In case anyone is wondering how Paulino pitched tonight since our resident White Sox fan hasn't posted in here in a while. 3.2IP 13H 10R 10ER 3BB. (I only looked it up because Rany mentioned it on twitter)

What's going on with Zimmer?

He's a natural inside out swinger and when guys look to go opposite field they are susceptible to being busted inside. Would like to see him sacrifice some hits (like the bloop double on the LF line earlier tonight) and letting his natural power work by pulling it more even if he makes a few more outs

I don't believe he has started throwing yet, but I am not the most knowledgeable poster on the subject.

Yeesh

Dont stronger guys tend to break more bats also?

Yes.

Ouch. Definitely not one to write home about there.

Yeah Paulino might get moved out of the rotation after that. He had a good opener, but he's been destroyed his last three starts. 13 IP, 22 ER, 28 H, 10 BB, 8 K.

Regarding that whole Jed Lowrie situation, I've never been a fan of that "unwritten rule" in a blowout. Porter should quit his whining and worry about his own team, teams can come back from huge deficits and even if you don't think you can, its still an official MLB baseball game and I expect the players to keep playing.

If it really bothers you to see a team bunting for a base hit in a blowout, if that really hurts your feelings, then ask MLB to put in some kind of little league mercy rule for your team. Or forfeit the game, I think the rules allow you to do that.

My thing is that the Astros were in the shift. If someone is playing the shift on me, I'm dropping bunts FREQUENTLY. **** 'em.

Hit it where they ain't. That's baseball.

They make millions and are supposed to be professionals. Why shouldn't a guy be able to work on their bunting in live situations? Especially a skill that has become a dying art and so many guys are horrible at getting one down properly.

This isn't the same thing as for example a top college football team facing some clearly outmatched directional school and piling on the score when it's not a fair fight.

yeah, I can kinda understand that situation in college ball where you paid off a blood donor to die on your field, but in the pros the fans are collectively paying them a lot of money.

I don't care if the Royals are losing at home 27-zip in the top of the 9th with 2 outs, if the other team drops a bunt I'm not gonna boo.

Bottom line, everyone is supposed to be at the top of their game, so you ultimately should be able to get them out and control this more than anyone else.

Nobody is stopping you from adjustments to make a play on the bunt.

Yep. Totally agree.

There was a game some years ago, I believe Schilling was carrying a no-no into the 8th, and some little pillowbiter tried to lay down a bunt. I think that set off a huge shitstorm as it should have. I'dhave drilled that little punk everytime he batted the next game.


edit: just found it. HAHAHAAHA!
10 years later, Bob Brenly still bitter about Ben Davis’ bunt
Matthew Pouliot May 27, 2011, 5:30 PM EDT

Whether our entry yesterday had anything to do with it or not, Cubs PBP man Len Kasper decided to bring up the Curt Schilling game with former Diamondbacks manager and current Cubs color guy Bob Brenly today on WGN.

And Brenly still isn’t happy about the play, saying that Davis did in fact break unwritten rules by bunting to ruin Schilling’s chance at a perfect game on May 26, 2001. Kasper pointed out that the bunt single brought the tying run to the plate, and Brenly didn’t much seem to care, saying it was never right to break up a no-hitter with a bunt.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...en-davis-bunt/

I can see it both ways- are we talking a 2 or 3 run game? Then **** you, I'm not "giving" you a nono. 5+ runs late innings different story.

Even though I'd sort of side on having some pride to not get egged as a team vs their pitcher. Old school guys wouldn't lay down and take that.

Yeah I don't think laying down a bunt late in a blowout is a big deal. Hell, laying one down in a close one isn't either. But laying one down to disrupt a no-hitter is beyond embarrassing and is deserving of a 95mph beanball into the back.

Does he bother to square up the grain of the bat with the ball? Jeter does the same thing and has a lot of broken bats too.

Butler headed back to cleanup


On Thursday night, when his low line drive buzzed through the Astros’ infield, Royals designated hitter Billy Butler felt a sense of relief. “There it is,” he thought, the sort of reward he had spent days searching for.



