Scott Miller's Starting 9: Fans Love Their Royals (Check Those All-Star Ballots)
1. A Love Story: Kansas City and Its Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you do not realize how close we are to an All-Star Game that pits the Kansas City Royals against the National League All-Stars, well, for the love of Arthur Bryant's Barbeque Sauce, you'd better start paying attention.
As of this week's fan balloting, seven Royals are in position to start for the American League: Catcher Salvador Perez, first baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas, shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon and designated hitter Kendrys Morales.
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Last week, it was five. In this week's voting, announced Monday, Hosmer blew past Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera and Morales skated past Mariners DH Nelson Cruz.
Plus, AL (and Royals) manager Ned Yost is bringing his entire coaching staff.
Is Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park set to become Kauffman Stadium East? As of now, the only two non-Royals in place to start are Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and Angels center fielder Mike Trout.
"Cool thing is, it shows not only how close we are with our fanbase, but it shows that the entire world now enjoys the way we play," Hosmer told Bleacher Report. "It's put Kansas City and the Royals on the map, when you're talking that many votes."
The rebirth of baseball in Kansas City has been a phenomenal thing to witness over the past year, during the Royals' wild run to the World Series last fall and their encore this season.
Fans are packing Kauffman Stadium at a record pace this season: Through Sunday, attendance was up on a per-game basis by a stunning 11,446 over last season, and the club currently is on pace to draw more than 2.6 million fans, which would easily torpedo the 1989 franchise record of 2.47 million.
Really, it is the oldest marketing trick in the book: win. It still beats the stuffing out of fanny pack (or whatever) giveaways when it comes to turning on a fanbase.
"It's been very rewarding," Royals general manager Dayton Moore says. "I'm very happy for our fans, our players, the Glass family [owners].
"This was one of the things we felt was really important. We wanted to re-energize our fanbase and grow the game, make it exciting for young kids to play baseball and follow the team.
"Our players do an unbelievable job of connecting with the fans. And the fan [All-Star] vote, they like our players because they play hard and treat the fans with respect."
Long-time residents of Kansas City say they've never seen so much blue Royals gear being worn around town.
"You go through neighborhoods, and guys pruning trees are wearing Royals caps and people in grocery stores are wearing Royals shirts," Moore says.
Says Yost: "These guys all deserve that attention and exposure, because they're a special group. Each and every position, I always thought Moose [Moustakas] had a chance to be an All-Star, that Esky [Escobar] would be an All-Star, Cain would be an All-Star. Gordy [Alex Gordon] already is an All-Star. I thought Salvy [Perez] would be an AS when I first saw him, I thought Hos [Hosmer] would be an All-Star.
"It's cool seeing it all start to come together."
2. Draft-Day Tales and the Astros
As last year's No. 1 overall pick, Brady Aiken, waited to see whether he would be a first-round pick again this year after a contract dispute torpedoed his negotiations (and relationship) with the Astros last summer, he became the invisible man.
The Aiken family (and, presumably, advisor Casey Close) essentially placed a Cone of Silence around themselves in the months leading up to the draft. Via text message, Jim Aiken, Brady's father, replied on Sunday to my interview request that "we are not interested." Instead, he sent a link to this Players' Tribune piece from this spring in which Brady announced and detailed his Tommy John ligament-transfer surgery, shaping the story to fit his narrative.
Predictably, sources said, scouts asked for his medicals in droves this year. Given that his surgery was this spring, he still has a long rehab road ahead of him and will not be near full strength until toward the end of next summer. But the Cleveland Indians liked the risk, taking him 17th overall in the first round.
As for the Astros, they're not exactly looking back. They summoned uber-prospect Carlos Correa to the majors Monday, a long-awaited move that makes Correa, 20, one of the youngest players in the game and takes some of the spotlight away, even, from the Cubs' Kris Bryant.
Correa was the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, and at 6'4" with long arms, Houston manager A.J. Hinch has compared him to Alex Rodriguez.
"One of the most impressive parts of him is his maturity and demeanor," Hinch told B/R this spring, which explains why the Astros believe he's ready at 20. "The physical talent, everybody knows about. But when you're close to him on a daily basis, you really get why he has a chance to have success.
"He's got a very good demeanor beyond his years, and that will allow him to handle the responsibilities of going 1-1 [first pick in the first round]."
