Let's discuss the Royals pitchers hitting @AT&T park
 

Definately seems like it will work against us. So do we have any pitchers that are good hitters? So they just try and bunt every time?

How good of hitters are the Giants pitchers?

Ned Yost strategy here? He at least has experience managing in the NL



Discuss please......

Shields had a good outing earlier this year. I think that was at the K tho. Vargas is a slugger by NL pitching standards.

I'm not up to speed. Our pitchers are going to have to bat ?

pitcher always bat when in the NL ballparks.

As the game annoucers have said, this Royal team is built to play NL ball and with the Cyborg pen, our pitchers will only likely see 2 ABs a game, so things should work out alright.

Went 15-5 vs the shit league.

Haven't lost our last 8 road NL series

Guthrie is 0 for 7 lifetime at AT&T Park. Lifetime BA of .089
Vargas has never batted there, but has a lifetime BA of .262. No ABs since 2012 though.
Shields has also never batted there, and has a lifetime BA of .213. He did go 2 for 2 in a game against the Cards this year, including a double and a run scored.

The NL rules are the worst though. I can't believe people would rather watch those numbers above get more ABs than a DH.

Must have missed that game at the K when Shields had a strong hitting performance.

It may have been at Busch...not sure

It wasn't at the k.

They'll probably bunt a lot. Someone might actually get a hit.

The end.

It's just a strategy thing.

Easier strategy for planning pee breaks. "I could go now but we got the 8th hitter and the pitcher coming up so I'll wait for a bit."

Well later game strategy lol.

Pinch hitting, double switching, that kind of thing.

Vargas was a hitter in college. I wanna see him hammer one into the right field cove

From the looks of that our pitchers should have a chance for multiple homeruns.

scene of the crime

Absolutely what should happen.

So does this mean Belly won't get to bat until the later innings?

My thoughts on it from another thread, when asked how much of an advantage the Giants pitchers being used to hitting gives the Giants.

It's completely, completely overblown how much "strategy" is involved in an NL game.

It's just another common baseball talking point that broadcast guys can't stay away from but that really doesn't track on the field.

The decisions are really rather elementary.

If your pitcher is hitting before the 7th inning and is pitching well, you're not removing him. Period.

If your pitcher is hitting before the 7th inning and starting to struggle, you're not leaving him in (and in fact, some NL managers will leave their starter TOO LONG because the guy is due up in the next inning and they don't want to burn a reliever. Stupid strategy is still stupid and not fun to watch).

If it's the late innings, you pinch hit for your pitcher. If you have a strong defender you want to rotate in (like, say, Jarrod Dyson) you use the double switch. If you just want to avoid having a pitcher "hit" you just use a straight PH.

NL fans act like there is some secret code to the NL style of baseball sometimes. There's not. Anyone who has played past Little League, has half a brain, and is capable of paying attention can handle the strategery (used on purpose) of the NL game.

Vargas is going yard.

It depends if he plays first or Hosmer?

Not even Ned would be dumb enough to start Billy over Hos at first out there.

Thoughts on starting Dyson over Aoki the next two games?

Aoki playing in that crazy OF scares me.

This so-called "strategy" is not interesting, and the creators of the game of baseball never intended for it to exist. The AL is the more pure form of the game now, and closer to how it was played in the very beginning and in every other level, where everyone in the lineup is a credible batter.

:spock: - a joke, I assume?

Would absolutely be in favor of this. I would substitute some offense, for more speed and way better D.

I dont understand baseball.


Why would someone structure the field in that way? Does their team only hit to the right? Were the architects drunk?

Ned has pretty much all but said Hosmer is starting. In the post-game he was talking about how Butler would be a valuable threat late in the game.

Hosmer's D in the Playoffs has been ****ing money. I couldn't even imagine if they put Bil................nevermind, nt going there.

They built it that way because of Barry Bonds.

Ah.

It's a ****ing house of horrors and I hope it burns down.

Get ready, literally anything that can happen for the Giants and against the visiting team will happen.

