Royals POSTCAST: Can the Kansas City Royals Do Anything Right? KC-ATH LIVE Reaction

Royals POSTCAST: Can the Kansas City Royals Do Anything Right? KC-ATH LIVE Reaction

[Music] this is the Royals postcast your instant game reaction for the Kansas City Royals part of the Locked on Podcast Network your team every day welcome in to the Royals postcast part of the Locked on Podcast Network your team every day i’m your host Chance Lebo here to bring you reaction to every single Royals game the rest of the way you can follow me on Twitter Chance Lebo it is down below you can see it by my name right there uh if you can’t make a show live don’t worry these episodes will be uploaded uh for you to listen to on demand wherever you get your podcast before we get started as you can see on the ticker below remember to subscribe to the channel like the video turn on notifications so that you can get an alert whenever we go live uh thanks so much for joining the show live if you are here live appreciate you guys for hopping in the comments section continue to do so appreciate you guys always making live shows we got Rich in here saying what is going on that’s a great question Rich one that we continue to attempt to answer and that’s kind of what we’re here to do here in our postcast here to give you a little bit of a a rundown uh a little bit of a an instant reaction to all the Royals games and right now they are three and eight I believe no three and seven three and seven no three and eight three and eight since these postcasts started so uh very very bad baseball game today from the Royals they lose to the A’s final score of 4 to nothing and it felt insurmountable once the A’s got on the board first uh they hit a home run in the second inning from that point on it felt like that was it i mean it really felt like that was the ball game so before we really dive dive deep into anything here is what you’ll be talking about this is what you’ll be talking about the offensive performance once again uh I’m running out of words to say because it continues to be an issue and I don’t have any more like I don’t have any more like analysis or anything on swings guys aren’t hitting today and yesterday with some of the worst hitting or sorry today yesterday in the Yankees finale some of the worst hitting I’ve seen in a long time at least approaches the plate really just at bats in general and today might have been the worst of the bunch because they’re going up against Jacob Lopez who was really uh I I want to put this very nicely a nobody um coming into this one with a six erra I mean had been an up and down starter for the A’s in the Rays throughout his career really had no expectations coming i mean I felt like you know the Royals do struggle against lefties because they’re lefty heavy with some of their power bats i kind of felt like it might be a tough spot for them against a a guy that they made look like Randy Johnson today um so right now uh it feels like the Royals are everyone’s get-right spot because the Yankees had just lost a series to the Red Sox uh the A’s were obviously coming in on a big scuffle um and last week is different because the White Socks were playing better baseball but as we stand right now the Royals are sitting as everybody’s get right spot you see that big K and that big C on your calendar on the schedule and you’re thinking “Okay it’s time to capitalize.” The Royals are the equivalent of an FCS opponent in football uh they’re and they are pepperdy for the Dukes of the world they are truly uh just a punching bag for everybody else in the major leagues and it is sad to watch that because there’s no pride in this team right now um I had a conversation with my mom yesterday and she’s a big Royals fan and one of the things that you know we were talking about was just the do they have any enforcers in the dugout do does the team even like each other and what I’ve kind of deducted it feels like they’re a bunch of front runners everybody’s high and mighty and jolly and happy when things are going right which was last season when they got after that incredible scorching start beat up on the White Socks a ton feeling good about yourselves i mean in a playoff position from April to September and then a little bit out of a playoff spot and then back into a playoff spot but when things were going well for that team it was all jolly and happy when Vinnie goes out and they get faced with a little bit of adversity when they get roughed up on the road they faced a little bit of adversity they really just they turtle they go into their shells they have faced a ton of adversity this year i would argue that this season and this is not even you can take away wins and losses you can forget about that in terms of total adversity faced this year’s team feels like they faced much more than last season in total and we’re on we are in the 14th of June so it feels like this is a team of front runners a team of guys that really are excited when things are going well but when things go aren’t going well because remember this is very this is the exact same core the exact same core say for Jonathan India the exact same core that went 59 and 103 two years ago and we just got told it’s a it’s an evaluation year and you know we’ll we’ll figure things out we’re going to figure some things out same offensive core as that season and now they are sitting at three games below 500 they continue to fall farther and farther out of the wild card