Royals relief

by wobatus on Apr 20, 2009 10:49 AM EDT Comment 15 comments

I know this isn't a generic baseball site, but a minor league site. And I know I brought this up for discussion already once. But again the royals don't use Soria in a close game. he has pitched all of 4 innings this year. He is used only for 1 inning. Only in strict save situations. This is a pathetic waste of their talent.

They bring in Cruz early, yet don't let him go a full inning. They play matchups and go to mahay. Then Wright. Leaving them with farnsworth to go to in the 9th inning of a tie game. Result: another loss, and the 3 loss for farnsworth already. Ramirez pitching well for Boston? check. Nunez pitching well for Marlins? check. Soria wasted on their bench? Check. Farnsworth wasted money? check.

Now, i didn't watch the game and haven't followed all that closely. So i may be missing something here. Part of this is GM fault it seems. part of it seems like the manager's fault. The royals seem to have some good starters 1-3. It's a shame.

Conversely, Sean Green is being abused by Jerry manuel. He had a lousy second half last year after a good first half. Looks like his arm will fall off by midseason.

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worse than I thought

Or about as bad as i thought it could be. Hillman has got to just admit he f’ed up on this one. he did it in several ways. The way he used cruz. The way he didn’t use Soria. twice. The way he didn’t use tejada. The way he used farnsworth. I wasn’t even thinking that Soria hadn’t pitched in a week, and that today was an off day.

Here is Neyer on the game. And his links to Rany etc are fun reading.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-1-80/Hillman-s-odd-percentages.html

by wobatus on Apr 20, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Farnsworth

I have no idea why any manager would use Farnsworth in a critical situation. Use him in the middle of a game when you need a K. Use him as mop up. But never use him in the 9th inning of a tie game. He is baseball’s version of the 7ft white guy in basketball.

Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year

by RangerMad on Apr 20, 2009 8:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I have no idea

Why a GM would sign him to a 2 year $9.5 million deal.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 21, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I understand it

I would never do it.

He throws hard and he strikes out a lof guys. USUALLY those two things correlate well with success. If youre a pitching coach or a talent evaluator it must be real easy to think you can “fix” Kyle Farnsworth. What’s wrong with Kyle Farnsworth may have more to do with drive and with… off field stuff, lets say… than anything a coach can fix.

The money had more to do with KC not being a winning team or a top destination recently.

by alskor on Apr 21, 2009 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

tonight

Royals down 1. Bottom 8. They let Cruz give up 2. Now down 3. They score 2 in top of 9th. And lose by 1. Soria hasn’t pitched in 8 days or something.

I think Hillman 3 days ago even said they may need to get him some work no matter what. So bring him in to snuff out the rally in the 8th! OK, that may be an odd time to pitch him, but you are down anyway. He needs work. This is so stupid, they talked about getting him into more games than last season. he is getting in fewer!

by wobatus on Apr 21, 2009 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hillman has really underwhelmed me

I have no idea what made me think he would be a new school/sabrmetric manager.

by alskor on Apr 21, 2009 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought so too

I thought I read articles about him prefering an Earl Weaver-type managerial strategy. He is into stats it seems, but just not the right kind of stats.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 22, 2009 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

while I would have liked to see Soria

Cruz is hardly a bad option

frustrating. maybe not, i turned off the game after it was 6-1. :P

Founder of the Johnny Giavotella fan club.

by doublestix on Apr 21, 2009 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah

cruz is a decent choice. But it looked like the last inning (and it was). He hasn’t pitched in over a week. Now, instead of tossing him in a 1 run game, they absolutely have to pitch him tomorrow even if it’s a blowout.

by wobatus on Apr 21, 2009 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There are no absolutes...

when it comes to their use of Soria lol.

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Apr 22, 2009 5:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was really stupid

The reason you have a ninth inning guy is for a situation like that. What a waste.

by Fanon on Apr 20, 2009 11:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ugh

Soria’s last appearance was April 13 and manager Trey Hillman is anxious to get his closer into a game, the Kansas City Star reports. “You want (to get Soria into a game),” Hillman said, “but the game doesn’t always dictate that you do it. I want that, but not at the expense of (the game situation).”

:: brain explodes ::

by Fanon on Apr 22, 2009 9:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

soria hurt

will miss 3-5 days. This is odd. No mention before, even when explaining why he wasn’t being used. But teasm can be secretive. OK, Hillman, maybe you ain’t so dumb, but ya still don’t need to keep running out Fransworth in the 9th when a homer will beat you.

by wobatus on Apr 25, 2009 8:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs