Where does Dejesus fit in with this team

DDJ is maturing.  I think we can see that since he is 3rd on the team in RBI's and didn't play for about 2 weeks.  He may not be fast or a power hitter, but he hits left handed pitching fairly well, takes pitches and his OBP is decent.  I think last year was a down year for him and he will prove that this year.  Expect a BA around .300 with an OBP of .350 or so.

He get's good reads on flyballs and can play anywhere in the outfield.

What else do you want from the guy?

Yeah your right last year might have been a down year batting wise but he is an average center fielder at best and when he doesn't hit he's below average.  If our lineup was shaped differently maybe this guy would flourish. but compared to what he did when he came up it's disappointing.  I thought was had a 5 year all star in center field.

I guess me personally I don't want anything from the guy maybe some free tickets to a game..... 

Just trying to conversate

 the Royals fans on here are pretty weak(and I can understand why)......(i've talked to about 4) I need some ammo for the yankee fans they kill me over the royals

LOVE FAMILY GUY!!!!

Oh I too know the pain of the error message.  I type alot also it is very very annoying

I love the post though KId that's what I'm looking for.  A little forward thinking there...  I would be so down with getting Pena outta there.  The Royals have no room for a light hitting defensive shortstop.  He is a backup player at best.  I think Dejesus would be a great leadoff hitter it would lend itself to some of his better skills.  It wouldn't hurt to try would it (this lineup u have)?

I havn't seen hocheavor live yet I want to see what he's got!!

Ok, I know that guys have been all over Tony Pena Jr., and with good reason as far as hitting goes.  I always go back to the philosophy that pitching and defense go together.  Do you think our pitching would be as good if the defense was shaky? 

The game where he made the play in the hole to save the game in the 8th.  How about that?  He didn't perform well at the plate, but he did help win a game for us.  There are lots of ways to impact a game, not just hitting the ball.

KidDude, I like that your thinking.  I'm not exactly sure what you were smoking when you came up with that scenario, but I like the fact that your thinking.  If we did something drastic like that, it would have to be done in the offseason, or in Spring Training.  These guys just don't have the time to be learning a new position at the big leagues, especially shortstop.  Gordon seems to have the athletic ability to do it, but that would be quite a change from third to short.

Again, I like the fact that your thinking and it makes for good conversation.

Hehehehehehehe!  Family Guy fans know what I'm talking about!

PowdrBlue11,  I agree that spring training is the place to try people in new positions.  Not smoking anything illegal, just trying to stir up a bit of a friendly debate.  I see your point about the Pena play against Toronto, I was at that game and it was certainly a game saver.  However, if you have an outfield of DeJesus, Gathright and Guillen, you'll actually have an IMPROVED outfield over the current one.  A ball or two caught in the gap by Gathright that DeJesus wouldn't have caught up to may very well save a game as well.  The fact that Gathright can/could outhit Pena by 40 points and steal 30-40 more bases a season will probably win us several more games.  The only downfall that I see in my scenario is that we'ld lose a lot of defense at the shortstop position.  There is also the possiblility that learning a new position may affect Gordon's offensive output. 

There's a second scenario that a friend of mine came up with.  It would also have Teahen moving back to third, moving Gordon to first and either putting Callaspo at short or calling up Aviles from Omaha to play short.  This scenario is a credible one to me too. 

I don't mind the scenario where Gordon moves to first, but then that makes Butler an exclusive DH.  He hasn't played that bad at first so far this year, actually he's played pretty well.

I will give you that Gathright's bat is much better than TPJ's and he will obviously steal more bases, but I'm not with you on Gathright getting to more balls than DeJesus.  He may not be as fast, but he get's better reads than Gath does.  Gathright just makes up for the late reads with speed.  DeJesus doesn't have that luxury.

I think that infield defense is more important than outfield defense (look at Manny, Chris Duncan, I could go on and on) therefore if the outfield defense is weaker than the infield, that's fine.

If only Gathright could play short!

Oh, and since we're putting ideas out there, how about this one.

We move Grud to short, since he has played the position before, see if Teahen can play second (he certainly has the athletic ability) and put DDJ in left and Gathright in center?

Discuss!

Oh, and since we're putting ideas out there, how about this one.

We move Grud to short, since he has played the position before, see if Teahen can play second (he certainly has the athletic ability) and put DDJ in left and Gathright in center?

Discuss

Pro:  again you get Gathright's bat in the lineup vs. Pena's  Again you're improving the outfield.

Con:  glove just as good at shortstop with some loss in range.   Asking Teahen to learn yet another position.   I like Teahen best at third.   Maybe Gordon at  2nd? 

Discuss, lol

I like you ideas, I was even saying to move Mark Teahen to shortstop. Since Tony Pena Jr. has been wearing those glasses at the plat he was been making contact, most of them right at people, but the more contact you make at some point the will start to fall. I think leave the infield as is. Give Billy Butler some more looks at first base. The outfield needs to look like this David DeJesus in lf, Joey Gathright in cf, and Mark Teahen in rf. That outfield can cover ground like we saw in sundays game, if are pitcher does make a mistake the outfield can cover that ground. The lineup I would leave David Dejesus in the leadoff roll, have Tony Pena Jr. hit 8th and Joey Gathright hit 9th so you have a back to back  "leadoff hitters".

Why all the hype for Gathright? His stats are terrible.

.255 BA, .283 OBP No Pop in his bat either.

Other than speed, which is useless unless he can get on base and steal on, what does he offer. DeJesus is gets to as many ball in the outfield and has a stronger arm. He also has some power.

I would like to see Callespo play a bit more at short. He has played OK defensively when in there.

Why would you want to move Gordon from 3rd. He is much better that Teahen defensively.

Except for the point about Gordon "is much better" than Teahan defensively I agree with Vestal01.   Teahan was a pretty solid glove at third until his shoulder gave out.   I think the difference is marginal.  

Gathright has been uneffective offensively this season... relying the vast majority of the time on trying to bunt for a hit which is a great attribute but you can't rely on it AB after AB.  he hit the ball well last season but so far doesn't seem like the same hitter.

The biggest problems with our offense right now are problems that most of us don't want to look at.   Billy Butler and Mark Teahan are completely punchless hitters at the moment.  I think many, myself included, thought 18-20 homers for Butler and 12-15 from Teahan and at the moment those seem riciculously out of reach.    I have been critical of Pena's complete inability to hit consistently but if the guys who are in the lineup to produce runs were doing so then Pena's anemic batting average wouldn't be such a focal point.