AL Central Smack Talk

[Fountain City Blues]

If Ventura is in the bullpen on opening day, I might have to start watching my blood pressure about 30 years earlier than most.

 

[broncosmitty]

To replace Hoch? Quite the opposite, Bueno probably is replacing him in the short term in terms of roster spots. Maybe Joseph later on if somebody else sucks or gets hurt.

I guess I was just assuming LH was holding a spot for one of the kids for awhile. Bueno, Ventura and Duffy with Shields and Vargas?

 

[Fountain City Blues]

I guess I was just assuming LH was holding a spot for one of the kids for awhile. Bueno, Ventura and Duffy with Shields and Vargas?

Bueno really isn't a starter. More of a loogy type. Ventura has kind of shed the label of being a RP prospect after what he has displayed the last two years in the minors so I would be pretty upset if the Royals wasted service time by dumping him into a mop-up roll in the bullpen; same applies with Duffy. I would love to see Joseph instead of Bueno replacingHochevar, but Bueno is out of options and Joseph being ready is kind of questionable at the moment. If another injury occurs in the bullpen (or simply sucks) Chen will be moved into the bullpen with Ventura replacing Chen in the rotation. At least, that is what makes sense given the structure of the roster. Not too much makes sense over here.

Bullpen roster looks like this:

Holland - Closer
Herrera- Setup
Davis- LR
Bueno- Loogy
Coleman- Roogy sidearm
Crow
Collins

My guess is by midseason it could look like this:

Holland
Herrera
Chen
Davis
Crow
Collins
Coleman

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Holland - Closer
Herrera- Setup
Davis- LR
Bueno- Loogy
Coleman- Roogy sidearm
Crow
Collins

I love the Royals bullpen. I would do cartwheels if Detroit's looked like this.

Instead it looks like:

Nathan - Closer
?
?
?
?

Could be very good if Rondon pitches like he has shown, could be a disaster if Rondon doesn't and Detroit insists on putting Coke out there in meaningful games.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Way to screw dirks dougie......maybe you should tell us how phil coke is great...maybe he will get hurt...

Smittys boy DK will get some PT this year....looks like he will platoon with davis...

Yeah inge was bad.....he was on the team for the women.....now the women are in love with ausmus....as for raturd? I have no idea why he kept starting every day....raturd shouldve only played vs lefties....the guy was a horrible defender....ill never forget a game i was at vs KC where he made 3 errors at 3B....the last one in the 10th that ended up being the winning run....man the boo's were loud that day....i figured he was gonna be on a fast track to toledo.....and that was 4-5yrs ago...

Ill never forget jimmy trotting him out to left field and watching him misplay balls all of the time. I always thought it cant be that difficult for anyone athletic to play the outfield in the majors until they put raburn out there.

 

[Cleaves2000]

I love the Royals bullpen. I would do cartwheels if Detroit's looked like this.

Instead it looks like:

Nathan - Closer
?
?
?
?

Could be very good if Rondon pitches like he has shown, could be a disaster if Rondon doesn't and Detroit insists on putting Coke out there in meaningful games.

Yeah i agree 100 percent.....our BP was a mess last year....we lose benoit and smyly and add nathan and for some reason some tiger fans on here think the tigers BP got better.....has jesse crain signed anywhere yet?

Too bad this wasnt the 80's where the closer would pitch 2-3 innings.

Rondon and nicky c are going to be the wild cards on this team.....alot riding on thise 2.....oh yeah, and raji davis, who some tiger fans keep getting mixed up with rickey henderson or vince coleman.....cuz hes fast......i sure hope im eating crow come october.

 

[Cleaves2000]

Ill never forget jimmy trotting him out to left field and watching him misplay balls all of the time. I always thought it cant be that difficult for anyone athletic to play the outfield in the majors until they put raburn out there.

But hey!!!!! He had an arm!

 

[broncosmitty]

If Raburn would have only manned the corner outfield spots I never would have hated him. Or Leyland.

