SB Nation User Blog: I need more Esteban

Lots of decisions to make this offseason, one of them need NOT be whether to move Soria to the rotation

I need more Esteban — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:21:22 -0000

Lots of decisions to make this offseason, one of them need NOT be whether to move Soria to the rotation

Crap, this again? Sorry, but a pretty good write up by Sam Mellinger at BallStar. I think we've debated this issue over and over so much that it has lost it's relevance, but for those that haven't seen this article, here is yet another perspective.

Closers, Saves, & Soria

I need more Esteban — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:46:02 -0000

It's been widely debated whether saves are meaningful and the value of a closer. It's also been discussed quite a bit whether Soria should be put into the rotation or kept in the role he is thriving in now. I'm pretty indifferent on the matter as I want what will be best for the team (obviously) and most importantly, I want what Soria and the coaches think is best.

While watching the game last night, I was marveling over Soria's stats when they came up on the screen. Then FSN showed a list of the top 5 closers in the AL for saves.

F-Rod - 58
Soria - 40
Papelbon - 38
J. Nathan - 36
Rivera - 36

This is obviouslly excellent company for Soria. What I find interesting is that in the AL, all of these closers play for playoff/contending teams. Is this a coincidence? I'm not sure actually. But I think it's important for a contending team to have a closer that they can really count on. I also was happy to have Soria in the couple of games over the last week where we had a lead of 4 or more and then a bulllpen guy got into trouble and Soria came in and closed the door in 1/3 or 2/3 of an inning. In the past, some of those could've been losses (Burgos anyone?).

Some of this may be obvious but I thought this list was interesting and very cool to see Soria at #2. Thoughts?

Who is Devon Lowery?

I need more Esteban — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:42:02 -0000

Who is Devon Lowery?

So I keep noticing Devon Lowery pitching late in games for Omaha. He is having a really good season except for his K/BB ratio could be a little better. His page is in the link but the gist of his stats are :

Devon Lowery – 25, 14th round pick in 2001 Season stats: This year in 13 AA innings and the rest AAA: 1-1, 68.2 IP, 1.70 ERA, 5 S, 58/32 K/BB

Is he worth watching? What are his pitches? Guys like this always interest me for some reason, anyone else got any other guys like this in the minors?

Who are the top 10 prospects now?

I need more Esteban — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:14:31 -0000

Who are the top 10 prospects now?

Who are the Royals top 10 prospects now? I know that this will be done at the end of the season but I'm just way to excited for our minor leaguers right now.

I figure the definites are:
1.Moustakas
2.Hosmer
3.Melville
4.Cortes
5.Duffy
6.Wood
7.Rosa

The rest I'm not sure of. Kila? Pimental? Giovatella?
Whose on your list right now?

Rany on Kila

I need more Esteban — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:18:36 -0000

Rany on Kila

Really good piece on Kila from Rany. Offers some reasons to be pessimistic and optimistic about our "Hawaiian Punch".

Good to see that a few scouts are liking him too. Carlos Pena? I'd take that.

Royals’ Farm Report: Dog Days Edition

I need more Esteban — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:58:05 -0000

Royals’ Farm Report: Dog Days Edition

A pretty nice report from the minors over the last month or so.

Things to watch:

Tyler Lumsden appears to be pitching better in relief.
Rowdy Hardy is pitching better also.

Lots of other pitchers who are looking good at young ages too. Kelvin Herrera, 18 year old looking like he could turn into a stud, let's keep our fingers crossed.

A growing (and moving?) Moose

I need more Esteban — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:59:10 -0000

A growing (and moving?) Moose

Good to see more Moose love and love from scouts. Move to catcher, though? I don't know, I tend to like the idea of a corner spot or 1B. Catcher's just don't hold up as power hitters anymore (see Victor Martinez).

Can the Royals make it interesting?

I need more Esteban — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:20:36 -0000

The All-Star break is almost over and our Royals sit in 4th place in the AL Central, 12 games out of 1st place. As of now, things don’t look great for

contention this season, but is it totally out of the question? You tell me. It would probably take some major struggles by the rest of the AL Central. But let’s take a look at some things that could lead to the Royals getting hot.

Since the famous 12 game losing streak the Royals endured in late May the club has gone 22-19. A lot of that came against the National league, but nonetheless, the Boys in Blue played good baseball during that time. During that stretch, gone were the games where our team never fought back from early deficits, even in some tough losses, the Royals battled back again and again after getting down early.

Where we can get optimistic about the 2nd half is right out of the gate. Out

of the first 22 games after the break, 16 of them are at home. On the season, the Royals are 22-24 at home. But since that 12 game losing streak the Royals are 12-8 at home. While these are small sample sizes, it does show that since the terrible streak, the team has played well, and even better in front of the fans at The K.

Back to the 16 out of 22 at home. These are not against your average and crappy teams of the AL. The 16 home games include

3 vs. Detroit

3 vs. Minnesota

3 vs. Boston

3 vs. CWS

4 vs. Tampa

The 6 Road games are 3 at CWS and 3 at OAK.

So this is no easy task here. On the season we are a combined 10-22 against these 6 teams. That includes a 6-0 record vs. the much hotter Tigers. When you take that out.....well ouch.

