Bits and Pieces

A few thoughts I had while watching the bullpen implode this afternoon…

I wonder where all the Mike Jacobs haters are now?  Aside from Kyle Farnsworth, the Jacobs acquisition was universally panned…because he didn’t get on base enough.  The fact that home run hitters often don’t post big OBP’s was ignored.  Now here’s the reality.  Jacobs is doing a hell of a job as DH.  His line is .261/.336/.512 so far this year, with 9 jacks and 24 RBI. 

If one of those numbers stood out, it should – the .336 OBP.  It’s not exactly league leading material, but it is league average, and up from his career .319.  The fact is that Jacobs is our first legitimate shot in many years at breaking the team’s single-season home run record of 36, set by Bye Bye Balboni.  And although he’ll never be a 100-walk guy, he’s accepting walks, and that’s a plus.

While we’re talking about walk rate, why has no one mentioned Jose Guillen?  Here’s a stat that will knock you on your butt:  Guillen has drawn more walks this year (15) than he has tallied strikeouts (14).  Considering that last year he only drew 23 walks over the course of the season against 105 strikeouts, that’s a monstrous change.  For his career, Guillen has struck out 3.4 times for every walk drawn.  We could just be working with a small sample size here, or we could be seeing a change in approach.  At .414, Guillen leads everyday Royals in on-base percentage.  Jose isn’t doing everything right, but he is getting on base a lot.  You read it here first – let me know when someone else notices.

I have a simple explanation for John Buck’s boner the other day.  You know, when he got up and headed for the dugout after two outs?  Simple explanation.  John had just thrown out Aubrey Huff trying to steal, and the shock of doing so overcame him.  I can relate.  I had to have the defibrillator myself.

Mike Aviles’ struggles at the plate continue, but at least he hit a couple of balls right on the screws today.  Those are the kinds of liners we got used to seeing last year.  Hopefully this means that his forearm is returning to normal.

If Alberto Callaspo continues this pace, can he be kept off the All-Star team, at least as a reserve?  I’m sure there are some Royals fans out there who don’t even know that it’s possible for more than one Royal to attend the game.  Right now, we have several players who are posting some pretty nice campaigns, but Callaspo is unquestionably the leader.

Prediction:  If Luke Hochevar doesn’t at least post a “quality start” next time out, he’ll be the long man in the bullpen and Sidney Ponson will be back in the rotation.  Bet on it.