race and the offensive lineup just has no life whatsoever the the plate appearances are struggles to get through i know there’s a lot of people that are going to be frustrated with the Mel Garcia at bat in the final inning i’m going to tell you right here and right now Mikel Garcia has shown more fight than any single any of the other 25 guys on the roster mikel Garcia has shown more fight than any of those guys over the last week and a half that’s it it’s Mikel Garcia and you can get frustrated with that last at bat i mean he he just got owned he got to tip your cap wasn’t sitting on fast ball in on that second pitch goes down 02 and then Hogan Harris or sorry no it was Kevin Kelly just absolutely paints one on the black on the corner you’re frustrated because he struck out looking at a 40 ball game but Michael Garcia had two of the four Royals hits today and continues to be the only life of offense that this team has so I am running out of I I’m truly tiring myself out by watching these games and trying to come up with things to say because it truly is hard sometimes to come up with a new angle especially when we continue to see the same things over and over and over again the lineup has no pop i don’t think you can move Mikeel Garcia and my one true takeaway from this game is that this lineup looks a lot different without Jonathan India in it i get it they’re going up against a lefty today but if Jonathan India plays I don’t think Kaggs plays and you don’t have Vinnie in the three hole probably have Mike Kell in the three-hole the lineup looks a lot different with India and I know a lot of people don’t want him as the leadoff guy but Jonathan India is to quote major or to quote Moneyball when they’re arguing Hatterburg and Pena and Philip Samur Hoffman says Pñena is only third first base on this team i hate to break it to you but Jonathan Nia is the only not only is he the best leadoff hitter on this team he’s the only leadoff hitter on this team there was an experiment last season with Michael Garcia at the leadoff spot and it wasn’t good jonathan India is the best and only leadoff hitter in this lineup now there’s going to have to be some shakeups in the lineup and I’ll tell you about what I think those shakeups should be when we come back after the break here on our Royals Postcast time to give you a look at the sponsors of today’s video first we’ll start out with Trade Coffee let’s be real coffee it isn’t just a drink it’s a ritual a lifeline the thing that gets you from half asleep to fully functioning if it’s that essential why settle for anything less than amazing that’s where Trade Coffee 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Tyrese Hallebertton and these Indiana Pacers are playing taking them in the fourth quarter to cover the spread or betting them live is so much fun and so easy on FanDuel new to FanDuel it’s the perfect time to sign up head to FanDuel.com and place your first $5 bet if it wins you’ll get $200 in bonus bets you can make every moment more with FanDuel the official sports betting partner of the NBA all I teased it in the last segment everybody’s going to I’ve seen people rough drafting their lineups in the comments appreciate you guys doing that it’s a It’s a fun task i enjoy it it’s pretty much what I do every I do it a lot uh it’s really hard to find a lineup that fits this team because there are so many guys that are not hitting what you’d expect them to you can’t hit Salvie in the eight hole you just can’t do that you can’t hit Kags in the seven hole well they are but you can’t it’s not where he is at his best it’s not where you want him to be when he’s at his best you can’t hit Bobby Leoff because Bobby is not good in the leadoff spot is not a good leadoff hitter when you look at this lineup there’s got to be some kind of change being made and I get kind of frustrated with I mean just seeing what Matt Cotero does with the lineup because it is so herkyjerky now you don’t want to be Ned Yo who rolls out the same 162 or same nine all 162 that’s not the way things go that’s not how things are going to be played in the modern day of baseball where you know left these are at a premium out of the bullpen that that’s just not how the game is going to be played you can’t roll the same nine out there every damn game that’s not going to happen so um I think that you have to have Jonathan Indie in the leadoff spot he is the only guy that you can rely on to put together quality at bats on a day in dayout basis i like Mikel Garcia but I don’t think he’s a leadoff hitter i think he’s probably best suited for the five hole when he w in a lineup that is performing at its absolute best everybody playing to the best of their abilities mike El Garcia is probably in the five hole in this lineup but he is having to play out of position because this team has no dudes in the lineup so you have to have India in the leadoff spot i would have Vinnie in the two-hole because you’re when you put Vinnie in the fourhole he’s hitting way too often with two outs because either India or Garcia is getting out and Bobby is just an automatic out of the plate right now you’ve got to move somebody into that two-hole because Bobby is just an automatic out there i would move Vinnie up there because Vinnie puts together good abs um Vinnie is a guy that you can get on base can work the gaps and he’s he’s your best hitter right now uh at least your hottest and I my my strategy my opinion is that you need