 

[Howie115]

Ill never forget jimmy trotting him out to left field and watching him misplay
balls all of the time. I always thought it cant be that difficult for anyone
athletic to play the outfield in the majors until they put raburn out there.

Raburn and Delmon Young ... the Butcher Brothers.

 

[gvsulaker82]

If Raburn would have only manned the corner outfield spots I never would have hated him. Or Leyland.

Really? Because that made me hate him just about as much..even tho it was smokeys mistake to think raburn was versatile. Pro tip: If you have a horrible defender at one position dont have him playing a different, new position every day.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Yeah i agree 100 percent.....our BP was a mess last year....we lose benoit and smyly and add nathan and for some reason some tiger fans on here think the tigers BP got better.....has jesse crain signed anywhere yet?

Too bad this wasnt the 80's where the closer would pitch 2-3 innings.

Rondon and nicky c are going to be the wild cards on this team.....alot riding on thise 2.....oh yeah, and raji davis, who some tiger fans keep getting mixed up with rickey henderson or vince coleman.....cuz hes fast......i sure hope im eating crow come october.

Who thinks the pen is better, jalopy? Nathan immensely improved the closer role but beyond that, awful!! I dont get it either, there are always plenty of teams with insane pen depth each season with multiple players in their pen having an ERA under 3.2. Besides nathan the tigers have pitchers that will finish with an ERA between 4.5 and six. Coke, krol, chamberlain, alburquerque? Geez. Rondon is a toss up, but lets say he has a smyly like season. So thats maybe two reliable pitchers in their entire pen, every day that fister trade looks worse and worse.

 

[broncosmitty]

Really? Because that made me hate him just about as much..even tho it was smokeys mistake to think raburn was versatile. Pro tip: If you have a horrible defender at one position dont have him playing a different, new position every day.

There was a stretch where I felt RR was probably our second "best" defensive outfielder, unless DK counts. (I dont think he really does, hes a utility guy. AJ being tops obviously.) Maggs, Guillen(ugh) Boesch, noodle arm Dirks, not good. He still sucked, made easy plays look hard and average plays singles, but he could cover ground and has a really nice arm. The further he was from the plate, the better. When he was in the infield I went nuts. It was inexcusable. (Right with you on bad defenders being all over the place, makes no sense.)

 

[Cleaves2000]

Dirks has always reminded me of jhonny damon in the field....how dirks was a finalist for a gold glove either shows how over rated they are or that there arent many good defensive LF's.

 

[broncosmitty]

What a joke that was. Kelly was a defensive replacement over him (not necessarily for him) and he's Gold Glove material!?! Ok. But those things get handed out to guys for offensive numbers Half the time anyway. I don't put anymore credence into GG's than I do defensive numbers in the first place.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Dirks has always reminded me of jhonny damon in the field....how dirks was a finalist for a gold glove either shows how over rated they are or that there arent many good defensive LF's.

It proves that defensive statistics as of now have the potential to be highly volatile in a 1 year vacuum. Thus, we are getting new data like F/X and whatnot.

 

[broncosmitty]

Lidstrom's ceremony is on replay right now. What an exceptional player and man he is. An absolute alltime great!

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Anyone else hear about Fister having elbow inflammation? More Dombrowski black magic?

 

[broncosmitty]

Hadnt heard that. (Not cool, kept him in a dynasty league.)But I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Doug spend some time on the DL. He's had a number of little ticky tack ailments. Plus, DD can see into into the future.

 

[dougplayer]

Ooo the humanity!!!
Andy dirks was set to have his career year.. Ooooooo no. Back surgery now,
Shame the kid was locked in'----as George kell would have said. He was ON GO.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Ooo the humanity!!!
Andy dirks was set to have his career year.. Ooooooo no. Back surgery now,
Shame the kid was locked in'----as George kell would have said. He was ON GO.

Dougy, dirks just saved you looking like a fool as usual.

Gophers 1 period away from ensuring a better finish them Michigan. Get used to it.