Alex Gordon's .219 Batting Average Is Zero Cause For Concern

On January 6 of this year, the Royals announced free agent Alex Gordon would remain in Kansas City. Kansas City, a franchise with a grand history of drafting and developing players to be traded for cash every July. Kansas City, the proud owners of a 29-year playoff drought. Yes, Kansas City was resigning a franchise player following a World Series victory. And how has the man repaid the Royals thus far? With a .219 batting average through August 18 and a stint on the DL earlier this year due to a fractured wrist. So KC fans, how's that $72 million, four-year contract looking now? I say it's still worth it.

I watched my first Royals game in about a long time on Monday, and in Gordon's first at-bat he was walked. People who follow the team should know where I'm going here. After first taking a called strike, Gordo sat back and watched three straight balls go by. And when a 90 mph fastball came in, he watched that strike slide by as well. Sitting now at 3-2, Gordon fouls off two more pitches before taking a base on the fourth ball of the battle. An 8-pitch gem of an appearance, and the start to just another day at the office for Alex Gordon.

Gordon had an otherwise decent night with two hits and a run scored, but that second inning battle is what makes him the player the Royals need. While historically low enough to believe he'll bounce back, the .219 batting average is bad. How bad? Gordon hasn't played enough games to qualify for statistical comparison in the MLB, but if he did he would rank second to last in the AL - only Chicago's Todd Frazier is worse and currently sits at #77 among qualified batters with a .210 average. Yet Frazier and Gordon aren't comparable, and it's not even close.

Despite the abysmal batting average, Alex Gordon has an on-base percentage of .321 - a full ten percent greater. He ranks 37th in walks with 38 this season despite missing June. (That's 38 walks in 86 games - a walk in almost 50 percent of games played.)

Walks aren't just important because they get a player on base. Unlike a single, they don't advance a player from third to home. However, they WEAR PITCHERS DOWN. Alcides Escobar can secure the occasional first pitch hit (if you recall, the very first pitch of the 2015 World Series was a fastball over the plate that resulted in an inside-the-park home run). However, in this era of micromanaged pitch counts and overburdened bullpens, an 8-pitch at-bat is one of the best weapons a team can have.

After Gordon hit a double in the sixth inning on the sixth pitch of the at-bat after taking three balls, and Detroit's pitcher was lifted. Daniel Norris had only thrown 88 pitches, and Gordon had seen 16 of them. If you're counting at home, that's 19 percent of the team's time in the box with Norris.

Alex Gordon can snatch the occasional home run, will steal a base or two (six so far this year), and be a smart baseball player. As a four-time gold glove winner and 2014 platinum glove winner (an award whose creation I remain dubious to), his defensive skills are beyond reproach. Yet he can't be valued as just a great defensive player. His lifetime batting average is .265, and as a 32-year-old we know that number isn't going to finish anywhere close to .300 at the end of his career. Yet Gordon is not a replacement level bat. Gordon takes pitchers out of the game because he makes them tired. He doesn't jack home runs regularly, but creates the conditions under which Moustakas and Hosmer can. And that's why he's still worth every penny he's getting paid.



Oh yeah, here's that lead-off, inside-the-park home run that Escobar jacked off Matt Harvey in the World Series when the Royals beat the Mets in five games and were the best team in the world and made everyone happy.




September 9 Update: Out of curiosity I looked up Gordon's stats this afternoon. In the past thirty days he ranks seventh among all qualified outfielders (and first among left fielders) with a .394 on-base percentage. He's also 10th in both batting average (.305) and slugging (.547) among outfielders. Not MVP numbers, but certainly indicative of a player on the right track. Once again, Gordon's BA of .219 as of August 18 was zero cause for concern.

Which League Increases Pitchers Salaries?

It was announced yesterday that the Royals have acquired Johnny Cueto; a necessary move if they hope to win the World Series this year (that's how the organization felt, and I'm of like opinion). And as an NL pitcher (Cueto played for the Reds) sheds the responsibility of batting in his new AL home, I question which league most impacts the salaries of pitchers.

I used to believe the NL made pitchers marginally cheaper for AL teams. The American League doesn't care if a pitcher can hit. But in the National League, a guy with 92 mph heat who carries a .350 OBP could be more valuable than a slightly harder slinger who strikes out the majority of his at-bats. Obviously the arm is the most important function of a pitcher's value, but batting is a consideration that NL personnel offices must pay attention to. That makes pitchers who can manufacture hits worth more, and those that can't worth less. AL teams then have the opportunity to swoop in and acquire those pitchers that can't hit, because they ascribe a different value to hitting (essentially, zero).

However, the pendulum swings the other way too: AL teams have an opportunity cost NL teams don't concern themselves with in the designated hitter. Using Kansas City as an example, the Royals acquired Kendrys Morales this year to be their designated hitter. Morales should never be playing first base for the Royals - while he's technically the backup to Eric Hosmer, expect a quick call-up from Omaha for Balbino Fuenmayor to play the position.

So what do the Royals pay for the privilege of having Morales on the roster, despite the fact he should never field the ball? His current deal is worth $17 million* over two years, and that's not at the high end of the spectrum. Alex Rodriguez obviously pulls in the most dough (due $21 million cash money in 2015), while David Ortiz will make $16 million, and Nelson Cruz and Nick Swisher will pull down $15 million this year. Only two teams (Houston and AnaheimLA) aren't paying at least $3 million for the position. Morales makes the median salary for DHs in the MLB at $8.5 million.

What does an NL team gain in avoiding the opportunity cost of carrying a designated hitter on the roster? The average NL payroll this year is $124 million (inflated by the insane spending of the Dodger), and the median payroll is $105 million (Milwaukee Brewers). That means if the Brewers were the Royals of the AL, 8.1% of their payroll would be going to Kendrys Morales. In this scenario, Ryan Braun is probably gone from Milwaukee. Unless they can develop one for cheap (doesn't happen), the Brewers would have to make a major decision in whether to be competitive by overpaying for a DH (I consider DH the most overpaid position in the league), or having a guy hitting .210 in the line up.

Or maybe not. If all NL teams are subject to the DH rule, the cost of pitchers would likely decrease. Cruz could command more money because 30 teams want him rather than 15, but all other positions would take a salary hit because NL teams would have less money to spend on non-DH positions. And that includes pitchers. Finite resources and all that jazz. I guess the takeaway is, blame the DH rule for inflated payrolls. And go Johnny Cueto.

*For consistency, all numbers should be in 2015 cash, not payroll hit.

Big News

As of Monday I've officially relocated to Center Square, which is within walking distance of both work and 75% of the bars in the city. It's the 2nd and 3rd floors of an apartment (to be shared with a couple work mates) with a pretty nice kitchen and all the storage room you could ever ask for. I mean you could hide dead hookers galore in all the closet space we've been provided. But bigger than this news was today's unveiling of the logo for next year's All-Star Game:



I hate the fact I've yet to see the renovated Kauffman Stadium (albeit the changes don't sound too impressive), but apparently some good has come out of it. I hate that, as Royal fans, we're always relegated to looking to the future instead of enjoying the present, but 2012 looks to be shaping up as an excellent year for KC.