your best hitter in the two- hole because on stat statistically on average over 162 games your best hitter being in the two- hole is much better than in the three hole by 20 to 25 at bats per season so I would have Vinnie in the two-hole and then from then on it’s kind of a dice roll you can put Bobby in the three you can put Mel in the three whoever’s hot i would move Kaggs up just because of the fact that like he’s the only guy in this lineup that’s got any power truly any power this Royals team has no pop whatsoever and it’s the most frustrating thing because the A’s come in and they tee off on Michael Lorenzan and all of a sudden you’re in a 200 hole and you’re like it’s going to take like eight singles to get a run across um so I think you have to move Kaggs up i know he’s not hitting well right now today had much better swings i know that he’s probably trying to hit the ball in the air a little bit more now but listen it’s a big ballpark it’s a lot there’s a lot of grass out there in the outfield so I would I would move Kaggs up to maybe five maybe four um and have Bobby or Mike on the three maybe Bobby or Mike on the four salvi cannot hit anywhere near your runcoring guys or the guys that get on base because Salvi is going to ground into so many double plays it’s truly frustrating and then then you get into well you can’t play Salvi behind the plate every day you can’t play him at first every day you can’t play Kags in the outfield every day you’re gonna get a lefty in there so it makes things inconsistent there are so many things that we could you know go back and forth on but this is the lineup is I think that they’re going to have a reset a mental reset maybe even a physical reset maybe somebody goes up maybe somebody goes down they are going to have a reset this week I would imagine uh on Monday because they have a travel day they have that day off i don’t think Zoomalt gets fired but it is becoming increasingly likely because the lineup just continues to look bad um so I continue to believe that this is a this is a lineup that can be fixed because we’ve seen what they’re capable of but they are not good at responding to adversity right now they are a bunch of front runners at this stage of the season and right now they are three games out or three games below 500 and continuing to dig themselves their own grave so obviously another frustrating game to be shut out by a guy that should be in AAA right now and really to make him look like Randy Johnson i mean he got they he had nine punchouts in six shutout innings it never looked hard for him up on the mound never looked like he was challenged and so that’s the most frustrating part but at the end of the day I think that you know Mark Cana congratulations on 10 years in the big leagues enjoy retirement you’re done i I can’t see Mark Cana hitting in the five hole anymore i just can’t it is It’s like putting knives through my eye sockets watching him i get it three four years ago he was a really good hitter against lefties but he’s not anymore he’s not a good hitter at all you got him his 10 years he’s probably I would say Monday he probably gets DFA and somebody maybe it’s Cam Dey maybe it’s MJ Melendez but somebody has to come up there has to be some kind of new life in this offense and you know maybe this is the time to bring MJ Melendez up who has always been a spark plug always been an energizer i know he’s not great at the plate but having his presence in the dugout might be a positive for this team although I would need to see very limited abs from him on a week- to-eek basis but another really bad loss uh very much the same takeaways if you’re coming back to the end and you kind of zoned out for it too long didn’t read uh this was another really bad offensive performance offensive the lineup is a bunch of front runners that doesn’t respond to adversity well and Mikel Garcia is the one player that you can truly build around with this team this year now Bobby Jr I’m not selling my stock on him yet but Mikel Garcia needs to be the one of the cornerstones of this next generation it needs to be Bobby Michaelel Cags and maybe Vinnie that’s your core going into the next five years but I don’t think that Mikel needs traded i know it continues to be a topic on Twitter and on the radio but Mike Hel is one of the only players that I think that you can build around because of what he is able to do when he is like he when he’s doing what he’s doing right now so I appreciate you guys for tuning in uh this was not the episode that I wanted to have today um but yeah it’s uh it’s been really really bad this is the worst stretch weekl long stretch we’ve seen from a competitive Royals team in a long time uh but I think that at some point it’ll probably get better but when that’s a great question i don’t know that yet but appreciate you guys for tuning in we’ll be back in this seat tomorrow probably around 3:30 uh reacting to a finale uh of a home stand uh A’s and Royals tomorrow 110 first pitch and hopefully the Royals are able to give us some runs to talk about appreciate you guys for tuning in i’m Chance Lebo thanks for listening to the Locked On Royals post part of the Lockdown podcast network

Chance Liebau reacts to game two between the Kansas City Royals and Athletics. What should the Royals do with the lineup after another putrid outing against a bad pitcher? Is Alec Zumwalt’s job in serious jeopardy?

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