Royals Roast Reds, Gain in Standings

Intro Welcome back to Royals Weekly, I am your host Marcus Mead and joining me as always, a man who claims he invented faking one's own death to beat a paternity suit, my brother Mike. I'm just telling you fellas I can I can get you out from under that all right and get you out from under that Okay You dedicate your life to it and you can live on the run is all I'm saying You think Mike's his real name? Come on. You think he chose the most common name in the world? That's on purpose. That's on purpose. Anyway, on this week's episode, we'll discuss a solid week from the boys in blue. They ended up taking four out of six games, which is pretty good. Really saved by that sweep of the Reds. We're going to talk a little bit about that. and then we'll dig into the Royals leadoff situation. I know it was a hot topic a couple months ago, but we're gonna dig back into it now that it seems like they're trying something different with that leadoff position. And we will preview this week's games, of course, but first, make sure you're liking, subscribing, leaving comments on our YouTube videos, all that sort of stuff. That helps us jump up the algorithm and let's more people find the show, which we're really always hoping for. Also make sure you're subscribed to the Royals weekly sub stack. We put out an excellent midweek episode earlier this week. We put out a post today. I put out a post that talked a little bit about Bobby Wood Jr. It talked a little bit about Matt Quattrero and the decisions that he's made and that sort of thing. And so yeah, we're putting out content whenever we can. Hopefully Mike, now that school started up, he'll have a chance to make posts every now and again. I'll keep making posts every now and again when I can. And of course the one you get every week and the extra episode, there's a ton of free stuff on there. So make sure you're subscribed to that Royal's Weekly Substack. We also need to remind you that Bet Online is the world's most trusted betting platform and your number one source for everything football. Football starting up everybody, yeah. From the pre -season NFL to college kicking off, BetOnline has every stat, every matchup, and even live odds and spreads while the games are being played. Think you know your stuff? Get in on their winner take all $300 ,000 NFL survivor pool for the upcoming season. That's right, $300 ,000 NFL survivor pool for the upcoming season. When the game's over, head on over to their online casino and get it on a game of blackjack or poker. or unwind with one of their over 150 slot games. Head to the website today and use promo code BELIEVE, that's B -L -A -A -V, to get in on the action. Bet online the game starts here. As you all know, we start our reviews with roster news, but Mike, how much roster news is there this week? Weekly Review There is zero roster news this week. So we got a whole section there we can just skip because we don't have anything talk about roster news wise, which is okay. It gives us more time to talk about the red series and to ignore the twin series. Or no, we'll talk about them both really. But last week on the field, the Royals went four and two, which brings their overall record to 69 and 55. That's third in the AL Central and three and a half up on the wild card. though they are only three back of the Cleveland Guardians now in the AL Central. It was kind of a best of times, worst of times situation this week, because when they lost two of three to the twins, it felt like everybody was kind of sad. I guess sad is the word I'm looking for. Everybody was sad, but then they picked it up, swept the Reds, and now everyone's like, yay, dancing on the ceiling. Like once again, the Royals look not great against a good team and great against a bad team. How do you feel about how it all went down last week? Overall, I'd say yes, good against a bad team, but the Reds are bad. They're not white socks bad, you know, they're not a's bad. They're not, you know. They're not white socks bad who have now been mathematically eliminated, right? This was like yesterday or day before that. Let's let's be honest and they fired their manager already too. I mean it's it's really bad so they're not even Tigers bad. The Reds are probably a little bit better than the Tigers even and so yeah, that's. That's a good win in my estimation. There are three strong wins and the way that they did it is probably more impressive. The pitching was just fantastic. You know it was just fantastic in that red series. They got the one win out of the twin series that they needed, but. Just great to see. Lucas Ersig, especially do do the thing he was able to do out of the bullpen. Some really good things to dream on this week, offensively, especially. And so, yeah, I was I was happy with the week. Man, we've got seven games in like five and in seven days against or in in the span of a week, basically against the Guardians coming up to. That's unbelievable. So yeah, an opportunity to move up the AL Central there if they can take advantage. Although of course the twins will have something to say about that as they're in between the guardians. Yes, we have another series against the twins. a two week spread there that's going to be the whole season. Basically, they've had all season to learn how to get better against good teams and we'll get a chance. They'll get the test against the twins and the guardians coming up because if they can win, if they can do well in those two series, they position themselves very well to win the AL Central. Is it likely? Probably not, but it is an opportunity for them. I feel like this