Gload's Gone but HoSucky Still Sucks!

No More Gload

Well, the Ross Gload era officially ended yesterday, as the Royals sent him and 1.5 of his 1.9 million dollar salary to the Florida Marlins for a PTBNL.  Checking out the blogs I frequent, I was somewhat surprised to see so many intelligent people sad to see him gone.  Ross Gload was awful, he was pegged as a defensive player but had many lapses where he would not pay attention at all on defense.  (An attempted pickoff from Gil Meche (I think) where Gload was asleep and almost got nailed in the face comes to mind.  He was a "high average" hitter who never hit above .288 as a Royal.  And he was left handed.  While that is good, or at least is usually good as a hitter, it severly limits the positions you can play, and as a bench player, limits your usefulness.  Ross Gload was pegged as a decent outfielder, but I personally cringed every time I saw his name penciled in to play there.  Sure, we may get nothing good back, (I was hoping for Robert Andino before I saw he had been traded for Hayden Penn already), but either way, hopefully DM learned that it isn't good to give a player a multimillion dollar extension when he A. is not yet free agent eligible and B. sucks.

I imagine Mitch Maier will make the club out of spring training in Ross's spot, and then will get sent down when the Royals bump up their pitching to 12 players.

The Game

Horacio Ramirez sucks.  Period.  While following this game I almost wanted to throw up.  I surely don't want to write about his performance, so I wont.  Horacio is practically as bad as Joe Mays, Scott Elarton, Fatelvys Hernandez, DJ Carrasco, Brian Anderson, and all the other trash pitchers we've rolled out since 2004.  Awful.  Not any improvement.  Pathetic.  Frustrating.

I can't even type in real sentences anymore!

Anyway - the hitters had 7 hits and 3 runs, but more importantly they finally walked more than they struck out.  (4 walks to 2 strikeouts).  However, I'd prefer more walks, with more strikeouts being acceptable as long as there are more walks (like.. 6 a game would be nice! haha).  Well, regardless, the offense wasn't good enough to overcome Horacio's suckiness (kind of light trying to escape from a black hole..) and the Royals lost to the Rangers 9-3 in front of a crowd of 3,204.  The pitching was bad, giving up 9 runs on 13 hits, though they did strikeout 6 and walk 3. 

Hitter of the Game

The HoG award goes to Shane Costa, the only hitter with 2 hits on the day.  Shane was 2-2 with an RBI and no walks or strikeouts.  Shane is hitting .484 this spring, but likely faces a demotion to AAA Omaha before Sunday's 2 p.m. deadline.

Pitcher of the Game

Kyle Farnsworth once again wins the pitcher of the game award.  Kyle has been excellent since his first few apperances, as he pitched a scoreless 8th inning, walking one and striking out one, while allowing no hits.

Tomorrow 

The Royals will again take on the Texas Rangers tomorrow, but the location will be outside Arizona for the first time this year.  The game is scheduled for 7:05 Central Time and will take place in "Dr. Pepper Ballpark" which is the Rangers' AA affilatie's stadium in Frisco, Texas.  Zack Greinke will take on Vicente Padilla as each of them gears up for the regular season.

Expect my final "breakout candidate of the year" (relievers) post on Saturday and my "official predictions" post on Sunday.

As always, thanks for checking it out.

Sir Sidney Certainly Sucks..

Okay, all alliteration aside, (oops, I did it again), I'm not joking.

Sidney Ponson had another awful showing today, as he pitched 5 innings allowing 7 runs (7 earned) on 7 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.  He did give up just one extra base hit, a triple to Travis Buck, but was obviously not 4th starter quality today.  (Unless we're using the 2005 Royals as the measuring stick, in which he was probably #2 starter quality).  While spring training games are not a promise of things to come, this late in the game they are sure a good indicator, and all indications point to me wanting to vomit as I see DM penciling in "Ponson, S." in the 4th starter's slot below Kyle Davies.  

edit: I forgot to even write about my frustrations about how our 2nd best starter this spring, Sir Luke Hochevar was sent down yesterday, but needless to say, the move frustrates me!  I'm frustrated!  Frustrated..

Horacio Ramirez was bad enough, I felt like he was a waste of space, too old to have potential and too much of a bad track history to trust any potential he was given anyway.  But at least he was a lefty.  At least DM could argue that he was something he felt we needed.  Sure, I disagree, I don't see any point in saying that it's more important to have a lesser pitcher in your rotation because he uses the wrong arm to throw a baseball.  But the whole Sidney Ponson thing is really turning into a sour apple for me.  Now while it's true, one sour apple might not necessarily spoil the bunch, (at least I'm trying to not let it spoil the bunch), it is one more thing to add to my list of grievances with Dayton Moore.

