Analyzing the Royals’ bullpen decisions | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Analyzing the Royals’ bullpen decisions | Kansas City Royals Podcast

you are tuning in to Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown podcast network i am your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter Johnny J_15 that’s Joyj_15 you also can catch this podcast on wherever you listen to podcast that can be Spotify Apple Podcast Amazon Music Google Podcast Odyssey and YouTube just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe if you are a first-time listener you want to know how this channel works we bring you episodes Monday through Friday as well as 60-cond YouTube shorts throughout the week um I know I’ve not been great on those over the last couple weekends been very very busy going to be the same thing this weekend the good news is we have the Royals postcast that happens after each and every Royals game that continues into week into the weekend and it’s hosted by Chance Lebo uh who’ll give you a 15minute live reaction after each of those games so that’ll begin tomorrow uh right after the conclusion of the Royals and the Rays before we get started want to tell you that today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel and with FanDuel new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when that first $5 bet wins so get started today with FanDuel well I know what you’re thinking we still are doing this podcast through Zoom i actually had planned on recording this morning and posting before 12:30 because I know I’ve been promising that to a lot of people were able to do it Monday through Thursday yesterday didn’t get it done on Friday i actually recorded an entire episode this morning around 8:00 a.m and then when I went back and tried to edit it it was just sloppy and all over the place because of the bad connection so plan on getting some people out here to work on whatever is going wrong to diagnose the problem so that we can get back to Streamyard and using that in a timely manner uh but to come up with or to make up for some of the the missed episodes on StreamYard we’ll just continue to do them on Zoom now if you listen to the Royals postcast yesterday you would have gotten my thoughts on the Royals series finale with the Padres’s and them blowing the two to nothing lead and Matero pulling Seth Lugo a little bit early he goes to Anel Serpa and then to Lucas Ersig Daniel Lynch and then John Shriber but in the end it was Jose Glacius of the Padres’s driving in all three runs that led to a series win for San Diego and a sour end to the road trip for the Royals although it was a great road trip at 4-2 and even though it was that sour end and it made you just feel so frustrated knowing that Monday was going to be another off day a 4-2 road trip against two playoff teams is always going to be seen in a positive way at the end of the season right it’s not about how you got the 4-2 when you look back in September it’s just that you got the 4-2 record on a very tough road trip and they honestly had to have a winning road trip with what they have ahead this week which is the Tampa Bay Rays the hottest team in the American League and then we know all about the Dodgers coming into Kansas City this weekend there are some tough opponents on deck two that goes beyond this week with just the Rays and the Dodgers so to kick things off on this rough stretch with a 4-2 road trip it will always be seen as a good thing i understand yesterday was frustrating saturday was as well but since they swept Texas you kind of went in that San Diego series just saying at least take one now when you take game one and you have a 4-0 road trip with two to go you want to get greedy and say “Well give us the final two or at least give us one more so we can have back-to-back series wins.” Didn’t work out that way but this first segment because we’ll be diving into the home stand and what lies ahead for the Royals in the final segment and we’ll talk about a prospect getting the bump to AAA in the second segment of today’s show um let’s go over the bullpen usage for Matrero this is not the first time that we have done a segment like this and since the postcast is only 15 minutes it’s live i’m trying to read the comments i’m not always going to be as well uh prepared I guess I should say uh for a live reaction because in the live reaction you’re coming up with it on the fly the benefit of doing this podcast is it’s pre-recorded and there’s been numerous times where I’ve had to go back cut out you know parts where I didn’t feel that I got my point across correctly so with this segment you know I I feel I’ve had enough time to prepare and give my honest opinions on yesterday so to go into that seventh inning yes Seth Luga was cruising no doubt in my mind that Seth Luga was cruising and if you kept him out there to face Luisa Rise and Gavin Sheets he very well could have gotten those outs and gotten through seven shutout innings maybe in less than 110 pitches maybe even less than a 100 pitches but with the Royals offense only putting up two runs it forced M quotero and that coaching staff to make a