And now, Soler is going to bat 2nd. :-)
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I guess they figure, let's get him out of the way early so the big guns can then come up. Maybe reverse psychology on the opponent?

Fuck I don't know at this point.
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They gave Gutierrez a shot. It's pretty clear he isn't an every day guy or answer. Now it looks like they're moving on.

(I'd expect him to clear waivers, BTW, and eventually be assigned back to Omaha or something like that).

Could see Pratto and Witt promoted to Omaha now, if Rivera sticks.
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Mike Matheny, ladies and gentleman.


That's a Matheny decision all the way. Anyone who followed his time with the Cards can confirm that.
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Honestly it's not the craziest thing they've done. Soler at least takes walks. If he started to hit at all, his OBP would be above league average. Maybe Whit getting on base in front of him will get him some fastballs to look at.
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This is one of my favorite tweets of all time.
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His OBP is .282. That's AWFUL for a guy that does take a few walks. Unfortunately, his ridiculous K rate undermines the walks. Ideally, you don't want a guy that has one of the worst K rates for everyday players near the very top of your lineup.

Meanwhile, we have a guy named Lopez sitting in the 8 hole who's been making solid contact, currently has an .352 OBP, and is willing to do the little things. If we wanted to try something 'crazy', why not move Nicky up there and see how he does.

At least you could justify that move.

But Matheny and stuff . . . . . .
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Yeah, not sure why Lopez isn't up there at this point. Seems like he's gotten on base more than all the 5-8 hitters combined in the past few weeks.
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This is too logical for the reactionary complaining I want to do after watching AB's from the 5 spot for the past month.
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You're right but he's clearly taking the Tony LaRussa approach, trying to put a guy like Dave Henderson or Jim Edmonds in the 2 hole, just looking for pop. Soler's OBP is horrible because he's not hitting the ball. His OBP is still nearly 100 points over his average. If he was even a .220 hitter he'd probably have an above average OBP.

Soler has also been atrocious against anything that's not a fastball. Not that he's been great anywhere but 55 of his 80 Ks are on pitches other than fastballs. Maybe getting Whit on base ahead of him might help him see more decent fastballs to hit early in counts. It might not work at all, but right now the whole second half of the order is a vacuum and they need to try something else.
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We need to find out who decided to play KG everyday the last 6 weeks. “I’m gonna put Dayton on the stand”



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Also having Santana and Salvy behind him can't hurt in getting to see some better pitches.
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On Soler and Salvy all you have to do is get ahead in the count then throw them sliders low and away and both guys will strike themselves out at least once or twice every game. Can't tell you how many times Salvy has struck himself out on ball four this season. Dozens. Dozier and Taylor will strike out a couple times each looking. Won't even get the bat off the shoulder.
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Beginning to think skunkhead needs to go
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The Royals are actually 10th as a team in MLB in batting average right now. That's fucking nuts.
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