Author: Tom Randolph

Mike Sweeney: The Hidden Face of the Royals

Posted on by Tom Randolph

When most baseball fans think of the Royals, they think of George Brett. By winning batting titles in three different decades, leading the Royals to their only World Series win, and being the only Royals player in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, Brett is by far the greatest player in team history. Brett’s contribution to the Royals did not end when he retired from the majors back in 1993; he has spent the better part of the last 20 years working as a member of the Royals front office. To the untrained eye George Brett stands alone in dedication to the Royals organization, however there is another former player who rivals the dedication shown by Brett and Wednesday that player was voted to the Royals Hall of Fame.

Mike Sweeney was drafted as a catcher in the 10th round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Kansas City Royals and made his major league debut with the club on September 4th, 1995 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Sweeney posted average batting numbers for the first four years of his career before busting out with a .322 batting average in 1999. 1999 also marked the beginning of a seven year stretch where Sweeney would average .311 at the plate and 96 RBIs while spending time at catcher, first base, and designated hitter. Injuries marred Sweeney’s 2006 and 2007 campaigns and he was let go by the Royals after the 2007 season. Sweeney had a disappointing 2008 and 2009 in Oakland and Seattle, respectively,  before retiring after spending the 2010 season on minor league rosters. Sweeney’s seven year stretch was one of the most successful and consistent stretches in Royals history, but it is often overlooked because it took place in possibly the darkest period of the team’s history.

When Sweeney was drafted by the Royals in 1991, the team was still a mid to top level  franchise, only six years removed from the team’s first and only World Series win. That status began to change with the death of legendary owner and team founder Ewing Kauffman in 1993. With Kauffman’s death, team ownership was passed to a well-intentioned, but ill-conceived ownership trust headed by current owner David Glass. The new ownership immediately began cutting back on the payroll, sending the team from 4th highest payroll in 1994 to second lowest by 1996. This cut in payroll had a direct effect on the team’s on field performance and eventually lead the Royals on a steady decline into obscurity. By the time David Glass purchased the Royals outright in April of 2000, the damage to the franchise had been done. The repairs to the damage done by the uneven ownership would not even begin to be repaired until the hiring of Dayton Moore as general manager in 2006, just a year before Mike Sweeney’s career with the Kansas City Royals would come to an end.

After spending two years in retirement and two years as an analyst for the MLB Network, Mike Sweeney returned to the Royals as a special assistant to baseball operations in February of 2014. Sweeney spent his first full season as part of the front office in probably the wildest season in team history culminating  in a one run loss to the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series. In now only his second season as part of the front office, Sweeney will be inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame having received 89.7% of the vote (I’m not sure what a**holes didn’t vote for him). Sweeney has been extremely emotional about his selection, dedicating his work thus far to his father, affectionately known as “Big Mike”, who he cites as his inspiration.

When Mike Sweeney was born, Big Mike gave up on his dreams of becoming a major league player so that he could bring in the consistent money needed to raise a family that would eventually contain eight children. Big Mike has closely followed the career of his second oldest child and has always been the person that Sweeney shares his career news with first. The announcement Wednesday was an especially emotional milestone for Sweeney because it comes on the heels of the news that Big Mike had been diagnosed with cancer in January. Sweeney has stated that he’s confident that Big Mike will overcome his cancer will be able to be at Kauffman Stadium in August when Sweeney is inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame.

When people inquire into Mike Sweeney’s dedication to the Royals, he likes to say that he would turn down any GM job in the league just to be a parking attendant for the Royals. That’s the kind of dedication that can lead a young Royals team to a path of consistent success and restore the glory that the city of Kansas City has longed to regain.

– Tommy Watson

The 5 Biggest Challenges Facing the 2015 Royals

Posted on by Tom Randolph

One out, ninety feet. That’s how close the 2014 Royals were to (tying) a World Series. After just five winning seasons in the last 25 years and no postseason appearances since the World Series in 1985, fans finally received their reward.  Fans now set their sights to 2015 with optimism and hope, characteristics no Royals fan lacks.

Last year was one of the first seasons since 2003 where fans felt the Royals had a legitimate shot at a postseason berth. Now, with their first postseason in 29 years, this squad looks to duplicate their success from a year ago. I’d like to believe the Royals will reach the World Series again, this time with a different result, however there are some significant road blocks facing the 2015 squad. Here are the 5 biggest challenges facing the Royals in 2015.

  1. The Loss of “Big Game” James –

Earlier this month James Shields decided to leave the Paris of the Plains for the sunny skies of San Diego. The Royals hope to replace his production through the addition of former one-time All-Star Edinson Volquez who posted a 13 – 7 record and a 3.04 ERA with the Pirates last season. Both pitchers performed similarly in terms of production last season however, it will be difficult to duplicate the clubhouse presence of James Shields. Royal’s manager Ned Yost has praised Shields’ presence in the clubhouse in the past.

During the Royals postseason run last October, Yost told MLB.com’s Jane Lee:

“When we look to make an addition to our team, one of the first things we look at is chemistry,” said Yost. “How are they going to fit in? Are they winning-type players? Have they been winning-type players? Are they blue-collar-type guys that work hard and their main focus is winning, so it can match up with the young group that we have here?”

With such a young ball club, Yost will have to turn to other veteran talent to set the tone. While this is a close-knit bunch of players (see Salvador Perez’s Instagram for reference), they will need a veteran voice give direction and leadership. Fans are excited to see which new clubhouse leader emerges.