Sure, DM has added countless depth to the organization, but is that more of a function of his eye for talent or his ability to make David Glass open his checkbook more often?  I believe the argument could swing either way.  I'm not ready to write off DM yet, as I haven't been in the past.  But I really could use some reinforcement from him that he is committed in the ways he says he is.  Please do not let Tony Pena be on this team, please do not let Ponson or Ramirez be in the rotation.  Please stop trying to make the Royals be something they are not.  They are a youthful team that is building in the right direction, stop trying to add pieces that are unnecessary and a waste of money.  This money could be spent in Latin America!

Take for instance Horacio Ramirez, Ross Gload and Willie Bloomquist.  All three are superfluous parts on this ball club, in my opinion, because they could easily be replaced by AAA or players who are released.  Let's look at just how much money these players are set to make in 2009, assuming they spend the entire year with the Royals.

Ross Gload - 1.9 million

Horacio Ramirez - 1.8 million

Willie Bloomquist - 1.4 million

2009 total - 5.1 million dollars

5.1 million dollars is a ton of money.  Let's take a look at something that 5.1 million dollars could buy the Royals in Latin America instead of these three wasted roster spots.

Last season, the Oakland A's set a record for the highest international signing bonus in franchise history when they inked then 16 year old RHP Michael Inoa to a contract with a bonus of 4.25 million dollars.  Inoa is already rated as the A's 3rd best prospect as a 17 year old by Baseball America.  Keep in mind that the A's have the 3rd best system in MLB according to the same source.  That is to say, we could trade Gload, Ramirez, and Bloomquist for an A caliber prospect, and possibly add wins that very season as well.

While this all sounds promising, keep in mind that just having money to spend isn't the same as signing this caliber of prospect.  And that player is just a prospect, not a proven commodity.  However, all of these things in the open, I think that 7/10 Royals fans would prefer the prospect over the ML trash.. (oops I mean "players").  

My point isn't that we should cut these players and sign the next prospect we find to a monster deal, my point is just that in baseball, especially in this economic environment (dang it, I promised myself I wouldn't bring that up..), it's ultra important to watch spending, and most importantly, spend wisely.  Sure, there's no guarantee that Inoa pitches even 1 effective ML inning, but I'd rather build my team with players of his caliber than overspend for players who have already proved they are not super stars.. (see: Guillen, Jose).

Anyway, let's take a break from this rant and take a look at the game.  The Royals lost to the A's 7-2 today in front of 3,183.  Obviously Ponson was bad, but the rest of the pitching was good, as the pitching outside of Ponson struck out 4 batters and walked none in 4 innings.  The offense on the other hand was abysmal.  The hitters struck out 8 times and walked just once, which is really frustrating this close to the season.  

Let's take a look at the HoG and the PoG.. By the way, as the season gets rolling I'm going to be adding a box to the sidebar on the main page listing which players have won the POG and HOG and how many times they have won it.  Should make for an interesting experiment as far as who I think has carried the team the most.

Hitter of the Game

Tony Pena had two hits including the only extra base hit (a double), but since he's Tony Pena I'm going to choose someone else.  That's why John Buck will be the hitter of the game for today.  John was the lone Royal to draw a walk.  Sad, but true.  John was 1-2 with 1 run scored.  John took the one walk and did not strike out.  His spring average sits at .390.

Pitcher of the Game

Robinson Tejada will nab the pitcher of the game award, and it wasn't just because he was Ponson's first replacement.  Tejada pitched a perfect 6th inning with 2 strikeouts, proving that even fringe-replacement level pitchers could succeed against the A's today.  I guess that makes Ponson below replacement level.. hmm..

Tomorrow

Gil Meche will face off against Aaron Cook and the Rockies as each pitcher will get their last look before the regular season tomorrow.  First pitch is at 3:05 central time.  Tomorrow's game will be the second to last game in Arizona, as the Royals will travel to and play in Texas Friday and Saturday.

Why you should give Hoochie Mama another chance..

The Royals only needed one inning of offense to win yesterday.  Today, again, they only got one inning of offense, however they only managed one run in that inning (the third), and fell to the Cubs 9-1 in front of a crowd of 8,987 today. 

