But could you imagine a statue of him diving into the crowd with a fat horrified Sox fan getting ready to take Gordo’s nuts to his face?
Honest question- is he really going to get a statue? If it were up to me, I’d say yes. I’m extremely biased because his of Nebraska roots. I didn’t grow up a royals fan, so it’s hard for me to put his career in perspective.
He's only the third guy to play his entire 14+ year career entirely with the team and is top 5 in multiple counting stats. Plus infinite gold gloves and one of the biggest hits in franchise history. Now him getting a statue probably says something about the franchise, but he's more deserving of it than any player KC has had since the 80s. I think he deserves one.
Obviously Alex will live forever in bronze beyond the left field wall. (Surely the finger in the air rounding 1st pose, even though he’s the greatest defensive LFer in MLB history [a huge section of the HoF will be dedicated to his gold/platinum gloves imo]). But the real question is where does Alex rank on the Royals all time. George forever and always 1. But is Alex 2? Frank, Willie, Amos, Sabes, Appier, Splitt, Monty? I think Alex has a better resume than any of them for KC. Which begs the next question. George, Frank, and Dick’s numbers are retired. If Alex is 2nd all time, shouldn’t we retire #4 the same day we reveal his statue?
He's 4th all time for Royals position players in WAR (tied with White, I might add). He's behind Appier, Saberhagen and Gubicza as well. So in WAR terms, he'd be 7th. But considering his postseason heroics and the hardware, I'd have no qualms putting him around 4-5 all time. The retired number thing I'm torn on. Brett, HOF, sure. Howser, died tragically, won a Series, I get. Ned will be retired shortly. White was a fan favorite and KC native... not sure he totally belongs but I see it. If White is up there, I think Gordon deserves it. But it also may be a bit of a stretch.
I predict that Alex will be pretty quiet in retirement for a few years, then the next time we really see him he'll be +25-30 lbs. He's been a beast with his diet and fitness. He deserves to let 'er go a little.
I need to know what happened with him. Why did the baseball start looking like a volleyball all of a sudden
If they lose either of these guys because they refuse to cut Bubba I will personally burn down Dayton’s house....haha, jk Spoiler Not really
Bubba in 91 career games: .204/.246/.298 slash line with an OPS+ of 44 -1.6 WAR (including -0.5 dWAR). So while the perception is that he's a defensive wizard, the metrics don't exactly agree. I think we've seen enough here. Let him go, it just isn't going to happen for him.
Bubba needs to go. I don't even care if he turns into a decent bat somewhere else. It's not going to happen in KC, so be gone. I'm not convinced that either Seuly or Khalil are going to work out either, but at least there's a chance with one/both of them.
Nostalgia.... The 2014-15 Kansas City Royals Were One Of Baseball’s Great Underdog Stories https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...were-one-of-baseballs-great-underdog-stories/
I like it too. Crazy to see the Royals go after an OBP guy. It may not work out...he may be too far past his prime...but it's a good signing.