Oh, what big league insurance did we get that's better than Massey? Over the last 69 games of 2023 Massey had a .700 OPS and .241 BABIP. Seems to me that he was just extremely unlucky, but still produced well enough for a 2B.

This is what Gemini (googles AI) told me

Arizona Diamondbacks (1999): +35 wins (65 in 1998 to 100 in 1999)
Baltimore Orioles (1989): +33 wins (54 in 1988 to 87 in 1989)
Baltimore Orioles (2022): +31 wins (52 in 2021 to 83 in 2022)
Tampa Bay Rays (2008): +31 wins (66 in 2007 to 97 in 2008)
San Francisco Giants (1993): +31 wins (72 in 1992 to 103 in 1993)

If my memory serves the Braves AND the Twins went from worst to first that year and met in the World Series.

It was a long time ago so I could be wrong about that.

There we go. Nice find. Kinda knew I was wrong about that Braves team.

So there is a precedent of going 30+ more in wins from one season to the next. But I'll stand by my previous comment of the Royals going from 56 to 90... It's possible, though quite unlikely as that is a lot of history to overcome in one season.

Would love to see it though! Gotta think 90 wins gets you a playoff spot and likely wins the Central. Though winning the division doesn't mean much anymore.

Massey is a pretty awesome defender, and offers a lot more pop and upside than Frazier. It should be a nice upgrade.

Not sure how they’ll shake out the roster, but a Loftin demotion seems likely (which is weird since he’s their 3 hitter against lefties).

Hampton offers them some OF insurance for Isbel in cF, so short of just releasing Frazier I don’t see an alternative.

Im just worried about Massey and his back...maybe the Royals thought so too and signed two utility guys just in case...or maybe its a coincidence

Drew Waters is crushing it in Omaha and would you say he's a better defender than Isabel?

Definitely not. But he offers more than Garrett Hampson.

He’s also a guy I’d rather see get regular ABs, though, than play the short side platoon role in KC.

How long of a leash do you think Isbel has before they call up Waters and give him CF?

Yeah i'd like to get in on that with you. I mean this is cool and all and 10-6 is better than 6-10 but people are really taking a 16 game sample size and running wild with it. The Royals have a shot to be a little more competitive than we thought but finishing .500 or better is still much more pie in the sky than it is realistic.

It's penbrook vs BWillie bet. Tread carefully on that one.

I am undefeated in CP bets.

:D

White Sox and Orioles again this week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just talked to Salvador Perez. MRI this morning revealed a grade one groin strain. He says there’s no pain. Just a little tightness/pinch. He hopes to play tomorrow. He went straight to Matt Quatraro’s office when he arrived and lobbied to play tonight. He lost that battle.</p>&mdash; Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldbergkc/status/1779983395050643578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>