GO ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[phuqueue]

Let's not go crazy here with Gathright.  He's batting .231/.276/.269/.545 so far.  His speed is nice, but it doesn't do any good unless he gets on base -- which he managed to do twice today, but it was the first time since Friday.  Last season was by far his best, and his OPS was still only .713, for an OPS+ of 88.  It also came in only about a half season of work, and his career-best .307 batting average can be attributed to his also career-best .365 BABIP.  BABIP for a hitter isn't necessarily as flukey as it is for a pitcher, but it was more than 20 points higher than in any other year he's had at the major league level (and 70 points higher than in 2006).

Comparatively, last year was DeJesus's worst year, and he hit .260/.351/.372/.722 for an OPS+ of 89 -- in other words, when Gathright's at his best and DeJesus is at his worst, DeJesus is still marginally better.  DeJesus is likely to hit for higher average (and his BABIP, except for last season's career-low .291, is pretty consistent in the .330 range, indicating that last year was to some degree just bad luck, just as Gathright's year included some good luck), he takes a lot more walks, and although he's not exactly Carlos Beltran, he'll still hit for considerably more power than Gathright, who has one career home run and, despite his speed, only 28 career doubles (DeJesus hit 29 doubles last season alone).

Pretty much the only thing Gathright has on DeJesus is speed, but like I said, it doesn't matter if he's only getting on base in fewer than three of every ten plate appearances.  And even if he does get on base, this past week (and spring training, if you want to count that too) is the first time he's ever been able to consistently put his speed to good use.  There's been a lot made of the work that Rusty Kuntz did with DeJesus and Gathright to help them steal more consistently, and so far it seems to be paying dividends, but it's a little reckless after just one week of success to decide that we're sticking with the guy whose only talent is speed but who was thrown out on eight of seventeen attempted steals last season.  Shouldn't we at least see a little bit longer run of consistent success before we decide that Gathright is really the base stealer he has appeared to be this past week?  And for that matter, we haven't even had a chance to see if DeJesus has improved similarly.  No, he doesn't quite have Gathright's speed, but he's not known for being a terribly slow guy, and along with Teahen is generally regarded as the best baserunner on the team.  Shouldn't we at least wait to see if Rusty's tips will work for DeJesus too?  After all, steals are basically the only advantage Gathright has over DeJesus, and they might not even be an advantage if DeJesus can steal as well.  And that's all to say nothing of the fact that, as I have mentioned previously, a stolen base isn't as valuable as the out it costs if you get caught; being too aggressive on the base paths is not a good idea.

In any case, Gathright was stealing today on a catcher who later left in the middle of the game with a "dead arm" and who was trying to throw him out in weather that was clearly giving the pitchers some trouble too.  Let's not get too swept up in Gathright's good game and start making rash decisions.  DeJesus is an all around better player than Gathright and it would be a huge mistake to trade DeJesus away under the belief that Gathright can capably fill in full-time.  Gathright's the fourth outfielder and that's really the way it should be.

[KCMax]

Agree with phuq. I don't get why DJ gets so dissed by Royals fans. He's a solid OBA machine. Gathright has done it for only about 250 ABs. Let's prove Joey can do it for a whole season before we ship DJ off. There's nothing wrong with having four good options in the outfield.

Its also one week of baseball. AJ Pierzynski leads the league in batting average. Torii Hunter leads the league in homers. The godawful Baltimore Orioles have the best record in baseball. Let's not make any conclusive statements after seven games.

[voltopt]

AJ Pierzynski leads the league in batting average.

AJ!

Cursed AJ!

[mean]

Agree with phuq. I don't get why DJ gets so dissed by Royals fans. He's a solid OBA machine. Gathright has done it for only about 250 ABs. Let's prove Joey can do it for a whole season before we ship DJ off. There's nothing wrong with having four good options in the outfield.

Its also one week of baseball. AJ Pierzynski leads the league in batting average. Torii Hunter leads the league in homers. The godawful Baltimore Orioles have the best record in baseball. Let's not make any conclusive statements after seven games.

Who dissed on DJ? I love DJ. I just think Joey has shown some flashes of the kind of player he is becoming, and his range in CF is huge.

[KCMax]

Who dissed on DJ?

Those that suggested he will or should be traded.

[shaffe]

i would gather to say that their ranges defensively are very similar.  while gathright has fantastic speed, (in the past) he's shown a poor ability to read and take good routes/get good jumps on balls off the bat.  dejesus meanwhile is fast, not blazing, and takes incredible routes and covers a lot of ground on instinct.

honestly i'd take dejesus' defense over gathright's.  joey'll need to get on base at a .350 clip for him to be a better option than dejesus.

