Lots of children dream of growing up to be president. However, the children who are die hard baseball fans dream of growing up to be baseball players. When we get old enough that our physical skills inform us that we aren't going to make the major leagues, we sit back in our chairs, follow our team, and criticize the manager. In fact, the two jobs that everyone seems to think they can do a better job than the person who actually has the job are President of the United States and manager of a baseball team.
Just like the President has access to a lot of classified information that we are not aware of, so does the major league manager. If we wonder why the manager isn't starting Alex Gordon, we may not know that Gordon has a slight hamstring pull or a slight case of the flu. We are wrong in thinking we can do a better job even though if the manager gets fired, we can't understand why our phone doesn't ring with a job offer.
The popularity of fantasy baseball has changed the fan's thinking as well. For one thing, we are much more aware of statistics and minor leaguers than we ever were before. If we can win our fantasy league, we can certainly be successful as a major league general manager. Does Dayton Moore know something about Wil Myers that we don't? Is he not as good of a prospect as we think? I don't know, but I do know that Dayton knows a helluva lot more about him than I do.
The ones that get me are the guys who, when hearing David Glass say that his break even point is a $70 million dollar payroll, say that he is lying and it is really $90 million. Really? I'm not an accountant, but I think I would need some access to the books before I can determine what a break even point is. Do we even know all the costs associated with running a baseball team besides payroll? Again, I think Glass knows far more about his team's finances than we do. I guess I am saying what is obvious, but I still hold out hope that the Royals will give me a call when their next managerial position opens up. I'm in SABR, for heavens sake!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Big Trade
On December 9, the Royals made one of the biggest trades they have made in recent years. They shipped prospects Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard to the Tampa Bay Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis.
When I first heard about the trade, I didn't like it. Wil Myers was the Minor League Player of the Year and was the heir apparent to Jeff Francoeur in right field for the Royals. With Frenchy's less than stellar year in 2012, I was looking forward to seeing Myers taking over. But then I stopped to think about it. Last year our starting pitching stunk. Our top two starters at the beginning of the season were Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen. Both guys can give you good games from time to time, but those are not guys you want to the forefront of your staff. Shields is a legitimate ace. Take a look at the stats of these 4 pitchers from the last 2 years:
IP ERA SO QS WHIP Wins
435 3.04 423 46 1.12 32
477 3.15 448 45 1.10 31
384 3.63 401 39 1.20 32
465 3.27 445 43 1.18 31
Which one do you want? The top two pitchers look to be a cut above the bottom two and there appears to be little difference between them. In order these stats belong to David Price, James Shields, Zack Greinke, and Felix Hernandez. Like I said, we got a legitimate ace. We also got Wade Davis. Two years ago, Davis finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting. Because the Rays had starters coming out their ears, he went to the bullpen in 2012 and was terrific. He moves right into our rotation and gives us another quality starter.
Myers is a great prospect, but some of the reaction seems to be equivalent to the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Myers also struck out 140 times in the minor leagues. As Royals fans, we get a little tired of hearing that we have these great prospects and in another 2 years, we'll be really good. It is a little like your financial analyst telling you that you will be able to retire in 2 years, and then you wait and discover you don't have as much money as you thought you would have. But in another 2 years..... It's time to win now and kudos to Dayton Moore and David Glass for pulling the trigger.
When I first heard about the trade, I didn't like it. Wil Myers was the Minor League Player of the Year and was the heir apparent to Jeff Francoeur in right field for the Royals. With Frenchy's less than stellar year in 2012, I was looking forward to seeing Myers taking over. But then I stopped to think about it. Last year our starting pitching stunk. Our top two starters at the beginning of the season were Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen. Both guys can give you good games from time to time, but those are not guys you want to the forefront of your staff. Shields is a legitimate ace. Take a look at the stats of these 4 pitchers from the last 2 years:
IP ERA SO QS WHIP Wins
435 3.04 423 46 1.12 32
477 3.15 448 45 1.10 31
384 3.63 401 39 1.20 32
465 3.27 445 43 1.18 31
Which one do you want? The top two pitchers look to be a cut above the bottom two and there appears to be little difference between them. In order these stats belong to David Price, James Shields, Zack Greinke, and Felix Hernandez. Like I said, we got a legitimate ace. We also got Wade Davis. Two years ago, Davis finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting. Because the Rays had starters coming out their ears, he went to the bullpen in 2012 and was terrific. He moves right into our rotation and gives us another quality starter.
Myers is a great prospect, but some of the reaction seems to be equivalent to the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Myers also struck out 140 times in the minor leagues. As Royals fans, we get a little tired of hearing that we have these great prospects and in another 2 years, we'll be really good. It is a little like your financial analyst telling you that you will be able to retire in 2 years, and then you wait and discover you don't have as much money as you thought you would have. But in another 2 years..... It's time to win now and kudos to Dayton Moore and David Glass for pulling the trigger.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
My first blog
Pardon the primitive look to this blog, but this is my first attempt at blogging, so it may take me a while to get proficient at creating an attractive blog. I plan to blog about baseball, so if you are not a baseball fan, you might want to go elsewhere. I will mainly write about the Royals, although I will throw some other stuff in from time to time so I don't seem one-dimensional. With the improvement of the Royals pitching staff, the team should be a contender this year, so I hope this will be a happy blog. If the Royals have another 12 game losing streak in April, you may come here and be able to hear a grown man crying. Anyway, go Royals!
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