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Infante at 2B is an upgrade over a full season from what they get a year ago. I'm not sure he hits .300 for KC, but I'd feel good about his ability to hit .280 and OPS .725. Considering KC got a .243/.296/.304 line from its 2B in 2013, that's a HUGE upgrade. At SS, I think/hope we've seen Escobar's floor. His line doesn't kill you if he's hitting 9th. In fact, he was pretty solid while hitting 9th in the lineup .282/.297/.352. Those aren't all-star numbers, but paired with his defense, they're just fine. He's a career .282/.298/.369 hitter out of the 9th spot. That would be about an 80 point boost over what you got out him in 2013. And as for 3B... Moustakas also really can't be much worse, and they have significant insurance for him should he falter again. They have avoided the situation they started 2013 with, where they had no viable alternatives to Moustakas in the organization. Danny Valencia is a strong option against LHP at 3B, which is one of Moustakas's biggest weaknesses. He also could play everyday if needed. Bonifacio also provides nice flexibility at 3B, now that he isn't pigeon-holed at 2B. I really think they get better production out of all three spots. |
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I expect Asdrubal Cabrera to bounce back and be better than he was in 2013, when he was terrible. But Bourn and Swisher are both older guys and carry no guarantee of a return to form. The pitching staff is noticeably worse without Jimenez, who was their ace down the stretch, and Kazmir, who was a solid back-end guy. Unless Cleveland does something unexpected - like signing Masahiro Tanaka - that team takes a step back, IMO. |
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Collectively, the Royals got this line from the 4/5 starters (includes Davis, Mendoza, Chen - who was good but not great - Duffy, Ventura and Will Smith): 335 1/3 IP 173 ER 4.64 ERA 496 BB/H allowed 1.48 WHIP Worst offenders - by far - were Davis and Mendoza. 5.42 ERA and 1.66 WHIP from those guys in 204 1/3 IP as starters. Rest of the guys combined for a 3.44 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. There were several weights around the teams neck in 2013. Most have been eliminated (Francoeur, Getz, Mendoza) moved into less impactful/hurtful roles (Davis) or insured against (Moustakas). SIDE NOTE: This is a great example of WHY Wade Davis should have an extremely short leash if he opens the season in the rotation, and why I'd still look at bringing in one more back-end veteran pitcher. |
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It shows you why they paid a king's ransom for James Shields. Getting a guy to lead the AL in innings with a 3.15 ERA. Those guys are impossible to find, certainly they're impossible for our franchise to sign on the open market. Oh and this is the part where I theorize once again that Hochevar could probably out-do those numbers from our back end.
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5.44 ERA 1.41 WHIP 758 1/3 IP. 812 Hits allowed 254 BB Luke Hochevar is what he is as a starting pitcher: Not good. Terrible, in fact. Flirting with being the worst SP in major league history to throw as many innings as he was allowed to throw. |
We've already discussed FIP data and the writeup from the Boston blogger who noted his pitch selection changes..... and you said it doesn't apply to him. That's where we left it, agree to disagree style.
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However, I do hope a rival executive shares your optimism. (Note: I'd love it for Hoch to prove me wrong here, but I highly doubt that occurs) |
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I said some guys can't be looked at with FIP. Some guys constantly outperform it, and some guys constantly underperform it. FIP is a great way to explain outlier seasons. If a guy who has been good over the course of his career has a really bad year and his FIP is more in line with his traditional numbers, it helps explain the outlier. If a guy who has been bad over the course of his career has a really great year and his FIP is way higher than his traditional numbers, FIP help explains the outlier. But when your sample size is as big as Hochevar's is at this point, it's unlikely that him UNDERPERFORMING compared to FIP is ever going to change. I'd love for the guy to turn into Chris Carpenter and figure things out around age 30 after adding a cut fastball, but the odds against that are just incredibly low. |
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Everyone knows this happens if Butler is traded...for what pitching? |
Morales isn't an upgrade from Butler. He has only had 3 seasons out of 8 where he's played 130+ games. He's more injury prone than LoCain and plays DH for pete's sake. It's not like he's throwing his body around against the CF Wall. He just rejected a 14 mil - 1 year deal so he won't be cheap.. AND would cost a draft pick.
I guess if we want to get older, more expensive, take a huge dive in OBP, and lose a draft pick to acquire a guy that we basically already have at a position that we don't need. Then sure... to me... He makes little sense. |
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