  1. Bullpen Duplicating the Success of 2014 –

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice; you might just have the most dominant bullpen in baseball. One year removed from arguably one of the most dominating bullpen performances, the Royals will be looking to rely heavily on their bullpen once again. Specifically, they will look to rely on the three headed monster of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland. Until last year, no team had ever had 2 relievers with 60+ innings post below a 1.50 ERA. Last year the Royals had three with Herrera (1.41), Davis (1.00) and Holland (1.44) all posting sub – 1.50 ERA’s. With Luke Hochevar entering the season healthy, there is the possibility that the bullpen may be even stronger in 2015. Hochevar now gives the Royals a reliable option to pitch the 5th and 6th innings if necessary and he possesses the stamina to shoulder more of the relief load.  If he can return to his 2013 form (1.92 ERA in 70 1/3 innings pitched), starters will only need to give 5 solid innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen. Look for the Royals bullpen to look as good, dare I say better, than they did in 2014.

  1. Jump the Wild Card Hump and Win the Division –

The 2014 Wild Card game face-off against the A’s was likely the greatest win in Royals history and one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history. That being said, the team would certainly like to take the less toiling road to the Divisional Series by winning the division outright. The Central division has improved significantly with the Indians, Twins and White Sox all expected to show marked improvement. The Tigers enter into this season as the 2014 division winners but don’t expect them to repeat in 2015. Detroit suffered significant losses with the departures of Matt Scherzer and Victor Martinez and has little done to improve their bullpen, which struggled mightily in the 2014 postseason.  Look Brad Ausmus’ Tigers to finish right in the middle of the division leaving the division title up for grabs. The Royals largest competition for the division will be the Indians, who finished just 3 games behind Kansas City in 2014. With a potentially improved bullpen and a now battle-tested lineup, expect the Royals win their first division title since 1985 when they won the AL West.

Lorenzo Cain fielded grounders during Wednesday's Royals spring training on February 21, 2015, in Surprise, Ariz. Photo Credit: John Sleezer - The Kansas City Star

Lorenzo Cain fielded grounders during Wednesday’s Royals spring training on February 21, 2015, in Surprise, Ariz. Photo Credit: John Sleezer – The Kansas City Star

  1. Finding Salvador Perez Rest –

Salvador Perez looked fantastic in the first half of last season. Going into the All-Star break Perez was posting a .283 average and a .327 On-Base Percentage (OBP) and had posted a .347 average for the month of June. Following the break, Perez had a significant decrease in production with drops in his OBP each month. He the season with a .260 average and his OBP dropped to .289. The slump continued in the playoffs, batting just .207 for the entire postseason and posting an abysmal .233 OBP.

The reason behind the slump? After looking at Perez’s number of innings behind the plate in 2014, it’s hard to not immediately point the finger at his overuse throughout the season. Perez spent more time behind the plate than any other catcher last season, logging 1248.2 total innings. Even for a catcher as young as Perez, those numbers seem a little obscene considering he outplayed the next highest (posted by Jonathan Lucroy) by nearly 100 innings.

Yost will need to do a better job this season in giving the young catcher rest and allow for Eric Kratz (assuming he enters the season as the back-up) to shoulder some of the load for the overworked Perez. Most believe that Perez is the cornerstone of the franchise’s present and future so it would be in Yost’s best interest to keep him as healthy and productive as possible. (We also need him rested enough to continue his Instagram video series on Lorenzo Cain.)

  1. Managing the Innings of Young Pitchers –

Sticking with the theme of managing innings and rest, it will be just as important to keep the young arms of Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy health and fresh this season. Duffy is coming off a very solid 2014 after missing almost all of the 2012 and 2013 due to Tommy John surgery. He posted a 2.53 ERA in 149.2 innings after being inserted into the rotation following an injury to Bruce Chen. With injuries plaguing Duffy for most of his career he has altered his diet and training to ensure that 2015 is a healthy season, but inning management will also need to play a factor.

Ventura’s innings will also need to be closely monitored by the coaching staff this season. Ventura was exceptional during most of 2014, including the postseason where he matched his season ERA of 3.20. He logged 183 total innings last season, averaging about 6.1 innings per start. Those are great numbers for such a young player but he will be counted on more heavily this season as he potentially moves into the role of being the club’s number one starter. It will be important for Yost to protect Ventura both physically and mentally this season by monitoring his innings pitched and doing a better job of determining how long of stretches to leave the young star in for.

It is my belief and the belief of many Royals fans that 2014 wasn’t a fluke. We put baseball and the entire country on notice in 2014.The baseball team showed a lot of promise last year. Look for them to deliver on that promise in 2015.

Kansas City, Here We Come

Posted on by Tom Randolph

UnionSta-KC Skyline

This marks the first post of what we hope will be comprehensive coverage and opinions on all things sports and social in Kansas City, with regional and national stories sprinkled in. We will be releasing our first podcast tonight with more to come twice every week on Mondays & Thursdays. We encourage our listeners and readers to use this as a platform for conversation, discussion, and debate. Most of all, we want this to be fun for our audience because we know it’s going to be fun for us (which is the sole reason we’re doing this).

Look for our first podcast tonight between 8:00 & 9:00 pm CT. If you like what you hear, share it with other people you think will like us as well (we desperately crave validation).

– TR