A Rousing Start

Returning from a long weekend in D.C. (I give 2.5 stars to the JW Marriott; nicely appointed rooms, great location, terribly uncomfortable beds, horrible entryway (no place for people to walk), I caught up with the Star catching up with the last period of Royals glory and this gem from today's opening day starter, Jose Lima:

“I get the chance to show them I've still got it,” he said, lips steeling into a
smile. “And it means I'm the ace here. I'm going opening day.”

Ah, the power of self delusion. The aftermath:

J. Lima (0-1): 3IP, 6H, 5ER, 0BB, 2K, 3HR

The Royals would have lost this game anyway considering how well Jeremy Bonderman pitched (man, he's going to be REALLY good). Greinke should have started the game, simply because he's the Royals' best pitcher and the team's best pitcher should start opening day. I won't lose any sleep over it, mind you (and I feel nothing but sadness for anyone who loses any sleep over anything the Royals do or do not do).

And I'm not going to get carried away with one start, but...ok, I'll get carried away. I now have one piece of evidence that help solidify my prediction that Lima would be a terrible signing. No need to expand upon that prediction. In the same vein, I finally ordered and received my copy of Baseball Prospectus 2005, and the writers noted that the Royals needed to, in so many words, improve their free agent signings. Lima is Exhibit J, behind a long list of recent free agent busts. I understand that the Royals can't expect anything meaty when they're dangling 1 year, $3 million contracts in front of potential signees, but is it unreasonble to expect ONE signing that performs at least to expectations? Where is our Jose Guillen? Allard Baird might be the King of the NRI, but he's shown little talent for finding diamonds in the major league rough.

Andy Sisco, the guy whom Allard Baird would have us believe would have made the team even if he hadn't been a Rule Fiver, notwithstanding the fact that he hadn't pitched an inning above A ball, walked 2 in less than 2 innings - and he was the Royals' best pitcher today. Welcome, friend. Sisco is in an incredibly tough position having to face major league hitting all season coming straight from a down season in high A, and I worry a bit that it could hurt his development. In the end, I think he's going to be a good-to-very good pitcher someday.

Calvin Pickering hit a meaningful/meaningless home run late in the game. Its meaningful because it means Ken Harvey is assured of staying in Omaha for at least 5 more games.

Other notes of interest from BP, in case you haven't read it:

-- Keeping Denny Bautista on the major league roster is a mistake.
-- PECOTA has bad things in store for Mark Teahen.
-- Justin Huber should be playing left field for the Royals. He'd be a work in progress in the outfield, but his offensive production would be superior to anything else the team could put out there.
-- Zack Greinke has a 0% change of collapsing this year, which is unheard of for a 21 year old.