SB Nation User Blog: wildthang

The most important decisions of our lives- The Shersey

wildthang — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:55:15 -0000

Getting the new shersey, (for those not in the know, shersey is the brilliant portmanteau of shirt and jersey) is an important part of every fan's life. Its t-shirt nature allows us to wear it anytime and any place: to class, to bed, at home, to dinner, to the game. Its jersey side allows to suavely advertise our support for a team, and more importantly a specific player.

Recently in my life, I have decided that for the most part jerseys just don't look that good anywhere except the ballpark, and even then most of the time they look awkward on average bejerseyed male. (this revelation came at the expense of a bunch of Cubs fans while attending a Dodgers game in the last year)

This is why for me, the shersey has become vitally more important in my fan life. They are considerably less expensive, so I can get one for players I am a big fan of, or that are on my fantasy team, without having to sink a huge amount of money on it. I don't know about anywhere else, but having lived in A's territory for 15 years, sherseys are all the rage and many fans collect as many as possible.

So this is where I come to the great people of RR, it is time for me to get my first royals shersey. I already own Chase Utley and Jake Peavy sherseys (heros of my fantasy baseball team), so it's time to see what the consensus is.

Lets go to a list of the contenders with a breakdown:

via lp.imageg.net

This is mostly a gag, as before I wrote this, I was perusing all of the Hillman related diaries. I didn't actually believe they would make a manager shersey, but lo and behold! I have never seen anyone in a manager's shersey, and I could do this to set precedent and become the first dude to rock a Hillman shersey.

Bonus Points: Excellent look when rocking a huge facial hair collection.
Minus Points: No one in LA, or basically anywhere outside of KC would really know who it is, and the joke would be lost on 99.9% of people. Someday if im rich I may get one and wear it around and give $500 dollars to the first person that approaches me about it.

via lp.imageg.net

The Soria shersey extolls badassness. Arguably one of the most talented players on the team, and equally effective. It would seemingly send mixed messages. It might cause people to believe that I believe that Soria has the special ability to pitch 9th innings that no one else has. I don't want to lose points among the sabermetrically inclined, but is it my fault he's stuck as a closer?

via lp.imageg.net

The Greinke seems to be the leader in the clubhouse for me at the moment. It is incredibly awesome, Greinke is the ace of the staff and has been extended, and it has that great edge that only a Greinke could provide. I would have no qualms about spending the thirty or so dollars for one of these badboys.

via lp.imageg.net

This one had a lot more potential last week before Gordon was set to miss a good chunk of this season. It still has some long term potential, but I think it would be better off to take a wait and see approach with the Gordon shersey. Now if sherseys were like investments and one could buy low at say 12 dollars that might change my mind, but MLB just doesn't wanna be like that. Oh well.

via lp.imageg.net

I like this shersey a lot, but I feel like it would be very underappreciated. If I lived near KC it would be good because most Royals fans understand how good Meche is, but I think out among the masses, most people wouldn't really know much about Meche other than he got "overpaid" by a "shitty" team. Meche is still pretty badass, but he's probably second in line to Greinke on the Royals KC SP shersey depth chart.

via lp.imageg.net

Another uncertain shersey because its more for future investment than for now. If he never truly pans out, it might suck to have gotten one of these instead of a legitimate Greinke or Meche. The only thing that might save it is if I got it in a XXXL and wore it around to poke fun at Butler. But again, seeing as thats an average joke at best, its most likely to be lost even on Royals fans.

THE BEST OF THE REST:
The only other shersey I might seriously consider would be Dejesus. It would be pretty cool to have as a backup shersey, or maybe if they had more than one design scheme. Otherwise, I think DDJ is just a hair under shersey quality as a player. His other problem is we don't have enough really good guys to create the mediocre guy shersey backlash. This situation is where everyone gets sherseys of all the good players, but so many people have them that its lame to wear the David Oritz or Papelbon shersey. Therefore to remain hip and on the cutting edge, you invest in more fringe and prospect sherseys. Thats how some Red Sox fans might end up with a Lugo or Brandon Moss shersey, or the aforementioned A's fans with a Jack Hanahan or Joey Devine shersey.

Coco Crisp could potentially sneak in as a shersey contender if he sticks around for a few years. Kyle Davies could as well if he blossoms this year. Mark Teahn possibly if you respect his value to our club relative to every other team in baseball.