last week provides us no real new insights into the Royals as a team. But the thing that I take away is they really got to get over that psychological hurdle of playing good teams. Because what was interesting about these two series is not only did they not beat the twins in that series, they played worse against the twins in that series. Like it was sloppier, bats were worse. Like it was just not as good against the twins as it looked against the Reds. Now some of that is just chalking up to better competition. The twins definitely have a longer lineup than the Reds do. And we could see. I mean, today Singer got in trouble. were two guys on, on first and second, or guy on first and third, two out in like the second or third inning. And he has the good fortune of getting to face their backup catcher whose name I can't even remember who was sitting like 160 or has like a 45 weighted runs created plus. That sort of thing doesn't happen as much against the twins and stuff like that. You're gonna run up against better hitters at the bottom of the lineups. And the power potential is more spread out through that twins lineup as well. I mean, you've got, yeah, Larnark and and Buxton and just a murderers row. mean, that guy that hits leadoff has just tons of power on the twins team. So, yeah, agreed with that. But looking forward to see kind of how they they can get over that psychological order to I mean, really, that that Philly series is a great setup for this because that's a good team. And that starts the stretch of really, really tough baseball. And so how they play those Phillies, that Phillies team is gonna be extremely interesting. That's a really, really good feeling of Philly's team with an insanely deep lineup. There are no breaks in that lineup. And so it will be interesting to see how they face those Philly teams. What's interesting to me is when they play the good teams, it almost seems like guys are out there trying to do too much. They're trying to make that play on defense. It's like Massey trying to turn double plays when he should just take the play at first. Or they're trying to do too much at the plate swinging at pitches way outside the strike zone. It's like, take your walks. Do stay within yourself, play within yourself and you have a much better chance to beat a Phillies or a Twins or a Guardians. Mike, when a week where they go four and two, there were gonna be strong performers. There were plenty of guys to choose from. Who did you choose for your strong performer this week? I went with Lucas Ercig because we need to have a conversation about how good he has been since we got him. So I went with two weeks because his three years, one week total was like three innings, which were perfect innings, of course, because these are all perfect. In the last two weeks, he's had seven innings pitched with no runs given up, no walks given up and nine strikeouts. He has pitched in multiple innings like almost every game he's pitched. And today he came in in a. What was the last kind of big spot in the game because the Rose would go on to open it up in the ninth, but it was still pretty close there in the seventh. It was still pretty close in the seventh and he comes in there when they get in trouble with the bases loaded and just after long did not so great and just absolutely mows guys down. I mean, it was unbelievable. It was it was exactly what you want in that. And I put this out on threads. I'm just so happy we have them for five more years. I know, that's wild to think. come the commit the slider. The way he is using that slider is just he's putting it wherever he wants on the outside to righties outside the zone a little bit. right on the corner up a little bit, but outside like it's just it's it's it's the location of it has been unbelievable. And so he looks fantastic and good for the Royals because damn do they need it. Yeah, they need it. And honestly, Ersig, a big trade that hit, I didn't bring this up, but he could have been just as good in here. Like Michael Lorenzen has been a trade that hit as well. And that was their scouts identifying something that their pitching staff could change in terms of his pitch mix and make him more successful. And Ersig, I know they're not probably changing his pitch mix a ton, but he is doing so much with that slider now that is like really, really valuable for him. And I think it's exciting to see because yeah, they have him another five years. Lorenzen, he's done after this year. But Irsig, five more years of a guy who could be a backend reliever for you. That's hugely, hugely valuable. Really glad that they were able to swing that in a trade and it didn't really take that much to get him, honestly. My strong performer for this week could be probably be the strong performer every week, but we like to space things out. We like to rotate guys into here sometimes, but this guy had another incredible week. And I just want to throw in as an honorable mention, I was this close to picking Dyrone Blanco. I was this close to picking. of at bats, but. he only had nine plate appearances and it's like, I can't pick Darren Blanco, but he was insane in this red series. Just going two home runs, went two for three again today. Just insane. I know two home runs in one game, right? Like two home runs yesterday, one today. Just amazing human being Darren Blanco. He's got his, he's almost got his OPS up to 700 now at this point. So anyway, but my short performance for the week is Bobby White Jr. Who also had an incredible week this week. He went nine for 22. two doubles, or two home, two doubles, three home runs. That gives him five total extra base hits, four