Quote:
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch
I'm just not ok with leaving guys up at the MLB level when they're playing so bad. (Hos has been terrible, let's not pretend otherwise). We stayed too long with Alex back in the day, but we did send Butler down and it helped a lot. Dayton sticks with guys too long and stunts their development. If he was concerned about them long term, sending them to Omaha right now won't hurt that. It might help. In fact I'm sure it would. But either way I'd tell them both that if they don't perform they don't stay. That's what loser small markets do: allow loser youngsters to keep playing no matter what.
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They don't have alternatives. That's the issue.
You know who gets the playing time if both Hosmer and Moustakas are demoted?
Jarrod Dyson, Jeff Francoeur, Miguel Tejada and Elliott Johnson.
I have no problem with Dyson getting more playing time. With Hosmer down, Butler becomes the full-time 1B. The DH likely is used to rotate guys through and keep them fresh. And Elliott Johnson and Miguel Tejada split time at 3B.
The Royals become significantly worse at 1B and worse at 3B defensively. And the offensive upside of guys like Tejada and Johnson just isn't there.
If the Royals had an alternative or were still in developmental state of mind, sure, you send one or both of those guys down (sending down a struggling stud prospect when you're going to lose 95-100 regardless is much different than when you're trying to win 90 games).
I disagree on Hosmer. He has not been terrible. He isn't hitting the ball with much authority, but there are some positive signs if you dig deep. The obvious one is that he is still getting on base at a good clip. If you watch his stance, he's got a lot more balance and his load is much cleaner (see the opposite field hit vs. Dempster in the big inning of game 1 yesterday for an example of this). He's walking at an above-average clip and he's swinging af fewer pitches outside the strike zone (check out
this breakdown from Kings of Kaufman for details on that). He's also seeing a lot of pitches per at-bat and making pitchers work.
I wouldn't argue if they sent Moose down to find himself for a week or 2, though he was raking in Spring Training, so who knows what good that does. Sending both guys down just doesn't work.