I don't feel like looking it up, but I'll bet Shields has as many hits at the K as I do.

...the guy who started a 2015 Royals off-season thread during the World Series, folks...

meh

:spock:
Butler is not playing 1st unless Hosmer is injured.

Hosmer will play all 3 games in San Fran, even with Bumgarner on the field.

He had good ABs and hit the ball hard twice off of Bumgarner (once for a single, once on that flyout to Blanco - a really nice play by Blanco to keep the ball from getting down, BTW).

I think they have plans to play Billy in RF...................




:evil:

I like the DH, but its kind of silly of say it is closer to what the creators intended. I doubt they intended that one player in the lineup would never hit.

I don't think Aoki is so bad that its worth sacrificing offense. Offense is our weakness.

What was intended was that every hitter in the lineup is a credible batter. In college and every lower level, that is still the case. In the very old days of baseball, that was the case.

They NEVER intended to have a useless gimp at the plate who was so overmatched and sucked so badly at his level, that you had to manage around it.

The way "baseball" is played in the NL is a twisted version of the game. The AL is more pure, I would argue more traditional, and closer to how the game is meant to be played. Our starting 9 against yours.

Exactly. Then why sacrifice potentially giving away runs on D, when you have one of the best MLB OF's available to play off your bench. THAT and Aoki's post season numbers in 34 AB's are awful .206/.282/.206:shake: So, how much are we really sacrificing on O? I'll take Dyson's speed and D, please.

I like this point and will incorporate it into my standard "Pitchers no longer are asked or allowed to work on hitting" talking point regarded the DH and NL.

If pitchers are credible hitters, the NL game is a lot more fun to watch. But that ship sailed into the sunset long, long ago.

Gotta side with Ned, man. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Dyson is a deadly late game option on the base paths, by the way. I like how he's doing it, and Aoki is still a better hitter than Dyson, even though he is quite streaky.

June 13, 2014 Royals @ Cardinals
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asshole

Aoki has been a turd in the WS thus far. At least when he was hitting, he had value. Now he's suddenly gone back to pre-August Aoki-san.

The only suggestion I've heard that even merits repeating is moving Hosmer to RF. The problem with that is that you sacrifice defense in RF AND 1B to do it. Keep your defense in tact. And I strongly consider Dyson in CF/Cain in RF for games 3 and 4 and then play Aoki against Bumgarner.

MLB should have 100% DH

Butler will not play the field. Period. We can end that discussion right now

The idea is that you need as much offense as possible in the early innings so you can get that lead going into the 6th. Aoki's avg. may not be great, but he's been solid. He puts the bat on the ball and gives you that sacrifice fly to score a run when you a need it. Dyson doesn't really do that well.

Once you get that lead then you beef up the defense just a little bit since you know that with your bullpen you won't need to worry about the offense anymore in this game.

It's worked all year long. No need to change it now.

Like I said, I'm for the DH. The modern game is as it is.

But, if it was intended that every hitter was credible, the solution would be to make the bad hitter better, not to say he doesn't have to bat. So it isn't "Our starting 9 against yours" at all.

The issue here has nothing to do with how good Giants pitchers hit in comparison to how good Royals pitchers hit.

The issue here is that Billy Butler (a middle of the order bat), comes out of the lineup for the pitcher. The Giants, as a National League team, are used to this. Their normal lineup is 8 hitters.

The Royals losing Butler is a HUGE advantage for the Giants. HUGE.

Yes, @ Cardinals.
You still don't get why it was funny when you said Shields at a good hitting performance at the K?

If they can move a runner and bloop a single from time to time I'm good.

Be nice. I'll take all the bandwagon fans we can get.

By the way Pitchers never hit in AL parks. They use the home teams rules.

Is Aoki really so bad on defense? He had two errors all season. Dyson had 4. It's a harder position, but it's not like Dyson's a Gold Glover.
Aoki is much better at the plate than Dyson. He may be hitting .206, but he's obvisouly a better hitter overall, and Dyson is 0-7 in the playoffs. Alex Gordon's hitting about .170 in the playoffs. We're not going to be benching him. Aoki's not at Dyson's level stealing bases, but he's not slow either. He had 17 SBs.

