For Your Royal Information (Gil Meche Edition)

Looking over Gil Meche' career and breaking up high pitch counts accordingly...and then combining performances over the next three games.

S E A T T L E - M A R I N E R - C A R E E R

2003: 3 115-119 pitch performances

10 starts, 53.67 IP, 50 hits, 35 runs, 35 ER, 22 BB, 31 K, 11 HR, 5.87 ERA, 91 pitches, 4-6 record

No starts missed. No relief appearances.

2004: 2 115-119 pitch performances (a); 1 120-124 pitch performance (b); 2 125-129 pitch performances (c)

(a) 8 starts, 44 IP, 50 hits, 31 runs, 31 ER, 16 BB, 41 K, 11 HR, 6.34 ERA, 99 pitches, 2-2 record
(b) 4 starts, 27.33 IP, 19 hits, 10 runs, 10 ER, 6 BB, 17 K, 5 HR, 3.29 ERA, 118 pitches 1-1 record
(c) 10 starts, 66.33 IP, 58 hits, 29 runs, 28 ER, 16 BB, 42 K, 13 HR, 3.80 ERA, 113 pitches, 6-1 record

Missed two months: had a 125-pitch performance in his third start back! No relief appearances.

2005: 3 115-119 pitch performances

12 starts, 64.67 IP, 68 hits, 42 runs, 36 ER, 39 BB, 42 K, 7 HR, 5.01 ERA, 104 pitches, 5-5 record

Missed about one month. Became a reliever when he returned.

2006: 2 115-119 pitch performances (a); 1 120-124 pitch performance (b); 2 125-129 pitch performances

(a) 7 starts, 46.33 IP, 40 hits, 19 runs, 19 ER, 18 BB, 42 K, 5 HR, 3.69 ERA, 109 pitches, 5-2 record
(b) 4 starts, 24 IP, 23 hits, 11 runs, 9 ER, 13 BB, 17 K, 2 HR, 3.38 ERA, 104 pitches, 1-2 record
(c) 5 starts, 29.33 IP, 31 hits, 17 runs, 17 ER, 13 BB, 31 K, 3 HR, 5.22 ERA, 112 pitches, 2-1 record

No starts missed. Had 125-pitch performance in final game of the season, so there's no information for corresponding starts.

K A N S A S - C I T Y - R O Y A L S - C A R E E R

2007: 3 115-119 pitching performances (a); 2 120-124 pitching performances (b)

(a) 12 starts, 77 IP, 68 hits, 33 runs, 31 ER, 23 BB, 53 K, 10 HR, 3.62 ERA, 108 pitches, 4-5 record
(b) 6 starts, 37.33 IP, 43 hits, 20 runs, 20 ER, 10 BB, 26 K, 4 HR, 4.82 ERA, 106 pitches, 0-5 record

Had a 124-pitch performance in second to last game of the season, so there are no subsequent starts to calculate.

2008: 6 115-119 pitching performances (a); 1 125-129 pitching performance (b)

(a) 17 starts, 106.67 IP, 101 hits, 44 runs, 40 ER, 36 BB, 90 K, 8 HR, 3.38 ERA, 106 pitches, 5-7 record
(b) 4 starts, 25.67 IP, 25 hits, 11 runs, 11 ER, 5 BB, 15 K, 4 HR, 3.86 ERA, 112 pitches, 2-2 record

2009: 2 115-119 pitching performances (a); 1 120-124 pitching performance (b); 1 130-134 pitching performance (c)

(a) 8 starts, 46.33 IP, 48 hits, 28 runs, 26 ER, 17 BB, 34 K, 5 HR, 5.05 ERA, 102 pitches, 3-4 record
(b) 6 starts, 30 IP, 36 hits, 20 runs, 15 ER, 19 BB, 21 K, 4 HR, 4.50 ERA, 100 pitches, 0-4 record
(c) 4 starts, 23.1 IP, 24 hits, 16 runs, 15 ER, 11 BB, 15 K, 5 HR, 5.79 ERA, 103 pitches, 1-3 record

Gil's second to last start to date of this season was a 120-pitch performance, so the subsequent starts have obviously not been calculated.


Grand totals

115-119: 74 starts, 438.67 IP, 425 hits, 232 runs, 218 ER, 171 BB, 333 K, 57 HR, 4.47 ERA, 28-31 record
120-124: 24 starts, 118.67 IP, 121 hits, 61 runs, 54 ER, 48 BB, 81 K, 15 HR, 4.10 ERA, 2-12 record
125-129: 19 starts, 121.33 IP, 114 hits, 57 runs, 56 runs, 34 BB, 88 k, 2o HR, 4.15 ERA, 10-4 record
130-134: 4 starts, 23.1 IP, 24 hits, 16 runs, 15 ER, 11 BB, 15 K, 5 HR, 5.79 ERA, 103 pitches, 1-3 record

Any thoughts?

