If you’re using Friday Notes to count down days until there’s real baseball again, you’ll find that it seems much closer than the reality. Just 14 to go before spring training games start. Yeesh. Anyway, at least there’ll be some baseball news soon as free agents will likely begin to sign. I still stand by […]
Tag: Brad Keller
2018 Royals Pitching Statcast Leaders
We looked at the offensive players yesterday, but now we turn to the pitching staff. Cover your eyes. It’s actually not all bad. Some guys were actually pretty good. You’ll see why Brad Keller was as successful as he was last year and why Brandon Maurer, well, wasn’t. Let’s just get to it. All these […]
Evaluating Eldred
After the 2017 season, the Royals were poised to lose a good chunk of their core, but they also made the decision to change up the coaching staff a bit. As we know, they moved on from Don Wakamatsu as bench coach and Dave Eiland as pitching coach, both well respected, and hired Terry Bradshaw […]
Friday Notes
I miss the playoffs. I know they’re happening right now, but what I mean is that I miss the Royals being in them. I miss writing series previews. I miss the graying process of my hair speeding up by years. I miss the nerves. I miss the relief. Maybe we’ll get to experience that again […]
High Five for the Rule Five
The Royals have made it through an entire season carrying two pitchers who were picked in the Rule 5 draft. That, in itself, is a bit of an accomplishment, though not so much so for a team as bad as the Royals. But still, they made it and now they have team control of both […]
RECAP: Keller Krushes Tigers in finale
I don’t think Brad Keller is or should win Rookie of the Year, but when you look at his body of work it’s not hard to see where the well-spring of support comes from. Shohei Ohtani gets the headlines, and if his arm had cooperated this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Gleyber Torres and Miguel […]
Series Preview: Royals at Detroit Tigers, September 20-23
The Royals take their last trip to Detroit in 2018 to see the Tigers in a battle of the blah as the season comes to a close. I believe the current version of the Royals is better than the current version of the Tigers, though the current version of the Royals isn’t exactly a juggernaut […]
RECAP: Yeah, the bullpen again
Ryan O’Hearn is just a big ol’ American tater-mashing galoot and I love him. I don’t know what Ryan O’Hearn’s big-league career is going to look like, and neither does anyone else. He could blossom into a fringe All-Star or spend most of his 30s in South Korea. I try not to get carried away […]
Series Preview: Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates, September 17-19
The Pirates had an interesting strategy at the deadline, buying and buying big in spite of their distance from the top of the wild card heap. The idea was that if they could continue winning (they were on one at the time), great, but their big move to acquire Chris Archer was with an eye […]
Series Preview: Royals vs. Chicago White Sox, September 10-12
The Royals return to Kansas City for their penultimate homestand of the 2018 season and take on the Chicago White Sox in a three-game set. I thought the White Sox might surprise this season and finish decently. Instead, they’re significantly under .500 and while there’s tons of talent, there are still questions about them moving […]