First off, I'm going to save the Trey bashing for later. Like when it becomes a real question of whether or not he should be fired, which I am going to guess shows up sometime in late May.
You can't fault Trey for the fact that our league-worst-in-2009 bullpen was not improved (no, Luis Mendoza is not an improvement, Dayton). What you can fault him on is his impeccable need to start Jason Kendall and keep him on the basepaths in the late innings. He was good for two baserunning gaffes late in games during this series. I won't say that I didn't see it coming. Also, Kendall was allegedly acquired for his defense, yet in these three games he was also good for a couple of miscues behind the plate that let runners advance. Also, I really enjoy seeing him hit slow dribblers and soft liners with runners in scoring position.
But the main issue that I have with this opening week is that it has become obvious that Treyton (yep, thats what I'm calling them now) seem to be content with trying to "compete" with veterans rather that lose the "right way" with young talent that is in our system. Instead of calling up Kila Ka'aihue to DH, we watch Jose Guillen loaf around the batters box and hit TPJ-esque ground balls with runners on. Instead of letting Mitch Maier prove he can hit .300 outside of Arizona, we allow Scott Podsednik to throw three-hoppers to the cutoff man. Yeah, but he hit 3 singles today! Instead of letting Carlos Rosa learn how to become a setup man in the big leagues, we get to enjoy Roman Colon and Luis Mendoza feed Miguel Cabrera batting practice fastballs in the 7th inning.
I am positive that Treyton plan to keep using this anemic lineup well into May. Then they will finally "realize" that this crap that they are putting on the field isn't as great as they thought it would be! Its crap. This offense is crap, this defense is crap, this bullpen is atrocious and I can't believe I'm saying this only 3 games into the season, but it is the truth. I have zero faith that this team can accomplish anything positive. We will lead the league in no-decisions, errors, passed balls, blown saves, BB/9 and just about every other category that crap teams lead the league in.
It is so disheartening for me to write a post about this so early in the season, but I've seen this trainwreck before. Yeah, it's the 2005 Kansas City Royals. Rick Ankiel is Reggie Sanders. Scott Podsednik is Terrence Long. Jason Kendall is Paul Bako or whatever craptastic "defensive guru" we had behind the plate that season.
The only difference is that the starting rotation looks to be amazing. Luke really impressed me on Wednesday, Banny looked like Banny today, and Zack probably pitched the worst he'll pitch in the first half of the season, yet still turned in a quality start.
That is the most depressing part. The Royals have slowly decayed into an offensive blackhole, while we've seen the starting rotation blossom into one of the best in the American League.
While Treyton has been beating the "pitching and defense" war drum, the offense, which has the core of an outstanding run producing lineup, has been neglected and turned into a disaster. Betancourt, Kendall, Guillen, etc. Its all going to be a disaster.
My only hope is that sometime before the Trade Deadline is that Treyton is no more and Dayton Moore can make us remember why we all had so much hope in him when he took over a franchise that is starting to look like it once was in the darkest of times. But I'm not holding my breath.
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