If Ryan Freel is the answer I'm almost certain I don't want to know the quesion

Ryan Freel, really? Trey is talking about Freel here but he could easily be talking about Bloomquist or Teahen:

"We'll use his versatility," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He's got most of his time logged in center and second, but he's played a lot of third, left and right. I spoke to him today and he says he's 100 percent health-wise and feels great. His history shows that he's got the ability to steal bases, he's got lateral range and speed. We'll see where he's at when we get him."

In the middle part of this decade this would have been a move I supported but injuries have really slowed him down. From 2001-2006 he hit .274/.367/.383 with 121 stolen bases. A very useful guy to have, he could get on base and swipe a few. But from 2007-2009 the injury plagued version has hit just .251/.314/.330 with only 22 steals. I imagine that Moore's eyes lit up like a christmas tree when he saw that .314 OBP (of course that assumes that he would even bother looking at Freel's recent statistical history).

Clark Fosler thinks this is a precursor to another move and while I'm inclined to agree this also seems like the typical Moore move that serves no purpose but to confuse. When Gordon comes back the Royals will essentially have three players that fill this type of utility role and only one of them I think has any value, that of course would be Mark Teahen. I like having Teahen around just because he's not the worst guy in the world to plug in the lineup should a starter go down. I really don't have that confidence in Freel or Bloomquist.


If there is another trade then this move probably makes sense but if there isn't then this just another case of Moore being Moore.

Trading Soria

Well it seems to be a hot topic right now. I don't like this for a few reasons but mostly because KC has a shut down closer inked to a long term, club friendly deal. Soria has a chance to be the best reliever in Royals history and it would reason that should KC ever contend (2011?) they will need him in the 9th inning, especially come playoff time.

I've heard it said for years that bad teams don't need good closers and I just can't disagree enough with that statement and I'll tell you why - because bad teams need good players, regardless of position. A look at the 2000 team that converted just 53% of their saves will remind anyone how frustrating it is to watch an ineffective closer. Do we want to go back to the days of Ricky Bottalico and Jerry Spradlin closing? Now if they had a Ramon Ramirez they could slide into Soria's job then maybe it would be ok but they don't so we would see a committee approach that rarely works. This years team is converting just 56% - Soria 85%, rest of 'pen 33%. It was a daily adventure when he was on the DL and I for one am in no hurry to go back to that.

Then there's the matter of Dayton Moore, outside of Burgos he hasn't exactly excelled at trading relievers. I'll give him a pass for JP Howell because the Rays only put him in the pen because he failed so miserably as a starter. Moore traded Jeremy Affeldt for Ryan Shealy and all Affeldt has done the last two and a half seasons is put up a 150 ERA+. Shealy meanwhile is stuck in Omaha as Moore was utterly unimpressed with his great September last season.

So unimpressed that he traded Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs and that's not working out too well either. Nunez posted a 131 ERA+ in 92 innings the last two seasons and this year has a 3.86 ERA. He would be a pretty a attractive 6th or 7th inning option. To be fair to DM I did like this trade but Jacobs is just doing terrible right now and while I did like it there were plenty of others who decidedly did not.

Ramon Ramirez is the one that stings. Moore basically traded four seasons of RamRam for less than half a season of Crisp. He has been a huge part of the Red Sox bullpen as he has a 2.25 ERA and has allowed only 3 of the 19 runners he's inherited to score.

I don't trust Moore to get equal or better value if he traded Soria and I don't trust any of the other relievers to close. So in my opinion keeping Soria is a no brainer.

What did I miss?

Quite a bit I guess -more losing, more managerial ineffectiveness, and a ranyban. Between working long hours and a computer that seems to decide when it wants to cooperate I haven't had the chance to post or really keep up that much with my favorite team. I also got a new toy that seems to be monopolizing my time. Hopefully now I'm back on track. I had some ideas for topics that I couldn't get to so I'm gonna just throw them all in here, Antonio-style.

• Put me in the camp that thinks both Trey and DM should be fired. DM preached OBP last winter and then acquired two guys with below league average on-base skills. They both did well early but now Crisp is done for the year (wouldn't Ramon Ramirez' 1.80 ERA look good in the 8th inning?) and Jacobs is batting .167/.252/.260 in his last 30 games. His slugging percentage, aka his only redeeming quality, is down to a pedestrian .410. (By the way Leo Nunez' ERA is 3.86, among Royal relievers with 20+ IP only Soria's is better. I'm just saying.) Any GM that puts TPJ and Luis Hernandez on a 25 man roster at the same time should be fired immediately. And finally there is the whole Horacio debacle. Every single blogger knew this wouldn't work but the man at the controls thought it would, now that is just sad.
  
