Well after typing for 2 hours and grading all the Royals regulars and Dayton Moore my computer decided to just shut down and all was lost. I'm bothered by that and I apologize that now I'll be submitted a rather scaled back version now due to the SNAFU and I doubt I'll offer all the commentary that I did initially. Here's my grade for the 2008 Royals position players.
David DeJesus A- DDJs .321 AVE, 491 slugging pct, and 1.000 fielding percentage are all tops of the Royals position players. The fact that he has no errors when he's played all 3 outfield positions is astounding. I played alot of outfield at the high school level and I know that each position is different, especially on liners. His 9HR, 43 RBI and .321 AVE, is well above the pace of his 2007 numbers of 7-58 .260. If he were a Yankee or Red Sox player, he'ld probably be leading the league in all star votes.
Mark Grudzielanek B- He's hitting .315 with an impressive .371 OBP with a team leading .991 fielding percentage for Royals middle infielders. He'll have to pick up his pace in power though to reach his 2007 numbers of 6HR and 51 RBI.
Mike Aviles B His 3HR, 15 RBI and .291 AVE are far above what we were getting the first 2+ months of the season from the shortstop position. His .485 slugging pct put him in the same league with DeJesus, Guillen, and Olivo. His fielding hasn't been up to the standards of Pena, but if he keeps producing at the plate like he has, thats a sacrifice I'm sure most of us are willing to make.
Alberto Callaspo C+ His .290 batting average and .349 OBP are very respectable but the fact that he's only gotten 3 extra base hits so far this season is not. His BB/SO ratio is 9/9 so he's a good contact hitter. Possible future #2 hitter. His fielding percentage is actually better than Pena's. The fact that he hasn't homered in 280 career at bats is a concern.
Jose Guillen B+ His 13 HR and 64 RBI leads the team. His .479 is decent and he also leads the team with 28 doubles. His OBP is unsatisfactory at .306 as he's only walked 10 times compared to 61 strikeouts. He's got a cannon for an arm and has recorded 6 assists.. a number that would probably be greater, but due to his reputation, many runners don't attempt an extra base on him. Like DeJesus, and maybe even moreso deserves all-star consideration.
Billy Butler C- He's going to need to step it up to achieve his 8-52-.293 from 2007 which is disappointing considering he was a starter to begin the season. His only upside this season has been his .339 OBP and he's proven he's not the defensive liability that many thought he would be with only 1 error and a .993 fielding pct. Hopefully he's worked out the kinks in Omaha and he'll start raking.
Miguel Olivo B- Has an excellent .484 slugging pct, and is batting .261 with 9HR and 28 RBI. He's also done an excellent job of throwing out runners trying to steal 8 for 17. His biggest drawback is the 53 strikeouts in 188 at bats. His .289 OBP is low as well.
Ross Gload C- His 1HR, 17 RBI and .260 average is completely unsatisfactory for someone playing a corner outfield position or first base. That being said, he's one of the slickest fielding first basemen in franchise history. His only error this season was playing outfield. He's saved our infielders countless errors. He's a good utility player but not much more.
Alex Gordon C+ He's not lived up to the hype of a first round pick, however, he's improving. His .262 AVE, 11HR and 42 RBI are well above pace of his 15-60 .247 of last year. His .342 OBP is pretty good, yet he's striking out too much for a #3 hitter (78 times in 84 games). He's an average to above average fielder, his range is excellent and he's got a cannon for an arm. I think until he hits his true stride, he'ld be better served batting in the #5 hole in the line-up.
Mark Teahen C- His power numbers are up from last season, but at the expense of his batting average and OBP. Teahen seems to be a streak hitter. He'll knock the cover off the ball for a week and then he'll try pulling the ball and go into a weeklong funk. If Teahen can focus on hitting the ball up the middle, he can be an above average hitter as he's got the size and strength to get his XBH by just hitting it where its pitched. Like Gordon, he's striking out too much. Despite being asked to play 3 positions this season, he's only committed 3 errors. He's also the got the best baserunning IQ on the Royals, he needs to improve getting on base.
