With the Royals headed into the tank at a rapid pace, I find it necessary to deflect my attention from the play on the field. Lets face it, the Royals are an extremely young team, in fact, the youngest in the majors. Couple that with abysmal starting pitching and, well, you get the product that you are currently viewing.
There will be ups and there will be downs, with the latter occurring more frequently. Anyone who had thoughts of the Royals competing for anything significant this season just wasn't looking closely enough. When you tout Luke Hochevar as your "opening day starter" and throw out Kyle Davies every five starts, unless your other three are Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander, and Tim Lincecum--you're probably not going to be very good.
I'm OK with that and most reasonable fans should be, considering what waits in the wings. Dayton Moore has told us for years to "trust the process," and for most of us, that meant we shouldn't realistically expect the Royals to compete until 2012. That has been my train of thought for the past three seasons. Sure, Moore has confused some people with big acquisitions, such as Jose Guillen and Gil Meche--which enhanced the expectation time table--but in reality were nothing more than flare to hold the interest until "the process" came to fruition. (I believe Meche was meant for the future and was ruined by Trey Hillman, but that topic is for a different day.)
We as fans waited for the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy and others to make their way to Kansas City and begin the youth movement. I fully expected this year's product to be bad, given the opening day roster. But I knew what was coming later in the year, so I didn't mind the prospects of watching a 100-loss team, as long as they were infused with young talent by the end of the year. So far, the season that I envisioned has began to take shape, as top prospects like Crow, Hosmer, Duffy, and Moustakas are all on the roster. And I fully expect more to be up before the season is over.
However, I stumbled across a disturbing tweet from Royals beat writer, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, who alluded that the Royals planned to recall Kyle Davies after a rehab start in AA and send Duffy back down to AAA. If this transaction does in fact come to fruition then Dayton Moore is less competent then I give him credit for.
This move would be ignorant on so many different levels that it would be nearly impossible to dissect, but I will attempt to do so nonetheless. For starters--something that Davies is not at the big league level (badaboom)--Davies has the highest ERA of any major league pitcher with at least 120 starts, ever. That's right, no pitcher in the history of baseball has amassed over 120 starts with an ERA as bad as Davies' 5.60 in 140 career starts. You know why? Because nobody with that bad of an ERA is allowed to make that many starts. They are either moved to the bullpen, demoted, or released.
In Davies case, it took an injury to do what Moore so obliviously could not. And after the Royals were given this beautiful gift, they appear likely to throw it away. Not only that, they plan to take away invaluable experience from the club's only promising young pitcher at the moment, in favor of the guy I just outlined. How much more evidence do you need to realize that Kyle Davies is not--and never will be--a major league starter?
Danny Duffy is as much apart of this team's future as Hosmer, Crow, and Moustakas are. Yet, it doesn't appear that he is being treated that way even though, as a starting pitcher, he resides at the team's most critical position. It would make more sense to keep Moustakas down in AAA while Wilson Betemit performs adequately at third base in an attempt to showcase him before the trade deadline. You know why? Because Betemit actually has trade value. Sure, there will be a team that might take a chance on Davies, but they sure as hell won't give up any prospects for him. Thus, he is a non-commodity. I would have no problem if Moustakas was held down for a few more weeks while Betemit hit .300 and continued to boost his trade value. Instead, Moose is playing everyday at third base, while Betemit's rear remains firmly planted on the bench.
IF the Royals are serious about competing in 2012 then they will need Duffy to have as many innings under his belt as possible. He must learn how to get through 6 innings without throwing 100 pitches, or better yet, learn how to get through 4 innings doing the same. His stuff is ready, but his command and mound presence needs work. The only way he will get the proper work needed is if he stays in the majors. Unfortunately, Moore seems content to sacrifice all this in order to get a few more starts out of his 27-year-old Atlanta Braves project that has proven nothing.
Note: On June 27 the Royals announced that they would move to a six-man rotation in order to keep Duffy in rotation, while still bringing Davies up. Not ideal, but I suppose Moore met me and other sane Royals fans halfway.
This move prompted the sad, but accurate tweet from national baseball writer, Joe Sheehan: The #Royals are going to a six-man rotation just to make room for one of the worst SPs in MLB history. The most Royals move ever.
Moore's lovefest with Davies reminds me of that dude in college whose girlfriend is cheating on him and everyone, including him deep down, knows it. And when his friends tell him about it he makes an even bigger ass of himself by insisting that she can change, so he continues to date her--and she continues to cheat.
Moore continues to believe in Davies and he continues to suck.
The biggest concern to me and perhaps the more important matter at hand is the big picture implications that a move like this would have. If Moore is willing to supplant a definite part of the clubs' future rotation for a guy that has no future in any rotation, then I simply cannot take his claims of competing in 2012 serious. It is mind boggling to me how Moore can be so committed to the future, almost to a fault, at one juncture, then completely ignore it soon after.
The move has not yet taken place, but if it does, then I think it signals a serious concern that most educated Royals fans really don't want to face. That is, their GM is contradicting his own youth movement. If you're going to blow up the system then blow it up. Don't say you're going skinny dipping and then leave your boxers on. My digressing analogies are merely trying to illustrate the pull-out move that Moore appears prepared to make.
I'm not saying, turn over the roster and bring up every prospect the club has. I'm simply suggesting that if you're going to deem a prospect major-league ready, then don't send him down after he performs adequately in order to feature a piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit.
It has been well documented how committed Moore is to his Atlanta guys, but it borders on ridiculous when his loyalty interferes with his own plan for the Royals' future.
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