I know Guillen won't be out that much longer but currently with both Guillen and Gordon out, it got me thinking over lunch yesterday about what I would do with our position player roster and lineup.  Here goes...

C - Buck

1B - Butler

2B - Callapso

SS - Avlies

3B - Teahen

LF - DeJesus

CF - Crisp

RF - Maier

DH - Jacobs

That leaves gives us 3 righties, 4 lefties, and 2 switch hitters.  That works.  I would bat them as follows:

1. Crisp

2. Aviles

3. DeJesus

4. Butler

5. Teahen

6. Buck

7. Jacobs

8. Callapso

9. Maier

I know it sounds easy to say after last night's performance but honestly I thought and think this isn't a bad lineup and it's not that much worse than having Guillen and Gordon in it.  It is worse, but not appreciably because Guillen and Gordon are not consistent high level performers and Callapso is a productive offensive contributor.  I guess it depens a lot on how Maier would do in my everyday lineup (but it doesn't look like we'll get to find that out since Hillman will likely play Bloomquist most nights). Where I think the injuries hurt us the most is not in our starting lineup but rather with our bench.  Our bench was a bit odd to start the year (by keeping T. Pena and 3 catchers; I know B. Pena can play other positions but he can't be that good at them) but with these injuries I really don't think it works very well at all.

With our current roster and my suggested lineup above, that leaves us with the following bench: Bloomquist, T. Pena, B. Pena, and Olivo.  The oddity of having 3 catchers needs to end.  I was willing to live with carrying 3 for a little while because I didn't want to lose B.Pena but the time has come to resolve this for the sake of our bench.  I would trade/dump Olivo (if we can afford to eat yet another contract).  We would lose nothing without him.  I would replace Olivo's roster spot with Shealy so we could have a decent righty option off the bench and I would replace T.Pena's spot with Hullet (decent to good plate discipline and can play multiple positions).  This would leave us with the following bench:  B.Pena, Bloomquist, Shealy, and Hullet.  As a manager, I'd feel like I had a lot more options than with Olivio, B.Pena, T. Pena, and Bloomquist.

What do you think about the lineup and the bench?

I was recently asked by one of my brothers who do I think was the best MLB player in the Steroid Era.  He put the timeframe of 1990 - 2007 and that sounds like a fine range to me.  Anyhow, I thought it would be a great topic for discussion.

Let's not disqualify for admitted or perceived use of performance enhancing substances.  Also, let's do pitchers, closers, and position players seperately.  Finally, let's do the best single seasons and the best overall.  I believe that leaves us with the following 4 categories for the given timeframe:

1. Position Player - Best Single Season

2. Position Player - Best Overall

3. Pitcher - Best Single Season

4. Pitcher - Best Overall

5. Closer - Best Single Season

6. Closer - Best Overall

What are some good sites that allows one to reaserch the statistics?

Is it just me or does anybody else out there see a lot of good things developing for our Royals?  Admittedly, it's been a very painful stretch recently -- the painful and embarassing losing streak, the loss to the Yankees last Saturday, and the two blown leads against the Rangers.  But behind all this losing, I do believe there are some very positive signs that will get us to a better place.  To name a few:

  - our 4th and 5th spots in the rotation are being handled well by two young guys (Hocheaver and Davis) that we had hope for at the start of the season.

 - Meche looked very good his last outing; he may be close to resuming his '07 ways

 - Most of core young group of hitters are doing well or are showing positive signs

     - DeJesus is hitting well and showing some power.

    - Teahen isn't hitting like we want or has in the past yet, but he, too, is showing some power.

    - After a bad stretch, Gordon is hitting again.  He, too, with some power.

    - Butler is hitting well and driving the ball in Omaha.  He will be back very soon.

 - Aviles is playing regularly and hitting.

 - GMDM showed some stones and dropped Tomko.  The good news is that this regime understands sunk costs and will move on when it's time.

 - Gathright is fielding very well.

 - Guillen has turned into the hitting force that GMDM was expecting.

 - Good looking draft if we can get the top guys signed.

Now, I don't think all is rosey.  Here are my main concerns:

 - Can we break the losing culture?  This is an extremely hard thing to do, but it certainly gets done (K-State football, Detroit Tigers, etc.).

 - Middle relief and setup guys  - we need Nunez back, Ramirez to resume his earlier form, and Rosa to be solid.

 - Can Hillman effectively manage his pitching.  Some bullpen moves recently have been very questionable and I'm afraid the bullpen problems might encourage him to leave the starters in too long.

I think tonight's game has two very interesting and possibly fortelling things to watch for.

(1) Will we fare better against L. Hernandez tonight than we did the first time around?  I think it would be a very positive sign for our offense if we can display noticeable improvement from the first time around.

(2) Conversely, will Meche have his first really good outing of the year?  He's due for one.  With a poor outing, I'll be a little worried about him.  With a good outing, I'll figure he'll repeat last year's performance.