Splash

Dayton Moore made an interesting comment on the radio last week, well two really, the first was he expects Alex Gordon to hit 20 home runs this year with a high on base percentage. Of course what constitutes a high OBP to Moore is open to interpretation, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and guess .350 but in all likelihood it's probably much lower. The second thing he said was that they may play Gordon some in the infield to get his bat in the lineup. The two comments seemed to me to be at odds with each other. If he is having a year where he could finish the season with 20+ home runs and an OBP north of .350 then you let him play left field everyday.

Carlos Beltran in 2003 is the last Royals outfielder to go 20+ and .350+ (26, .389) and in the last seven years it's been accomplished just once by any Royal and that was Billy Butler in 2009 (21, .362). What Moore most likely meant is that Gordon could play some infield to get Melky Cabrera's bat in the lineup, of course that scenario is solely dependent on Lorenzo Cain and whether or not he makes the team. If he doesn't then the outfield is set with Gordon in left, Cabrera in center, and Francoeur in right. But if Cain does make the team, or after he is called up, they may need to get creative in dishing out playing time. Because Cabrera is going to get his.

Now then, is Gordon even capable of a 20+, .350+ season? Sure he is, in fact he probably would've had one such season under his belt had he not spent time on the DL in his mini-breakout season of 2008. Unfortunately he has done precious little since and quite frankly has had a lot of plate appearances where he has just looked lost. Long time readers of this blog (heck, probably even short time too) know I'm still a Gordon believer. I think that if he can stay healthy and plays everyday (Ned, I'm looking at you) he will have a fine productive season, but those are two monstrous ifs.