***Official 2021 Royals Season Repository Thread***

[ChiefsCountry]

For all things Royals for the new year.

Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana

Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP

[CasselGotPeedOn]

Yeah I'm about done with Soler. Dude is absolute ass.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

How much more time does Soler get?

Last 7 games
- 2 for 21, 0 HR

Last 15 games
- 6 for 49, 1 HR

Last 30 games
- 17 for 106, 2 HR

https://www.mlb.com/player/jorge-soler-624585

This entire season and 3/4 of the next one. Dudes that hit 48 homers & can walk 80 times a season don't grow on trees.

He needs to be the DH more than the RF though.

[BWillie]

Everyone is enjoying Benintendi, but if you actually look at his stats, he's having the worst year he's ever had per OPS. (I don't count the Covid year or whatever that was, and it was only 39 ABs anyway)

[duncan_idaho]

Re: Soler, they need to stop trying to use him in RF. Bench him on days they want to DH Salvy.

The sample size is small, but here are his slash lines

As DH
.216/.330/.392

As RF
.143/.196/.245

When you throw it how much it hurts the defense when he plays the field, it's just a double whammy of awful.

They need to commit to Olivares playing every day, IMO. Soler can DH unless Perez is getting that 1/2 day break.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by BWillie

This entire season and 3/4 of the next one. Dudes that hit 48 homers & can walk 80 times a season don't grow on trees.

He needs to be the DH more than the RF though.

He's a FA after this season, so you let him walk. 2019 season is looking like an outlier. That said, this is probably a .500 club with a chance to be a little better and maybe even challenge for a Wild Card spot, with some luck. If they're gonna have a chance at doing that, then you need Soler's bat. You leave him in there and hope he figures it out. It's not like he's blocking some great offensive player from playing.

Agree with you on DH. He looks awful out in RF. He needs to stay at DH. If you need to give him a few days off once in a while to rotate Salvy into DH to keep him fresh (since you absolutely need his bat in the lineup), then so be it.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Everyone is enjoying Benintendi, but if you actually look at his stats, he's having the worst year he's ever had per OPS. (I don't count the Covid year or whatever that was, and it was only 39 ABs anyway)

He's still suffering, numbers wise, from that really slow start in April.

April: .224/.311/.313
May: .340/.377/.443

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Everyone is enjoying Benintendi, but if you actually look at his stats, he's having the worst year he's ever had per OPS. (I don't count the Covid year or whatever that was, and it was only 39 ABs anyway)

I think we've got bigger fish to fry than complaining about Andrew Benintendi right now, bud.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

JORGE SOLER BOBBLEHEAD NIGHT!

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Re: Soler, they need to stop trying to use him in RF. Bench him on days they want to DH Salvy.

They need to commit to Olivares playing every day, IMO. Soler can DH unless Perez is getting that 1/2 day break.

What prompted my "how much time do we give Soler" question was when I saw they sent Olivares back to Omaha.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by Mama Hip Rockets

I think we've got bigger fish to fry than complaining about Andrew Benintendi right now, bud.

Yup.

If you look at about ANY numbers, Benny has been an upgrade over the last 2 years of Alex Gordon (and I love Gordo!). Obviously, it's a little early to draw definitive conclusions, but I have a LOT more confidence in his bat at this point then I did Gordon's the last few years and he's good enough in LF.

Like Duncan said, that slow start in April is just killing his overall numbers, but the switch seems to have turned on now . . . . . .

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Mama Hip Rockets

I think we've got bigger fish to fry than complaining about Andrew Benintendi right now, bud.

I'm not complaining about him. I think he's been pretty good. The point I was making is that he's actually BETTER than this. Someone should ask him what he thinks of this bounce back year. I'd love to hear him go, what? Bro this is the worst season I've ever had.

[RaidersOftheCellar]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

In 2019, he had 48 HR's in 162 games. For the rest of his entire MLB career, he has 50 HR's in 401 games. I'm starting to think 2019 was a fluke.

I doubt he'll ever do that again, but 48 in Kauffman is practically a miracle. No one else has ever come within 10.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Re: Soler, they need to stop trying to use him in RF. Bench him on days they want to DH Salvy.

The sample size is small, but here are his slash lines

As DH
.216/.330/.392

As RF
.143/.196/.245

When you throw it how much it hurts the defense when he plays the field, it's just a double whammy of awful.

They need to commit to Olivares playing every day, IMO. Soler can DH unless Perez is getting that 1/2 day break.

Yes please

[BWillie]

Does anybody have any tips on converting a Eric Hosmer jersey into a Bobby Witt Jr jersey?

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar

I doubt he'll ever do that again, but 48 in Kauffman is practically a miracle. No one else has ever come within 10.

2019 was also the year MLB admitted, based on their own study, that the balls had "a little less drag" and "it spins tighter". Without that juiced ball, Soler may never again have the kind of year he had in 2019.