I can remember it like it was yesterday, August 4, 2009. The Mariners were in town and I was taking my then 8 year old son and his friend to a ballgame for his birthday. We got there early so we could get all of the Little K events out of the way, we walked the path just under the Jumbotron so we could see just how jumbo it was, we got a couple of pops, some nachos, and, after circling the stadium found our seats well down the third base side in the lower level. The Royals scored 5 in the first, including a bomb from Billy Butler and the boys could not have been much happier. Then came the 4^th inning.

Although Bruce Chen had held the Mariners scoreless through 3, he wasn’t exactly lights out. He’d given up 3 singles, thrown a wild pitch and had a couple of warning track fly balls scare him. In the 4^th it finally caught up with him when one Michael Sweeney hit a majestic shot over the wall in left field. Now, let me back up. I had not noticed it so much the first time Sweeney came up (maybe the drunks were still in the parking lot?) but Sweeney’s second plate appearance was tainted with a smattering of boos, most notably from directly behind us, as he walked to the plate. This infuriated me, but I said nothing. Sweeney was 36 years old and very possibly making his last trip to the K. He’d given everything he had in Kansas City and I could see no reason to boo him. So, when he hit the home run, I did something I’d never done during an opposing player’s home trot…I stood and I clapped.

There were a few more boos, and that only made me clap louder. For the 15-20 seconds he circles the bases I clapped as loud as I could and as he entered the dugout I yelled in vain “Thank you, Mike!” As I sat down, my son looked at my quizzically, but before I could explain the drunkards behind me hollered “Why would you clap for that bum? We paid him all that money and he was hurt the whole $@##ing time” I am not one for violence, especially in a family atmosphere like the K, but I was fighting mad at this point. Instead of directly addressing the drunkard, I turned to my son and in a none-too-hushed tone explained “Mike Sweeney is a great man and he was a great Royal. He’s the only great player from his generation that chose to stay with the Royals and he’s one of the best hitters to ever play for the Royals. Only a damn idiot would boo him.”

I don’t believe that most Royals fans would have booed Sweeney on that day, but I do believe far too many share the drunkard’s sentiment. If there is any justice in the process, Sweeney will be a Royals Hall of Famer some day soon and he will deserve it as much as almost anyone in there. Disagree?

-          Sweeney has the third highest career batting average (.299) in club history

-          Sweeney has the second highest career OPS (.861)

-          Sweeney is second all-time in home runs (197) and ranks in the top 6 in runs, hits, total bases, doubles, walks, and RBI

-          His 144 RBI in 2000 are still a club record

-          Per Baseball-Reference’s WAR he ranks as the 5^th best hitter and 7^th best position player in club history

The biggest arguments against Sweeney seem to be that he was A) overpaid and B) always injured. The fact is, he was paid just under $71 million dollars over 13 seasons. During those 13 seasons he made 5 All Star Games and did everything his body would allow. Yes, he was terribly overpaid over those last 5 seasons, just as he was terribly underpaid for the 4 before that. From 99-03 Sweeney played an average of 146 games per season, made 3 All Star teams, set a club record for RBIs, and had an OPS+ of 134. He made just under $16 million for those 4 years combined.

Barring an unfortunate comeback attempt, Sweeney will become eligible for the Royals HOF after the 2013 season, meaning his induction ceremony should be a little more than 2 ½ years away. I hope to be there, just to make sure the applause drowns out any undeserved boos. One of the greatest men to ever put on the uniform deserves nothing less.

The Cardinals announced their final September call ups to join the team now that the Memphis Redbirds have concluded their season. Tony Cruz, Tyler Greene and Adron Chambers will all arrive in St. Louis in time for the September 6th matchup with the Brewers.

Tyler Greene will be given every chance to prove that he can be the shortstop on this team in 2012. Tony Cruz may very well be trying to prove the same thing at the backup catcher position. Adron Chambers, well, he is simply getting a chance to show what he has.

Chambers was a player that the team drafted in late rounds (38th round of the 2007 draft) and placed little pressure on to become anything more than an extra piece in the machine. Chambers, however, had other ideas and showed that he was willing to be patient and improve at every step.

