Royals went from 56-106 to 86-76.
Made the playoffs. Took out the Orioles on the road.
Lost in four games to the Yankees by 4 runs.
Finally got a bullpen.
Had two pitchers who will finish in the top five for the Cy Young.
Bobby Witt jr turned into a superstar likely being an MVP #2 to that phag in NY.
Salvy just kept doing Salvy stuff.
Vinnie came back from shoulder surgery and had a helluva year.
Cole Ragans had a full season. His arm didn’t fall off. He’s probably top five for Cy Young.
Seth Lugo is gonna finish top five for Cy Young. He’s like Rick Reed. And he’s ours for at least another season.
Brady Singer will get his next time with arbitration. And I’m ambivalent, but I know it’s damn hard to find healthy arms who could be be better as a 3/4 starter.
Michael Wacha was more than everything we could’ve ever wanted, but I say let that man fly unless he wants to take a dumb contract, which he won’t do.
That gives us Alec Marsh who was pretty great for his role.
And we have Wright coming in, plus Bubic who could start.
But this team needs another bat and wingman for Bobby. It’s perfect that Juan Soto would fill many roles, but it ain’t happening.
Adames is someone I like. And we can dangle Massey/Garcia. Just a thought.
This team…. I hope they go into the offseason working hard, and I hope they got the glitter out of their eyes.
Good team with obvious weakness, and a perennial superstar ready to erupt….
Sherman and JJ should be on the phone soon
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Originally Posted by tk13:
Salvy is still above average at throwing out runners and his framing was not far behind Fermin, which is obviously the hot catching stat these days. But I wonder if Fermin just ran out of gas. He didn't hit at all the last month or so.
I can't say enough how much I DESPISE 'pitch framing'. It's such a B.S. stat. The ability to reward pitchers who aren't throwing strikes with a strike. Thankfully, it will disappear when baseball eventually goes to an automated strike zone.
As far as throwing out runners, Salvy looked pretty bad in the playoffs. I get that he was tired and had to carry the load cause Vinnie had to DH and couldn't play first. But during the regular season, Fermin threw out 61% stealing second (14 out of 23 runners). Salvy only threw out 8 of 28 (28%) That's a pretty sizeable difference.
I absolutely LOVE Salvy, but his best catching days are behind him and I'd rather have Fermin back there to control the running game. Have no issue with Sal starting a few here or there, but it needs to be limited. Especially if they want to take advantage of his bat these last couple years.
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Originally Posted by TLO:
Melendez feels like the kind of guy who has the tools to turn things around.
Another team might be willing to deal for him, and I'd be ok with that.
I'm still on board. He's still only 25 and turns 26 soon. He may never pan out but there are plenty of guys like Moose, Gordon, Soler that didn't get it until 26 or 27 years old. If they trade him fine, but it's hard to just give up on a guy who has the talent to be a Moose or Soler type bat hitting .240 with 30 HR.
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