The single on Thursday came during his first at-bat of the season as the team’s No. 6 hitter. After four games in that role, Butler will likely shift back to the cleanup spot for Monday’s series opener in Cleveland, manager Ned Yost said.

“I went into this season as the four-hole hitter,” Butler said after going two for four in an 8-3 loss to Minnesota on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. “That’s what they want me to be. I feel like I’ve earned that. I’ve just got to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do.”

The reason is two-fold: Butler has been five for 14 in his last four games and appears to be rounding into his usual form. Meanwhile, Salvador Perez. who replaced Butler as the No. 4 hitter, has batted just .108 in his last nine games. He has one hit in his cleanup cameo.

“Billy’s almost back to being Billy,” Yost said. “He’s freed up. He’s seeing the ball much better. He’s much more comfortable. He looks much better.”

Butler has admitted his mechanics confounded him during the first few weeks. He missed fastballs he once clobbered. He flailed at pitches he normally took. He felt out of sorts.

The pattern began to change last week, as he worked through a series of tweaks with hitting coach Pedro Grifol.

“I’m staying through the ball,” Butler said. “I’m hitting balls. The last four or five games, I’ve been hitting the ball well, squaring it up. It’s the longest time I’ve went where I couldn’t find my timing.”

Meanwhile, Perez has descended into a sizable slump of his own. Yost indicated Perez was “drifting” at the plate, with his upper body and lower half not working in synchronicity.

Perez has caught every game thus far, and Yost dislikes answering questions about Perez’s playing time. But he inserted backup catcher Brett Hayes for the final two innings on Sunday.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/20...#storylink=cpy

He hit .455 in the Twins series so hopefully he's figuring it out.

He's returned to warning track power.

Still not driving the ball the way I'd like, but he is squaring it up more regularly.

Butler going first to third yesterday was impressive.

He figured out what? He has 1 extra base hit in 17 games now, and it was the misjudged flyball (in the sun) Saturday. His power is sapped, it's good as gone. There is no way this guy should be a cleanup hitter in the A.L.

Yep. My wife even commented on the nice divot he left.

Sadly, i have to agree. Sure, hes hit more, but all i have seen is singles. Woopee! Aoki and Escobar have shown more power.

Oh boy....here come the Butler apologists now...... :facepalm:


Mellinger




I guess I should be used to this by now, but Sunday’s column was about the worst (first?) slump of Billy Butler’s life which means most of the emails and voicemails have been about how Butler stinks and should be, at best, a pinch hitter in the National League.


Billy Butler is a very good hitter, whether people acknowledge it or not

A significant — or at least significantly loud — segment of Royals fans refuses to acknowledge that Butler has established himself as one of the game’s better hitters. That doesn’t make it any less true, but just for fun some numbers:

Since 2009, Butler’s first full season, he ranks 13th in adjusted OPS among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances. Lower the cutoff to 2,500 plate appearances and he’s 25th. That’s behind sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre, and ahead of guys like Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Mark Teixeira.

Over that same span, only Robinson Cano has more doubles. Butler is 17th in total extra-base hits, again, behind guys like Joey Votto and Andrew McCutchen and Albert Pujols, and ahead of guys like Ben Zobrist, Justin Upton and Jose Bautista.

Now, obviously, Butler needs to hit to be valuable. Most of the players listed here play defense, and some of them quite well. Many of them hit more home runs. With the possible exceptions of Cabrera, Martinez and Pujols, none of them are as slow as Butler. So Butler’s 40 doubles aren’t necessarily as valuable as someone else’s 40 doubles.

But it’s also true that Butler’s lack of defense and 30-HR seasons are a big part of why he’s making $8 million with a team option for next year, instead of $15 million on a long-term contract.

Martinez, for instance, has similar offensive numbers over the last four or five years and is making $12 million this year at the age of 35. Jay Bruce is just a year younger with similar numbers — Butler out OPS+-es him 126 to 118 — but he’s a good right fielder so he’s making $10 million this year, $12 million in 2015 and $12.5 million in 2016 with a team option for 2017.

