Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 85 | Kansas City Royals | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 16, 2020

These Royals are bad. Surprisingly bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oh, yeah, it is the team play. Oh, yeah, it's the team profile and projection. Another one. We've got the Kansas City Royals, which our fans and listeners have voted as the fifth worst team in Major League Baseball and I've got a problem with that, Jake. I think they're worse. They're, they stink. The gym, we're forgetting a key factor.

They're in the division with the Tigers. So record-wise, I think they might be better than a couple other teams. But, I mean, we just did the Marlins. And the Pirates. Those Marlins and Pirates are better than Royals. I think I'm definitely Marlins. I think I'm 90% pirates. Remember we like the pirates lineup a lot.

We like them. I mean, there's a couple dudes on this Kansas City team. I mean, Salvador Perez didn't play last year. Jorge Soler was awesome. The best. So, I mean, with Soler, Whitmerfield, and Salvador Perez, you have some really nice ball players.

Hunter Dozier should be brought in there a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, a lot of big question marks in the lineup. I mean, the pitching staff won't do much for you either. Your guy, Brad Keller. But, yeah, I mean, especially fresh in my mind after doing the Marlins. I like, I mean, mine is Jorge Soler. I mean, you're talking about a whole roster that felt better. And I'm sorry, Royals fans.

We like Whitmerfield. Yeah, we like, I mean, dude, Witt and Soler might be, would be the two best players on the Marlins. Yeah, I loved watching the Marlins play last year. It was just all speed. Like Merrifield. Royals. Royals, whatever, both blue and bad. Maryfield, Mondesey, who else were their speed guys?

Like at one point, they did have Billy Hamilton. Billy Hamilton. And they had, uh, the, what the, the Gore. They had Terrence Gore. Terrence Gore. When they played the Yankees one, I was just all speed. I was like, what are you guys doing here? You just got a bunch of sprinters on your baseball team.

Sprint team. Speed. Hey, when, when everyone, what's the phrase? When everyone pushes, you got to pull. When everyone goes right, you go left. Mm-hmm. When everyone zigs, you got a zap. There it is.

There it is. You found it. Nailed it. People are impressed. Solair is like ranked. He's the best ranked player. I don't know how Fangraph is doing these power rankings. Right.

Ryan O'Herns ranked, Ryan O'Harens ranked 267th, so that doesn't seem good. Yeah. They fire their manager. They bring in Mathini, who I think is a stopgap, nothing manager. but he had a book written about him, so that's cool. What else is going on here? They brought in Mikel Franco from Philly and Chance Adams from the Yankees, which is just an inning eating nothing.

Like they don't think Chance is going to do anything positive for him. They're trying to eat innings while they just need bodies. They're just picking up bodies. This is, yeah, I mean, it's a discovery year. You're going to see a lot of dudes out there for the Royals. that, yeah, Chance Adams types that, you know, Chance Adams throws one good curb ball an inning. And they're going to try to see if they can figure that out with him. And you're going to see a lot of that with a lot of guys.

And I think this, the second half of the season, this team is going to look a lot different. When you think there are a lot of trades? I mean, I think you've got a couple trades. And I think more so you've got a lot of dudes that, I mean, I can't tell you that O'Hern, Michael Franco, Nikki Lopez are going to stay at their positions all season. And even if they do, like someone like Michael Franco, who they took a one-year flyer on, that's a dude they trade. So it's a weird mix of, and you know, you love the Alex Gordon contract.

I'll let you talk a little bit about that. But I don't have a lot of confidence of any of the guys in these. lineups and a lot of the guys if if they do figure it out i mean i think they're out of town so like i don't know man i'm i am not bullish on these royals do let's go over the projected lineup is did you do we do this in full whit merrifield did not whiton maryfield i thought there's a aldoberto i thought it was alaberto i thought it was just alberto mademonesi Adalbardo, Montessi, Jorge Soler, Hunter Dozier, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez, Ryan O'Hern, Michael Franco, and Nikki Lopez with the bench of Cam Gallagher, Matt Reynolds, Brett Phillips, and Bubba Starling.