decision do we gamble and leave Seth Lugo out there with a tying run at the plate and risk burning him where he’s out there and he’s just wearing it and Arise singles and then Gavin Sheets doubles and now you’re putting on Hell Serpa in a tougher situation or Lucas Ers in a tough tougher situation or do you try to play it more of a conservative approach and say let’s get a fresh arm in there and have the lefty lefty matchup against Arise and then against Gavin Sheets now Serba did his job to the first hitter he gets the ground ball you got two outs runner at third that runner at third even though it’ll cut the lead in half it’s not as important as the runner at the plate and that’s why I imagine or what I imagine Brian Sweeney told Sarah when he went out to the mound but he walked him on four pitches and now he’s got to face the right-handed hitter and since you got to face three hitters he has to go after Bogarts and he did get ahead 01 but then threw four straight balls so now you got the bases loaded mike Schil comes out and he pinch hits Jake Croninworth for Jose Glaciius and as I said in the postcast I felt that was a bailout for the Royals i didn’t think Serpent was going to find the zone at all to Croninworth or worse he was going to throw a pitch right down the middle and Croninworth was going to crush into the gap and now you’re down three to two so going to a Glacius it allowed Motr to go to the bullpen and turn to Lucas Ersig and I will take that matchup nine out of 10 times it just so happens that on an 02 pitch Erskig left it middle middle and Elgacius dumped it into right field uh so the thought process on yesterday’s game is the thought process that we’ve seen so many times for Matt Cotero and if I’m being quite honest with you I don’t see that changing like I don’t see a similar situation occurring and you just go “Well it didn’t work out last time therefore I’m going to leave him out there to try to get a different result this time.” What changes that is if the Royals had one more run if it was three to nothing and not two to nothing why because Seth Luga would have been able to face Luis Arise with the tying run still on deck worst case scenario he hits a two-run home run and you’re still up by one and you can go to the bullpen then but the fact it was two to nothing and when Noah Cameron left the game I think it was three to nothing as well so I was far more against that move than maybe yesterday’s move now Seth Lugo is now on his fifth start after the injured list not saying that he was unhealthy or anything like that but Anhel Serpa had been their best left-handed reliever for the better part of a month and a half and you were getting great outings from him he’s also a ground ball pitcher the second highest ground ball rate among relievers in baseball so you know he’s going to be able to keep it in the yard so the Padres’s are going to have to string together some hits to tie up that game but he lost all of his command and that’s something that can’t happen in that spot lucas Ersk as good as he’s been as a Royal he’s had some rough outings and certainly had his worst series as a Royals member wasn’t great on Friday wasn’t great yesterday that’s got to change but I’m still not looking at this bullpen and saying “Well they got issues.” This bullpen still has a top five save rate in all of baseball they’ve got the lead le the league leader in saves i know I said uh lead leaguer which still was a baseball phrase but I said on Friday night and people didn’t understand it it’s the same concept here estz has been great essig aside from a few outings since returning from the injured list he’s been fine he’s been above average before the injured list excuse me serpa has been very good over a month and a half cruz has been great daniel Lynch has been good uh prior to Saturday i mean Taylor Clark had done enough but John Shriber you know kind of in that same conversation of like done enough but not flawless the bullpen’s much better than it was last year is what I’m getting at so in a spot like that you might rely on your bullpen to get you some outs if this was the bullpen of last year I think I’d be a little bit more fired up about it if it was you know lefties coming up and I’m trying to think before Bubich who the lefties would have even been last year cuz Daniel Lynch wasn’t a constant out there in the bullpen it really was Serpa and Serpa last year at this point was not pitching well so let’s say it was like Chris Stratton or John Shriber you turned to last year you probably don’t feel as good about that move but Serpa had been really good for a month and a half and I know there’s going to be people as they clearly expressed yesterday of well he cares too much about matchups well that’s a part of the game like that’s just who a lot of managers are they play the matchups and as we saw with the Royals last year not that they’re not trying to put effort into winning these games because they are vitally important they got to play well over the next handful of weeks and into the All-Star break so that they can be competitive at the deadline but you look to last year and Lugo and Walka and Reagan’s threw a lot of innings and that was a big reason as to why they made it to the postseason you have Bobby Whit Jr playing like an MVP candidate but the rotation is what got them into the playoffs and Lugo through 206 innings waka threw a lot of innings Reagan’s through a lot of innings and by the postseason some of those guys were on fumes and I do wonder with the injuries they’ve had in the rotation if you might air on the side of caution a little bit more in relying on your bullpen more in the first half of the season if we get to this point again in the second half and it’s against Cleveland or Minnesota and Lugo’s in the exact same spot maybe it is different i’ve also watched Motrero and covered Matero manage the Royals for three years now it’s been pretty consistent with how he handles his starters so I just wasn’t that surprised or blindsided yesterday by that decision to pull Luggo it didn’t work out that happens and I’ll tell you this right now there’s going to come another point in the season where it happens again but in moves like that I will blame the manager you’re not blameless in this don’t get me wrong or don’t get my words twisted but I’m also more so about the execution there anel Serpent needed to do his job lucas Ersk can’t leave an 02 pitch right down the middle you have to be better in those spots and we’re probably talking about a series win and a five in one road trip if they do get that done let’s take our first break of the show when we come back some good news today came from DoubleA Northwest Arkansas as Carter Jensen got the promotion to AAA Omaha we’ll give you our thoughts next on Lockdown Royals you are tuning into Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network i your host Jack Johnson catch us on wherever you listen to your podcast that can be Spotify Apple Podcast Amazon Music Google Podcast Odyssey and YouTube just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe before we move any further want to tell you about Wonderful Pistachios looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious crack into a good source of protein with Wonderful Pistachios wonderful Pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts where each 1oz serving has six grams of protein giving you over 10% of your daily value plus they’re packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats to help you keep you feeling fuller longer so get snacking and get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch visit wonderfulbachios.com to learn more today and as I said I’ve been trying to record earlier in the day and sometimes I’m going straight from recording to work and I want to have that snack to get me from breakfast to lunch always grab a bag of wonderful pistachios they’re very tasty they keep you fuller as I said and if you’re like me who’s always on the go can’t recommend them enough they’re a very good snack and also a healthy snack that make you feel pretty good to get you to lunchtime well the news today as it broke while I was at work and I will say this that for tomorrow I would count on us being on Zoom uh just cuz I’m waiting for people to come fix the connection here but uh when I was at uh where I work you know I was able to get the news a little bit early that Carter Jensen was getting called up to Triple A and he’s absolutely earned it and going into spring training he was one of my favorite guys to talk to that’s been the case now for the last two years and I’m very high on Carter Jensen in a biased way because he’s a local kid and he’s one of those hitters that has just constantly gotten better every single year he’s been in the system and you almost view him as the catcher of the future and maybe if Blake Mitchell was healthy or Raone Ramirez was a little bit older in a right right around where Carter Jensen was playing at then I would call those guys the catcher of the future but as for this year I’ve got no reason to believe it’s anybody else other than Carter Jensen the bat has really come along and that was one of the impressive parts when he was about 18 or 19 his approach was very mature but the numbers weren’t there just yet like he was hitting 180 to 190 but getting on base at a 350 clip he was mature he didn’t chase a lot but he did have a high strikeout rate and he just wasn’t having a lot of hits fall in he’s a big kid too i mean he’s not as big as Salvi but he’s pretty big in stature and that’s where that that power comes from and behind the plate I believe he’s done a really good job this year and when they drafted Blake Mitchell I thought to myself well you know Mitchell was known for his defensive abilities behind the plate he’s got a cannon for an arm the LSU coach was so high on him because they were recruiting him and thought he might be one of the better catchers that they’ve ever had but Blake Mitchell you know still had to be you know developed from the offensive side of things same thing with Carter Jensen he was a high school bat that you know had a lot of eyeballs on him but that was a part of his game that they had to develop and when you see that happen at each and every level you really start rooting for him i thought the same thing with Vinnie Pascantino though he was a first baseman you know later round pick really hit well at high A he gets bumped to double A continues to improve same thing in AAA and same thing at the big league level those guys are so easy to root for and it’s not always going to be as easy as a trip to the big leagues like Jack Kagleon’s had you know a little bit of time in DA barely any time in AAA now you’re in the big leagues i mean Carter Jensen turns 22 next week so he’s still incredibly young and I’ve been asked a lot about the timeline when they’re going to see this guy in Kansas City i feel it’s pretty fair to say between April and June of next year and a lot of it is going to come down to will they pick up that option for Salvador Perez and I know he’s been great of late but at some point in time they’re going to need to realize that the answer behind the plate has to be some of or one of these guys in the minor league level now it’s either Carter Jensen Blake Mitchell or Raone Ramirez and going into this trade deadline I feel you kind of have to make your pick already cuz there’s going to be teams calling about Blake Mitchell and Raone Ramirez and Carter Jensen and with Jensen getting the promotion to Triple A I’m not saying he’s completely off the table but that to me is signaling that they want him to stay in the organization they want to challenge him in AAA and see where he’s at and you now give him a full season to just work there in AAA the rest of this year and maybe a chunk of next year cuz he’s still so incredibly young and the Royals do have a catcher right now they’ve got two catchers and whenever he gets called up I do believe that it’s going to be as an everyday player he’s not getting called up to play Freddy Fine’s role like whenever he gets the call it will be to take over the catching responsibilities for the Royals and the numbers in double A were very impressive uh the walk rate’s not really where it was in high A or double A last year but he’s cut down on the swing and miss a ton he’s still walking around an eight to nine% clip but he was hitting 294 in double A he was scorching the ball all of June he was doing the same thing in May and in spring training I was just so impressed with the overall makeup of the guy and last year he was in you know big league camp and hit a couple of moon balls as well down there in Arizona one of them was on top of the training facility it was like 430 or 440 he’s got tremendous power and such a smooth swing for a left-handed catcher and catcher is a tough spot to develop um we’ve seen so many teams at the major league level just kind of you know not really care who’s behind the plate if they’ve got good defense I will take whatever we can get uh from them offensively you don’t have to look much further than the team the Royals just played i mean Martine Maldonado six years after being in Kansas City where he wasn’t even picked up until spring training he’s still behind the plate for the Padres’s because of what he does offensively now there are teams out there that really value the catching position and they want to see both great defense and great offensive abilities and I think Carter Jensen can give the Royals that um it’s going to take some time he’s still incredibly young and with them moving Jack Kaggleó rather quickly through the system I feel you can take your time with Carter Jensen you’ve got Salvador Perez behind the plate you’ve got Freddy Fine jack Kagleion was moved rather quickly because you had an opening out there in right field yes you could move Carter Jensen around but I’m also not for just constantly moving pieces just to put their bat in there you still want to have good defense out there and Jack Keaglleone has progressed as a right fielder but if Carter Jensen is not behind the plate where do you put him we’re going to move a catcher to left field again and now you’ve got a first baseman in right field and a catcher in left field you want to move him to third base no mel Garcia is there you’re going to move to first base well Vinnie Pascantino’s there so I feel they can take their time with him keep him behind the plate see where he’s at at the end of the year if he’s hitting 280 to 300 well have a good off seasonason have a good spring training have a great April and May in Omaha to begin next year and let’s see where they’re at in June with their catcher position and where Carter Jensen may be at but big credit goes to him he has just improved every single year i’m absolutely rooting for him i know that the Royals will probably have to look into trading one of those three catchers if they’re in it at the deadline and if they want a significant bat but the biased part of me says I hope it’s not Carter Jensen because I’m really starting to believe that he can be the catcher of the future for this team okay we’re going to take our final break of the show when we come back let’s dive into this home stand who the Royals will be facing in terms of the pitching matchups and where these teams rank offensively because I’m starting to see a trend with how the Royals fare against teams that don’t hit as well and that