One of the fastest prospects in the Cardinals organization, Chambers has proven to be able to produce a solid on base percentage, a fair amount of walks, and a good glove in the field. He does come with his share of strikeouts, though he has lowered his strikeout per plate appearance average every year, just not by much. The left handed outfielder stands in at only five foot ten inches tall and 180 pounds, but is enjoying a power surge this year, clubbing 10 home runs and 19 doubles to go with his 44 runs batted in. He shows off his speed with 22 stolen bases while only being caught 13 times this season.

The most interesting thing about Chambers may be the one thing that Tony LaRussa has been looking for: he can hit lefties and righties. In fact, his splits are almost identical this season, posting a .274/.366/.703 (Avg/On Base/OPS) slash-line against left handers, while posting a nearly identical .278/.368/.813 against righties. He does seem to hit for power better with a right handed pitcher on the mound, but he is not a hindrance just because of the hurler’s arm preference.

Here is a quick look at Chambers’ career numbers from our friends at Baseball Reference.

How much playing time Chambers will get in 2011 has yet to be seen, but the young man is impressing the organization every year and just might be getting the first serious look at the big stage that he so well deserves.

Rk	Player	WPA	PA	Year	Tm	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Neifi Perez	-6.819	585	2002	KCR	145	554	131	3	37	.236	.260	.303	.564
2	Sam Dente	-5.181	654	1950	WSH	155	603	144	2	59	.239	.286	.299	.585
3	George Wright	-5.053	393	1985	TEX	109	363	69	2	18	.190	.241	.242	.483
4	Gary Disarcina	-5.051	583	1997	ANA	154	549	135	4	47	.246	.271	.326	.597
5	Ronny Cedeno	-4.570	572	2006	CHC	151	534	131	6	41	.245	.271	.339	.610

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Neifi actually had a pretty good opening day in 2002. He went 3-for-5, moved some runners over with a single, knocked in a run with a triple, and scored two runs himself. His .047 WPA was good for second best on the Royals lineup that day. However, a sign of things to come occurred on the last play of the game: Neifi was up in the bottom of the ninth, Royals down 6-8, two on and two out. The Royals clung to a 10% win expectancy, but Neifi popped out and the game was over. On April 24th, he was the Royals WPA hero with a 3-for-4, three RBI game. But the good days were a rare exception in this season from hell.

Neifi hurting the team again...assumedly

Our Neifi came to the plate 585 times that season. Crucial moments of games seemed to find him. Alas, he was rarely up to the task. After only five percent of his plate appearances did he leave his team in a better position to win. Five percent! I do not even understand how that is possible when he got on base 26% of the time, but there it is. He had a few especially disastrous games, but he achieved the historic low more by being consistently bad day in and day out. With runners in scoring position, his already dreadful offensive skills tumbled even lower to the tune of .221/.246/.270. The Worst Season A Royals Player Ever Had may have hit its nadir when Perez refused to enter a game:

Perez…created a major clubhouse incident by refusing to enter a Sept. 9 game against the Chicago White Sox as a defensive replacement for rookie Angel Berroa. Perez later said his refusal was a joke that was misinterpreted, but his action caused a rift with several teammates. Many privately called for his immediate dismissal from the club.–Bob Dutton, November 19, 2002 Kansas City Star

Neifi makes Angel Berroa look like a golden god. Here are the Royals worst WPA single seasons:

 

Rk	Player	WPA	PA	Year	Tm	G	H	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Neifi Perez	-6.819	585	2002	KCR	145	131	3	37	.236	.260	.303	.564
2	Angel Berroa	-3.448	503	2006	KCR	132	111	9	54	.234	.259	.333	.592
3	Angel Salazar	-3.437	332	1987	KCR	116	65	2	21	.205	.219	.246	.465
4	Greg Gagne	-2.923	581	1993	KCR	159	151	10	57	.280	.319	.406	.724
5	Tony Pena	-2.902	536	2007	KCR	152	136	2	47	.267	.284	.356	.640
6	Jason Kendall	-2.832	490	2010	KCR	118	111	0	37	.256	.318	.297	.615
7	Cookie Rojas	-2.828	409	1970	KCR	98	100	2	28	.260	.296	.326	.622
8	John Buck	-2.818	430	2005	KCR	118	97	12	47	.242	.287	.389	.676
9	David Howard	-2.805	485	1996	KCR	143	92	4	48	.219	.291	.305	.595
10	Jermaine Dye	-2.756	283	1997	KCR	75	62	7	22	.236	.284	.369	.653

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Jason Kendall sighting! Kind of ironic that Jermaine Dye makes the list.

