Included in that 17-game stretch is a four-game losing streak and a seven-game losing streak — the latter quickly striking down my prediction that, due to the Meche/Greinke 1-2 pitching punch, the Royals wouldn't lose five straight games all season. (Most of the fun for sports fans reading this blog may come from keeping track of how quickly my predictions get completely shattered — next up: my Orlando Magic in seven games prediction!).
Now, this may be a silver lining, or it may be just false hope for all my die-hard Royals fan friends, but I don't think you should give up on the season just yet. As bad as they've been lately, they're still within 6.5 games of the division lead as of Monday afternoon. That's hardly an insurmountable deficit. The one prediction I've made that seems to be holding true is that it won't take much to contend in the AL Central this year. It's currently the only division with just one team above .500 (Detroit) and that team's .545 mark is by far the lowest of any division leader. Try as they might, it will be hard for the Royals to play themselves out of the race this year.
I also think things are going to get better for them soon (and not just because they really can't get much worse). Meche was struggling with a minor injury for awhile, but seems to be back in form, coming off two straight solid starts. Joakim Soria is back from the disabled list, which will help a lot if the Royals can figure out how to carry a lead into the late innings again. Alex Gordon is running again and will be coming back from the DL in a couple weeks and, if nothing else, should at least be fresh and rested after missing two months.
In my eyes the Royals only need two relatively easy moves to get back in contention:
1. Call up Kila Ka'aihue and find a spot for him — One of KC's top prospects, the Hawaiian guy with the unpronounceable name is hitting for solid average and power at AAA Omaha. The Royals have an unfortunate logjam at first base with Billy Butler and Mike Jacobs already on the roster and only one DH spot to work with. But it's time to try one of them in rightfield in order to get all three of them in the batting order. The offense has been atrocious during the current losing streaks and once it gets this bad you have to be willing to sacrifice the defense of a guy like David DeJesus (whose on-base percentage is a subterranean .286) to spark some run production. If you have a lead in the late innings you can always bring him in as a defensive sub.
2. Sign Tom Glavine — This move is probably even lower risk than calling up Ka'aihue. Glavine, 43-years-old and recently released by the Braves, could probably be had for a pittance compared to most free-agent pitchers with a proven track record. And there's reason to believe he still has some good innings left in him. First of all, he's left-handed, and as the saying goes, when you're left-handed, you can pitch forever. Just look at Jesse Orosco. Better yet, look at Jamie Moyer, who is still a starting pitcher at 46. Like Moyer, Glavine is a savvy, experienced starter with good off-speed stuff and he can almost certainly throw harder than Moyer (your mom can throw harder than Moyer). At the very least he would be a good mentor for the young starters at the back of the rotation like Bannister, Hochever and Davies, while also putting pressure on them to put together some good starts or lose their spot. Right now the Royals are starting five right-handers and adding a lefty might help everybody out by giving the hitters a different look within a three or four-game series.
That's what the Royals should do. The Twins are in even better shape to contend, only 3.5 games back despite a mediocre 28-30 start. Here's two less-than-realistic moves they could make to take control of the Central:
1. Use hypnotism to convince themselves they're always playing at the Metrodome — I'm actually halfway serious about this. The Twins are 21-12 when playing at home and 7-18 on the road. Home-field advantage does exist in baseball, but it can't explain a disparity like that. Some of it has to be mental. With the Twins playing that poorly everywhere except the Metrodome, their fans have to be a little concerned about what will happen when they move to the new stadium next year.
2. Go back in time and void the Matt Garza/Jason Bartlett for Delmon Young/Brendan Harris trade with Tampa Bay — The Twins' front office has generally made a lot of smart moves in the past decade that have kept a mid-market team contending year after year. But this trade is starting to look like a real clunker. Garza remains a fearless power pitcher who showed he's clutch in the World Series last year. J-Bart is hitting .373 this season while playing excellent defense. Harris is hitting a respectable .284, but Young's average has plummeted to .233 with only one homerun and he's still playing his "Ole!" defense in the outfield. Which means that the Rays got a top-of-the-rotation pitcher (Garza) and a cornerstone shortstop who can hit (Bartlett), for a serviceable middle infielder (Harris) and an utterly disappointing outfielder (Young) who has contributed next to nothing in terms of average, power, glove or baserunning this season. Yuck.
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