do hit as well but even might have a bad pitching staff we’ll tell you about it next on Locked on Royals you are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network i’m your host Jack Johnson check out our channel every single day for daily content you can follow my podcast Monday through Friday and we also have the Royals Postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo now before we go any further have a title sponsor that we want to tell you about in FanDuel we know that summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or highstakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you’ve already followed the action why not make it a little bit more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while you’re with your friends and getting sunburned at the beach new to FanDuel new customers can bet just $5 and get 150 in bonus bets if that first bet wins so open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com/lockedon to get started for my pick uh since the NBA finals just wrapped up and I can’t give you any more NBA picks until next season let’s go to Major League Baseball tonight i’ll take the over on strikeout totals for Brian Woo against the Minnesota Twins and I will take the over on innings pitched for Walker Beller going up against the Angels tonight in Anaheim big home stand for the Royals they will be taking on the Tampa Bay Rays tomorrow and it has just been a red-hot Rays team over the last month to month and a half it feels like want to say the stat that I saw was they are 22-8 over their last 30 games their offense is just playing at a ridiculous level and I know that playing in a spring training ballpark a minor league ballpark it’s going to inflate some of those numbers but I don’t believe that’s just a ballpark thing for the Rays they’ve got a ton of hitters in that lineup and they’ve got a few guys that very well may start uh for the American League All-Star team coming up in about a month or so i mean the way Junior Camroero has played has been jaw-dropping i mean such a young and prolific talent just 21 years old we know all about his talent when the Royals faced the Rays back uh at George Mstein Brener Field I want to say it was at the end of April or maybe at May at some point sometimes these series just blend together a little bit but he’s been ridiculous you know over the last month and he’s been a big reason as to why the Rays have been winning so many games yandi Diaz who has just stupid numbers against Chris Bubich for tomorrow he’s opsing at t 2.633 against Bubich in five career at bats so he’s four for five and has done just significant damage against Chris Bubich in his career brandon Laauo has been great for them they also just called up Chandler Simpson who the Royals saw when they last played on the road so you got the Speedster coming back there you also have a super underrated player maybe if you’re a big-time baseball fan you wouldn’t call him super underrated but a lot of Rays players are jonathan Aranda will probably be starting at first base if you know Vlatty Jr gets beat out there but he’s hitting 325 and opsing at 897 and 243 at bats young controllable pieces hit the ball incredibly hard and there’s not a lot of letup in that lineup the Royals exploited them a little bit back when they faced off on the road but that was a Rays team that was playing much differently than they are right now they got a ton of confidence that offense is thriving and Chris Bubich um Michael Walka and Michael Lorenzan are going to have their work cut out for them in this one cuz the Rays at 43 and 35 have a believe 5 and a half game lead over the Royals in the wildard race kansas City’s two games back of Seattle at this point in time seattle and Cleveland I should say tampa Bay is the number one wildcard team and they’re three games up so actually uh just five games back I believe it is so yeah the Royals trail the Rays by five games this is your chance to gain a little bit of ground i mean if you can take two of three pick up a game on them you would have gone five and one against Tampa in the season series and anytime you can stack up those series wins against the teams ahead of you that’s going to be very important when you look back at the end of the year in September it’s not to say that the series against the Dodgers at the end of this week is not important because it is but if you go out there and play well against Tampa Bay it allows you some cushion against the Dodgers and so I will say this I feel that this series against Tampa Bay is really going to dictate how the rest of the week goes i understand that two games may dictate it like if they win the first two games I feel that they can absolutely have a 500 home stand and that’s what I feel it’s going to take to be called a successful home stand you’ve got two incredibly talented teams that you are facing and if you had the 4-2 road trip you pair that nicely with a three and three home stand against the Rangers Padres’s Rays and Dodgers you would have gone seven and five and though you’d still be two games under 500 you know those are some really tough teams out of the way you’re not facing