• Brayan Pena's small sample size success (117 OPS+) really makes the decision to bring back John Buck more confusing and is another mark against DM.
  
• Luke Hochevar is not a bust. Don't call him that. Since rejoining the rotation June 6th he has gone 3-1 with a 2.94 ERA while giving up an outstanding 5.6 hits per 9 innings. Again this was the guy I wanted on draft day 2006 so his recent success is encouraging. He may never be a #1 starter but I think he can develop into a nice #2.

Sending Davies down the right choice

I have no problems with this whatsoever, he is struggling and the bullpen could use Tejeda back. It's starting to look more and more like that 2008 was an aberration so letting him go out every fifth day and get rocked is not an attractive option. He has had some fine starts this year but he tends to bunch his good ones and bad ones together. He'll do good for a few starts and then get shelled his next three times out.

Starts	Record	ERA	K/9	BB/9
1-3	1-0	2.89	10.1	3.8
4-6	1-1	9.60	2.4	4.8
7-9	0-2	2.84	7.1	3.3
10-14	1-4	7.67	4.6	6.0

Right now he is going through a rough time and maybe he'll figure it out but he maybe he won't. Either way he is in dire need of a confidence boost, which is something I'm sure he'll get pitching in Omaha.

Notes from Wilmington

Our Wilmington Blue Rocks correspondent Jason Kaul provides us with another 

update (and some pics) on the Royals minor league team. He wrote this last week but I am just now finding the time to post it. Apologies to Jason.

Looking at the Northern Carolina League standings and noticing that the Rocks are in 3rd place is a bit deceiving.  Really, if it were not for Pedro Alvarez and the red hot Lynchburg Hillcats, the Rocks would be in a very tight pennant race.  They have a better record than the entire Southern Carolina League, yet are still 5 ½ games out of first place in the North. But, that’s why they split the season up into two halves I suppose.

The hitting has been decent, as the Rocks have 4 guys batting over .275, and 3 guys with an OPS over .800.  But the real story has been the pitching.  Rocks pitchers have combined for an all time team record of 38 consecutive scoreless innings (and counting) and 4 consecutive shutout games.  I knew Duffy was going to be good coming into the season, but Everett Teaford REALLY caught me by surprise.  He has emerged as the ace of the staff leading the starting 5 in Wins (7), ERA (2.39), WHIP (0.98), and K:BB ratio (4:1).  He’s a workhorse too, leading the team in innings pitched.

Teaford was one of four Rocks named to the Carolina league All-Star team (only the Fredrick Keys, with six, will send more players to California).  The other Rocks that were voted to the team were Duffy, Moustakas, and David Lough.

Speaking of David Lough… He really seems to be a player that is flying under the radar of a lot of prospectors.  Right now he’s leading the team in BA (.316) and OBP (.372), and has a good glove (only committing one error).

With the good, also comes the bad.  I can’t for the life of me figure out why Paulo Orlando continues getting playing time when he is struggling just to stay above the Mendoza Line.  Also, Geo (Johnny Giavotella) has come back down to earth after really impressing early.  Currently, he’s batting just over .200 and is second on the team with 11 errors.  One has to wonder if Brian Rupp has been putting him in the lineup because he has no other options at 2nd base.  And speaking of errors in the infield, Moose really needs to step up his defense if he is going to continue being streaky at the plate.  He leads the team with 13 errors, and has recently been pulling some DH duty (presumably for that reason).  What’s especially disconcerting about his numbers is comparing them to first baseman Clint Robinson.  They are nearly identical in every offensive category (Runs, Hits, Doubles, HR, RBI, Total Bases, Walks, Strikeouts, OBP, Slugging).  What
 separates them is Clint is batting 15 points higher, and has committed 9 fewer errors.  Plus, Clint has just as cool of a nickname as Moustakas (He’s been dubbed “The Alabama Hammah”).  I say he has just as much of a shot at the big leagues as Moose.  And for what it’s worth, he’s a good human being too.  (Not that I’ve ever seen Moose turn down a kid for an autograph… But, I’ve never seen him stay after a losing game for nearly 20 minutes signing like I saw Clint doing last week).

In closing… These are the guys to watch for: Teaford, Duffy, Moose, Lough, Clint Robinson, and Jeff Bianchi.

Bianchi scoring the winning run in extra innings.

Moustakas at the bat.

132 pitches? So what?

Meche followed up his best game as a Royal with his best game as a Royal. Last nights complete game shutout produced a game score of 84 but because it took him 132 pitches there will probably be some that  second guess Trey's decision to let Meche pitch the ninth inning. I personally had no problem with it. This was just the fifth time that he threw 120+ pitches as a Royal so it's not like it's an every fifth day occurrence. Looking at the previous four times we see that there haven't been any long term side effects.