Yikes. And yeah, I should, Hunter Dozier deserves a little more love. I mean, he had 26 homers, 29 doubles in 139 games last year. He's 27. He had an 870. OPS. It's it's him, Merrifield, and Soler. They're hoping At Alberto can figure it out because with his speed, I mean, if he can, I mean, his OBP was 291 last year. He's still very young, but if, I mean, if he can even get on base at a 320 clip, that'd be a, A, a decent jump for him, and B, I mean, you're, you're looking at 50 plus stolen bases. So, yeah, I mean, that's what I've got from the lineup there. I feel like we've heard Whitmer

trade rumors in the past and then they had didn't they have a whit merrifield data in the season last year um he's he's on a pretty team he's on a very team friendly contract in my opinion um and i don't know so lair they did they figure something out with him was there a little juice in the ball i think so um it'll be interesting to see what they do with him um but yeah i mean if you're the royals you're you know, you just moved on from Ned Yost and you're just, you're still, I mean, it sounds bad, but you're coming off those, those World Series teams still. And it feels like you never, you never went hardcore rebuild. Um, and I think you need to, man. Like I, it feels like it's time to bottom out and, and start getting hope moving ahead. It seems like that's what they're

doing, though, right? Um, you think so, especially, talk about the Alex Gordon contract. The Alex Gordon contract, they brought him back basically because he is a Kansas City Royal. He's a very good defender. Pretty brutal bat. They signed him for a four-year deal for a good amount of money. He didn't hit any of the four years. The interesting thing that Jake's telling me to talk about is that they made him waive

his no trade clause. He has five and ten rights, ten years as a major league player, five years with a single team means you can veto any trade. if they trade him, he can't say no, but he also gets half a million dollars if he gets traded. So Alex Gordon is playing to be traded because that gets him half a million dollars. And there's no chance the Royals are in it. IMO. So if I look at what other free agents they have next year, is it fun?

No, it's just Ian Kennedy. And he's been pretty good. He's been decent in the bullpen, so he might work his way into a trade. Yeah, I mean, Ian Kennedy, Danny Duffy, we haven't really talked about the staff yet, and I guess we should a little bit. I mean, Danny Duffy, Brad Keller, Jacob Junis, Mike Montgomery, Jorge Lopez. Keller is your guy. You love him.

Why are you saying that? I don't have a memory of Brad Keller. Do I have to Google him to find him to find him? You hate Brad Keller. Oh, he looks like he's the one that looks like the guy and remember the tight. that's making fun of Cal making fun of sunshine. And then, and then Pity goes, your girl, I don't see any livestock around here.

He looks like the racist white guy. And remember the Titans. Brad Keller. Picture for the Ross. It's a tough break for him. He might be a cool guy, but he just looks like he's not a cool guy. Sometimes that's how it goes. But yeah, how'd the Duffman do last year?

He had a 434 yard. in 130 innings. Okay. So, I mean, he's a major league pitcher that's going to twirl it. Brad Keller in his age 23 season, 419 ERA and 165. So you're hoping for good things from Brad Keller. I mean, maybe you're hoping Junis can get better. He's got a pretty decent K per nine, but I don't know. Hey, he's still youngish. Maybe he can get it going.

Oh, Brad Keller's Danny Duffey. Brad Keller's baseball savant numbers Are as they look as bad as him That's mean I guess I cut it I cut it They're bad they're all None of them are in the positive area Royal Blue bag

That's true What about Glenn Sparkman? I like Glenn Sparkman What about Glenn Sparkman? I like Glenn Sparkman because he was rather not great Last year he has dyed yellow hair he got a lot of chances he was a reliever, then he was a starter. I mean, he started, how many games in a row did he start down the stretch?

