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9-10.

  • Apr. 20th, 2008 at 6:48 PM
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The Royals are a losing team for the first time this season.

The Royals had only eight baserunners in this game. Alberto Callaspo and his .350+ batting average was stuck in the nine-hole for some poor bit of reasoning.

Luke Hochevar seemed to live up to his hype in the early innings of his first major league start, but he struggled mightily the second time through the Oakland lineup. He should get at least two more starts to prove himself. Hopefully, he can turn in a quality start in one of those opportunities (or at least something better than John Bale's results in three starts).

Frank Thomas was released by the Toronto Blue Jays today. I wonder if the Royals will try to sign him. He could be the answer to the lack of run production, and he would almost certainly out-produce Ross Gload. Billy Butler could move to first base, Gload would move to the bench (where he belongs), and the Royals could move up in the standings again.
  • Mood: disappointed

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(Anonymous) wrote:
Apr. 21st, 2008 02:26 pm (UTC)
Gload
Why all the Ross Gload hating? He's hitting better than Gathright (who's currently .242 with a terrible .262 OBP), and playing great defense lately. Thomas is an idea if we didn't have defense challenged Butler at DH, but at this point I think he's too much of a club house cancer especially if he keeps struggling
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[info]mark72 wrote:
Apr. 21st, 2008 06:15 pm (UTC)
Re: Gload
Gload is currently hitting and reaching base at a better clip than Gathright, but that is mostly due to the small sample size, so I don't expect that to last. Look at his career numbers. Gload is no Sean Casey (significantly lower AVG, much lower OBP, even less power than a marginally power-hitting Casey), and he lacks the power to compare to any other decent first baseman. Gload also lacks patience and plate discipline, and I find that inexcusable for a 30-something veteran first baseman. First base is a hitter's position, and Gload hits like a middle infielder. Other than that, I have no problem with him. He's a decent reserve.

Gathright led the team in AVG and OBP last year. That should count for something until the All-Star Break, although I'd personally bat Gathright 9th while he's struggling now. Gathright is still young, and he showed enough potential last year to warrant seeing what he can do this year. Also, with the lack of power in the lineup, we might as well get a bunch of extra RISP after Gathright steals second. I don't know why Hillman has seemingly encouraged him to steal third more often.

If the Royals don't pick up Thomas, then I think they should move DDJ to left field, keep Gathright in CF, move Teahen to 1B, and Gload to the bench as soon as he's done with his hot streak. Or maybe they could trade Jose Guillen on his potential and Gload on his hot streak for a real first baseman.
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(Anonymous) wrote:
Apr. 24th, 2008 01:40 am (UTC)
Re: Gload
Well said, I can't really disagree. I do think Gload is a better hitter than the average middle infielder, but he's definitely subpar at fist. Teahan at first is a good idea, though I feel like we should do it to get an extra bat with some pop rather than to get another player with no power in the lineup like Gathright or Dejesus. (Brian)
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[info]mark72 wrote:
Apr. 24th, 2008 03:53 pm (UTC)
Re: Gload
I think Gathright is worth it if he can get his OBP up to where it was last season. The entire lineup should be set based on OBP from highest to lowest in my opinion, with possible exceptions for power hitters in the 3rd-5th spots (as long as the OBP is not a complete dropoff). Gathright also brings better defensive range to CF which could be worth quite a bit.

Gload's problem as a starting 1B or OF is that he brings neither power nor OBP to the table. In that sense, Gathright would be an upgrade in OBP (assuming his current numbers are due to a small sample size while last year's numbers were more indicative of his full time OBP).

I don't like my own idea of moving Teahen to 1B just because we lose his throwing arm in that scenario, but that would be a smaller price to pay than Gload's "aggressive-hitting" bat.

Edited at 2008-04-24 03:54 pm (UTC)
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