Royals

[jhawks99]

Zerpe looks good. Let's get q couple runs.

[twocoach]

One big hit here, come on!

[twocoach]

One big hit here, come on!

OMG, I thought it was going to happen.

[Sparko]

The dead ball giveth nothing, but taketh away.

[twocoach]

The dead ball giveth nothing, but taketh away.

Wind blowing in 10+ mph probably did it.

[jhawks99]

Whelp

[twocoach]

Well hopefully this is KC's 2014 to their 2015 and they build on this to do even better next season.

[Sparko]

The dead ball giveth nothing, but taketh away.

Wind blowing in 10+ mph probably did it.

Part of it. But it is a season-long phenomenon. Ball lacks carry. Averages way down despite the shift being removed. There are "goldilocks" balls.

[jhawks99]

I hate the fucking yankees

[Sparko]

And a guy over 40 with no speed closes the season. Sigh. Had opportunities. But Wacha had to be perfect and tonight was about base hits. The Royals definitely need to invest in a better batting coach and need to get real with Q. Q has to do better with the lineups and developing a bench. Yankees looked very beatable.

[pdub]

OK NOW we can talk about the bullshit that is baseball with no salary cap.

[Sparko]

Fastball. Fastball. Fastball. And crickets. May need to get younger and better at hitting that pitch. Who knows? Maybe the superball will come back next year. Yankees paid a quarter of a billion dollars this year to beat washed up vet minimums.

[Sparko]

It was a good year getting to the playoffs, but the last four games were a reprise of September. Frustratingly inept bats. Slllloooow team speed in large swaths.

[Back2Lawrence]

OK NOW we can talk about the bullshit that is baseball with no salary cap.

Let’s keep it in the baseball thread lol

[Back2Lawrence]

Good year, waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than expectations.

I got to check off Yankees playoff game tonight. Disappointed in moment, but satisfied overall.

[pdub]

They did play waaay better than expected and maybe were a blown call away from being up 2-0.

[pdub]

So what do you do now?
Lugo is with us for a couple more years.
Wacha returns.
Ragans is gonna command a pretty penny somewhere - will the Royals try to re-sign?

Vinnie and Bobby in theory get better...but we need another bat.

[jfish26]

So what do you do now?
Lugo is with us for a couple more years.
Wacha returns.
Ragans is gonna command a pretty penny somewhere - will the Royals try to re-sign?

Vinnie and Bobby in theory get better...but we need another bat.

I'm not so sure Wacha will be back, at least at the number in his contract (he has an opt-out of making $16mm next year).

Ragans isn't even arbitration-eligible yet. He won't be eligible for free agency until ...at least 2028, but seems more likely 2029? So you don't even really need to think about extending him yet (the bigger question is, do you want to flip him before you run out of luck in the russian roulette game you're playing with his elbow and shoulder).

So many good problems on the pitching side:

* Do you move Singer (who is getting modestly-expensive in arbitration, but is probably heading into his last season with significant net positive trade value)?

* What do you do with Bubic? (I would always give a guy a chance to start, because a B- starter is more valuable than an A reliever.)

* Do you have an actual major leaguer in Lynch? I think his opportunity to be great or even very good has passed, but there might still be something there.

* What exactly do you have with Kyle Wright (who we basically paid to rehab this year, but who is under contract for 2025)? In his one full season (2022), his ERA was 28% better than league average, in 180 innings. That's really, really, really good.

The money absolutely needs to be spent on the offensive side. Bregman would be monstrously expensive, but would move the needle all by himself. Santander would also be a great (and expensive) add. I'm intrigued by Teoscar Hernandez and Max Kepler as slightly-under-top-of-market options.

[Sparko]

Pitching looks pretty good. I am sold on Lynch. He fixed his yips issue. I wanted to see him in the playoffs. I would have worked him in the 4th inning. Wacha was a nice piece but is an expensive pitch to contact guy. The pen looks good. Sans McArthur. Need to bring Jac up early and work like Hell on Waters and Pratto. Need to sign someone who brings speed and a bat.

The mistake this year was the raft of below average and slow vets brought in. Geo Brett was pissed last year at the young guys not winning and I think JJ went out of his way to sign some non-pitcher vets. But these were not Benetendi quality. Q pissed me off by leaving the statues rostered for the playoffs. Pham was working and still had some speed. Gurriell wasn't healthy. Frazier was meh. Hampson is a guy who will be useful as a plug and play guy. Fermin and Blanco really did not play at all. Huge miss there by Q. Fermin had gotten his stroke back just in time to be benched. Blanco should have been brought in several more times for base running. Did not lose offense with him batting either.
This team had narrow margins for error so the managing mistakes were really noticeable. Bringing the closer in mid-innings was not modern magic. It got Vinnie and Ercec injured and was a huge mistake last night. Would love to get a better manager, but Q is a project in development and will be the guy.

[pdub]

I didn't know that about Ragans - when I looked up his contract online it said a 1 year deal.