Trade deadline and voodoo dolls

Last night, the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins in their normal fashion: a few scattered hits, solid starting pitching, SHUTDOWN relief pitching, and a few pins jabbed into a voodoo doll of Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. You can see Ned Yost smiling like an idiot right after he sticks a pin in that Gardenhire doll. Below is proof:

There is absolutely nothing new to discuss about the Royals. They are still plodding along at a few games above .500; they are still not hitting home runs (or anything really); they are still bunting a lot; they are still not making splashy moves at the trade deadline to bring in a player who can hit the ball with authority. Oh that’s right, today is the non-waiver trade deadline. The Royals have been rumored to be in the mix for several starting and relief pitchers which is funny BECAUSE THEY DO NOT NEED PITCHING. Granted, they could use a LOOGY (left-handed relief specialist), especially since Scott Downs sucks, but I think they are fine with what they have. 

Rather, they should be targeting a bat to beef up their lineup. And I am sorry but I have no suggestions for who they should target. The Royals traded Danny Valencia so they are sticking with Mike Moustakas at third base, so the only position they can really go after is right field. The only right fielders who are available (Marlon Byrd) are OLD and aren’t really hitting this season.  Plus Byrd costs too much. Maybe the Royals should go after Matt Kemp from the Dodgers and throw wads of cash at him. He wouldn’t come to KC though, and David Glass won’t be throwing wads of cash at anyone either. 

This is a tough part of the season to be a Royals fan; on the one hand, the Royals are in second place and 3.5 games out of one of the wild card spots. On the other hand, they are behind 4 teams for that wild card spot and are 5 games behind Detroit and probably won’t win the AL Central division. Adding the right player could boost their chances, but there seems to be a lack of players of available that they need. If they don’t add any players, they have to hope the current roster goes on a tear. The Royals have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the season (although they have 7 games against the MLB’s best team, the Oakland A’s), and barring any moves they might make today, KC fans have to hope Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Salvador Perez can hit well enough to win about 60% of our remaining games, and that James Shields, Bruce Chen, Ace Ventura, Danny Duffy and Jeremy Guthrie limit the damage from other teams enough to get the ball to Wade Davis and Greg Holland. And Ned Yost, PLEASE STOP PUTTING SCOTT DOWNS IN THE GAME. HE SUCKS.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but it certainly feels like come September 30, Royals fans will be on the edge of the Kit Bond bridge threatening to jump into the Missouri River when they become fans of the franchise with the longest playoff drought in the history of the world. I personally will be looking for 1,000 pins and a doll of Ned Yost...