The Royals could end up with the 5th-11th pick but what does it matter as long as Dayton Moore is making the picks.

Nice take...if you're living circa 2010-2015. Recent drafts have been solid. You do know that we are the 5th ranked system (MLB pipeline), right? I get that people didn't like this year's approach w/ the high school pitching, but it worked out fine, given that Tresh signed and Rocker (the "missed pick" for many) ended up w/ not signing due to medicals.

Not sure of the status of Bill James these days, but he had some interesting things to say in an interview w/ Ben Domenech on the state of baseball, game pacing, etc. Trigger warning for those that lean left in their politics - be warned that Domenech leans right and its obvious a few times in the interview. Mostly, he just loves baseball.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Bd...Aw&dl_branch=1

What the **** are you babbling about? I'm no fan of Dozier's, but that error wasn't on him.
Sure on balls hit into the gap. Did you see how far Olivares had to run to **** that play up? You're high or drunk. Or both.

That was a real Royals moment.

It's wild to think that they had a 19 game losing streak and still might not end up with the #1 pick.

Olivares plays defense like he is point shaving.

At least it is worth a few laughs for all the posts in this thread crying about Olivares being in Omaha.

Yet Dozier still plays even after garbage like that.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ryan said out loud what everyone was thinking: “If Olivares wasn’t around, does Hunter Dozier make that play?”<br><br>Rex:”Yes.”<br><br>And this is why, as I have mentioned before, the organization has questions about Olivares. Just mind-boggling.</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1435797004806934531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You have to give the Royals credit for their creativity and skill in blowing games. It's a gift really...

Yeah, that play by Olivares was bad. It's also why I think they needed to see him at the major league level this year.

You need to see if the defensive inconsistencies continue. You need to see if he can cover the ground at the K. You need to see if he can handle working in a corner spot with a legitimate big-league caliber defender in CF. You need to see if he can even hit well enough, with consistent at-bats, to make it worthwhile to invest major time in improving his OF defense.

Especially once it became clear this team was out of postseason contention. At that point, you need to look at your young players and figure out which ones you need to learn about.

Yeah. That kind of falls apart when you're giving Hunter Dozier constant at bats and putting up with his poor defense instead. We know what we have with Dozier, we can't say the same about Olivares until he has major league experience.

You know it's a shame we don't have a defensive maestro like Brett Phillips. With his range he would have been perfect for Kauffman, would have provided major league, Nicky Lopez like at bats in a spot where offensive competency was a plus, and he's still only 27. I'm sure if the Royals had a prospect like that they wouldn't miss out on him by refusing to give him big league at bats in favor of Bubba (Hunter Dozier) Starling, and then ship Phillips for nothing because they didn't give him the proper time to scout him and refused to wait patiently as he had to spend a couple of months adjusting at the plate and at his position.

But hey, let's just flatly assume the Royals know best and bench a player for making a bad play in a difficult position they've been in for a single month.

Also it is interesting in seeing how people are so stuck on Dozier's contract. In the grand scheme of things it really is a nothing burger. The last two years kind of suck but it's not nothing you couldn't swallow or move.

The issue with it was that Dozier signed after a down year this March and didn't have a clear position on the diamond. That is always an issue at Kauffman unless you can produce like Big Ken Morales or 2019 Jorge Soler. The hope was that the Royals had a clear spot in mind in Dozier with that investment but it's clear from this season that they didn't. They rightly deserve criticism for that, especially when Dozier is taking up so many at bats in a lineup in a year where younger players could be getting major league time in a lost season.

Whee, I was not around yesterday but it seems like a missed a doozy! :doh!: