Homestand Burnout

Housekeeping Note: I'm not having much time to blog during the day lately, as work has become much busier lately. Plus, I must admit I'm feeling a bit burned out on Royal blogging. Its a bit much to do it most every day.

If there are any aspiring Royals writers who'd be interested in contributing to the Daily Lancer, email me. Maybe we can work something out.

Onto the issues of the day:

-- What is wrong with Zack Greinke? In a word, I'd say nothing. He's a 21 year old pitcher who's going through a 7 game slump, and he's been shelled in his past 2 outings, seeing his ERA rise nearly 2 points. I'm not alarmed.

-- I am alarmed about Angel Berroa. After watching Berroa's putrid performance in 2004, I soured on him as a major league prospect. He hasn't given me or anyone else any reason to believe that his 2003 was anything more than a flash. His OBP stands at a woeful .288, a direct result of his (lack of) plate discipline: just 8 walks against 49 strikeouts. He's not stealing bases anymore (4 SBs against 4 CS, compared to 21/5 in his 2003 season) and he's not hitting with much power either. His only saving grace has been his much improved defensive play (his .865 zone rating tops AL shortstops), but he's still prone to the careless error. But I still don't think he's as good a defensive player as Blanco, who can't hit either.

I don't have many bad things to say about Buddy Bell to this point, but keeping Berroa in the leadoff position (which was started by Schaeffer) makes no sense. Better to put Gotay or Graffanino in that spot.

-- That's all I have to give.