the Rays again you’re not facing the Dodgers again you then would have to take on Seattle who’s just ahead of you in the wildard race and this is right the first time the Royals and Mariners will be playing this year i don’t believe they’ve played just yet like I said all these series like to blend together for me um but the Mariners are just 39 and 37 and that’s who’s on deck or in the hole I should say for the Royals and their schedule you go to Arizona after that and then you come back home to wrap up the first half with the Pirates at home and then the New York Mets only one of those teams the rest of the way is under 500 as of right now arizona’s one game over 500 but even if they are under 500 when the Royals face him that’s a team that’s really not a sub 500 team there’s a lot of talent in that lineup they just can’t pitch worth a darn tampa Bay I will say this with the pitching matchups that they have Taj Bradley has one of the highest qualified ERAs you know out there 495 RA amongst starters believe that’s top five highest ERA uh in the American League and Chris Bubich going for the Royals then you’ve got Drew Rasmusen who the Royals saw the Royals will see the same three starters they saw at George M steinbrunner Field in the series at Kaufman Stadium ras Muen’s been great 2.61 61 RA but the Royals did enough against him last time out and they hammered Shane Baz who’s got a 4.79 ERA this year so there’s some favorable matchups for the Royals against Tampa and then against the Dodgers they’re going to have uh Seth Lugo going or actually it’ll be Noah Cameron game one Seth Lugo game two and Chris Bubich game three for the Dodgers so those are the matchups that we will be seeing all week long not sure yet um who the Dodgers will be throwing not sure they’ve announced it but I’ll try to keep you as posted as best as I can as for the offensive numbers here’s why it’s important to take care of business against Tampa Bay cuz these are two teams that are top five in hitting the Dodgers have the number one batting average in all of baseball at 264 the Rays are at 256 which is tied for fifth in all of baseball ops Dodgers are number one tampa Bay is 11th and we look at some of these teams that are high in that category the Yankees they are number two on this list the Royals didn’t win one game against them this year uh you look at Detroit a team that has given the Royals problems so far they’re sixth in that department um Boston is a team that took two of three from the Royals they’re seventh in that department the Athletics 10th offensively uh they swept the Royals in three games last week and then you look at some of these teams that struggle on the offensive side of things the Royals swept the Rangers they’re 28th in OPS the Royals have a winning record against the White Sox they’re dead last the Royals took two of three out of the Giants they’re 24th the Royals did only take one of three from the Padres’s but were competitive in all three the Padres’s were 22nd in OPS the Royals also have the winning or the uh a season series win against the Orioles the Orioles are 21st in that department so when they face those teams that aren’t as great offensively doesn’t really matter where those teams pitching staffs are the Royals have been very competitive against them when they face teams that are elite offensively top 10 in the league they have not fared well so it’s going to be a huge test for them as they get the Rays and the Dodgers coming up uh beginning tomorrow night it’ll be Chris Bubich on the bump going up against Taj Bradley what do you think the Royals need to do on this home stand for you to consider it a success let us know in the YouTube comments below but that’s going to do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network i have been your host Jack Johnson thank you for making Lockdown Royals your first listen today for your second check out the allnew Locked on MLB Game Night every game every night all season long get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast i’m hoping that I can get the episode out by 12:30 tomorrow i want to I promise I’m trying to keep that uh guarantee moving forward this connection issue has just been a problem though for about the last two to three weeks as you know if we get him fixed maybe he’ll be on Streamyard tomorrow morning but I’m really going to try to record on Zoom too tomorrow morning so I don’t have to record twice in one day but until tomorrow you take it easy Kansas City

The Royals have been making some notable decisions lately, especially when it comes to their bullpen management. Instead of sticking to traditional late-inning roles, they’ve been using a more flexible, matchup-based approach to finish games. Meanwhile, top catching prospect Carter Jensen was promoted to Triple-A Omaha, a sign the organization wants to accelerate his development and possibly prepare him for a future big-league role. As the Royals kick off a six-game homestand, all eyes will be on whether the bullpen can hold up in close games and if this stretch at home can help the team build some momentum.

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