walks and only two strikeouts. That's incredible. He has just shown that he just continues to show his OPS is now over one or 1000 for the season. He had coming into today, I think 8 .7 F four, which makes it the second most valuable season in Royals history behind only George Bretts 1980. He is on pace in terms of F war. This was before today's game. but he is on pace to have 11 and a half F four. Mike, do you know where that would put him in the history of Major League Baseball in terms of seasons? I do not, no clue. That would put him tied for, I think 16th in the history of Major League Baseball seasons with two not well -known baseball players, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, right? Like, I don't know if you guys have heard of them. Have you heard of these guys? It's incredible, right? He would be tied with those two for the 16th best seasons ever in Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball has been played for like 150 years and we're talking every individual player for every season. Think about that, the number's astronomical. But he would have the 16th best season ever by anyone in this game. Incredible if he keeps this up, incredible. Mike, not everyone played great, although it was tough for me to find a weak performer. How'd your weak performer search go? Who'd you end up picking this week? I ended up going with a guy that we really haven't put on here much for the week. Performer Seth Lugo. had a rough week. He's had a. Might be he's had the only reason I put him on there is because he's had a couple starts now. In the last handful of starts that were not very good, some of those the hard contact that he was giving up earlier in the year that was going right to guys is getting hit through, you getting bit by the home run bug a little bit. And so four innings pitched this week, nine hits. seven earned runs, four strikeouts and two walks. So the walks have been now if you've actually watched the games, I think there's been some unlucky stuff that's kind of happening with the walk came right before the home run. Damn it. You know, if we just do those kind of things or hey, we just gave up a little bloop single to extend an inning and then the next guy hits one out. It's like all the hits he's having, but he's getting hit too much. You're just getting hit too much. So. We need to see the velocity back to where it was. We need to see the command of those secondary pitches a little bit crisper like we saw at beginning of the year, but not worried or anything yet. Okay, yeah, I think some people are starting to worry, but I don't, I think it was more like, hey, this is always going to be what happened to Seth Lugo. He was never going to be a Cy Young contender the entire year. I mean, like if he ends up in the, you know, three and a half ERA range and, you know, throws in 180 innings for them, which is, looks like it's going to, then you're going to call that a big, big win the whole time. But yeah, it's not going to be pretty all the time. And so rough week this week, let's hope he bounces back. the way the offense is going now, if they can keep that up, it may not have to be, you know, it may not have to be perfect for him. And he might be the kind of guy who you start to say, let's get him out in the fit after the fifth, no matter what, and save that arm a little bit for the playoffs. He's him and Walker are my two biggest candidates for that. Yeah, that makes sense. My week performer for this week is also a pitcher and the guy we've talked quite a bit about, and I don't mean to like pile on or anything, but there weren't a ton of guys to choose from. So I went with Will Smith. He went one and one third inning pitched, gave up three earned runs, including two home runs this week. And it was interesting, Mike, you know that I am a petty man. And so when he was having his meltdown in what was mop up duty, it wasn't anything high leverage. I wanted to go back to all the people who were trying to tell me that Will Smith is now the greatest reliever of all time and be like, see, this is what he is. You're going to get a regression to the mean for this guy. This look at all the secondary stuff and you can tell he is not, I know everybody keeps citing like, since May 26th, he's only has a 1 .1 something ERA or something like that. I'm like, yeah, in, in we selected end points and say like, Hey, in this window, he has it. Yeah, we can always find a decent stretch for a reliever because they don't throw very Right? Like, but if you're the type of reliever who only strikes out 15 % of batters, you're also going to have this moment where you give up a bunch of runs onto a bunch of home runs, right? Because he doesn't have the stuff to be anything other than a marginal MLB reliever. My question just ends up being how long are they going to let that go on for? they, are they honestly going to carry Will Smith into the playoffs if they make the playoffs? I find that a bad decision, but you've got other guys. mean, Marsh is down right now. You tell me Alec Marsh couldn't come in and do something better than that. Tell me Jonathan Boland couldn't. Here's a sneaky one. How about Noah Cameron for a lefty guy for a playoff push in the bullpen? He's been murdering AAA pitching or AAA hitting. So, yeah, I I don't see how you take a Will Smith into the playoffs. I just don't see it. neither. Mike, it was a positive week so I'm assuming you a positive theme for the week. Let me hear what you got for a theme. I guess it's more philosophical than possible. is weird. That's a role reversal. Usually I'm the thinker of the two of us and you're the guy who's drooling down