2015 ROYALS: It’s Always Something

May 9, 2015—Tigers

After getting hit in the face by a pitch, Alcides Escobar was put on the DL, but now he’s back hitting leadoff and swings at the first pitch of the game; a 91-MPH fastball from Anibal Sanchez.

Esky hits it out of the park.

According to Old School baseball, in their first plate appearance, leadoff hitters should take pitches so their teammates can see what the opposition pitcher has that day. But Rusty Kuntz says there’s so much video available that a leadoff hitter no longer needs to do that. Royals hitting coach Dale Sveum thinks you’re probably only going to get one pitch to hit—if that—so when you get one, hit it.

Do not take a fastball down the pipe.

After the game, the Tiger pitchers talk about how aggressive the Royals are early in the count. Detroit pitchers face 43 Royals batters and 21 of them swing at the first strike they see.

After the first month, the Royals’ team batting average is .306.

Fans – apparently looking for something to bitch about – complain that Ned Yost refused to use closer Greg Holland in a non-save situation on Friday night, but then used Holland in a non-save situation on Saturday afternoon; but clearly fans aren’t thinking about the score or the fact that the Royals are on the road, both of which make a big difference.

On Friday night, the score was tied going into the ninth inning.

If Holland threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, someone else would have to pitch the bottom of the tenth and the Royals could lose the game and blow an inning from their closer.

On Saturday the Royals have a four-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth; if Holland goes 1-2-3 the Royals get a W.

There are times it seems fair to question Ned Yost’s managing; this isn’t one of them.

Some fans argue that the best relievers should be used in the most important situations; if you need your closer in the seventh inning, why not use him?

Baseball managers also want to use their best relievers in the most important situations, but disagree with the analytics advocates about when that is. Most managers want to use their best relievers in situations that will be most productive: in the late innings, with a lead, in a close game.

Use your best reliever in the 7^th and he might give you a clean inning, but you wouldn’t be as sure that it would matter; lesser relievers would have to pitch the 8^th and the 9^th innings. You might succeed in one high-pressure situation, but create another one inning later.

And in the meantime you’ve burned up a well-pitched inning in a loss.

It’s not universal, but depending on the number of pitches thrown, how hard the pitcher had to work, the relative humidity and current Consumer Price Index (OK, that’s a joke about how complicated this stuff can get) a lot of relievers can throw two days in a row, but then need a day off. (With some it’s three days in a row, then they need that day off and if they throw more than one inning, they may need more than one day off.)

So using a closer on Monday might mean he’s not available on Wednesday and if you want to manage in the Big Leagues you need to think about that.

If using him on Monday locks down a win, do it.

It might rain on Wednesday or you might have a huge lead or be way behind or we’ll declare war, but if using the closer doesn’t lock down a win, now you’ve got more to think about: is the risk worth the reward?

And randomly using your relievers will cause chaos in the bullpen; nobody will know when to stretch, when to play catch and when to get serious about warming up. If relievers know when they’ll pitch they’ll do some stretching and play catch to get ready; when the call comes they can finish warming up in a hurry.

Now here’s yet another thing to think about:

Closers get paid for saves so if you use your closer in the 7^th in a non-save situation you’re costing him money, so he better be OK with that and his agent better be OK with that. Otherwise you’re going to have an unhappy player and/or unhappy agent and unhappy agents don’t mind calling your team’s GM to complain about your managing.

It’s easy for armchair managers to throw out ideas that they’ll never have to test or stand behind; real world managers need to think about this stuff.

After I point all this out in a column, Ned says he never reads my stuff (his standard opening) but also says when he does read my stuff (OK, so “never” was clearly an exaggeration) it’s always dead on and asks where I’m getting my information:

“I’m just listening to you guys, Ned.”

I’m not smart enough to have my own ideas about playing, coaching and managing in the Big Leagues, but I am smart enough to listen to the guys who do.

May 12, 2015—Rangers

The Royals beat the Rangers 7-6 and run their record to 21 wins and 12 losses, but it doesn’t stop a fan from getting on the internet and complaining about the Royals starting pitching.

It’s always something.

Which gives me an idea for a column: I ask players and coaches and managers the longest stretch of baseball they can remember where everything went right—pitching, defense and offense.

The answers vary: all the way from two series, to two weeks.

Turns out it is always something: either the starting pitching is scuffling or the bullpen is giving up leads or the offense isn’t scoring enough runs or the defense is making too many errors, so if you hit a stretch where everything’s clicking, enjoy it—it isn’t going to last.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to get on the internet and complain about a team nine games over .500, rejoice; there will almost always be something to bitch about.

