It’s safe to sa that I never did get the hang of this blogging thing, but with a little counseling, I’m hoping to get back into the fold here soon. Not that Royals fans have much to be excited about. Sure they didn’t lose a 100, and they might not even finish in last place. Still, there was little meangingful baseball played in the second half of the season.
There are some things to get excited about though. Rookie phenom Alex Gordan put togther a decent second half and while the .797 post All-Star break OPS isn’t anything to get too excited about, it’s way better then the .680 pre All Star break OPS. If the kid can develop some patience at the plate, you’ll see a break through.
Bill Butlet also showed he can rake. Playing in just over half of the Royals games, his .814 OPS is something to get excited about. This is a guy who, if given the full season, probably would have driven in 90 runs on a team that’s current team leader has just 61.
Also, Brian Bannister and Gil Meche provide a nice one-two punch and when combined with Zach Greinke, the Royals have for the first time in a while, the core of what could turn out to be a decent rotation. Meche proved that maybe Dayton Moore wasn’t that foolish to sign him to a big deal but as always, we’ll have to see what happens with the Royals this offseason to see who they add to hopefully take the next step. Unfortunately, the next step is simply .500 but it’s something to shoot for.
There’s still some help on the way too. In a very cool organizational review, Jonathan Mayo breaks down what happened in the Royals farm system this year. Guys like Craig Brazell and Rowdy Hardy on on their way up and showed promise down on the farm and you still have guys like Luke Hochevar and one of my favorites, Justin Huber, waiting in the wings.
So while these last few games will keep me interested, I really want to see what happens in the offseason. The Royals are finally building a core, now it’s time to add to it.