platoon split, so this is a situation where platoon considerations take a backseat to the game situation – and with the tying run on deck against an intradivision rival, a rival who was considered the favorite to win the division when the season started but who are three outs away from being 1-5…I say you go for the jugular. And what better weapon is there to cut the jugular than The Guillotine?
Cruz has now pitched two full innings twice this season, which is more times than he pitched two innings all of last year. To repeat: the cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers approach to the bullpen is the worst thing about baseball strategy today. If a reliever has the hot hand, why not ride him? Hillman did, and he got a second shutout inning each time.
...
- Mike Jacobs has done the impossible: he’s made Royals fans excited to see Billy Butler playing first base. And Butler has done the impossible: he’s giving us reason to think he might actually progress to adequate out there. I’ve been advocating all winter that Butler should be allowed to start at first base – he hasn’t played the position long enough to prove he can’t play it, while Jacobs has. He’s made enough good plays this month to prolong this experiment a little longer – like, say, all season. If the Royals approach the aesthetic ideal of using Jacobs purely as a DH, and solely against RHP, the Jacobs acquisition almost starts to make sense.
...
If I may tempt fate and quote Herm Edwards, the Royals can build on this. I just hope they also learn not to let Farnsworth destroy it.
http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2009/04/first-place-for-now.html
...
Let’s try to keep things in perspective – last year the Royals started 6-2 and I was equally excited. (They then lost 11 of their next 14 games.) Still, there’s a lot to like here.
- You know all that concern about the quality of the team’s defense? The Royals seem to have hit upon a really effective solution to that problem – simply keep the defense from being involved. Through eight games, the pitching staff has struck out 76 batters – which leads the majors, comfortably – in just 71 innings. That is, in a word, sick. Just two years ago the Royals were next-to-last in the league in strikeouts; the year before that they were dead last. Last season the Royals ranked 7th in the league, which was their highest ranking since Cone and Appier led the Royals to 6th in strikeouts in 1994. From 1999 to 2006, the Royals ranked in the bottom three in the league in whiffs every single year.
They’re not going to continue to strike out more than a batter an inning, but this is a genuine power staff. The bullpen, in particular, is ridiculous – in 23 innings, they’ve whiffed 28 and surrendered just 14 hits. I’ve said this before, but in terms of “power stuff”, however that’s defined, Joakim Soria is only the fourth-most overpowering guy in the pen. If the Royals only have to rely on their defense for 65-70% of their outs instead of their usual 75-80%, suddenly the idea of Mark Teahen at second base or Mike Jacobs anywhere on the field is a lot more palatable.
...
if the Royals are in the race, a trade of Kila Ka’aihue for a good starter in the last year or two of his contract is a distinct possibility – but in the short term, if Hochevar or Bannister (three hits in seven scoreless for Omaha yesterday) replaces Horacio Ramirez, I have no qualms with seeing Ponson in the #5 role in the near term.
...
- You know what’s even more amazing than the strikeout ratio? The pitching staff has surrendered two homers in nine games – that’s as many all year as John Buck hit in one game. That’s two homers in 80 innings. Yeah, that won’t last. But it’s still impressive.
...
- A double, a popout, a tie-breaking single, a balk, and a walk. Ladies and Gentlemen, Kyle Farnsworth! I can’t pin this one on Hillman; it’s a tie game in the seventh inning, Juan Cruz threw two shutout innings last night, and someone has to pitch. No, Dayton Moore can try to dodge the overripe vegetables this time around. That sound you hear is Farnsworth sliding down the reliever totem pole; the next time the Royals need a middle reliever in a tie game in the middle innings, I suspect Robinson Tejeda will be that someone.
- Since Opening Day, Hillman has done a very solid job with the bullpen. Some may question having Ron Mahay start the ninth with a 4-0 lead on Monday, then switching to Soria after the first two batters reached base and lefties coming up. I’m fine with this move, though. Soria is more effective against lefties than righties, and Mahay doesn’t have a huge platoon split, so this is a situation where platoon considerations take a backseat to the game situation – and with the tying run on deck against an intradivision rival, a rival who was considered the favorite to win the division when the season started but who are three outs away from being 1-5…I say you go for the jugular. And what better weapon is there to cut the jugular than The Guillotine?
Cruz has now pitched two full innings twice this season, which is more times than he pitched two innings all of last year. To repeat: the cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers approach to the bullpen is the worst thing about baseball strategy today. If a reliever has the hot hand, why not ride him? Hillman did, and he got a second shutout inning each time.
...
- Mike Jacobs has done the impossible: he’s made Royals fans excited to see Billy Butler playing first base. And Butler has done the impossible: he’s giving us reason to think he might actually progress to adequate out there. I’ve been advocating all winter that Butler should be allowed to start at first base – he hasn’t played the position long enough to prove he can’t play it, while Jacobs has. He’s made enough good plays this month to prolong this experiment a little longer – like, say, all season. If the Royals approach the aesthetic ideal of using Jacobs purely as a DH, and solely against RHP, the Jacobs acquisition almost starts to make sense.
...
If I may tempt fate and quote Herm Edwards, the Royals can build on this. I just hope they also learn not to let Farnsworth destroy it.