Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Their starting rotation has been patchwork all year. Their bullpen is lights-out, but heavy usage is wearing it down. Except for Clase, who is an alien.
Their offense has also been flailing bad when JRam isn't mashing.
Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin:
Their offense has also been flailing bad when JRam isn't mashing.
And he hasn't been lately . . . .
I was going to say that their offense was really lucky in the first half. Not in BABIP or anything, just guys having miracle starts. For example, at the end of may, their catcher David fry had a 1.128 OPS. He was averaging a home run every 11 plate appearances. You’re not going to believe this but he hasn’t kept that up, hitting about .190 since July and went 120 plate appearances without a HR. Kwan is another one. He missed most of may injured, but in the middle of June he was hitting .397(!) with a 1.000 OPS. He had set his career high for home runs in a season in half the at bats of any previous season. Again, it’s not sustainable, and he’s been crashing back to earth since then, hitting .198 in August and his ops is trending down to the mid .700s where it has been in his first 2 seasons.
All last year they struggled to score and hit home runs, finishing last by 27 home runs! It’s a bit out of the ordinary that they added no major FAs or called up any huge prospects and through the first half they were a top 10 team in home runs. That was due for a correction and it has certainly come due for them. [Reply]
Michael Lorenzen to the 15 day IL with a hamstring strain. Reallly hope this doesn’t linger. He’s been a dynamite acquisition and we need him back and healthy ASAP. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm:
Damn…. Was afraid of this…
Michael Lorenzen to the 15 day IL with a hamstring strain. Reallly hope this doesn’t linger. He’s been a dynamite acquisition and we need him back and healthy ASAP.
Yep, hopefully with rest it'll be like new. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm:
Damn…. Was afraid of this…
Michael Lorenzen to the 15 day IL with a hamstring strain. Reallly hope this doesn’t linger. He’s been a dynamite acquisition and we need him back and healthy ASAP.
JJ says 2-3 weeks but we all know hamstrings can be longer than that. Could linger for most of the rest of the season.
JJ Picollo tells me Michael Lorenzen has a grade two hamstring strain and is expected to miss two to three weeks
Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm:
Damn…. Was afraid of this…
Michael Lorenzen to the 15 day IL with a hamstring strain. Reallly hope this doesn’t linger. He’s been a dynamite acquisition and we need him back and healthy ASAP.
Originally Posted by BWillie:
What the deal with Ragans status
From an injury perspective, he is fine. From a running on fumes due to exceeding career highs in innings pitched (same as Lugo), I'm not so sure. We'll see. Obviously gonna need his A game the rest of the way, hope he can deliver it. [Reply]