Anyway, the point is that Butler does one baseball thing very well. He also has distinct and obvious flaws that sometimes overshadow his One Very Good Thing.

But he is the roster’s most established hitter, so even on a team built on speed and defense, the Royals need their slow DH to get past this slump and drive in runs with line drives to cash in on this season’s opportunity.

Butler has shown signs in recent days. His single on Sunday was as hard as any ball he’s hit this season. With that in mind, the Royals are likely moving him back to the cleanup spot tonight.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/21...#storylink=cpy

shakesthecat is the house!

How to get the bat to strike the ball with more regularity and putting it in play in order to reach base safely. Compared to the rest of the season before the Twins when he was hitting .160.

My fear with Butler is that he's turned into a slap hitter with no speed. If you're going to have guys hit singles, at least have guys that might be able to squeeze in a hustle double from time to time. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking we may never again see the Butler from two years ago.

Mellinger's column is dumb because it's out-dated. Nobody disputes Butler could hit in 2009, or that he had power when he hit 29 homers in 2012. We're talking about NOW. NOW, he is not a valuable hitter at all. He hit 51 doubles five years ago and it's declined every single season. He hit 14 homers last year and probably wonj't even do that this year. He's not a premier hitter NOW in the least.

Agree 100%. Hes absolutely hurting this team if he cant drive in runs.

The problem is, are there any better options? The Royals have no choice but to keep running him out there and praying he returns to his form of 2-4 years ago.

We are stuck with whatever we can get out of him this year, but hopefully they are smart enough to get him traded, or at least let him go after the season.

If Butler doesn't swing back around and start driving the ball again, this is entirely correct.

FACT: Even including last season (assuming it is a "down" outlier like 2012 was an "up" outlier), Billy Butler's track record is that of a very, very good and established major league hitter.

FACT: His power outage last year, combined with his slump to start this season, is very concerning. If he continues to struggle driving the ball as this season goes on, you have to start looking at 2013-14 as the new normal for Butler.

FACT: A resurgent Billy Butler is a key component for KC. If he doesn't hit, this team will have a hard time as currently constructed.

I do agree that its early to write off Butler for 2014, but the reason why I'm more concerned than I otherwise would be is its not like he's scorching liners right at outfielders. Yeah he's had a few hard-hit outs here and there, but almost every one of his hits are rolling out of the infield.

Yea, i dont truly believe he will stay this bad the whole year. He will most likely bounce back of course. But by how much? 15 HRs and 60-70 RBIs? Not good enough IMO.

The Royals don't have a cleanup hitter so they have to improvise with the dude that is likely to get the most singles

I still say move Esky to Cleanup :D

This is GMDM's fault for not getting a power hitter

Slip HGH in his BBQ sauce. Easiest way to clear his salary.

I guess if we're at the point where a .265-9-70, .400 slg guy who ekes out 22 doubles is batting cleanup in the AL.....and we honestly can't find anyone or any platoon that can beat that....then that's just sad.


Emil Brown could do that. Maxwell-Dyson could do that.

We don't need no stinking power hitters. Slappy hitters are all you need when you have great pitching like we do! /GMDM

The irony is Atlanta, being an NL team and all, has way more power in their lineups than we ever have.

Well, at least we can say we don't have Altuve hitting cleanup for us.

Key point is slugging percentage. Due to his slow start, he's going to have a hard time posting a great one unless he has an equally hot stretch or two.

It's not just about HR, though. If Butler hits .300 with 15 HR and 40 2B the rest of the way, he's probably going to SLG in the .460 range (assuming about 525 at-bats, .300/15 HR/40 2B would put his slug at .463).

That's good enough to be a productive 4 hitter for the Royals (and many teams in baseball). And would be basically in line with his career averages.

It's going to require him "getting right," though, and proving that last season was an outlier and the start to this year was a fluke.