Here is a happier list, the Royals best WPA single seasons:

Escobar is bringing up the rear in all of the majors, and is on pace to enter some seriously unpleasant territory. At his current pace, if he equaled Perez’s 585 plate appearances, he would end up with -8.7 WPA. Ruh-roh.

The Royals and advanced stats tend to mix about as well as oil and water, so if you are a Royals fan, you may want to shield your eyes from the following graphs of some advanced stats from the 2010 season.

Win Probability Added

A lot of advanced stats attempt to remove the effects of teammates and game situations to get a truer sense of how a player performed with regard to the things he had control over. WPA on the other hand is context driven. Every batter and pitcher is credited or debited the amount of win expectancy gained or lost after every plate appearance. It is a fascinating descriptive stat of what took place, but not a great indicator of a player’s actual talent. If you’re a believer in clutch performers, this stat rewards the big plays. (Click here for a better explanation.)

Takeaways: Joakim Soria comes out looking pretty amazing, which I believe is due to the big increase in win expectancy that comes with making the last out of a close win. Also because he is amazing. How about that Alex Gordon? His hitting numbers were not too pretty, but according to WPA he came through at good times. David DeJesus on the other hand had fantastic numbers at the plate, but you wouldn’t know it from his WPA. It is hard to overstate how damaging it was to the Royals offense to give Jason Kendall 490 plate appearances and for Ned Yost to slot him second in the order.

O-Swing%

Straight from FanGraphs: “The percentage of pitches a batter swings at outside the strike zone.” Simple enough.

Takeaways: Gregor Blanco!? He only had 203 plate appearances after coming to KC, but in 836 career PAs, Blanco’s O-Swing% is even better at 19.6%. The advanced metrics do like Alex Gordon. His batting average has a lot of fans writing him off, but Alex knows how to draw a walk, making him more valuable at the plate than his average indicates. Oh, Yuni. Why would anyone ever throw him a strike?

AL Central wOBA

Here is how the Royals stacked up against their AL Central competition in my favorite batting metric (minimum 150 PAs):

Takeaways: I have no idea what to think about Wilson Betemit. I kept waiting for his hitting to fall to earth, but he just kept hitting. We will all be watching him closely next year to see if he has any more seasons like that in him. This advanced metric does not treat Alex quite as well.

AL Central xFIP

Expected Fielded Independent Pitching is on the same scale as ERA, but takes into account only those things the pitcher has most control over: strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches, and fly-ball percentage. One way to think about it is what a pitcher’s ERA might be if he had perfectly average “luck” and defense behind him. (If you are not familiar with straight FIP, you might want to start with this primer.) Here is how starters who threw at least 25 innings in the AL Central fared:

Takeaways: Zack Greinke is still filthy. Luke Hochevar’s spot is very encouraging. Bruce Chen will not be having another season like 2010, and the Royals are right to run the other way if he is after a multi-year contract as has been reported.

And the relievers who hurled 25 innings+:

Takeaways: The White Sox have the top three spots. Bless Kyle Farnsworth for pitching well enough with the Royals that Dayton Moore was able to flip him and Rick Ankiel for Blanco and Tim Collins.

“He didn’t have a long life. But his dreams came true.”
—Nancy Howser, July 12, 2004 Kansas City Star

Dick Howser is remembered with great fondness by fans in Kansas City, where his time in the big leagues began with the Athletics and ended as perhaps the Royals’ greatest manager. Howser skippered some great Royals teams between 1981—86, and is best remembered for guiding the club to their only championship.

Richard Dalton Howser was born May 14, 1936 in Miami, Florida. He played college baseball at Florida State, where he hit .422 in 1956, and became the school’s first All-American in 1957 and again as a senior in ’58. After graduation, he signed with the Kansas City Athletics. Howser toiled for three seasons in the A’s minor leagues before making the big club with a splash in 1961. The scrappy shortstop stole 37 bases and was only caught nine times. He got on base at a .377 clip with an OPS of .739 (98 OPS+). In the field, Howser was rung up for 38 errors. After just 59 games with the A’s, manager Hank Bauer named Howser the captain of the team.

