A few weeks back it was just a question of if the Royals won the division or became a wild card…
That’s before KC sank like a rock to barely .500 ball with Cleveland enjoying a 4 game lead. And the written-off Minnesota Twins are tied with us at .500.
What happened?
Our starting pitching is average at best and we have no real ace on the team. Danny Duffy is back from injury but has not been very effective at 7 and 7 with an ERA of 3.48.
Meanwhile, all-star pitcher, Jason Vargas has fallen to 13-6 with an ERA of 3.40. And our other two starters are worse…Jason Hammel is 5-9 with an ERA of 4.73 and Ian Kennedy is 4-8 with an ERA of 4.83.
Now the really bad news…
Our best position player Sal Perez is on the DL for at least 10 days.
And he could be out a month or more with just 6 more weeks in the season.
Perez is our catcher, an All Star and maybe the most talented player on the team. He’s also the team leader and has a batting average of .278 with 21 homers and 65 RBI’s – second in most with everything that matters next to Hosmer and Moose.
So what happened to that win streak?
Look, our boys are streaky and hard to predict. Sure they could get hot again. As of today they are tied with a few other teams for the second wild card spot. If they don’t improve fast, like NOW, it will be over in two weeks or so.
Like all of you folks I liked what I was seeing in July.
Unfortunately then came August.
Yes, I thought this team was average at best early this season. Then they got super hot and I thought, damn, I was wrong.
Now I just don’t know what to think.
Hosmer has cooled a bit as has Moose. Are they starting to think of next year and where they will be playing? I’ve always thought Hosmer would become a Yankee – don’t know about Moose.
Is this the 2014/2015 core groups last hurrah?
I know we all want it to end deep in the playoffs. It’s the .500 league save Houston, so its still possible.
That said, I think without Sal and at least two very good starters it can’t happen. And unfortunately that’s where we are today.
Fact of the matter is Dayton Moore has been really bad since the World Series. Where is this team if they come out of spring training with Wade Davis, Merrifield, and Bonifacio? First place is probably where. The pitching is bad, the bullpen is worse, and we have the two worst hitters in baseball batting 8th and 9th in the order. I can live with Escobar’s defense and availability but Gordon should be on the bench. The Royals were forced into resigning Gordon because Bubba Starling was supposed to take that position but never will. Just think, we could have drafted Francisco Lindor or George Springer, both drafted after Starling. How would you like Escobar’s bat replaced by a potential hall-of-famer for the next 10 years? Or our perpetual right field problem filled by Springer? The trade with the Padres is proving to be awful and further depleted our vacant minor league system. Now it’s too late to trade Cain, Hosmer, or Moose. We could be really, really bad for the next few years.
Well points well taken. Another loss yesterday to a bad team, Sox…we are falling deep into 3rd with just 5 weeks left…I’d say we are goners…huh..
you jinxed them glazo.
Now stop writing about them forver and we can get back to the world series.
See if i ever do anything nice for you again!!!!! (lol)
This sucks but at least we’ve got a chance to turn it around. We were the hottest team in the majors for about 2 months and now we’re the coldest. A week from today we can be in the front running for the wild card spot..or we could be practically out of it all together.
I think my earlier prediction of 78-84 is quite possibly how this all turns out..man I hope I’m wrong!
Go fraudroyals!
🙂