his chin or something, you know? Like that's the roles we normally play. using a big rock as a hammer because I think it is the same thing. Yeah, I got it. Let go to this. Have you ever seen the show New Girl? I've been compared to Nick Miller on more than one occasion in my life. Okay. Heavily. Heavily. Tell watches me. As soon as my wife heard that she's like, my God, I married this piece of garbage. Okay. But anyway, this is a fantastic one. This is very philosophical from a very philosophical person. Really, she teaches beginning composition at some county community college. I can't remember the county now, but it comes from Annie Susan Sarandon's character in Bull Durham. Legendary baseball movie, Bull Durham. If you have not seen it, listeners, my question is, why are you listening to this podcast? Because only the hard cores listen to this one. And you've seen we've all seen Bull Durham, right? The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self awareness. That's what the Royals need right now. They need to not be aware of where they are. Okay, they need to continue to play fun, continue to play light and the game against the Phillies or the Guardians is the same as the game against the Reds or the White Sox. Quit being quit, gird yourself up, quit being tight as you called it earlier and making those mistakes and go out there and beat a good team. Don't be aware of what's going on. Play the game. Yes, if only we could get there. That's where we're supposed to be all the time, right? Mike and I missed the game on Friday night to attend an excellent concert. Jason Isbell and I won't go into the concert. I won't go into the concert. But we went to see Jason Isbell in the 400 unit and turn Pike Drewbador's out at Azura or what I call Sandstone. And... The theme for me this week came out of a song from Jason Isbell he played at the show. And I was trying to think about like, okay, my theme is related to the idea of who the Royals truly are. And so the line is from a great song called Live Oak, was the truth that led her to me when I landed here. It's a song about a guy who thinks he's a changed man and ends up finding a partner, a woman who falls in love with him. and he assumes it's because of the new person he is, but then he finds out that she actually fell in love with the true person that he is, the person he was before, and that makes him very unhappy. And so the idea of the song is there's an element of truth that wills out, truth will out, you know? And I'm wondering like, what is the truth of this royal's team, right? Is it the team that can sweep the reds? Is it the team that lost two of three to the twins and continues to lose series to good teams? Hopefully as we move forward, we'll really find out the truth of what the Royals are when they face that difficult stretch here coming up. Royals Weekly is brought to you by All In Physical Therapy. You already know that All In Physical Therapy turned our mother into a less flamboyant Randy Savage. But what you don't know, Randy Savage is just like his Christian name, right? Like they don't call him Macho Man. It's not Macho Man, it's just Randy Savage. But what you don't know is that mom loved her experience there because of the personal attention she got from Tommy and the staff at All In. They guarantee a personalized one -on -one experience to suit the needs of patients recovering from total joint surgeries, sports injuries, or any kind of injury or pain. When I'm in pain, I just listen to some T -Swift and cry the pain away. pry the pain away. Yeah, you know that song. All in physical therapy is owned and operated by Tommy Frevert with locations in Blue Springs, Lee Summit, and Belton. But most importantly, they're in network for nearly all insurance providers. When I'm not in network, I also do a lot of crying. But bad crying, not good crying. 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However, since the All -Star break, as the Royals have begun to rotate their leadoff spot among a few different hitters, the Royals numbers have improved. In just over a month since the All -Star break, the Royals leadoff hitters have a 119 weighted runs created plus, which is good for seventh in Major League Baseball, and a 336 on base percentage good for sixth. Mike, what do you accredit this turnaround out of the leadoff spot too? It's a more of a different approach from Matt Quattrero, really the idea that they finally said, hey, we don't have a good option as a leadoff hitter on this team. We don't have one. It's not Michael Garcia. OK, they've accepted that fact. And now they're going to a situation where they're playing matchups, figuring out what guy has the best ability to to try and get on base against that certain pitcher that's starting that day. And that's why actually you're seeing sometimes that that. leadoff guy is coming out of the gate when relievers come in the game. Because sometimes the who's going to get on for Bobby White Jr. Vinnie Pascuintino and Salvador Perez is going to be a different guy every day for this team. It's not necessarily how I love it, but it's it's been working well. And that's right now there. I think talk about was that a good option right now? I think it's kind of their only option. You can't go back to Michael Garcia all the time. It's just not going to work. That's interesting because I think that you're right. I think the biggest part of this turnaround has been the fact that they're treating that leadoff spot as a rotational spot, which is interesting because you see them use the seven and eight, nine in spots and sometimes a six spot. Those are rotational spots for them as well. so Kyle Isbell doesn't play every single day. Sometimes Garrett Hampson's in there like he was today or, you know, some of these guys don't play every day. They get match -up and made it optimized by that sort of thing. And that's great. It's unusual, I would say, to some degree, to have a lead off spot be that for you. But they're doing it that way now. And as you're saying, it turns into a situation where the lead off hitter gets pinch hit for quite a bit in the later innings. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, if you just, you think about it analytically and you're saying, okay, what's the most important spot of our lineup? Bobby witt jr. What's the second most important one, the guy that hits in front of Bobby witt jr. Because he's so valuable in that spot. And so you have to start when they did that made this change. My thought, my thinking is that they were probably like, what do we have to do to get average in front of Bobby witt jr. All the time, something we can count on and we know on it. It means we have to start looking at that spot. as a get the most advantage the most marginal value we can every single day that we set up a lineup. Yeah, and the thing was they weren't gonna get that just putting a guy there because they don't have the depth of talent to be like, we have a guy who can get on bass at a 350 clip, we'll put him up there. They don't have that. And so Rotational was the best that they were gonna get to. I also think that Michael Garcia has played a bit better lately or maybe at the very least the luck outcomes have broken more in his way. And so he's performed a little bit better since the All -Star break. He still gets most of the PAs there. I think that's impressionistically. I haven't looked up the stats, but if I had to guess, he still gets most of the plate appearances out of the lead off, but they're using other guys like Adam Frazier occasionally, Michael Massey occasionally, you know, that sort of thing. Did he lead off today? yeah, Dyrone Blocko today. I didn't really pay attention to the lineup. I just sort of, you know, watched the game. So Mike, you said that you think this rotation is their best option moving forward throughout the rest of this season. You want them to stick with their rotation. Yeah, and that does scare me a little bit because. Right now, the numbers that you cited here at the beginning of 6th and OBP, I think 119 weighted runs created plus since they've been doing this. I don't think those stay there. I think that's a little high. I think they probably come back to Earth a little bit. And I just I'll always want to be able to count on that guy. You know, I want to have that one other guy that has a little bit of versatility as a hitter. like a Bobby wade junior who can run a little bit and you're not going to get that with every one of these. You're not going to be able to guarantee yourself that with the person that you put there, you know, if a person who swings as much as Michael Massey is in your one spot, you might, he might hit a funk that he's not going to be hitting very well, you know, he just swings a ton. And so, that's, that's always my worry is that we're going to lose out on consistency as we're rotating guys in and out. Yeah, I think rotation is probably their best bet moving forward. The upside to it is you can be more, you can be quicker to take those guys who have fallen into a funk and move them down the lineup. You don't have to, everybody knows now that that one spot is not reserved for somebody. And so if Mikel Garcia goes into a huge dry spell, you're gonna be hitting eighth a lot Mikel. know, like if Michael Massey falls into a dry spell, you're gonna hit in seventh or sixth a lot. know, like you can't, that's too precious of real estate to give it to somebody who can't produce, especially as the games start to be. so, important right here at the end. I mean, I guess all the games are the same amount of importance mathematically, but we know now that the Royals are in playoff contention. We know now that, you one game lost or one means so much in terms of making the playoffs. And so, yeah, they really got to be mindful about who's in that leadoff spot. I think rotation is their best option, but I am curious what some other options might look like in the future. Like maybe a Freddy for Mean, they tried that one game. I'd be interested to see what that looked like or even a September call up. I'd be interested to see what that looks like, but this is probably the best rotation as an option because they really just don't have that guy you could say, we can definitely get a 350 OBP from him. Mike, what does success in the leadoff spot mean for the lineup as a whole? Is it something that's essential to their offensive success or could they get by without a leadoff hitter constantly getting on base? They're not going to get by very well because we've seen where the run production comes from in this lineup. It's not spread out evenly in this lineup. You need to score with Bobby White Jr, Vinny Pasquantino and Salvador Perez. And you know, sometimes you'll get a home run or two from Renfro or Massey hitting five or for me and will come up with a big hit in five. But you need to produce from the middle of this lineup. And so, yes, it's extremely important. And I think that that's why they went to this in the first place. If they didn't see how important it was. they would have tried to try somebody else as just the all time leadoff guy. I mean, they had MJ doing it last year. Sometimes I mean, you so I think they would prefer that kind of set it and forget it kind of thing, but they know how important