The Yanking of Johnny G

The manner in which Johnny Giavotella has been handled is somewhat mind boggling. Giavotella, who has pounded Minor League pitching to .308/.380/.443 career line, has been unable to break into the lineup as an everyday player for Kansas City. 

What is bizarre is that Giavotella isn't a holdover from a previous regime. No, he was a second round draft pick of the current administration. Different scouting director? Yes, but same general manager. 

The closest Giavotella has had in terms of regular at bats came last season following his call up. In that Giavotella was unable to perform at a high enough level to earn his spot for 2013, and after a poor Spring, he would eventually lose out to Chris Getz. 

On May 9, Giavotella would return to Kansas City but over a 29 game period, would only record 69 at bats with 15 starts. On June 11, Giavotella would be shipped back to Omaha and after tearing up the Pacific Coast League he would resurface in Kansas City following Chris Getz's season ending injury. Finally, I thought, Giavotella would get to be the guy in Kansas City. However, it hasn't been that way.

Sure Giavotella has been playing pretty regularly since his call up in mid-August, but even now I feel like the Royals haven't given him a chance to really get going, so I decided to check the game logs. In the 40 games since his return, Giavotella has started in all but 9. Here is what caught my eye: in the 10 games that Giavotella has not played, seven of them have come after Giavotella recorded a hit in his last game played. Here is the breakdown:

August 24: Giavotella goes 1-for-4 with an RBI at Boston. The following day Giavotella was given his first day off since his return.

September 1: Giavotella goes 1-for-3 with an RBI against Minnesota. Giavotella would then sit out the next two games.

September 5: Giavotella goes 1-for-4 against the Rangers. The following game Giavotella would not play.

September 20: Giavotella goes 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI against the White Sox. Giavotella would then sit out back to back games.

September 28: Giavotella goes 1-for-4 at Cleveland. Tonight he is not in the lineup.

For an organization that prides itself (even though they've have nothing to show for it) on player development, they don't appear to be trying to put Giavotella in the best position to succeed. Giavotella is a guy that is going to either start at second, or not be in the Major Leagues. He doesn't fit as a utility player. The Royals should have used two and a half months to start Giavotella 90% time. 

Giavotella has always been a slow starter and taken a few months to adjust to a new level. Ideally, those months should have already occurred and I fear that Giavotella has missed the small opportunity that the Royals actually granted him.

New Guy #1

Before I commence my days as a blogger, I want to start off by saying how proud I am of my good friend, Landon.  He started this blog just as a way to keep his love for baseball going during the off-season.  He kept it going, and it turned into one of the more popular Royals blogs you can find.  Unfortunately, he won't be able to contribute due to his new job, so he has asked myself and two other friends to continue to write for Royal Revival.  I am very excited for this opportunity and I hope I can write quality material, just as Landon has done.  He's very excited about where his career has taken him, and we couldn't be happier for our buddy!  Here's to Landon!

I'll make this short and sweet for my debut post.  I've been a Royals fan since I went to my first game back in '96.  I have attended the past 6 home openers and boy, have they been interesting.  My personal favorite was watching Gil Meche's dominant debut against the Red Sox in '07.  That same day began the Alex Gordon era, or as we called him at the time, "The Messiah".

I will do my very best to help run Royal Revival, discussing the news and rumors at hand with an unbiased view, leaving the pessimistic thoughts off the table.  I know the season is in the final stretch, with expectations far from met, but some things did look pretty nice this season: The monster year from Billy Butler, a.k.a. #CountryBreakfast (courtesy of @pcbearcat), solid performaces from both, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon, and of course, The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Sal Perez.  We have much to do this winter if we want to be successful next season, which is a given.  I get frustrated just like most Royals fans, but I won't give up hope.  Once October 3rd comes and goes, it'll be a new season.  Like Landon said in his very first post nearly three years ago: There is reason to be excited. There is reason to hope. And most importantly there is reason to expect a Royal Revival.  

That's me and I'm outta here (for the night),

Daniel Ware

Farewell

It is with mixed emotions that I am writing today to bid my readers a fond farewell. Over the past few years I have been proud to see this blog grow into something more than just a hobby. However, I am now at a point in my life where it would be inappropriate for me to be blogging about the Kansas City Royals. I am incredibly excited to be in the position that I now find myself in.

As you have probably noticed, over the past several months my blog entries have been few and far between. This is a result of the career path that I am currently on and after careful consideration I have finally decided on the future of this blog.

Fortunately, I am happy to say that Royal Revival will live on. Over the next week several new authors will be introduced into the fold and I have no doubt that the site will only improve from this day forward. I know each and every one of the new bloggers on a personal level and it comforts me to know that my blog will be continued by close friends. While there may be an adjustment period, I expect them each to be strong additions to Royal Revival.

One last time I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my material. What started out as an outlet for my love of baseball eventually became a site garnering more page views a day than I could have ever imagined. I expect Royal Revival to only continue to grow and with several new authors in the mix, material should be up on a much more regular basis.

Sincerely,


Landon