The future of Twitter is secure.

MLB—2015

The Kansas City Star publishes an article that says Major League Baseball has a new security plan to further safeguard baseballs: an MLB representative will watch them get carried from the umpires’ room to the field.

This is a subject of discussion because of Tom Brady and “Deflategate.”

MLB is making sure nobody is tampering with the baseballs between the umpires’ room and the field—which is actually kinda dumb, because that’s not when you tamper with a baseball. If someone is going to tamper with a baseball, most of the time it happens on the field, right in front of the umpires and fans.

If you’re a baseball fan, you already know about pitchers that hide substances on their body—pine tar, Vaseline and for the adult crowd, K-Y Jelly—and then add that substance to a baseball in order to change the ball’s flight.

But that’s not the only way to tamper with a baseball.

According to the late, great Dan Quisenberry, some pitchers grow out a thumbnail and when we see them “rubbing up” a baseball they’re actually scraping their thumbnail across the seams and “raising” the seams gives more movement to a pitch.

We’ve already seen how veteran catchers scuff baseballs by bouncing throws between innings.

If the umpire sees the throw bounce he’ll switch out the baseballs, but if the umpire is talking to a manager or chatting up a fan (turns out, umpires have groupies too, which makes me feel extremely sorry for the groupies) the pitcher will have a baseball with a nice scuff on it.

Spend time talking to pitchers and almost every one of them will admit to throwing a scuffed baseball at some time or another; they don’t have much choice. MLB makes a huge deal out of removing any ball that hits the dirt when thrown by a pitcher, but then lets baseballs that have been whacked off a chain link fence stay in play.

Sooner or later a pitcher is going to be standing on a mound, holding a scuffed baseball in his hand, even if he isn’t the one who scuffed it. Guys who know what to do with a scuffed baseball have an advantage; guys who don’t know what to do want a new baseball.

Here’s a 2025 update…

Between innings umpires are now checking pitchers’ gloves and hands, but I’ve never seen an umpire check a catcher’s shin guards. And some of those shin guards have pine tar on them; the catcher is the one loading up baseballs.

Cheating has been part of baseball ever since Abner Doubleday didn’t invent the game and the rule of thumb (and it’s sometimes a very sticky thumb) is you can get away with cheating, but don’t be obvious about it.

May 14, 2015—Rangers

After the Royals acquire Drew Butera, General Manager Dayton Moore says Erik Kratz is still their backup catcher. But Kratz can’t play because he has a screwed-up foot (the medical explanation is a bit more technical, but it still means “screwed-up foot”) and the Royals need a healthy back up to Salvador Perez.

But hang around a team long enough and you realize something is true until it’s not: a team will tell you a guy’s not hurt three days in a row and on the fourth day put him on the DL.

The Royals say they want to rest Perez, but don’t appear to have a lot of faith in Kratz as a defensive replacement; Erik has appeared in a total of four games.

Royals fans shouldn’t worry about Butera’s offense; that’s icing on the cake. You want a good catch-and-throw guy as a backup catcher and in the seventh inning of a game against the Texas Rangers, Butera shows what he can do.

With Luke Hochevar on the mound and Carlos Corporan at the plate, Hoch throws a 94-MPH fastball and Corporan hits it home run distance, but pulls it foul. So if you’re reading swings—and the best catchers do—what does that show you?

The hitter’s getting the bat head out early.

That being the case, what’s the next move?

You have to decide if the hitter is the kind of guy who will think along with you and adjust or if he’s the kind of guy that will just keep doing what he’s doing. Butera thinks Corporan will still be looking for a fastball, calls for an 88-MPH cutter away and Corporan swings the bat like he’s getting another 94-MPH fastball inside. He swings too soon and misses by a healthy margin; Carlos is headed back to the dugout.

It’s a nice bit of pitch calling.

Butera stays on the roster and Kratz is gone.

May 15, 2015—Yankees

Chris Young throws 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees, wins his third game and finishes the day with an ERA of 0.94. Young is making a very strong bid to stay in the starting rotation.

We tend to think of teams as cohesive units—a Band of Brothers—all pulling toward the same goal and much of the time that’s true. But within that Band of Brothers guys are struggling for position; Big League baseball is a business and a very competitive business at that.

You’re in the Band of Brothers until management decides you’re out of the band.

Every night someone is trying to drive you out of the league; a pitcher who’s going to make you look bad, a hitter who’s going to make you seem ineffective and the guy who puts the final nail in your coffin might be a teammate.

Next Up: Wade Davis versus Miguel Cabrera, what fans thought of the Kendrys Morales signing and an informative discussion about the skills needed to drive in runs.