that spot is and, it is very, important. Yeah, and it's not just about the on base value. Like it's also about the value of moving a hitter like Garcia into the eighth spot when you know he's not gonna be the leadoff guy, right? And so like, or whoever, whoever you move down also improves the bottom of the, especially Garcia. I'm gonna talk about Garcia specifically because he's the dude who we say like he's our default leadoff hitter. But then if Frazier gets in there and Garcia is still in the lineup, now you have an eight, nine of Garcia and maybe Isbell. And we've seen that bottom of the order actually have success setting up the top of the order as well. When a guy like Garcia can be down there and Isbell's picked up his offense lately, then you have guys like that who can set up a leadoff hitter and then Bobby Wood Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino. And that's where their big innings often come from, are when those two guys down at the bottom get on base. That's true, because then you're talking about a strip of four or five guys that can really run, and so they're super, super aggressive when those times come. And that's great to see, because especially with his bill hitting ninth, you know, he's got trip, triple and double written all over him because he really does hit the ball pretty hard. And so, yeah, it's fun to watch that. And actually, an ideal lineup for me would have Michael Garcia batting eighth in his build ninth and figuring out. Another option, more consistent option for the lead off spot. Yeah, thinking of more consistent option for the leadoff spot. do you think, do you see the Royals doing anything in the off season to address leadoff? Or would you want them to do anything in the off season to address the leadoff situation? Well, I still kind of dream on Javier Vaz, friend of the show, Javier Vaz, being on in that leadoff spot at some point. He is kind of the old school traditional leadoff guy. He walks at a very high rate. He does not strike out much. He's not a power hitter, but he's got speed and runs the bases really well. But he's probably two or three years away if he's ever more than that would be his peak in a lineup would be that one. And I don't know if he ever reaches that ceiling. Let just put it that way, but I like him a lot. I hope on him the immediate help. I do think it's something you go look at in the off season. Hunter Renfro will be coming off of the team likely at the end of this year. I thought, do we have him for two years? I thought. so you don't think he opts out now? Okay. And so, okay, well, not that you can't do something still. OK, I was thinking he was coming off, so you'd have a spot in right field. But anything. Yeah, yeah. and he's the type of dude who could probably get more money if he goes back on the market. Waka's not getting more, or Renfro's not getting more money if he goes back on the market. Okay, so if we do end up with Renfro, we don't trade him or anything like that, which we probably can't. I know if you may have something in there we can't trade him, but I still think you go out and you look for a guy in free agency who can show a little bit more consistent on base ability from that lead off spot. Because again, next year, the second most important spot in the lineup after Bobby will be whoever hits in front of him. Who can get on base for Bobby Wade Jr. and Vinny Pascuantino and Salvador Perez? I like a guy like Mark Kana. Okay, we saw him against I think he was playing for Detroit this year when we saw him. He can play left. You probably don't want him in right field too much because he's got a little bit of weak arm, but he runs okay. He's not a center fielder. He can also play first base DH. He's done a lot of that stuff, but he has great consistent on base ability little bit of pop not a ton, but you know he's and he's getting older. So you're going to have an opportunity to get him for a year or two and at a relatively cheap price and still get on base production. Yeah, that's basically all they're looking for out of this leadoff hitter. think Vaz makes sense. As you were saying, I don't think he'll be ready by next year, but I think he makes sense. I think Tyler Gentry might make sense. He's another guy who takes a really good plate appearance and maybe could get you some on base. He's been hot for the last month or so. But if you're looking for guaranteed production out of that leadoff, you might want to go out there and find somebody. I don't love Mark Kana as an option just because on base ability is really all you get from him. There's nothing else, no other value. that he really brings to the table. And so I'm a little skeptical of that. I would rather have somebody who can give you other types of value, but, you know, ultimately you need somebody who can get on base because you're right. And I think that's the most important point to take away is that real estate in front of Bobby Wade Jr. is hugely valuable and they need to be filling it in better ways. I'd his hard hit numbers are a little bit better than you might think for his age. Kana. Royals Weekly is brought to by Eric Occher of WestUSA Realty. Phoenix has all of our favorite things. Year -round golf, year -round baseball, and Eric Occher of WestUSA Realty. Whether you want to buy your dream retirement home or just stay a while and catch spring training, Eric can help you find the perfect house. We've known him for 30 years and trust him far more than we even trust each other. Eric never planted a baggie full of baking soda in my carry -on bag and laughed while I got very intimate with some TSA people. Yeah, that happens. Eric