Or if you are particularly cruel, you could play a prank on your buddy by getting him one of the quadumvirate of Farnsworth, Olivo,Ho-Ram, or TPJ. There are no occasions where these look cool, and I'm not sure that anyone has actually ever ordered one of these. For the sake of baseball, don't ever buy one of these.

NOW TO THE POLLS!

Poll

What is the optimal shersey choice?

Joakim Soria

13 votes

Zack Greinke

34 votes

Gil Meche

1 votes

Alex Gordon

2 votes

Billy Butler

0 votes

Trey Hillman

6 votes

Other-Evil Quadumvirate

3 votes

Other-Someone Semi-decent

4 votes

63 votes | Poll has closed

Random Idea: Trade Hochevar?

wildthang — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:55:05 -0000

After reading some postgame stuff about today's win, I read some comment about our pitching depth. Not sure who it was by, but it got me to thinking about Hochevar being in AAA. We can obviously most likely cancel this discussion if Kyle Davies is only a borderline #4 pitcher, but for the rest of this, we're going to assume Davies is going to be a legit #3 or better.

We have an incredible 1-2 punch, add in the Davies assumption and we have a 1-2-3 that is in the top third of all baseball, and most likely better. If Ponson can be just a fringe 4/serviceable 5, we have a little more depth to work with.

Our current pitching depth leads me to considering trading Hochevar now. I am not advocating it, just exploring potential options. I fully understand that pitching depth can go at any moment and that our pitching won't be THIS good, but I think it would be at least something to look into. This might especially enticing if we are in the thick of a playoff race and a bat could put us over the top.

We need hitting, badly. We need someone that can get on base with regularity. We need someone with power. Getting proven guys with insane costs won't work for our club. We need to utilize some of our trade chips to try and acquire some elite hitting talent before it gets a proven tag. Pitching is the currency of baseball after all. All we've burned so far have been fungible relievers, which can easily be replaced by investing millions into. Hochevar just HAS to be sitting there burning a hole in Dayton's pocket.

What I would explore would be trying to trade Hochevar for a MLB ready hitting prospect or one with a little bit of experience. Hochevar had a decent season with the peripherals, enough so to inspire confidence in his future, so I don't believe he has lost a ton of value, but he isn't going to be valued like a #1 pick anymore.

I like his potential, but I don't love it. I think he has definite value to clubs because he has #2 starter ceiling and most likely #4 floor.

Who would we trade him for though?

-Max Ramirez would be a great bat at C and i've heard defensive concerns are overblown.
-Chase Headley or Kyle Blanks. It's hard to evaluate prospects that hit half the time in PETCO, but you have to like the power potential to go along with an OBP that projects to be slightly above average. Blanks would alleviate a future logjam at 1st for them. He isn't an OF.
-Reid Brignac- may not be a superstar, but a young SS with some power would be excellent. Would be hampered by Rays depth at pitching. Maybe we could swing a 3 way.
-Austin Jackson could be another target if the Yanks sweetened the pot with Ian Kennedy. At least i'd never have to read another Ian Kennedy for other teams top prospect garbage trade proposal.

Anyways, these are just a few. I'll toss in more, maybe other people have ideas of what we could snag.

Like I said, if Davies is not for real then all bets are off, but it seems like it would be worth just putting some feelers out to see what the market is like for Hochevar.

Trite Comparisons

wildthang — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:50:58 -0000

I've just been doing some reading around lately and something that really annoys me is the amount of arguments that revolve around the same few comparisons. Its not something that is unique to a few team's prospects either. It seems to be that almost every team has a battle with some other team's prospect that is A) pointless and B)extremely repetitive. I think it kind of thwarts some meaning ful discussion of prospects.

Now what I wanna do, and you don't have to be on board with this, is create a list of prospect comparisons that should just be plain illegal to bring up. I think by doing this we can get more interesting comparisons, more in depth discussion about non-elite level prospects, and less pointless bickering. Its ok to discuss these prospects merit, Im just asking that we do it in ways that may lend new perspective to a less heralded prospect.

Im gonna throw a couple out there that I've heard way too much from this year and years past that come up too much.

