We're moving on now from the East Coast to the Heartland. Today's stop will be in Kansas City for the fifth day of our report cards.
Kansas City Royals
Record: 67-95 (Last place in AL Central, 27 games behind Minnesota)
Batting Leaders
Batting Average: Billy Butler (.318)
Home Runs: Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Guillen (16)
RBIs: Billy Butler and Yuniesky Betancourt (78)
On-base Percentage: Billy Butler (.388)
Pitching Leaders
Wins: Bruce Chen (12)
Strikeouts: Zack Greinke (181)
Innings Pitched: Zack Greinke (220)
ERA: Zack Greinke and Bruce Chen (4.17)
WHIP: Zack Greinke (1.25)
Saves: Joakim Soria (43)
Highlight of the Year: Well…if there was one to pick, it would probably be Zack Greinke’s complete game, 12 strikeout performance in Cincinnati on June 13. The Royals would win the rubber match against the Reds 7-3.
Lowlight of the Year: On July 26, the Royals got blitzed by the Minnesota Twins 19-1, with staff ace Zack Greinke taking the loss. Adding insult to injury, the Royals fell the next night against the Twins 11-2, with their next best pitcher, Bruce Chen, shouldering the loss. Both games were unfortunately before the home crowd in Kansas City.
The Lowdown:
For Royals fans, 2010 was the same old story, but in a different year. The Royals finished in last place for the sixth time since 2000, and the team has finished above third only once since 1990. The same elements of failure were in place in 2010: a lineup that cannot hit for power under any circumstance, and a pitching staff that cannot pitch effectively. Even reigning Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke wasn’t immune to regression, as his performance left something to be desired. The team attempted to shake things up by replacing former manager Trey Hillman with Ned Yost after 35 games, but that was simply the equivalent of placing a Band-Aid on a wound that requires stitches. You might be able to stop some of the bleeding, but a lot more work needs to be done in order to close up the gaping wound that has afflicted this franchise since 1985.
Offense:
Much like yesterday’s Orioles, the Royals’ offense had the same problem of not being able to hit for power or drive runners in, despite hitting for contact well. Surprisingly enough, the team finished second in team batting average in the majors at .274. Several of their regulars hit over .300 this season, including David DeJesus (.318), Billy Butler (.318), Scott Podsednik (.310) and Mike Aviles (.304). Unfortunately, Butler and Aviles would be the only two to stick around in Royal blue for the rest of the season, as DeJesus and Podsednik were each traded after playing a tad over 90 games. The Royals were also able to draw walks fairly well, as their .331 on-base percentage finished 14th in the bigs.
The main problem with the Royals’ offense is with their inability to score enough runs. They finished 20th in runs scored with 676 this year, along with finishing 19th in slugging (.399) and 26th in home runs (121). Even though you could certainly give the Royals a mulligan in the home run department (Kauffman Stadium isn’t the most homer-friendly park in baseball), they desperately need to find a way to drive runners in more efficiently. Since the Royals apparently have one of the best farm systems in baseball, the cavalry may not be too far away.
Final Grade: C-
Pitching:
Much like the Orioles, Diamondbacks and Pirates before them, the thing that hurt the Royals the most in 2010 was their pitching. They finished near the bottom in almost every major category including ERA (29th), quality starts (28th), WHIP (29th) and “batting average against” (29th). Even more disappointing was the performance of staff ace Zack Greinke, who went 10-14 with a 4.17 ERA and a WHIP of 1.25. That is quite a change from 2009, when Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA en route to winning the Cy Young Award. When your staff ace slips up, you better have some capable pitchers backing him up, and the Royals unfortunately did not this year. Bruce Chen was merely serviceable, going 12-7 with a 4.17 ERA in just 140.1 innings, while Kyle Davies was just plain horrible, going 8-12 with a 5.34 ERA in 183.2 innings. Brian Bannister and Luke Hochevar weren’t much better either, as Bannister’s ERA was over six, while Hochevar’s hovered near five.
There wasn’t much to see from the bullpen this year, either. However, closer Joakim Soria might be the most underrated closer in the majors. Soria was nothing short of fantastic this year, notching 43 saves with a 1.78 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in 66 appearances. No other reliever who appeared in at least 40 games for Kansas City had an ERA under three, so Soria is Kansas City’s diamond in the rough.
With a lineup that cannot drive runners in all that well, a bad pitching staff certainly won’t do your team any favors.
Final Grade: F
Wild Card: Joakim Soria
Even though the Royals lost 95 games last year, Soria is still a valuable piece to this team. Just imagine how bad the Royals would be if they didn’t have someone as reliable as Soria to close out games. Yikes.
Final Grade: A
Overall:
Even though they have a great farm system, this team is still a few years away from being able to take down the three-headed monster of Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit. Plus, we’ve already seen this movie before: the Royals supposedly have great prospects ready to contribute, but for whatever reason, things don’t pan out. I’m sure Royals fans don’t want to just take the front office’s word that things will get better in the next few years. They want to actually see it for themselves at the major-league level. After all, the Royals do play in the “Show me” state.
Final Grade: D-
Check back tomorrow for the report card on the Cleveland Indians!
No comments:
Post a Comment