Comparison Shopping

Jayson Werth is on the verge of winning a World Series. Mark Teahen is on the verge of getting traded. That’s about the only difference between the two players. Oh, and Teahen plays two more defensive positions at a high level.
So, how do the Phillies win it all with Werth, and the Royals are playing the blame game with Teahen? The answer is Ryan Howard. And Jimmy Rollins. And in a round about way, David Ortiz.

How so?

Statiscally speaking, Mark Teahen and Jayson Werth are nearly exact copies of one another through their first 500 career games. (Werth is at 460 career, Tea is at 532) Werth has more homeruns, Tea more Doubles and triples. In another comparison I discovered that the first 2 full seasons of Alex Gordon and J.D. Drew were distinctly similar. So, the question becomes, why are the Royals not better? They have the clones of Jayson Werth and J.D. Drew, plus the uniquely talented David Dejesus. Why not more runs, why not a better offense?

No boppers. No Ryan Howard, No David Ortiz. No MVP shortstop scoring all those runs. It all comes back to talent, and the Royals do not have enough. They are missing one key element from their offensive lineup. That’s a phrase that can be applied to both teams at the Truman Sports Complex. In Football no team can contend without a top-shelf quarterback. Even if he doesn’t throw for 300 a game, a quarterback drives the rest of the offense and controls what the defense must do to prepare for the rest of the team on each play. A true slugger, an offensive force, drives the batting order and effects what pitches are thrown to every other batter in the order. He impacts the game in a way no other non-pitcher does. Look at what Manny Ramirez did to the Dodger lineup this past fall. Or the effect Albert Pujols had on the otherwise pedestrian Cardinal Lineup.
The Royals are considering trading Teahen for a similar player, maybe 2. They have discussed trading a power arm from the minor leagues for the next Crash Davis, a minor league homerun guy. Why? Why get rid of pieces of the puzzle when you can see where they would fit on a successful team. The Phillies actively pursued Werth because they knew he would fit a role on a successful team. Of course they also had Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard already in their lineup.

So who is the guy? Who will be the man for the Royals? Billy Butler? Mike Moustakas? I don’t know, but I know they need to find him soon.

Longing

The first thing I did when I moved out of my parent’s house was to start my own Sports Illustrated subscription. The second thing I did was turn on the power.
This past month was the first month of my life with no S.I. My parents have read it my entire lifetime, and so have I. When that last issue came, and I said to my wife that I would be fine if we let it go for a while, I really didn’t thing it would be an issue. I was wrong.
I reach for it daily, I long for it at night when she tucks in with the latest Nicholas Sparks. I have alternatives, sure. Car and Driver, The Kansas City Star, even the internet have filled the gaps, but not completely. I grabbed an issue of S.I. at the gym today, and instantly realized I can go no longer. Tough economy or not, I need. My S.I.
I think my wife will understand, even if we have to turn off the power.

Honeymoon.

Zero expectations. That is usually a comment saved for long-terrible programs, new coaching staffs and Baylor. You don’t often here it applied to the National Champions. But that is exactly what Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are looking at this year. No expectations. They don’t have to win the conference, they don’t have to go deep in the tournament, they don’t need another Elite 8 or Final Four appearance to satisfy the fan base. The fans are going to enjoy this one. 20 years ago, NCAA sanctions, a departing coach and a swarm of uncertainty sapped the fun out of KU’s 1988 National Championship.

In November of 1988 KU was hit with NCAA sanctions that prohibited its participation in the 1989 NCAA tournament, making KU the first NCAA basketball champion that would be barred from defending its title.

With those memories still haunting the minds of many long time Jayhawks, the brief period of uncertainty following the 2008 national title must have felt like Déjà vu. One Coach Self re-committed himself fully to Lawrence, the cloud was lifted and the fans were able to relish in victory like never before.

The departure of all but one major contributor (Junior guard Sherron Collins) from last year’s squad has given Coach Self’s Jayhawks a full-scale honeymoon period. Every stumble along the path, every tough loss, every poor performance will be answered with the same replies from KU’s faithful. “We got our title, these kids are just starting.” “Wait till these guys are juniors like Mario”. It just doesn’t matter. The banner hangs high, the pride soars to the rafters, but the expectations have never been lower. For one year anyway.

Its been a while

I take long breaks from this place quite often, but this time I had a good reason. His name is Owen.
I am planning to return to regular posting starting with the next post.
Should be fun.


AO