Chamberlain v Buccholz
Holland v Anderson
Weiters v Price (kinda iffy but still its like flipping a coin to win $99 or $100, you'll still be happy with the result)
Gordon vs Young (oldie but goodie)

This is just to get us started. Pitch in if you feel like it. Ignore if you think its stupid. Or tell me its stupid if you think its stupid.

yes we can!

Predictions-2008 Team Leaders

wildthang — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:30:05 -0000

Hey all,

As I was looking at the Royals main website, I noticed the 2007 team stat leaders. It had the leaders in all basic categories from the past season. What I want to do for fun, is just have people guess as to who will be leading those categories and with what number.

So for this year we have:

AVG: M. Grudzielanek, .302
HR: J. Buck, 18
RBI: E. Brown, 62

W: B. Bannister, 12
SV: J. Soria, 17
K: G. Meche, 156

For 2008 I predict:

AVG: B. Butler .322
HR: A. Gordon 31
RBI: A. Gordon 112

W: G. Meche 16
SV: J. Soria 37
K: Z Greinke 187

Lets see yours.

Yikes-Your Tampa Rays

wildthang — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:35:21 -0000

This is just god awful. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are now officially the Tampa Bay Rays.

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tb

These things look like minor league uniforms. They are bland and boring. Are the Rays not even supposed to be sea creatures. From that sunny thing in the middle of the uniform and logo it looks like a sun. Wow, how imposing. The Tampa Solar Flares. Just give up Tampa. Ugh.

Also good job on the TB hats. Its always good to have your hat also be sort of an acronym for a well known disease. Go Tuberculosis Rays.

Whatever. Whatever.

MLB Draft Fantasy Redux + stuff

wildthang — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:04:56 -0000

Hey all, I am beating around the bush with some HW right now so I figured I could distract myself more doing this.

Basically, I've seen a couple diaries lately that had pieces of what I've been wanting to post about, but they didn't have the complete goal I had in mind. What I want to do is to rank a relevant portion of the 2007 draft, with fantasy purposes in mind. I think its very interesting to look at because our perspective changes a lot when looking at almost every player. Please don't blast me for posting a "fantasy" diary. I think this can inspire discussion just as much as anything.

I just want to see people rank their top 20 (or more if you feel like it) with a fantasy focus. Do you prefer long-term projects or someone closer to the majors? (ie lincecum vs kershaw last year). How important is position? Is Daniel Moskos going to be the lights out middle reliever the Pirates so desperately needed at #4 and will he set the all time holds stat record?

I'll go ahead and rank mine in a second. The stuff part of the title has to do with our offseason top prospects list. The WS is over and I am ready to go. I am ready to have at it with you all over our lists.

So here is how I think fantasy value shakes out with regards to the mlb draft.

1.Matt Weiters
2.David Price
3.Matt Laporta
4.Mike Moustaks
5.Rick Porcello
6.Ross Detweiler
7.Jarrod Parker
8.Beau Mills
9.Jason Heyward
10.Madison Bumgarner
11.Nick Schmidt
12.Josh Vitters
13.Matt Dominguez
14.Phil Aumont
15.Devin Mesoraco
16.Joe Savery
17.Blake Beaven
18.Kevin Ahrens (just a guess putting him here)
19.Wendell Fairley
20.James Simmons

What do we think? A top 15 probably would have been better but whatever.

Meche and a Mish-Mash

wildthang — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:38:04 -0000

First off, I want to say to all hardcore RR readers that I feel bad for not being able to contribute all that much here in the last two weeks. I am moving down to LA on Friday, and I've never come close to moving out so it has been hectic around the house. I was hoping for a day game tomorrow so I could watch and then accomplish all the things I need to get done later but I will have to wait until Thursday to really get some time and watch a game.

The main point of this basically to bring up a lot of what we know and expound on it a little more. After taking steaming, heaping, piles of crap from every sportswriter and blog jockey outside of the KC area, and even the laughably sardonic jabs from another GM (it's made even more funny by the fact that he's probably on a short leash starting pretty soon), we have some piece of validation. One of the best and most irrefutable points against the Meche signing was his consistency, his ability to last over a full season, or to put in a benchmark, 200 innings pitched. In his first 6 seasons with the Mariners he didn't achieve this feat once. I'll give him the fact a couple of seasons he probably didn't have the opportunity to reach the milestone, but when he did he didn't.

