Joey Nelthon

BrandX, I totally agree with you. You and I have both been preaching Joe Nelson as the closer. I'm glad someone finally listened... or did they? This closer by committee is probably the dumbest thing I've heard the Royals do in awhile b/c they are leaving Burgos in the mix. He obviously can, and can't, do the job. Most likely, the culprit (as has been stated) is his lack of command. Obviously, even the great ones struggle with their command on some nights, but they do this rarely while Burgos does this nightly. Clearly, he cannot control his pitches the way he needs to to get ML outs. Send him down. Let him learn. bring up Leo Nunez (who I think has potential as a closer) and put him in the committee. See if Sisco can do it (now he thinks he's been tipping his pitches, but Bob McClure should have seen this months ago) or try Dohmann... or, try Mike Wood when he gets healthy since he can't make it through a lineup more than once anyway... he's a 2 innings max pitcher.

Other thoughts:

1. Greinke stays in Wichita so the Wranglers can compete for a MinorLeague Championship before they leave town.
2. Hochevar gets his first taste of MLB tonight at Burlington.
3. I hate Runelvys b/c every time I give up on him, he pitches an above-average game, making me think that he could be a decent 4-5 pitcher.
4. I agree with 810 radio in KC that the royals will take next year and just suck. None of the youngsters will be here, and they will take the year to eat salaries. An intriguing idea was that they will let Berroa go and eat his salary, trade Mike and eat his salary, keep Bell and eat his salary, keep elarton and eat his salary, and keep Reggie and eat his salary. Meaning, we'll probably be looking at Limey back next year and also another 100 loss season.
a. delay gratification and things (2008) will be much better.
b. in this scenario, i'm ok with keeping Buddy Bell and it makes sense that Moore stands behind him. I feel like an idiot for not seeing this strategy before and Bell must feel like a father who sees his wife cheating on him with an upcoming new stepfather (i.e., Moore is probably courting ideas and people for Manager in 2008 and buddy is just interim daddy). If he doesn't realize this, then HE is dumber than advertised b/c he is a "baseball man" and should know how these things work.
5. Whitlock's article didn't suck hard today. Wow.