7/25/07 - 120 pitches. Meche wasn't particularly sharp giving up five runs in seven innings.  His next start he gave up just two runs in seven innings (of course it wasn't enough as he took the loss in this one too). The start after that he got rocked but then he ended the '07 season with ten straight starts where he gave up three runs or less.

9/24/07 - 124 pitches.  Eight inning gem in which he only gave up three runs. Next and final start of '07 he went six innings giving up just two runs and striking out seven.

4/27/08 - 129 pitches. This is the game that turned his '08 season around. He entered with an 8.00 ERA but gave up three runs in 6.2 innings. Next start he pitched seven scoreless innings. He gave up five runs in the start after that but then pitched four straight games where he gave up three or less.

5/08/09 - 120 pitches. He only went 5.2 innings in this one - it wasn't a great start at all. Next start was even worse when he gave up five runs in 4.1 innings. He has had only one bad start since then though and has given up just seven earned runs in his last six starts. Sam has suggested that Meche's next three starts were disasters but that's not really true. His second start after the 120 pitch outing he gave up just two runs in six innings.

I think he'll be okay.

Butler deserves all star write in votes?

According to Dick Kaegel he does.

Maybe it's time for Royals fans to show their support for Billy Butler in the All-Star Game. It'll require write-in votes, however.

Now I know I'm sometimes guilty of flagrant homerism but even I think this is a stretch. Don't get me wrong because I absolutely have no problem with KC fans voting for Royals players but to say Butler deserves it is a little on the ridiculous side. I see some of Kaegel's point in that Butler isn't on the ballot so the only way to vote for him is to write his name in, makes sense. But then Keagel adds:

Even so, a groundswell of support could get him notice when the selections are made for the All-Star reserves..

So Keagel actually believes Butler should be on the team. This would be a worse selection than Harvey in 2004 (should have been Sweeney). Besides KC has an actual legitimate candidate in Greinke who most likely will start the game. Back to Butler though, he is batting .283/.336/.430 which doesn't exactly scream all star. His batting average ranks 8th among AL 1st baseman while his OBP and SLG pct put him 11th and 12th. He'll be an all star some day but it won't be in 2009, nor should it be.

Meche back on track

81 starts into Meche's 55 million dollar contract he had his best start as a Royal. Last nights 7 inning, 0 runs, 11 strikeout gem produced a game score of  77 (his previous best of  75 was also against the Tribe). In his last five starts he has a 2.22 ERA but due to a pathetic offense and woeful bullpen the Royals are just 1-4 in those starts. The Epic has returned and not a moment too soon.
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Here's the updated Jacobs/Balboni tracker:

HR #	Jacobs	Balboni
1	April 13	April16
2	April 15	April 19
3	April 17	April 21
4	April 19	April 22
5	May 5	April 30
6	May 12	May 5
7	May 13	May 15
8	May 15	May 18
9	May 19	June 7
10	June 5	June 7

Seems awful doubtful that Jacobs can do it at this point. In the 13 games between his 9th and 10th home runs he hit .119/.213/.167,  I know the sample size is small (47 PA's) but that is an absolutely dreadful stretch. In case you are wondering Balboni hit numbers 11 and 12 on June 17th.
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I don't dwell too much on the draft (and by not too much I really mean not at all) mainly because I don't follow amateur baseball so I really have no opinions on potential draftees. But with that being said I loved the Aaron Crow pick. I know a lot of people had their heart set on Grant Green because of KC's shortstop problems but you don't draft in baseball to fill current needs. I do know that much. You can do that in football and basketball but not in baseball. Crow was the right pick. For more draft analysis check out The Royal Tower's take on day one and Royals Authority take on day two.

Well I still believe but I'm just not sure why

Well I do know why actually, it's because they play in the AL Central and although they have lost nineteen of their last twenty-four games they are still only 5.5 games back. I refuse to believe they are this bad because I think they have too much talent but they are making it awful difficult to watch. Jamey Wright was considered a longshot to make this team and yet on June 4th he is called on in the 8th inning to protect a one run lead. Not Juan Cruz, not Ron Mahay, not even Kyle Farnsworth (who I must admit is pitching pretty well lately), nope Jamey freaking Wright. I guess that is just another sign that the season has gone horribly wrong.

I know it's not like Cruz and Mahay are world beaters right now but Wright has been just as ineffective. And Trey couldn't call on Ramon Ramirez because he now pitches for Boston (1.35 ERA and 0.86 WHIP). I recall people weren't concerned about losing RamRam because of Moore's ability to build an effective bullpen. Didn't happen that way this season and I have to believe their record would be better if DM hadn't traded Ramirez and Nunez.

Still they are only 5.5 games back and are technically still in it but the ship must be righted soon. They aren't this bad and even though they keep trying to prove me wrong I don't believe the season is lost.