A lot of teams this year are just now finding out that their big move of firing their manager and replacing them with someone new may not have been the way. It can work for Philly, yes, and it can work for Texas if they just have Bruce Bochy's number lying around, but not every circumstance is like that. The Pedro Grifol era in Chicago isn't going well at all, even worse than the LaRussa era somehow. Oli Marmol's tenure certainly started off well but it's trailed off big time. And as much as you wanna think somebody'll find their stride like Brandon Hyde or Derek Shelton, sometimes a poor one-year managerial tenure is just that. Sometimes a bad organizational fit is just that.
Anyway, Matt Quatraro in Kansas City. Who somehow managed to take what Mike Matheny had already struggled with and drive it backwards somehow.
I'm still baffled that this happened. The end of last season was foreshadowing a rise in quality. Pieces were falling into place. Michael Massey was looking like a promising young second baseman. Lynch, Singer and Barlow were all looking like trustworthy organizational pieces. Pratto, Pasquantino, Waters and Eaton were developing promisingly.
And now here we are. None of that amounted to anything, and the team already feels like it's moving on from that. Honestly, very depressing.
Cause you all remember this as well last year, right? Nick Pratto getting brought up, 'OH THIS GUY IS THE FUTURE', Waters getting brought up, 'CAN YOU BELIEVE THE BRAVES GAVE THIS GUY UP', Eaton getting brought up 'HIM TOO'. Like it was building to something really impressive when they were all aligned, a lot like what's been going on in Cincinnati. Turns out, Pratto's struck out almost half as many times as he's got a hit, Waters is hitting .244, Eaton barely even hit .100, and now Kyle Isbel and M.J. Melendez are getting the outfield starts Waters and Eaton would have.
It's gotten to the point where a new rookie, third baseman Maikel Garcia, has entered and is overlapping a lot of the other rookies that should have been over performing this year. Garcia's hitting .275 with 60 hits in as many games, and he's both quick on the bases and in the field. It's infuriating that none of these sophomore guys, except honestly for Bobby Witt, are anywhere near that level right now. The development of a team shouldn't feel like setting up a few dominoes, getting one spot on and watching the other ones fall over without you even doing anything.
The Royals are likely gonna be sellers this year. Brad Keller and Nicky Lopez might be on the way out. The cycle may repeat again if somebody else gets called up. Maybe Garcia will join the other young kids in falling off. Who knows?
Coming Tonight: Speaking of people who might be traded, uh...anyone need a third baseman?
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