Today, Mr. Meche reached that 200 IP plateau, and he has started to transform his potential into actualized performance. Just looking at his stats also tell you how much he has developed. He has allowed less HR (three) in nearly 30 more IP, and has walked 25 less batters over those same amount of innings. One could also explain his decrease in K/9 as learning to pitch to contact better, and the rest of his numbers don't really dispute that kind of claim.

So officially, Gil Meche has turned himself legitimate big league starter, and he has most definitely earned his money this year, in my opinion. I think GMDM deserves a ton of credit for winning big with Meche. It's exciting to finally have a couple good pitchers after witnessing the sheer horror of the Royals rotation and in the early 00's.

Of course, you may already know and agree with this, but I am excited and very much satisfied with Gil.

Other things, down at UCLA, welcome week starts on sunday with a concert by none other than T.I. himself, and I look forward to going, probably hammered, and seeing what its like. I also would also like to implore the readers of RR what I should do and if they have any experience in the matter. After the concert there is a dance til 3am, and I probably would be hammered or more there. Are college dances fun? Esp ones in the actual basketball arena? I remember HS dances were pretty cool, but does the chance to be housed make it more or less fun. The other option would be to go to a large outdoor screening of the movie "The Kingdom" a full 5 days before it comes out. It looks pretty cool, but is there anyone out there who is especially excited for it or anything? I'm not really pumped for the movie but I would go just to say I've seen a movie before it comes out, and also if its good then even better.

Finally, any thoughts on frats? I am initially against them for a good set of reasons, but I could see some situations where they could be beneficial.

GO ROYALS!

7.2.07-Daily Minors Thread

wildthang — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:26:57 -0000

Hey all, I don't normally post this but I decided to take some initiative when I noticed that Jeff Clement is apparently making his ML debut tonight against KC. I hadn't heard or seen anything noting it and I would imagine it is because of the whole Hargrove resigning overshadowing effect.

So yeah, I haven't checked any Minor League boxes yet but that is seemingly significant enought to kickstart this thread.

Thanks for stopping by. And you stay classy. But thanks for stopping by.

Envisioning the Future-Lineup Thoughts

wildthang — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:55:02 -0000

Well, after an anxious few months leading into the draft, and speculation having us take guys from Porcello(who I like much less knowing its pronounced Por-Chello), Weiters, Vitters, among many others, but now we finally have our guy in Mike Moustakas.

Did I think we would draft him last week? Hell no.

Did I know who he was last month? Hell no.

Am I happy with who we got? Hell yea.

Our first pick, out of Chatsworth HS, (known as the Chancellors, http://www.chatsworthhs.org), Michael Moustakas, appears to be a very astute selection, and becomes 100x more wise if he can actually play a big league SS. At 6'0" 200, hes a big kid, but I still think he can play the SS relatively well. I'm just gonna glance at some weight/height listings and list them, obviously ignoring differences in ability, body type, quickness etc.

Stephen Drew 6'1 185
Miguel Tejada 5'9 213
Bobby Crosby 6'3 217
Yunieski Betancourt 5'10 190
Orlando Cabrera 5'9 185
Brendan Harris 6'1 200
Rafael Furcal 5'8 196
Derek Jeter 6'3 195
TPJ 6'2 180
Michael Young 6'1 200
Carlos Guillen 6'1 213

Point being, just by looking at this list we can see his size and weight don't really look out of place. I do think he could still fill out though which could be a problem, but for purposes of this we'll ignore that.

So here we are, looking at a potential lineup in the 2009-2010 seasons based on development ascent to the bigs. Lets take a look at the lineup we could possibly field, and contrary to how BB assembles his lineup we will do it permutatively(making up words, always a good sign, I just mean in a specific order) and hopefully it could be a lineup we could lean on for years to come.