The timing of this move is no surprise: Off to a fast start, the Astros are stuck in a season-high five-game losing streak. And shortstop Jonathan Villar made a key mistake late in Sunday's game against Toronto that contributed to the loss.
Correa is the third player from the 2012 draft to be summoned by the Astros this season. He follows outfielder Preston Tucker and starter Lance McCullers Jr. And the shortstop isn't the only Astros prospect slated to make his debut this week. We'll see this guy start Wednesday against the White Sox:
3. State of Texas Cornering the AL West
One of new Texas manager Jeff Banister's vital early tasks this season was to help nurse key players back to health: Prince Fielder (neck surgery last year), Shin-Soo Choo (elbow and ankle surgeries) and Mitch Moreland (elbow surgery).
His next task, as he says, was "trying to get guys back into a winning mindset."
Consider Banister and the Rangers well on their way.
The Rangers are 23-12 since May 2, and they've now won six consecutive series. What was the last time the Rangers won six consecutive series? Try Aug. 17 through Sept. 6, 2012.
The Rangers right now stand just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for the second AL wild-card slot despite the fact that these guys, among others, remain on the disabled list: Yu Darvish (elbow), Matt Harrison (back), Adrian Beltre (thumb), Josh Hamilton (hamstring), Jurickson Profar (shoulder), Martin Perez (elbow) and Derek Holland (shoulder).
"I believe it started when Delino DeShields entered the equation," Banister says of the Texas outfielder, a Rule 5 pick from Houston in December, who started batting leadoff in mid-May. "It's been a complete effort. Our bullpen added to it, and then our rotation picked up and our defense, with [second baseman Hanser] Alberto, stabilized."
Several prospects from a talent-rich Rangers system have been key contributors and look like keepers: Alberto, starter Chi Chi Gonzalez and third baseman Joey Gallo among them.
"We're in a groove," says Beltre, who is expected to be out another several days with a sprained thumb. "We're pitching better, we're playing better defense, we're getting hits at the right spot, when runners are on third base.
"This division is wide-open. We have the right guys to do it."
4. Hanley Ramirez: Worst Left Fielder Ever in Fenway Park?
The Red Sox sank $183 million into free agents Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez last winter, brazenly planning to turn Ramirez into a left fielder even though he had no prior experience there and his attitude has ranged from questionable (on good days) to brutal (the rest of the time) throughout his career.
Turns out, his attitude has even more range than he does in left field.
A huge Ramirez misplay in left field in the ninth inning of last Thursday's loss to Minnesota was the latest disaster in a pile that is helping to turn this season into a train wreck in Boston.
The reviews are beginning to pour in, and let's just say that if they were on RottenTomatoes.com, they would check in with a splat.
"Oooh, has he been bad," one rival executive says with a grimace.
This from ESPN.com Red Sox beat writer Gordon Edes:
"It can be argued that Hanley Ramirez is the worst left fielder the Boston Red Sox have ever had, taking Manny Ramirez off the hook for eternity, and after a burst of 10 home runs in the season's first month has become, at least temporarily, a singles hitter. ... (He) butchered another line drive in a catastrophic ninth inning and displayed a brazen lack of awareness—or indifference, which is more likely—toward the town in which he plays by evaporating from the clubhouse without addressing any of his failings …
Ramirez has been a disaster afield, and if he is putting in lots of extra work in left, the way Jim Rice did when he first came to the Sox, he must be doing so under the cover of darkness.
"
And this from Boston Globe beat writer Pete Abraham:
"Hanley Ramirez looks atrocious in left field, worse than even the most pessimistic of projections. Routine plays have been challenging for him, and it's painful to watch a major league player have to pause and think about which base to throw to.
But don't blame Ramirez. He would have been foolish to turn down the $88 million contract the Red Sox offered him. Blame the people who decided it was a good idea to sign him.
"
We'd be remiss if we didn't at least include this comment from Red Sox manager John Farrell to B/R this spring: "His work has been very consistent, and [that] has everything to do with Hanley's attitude…we feel strongly that by April 4 he'll be adequate and will continue to improve."
Um, ah...maybe he meant by Aug. 4? Sept. 4?
5. Mets-a-morphis and the Six-Man Rotation
So, an update: Just last week, the Mets were optimistically launching into a six-man rotation. It was a well-thought-out plan designed to ease the workload on key young pitchers Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. I detailed it all here.