[phuqueue]

There has been some discussion on some blogs about moving Teahen to first so that Gathright can play center and DeJesus can play left, so there's a compromise that'll keep them both in the game.  It's not without its own problems, of course.  Gload, while he lacks the power you'd like to see out of a first baseman, is still going to get on base a lot more than Gathright, so it doesn't really make sense to me to boot him out of the lineup for Gathright's sake.  For that matter, Teahen really hasn't shown first base power except during his half-season run in 2006, so he's not really great there either; if Shealy returns to form and is still considered a threat to hit 25 home runs, he's still the best option.  But it is at least an idea.  After all, though the Royals are 5-2, we shouldn't get carried away here -- it's not exactly likely that they'll be caught up in the playoff race by the time September gets here.  So there's no reason not to mess around and experiment a bit with different lineups and see what works.  Gathright is a little old and has spent quite a bit of time at the MLB level to still be considered a "prospect," but hell, if he really could become an on base monster with consistent base stealing ability, I have no problem letting him start -- although at this rate, I think I'd rather he push Guillen out of the lineup than DeJesus.

Too bad he can't learn to play shortstop.

[mean]

Gathright is a little old and has spent quite a bit of time at the MLB level to still be considered a "prospect," but hell, if he really could become an on base monster with consistent base stealing ability, I have no problem letting him start -- although at this rate, I think I'd rather he push Guillen out of the lineup than DeJesus.

Four years but only one real season.

Agreed on Guillen. If that guy can't start making something happen at the plate, might as well try something else.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Agreed on Guillen. If that guy can't start making something happen at the plate, might as well try something else.

Unless the players union and league figure something out in the next few hours, he will have the next 15 days to contemplate changes to his approach at the plate. 

[NDTeve]

New Garth tradition?

http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/77

[mean]

Looks like Guillen gets another ten days while his fate is decided. Maybe MLB decided it was more of a punishment to keep him on the team. :p

[KCMax]

New Garth tradition?

http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/77

That song and dance was fine, but the real Royals tradition is "Minnie the Moocher" by Cab Calloway. I don't understand why they don't play that at every game.

[Mhudson]

I've come to the conclusion that Billy Butler is a monster.  Its been awhile since I've been this excited about a royals hitter.

[phuqueue]

I've come to the conclusion that Billy Butler is a monster.  Its been awhile since I've been this excited about a royals hitter.

Butler's great, but I haven't gotten as excited about him yet as I was about Mark Teahen back in 2006.  I think part of it's just that I expect Butler to hit, but I had been pulling for Teahen to develop into a productive hitter ever since the Beltran trade and it just wasn't happening, and then suddenly it did, and it seemed like every other night he hit another homer or a pair of doubles or something.  Even for as many games as they lost that year, I have some pretty fond memories of baseball that summer.

[schugg]

Does anyone know if dish network is showing royals games?

[Mhudson]

Butler's great, but I haven't gotten as excited about him yet as I was about Mark Teahen back in 2006.  I think part of it's just that I expect Butler to hit, but I had been pulling for Teahen to develop into a productive hitter ever since the Beltran trade and it just wasn't happening, and then suddenly it did, and it seemed like every other night he hit another homer or a pair of doubles or something.  Even for as many games as they lost that year, I have some pretty fond memories of baseball that summer.

Ahh, I remember that great summer.  That was a little after his trip back to Triple A wasn't it?  I'm hoping he has the power again this year.  And Schugg, I don't know a lot about the different satellite providers, but I know one of my friends has satellite and he has been able to watch the games.  Unfortunately, Cox cable keeps showing big 12 gymnastics, poker, tennis, or basically what ever crap they can find instead of showing the royals games here in Manhattan...i'm stuck watching play-by-play online!!  Another reason to look forward to moving to KC next month!

[49r]

It's awesome finally being able to watch the Royals in HD.

[phuqueue]

So Gathright is caught stealing and it costs the Royals a run when Jose Guillen finally manages a base hit.  They did say that he's got a green light and probably made that decision himself, so I wouldn't necessarily blame Hillman for it, but it's a perfect example of why steals just aren't really worth it.  Gathright would have advanced to third on Teahen's eventual walk anyway, and then would have scored on Guillen's single.  Still, Royals up 2-0 after five.  Hopefully they can hold the lead.

[Mhudson]

Steals are risky, but it also keeps the team guessing.  I also can't argue with how aggressive the Royals seem this year, I'm loving it, even if it means an occasional out on the basepath.

[GRID]

nice, 4-0.  We gave up our tickets for tonights game.  I though for sure it would rain out.