CF David Dejesus- Good leadoff hitter, good centerfielder, his latest slump is pissing me off though, possible trade bait to places like Atlanta or Florida, where he could be extremely valuable to both. FLA overvalues pitching and would try and screw us. Wondering if Gathright is for real he would be a dominating leadoff guy.
LF Chris Lubanski- One of my personal favorites. Very hard worker.I don't see why he cant be a solid two hole hitter that puts up a ton of XBH. If he does what hes doing right now in Omaha at .280/.350/.480 he would be an awesome asset.
3B Mark Teahen- Ideal three hole hitter, good power, good eye, I think he could go .290/.380/.480 at least with a good lineup around him as he progresses, or a slightly less powerful JD Drew.
Alex Gordon- I really don't care about getting a L/R/L/R split in the lineup, but Gordon will be our best all around hitter and all we do now is wait.
1B/DH Billy Butler- Supposed to be the best hitter, and batting fifth should give him a ton of chances to get runners in. I imagine he will split time between first and DH while he is young with a guy like Gload, or even Huber,and maybe DH on daygame after a nighter.
SS Mike Moustakas-The hardest to project, but this is a dream lineup, so I'm putting him 6th at short. Really have no clue as to what he could do, but a 30 HR guy at short sounds like a perennial MVP candidate. If he can be a good OBP guy, also might consider the two spot.
C John Buck- Offensive breakout this year, and just by watching his approach you get the feeling he is for real. Don't see too much flailing and outside pitches, he has been able to get his pitch and hit it hard even with TPJ, well usually just TPJ batting behind him. 20+ HR power is exciting.
DH Justin Huber- I don't see Shealy being a long term option, (funny what 6 months time does), which may actually actually put the ostracized Mr. Huber back into contention for a semi prominent spot on this team. He was basically terrible for the first 6 weeks, but has been destroying the ball lately, and hopefully can earn his way into the future picture. This could also possibly be a FA that may split time at 1B or could be a rotating thing with Mitch Maier in the mix.
2B Esteban German- This is really a tough choice because its so hard to project. I think its 50/50 that German will be around in two or three years. He will be 31 in 2009, and I think his value would be maximized through a trade. Given that, I still have to go with him basically because I have no clue what guys like Maddox or Bianchi might wind up doing. Both of them could be options here, or hell, even Tony Pena possibly, but someone will have to step up to win the 2B job if German goes.

Condensed version:
Dave Dejesus
Chris Lubanski
Mark Teahen
Al Gordon
Bill Butler
Mike Moustakas
John Buck
Justin Huber
Esty

So yeah, someday this offense could be really good. Just throw a pitching staff around it and you have a really good team. It will make George Brett proud. I can't wait!

OH JESUS NO-THE DEVIL IS BACK

wildthang — Mon, 14 May 2007 06:47:56 -0000

WHY?!?!?! This weekend just keeps on getting worse. UGH.

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals added some infield depth and promoted a familiar face Sunday. Kansas City recalled shortstop Angel Berroa from Triple-A Omaha and placed Ross Gload (strained quadriceps) on the disabled list.

Berroa, the 2003 American League Rookie of the Year, will see time at multiple infield positions, including shortstop and third base. He was supposed to be the starting shortstop, but was demoted to the Minors on March 24 after hitting .263 with 14 strikeouts and no walks in 38 at-bats during Spring Training.

Berroa will backup Tony Pena at shortstop and Alex Gordon at third. With Ryan Shealy (hamstring) and Gload on the disabled list, Mike Sweeney and Gordon become the primary first baseman. Bell recently said Billy Butler could also see some time at first base.

The move could also help resurrect Berroa's career, a career that has gone downhill after a 2003 season that yielded a .287 average with 17 homers and 73 RBI. Since then, Berroa's average, on-base percentage and slugging average have fallen every year, bottoming out at .234/259/333 in 2006. The on-base and slugging percentages ranked as the worst in baseball among players who qualified for the batting title.

Berroa worked out in Kansas City in the offseason to improve his hitting and range in the field, but struggled throughout the spring. Bell still wanted Berroa to be in the Opening Day lineup on March 15, saying "We expect him to be our shortstop," but little consistency forced the trade for Pena. Bell said he wished Berroa would improve, improvement that came with a promotion after six weeks with Omaha.

"If he's doing great, we're going to see him with us or with somebody else. If he is doing well, I'd have no problem at all putting him in the lineup again," Bell said on March 24.

Berroa was hitting .303 with a .336 on-base percentage and a .369 slugging average with four walks and 17 strikeouts for Triple-A Omaha before the call-up.

Gload, the team's primary first baseman against right-handed batters after Shealy hurt his hamstring, also tweaked his quadriceps earlier this season and hurt it again Sunday. Gload was batting .284 and was tied with Mike Sweeney for the team lead in RBI (17).

After winning 11-1 over the White Sox on Sunday afternoon, the Royals begin a four-game trip against the Athletics on Monday night in Oakland.