BBS Royals Podcast Episode 001

BBS Royals Podcast episode 001. I discuss the free agent signings, the Latin American development and Bedard.

2009 Designated Hitter Position Review

I've taken brief looks at all the other positions, so now its time to move on to the Designated Hitter. The following is a list of players who were DH's and how they hit.

Name	G	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	H	R	HR	RBI	BB	SO
Mike Jacobs	105	.224	.294	.385	.679	85	41	15	52	37	114
Brayan Pena	20	.155	.231	.241	.472	9	4	1	6	6	9
Billy Butler	11	.250	.348	.500	.848	10	7	3	7	5	12
Jose Guillen	11	.162	.225	.270	.495	6	1	1	6	2	11
John Buck	11	.063	.143	.094	.237	2	0	0	3	3	14
Miguel Olivo	10	.303	.351	.758	1.109	10	8	4	10	3	5
Willie Bloomquist	1	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000	1	0	0	0	0	0

In the offseason, Dayton Moore traded a solid young bullpen arm in Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs in hopes he could break Balbonis homerun record. Instead, Jacobs was the DH for 105 games and had an OPS of .679.

Column1	Split	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	sOPS+
Yankees	as DH	.271	.363	.495	.858	119
Blue Jays	as DH	.275	.343	.506	.849	115
Twins	as DH	.292	.367	.461	.829	112
Angels	as DH	.296	.348	.469	.817	109
White Sox	as DH	.250	.355	.454	.809	107
Rangers	as DH	.242	.312	.491	.802	103
Orioles	as DH	.260	.334	.443	.777	99
Athletics	as DH	.251	.351	.419	.770	98
Red Sox	as DH	.236	.333	.444	.777	98
Indians	as DH	.254	.336	.435	.772	97
Mariners	as DH	.242	.328	.419	.747	91
Rays	as DH	.244	.337	.404	.741	91
Tigers	as DH	.245	.325	.379	.704	82
Royals	as DH	.209	.281	.374	.655	67

That chart is correct. The Royals DH had a batting average of .209. Now I know that we should be looking at OBP because the batting average stat is a tad out of date. But just linger on that number for a moment, a .209 batting average. This .209 was hit by a position whose sole job is to hit the ball, the designated HITTER. Two oh nine.

The only other position in the AL to hit that bad is the also .209 hitting Twins second basemen. Lets look at it this way: Nick Punto would have been an upgrade as the Royals DH.

It is nearly unfathomable that a designated hitter could be so bad at the one skill they are designated to do. Not only was the position in the everyday lineup not performing, the Royals did not take advantage of it whatsoever. It was pretty clear early on that the Royals were not contending in 2009 and that Mike Jacobs was terrible. I would imagine that it should have been obvious to the organization that Jacobs would not be on the team in 2010. ABs at the Major League level are a limited resource and it is the only way to judge a player. Since the spot was not producing, why did the Royals not use that spot to get a look at a young bat?

The Royals only had 3 players who will be on the 2010 roster DH in 2009: Butler, Guillen and Pena. The only player that the Royals should be evaluating in that group is Pena. Would it have killed the organization to bring up Kila Ka'aihue, Chris Lubanski or any other AAA bat to evaluate them? I don't see why not? What did running Jacobs and Guillien out there do to help the team either currently or in the future?

I think the Royals wasted a golden opportunity to develop and evaluate talent. I think that there is always an opportunity to improve your organization or to learn something new and even in a dismal last place season. It gives you an opportunity that first place or contending teams don't get, but the Royals again squandered the opportunity.

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