John Buck C- His average is up, his power numbers have plummeted. However his .246 average is still sub-par. Fortunately he works opposing pitchers enough that his OBP is a somewhat respectable .324. He's a better game caller and defensive catcher than Olivo, but he's had difficutly throwing out base stealers 5 of 29.
Joey Gathright D+ Defensively this guy is an A just because he can get to balls that no other Royal outfielder can and usually will catch what he can get to. He leads the Royals in stolen bases, stealing 18 bases in 22 attempts. Problem with Joey is that he has only 3 XBH in 220 at bats. That's a sorry stat. And his .301 OBP is also way too low for a player that you'ld love to see to be your leadoff hitter. If Joey could raise that OBP to the .330+ range, he should become the leadoff hitter, so that we could move DeJesus to the #3 spot where I think he belongs at this time.
Esteban German F Last season we had a pretty good utility player who hit .264 with 4 HR and 37 RBI. Where did he go? German is having a miserable season. 0HR, 6 RBI .169 AVE. His slugging percentage is sub .200 and his OBP is only .211. He's also got the worst fielding percentage of any position player on the Royals. I'm ready to let him go to any team who will give Sluggerrr a high powered hot dog launcher that will shoot hot dogs to the upper deck fans. Once Callaspo returns from the DL, German should be dispatched.
Tony Pena Jr. F I'm going to save some space. Pretty much the same story and numbers as German. The only use we have for Pena at this point is as a late inning defensive replacement at shortstop or second. Gil Meche, Brian Bannister and Zach Greinke all have better batting averages and slugging percentages than Teflon Tony....need I say more?
That completes my assessment of the Royals players. The only player who batted this season that wasn't graded was the reserve catcher, Tupman who is 1 for 1, so if you wanna know, I guess you gotta give him an A. Oh that Pena dude caught a few games too, I'll give him a C. Now, two more grades at the request of my few loyal readers....
Dayton Moore B+ Best moves so far? Gotta like getting Brian Bannister for Ambrioux Burgos. Getting Joakim Soria in the Rule 5 draft? How about that gem? Remember our 2006 opening day starter? Wasn't it Scott Elarton? Where is he these days? I'd take any of our 5 starters over him now. He dumped an $11 million salary with Sweeney and a 4-5Million salary with Emil Brown and got Guillen at $13 Million. I'd call that a success so far too. Its hard to determine yet if the Dotel for Kyle Davies move will be a winner or loser yet. Gil Meche? Last season, it looked pretty good, this season not so much. Whatever we gave up for Tony Pena looks like a loss now and the Brett Tomko signing was a bust. Hiring Trey Hillman? I think its an improvement over Buddy Bell, and I think that like the young Royals, Trey will develop well as a manager. Dayton doesn't have the luxury that Brian Cashman of the Yankee's has. Dayton does have a bottom line to look at. I think that for the two short years that Dayton has been GM he's done a pretty good job overall and I'd be disappointed if Dan Glass didn't agree with me.
The Kansas City Royals C- If you want to be realistic, you can't rate a fourth place team higher in a 5 team division. I bumped them to a low C because I feel the Royals are definitely headed in the right direction. All I can say is do you remember what we had 2 years ago? We had the worst team in baseball if you care to look at it objectively. Scott Elarton as our opening day starter and Mike Sweeney as our big offensive threat? The only concern I have with the improvement of the Royals is that with the exception of some of our bullpen we've been pretty injury free this season. 2 years ago we were among the worst in every category imaginable, starting pitching, hitting, defense and relief pitching. Right now we've got a middle of the pack starting staff, above average bullpen, decent fielding and our hitting is still below average, but I see some promising signs that our offense will rise as well. So even if I give them only a C- now, I'm optimistic about the future of this team.
Please render your opinions on this entry as responses do help motivate me to spend the time involved to continue posting this stuff.
Again, I wish all a happy 4th and as a former service member, I have the ultimate respect to all veterans, present and past who have made the celebration of this day possible.