Pitching

Brian Bannister was roughed up for 4 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings.  Banny managed just 1 strikeout and walked 2.  Banny gave up 2 XBH, a double to Derrek Lee and a big fly to Alfonso Soriano.  As a team the Royals pitchers struck out 5 and walked just three, but allowed 12 hits, 6 of them going for extra bases.  Every Royals pitcher gave up at least one run, and Kyle Farnsworth's ERA sits at a nice round 15.00.  Yes, the decimal point is in the right place.. 15.00

Offense

Offensively, the Royals managed just 4 hits as Maier, Jacobs, Gload and Butler all singled.  Mitch Maier also had a stolen base.  Jamey Wright had the lone error in the game on an errant pick off attempt.  Despite their recent success, the Royals didn't walk a single time today and struck out 6 times.  Their offense was completely shut down today in what was easily their worst showing so far this spring.

Hitter of the Game

The hitter of the game today was Mitch Maier, who led off and played centerfield today.  Mitch was 1 for 3 with the lone RBI, driving in Ross Gload on a 3rd inning single.  Mitch also stole 2nd base.  Mitch did not walk or strike out and his average this spring is .304 after today's game.

Pitcher of the Game

The pitcher of the game today was Luke Hochevar.  Luke pitched 3 solid innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits.  Both of those hits did go for extra bases, however.  Luke struck out 2 and walked 1 and after today his spring ERA sits at 3.38.

Tomorrow

The Royals have Tuesday March 10th off, litearlly.  The players have been told to stay away from camp and take the day easy.  Interesting take after an absymal performance.  We'll have to see how it plays out.

No more Estey

In other news, Esteban German was granted free agency today.  As you may recall, German was DFA'd when Juan Cruz was signed and added to the 40 man roster.

Hoochie Mama

When Luke Hochevar was taken with the 40th overall pick in the 2005 draft by the LA Dodgers, it was clear that he had fallen so low because of his price.  When he was selected first overall the very next year, many people believed it was also because he would sign for a little bit less money since he had sat out a year (playing independent baseball).  Luke ended up signing for 5.3 million with the opportunity to make 7 million in his first 3 years.

Still New

Despite being in the Royals system for the last three season, Luke still feels like a very new player to me.  I say that because until last season, he had never started more than 16 games at any one level.  However, last season Luke started 22 for the Royals, posting a 5.51 ERA and a 6-12 record, both very underwhelming.  

Rushed

Looking at Luke's career numbers makes me wonder why he was rushed so much.  Aside from 15 innings of A ball in 2006, Luke has never been dominant, or even good, at any level.  Sure, he started in AAA last season and had a 2.60 ERA in 17.1 innings, but this was after he competed hard for a rotation spot in spring training and was likely far ahead of his AAA competition.  

Give him another chance

While Luke had an awful season last year, including an injury that kept him out of all but 6 starts in the second half of the season, I really feel like he took a step forward.  I think that one of the most important things for a good prospect to do is fail.  And by all accounts, Luke is/was a good prospect, including being the #63 'spect in MLB last season and #32 'spect in MLB in '07.  I don't mean that it is important for a prospect to fail at each level, though I think there is some value in that as well.  But it is very important for a prospect to fail at the big league level, because it teaches them that the work that they have done in the past won't cut it in the big leagues.  Luke must work harder, study harder, try harder than he has ever had to work, study, and try in his life.  

It is this reason that I think Luke has the chance to succeed.  I've poured over the numbers and there really isn't anything there to prove that he will do well at the major league level, other than the fact that he is young and was a great prospect and has great stuff.  This is one time that I will go on my pitching coach instincts and look past the numbers.  I don't have proof that Luke will succeed, except for what I see.  Luke routinely works his sinker around the strike zone, and when his sinker is working, he has the ability to pitch as well as anyone.  He is just inconsistent with his control, much like any young pitcher needing more experience.

Doc Who?

While I'm not sure that Luke will have a breakout season in 2009, I do feel like he has the chance to be very successful in the near future.  If I had to write a line for him, I imagine it would have him going 12-11 with a 4.49 ERA in 29 starts, which is very acceptable.  I feel like Luke's "stuff" is very underrated, however, and I think that maybe in 2 or 3 years, once he gets more experience, he will have the chance to really dominate, maybe similar to another sinkerballer from Denver, Doc Halladay.

Okay, maybe the Roy Halladay comparison is a bit extreme, (okay probably too extreme).  Okay, the Roy Halladay is definitely not fair, but I do have a lot of faith in Luke.  I think people forget that he only has 207 minor league innings of practice, so he might take a while to reach his full potential since he is essentially learning in the big leagues.

Thanks for reading!  Don't forget to vote for who you think will win the WBC in the top left corner!