Started 22 games to end the season, Jake. So once they moved him to starter, 22 games with a, what was his ERA? Show it to me. 8,300 runs. Why, why, show me his ERA? Oh, 6-7-1. Awful, right? Yeah.

But in the middle of that was a complete game shutout against the Chicago White Sox. Yes, sir. And if you're a Royals fan, you just got to be holding on like, hey, he did it once. Let's find that again, baby. Glenn Sparkman, I don't even know if he's projected to be in the rotation. Maybe he's battling out for the fifth spot, but get him in there. He did it once. Yeah, I don't, they don't even have them listed under starters or relievers, which is a bad, bad look for Glenn.

Yeah, man, and I, again, I'm, I'm being tough on, being tough on these royals, but they're not doing much for me. And like, just little things. Like, I feel like you look at every MLB bullpen and they've got three guys between 22 and 25 that you're like, yeah, I mean, they throw hard as hell and they, they scare you. Hey, maybe one of them figures it out. Like, the Royals don't have that guy. Like Scott Barlow had some had some. pretty nice numbers, but outside of him, it's all these guys that are like 25 to 30 with, I feel like there's no breakout potential.

Like, trying to think of. What about, what about Salvador Perez? What if, what if Soler goes off again, right? Sure. Merrifield does his thing. And then who else do we? Solair, Merrifield, Perez, he's back. He could knock 25 homers again.

He's kind of good for 25 homers a year when hell. healthy, right? So I'm trying my best. That's good. And then who else you have? Like Gordon needs to, it's tough. It's tough to make a case. I mean, you have like three guys.

Dozier can be good. So now we've got, we're up to four potential hopes. Is that all? I mean, you have hopes for Adelberto. I mean, O'Hern, I don't know how excited you could be. He hit 195 last year. Michael Franco, I mean, the Phillies just gave up on. him. Maybe Nikki Lopez has something up to

Steve, but I, I don't know. I mean, it just feels like half of this current starting lineup doesn't have a ton of hope. And I mean, Salvador, Salvador Perez is a nice guy to have on a winning ball club. But as you're, you know, four or five hitter is he's a mid-sevenths OPS guy. Like he's, yeah, he's a lot more love. But I feel like, like because he's always a all-star that people think highly of him than like his stats aren't impressive. Yeah, I mean, he's a five-time gold glove winner. I don't care about that.

I think like I think what you said is great. If you have a stud team and he's your catcher, that is an awesome complimentary catcher. If you're building a stud team around Salvia's one of the top three, tough to do. I mean, he's he's Yadier Molina. He's a stud defensively and he does enough with the bat to be a threat. He's never had an 800 OPS year. No. He's a catcher. It's very hard to do that, but. Yadir Molina has a lifetime 738 OPS.

Salvador Perez has a lifetime 739 OPS. They're the same guys. They've been on World Series teams. They play great defense. Yeah, I'm not knocking him as a overall player, but his offensive stats. I expected to be a little more like, oh, yeah, he's good. But if Salvador Perez is your. seven, eight hitter, and he's doing everything he does.

It's awesome. When you're relying him as the meat of your lineup, I mean, you have to go to the offensive numbers, and he's, he's not that. But so, Solair, Whitmerfield, and Hunter Dozier. If So lair's going off again, if Solare's going off again, Jake, start the season. Trade him. You trade him. He's got another year of control in 2022.

So you're trading. Actually, so he's got, no, he's got 2021. So you'd be trading a year and a half of him. But if he's going off again, you might be able to get a huge haul. And they need to rebuild, rebuild, rebuild. It's not like, okay, if he has fully figured it out and he's awesome now, I mean, you've got one year left with him and the Royals are going to be terrible next year. Like, there's no point to it.

