RP%

Ok, I know I declared in my first post that I'm not a stathead but there is stat that I like to use to compare players. It is a simplistic and flawed stat that may or may not be entirely useless but it interests me. Its called run production percentage or RP% for short. It's what happens when runs created hooks up with PA% in the back of plymouth volare. A love stat, I guess.
It basically shows what percentage of a teams runs over the course of a season a player is responsible for.
The formula is:
Runs+RBI's-HR's/Team Runs=RP%
Now this a team dependent stat that can only be used to compare players on the same team and since this a Royals blog lets look at some of their returning players.

Buck - .100
Gload - .114
Grudz - .162
TPJ - .145
Gordon - .149
Teahen - .185
DDJ - .215
Butler - .116

So according to RP% DeJesus was responsible for more runs that any other Royal. He accounted for 21% of Kansas City's runs last year. Now a more accurate way would be to just show the players RP% in games they played but thats not what I wanted to do because a player has zero offensive value in games they don't play in. So Buck gets penalized for every game LaRue started last year. Actually because of LaRue's .032 RP% we all got penalized when he played. U-G-L-Y!!!!!
So what does all this prove? The more you play the more value you have. For example Reggie Sanders had a .029 for the season but had a .194 RP% in games he appeared in. Do you see where I'm going with this? Sanders was productive when he played but over the course of 162 games he really didn't account for much of the teams runs.
So the reason I bring this up is because there have been all kind of forum debates about trading DeJesus and sticking Gathright in center field. Joey had .134 RP% just in the games he played in and .066 for the year. DeJesus had the worst year of his career but still had a decent OBP which is the reason he scored 101 runs. I think he will be fine this year and his average will be back in the .280-.290 range. Gathright will see his share of PT spelling DDJ and Teahen and coming in as a pinch runner late in games.
This team has fewer question marks than they did this time a year ago but just like last year center field is not one of them.

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I see where Justin Huber is being asked to play only the outfield in ST. That pretty much means his days as a Royal are over and we are left to wonder about what might have been. I suppose there is a small chance he clears waivers but really whats the point. This organization decided that there isn't a place in KC for him so better he lands somewhere else where he might actually get to play. And if that happens Royally Speaking will be providing frequent updates and hoping that he succeeds.