Revue

I leave for ONE weekend and...nothing happens.

Royals lose 3 of 4 (including Monday), barely escape a monumental collapse on Sunday and continue to swing the bats like drunken samurais. We've played 20% of the season already, and the Royals are on pace for a record of 41-121 (+/- 1) and could challenge the 1917 Philadelphia Athletics for the worst all time winning percentage (.235). Well, probably not.

One positive: media-wise it is better for the Royals to historically bad rather than merely bad. Your team receives much more coverage, even if it is all bashing.

-- The big news upon my return from lovely upstate New York was the arrival of Leo Nunez, representing the latest manifestation of the Rush-n-Ruin Program the Royals implemented earlier this season. Nunez, just two weeks removed from his promotion to AA, now assumes a prominent Royals in the bullpen alongside Ambiorix Burgos, who was also promoted after spending about two weeks in AA (and he was lights out on Sunday, by the way). At least this Nunez is better than the Nunez who was supposed to be the Royals' starting right fielder.

Appalling as it is to have 3 pitchers barely out of A ball on the major league staff, I must admit it does add some excitement to this moribund season, though, to see the best Royal pitching prospects (Bautista, Greinke, Sisco, Burgos, Nunez) all on the roster.

Gut feeling: Brian Anderson is out for the season. That'll be a rough blow, because he could have made decent trade bait at the deadline.

-- Jamie Cerda, this is the final boarding call for flight 4321 non-stop service to Omaha, one-way. I was skeptical about Cerda's success last year, because his peripherals were quite poor (except his extremely low HR rate). As is always the case, pitchers with poor control are eventually exposed. Cerda will (ok, should) be gone just as soon as Affeldt returns from the DL.

-- Andy Sisco is in permanent relief, apparently. Whatever. I trust the Royals' word on "permanent" pitching roles as much as I trust Mike Macdougal to protect a 1-run lead in the 9th inning. Let's see what they say next month. Anyway, I wouldn't mind seeing Sisco get an opportunity to start, but I've been mighty impressed with how he's performed in the bullpen (the last couple of outings notwithstanding). He simply might be suited for a bullpen role, and if the Royals have found a late inning dominator who will give the team 80-85 quality innings for the next 6 years, then why worry? When was the last time the Royals had a pitcher like that? Conspiracy theorists who believe Sisco is being kept in the bullpen so they won't have to pay him are not only crazy, they're just plain silly.

C'mon! Sisco is a Rule 5 draft pick. 6 weeks hence most of us thought he was just going to rot on the bench for the entire season. What's that they say about gift horses? Let us not be greedy -- yet. Give the Royals credit for picking him up, hope he keeps pitching well and worry about his ultimate role later.