If you can, you traded him for David. If you can trade a year and a half of Jorge Soler, the almost 50 homes. outfielder. Like get yourself three prospects. And, and, you know, maybe that's what Casey fans want to hear. Maybe it's not. But, like,

there's no world where they're good next year. No. But you know what they have going for them? I don't think they're divisions that tough. I mean, we just did the Marlins with the NL East, and that's a tough division. There's three good teams. Yeah. Unless the Indians decide they don't want to be.

good anymore. I mean, man, they have so much young pitching. The Indians. They're like, Cleveland is going to be good. Yeah. Excuse me. Am I excuse? But yeah, I don't know. Do we have a fun fact? Do we have an over yonder? Over yonder. The fun fact for the Royals is that never forget the music video about Witt Merrifield, Cool Witt, that went Vair on YouTube a few years ago. Okay, well, I'm going to find that. Do you know what? Are you familiar? I would say,

I would say it's the George Brett shitting his pants story on YouTube. If you haven't seen that. Yeah, but I've never heard this. I've never heard this cool wit. So I'm going to play it. Here it comes. Mm-hmm.

He can play the field. He can make him going to sweat. He's a cool wit. Bat-a-boo. Spad him all around. Play his suckers. He can play third. He can play left.

He can steal your girl. He's cool. So fresh and full. He can play in the field. He can make, mc-g-m-go-ha-ha-ha. He's cool, wet. Bada-a-boop. Spread him all around.

Go on, huh? Rock-a-rah. Damn. Well, I was only whatever 50-second song, so that's a good song. Hmm. I won me over with the Steal Your Girl part. Oh, yeah. So that is a fun fact about them.

Let's see. There's what other notes do we have? Two rising outfielders, Brett Phillips and Bubba Starling will compete for center field with Dozier. Are there any prospects, Jake? You didn't do any prospects. Yeah, I guess that is true. We didn't do the prospects too much. Bubba Starling, he was fifth pick in the draft in 2011 out of high school.

He was supposed to be a freak. He's 27 and a half now. Hasn't had a ton of MLB action. And then Brett Phillips is pretty. well known for being the laugh guy. Oh, yeah, he's got that crazy laugh. Yeah, he's got the bizarre laugh. Honestly, their big time prospect is Bobby Whit Jr.

Who's supposed to be a stud. I think he was the first overall pick last year, two years ago. But yeah, big, big time third base prospect, but he's 2023. I don't know. They've got Brady Singer there. I'll be honest. I don't have the full scouting report on him. I just don't know, man.

I think you need to have like a 20-22 plan going on if you're the Royals. And I don't think they have that right now. Not a fun time. But hey, Kansas City got good barbecue. So you can always do that. Chiefs. Do you think can we pay someone to go to all 18 Royals versus Tigers games this year? I mean, someone's doing it.

You think someone, no, not all of them, besides the beat reporters. Oh, I mean back and forth. Yeah. Players. I mean, that's tough to go to Detroit and Kansas City for two weeks. Yeah. No. You don't want to do it?

I'll do it, but you won't let me, so. Okay. See you. We're done. The show's over. Over under, bro. Over under, not over. 59 and 103 last year.

They have it at 66.5. Enjoy that under, Jim. Underlife. Fuck, I'll take the over. No. It's too high. It's too high. That's too high.

That's too high. Too high. I've taken every under. I feel like a fucking putts. I mean, it's like how many games can they beat the Tigers? Ten. Say they go 10 and 8 against the Tigers.

I think I like the Tigers. No, they're pretty even. I don't know. Tigers, no, they're better, I don't know. Say they go 10 and 8 against Tigers. There's 10 wins there. I think they're going to have the twins number this year. I think so.

No, I don't know. It's locked up. It'd be funny. It'd be funny if it was true. I don't think it's going to be true. Ugh. These guys are bad. Under.

I'm taking the over just to just. Nice. Your first over? Because I'm, fading myself. I can't see one hand claps today. See ya. Show's over.

Thanks for hanging out with us. Goodbye. Bye.