Kevin Seitzer or Edgar Martinez would either one look good in KC. I think Cags would benefit from a couple months of AA then AAA to get back on track. Wish them well on this trip to Seattle. Hope they find some answers.
I was wondering about Cags in Double-A. They would never do it, but he could maybe get back on track a little faster if they sent him to where he started to mash this year. Re-build the confidence brick by brick.
I'm not even watching half the time anymore (OK, maybe an exaggeration) and I've noticed Cags slam his bat down several times after yet another popup/routine fly ball. Time to take some pressure off him and let him get back to smoking the ball in the minors until he gets his confidence back.
I was gonna bring this up as well. Every time I see him lose his cool like that I'm thinking "get him outta there". Doing more harm than good at this point.
Well, in one sense, the Royals were perfect this season, 100 for 100. The outfield they counted on (Melendez, Massey, Renfroe, Biggio) all failed and are gone AND the guys they called up to replace (Loftin, Waters, Rave, Cags) are all disappointments. It's really stunning that out of eight guys, not one could be even replacement level.
My other thought is that it's going to get ugly in August & September after Lugo and Lorenzen are traded and Bubic is shut down to save his arm. In short, put below league-average pitching with the WORST offense in MLB--yuck!
The outfield has been...really poor. Collectively, they're hitting .223/.275/.319, which is a 66 OPS+. Woof. Also, they're 11-20 in stolen base attempts. What??? They've gotten 31 RBIs TOTAL from their two corners.
When India & BWJ swatted back-to-back doubles leading off I actually got my hopes up for a win.
Then Vinnie popped out, my stomach fell to the floor and I just knew the game was lost. How sad is that?
Waters frustrates the crap out of me. Can't even bunt with a $#!t, then K's looking at a meatball.
This guy is supposed to have 5 tools? They must be all wrenches; only his glove is decent.
The one good thing about the sad outfield offense is that at least they have learned once and for all that Loftin and Waters are never going to help; Rave most likely not, either.
I want to disagree with your assessment of Jac, but I just can't. Man is he depressing me. He was the only internal hope for this pathetic offense and, so far at least . . .
In order to find hits, maybe it's time to rent a Geiger counter, or break out a diving rod, or maybe Dial-an-Exorcist.
They're going to have to go to silly extremes because talent ain't gonna bail 'em out
He looks like a guy who is questioning his abilities. I think he's so key to their future, they need to get him right and they need to do it quickly. Plenty of players didn't succeed their first time up. Let him know he's still a huge part of the future and to just focus on getting back to what made him so successful the first two months of the season.
Yep. I think the way the rotations align in this series is good for the Royals. Looking forward to the potential duels in the last two games. But as you say, when a team is scoring somewhere between 2 and 0 runs per game, wins are going to be difficult to come by.
The thing about Cags is that, yes, they called him up to try to help the offense. But they also called him up because he needed to face MLB pitching to continue to improve. AAA pitchers just weren't going to be able to exploit his flaws in a way that was going to make him better. If they demote him, he'll crush some AAA pitching, but he won't actually improve as a hitter. For that to happen he needs to stay in the big leagues and keep taking his lumps. Maybe he won't end up looking very good this year, but if it all works out, hopefully he'll be awesome next year.
Was Cags ready? He had a total of 54 Triple-A PAs, half of which came in a ballpark that is very hitter-friendly in Salt Lake. I was for the promotion at the time, but was really surprised the Royals moved as fast as they did. We know he can crush the ball, but the pitching and the pressures are way different in the majors. He's at a point where you can feel the frustration with every first-pitch popup or weak ground out. The dude needs to find some confidence. I think he needs a month at a minimum. Let him go down, relax and rake.
I didn't say ready, I said it was a necessary step. He clearly isn't and wasn't ready to hit MLB pitching, even if we hoped he might be. But he's not going to get ready by continuing to shell AAA pitchers.
I can see an argument for a mental reset. An opportunity to work on what he's learned from facing MLB pitching with less pressure. But I still think it was the right call to promote him when they did.
Kevin Seitzer or Edgar Martinez would either one look good in KC. I think Cags would benefit from a couple months of AA then AAA to get back on track. Wish them well on this trip to Seattle. Hope they find some answers.
I was wondering about Cags in Double-A. They would never do it, but he could maybe get back on track a little faster if they sent him to where he started to mash this year. Re-build the confidence brick by brick.