does long -term, I'm watching Breaking Bad right now, so I know this sort of thing happens. Eric does long -term rentals for the snowboard crowd and home sales and purchases for those who want to stay a while longer. Are you a baseball player or parent who needs a place in the Phoenix area? Eric will help you find the perfect spot fast. You want to spend your day shanking golf balls into the great beyond? Eric knows the golf scene like Mike knows the tender touch of a TSA agent. Find Eric online at ericoxer .com if you can figure out how to spell his name. It's E -R -I -C -K. AUXIER .COM or just shoot him a text at 480 -383 -9745. That's 480 -383 -9745. Even if you're just curious about what he can do for you, he's 100 % no pressure, one of the best people we know. and he may be a Highlander. I think he probably is. Weekly Preview The Royals head home for a six game home stand this week, which is nice. It's nice to be back here at the K. Maybe I'll find time to wiggle out to a game. I've only seen two this year. They have three. one. got tickets to one. I still haven't scheduled the date, though. Yeah, I know. games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and three against the Philadelphia Phillies of Philadelphia. Mike, tell us about the dumpster fire that is the Los Angeles Angels. They can consistently have the best player in the world and not make the playoffs. Well, hold on. Trout was at one time the best player in the world. He's... Right, that's true. That's true. But he's hurt so much now. You know, like he's hurt all the time. sad. Angels 53 and 70 and last in the ALS, a place they are quite familiar with. Lugo in that first game, Lugo will go against Carson Fulmer, a 30 year old righty out of Vanderbilt. He's got a four point two to ERA and a one point two five whip. Very average kind of guy change up sinker for Seymour in the lower to mid 90s slider curveball and a sweeper. He's got a good change up. The sinker is not so good. He's a very average pitcher Carson Fuller in that second game. It'll be Cole Regans versus Tyler Anderson, a 34 year old lefty out of the University of Oregon. He's having a good year. 3 .30 ERA at 1 .17 whip real soft thrower Tyler Anderson. Okay 89 to 90 on the fastball changeup cutter sinker. There is mostly fastball changeup gives up some hard contact. He's expected ERA is 4 .15 which is higher than his ERA but just a crafty lefty. and get some weak contact as well. Ground balls as well. So Tyler Anderson might challenge. It's going to be a real dichotomy there because Reagan's is all stuff and power and this guy's not third game. Yes, they do. Yeah, it seems like they have since we were five. Michael Lorenzen will go in that second game and we do not have a starter yet for the Angels. So waiting on. them to decide who they're gonna start in that game. Hopefully three wins from that series because then the Phillies will be coming to town and that will be a lot harder to take three from. The Phillies are 73 and 50. That's good enough for first in the NL East. They are, I would say, among the favorites with the Dodgers probably to go to the World Series in the National League. Offensively, they have a 109 weighted runs created plus as a team. That's good enough for 10th in Major League Baseball. They're of course led by perennial superstar Bryce Harper. He's got a 151 OPS plus and also led by Kyle Schwaber who has a 141 OPS plus. Can't play left field to save his life, but the guy can really hit. They're also getting good years from Trey Turner and Alec Bohm. This is a very deep and very good lineup, but it is somehow still eclipsed by their pitching, which is even better. They have a 3 .70 ERA, which is good enough for third in all of Major League Baseball. They're getting good years from Zach Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, who probably won't pitch in this series because he's on the 15 day IL right now. And I've heard or from what I've read, he won't be back until after the road trip is over probably. So but he's having a good year. Aaron Nola is having a good year. Christian Sanchez is having a good year. They got a rotation full of good starters and a solid bullpen. So that will be a very tough series against Philly. I would love to see. I try to go out to one of those games because that will be a very interesting, very charged atmosphere. Just a Bit Outside We'll end this week's episode like we end every episode with our Just a Bit Outside segment where we talk about something that's entering us outside the world of baseball. Mike, I know what you're talking about and it's gonna be a good one. Go ahead and tell us what you did this last week. boy. Rare night out for the Mike and the Mrs. On Friday night at the rock show. And boy, did we have a heck of a time over there. We had a little got kind of a friend of ours down from Branson. He came up with his wife and we took our mom as well. She had a great time at the rock show. Mom can hang 72 years, 72 years young and she's hanging. All right. Slamming bruskies. Yep. And so, yeah, that was just such a great time. And I had so much fun. I not my favorite venue. I'm not a huge fan of Sandstone because I feel like they don't update their venue very often or much ever. But it's it was still great. mean, the music that we listened to, two of our face, you know, how often do you get your two favorite acts to happen to play together at a show, you know? This is the second time I've gotten to see Turnpike and Jason Isbell play together. They are my two favorite recording artists in the world. Fantastic writing from both Jason Isbell and Evan Felker of Turnpike Tribute Wars. And