Are The Royals in Win-Now Mode?

The Kansas City Royals have been an exercise in futility for the past two decades. In fact, the only thing separating them from being in the exact same category as the Pittsburgh Pirates is their 83 win season in 2003. And that season was in the middle of a stretch from 2002-2006 where the lost 100 or more games in four of those five seasons. The last four seasons however have seen the Monarchs Royals increase their win total from 65 in 2009 to 72 this past season. Progress people, progress.

Apparently, this means the time to strike is now. After they pulled off a "blockbuster" trade with the Los Angeles Angels picking up Ervin Santana as well as signing Jeremy Guthrie to a three year $25MM deal (That's one way to skew the market), rumors abound that the Royals are willing to part with uber-prospect Wil Myers in search of a frontline starting pitcher at the big league level. Baaaaaad call Mr. Moore, bad call. I guess Dayton thinks that 21 year olds who turn AAA into their own personal batting practice grow on trees.

NL Awards Roundup

The BBWAA finished up it's major award announcements this week, culminating with the MVP awards being handed out on Thursday. I'll rant about the American League later, for now, the National League.

Homer Bailey Joins 2004 Draft No-Hitter Club

The magical season for the Reds continued Friday night as Homer Bailey tossed a no-hitter against the Pirates. The Reds have already clinched the Central and are tied with the Nationals for the best record in the National League. Bailey zipped through the Pirates line-up striking out 10 on 115 pitches. Clint Barmes reached first base on an error in the bottom of the third inning and Andrew McCutchen walked in the seventh inning to account for the only baserunning Pirates. McCutchen made the most of his opportunity by stealing second base before being thrown out at third.

The Pirates were confused by white, leather ball being flung at them by Bailey as they have been for most of the second half on the season. After 100 games, the Pirates were 58-42 and in the thick of the playoff hunt. Then, as usual, somebody alerted the team that they were indeed the Pittsburgh Pirates and they promptly went 18-39. Their next loss with give the Pirates 483 consecutive losing seasons. When reached for comment about the collapse, manager Clint Hurdle made a fart noise with his mouth.

Back to Bailey, he is the fourth first round draft pick from 2004 to throw a no-hitter and the third this season. That's pretty remarkable. If it didn't sound like a lot of work, I would try to see if that is a record. Let's just assume it is. Justin Verlander, the second overall pick, was the first to get on the board. Verlander no-hit the Brewers on June 12, 2007 and picked up his second against the Blue Jays on May 7, 2011. Philip Humber, third overall, and his career 4.87 ERA over 316.1 major league innings threw the unlikely perfect game against the Mariners on April 21, 2012. Jered Weaver, the 12th pick, was next this season throwing his no-hitter against the Twins on May 2. Bailey was the seventh pick in 2004 and, after his performance on September 28, gets to learn the secret handshake.

While I realize I'm being selfish and they're still in the playoff hunt, I would really appreciate it if the Rays would slap some duct tape on Jeff Neimann's leg and get him another start before the season ends. Neimann was the fourth overall pick in 2004.

Oh Pirates

As if it was bad that I completely missed "Speak Like a Pirate Day," The Pittsburgh Pirates are trending the wrong way towards yet another losing season. What's worse, on Aug. 6th they were 16 games over .500 and had been playing great baseball all year. Clint Hurdle was a shoo-in for Manager of the Year and Andrew McCutcheon was playing like a legit MVP candidate. Rookie call ups playing up to potential, check, A.J. Burnett doing his best Carl Pavano impersonation, check, still carry nasty Yuengling Lager, *barf* check.

Then for some reason, someone somewhere reminded these boys that they still were, in fact, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and like a drunk cheerleader on prom night, they fell flat on their back.

How historic is this collapse? Well, Jayson Stark did the heavy lifting at ESPN trying to find another team in the modern era to be 16 games over after 108 games only to finish the season under .500. What'd he find?

Pirates Fire Two Coaches, That Should Fix It

The Pittsburgh Pirates fired pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and bench coach Gary Varsho because they were "no longer right for the staff." While the Pirates spiral toward their 18th consecutive losing season, manager John Russell passed off ineptitude to his staff. I'm not saying Russell was just trying to save some face but I'm not even sure what a bench coach does. I believe it has something to do with sunflower seed management. The starting pitching has certainly been disappointing though...

The Pirates also allowed Charlie Morton (1-9, 9.35 ERA in 10 games) to struggle for weeks before sending him back to the minors. Ross Ohlendorf (1-9, 4.23) has been a disappointment after going 11-10 last season and left-hander Zach Duke (5-10, 5.32) has given up 142 hits in 108 1-3 innings.

I suppose some of that may be Joe Kerrigan's fault. Or it could just be that none of those pitchers are very good. Or good. Or league average.

Let's face the facts. The Pirates have been a poorly run franchise for many years in a small-ish market. They can't afford to make mistakes. But they seem to have righted the ship over the past few seasons. They're spending money on the draft now. Pedro Alvarez should develop into a nice power hitting, lousy third baseman. And if they can sign Jameson Tallion and Stetson Allie, they win the 2010 draft. They also did a nice job on buying low on prospects Jose Tabata and Andy LaRoche (even if LaRoche didn't pan out).

Pitching is a concern. Brad Lincoln might end up being a good pitcher. Mid to front of the rotation guy. But Charlie Morton and Zach Duke aren't the answer to forming a winning season. So firing a pitching coach who isn't Dave Duncan seems like a nice way to show the fans that you care and realize things aren't going well is a nice enough gesture I suppose. But the bench coach? What could he have done wrong? Misplaced the Gatorade?

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Todd Benzinger




Reds 7, Phillies 3. The last time Johnny Cueto faced the Phillies-July 6, 2009-he allowed nine earned runs and didn't get out of the first inning as the Phillies handed Cincy the worst loss in franchise history, 22-1. That's SimplySuperIrabuian. Monday's rematch went a bit better. Cueto gave up a run in eight innings and Scott Rolen hit his 300th career home run for the Reds, who are in first place this late in the season for the first time since 1999. To illustrate how long ago that was, I give you a few notes about the '99 Reds:

* The four pitchers who made the most starts for Cincinnati in 1999 were Pete Harnisch, Brett Tomko, Ron Villone and Steve Parris.
* The catcher during most of those starts: Edward Kenneth Taubensee
* Also prominently involved: Juan Guzman, Steve Avery, Stan Belinda, Jeffrey Hammonds

Marlins 10, Mets 3. I didn't think I'd be typing this on June 29, but for Anthony Young's sake, someone finally beat R.A. Dickey.

Indians 2, Bluejays 1
Pirates 2, Cubs 1
This was the first time since June 5 both the Indians and Pirates won on the same day. In Cleveland, Jake Westbrook gave up a run in six innings, while the appendage formerly known as Kerry Wood's arm saved a game for the second consecutive night. Meanwhile, the Bucs snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Chicago for the eighth time in 10 tries this season. If Pittsburgh could schedule Chicago 162 times a year....people would stop going to Wrigley Field.