Royals Notes
I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have any sort of a tie with the Kansas City Royals right now, but if I have to have one, I'm glad that it's the official television show of the Royals (and soon to be the official television show of this blog), Arrested Development. If you've never seen it before, AD is easily the most hilarious and brilliant comedy show since Seinfeld left the airwaves seven years ago.
I got hooked after watching the entire first season on DVD, and can hardly wait until 1) the new season debuts on September 19 and 2) Season Two is released on DVD. Ron Howard -- the show's executive producer -- has a laundry list of directoral successes in Hollywood, but when it's all said and done, I think AD is going to be the most popular project he's ever been associated with.
If you haven't become an Arrested addict like me, I'd highly recommend giving it a try. At the very least, it's a good way to blow off some steam after watching Joe McEwing and Denny Hocking make about a third of your favorite team's outs in a game.
Speaking of that "favorite team," on to the Royals notes we go:
For the year, Howell has a ghastly 6.63 ERA and an even-more unsightly 39-to-30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 54.1 innings of work. Additionally, his control wasn't much better in the minor leagues, as he walked 48 in 101.2 innings pitched. Howell's minor-league ERA was exceptional (2.84) because he also picked up 100 strikeouts, an abnormally-solid rate for a left-hander who rarely tops 90 mph with his fastball.
As it is with the rest of the young players the Royals are going to be counting on to help produce a winner in a couple of seasons, the imperative issue with J.P. isn't what his year-end numbers look like, it's if he took positive strides towards becoming a solid big-league pitcher. In the span of four starts -- from the last one he made with the Royals on his first tour of duty to now -- Howell has shown that he's learning and getting better, even if just by a marginal and slow rate:
.
IP SO/9 BB/9 H/9 ERA
6/11 Thru 7/16 31.1 5.21 5.50 11.57 7.81
7/21 Thru Present 24.0 7.88 4.13 6.00 4.88
As you can see, he's zoomed his strikeout north by about 51 percent, cut his walks by about 16 percent, and allowed 48 percent fewer hits. His penchant for getting groundball outs is a plus too, as he's killed ants at a 69 percent clip for the Royals. Anyway, improvement over a 24-inning stretch is a very small sample size and, as a result, may be an aberration. For instance, Howell's control still needs a lot of work if he wants to have success in the long-term. It's extremely difficult for any pitcher -- much less a lefty -- to be "effectively wild" as they say, and Howell doesn't have as good of stuff as the one southpaw who pulled it off, Al Leiter, did in his heyday.
The fact of the matter is that J.P. probably shouldn't have been called up before September 1. More importantly, he probably shouldn't have been thrown into the starting rotation right away, and instead been allowed a breaking-in period comprised of short relief stints. However, since this is the hand he (and we) have been dealt by the Royals' decision-makers, I'll take the slight improvement he's shown and run with it. As long as the Royals don't ruin him with high pitch counts and mind games, Howell should fit nicely in the middle of the starting rotation.
.
IP SO BB H HR ERA
Sisco 68.1 69 39 55 4 2.50
Burgos 53.2 62 23 47 6 3.59
MacDougal 62.0 66 23 60 6 3.63
====================================================
TOTAL 184.0 197 85 162 16 3.17
Okay, so Sisburmac could stand to throw a few more strikes every now and then (largely influenced by Sisco's extremely high walk rate), but other than that, those are some eye-popping figures that are only outdone by the way Sisburmac has achieved them: reaching back and flaming guys with mid-90s heat.
Despite dubbing the three of them "the second coming of The Nasty Boys" in early June, I acknkowledge that the possibility of a short-lived reign exists. I still don't trust that MacDougal will make throwing strikes a habit past this season. Despite showing marked improvement in the second half, Burgos has already experienced shoulder tendinitis and had to go on a rehab assignment in June. Lastly, Sisco's max-effort pitching style has me worried that an arm injury may be just around the corner for him, too.
Of course, I'd like to see Burgos and Sisco be given the opportunity to start ballgames again, but that's just me. The Royals don't want to mess with a good thing because these guys have shortened ballgames to six innings, and that has immense value.
Look, I know that it's September and with the Royals being helplessly out of the pennant race since May, it isn't a life-and-death matter that Long be benched and Ambres and/or Matt Diaz be given his plate appearances. However, the Royals need to get a better idea of what they have in those two younger players, and that isn't going to happen with pinch-hitting appearances and defensive substitutions.
I like what Baird's done in the last two or three years, but when he says that a veteran won't block a rookie's playing time and his manager does the exact opposite, that's very irritating. It's time for Buddy Bell to sit Long, McEwing, and Hocking so Ambres, Mark Teahen, and Andres Blanco can play.
The second-best hitting prospect in the system, Huber had the highest batting average (.343), on-base percentage (.432), and slugging percentage (.570) in the Double-A Texas League this year. He hasn't hit in the big leagues yet, but he's going to, and he's going to have a 25-man roster spot to lose coming into Spring Training 2006.