Less than a week later? Uh, never mind. The Mets scrapped it after just one time through, dispatching Dillon Gee to the bullpen after he was rocked for eight hits and four earned runs in four innings in San Diego last Wednesday.
Oh well, maybe they can return to it when left-hander Steven Matz is recalled. Which, given his 1.94 ERA in 12 games at Triple-A Las Vegas, and judging by the glimmer in the eyes of Mets personnel whenever his name comes up, will be soon.
6. Chiseling Away in Cleveland
No surprise the Indians pulled the plug on shortstop Jose Ramirez, but when third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall joined him on the Triple-A express Sunday night, talk about an attention-getter.
Not that it was undeserved: Chisenhall, making $2.25 million this year, was hitting .209 with just four homers and 19 RBI. He also fanned 32 times and walked just seven times. Statistically, among qualifying American League third basemen, Chisenhall was one of the worst.
But what outraged a segment of the Cleveland fanbase in these moves wasn't Chisenhall's demotion, but the fact that the Indians didn't summon top prospect Francisco Lindor. Instead, they recalled infielders Giovanny Urshela (who will sub in for Chisenhall at third) and Zach Walters. Instead of Lindor, Mike Aviles will play shortstop.
The Indians want to see more from Lindor at Triple-A Columbus, where he is hitting .274/.343/.396 with two homers and 22 RBI. And, he's only been successful on eight of 15 theft attempts.
"Lindor is not ready," manager Terry Francona told reporters, per Paul Hoynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, the other day. "He's really not."
7. Weekly Power Rankings
1. American Pharoah: The Miguel Cabrera of horse racing.
2. Pat Venditte: Athletics switch-pitcher's debut a smash in Fenway Park on Friday as he becomes first man to retire a hitter throwing both righty and lefty in same inning since Montreal's Greg Harris in 1995.
3. Red Sox organist Josh Kantor: Upon Venditte's entrance, Kantor played Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." Nicely done.
4. Dodger Stadium skunks: No, that smell wasn't simply the Dodgers going 4-12 combined against the Cardinals and Giants so far this year.
5. Tal's Hill: Astros announce odd hill in center field, named after the legendary executive Tal Smith, will go away in a Minute Maid Park reconfiguring. No more hill, and the center-field fence will move in 27 feet (to 409 feet, from 436, making it only the sixth-deepest center field in the majors instead of the deepest, as it is now). No word, though, what will happen to the Astros-centric blog "Climbing Tal's Hill."
8. Maybe He Can Start the All-Star Game, if It's OK with Royals Fans
Check this out:
Next up for Chris Archer: This weekend against the White Sox, in Tropicana Field.
9. The Cubs, the World Series and Another Fabulous Baseball Nickname
It was one of those obituaries that grabbed my attention only because Lennie Merullo, 98, was the last living player who played in a World Series for the Cubs, back in (of course) 1945.
And it just went to prove there is a story everywhere you look.
Turns out, Merullo set an MLB record by making four errors in one inning on Sept. 13, 1942, while playing for the Cubs. And they were all on back-to-back plays.
But here is the priceless part: He explained that he had a rough game because he had just learned that his wife had gone into labor back home in Boston.
So, naturally, his oldest son, Len, was nicknamed "Boots" because of his dad's awful game. And Boots Merullo wound up playing some minor league baseball.
How great is that?
And as an aside, Lennie's grandson (and, yes, Boots' son), Matt Merullo, played in 223 MLB games from 1989 to 1995 and currently is managing in Baltimore's system in the rookie-level Florida Gulf Coast League.
I covered him with the Minnesota Twins in '95, and I only wish I knew this story then. I would have loved to have talked with him about it.
9a. Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Week
So it's graduation time now for so many, including, gulp, my daughter's high school graduation this week. Not to go into one of those "It seems like only yesterday…" tangents, but one odd thing really struck me the other day. I was reading in Rolling Stone that, among other things, this year's graduates grew up with Miley Cyrus…watching her as Hannah Montana throughout much of their childhood.
Boy, I sure remember those days, my daughter and her friends watching that show, and yes, that was another moment when I wondered how it all went by so quickly. So, for the graduates:
"There's always going to be another mountain
"I'm always going to want to make it move
"Always going to be an uphill battle
"Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose
"Ain't about how fast I get there
"Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
"It's the climb
"The struggles I'm facing,
"The chances I'm taking
"Sometimes might knock me down
"But no, I'm not breaking"
—Miley Cyrus, "The Climb"
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.
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