If the phrase “Lima Time!” still rings a bell for you, there’s a reason.
José Lima’s 2003 run with the Royals came out of nowhere: a team off to a blistering start, a rotation thinned by injuries and poor pitching, and then Lima arriving after being cut loose by the Tigers and pitching in the Independent Atlanta League to open that season. He was a former 20-game winner, but he had also posted a 7.77 ERA in 68.1 innings for Detroit in 2002.
His first Royals start that year was shaky - 4 runs in 6 innings and a no-decision in a game Kansas City won after rallying for two runs in the ninth off Giants closer Tim Worrell - and then everything flipped. Lima won seven straight starts and put up a dazzling 1.65 ERA.
At the time, it looked like the Royals had found their ace. In hindsight, the warning signs were there: over that stretch, his 3.4% K-BB% hinted at trouble ahead.
Sure enough, he finished 1-3 over his last six starts with a 10.65 ERA, and Lima time didn’t last.
That’s the lens for Randy Dobnak now. The shiny 2.00 ERA is nice, but the 3.3% K-BB% is the part that makes the comparison to Lima hard to ignore.
Still, this Royals club isn’t chasing a playoff spot the way that 2003 team was, so there’s no harm in riding Dobnak time as long as it holds up. Ideally, it holds up at least one more night.
Standing in the way is Reid Detmers, and he’s not exactly a soft landing. Detmers was the 47th-best prospect in MLB when he came off the list in 2022, and the profile still makes sense: a nasty curveball, real flashes of brilliance, and just enough inconsistency to keep him from becoming the true ace the Angels want.
Since the start of last year, he’s posted a 3.99 ERA and has been worth 3.0 fWAR this season, but the ride has been bumpy. He’s also had one eye-popping peak this year, a 14-strikeout, 1-hit, 0-walk outing against Texas.
Right now, though, Detmers is rolling. Over his last five starts, covering 26.1 innings, he’s put up a 2.39 ERA with 33 strikeouts and only 8 walks. The catch: he’s gone 0-2 in that stretch because the Angels’ offense has been… lackluster.
The pitch mix is part of what makes him tricky. The curveball doesn’t grade as well anymore from a stuff standpoint, but it’s still getting the job done along with the changeup.
The slider may be the real problem pitch for opposing hitters, though, since he throws it second-most behind his fastball. That’s the one Kansas City will need to keep from taking over the game.
There is one more encouraging note for the Royals: Detmers has a 6.35 ERA against them in four starts and two relief appearances in his career. He already faced Kansas City earlier this season and gave up 3 runs in 5 innings in a game the Royals won when Jac Caglianone tied it with a ninth-inning homer and Lane Thomas finished it in the 10th. This time, Kansas City gets Caglianone in the lineup from the start, and maybe that’s enough to tilt things again.
In Other News...
Royals Downtown Ballpark Plan Hits A Crucial New City Hurdle
The Royals push for a new downtown ballpark is heading into a key stretch, with Kansas City officials set to review the funding and rezoning package tied to the project. The plan calls for the stadium to rise on the south side of Crown Center at 26th and Gillham, a site that has already become the center of plenty of public debate as the team tries to move its long-term home into the heart of the city.
The next step comes as the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee takes up the proposal at City Hall, with the political clock now working against everyone involved. A local group is pressing for a public vote before any city money is committed, and the council has a late-August deadline to act if it wants to keep the question from landing on November ballots. [Read more 🡒]
Caglianone Is Becoming The Royals Lineup Force They Needed
Since the start of August, Jac Caglianone has started to look less like a promising bat and more like a middle-of-the-order problem for opposing pitchers. The Royals have gotten a hit from him in every game he has played this month, a run that has included a 12-game hitting streak and six multihit outings, the kind of steady production Kansas City has been chasing as it tries to lengthen its lineup.
That latest surge showed up again at Angel Stadium, where Caglianone went 3-for-4 with a career-high five RBIs in the Royals 7-6 win, highlighted by a two-run homer off a left-hander. He has been driving the ball with authority all month, hitting .446 with five homers and 18 RBIs in 49 plate appearances, and the question now is less about whether he belongs in the lineup than how much more damage he can keep doing as the games get bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Cannot Ignore This Lineup Need If They Want To Contend
The Royals have spent much of this season sorting through where the roster still falls short of a true contender, and second base has become one of the clearest spots on the checklist. Michael Massey has handled the position most of the year and has taken a step forward from last season, but the overall production still looks like something Kansas City will have to address if it wants to move beyond simply staying in the mix.
Pitching will get plenty of offseason attention, but the middle infield cannot be treated as a minor detail. The Royals need more certainty and more impact at second base than they have gotten so far, which leaves the front office weighing how aggressive it wants to be in finding an upgrade and how to best manage Massey's role as the roster gets reshaped for a more serious push. [Read more 🡒]