“Frankly, I was just trying to keep a job in the major leagues,” Howser said. “My first reaction was an uneasy one. I thought they might be expecting too much from me. I went to our owner, Mr. Finley, and to Hank also and discussed the appointment with both of them. They didn’t expect me to do anything different than I had done in the first 59 games. They wanted me to continue hustling and to set an example. They really seemed impressed with my hustle.”
—The Kansas City Athletics by John E. Peterson

He was named to the 1961 All-Star team and lost the official Rookie of the Year Award by one vote. The Sporting News named him top AL rookie. It was a promising start, but Howser was unable to put up another season quite as successful. Injuries took a toll on his playing time. In 1963 the A’s sent him to Cleveland, where he had a couple of productive years before being shipped to the Yankees prior to the 1967 season. He was done as a player after 1968, but remained with the Yankees as third base coach between 1969—78. Howser left the Yankees for the 1979 season to coach college ball for his alma mater, and led Florida State to a 43-17 record.

The Yankees lured him back for the 1980 season with an offer to manage. The rookie manager piloted the Yankees to 103 wins and a postseason appearance against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals swept in three games, and the fickle George Steinbrenner forced Howser out. The Yankees’ loss was the Royals’ gain. KC tapped Howser to manage the Royals in the middle of the ’81 season.

“Dan Quisenberry called him a distant general—he wasn’t much for strategy or heart-to-heart talks—but he had dignity. He had soul. He told those Royals they were the best team, and they believed him.”
—The Good Stuff by Joe Posnanski

Howser and the Royals found themselves in the ’81 postseason after just 33 games together, but they were swept by the A’s. After two straight second place finishes, the ’84 Royals returned to postseason play, but Howser fell to 0-9 as a playoffs manager when they were swept by the Tigers. The ’85 team returned to the playoffs, but dropped the first two games of the ALCS to Toronto. Howser had now lost all 11 postseason games he had managed. But the Royals rallied to take the series from Toronto, and found themselves in the franchise’s second World Series. But the Royals had their backs against the wall again after dropping three of the first four games to St. Louis.

“He never had a moment he felt defeated. His favorite line was, ‘We’ll get it done.’ You’re talking about a cool guy. You never saw him sweat.”
—Frank White, July 12, 2004 Kansas City Star

Howser’s previous playoffs troubles were forgotten when the Royals clawed their way back to take the championship. Royals players give Howser a tremendous amount of credit for his role in the title. His quiet confidence seemed to transfer to the players. He was not meddlesome. He filled out the lineup and let the players play, and the Royals loved playing for him.

“I played for some good managers, but Dick was great. He was so honest with you. If you messed around or did something wrong, he was in your face. But he allowed you to play if you were out there and ready, and he knew you were going to give your best. He was a confidence-builder.”
—Mark Gubicza, Denny Matthews’s Tales From the Royals Dugout

The elation of the championship quickly turned to horror. The team noticed something amiss with Howser during the first half of the ’86 season. Denny Matthews writes in Tales From the Royals Dugout that Howser, always sharp, was suddenly forgetting recent events and mixing up names. At the All-Star game that year, Howser couldn’t remember who the starting pitcher was going to be for his AL squad. He confused Frank White for Lou Whitaker in the dugout. Two days later, the terrible diagnosis: brain cancer. The All-Star game would be his last as a manager. (White helped ensure Howser was victorious by blasting a home run.)

The Royals did not name a permanent replacement, leaving the door open for Howser to return if he could. (Mike Ferraro took the helm for the second half of ’86.) After undergoing treatments, Howser attempted a comeback during 1987 spring training, but his return was short lived. Howser simply didn’t have the energy. He passed away months later on June 17 at Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Hospital at just 51 years of age. The Royals held a ceremony for Howser two weeks later in which they inducted him into the team’s hall of fame and made his #10 the first retired number in Royals history.

Dick Howser Trophy

Because Howser’s time was cut short, it is easy to forget that he has managed more Royals games than anyone else. His .544 winning percentage with the team is bested only by Whitey Herzog and Jim Frey. The Dick Howser Trophy was initiated in 1987 and is awarded to the country’s best collegiate baseball player each year. Florida State renamed their baseball stadium in Howser’s honor in 1988, and his #34 is the only retired number in their baseball program. The Royals again honored Howser with a statue at Kauffman Stadium that was unveiled in 2009.

Nancy Howser speaks at dedication of statue (photo by Chris Murphy, chrism70.com)