The McGovern Manifesto: Fountains, BBQ and Baseball

[Bluejaysfan65]

Bonifacio's a beast...

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bluejaysfan65

Bonifacio's a beast...

I can finally attest to that. The dude has had two straight 4-4 games since coming over in that deal. I swear though, it's that beard dude. It has some sort of mythical power that I can't explain. He's been pretty darn good and at 2.72 million, he's somewhat of a bargain.

Now onwards to September!

What in the hell has gotten into Mike Moustakas? I mean really? He's quietly pushing .280 and quietly pushing towards 30 homeruns... he was OK in 2011, mediocre in 2012 and now he's becoming a driving force in our offense... What's up with that? If Moose keeps this up, we'll be screwed because he'll be wanting Pujols money and to be honest, we ain't forkin' that coin over... not just yet.


Aside from Moose, we've got a whole host of Rookies up here take a look

Quote: Originally Posted by Rookies in the Club

Jake Odorizzi Trevor Story Justin Marks John Lamb Chris Dwyer Donnie Joesph

That's a pretty solid group there especially our three headed pitching trio of Jake Odorizzi, John Lamb and Chris Dwyer. They are by far our most advanced and pitching prospects and I could logically see one or two of the three stepping into the rotation next spring. They'll all reach the majors but in what capacity, we're not sure... We're hard pressed for relief pitching and if we can't get something cooking on the market, Chris Dwyer could very well find himself filling some sort of capacity in the bullpen next year with his excellent curveball (which is the best in the organization).

Out of the three, we really have to give the edge to Odorizzi. Lamb is one year removed from Tommy John and the velocity is still recovering. If we get that velocity back, coupled with his excellent control, Lamb could potentially be the top lefthanded prospect in baseball. Dwyer is a nice arm but projects as nothing more than a #3. Even then, he's only going to make his money by throwing hooks with good control. Odorizzi was our organization's Pitcher of the Year in 2012 and has the best command in the organization. The upside here is of a solid #2. We'd be fools not to let that type of talent develop.

We certainly have some decisions to make it seems haha.


Lastly, we have uber-athlete and super phenom Domonic Brown. Most will probably question why I call him a super phenom... but the reasoning is simple. The things he did in AAA.... you wouldn't even believe. Stretching singles into Doubles, stealing bases just about every time he gets on the base paths.

Some of his more notable moments include hitting a 480 ft. homerun and throwing a guy out at home from the warning track... This is Bo Jackson type s*** guys, D-Brown is definitely legit my friends.

But how legit is the question; he's been rather unimpressive in limited Major League action and only now does he seem to be scratching at his ceiling. This September is going to huge for him. If he shows up and plays well all September, then the starting RF job is his to lose in Spring Training. If he gets injured or doesn't prove himself, we're going to be forced into exploring a wide range of options ranging from pursuing Carlos Beltran to resigning Frenchy.


But as you can tell, aside from us gunning for our first playoff berth in '85, it's also very key to our organization's future.

[KHarmo88]

Okay. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to hire you to be my full time graphic specialist for my chise ahah!

Great updates as always sir!

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by KHarmo88

Okay. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to hire you to be my full time graphic specialist for my chise ahah! Great updates as always sir!

Thanks bro.

Now before I do any more work, how much we talkin' haha!


First of all, let me start off by saying, forget you Domonic Brown! I talk the dude up like he's the next Bo Jackson and what happens:

The fool goes Chase Utley on us and is out with a shoulder strain. He's also going to miss the remainder of the season so that alters our off season plan. We can't consciously start a player in the major leagues with out getting a good sample size first. This alters our offseason plan in a major way because now we need someone to hold down the fort until D-Brown quits playing us like a fiddle. Does this mean another year of Frenchy? Does this mean Chris Denorfia gets the job? Does this mean we see David Lough out there? None of those options are really inciting to say the least.

Looks like that's another thing to add to our free agent shopping list.

We've been chipping away at Detorit but it's doubtful at this point that we'll catch 'em. In the big kahuna aka the American League Wild Card race, we're holding down a 2 game lead over the Rangers with Tampa hot on our a**. Now hopefully, we can hold down the fort but Tampa is entering an easy part of their schedule and everyone is starting to catch fire. And when Tampa catches fire, it's an occasion to be scared.

