Offense Options

In light of the one run the Royals scored against Texas starter Sidney Ponson yesterday afternoon, and in preparation for the dismal offense we'll probably get tonight against C.C. Sabathia, I'm going to write about how we can get out act together.

Well, first, let's review Ponson's stats from last year so we can get a sense of how pathetic the offense was yesterday.

2-5, 37.7 IP, 29 ER, 6.93 ERA, 1.88 WHIP

And his line yesterday?

8 IP, 6 hits, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Um, yeah. There's an issue.

So you know what I say? Obviously, we need a change.

Call up Ryan Shealy.

I am dead serious. Right now, Ross Gload is playing first base and batting in the middle of the lineup. Gload is 32, a career-long backup, and not part of our future as a club. Shealy is still in his 20's and while I don't really view him as our long- term first baseman, I think he's a better option at first than Gload.

Here's why.

Gload is very valuable as a pinch-hitter. If you've got him on the bench, that means late in games you've got Gload and German to pinch hit, for sure. Because of Trey Hillman shaking up the lineup all the time, sometimes you'd have different combinations of Callaspo, Gathright, Buck and Olivo, most of the time. Except that when Shealy gets called up, you've got to send somebody down, and for me that'd be Callaspo.

Just an idea. Something needs to happen, but I am not desperate enough to go out and sign Barry Bonds and bring that whole circus here. This town is too small for something like that.

Game time in 1 hour 41 minutes!