Thursday, June 13, 2013

Thursday's Team: Kansas City Royals



Happy Thursday! Thursday means Thursday’s team, so let’s look at the 2012 all-star game hosts, the Kansas City Royals. 

 
The Royals have been a team since 1969, and in the AL Central since 1994. They became a team after the Athletics moved to Oakland. Currently the Manager is Ned Yost, the General Manager is Dayton Moore, the President of Baseball Operations is Dan Glass, and the Owner is Dan’s father, David Glass. They have only one world series title from 1985, and never have won the AL Central.
It took them until 1976 to reach the playoffs, and for three years straight they lost to the Yankees. Their 1981 team has still been the only team to get to the playoffs with a losing record (this was because of the 1981 strike). 

But the early 80’s might have been most remembered from the Pine Tar Incident from 1983. George Brett hit a 2 run homer in the 9th to put up the royals, but the Yankees called shenanigans on the bat, saying that there was too much tar on it. The umpires reviewed it and reversed the play, calling Brett out. The Royals protested to the MLB, and they were able to reverse the call and play it again with the home run, starting at the top of the 9th. The Royals would end up winning the game. It was a weird play in baseball, and didn’t really matter with the Royals and Yankees in standings that time. Dan Quisenberry got his 33rd save, and Don Mattingly lost his 25-game hitting streak. 

In 1985, Bret Saberhagen would win the Cy Young award, and ended up winning two 7-game series’ in the playoffs, the only time that’s ever happened in baseball. But don’t think that it was tight in the 7-game World Series. According to Bill James (the founder of sabermetrics and my idol), the Royals “kicked the crap out of the Cardinals.” And they did, statistically. They were shut down in Game 7 by Saberhagen, winning 11-0. The Cardinals batted .188 in the series, and only scored 13 runs. But Bill James might have put a curse on the Royals. Ever since his comments, the Royals have not made a single post-season appearance. 


In the late eighties and early nineties, the Royals were contenders, having stars like Bo Jackson, Kevin Seitzer and Tom Flash Gordon, and Bret Saberhagen won yet another Cy Young Award. They lost closer Dan Quiesenberry, and traded great players like David Cone, Kevin Appier, and Johnny Damon. In 1999, the team’s payroll was $16.5 million. That’s even less than the Athletics!


Then the new millennium hit, and the Royals got killed. In 2005 they saw promising seasons with rookies David DeJesus and Zack Greinke, but finished with a 56-106 record. DeJesus would get traded, but Greinke would dominate in 2009 to win the Cy Young Award. He would be a free agent in 2011, when the Brewers would sign him for a year. 

Nowadays they still are mediocre, but they’ve done much better than before. Ned Yost as manager has shown some promising signs, as he’s been able to call up some top prospects. Currently the Royals are 3 games under .500, and in 3rd place in the terrible AL Central. They do have some very good players, like Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and catcher Salvador Perez has shown some signs of young talent. Pitching wise, James Shields is a HUGE player for them that’s pitched the best in his career right now. Ervin Santana is having some quality starts as well. They even have old players like Miguel Tejada and Jeremy Guthrie. 

Their team ERA is quite good at 3.45. It’s more of their hitting that needs work. They only have a .310 OBP, and a .365 SLG. They are in a much better position that they were 10 years ago, but they still need plenty of work. 


That’s the Kansas City Royals for ya. With the Tigers in their division, they’re not going to win the AL Central. But they still have some upcoming potentials in the upcoming future.


Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com.
-Evan Boyd

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