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Good grief. Owner David Glass believed his Royals could finish above .500 this season. Instead, the team nearly lost 100 games. How do you reconcile this? One idea would be to blame manager Tony Muser, and fire him. Things haven't worked out here in Kansas City, and never have the Royals been a contender under Muser. Instead, Glass announced just before the end of the season that he'd stay with his coach. Hopefully, some other moves are in the offing for a team which did very little right in the 2001 season and has become a perennial doormat.
Best Pitcher: The fact is, the team's best starter this year won six games. That's not good. Paul Byrd (6-6, 4.02) wasn't overpowering, but he showed flashes after coming over from the Phillies. Jeff Suppan is the workhorse, but in a big game (work with me here, let's imagine the Royals could have a big game sometime soon) you'd want Byrd on the mound, not Soupy. Honorable mention to setup man Jason Grimsley. Grimsley has been the team's most dependable pitcher, day in day out this season. He pitched in a career-high 73 games, and finished with a team-low 3.02 ERA.
Best Position Player: Mike Sweeney (.304-29-99) put this one in the bag back in early August, when he shed his "soft" image by getting into a brawl with Jeff Weaver and the Tigers. Unfortunately, he also hurt his wrist in the brawl, which hurt his production down the stretch. Carlos Beltran (.306-24-101) also had a fine season after a disappointing sophomore campaign.
Grading The Manager: What can you say about the losingest manager in Royals history? Here are Muser's win totals in his five seasons at the helm: 67, 72, 69, 74, and 65. How about letting him speak for himself: "I know there are a lot of people who don't want me back. But I can't do anything about that. I need to get better as a manager," he told the Kansas City Star after hearing he would still have a job next year. Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, does it? Aren't there leagues where players (and managers) might hone their crafts? Yes. None of them are called the American League.
Most Improved: At the start of the season, Raul Ibanez was considered a fringe player at very most. He was twice sent down by the middle of June, in case you weren't convinced of his status as the team's 24th or 25th player. He ended the season with the third best OPS on the team at .847. His plate patience was a major area of improvement, something that the rest of the team might want to pay attention to; despite fewer than 300 at-bats, Ibanez was fourth on the team with 32 walks.
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Royals 2000-01 comparison
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2000
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2001
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W-L
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77-85
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65-97
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HR leader
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Dye, 33
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Sweeney, 29
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BA leader
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Sweeney, .333
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Beltran, .306
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ERA
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Suzuki, 4.34
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Suppan, 4.37
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Biggest Weakness: Oh, the punch lines... On a team chock full of weaknesses, clearly the pitching staff was the most gruesome. The rotation finished with a 5.01 ERA, 11th in the AL, ahead of only Detroit, Cleveland, and Texas. They walked more batters than all but one AL team, and struck out fewer than all but one. True, Kansas City actually improved their ERA by more than half a run, but this group is not exactly scaring opponents. With little money to spend, and not much in the way of major prospects on the horizon, this appears to be a chronic condition that won't go away soon. Rookie Chris George (4-8, 5.59) may be part of the solution, but he wasn't this year.
Gaining Momentum: This team is definitely doing that, like a runaway truck without an off ramp in sight. In terms of positives, aspects to build on next year, there's not much. Rookie reliever Cory Bailey (3.48 ERA in 53 appearances) actually had a good season. Ibanez looks like he could be a keeper. Otherwise, not much upside to speak of.
Kicked Off The Island: The Royals haven't made themselves popular in Kansas City with their decisions of whom to kick off recently, that's for sure. The trading last offseason of Johnny Damon hurt, obviously, and not surprisingly Jermaine Dye went nuts as soon as he landed in Oakland. In his place, they got Neifi Perez. That was huge, since they didn't have a great fielding, weak hitting shortstop before. Oh wait... Also, if Carlos Febles continues to spend half of each year on the DL, the team may need to deal him while he can still draw something in return. Any new life would be welcome here.
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