The Yankees may have started the 2005 season 11-19, but they hit rock bottom at 27-26 following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Royals in Kansas City. Though the Yanks got their revenge at home in August with a three-game sweep of their own, I’m sure the humiliation in KC is still fresh in the minds of the returning members of last year’s Bombers. Coming off a disappointing roadtrip in which they went 2-4 due to a pair of one-run loses, I imagine the Yankees are unusually fired up for the lowly Royals.
The Royals are once again the worst team in baseball, though in their defense they do have three solid arms in their bullpen (Burgos, Sisco and Dessens, and will have a fourth when Mike MacDougal gets back from the DL), and four solid bats to kick off their lineup (DeJesus, Grudzielanek, Sweeney and Sanders, though DeJesus could miss the entire Yankee series due to a strained left hamstring). They might even get something useful out of tomorrow and Thursday’s starters Jeremy Affeldt and Denny Bautista, but that’s the extent of it and everything’s relative to how bad the team was last year.
Looking at the members of the 2005 Royals who have been replaced on the 25-man roster for 2006 the thing that jumps out at me when is that only Shawn Camp has surfaced with another major league team. Ruben Gotay, Chip Ambres, Aaron Guiel, J.P. Howell, Leo Nunez and Kyle Snyder all remain in the Royals system but failed to break camp with the team (in part due to the Royals own mismanagement). Terrence Long, Super Joe McEwing, Alberto Castillo, Jose Lima and Brian Anderson are all major league vets who appeared with various teams as non-roster invitees this spring, but failed to catch on. D.J. Carrasco likely saw a similar future for himself and signed with Japan’s Kintetsu Buffaloes in February. That these eleven men, nearly half of the Royals 2005 roster, failed to make another team is, to me, proof that the Royals are essentially operating at replacement level.
Meanwhile, the thing Yankee fans will best remember about today’s Royals starter Joe Mays is that he was the guy who gave up Hideki Matsui’s opening day grand slam in 2003. Here’s hoping we see a repeat of that today.