After seeing his start I'll be happy if the fatty gets even 20 2B's this season....

Who was the last "true" power bad the Royals had?

WOAH
 

WOAH

Beltran or Tartabull.

Jose Bautista. Technically.

Jermaine Dye banged over 30 homers in 1999 I believe. Before that, you have to go back to Chili Davis and Dean Palmer in the 90s.

Hamlin, Jacobs, Juan Gonzalez, teh list goes on.

Wil Myers

Pickering

Very small sample size and they were exactly the same last season, but it looks like the Indians have started this season pretty slow.

Split with the A's 1-1
Lost 2 of 3 from Minnesota
Won 2 of 3 from San Diego
Lost 3 of 4 from Chicago
Split with Detroit 1-1
Lost 2 of 3 to Toronto

Being on the road, I would still be alright with splitting, but winning 3 games in this series would be perfectly fine with me :D.







Oh, and **** the Indians

Butler back to cleanup

@McCulloughStar: Back Where I Belong Lineup: Aoki 9, Infante 4, Hosmer 3, Butler, DH, Gordon 7, Perez 2, Moustakas 5, Escobar 6, Dyson 8, Guthrie 1. #royals

Hate seeing Butler back there, but I don't see a whole lot of options. Hopefully it'll allow Perez to get back on track.

Jeff King, Sweeney in his prime, Beltran....

Steve Balboni

This is a horrible matchup tonight, but Guthrie might out perform his norm against his former club.

Sweeney never hit more than 29 homers for the Royals, though he was probably a "power hitter" in Royals terms. Beltran, eventually, hit true power hitter numbers, but not until he left the Royals. I forgot about Jeff King, and would certainly fall into that Mike Sweeney mold.

When I'm talking about "true power hitter" I'm talking a minimum of 30 homers, and preferably more than that.

Ah, ok gotcha. I've come to the conclusion that any Royal that can jack 25-30 is probably the same as a guy in a smaller ballpark who hits 30-40. The K swallows a lot of long balls.

But yea, would love to see some guys put up 30-40 in the K. Moose, Hosmer maybe someday???

Dyson activated, Marks down

Bueno and Collins are eligible to return tomorrow.

Dyson starting tonight

No one else has put a game thread up yet? OK, I'll do it today.

Early returns suggest legit off season work by GMDM with the acquisitions of Aoki, Infante and Vargas. I don't know much about Valencia.

Sample size, but Valencia has the highest OPS on the team thus far. (.818). Yet still can't get on the field.

Moustakas, Perez, Hosmer, and Butler just have not been hitting and it's killing this entire team.

Perez was lucratively hot to start the season... since then he's been equally as bad.

With the pitching this team has gotten, we should be well over .500 but damned if the hitters aren't shitting on themselves, same as last year.

This team will not make the playoffs, unless about 3 of those 4 turn it on and have Hosmer-secondhalf like seasons....

so daggum frustrating to watch. :sulk:

We were why the Indians were even in it last year. Won't happen this year. We were unbelievably bad last year. But not this year.

Perez got Yosted; why did Yost have to get in his dome by moving him around in the lineup?

Perez was 3-22 in the 5 games before being moved to the cleanup spot. Sal is the man, but he was sliding before the move.

Also, I think the Twins season will be interesting to watch. If they have the kind of season that KC expected and KC turds out from last year, you have to flush. They would have turned their team around in 4 years compared to Dayton's near decade.

Minnesotas starting pitching isn't very good.

Erica Hosmer is back, swinging like a girl. He's such a pussy it disgusts me

LMAO

What are the odds of getting a clutch bat at the July trade deadline?

Well, do you want Kyle Zimmer to be a Royal? If you're okay with us losing Zimmer, we might get a good bat.

It looks like bats are the new currency of baseball. Teams want bats mroe than arms with run scoring down. Kurkjian was on BBTN late last season talking about hitting and why speed wasn't compensating. "One manager told me we can't hit and run. When I asked him why not, he said: because we can't hit."


(No word on whether that was Ned Yost)