To get to this point, our pitching staff has quietly chugged along and is well on its way to 1000 innings. The real story has been our incredible offense who has shown no mercy since the trade deadline. Everything is starting to come together... Butler's over .300... Moose and Hos and becoming the hitters we thought they could be... and Lorenzo Cain is 3rd in Silver Slugger voting.

Not a bad year's work I suppose... not bad at all!

[KHarmo88]

Seriously though, if I was extremely rich, I'd just play the games and tell you what's on my mind and have you do the graphics and write ups. I'd say I'd go in the upper five digits!

[royals19]

So while we're still fuming about Domonic Brown goofing up again, the good 'ol boys in blue head up to Cleveland to get a quick 3 game set in. We're on cruise control but gosh dang it, everyone is starting to catch up. It's about time we go ham here.

Just talk to Alex Gordon who provides the textbook definition of "Going Ham" right here:

Quote:

ALEX GORDON FLASHES THE LEATHER MLB.com

I mean really, how many dudes out there can make that type of play at the Indians ballpark? I can probably count them on one hand. Gordon is leading the league in gold glove voting again for LF so it should come as no surprise if he wins.

We darn near lost this game though. Big Game was off today and it definitely showed... so in spite of his name, there would be no big game today... just a medium size one. Big Game James is struggling now, I mean ERA over 4, 11 wins and here we are in September... This isn't exactly what we had in mind when we traded away Baseball America's player of the year but...



Heh... A win's a win...

[royals19]

Despite our good fortunes lately, we got hoodwinked when Texas rolled into town and layed the smack down. We got our a** swept and that's certainly disheartening, when you take into account that Texas is now tied with us for the Wild Card lead and Tampa is a game back.

If we do hold down the wild card lead, this series isn't promising in the fact that we'll be playing Texas in the single elimination game and it seems as if we're destined to go down in flames.

Do we need to go into full panic mode? Not just yet, but it's certainly creeping up on us and we need to be weary of it. Our pitching needs to get it's act together and we need to keep hitting. We're certainly over matched by Tampa and Texas pitching wise but we can easily go toe to toe with offesnsivley.

As you can see from the above graphic, the hitting is pretty solid but the pitching... that was supposed to be our strength coming into the year and now we're sitting towards the bottom of the league. We've had good success in September running rookies and alleged pitchers like Dan Wheeler and Nate Adcock out there. What's going to happen though in the postseason though? Is the starting staff going to hold up? Who do we trust with the 9th inning? Who do we trust with the lead? All those questions have yet to be answered and I doubt we'll know until the bullets are flying... err.... the baseballs are flying.

[royals19]

Despite the pitching woes, the offense is really coming through for us. Coming into the season it was highly suspect considering the fact that we had so many young bats who had not hit consistently at the major league level. But, just about everyone who we needed to perform came out in a major way. Moose has developed into that power bat that Dayton envisioned when he was drafted, Hos is on his way to becoming the best pure hitter in the organization and Lorenzo Cain has blossomed into a legitamate top of the order threat. On top of all that, Salvador Perez has easily become the 2nd best catcher in the the American League.

All the while, the vets are holding their s***. Gordon is once again contending for a gold glove and his bat has finally come around (despite leading the league in strikeouts) Billy Butler is posting the best season of the career and may potentially hit 40 dongs this season. And Frenchy, well he's been a heck of an asset for the first time in his tenure here with the Royals... So much that he is in 2nd place in the RF gold glove race.

Spoiler

Mind not the error the editor made in the above graphic.

Today though, we beat the crap out of Seattle behind a strong Ervin Santana outing... and another superstar performance by Moose. Moose has been quite the surprise this season. We were all geared up for another .250ish season with 15-20 Homeruns. Instead he's blown the cap off those projections and is hitting .284 with 27 Homeruns at this point. He was always considered the best power hitter in the organization and it seems as if he's finally scratching at that ceiling.

Moose still has a long way to go to reach his ceiling but he's definitely headed in the right direction. We still need to develop the glove and he needs to generate more contact to become a complete hitter but other than that, he's been money.

Now before we get to our next game, we'd better take a quick look at the standings...



A nice little winning streak has put us back in the drivers seat. Right now it looks to be us and Texas. If we can hold down the first spot, we should be commanding home field advantage in the wild card race. That'll be pretty neat.... that'll be nice. I mean last time we hosted a playoff game was what? '85?

Yeah buddy...