I'm not even watching half the time anymore (OK, maybe an exaggeration) and I've noticed Cags slam his bat down several times after yet another popup/routine fly ball. Time to take some pressure off him and let him get back to smoking the ball in the minors until he gets his confidence back.
Completely agree. You can feel his frustration.
I was gonna bring this up as well. Every time I see him lose his cool like that I'm thinking "get him outta there". Doing more harm than good at this point.
Well, in one sense, the Royals were perfect this season, 100 for 100. The outfield they counted on (Melendez, Massey, Renfroe, Biggio) all failed and are gone AND the guys they called up to replace (Loftin, Waters, Rave, Cags) are all disappointments. It's really stunning that out of eight guys, not one could be even replacement level.
My other thought is that it's going to get ugly in August & September after Lugo and Lorenzen are traded and Bubic is shut down to save his arm. In short, put below league-average pitching with the WORST offense in MLB--yuck!
The outfield has been...really poor. Collectively, they're hitting .223/.275/.319, which is a 66 OPS+. Woof. Also, they're 11-20 in stolen base attempts. What??? They've gotten 31 RBIs TOTAL from their two corners.
When India & BWJ swatted back-to-back doubles leading off I actually got my hopes up for a win.
Then Vinnie popped out, my stomach fell to the floor and I just knew the game was lost. How sad is that?
Waters frustrates the crap out of me. Can't even bunt with a $#!t, then K's looking at a meatball.
This guy is supposed to have 5 tools? They must be all wrenches; only his glove is decent.
The one good thing about the sad outfield offense is that at least they have learned once and for all that Loftin and Waters are never going to help; Rave most likely not, either.
I want to disagree with your assessment of Jac, but I just can't. Man is he depressing me. He was the only internal hope for this pathetic offense and, so far at least . . .
In order to find hits, maybe it's time to rent a Geiger counter, or break out a diving rod, or maybe Dial-an-Exorcist.
They're going to have to go to silly extremes because talent ain't gonna bail 'em out
The Waters at bat was terrible. So frustrating. He's a guy who should be better. Not great, just...better.
At this point, they're probably beyond an exorcist.
Is there really benefit to sending Cags down to Triple A? Or should we keep him up and let him work through it?
He looks like a guy who is questioning his abilities. I think he's so key to their future, they need to get him right and they need to do it quickly. Plenty of players didn't succeed their first time up. Let him know he's still a huge part of the future and to just focus on getting back to what made him so successful the first two months of the season.
Well, like most series, I tend to like the pitching matchups coming up. But, and it’s a huge but, you can’t win much when you score 2 runs or less
Yep. I think the way the rotations align in this series is good for the Royals. Looking forward to the potential duels in the last two games. But as you say, when a team is scoring somewhere between 2 and 0 runs per game, wins are going to be difficult to come by.
The thing about Cags is that, yes, they called him up to try to help the offense. But they also called him up because he needed to face MLB pitching to continue to improve. AAA pitchers just weren't going to be able to exploit his flaws in a way that was going to make him better. If they demote him, he'll crush some AAA pitching, but he won't actually improve as a hitter. For that to happen he needs to stay in the big leagues and keep taking his lumps. Maybe he won't end up looking very good this year, but if it all works out, hopefully he'll be awesome next year.
Was Cags ready? He had a total of 54 Triple-A PAs, half of which came in a ballpark that is very hitter-friendly in Salt Lake. I was for the promotion at the time, but was really surprised the Royals moved as fast as they did. We know he can crush the ball, but the pitching and the pressures are way different in the majors. He's at a point where you can feel the frustration with every first-pitch popup or weak ground out. The dude needs to find some confidence. I think he needs a month at a minimum. Let him go down, relax and rake.
I didn't say ready, I said it was a necessary step. He clearly isn't and wasn't ready to hit MLB pitching, even if we hoped he might be. But he's not going to get ready by continuing to shell AAA pitchers.
I can see an argument for a mental reset. An opportunity to work on what he's learned from facing MLB pitching with less pressure. But I still think it was the right call to promote him when they did.
I didn't see one game this weekend which is abnormal for me. But reading, I now realize I didn't miss anything, same old stuff.
Saturday was fun. Friday was sort of fun. Beyond that brief moment in the first, Sunday was not really fun at all.