Let’s set history aside, though, that is 12 games against division opponents and it is such a great opportunity for us to see where this team is moving forward. Have we improved this season? Can we compete with the best teams in the American League? All contending talk aside, I think if we could go .500 during this stretch I would be pretty happy.

Our pitching staff is set right about where we would want it

Greinke

Meche

Bannister

Hochevar

Davies

Bale and Nunez are expected to come back to relieve some pressure on the bullpen and if the pitching staff can get into a groove here to start the break, I think it’s possible to go 13-9 or 12-10 during this time.

Nothing like a few days off of baseball to get overly optimistic again! What do you guys think?

The Rivalry Continues: St. Louis Cardinals

I need more Esteban — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:57:46 -0000

The I-70 series begins tonight with 3 in St. Louis followed by 3 more in KC next weekend. I'm very pumped for these games because one of my close friends is a big Cardinals fan. Plus, we always seem to play second fiddle to the redbirds in this area and it just feels so good to beat the most pompous fans in baseball.

2007 was a 3-3 split between the two teams. I'm hoping for nothing less than a 4-2 series win. Let's take a look back at 2007.

The 2007 Royals came into the I-70 series with a 24-40 record. I'm pretty sure I was at the first game. An 8-1 win by the Royals. The Royals scored 5 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, and 1 in the 3rd for all of their total runs for the game. That is all they needed, though, as Brian Bannister pitched a great game, going 7.0 IP without giving up a run. Mark Teahen had a great game, going 3 for 5 with a single, double and a triple. A few annebriated friends and I swore that if Teahen hit a HR for the cycle that we would buy his jersey when we got home. It didn't happen but the Royals still had a nice victory.

Game 2 was rediculous. I was also at this game which was not fun at all. The Royals lost 3-7 but the worst part about it was how we lost. Adam Wainwright had a no-hitter going through 5 or 6, I think. He went 8.0 innings, giving up only 1 hit. The Royals managed 3 runs in the 9th.

The final game in KC was one that all Royals fans could really brag about. Looking at the matchup before the game, you knew this was going to be a bad one, Kip Wells vs. Scott Elarton, resulting in a 17-8 Royals victory. Everyone got into the act in this one. After each team put up a run in the 1st, St. Louis took a nice lead in the 2nd with a 3 run inning making it 4-1. Thanks to Kip Wells, the Royals took the lead back in the bottom of the inning, putting up 8 runs on Wells and reliever Flores. The Royals went on to score 8 more runs over the game and Zack Greinke got his 4th win of the season by throwing 4 innings in relief. Teahen went 3-5 with 2 3B and 5 RBI's. Alex Gordon went 2-5 with a HR and TONY PENA JR. went 4-5 with 3 runs scored and an RBI (amazing). What a game.

In St. Louis, our Royals didn't have as good a luck.

Game 1 was great. The Royals avenged their Adam Wainwright beat down by beating the Cardinals ace 5-3. John Buck hit his 13th homer of the year, and Odalis Perez had a nice outing, going 6.0 IP and only giving up 3. The stellar 2007 bullpen took over form there, as Riske, Soria, and Dotel each threw an inning, giving up 1 hit each and nothing more.

The curse of Scott Elarton took over for Game 2 (what the hell were they thinking!) as he went 2.2 IP, giving up all 5 runs. Musser and Peralta combined to go the rest of the game, giving up 0 runs. (where is that this year?)

Game 3 was a heartbreaker that I still remember pretty well. It was the first chance that the Royals had to face their old teammate, Todd Wellemeyer. Gil Meche opposed him. The Royals got to Wellemeyer in the first, scoring 3 runs and chased him out after the 5th with a 4-4 tie. After scoring 2 more in the 6th, the Royals claimed a 6-4 lead. Greinke gave up 1 run in relief and Soria went 2 innings without giving up a hit to turn it over to Dotel with a one run lead. Octavio didn't have his stuff and gave up the lead, only to have Peralta save the loss by coming in and forcing extra innings. With depleated bullpens and scoreless extra innings, the managers were forced to go to some starters. The Cardinals went with Kip Wells and the Royals with Jorge De La Rosa. Wells went 2.0 IP and didn't give up anything, and De la Rosa faced one batter, Ryan Ludwick who hit the ball over the fence to end the game.

So a tough ending to a series that the Royals could have easily won 4-2.

This team has played well as of late and with no Pujols and a pitching staff littered with injuries, the Cardinals are very beatable. Let's go out and do this.

Also, I'd like to hear any other Cardinal vs. Royals memories, from other Interleague series or the great one that I don't remember because I was 6 months old: The 1985 World Series. Let's get pumped!

You wanted something, you got it. Tomko DFA'd, Rosa Called up.

I need more Esteban — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:37:18 -0000

Nate Bukaty on 810 just reported that Brett Tomko has been designated for assignment and Carlos Rosa has been called up to the big club. For all those wanting changes, here they are. I just hope Rosa isn't being called up too early. He will probably get a chance in today's game, as he hasn't pitched since June 7th.

Discuss amongst yourselves, discuss amongst yourselves, discuss amongst yourselves. Discuss amongst yourselves. Discuss amongst yourselves.