Originally Posted by Strongside:
LMFAO @ the notion that KC may not be able to support an MLB team.
That’s so incredibly ****ing stupid.
The KC economy is at its highest point EVER, and civic pride is at an all-time high. This town supported its baseball team through one of the greatest recessions in history while the team was GOD AWFUL and you think low opening day numbers indicate a lack of support? The effects from the WS win go far beyond ticket sales. There are more kids in this region who are diehard Royals fans than there have ever been...merch sales, ad dollars (look at the big-name sponsors in the stadium now...the local companies are now national ones)...this all contributes to the team’s bottom line.
Weather 100% played a role in the empty seats on Thursday. And it will again on Saturday.
KC is doing a fine job supporting its three pro teams. Your fears are nonsensical.
This is completely false. I’ve been to 30 of them. There’s been nice weather for maybe 7-10. I’ve been to some real shit weather openers. Always full. No exceptions until yesterday. [Reply]
The part everyone is forgetting about opening day is now it's in March. It's a week to 10 days earlier than it used to be, and the weather is way more up in the air.
This team was absolutely awful last year and still pulled the sixth highest ratings of any team in baseball. [Reply]
What does that mean? Simple - the Opener has never, ever, under any time frame, had avail until yesterday. That’s scary. Our market may not be able to support MLB.
For real, can someone explain why Dayton shouldn't just sign Kimbrel and/or Kuechel at this point? Best case, they help the team compete. Worst case, they get traded at the deadline for peanuts. Either way, they'd come cheap. Is there any downside whatsoever? Hello?????? [Reply]
Originally Posted by carcosa:
For real, can someone explain why Dayton shouldn't just sign Kimbrel and/or Kuechel at this point? Best case, they help the team compete. Worst case, they get traded at the deadline for peanuts. Either way, they'd come cheap. Is there any downside whatsoever? Hello??????
The reason they haven’t signed is they’re not ‘cheap’. They haven’t been willing to take bargain contracts yet, like many of their contemporaries.
Besides, Dallas is done. No one should waste money on him. And as far as Kimbrel: why a 60 win team (which Royals are, best case scenario 70 wins) would want to spend $15 mil. per year on a closer, I have no idea. That’s not good value, even considering flipping him at deadline for prospect. Boxberger on the other hand, made a lot more sense for this team to take a flyer on.
Baseball is still a business. Glass isn’t gonna piss away $10 million for a single A prospect with some high upside, it’s just not happening. If the Royals were ‘close’ to winning and being competitive this might be a different discussion, but they’re not. [Reply]
Originally Posted by carcosa:
For real, can someone explain why Dayton shouldn't just sign Kimbrel and/or Kuechel at this point? Best case, they help the team compete. Worst case, they get traded at the deadline for peanuts. Either way, they'd come cheap. Is there any downside whatsoever? Hello??????
We just had 31k show up on opening day and you’re wanting big spending on FA? [Reply]
Originally Posted by carcosa:
For real, can someone explain why Dayton shouldn't just sign Kimbrel and/or Kuechel at this point? Best case, they help the team compete. Worst case, they get traded at the deadline for peanuts. Either way, they'd come cheap. Is there any downside whatsoever? Hello??????
Why would either one of those guys be cheap? [Reply]
Threw together some plots with Statcast data this morning, visualizing Keller's Opening Day performance. From what I have researched, it was about as Brad Keller game as there could possibly be.
All 92 pitches, colored by pitch type:
All 92 pitches, colored by pitch speed:
Overall, the White Sox played right into his hand- chasing after his low-stuff and getting fooled by his slider. A slider that he is consistent in his approach with, low and out of the zone:
Swinging strike rate was about what he averaged at last year, 8 swinging strikes out of 92 pitches. ~8.7% swinging strike rate compared to 9.0% flat for the year last year. 5 of these swinging strikes came against lefties and were chased out of the zone:
Groundball rate was right there with his average last year as well, 10 of 18 batted balls against were groundballs, ~55.5% groundball rate compared to 54.4% for 2018. I usually don't fall in love with pitchers who rely on inducing-contact, but the thing that impressed me the most from Opening Day was Keller's ability to jam the White Sox inside with his heat, in addition to working LHBs away - yet in the strike zone - with his sinker/two-seamer (FT):
Still working out how to present this one visually that isn't a clusterfuck, but it shows some patterns to watch for that could be noteworthy going forward. The Sox had some good pitches to hit when Keller was behind in the count and not able to nibble on the edges and had to come into the zone with his fastball. When Keller was ahead, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, he threw one pitch in the zone the entire game: [Reply]
