So I spent way too long looking for an article on the Web I forgot to bookmark. Never did find it -- though I did find something that inspired this Hot Corner item, so it wasn't a complete waste of time -- so instead I'll just tell you that, as I remember it anyway, Francoeur essentially said the Royals are better than their (now) 33-46 record.
Royals Actually Hitting, But Pitching Just Hopeless
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Are they, really? That record's good for a .418 winning percentage. Last season they won 41 percent of their games, and did virtually nothing over the winter to improve the club. Granted, they've added top prospects Aaron Crow, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Danny Duffy to the mix this spring. But only Crow has actually been good, and he's just a setup relief pitcher.
Essentially, the Royals are no better than they were last season, and shouldn’t have been expected to be much (if any) better, for reasons I will outline in a moment. It should be said, though, that Kansas City’s hitters have done exceptionally well. Relatively speaking, that is. Last year the Royals finished 10th in the American League in scoring; this year they’ve jumped to sixth, and it’s not a complete fluke as they’re also seventh in OPS.
Thanks largely to Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and (choke) ex-Braves Francoeur and Melky Cabrera, these Royals can actually hit a little. And they might hit a lot, if Hosmer and Moustakas ever get warmed up.
So the Royals don't stink because of their hitting, which is actually pretty good. They stink because of their pitching. Or, more specifically, because of their starting pitching. This was perfectly predictable, given the depth chart entering the season, but Kansas City starters' 5.11 ERA is by far the the worst in the league; there's a bigger gap between the Royals and the second-worst Blue Jays (4.41) than between the Jays and the sixth-best Yankees (3.84).
And now apparently this is going to happen:
The Royals plan to switch to a six-man rotation later this week when Kyle Davies returns from the disabled list.
--snip--
Manager Ned Yost said the club might stick with a six-man rotation for the rest of the season.
Because, you know, they’re all so good.
Seriously, what's makes this so interesting is that it's exactly the opposite of what the White Sox have done: the Sox have so many good starters, they can't decide who to omit from the rotation, while the Royals have no good starters ... and still can't decide who to dump.
Of course, the obvious answer is Davies, who might actually be the worst starting pitcher in the majors. But he’s also the highest-paid starter on the Royals’ roster, and it’s pretty apparent that GM Dayton Moore has a little (or maybe a big) man-crush on Davies. So he’ll just keep on pitching until he gets hurt or his contract expires.
Given their rotation, the Royals never really had a chance of being competitive this season. And there just isn’t anything that all of Frenchy’s positive energy can do about it.
For much more about the Royals, please visit Royals Review.
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