Comments on: It’s time to play “Let’s Jerk Alex Gordon Around!”

By: dexterismyhero

dexterismyhero — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:01:58 +0000

It’s the Royals. Who cares.

By: raffy7

raffy7 — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:40:53 +0000

Matthew Pouliot never ceases to baffle me with his knee-jerk articles. It seems like the pieces he writes tend to be extreme over-reactions to the smallest of happenings. I have commented before on this tendency. He recently wrote really aggressive pieces on Jeff Samardzija and Kevin Kouzmanoff, calling for both of their heads after a bad first week of the season. Now, yet another article that takes the “sky is falling” mentality to a rather inconsequential occurrence.
I completely support the belief that the Royals have handled Alex Gordon in disastrous fashion, wasting prime development years of a potential star. They have not shown any ability to create a plan on how to advance Gordon’s career. Until this year, they have never really fully committed to him, and now that they have, it is finally paying dividends. Which brings us to last night’s “jerking around” of Gordon. All they did was put him at first base for one night. That’s it. Nothing devastating about it. They didn’t try to send Gordon down to AAA or tell him that he wouldn’t be heading back to the outfield. In fact, Gordon was still in the #3 spot in the lineup. The guy just had a 19-game hitting streak. There is no threat to KC’s confidence in Gordon, as he has clearly been one of the bright spots thus far.
What this really says is that the team is losing patience with Kila Ka’aihue. He is the one they benched (Granted, they were terrible at handling Ka’aihue last year as well). If anything, the move shows that they think Gordon can handle playing a few games in the infield (where he has spent much of his career). The team wants to get the most out of their lineup, so they sat the guy who is hitting .186. They gave Jarrod Dyson one night of action (As Puliout said, this team should be exploring what their young players can do). This team is certainly geared towards the future rather than the present, but part of Ned Yost’s job is to try to win some games. If you have lost 7 of 9 (as Pouliot notes), shouldn’t it be permissible to bench your underachieving 1st baseman and get some more offensive help into the lineup? In an effort to give Mike Aviles and Wilson Betemit more at-bats, sitting Getz and Ka’aihule seems reasonable (especially if it is not wise to bring up Eric Hsomer yet).
The Royals have not handled Alex Gordon well in his young career; however, last night’s lineup is not cause for alarm.

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:22:06 +0000

“However, without knowing Gordon’s own opinion of it, it’s hard to say that he’s being ‘jerked around.’”

That’s also a good point. If you’re Gordon, don’t you want to have that kind of versatility on your resume?

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:18:56 +0000

Is it really so unreasonable to ask a player with a ton of experience playing the infield to play some infield now and again? Hot start notwithstanding, Gordon isn't a superstar. He doesn't have the luxury of being some infinitely fragile artifact that's going to shatter if you take it out of it's hermetically-seal chamber, or ask it to play a little first base. If you're Carl Crawford (cold start notwithstanding this time), you can say that you only want to play left field, and teams will accept that because you're a unique talent. If you're Alex Gordon, forget it. You're replaceable. Plus, there's the small matter of he's going to be fine. A million players have done this before without incident. Get ready to throw data point one million and one on that pile.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:18:14 +0000

I agree that the move seems questionable. However, without knowing Gordon’s own opinion of it, it’s hard to say that he’s being “jerked around.”

Plus, I’m sure none of the Royals object to Yost managing as if they have a chance this season. That’s exactly what he should do until events on the field prove otherwise. Playing as if the season’s over in April may have a worse effect on players’ development than the occasional idiosyncratic lineup decision.

By: Matthew Pouliot

Matthew Pouliot — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:15:17 +0000

whoops

By: rmalmstrom

rmalmstrom — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:09:20 +0000

15 homers?