so I just had a great time. You know, I just had a fantastic time paid for a little bit yesterday, but just a great, great time at the rock show. I can tell you everyone in our section knew that Mike was having a great time, too I'll tell you nobody nobody was confused about what was going on With our little group because we were all having a great time and we were all showing that we were having a great time What's interesting about those two types of music? So if you don't know Jason Isbell makes very Some people say very sad music. It's not always like upbeat up high tempo that sort of thing but Turntpike came out and played only a high tempo show. That's like from the first song to their last song. It was just pounding, pounding music. And so it was an interesting contrast to have Isabel come out and play these extremely well -written, just beautifully crafted and amazing songs. And some of them were like rock songs. They're not like all slow tempo or anything, but it was just one thing to have him go from like... upbeat song to slow songs upbeat song and then turnpike's like we're just gonna play upbeat songs boom boom boom boom and that's all they did it was like and so mike is dancing in the aisles and going crazy it was it was a good set it was a real nice contrast there i'm talking about something that i i now know that i'm very old because of this okay i'm super old because this week i got delivered a trash can And that like made my week. I was like super stoked about it. Okay. So if you don't know, I live in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas. So I have Kansas City, Missouri trash, like municipal trash service. And if you don't know this, up until recently, if you, if you forever, for as long as I've here, anyway, instead of having trash cans, you just had to put your trash out on the curb in the bags and they would come pick it up. Right. This is awful because I live next to a park. There are animals around. Like if I put my trash out, An animal is getting into it. That's going to happen, right? Like, and so I have to devise all these like weird systems to make sure that animals can't get to them. Yeah, basically, basically. And I also have to do other things. It just annoyed me that I didn't have like a real trash can that I could use and it would just make things so much easier. Well, a while back, Kansas City, Missouri announced, hey, we're gonna actually give you all trash cans. And they phased it in so I see all these trash cans going up in all the now the wealthier neighborhoods all around here I'm like where the hell's my trash can what the hell's going on because I'm because I don't have any money I don't get a trash can like and so but finally this week I got my trash can and I'm like, yeah And I'm like, this is you're so sad like I would do this awesome rock show with Mike on Friday I was there too. You know, it was great. I had a great time, but it did top the trash can thing It's 5050 the rock show. I lived one night The trash can I'm going to benefit from every day for the rest of my life. You know, and so I was very excited about the, you don't know. You only had nothing but good trash service. Like you don't know. get we do get good trash. Ever since old Greenwood, Missouri. Hey, have I ever told you my story about Kansas City, municipal trash and the dog? No, yes you have, but tell me, tell me again, tell me again. Okay. We have a little bit of time. We have a little bit of time. So just tell it real quick for the audience. Everybody who's stuck with us to the end, you're going to get a treat here with this story. OK, all right. So I used to coach with this guy. He lived in Kansas City and he. Is a police officer, he's a Jackson County Sheriff's deputy and he. Is one of his dogs passed away and he wanted to know like how do you dispose properly of a dog carcass once it's died in your home, right? And so he called the trash people and they literally told him to put it in a trash bag and set it out on the thing. And he's like, but you can't throw this away with like, remember, just leave the paw hanging out of it. That's literally what the advice they gave this guy. That's the advice they gave this guy on how to dispose of his dog's body. Cause you can't bury it in the yard or you think that's against, you know, city ordinances and stuff. And so we're like, yeah, we're all laughing. We kind of don't believe them, right? We kind of don't believe them. Another guy that coached on the team worked for Kansas city water, right? And one day he's working and he's at a house. or out in the road, you know, working on the sewer. And what does he see on the side of the road on trash day? A trash bag with a dead dog at the ball hanging out of it. I swear to God. And he came in that day to practice and he's like, you will never guess what I saw at work today. And everybody's just dying. Like he wasn't lying. Like this guy's telling the truth. That's what the city, that's how they do their trash service. Get the hell out of here. What? Friggin Rufus is out there like, hey, like hitching a ride on the trash truck. Like, hey, take me too. Yeah. it's just the worst. He's like, that's a family member you're talking about there. That's awful. Anyway, we're better than that now. We got trash cans that Fido can go in. So that's better, I guess. Not really though. That is all we have for you this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please tune in again next week. Subscribe to the Royals Weekly Substack. Thanks for joining us here on Royals Weekly presented by BET Online. We will see you again next week. Until then, be good to each other. Go Royals!