Why are you telling me? I'm very aware of how it works.

Billy at 1B, Hosmer in RF.

Do it.

Are you really going to judge the two on errors committed?

First, your eyeballs should tell you clearly that Aoki stumbling around out there makes him far less adept defensively than Dyson. Misplays don't always result in official scoring errors.

Second, a better metric is Defensive Runs Saved. Dyson saved 14 runs this year, ninth among all MLB outfielders, and in only 691 innings played (Gordon had 27 and Cain 24 in far more playing time). Aoki was MINUS-8.

The gap defensively between the two players is FAR GREATER than the gap offensively.

Now, if you don't want to change what's been working, fine. That's probably what Ned's gonna do. But please don't argue that Aoki's D is fine and comparable to Dyson's.

This. Billy sits.

Again, this. Aoki scares the **** out of me, even when the play doesn't go his direction. I'm afraid he's going to flail around so bad he'll **** up some other guy making the play.

I know I'm blowing it out of proportion. He's not terribad in the field, but he does scare the shit out of me.

A buddy of mine asked if they'd change up the reliever order to get Finnegan an AB. Having just got out of college, he has batted more recently than about anybody else on the roster. The only way I see it is if he goes in the bottom 6 if he's one of the first 3 in the top 7. Then Herrera can Herrera the 7th.

:shake: - HO_LEE_FOCK!

THIS! - and I agree about not ****ing with the lineup, BUT that RF is a ****ing nightmare. I don't trust that corner with anybody, but it certainly could be a mess with Aoki.

I didn't mean to just base it on errors. And I'm not saying only an idiot would take out Aoki for Dyson or anything like that.

All of these defensive stats are a bit murky so I guess I don't lean on them as much as I do offensive stats. From what I've seen, and I have seen quite a bit, although Aoki may take some odd routes, I don't see him actually screw up all that often.

For all you ninnies complaining about taking Nori's bat out,
his splits v. Righties: .259/.323/.335

versus Dysons: .274/.326/.337

Dyson provides the same offense vs. Right handers, more defense and more speed. It should be a no-brainer.

Completely agree. The only game I would start Aoki in is the one Bumgarner pitches.

Aoki is a valuable weapon off the bench too, and could pinch hit or pinch run.

That said, Ned appears to be in the "If it's not broke don't fix it" category, which a large part of me can't argue with either.

I'll be pleased if Dyson starts Games 3 and 4, but not upset if he doesn't. But if Aoki gets lost on a fly ball to RF by taking a trolley around the Bay Bridge, don't yell about it.

Aoki's defense is a liability.

I agree with every bit of this post:thumb:

Against righties, it looks like it is.

Yep, I repped him.

Assuming your pitchers can bunt, I'd say the Royals are the perfect AL team to come in and play by NL rules. Royals have speed and play small ball.

You won't see the Giants pitchers getting many hits. The biggest advantage they have is that they have more experience at laying down that critical bunt in late innings to get a runner in scoring position. But then you (Royals) also gain an advantage in that the guy you'll use as your pinch hitter, following that critical bunt, will most likely be your DH and so will have about a million more at bats on the season than does the Giants pinch hitter... so - wash.

Also, Bochi is going to be more practiced in strategy regarding how to maneuver around the pitching spot in the line up than Yost will be.

Good luck...

Let's fix something that isn't broken!!!

Let's ignore something that could be a problem!!!

Aoki is a problem? Well ****, Gordon isn't hitting either. Better put Willingham in left

You have NO capability to discuss shit. You just hit the nuke button for stupidity and call it good. Congrats?

I don't think we're going to see any KC pitchers batting in the late innings.

We're 8-1 in the postseason using the same formula.

9

Well being that I'm a fan of a team from the senior circuit, we can just agree to disagree. Plus watching Madbum bat is awesome.

Well, we can agree on something