Jeremy Guthrie and the Value of Defense
Jeremy Guthrie seems to be an interesting person. His Twitter feed is often full of shoe giveaways and other assorted things. As a baseball player, and from a statistical perspective, he is...
View ArticleTrade Deadline MADNESS!
The Royals executed a deadline trade today, giving Kyle Smith, a pitching prospect in High A ball, to the Houston Astros in exchange for Justin Maxwell, an outfielder. The reaction on...
View ArticleThe Wade Davis Issue
If you look at his ERA, Wade Davis was abysmal, Kyle Davies-esque even. However, his FIP and xFIP were in fact less than abysmal; one might say they were slightly below average, which they were. They...
View ArticleMagic Santana
Magic. Ervin's season was definitely not lacking in it. I wrote at the beginning of the season that Santana needed to reintroduce his sinker and rely more on his off-speed stuff in order to have a...
View ArticleStarting Pitching Review
GMDM and Yost declared before the 2013 season began that they wanted and would get 1000 IP from their starters. I laughed; an absurd claim, I thought. By the end of the season, the starters threw 986.2...
View ArticleFree Agent Target: Dan Haren
The Royals will need to sign a free agent starting pitcher sometime this offseason (if they don’t go the trade route). They are losing Ervin Santana and Bruce Chen, and Wade Davis was...
View ArticleAlex Gordon's Down Year
Alex Gordon is up for another Gold Glove, which is great. While the Gold Glove historically may not represent who is actually the best defender at each position, the 3rd consecutive nomination at least...
View ArticleBilly Butler and Trade Scenarios
Like Alex Gordon, Billy Butler had a down year. While his overall batting average and OBP remained near career values, his SLG and ISO were WAY down. He hasn't had a worse year of power since 2008, his...
View ArticleFree Agent Target: Phil Hughes
Continuing along the theme of finding cheaper free agent SP targets, Phil Hughes presents another opportunity. Hughes, like Haren, is a fly ball pitcher whose fly ball tendencies might play well with...
View ArticlePositional Flexibility and Salvador Perez
According to a statement by Ned Yost in late September, Salvador Perez is going to play first base in winter ball. Yost wants to see if Perez’s glove could work there, and he believes that Perez has...
View ArticleWhere Escobar's Poor Offense Is Explained
Alcides Escobar started 2013 almost right where he left off in 2012. In March and April, Escobar hit .286/.330/.439 with a .287 BABIP. Things were looking great. It appeared that his good offensive...
View ArticleComparing Ranges of K% and BB%
Recently, I’ve begun comparing pitchers based on their K% and BB% going back to 2002, which is when batted ball data begins to become available on FanGraphs. My thought is this: pitchers have pretty...
View ArticleOffseason Move 1: Jason Vargas
With the first notable move of the offseason, the Royals signed Jason Vargas to a 4 year, $32M contract*. GM Dayton Moore cited things like “he always gives you a chance to win” and that he...
View ArticleDavid Lough is a Poor Royals' Version of Manny Machado...For Now
This could turn out to be a rambling post. The impetus for writing this one was just through exploration of FanGraphs’ leaderboards rather than through something structured and well-conceived. David...
View ArticleDayton Moore Is Probably Not As Bad As Most Think
With the offseason fully underway, there has been a substantial amount of activity. Normally, this amount of activity isn’t seen until the winter meetings of all the GMs next week, but this offseason...
View ArticleThe Effects of the Non-Tenderization of Chris Getz
Of the players eligible for arbitration, which is the contract negotiation process for players without enough service time to be considered a free agent, the Royals kept all but one. The Royals have...
View ArticleDayton Moore Makes a Good Trade!
Apparently channeling his inner good GM, Dayton and the Royals have acquired RF Norichika Aoki from the Brewers in exchange for SP/RP Will Smith. The instant reaction from the...
View ArticleOptimism for 2014 and Caution for 2015 and Beyond
The Royals continued their “spending spree” this offseason by signing 2b Omar Infante to a four year contract worth $30.25M with a team option for a 5thyear at $10M with a $2M buyout....
View ArticleNo Mo #YoLough
Dayton Moore strikes again. Another trade, this one an exchange of David Lough for Danny Valencia. Lough, despite accruing 2.4 fWAR in 96 games, was not likely to factor in to the...
View ArticleLuke Hochevar: Starter? (Again)
With the departure of Ervin Santana and Bruce Chen, and the ineffectiveness of Wade Davis, the Royals are looking for some starting pitching depth. To replace Santana, the Royals signed Jason Vargas....
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