The last thing Tony Pena Jr. needs is one more guy behind a keyboard pointing out how bad he is at hitting, but here goes, quickly, I hope, followed by something that may or may not resemble a point:
Pena is now hitting .100. This is preposterously bad, and has inspired more than one of you to e-mail in and say that if the Mendoza line is hitting .200, then the Pena line should be .100.
His full numbers are .100/.143/.125, which is bad enough for a .268 OPS and -28 OPS+. Kobe Bryant hit 85.6 percent of his free throws last season, meaning he's as good a bet to hit a free throw as Pena is to make an out.
That OPS would rank 38th among 51 National League pitchers with 25 or more plate appearances*.
* But, as a friend points out, how many of those pitchers have a 0.00 career ERA? Huh?
Pena is in good company among light-hitting shortstops for the Royals, enough that the guys playing that position for the Royals this year are hitting .200/.230/.257, a .487 OPS that, while better than ANY National League team's pitchers, is significantly worse than any other position for any team.
The next-worst are the Twins' second basemen, who are hitting .197/.258/.255, a .513 OPS.
This comes up today because Pena came up last night in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs and put together one of the better at bats of his career...and ended up striking out.
There is no guarantee that a better hitting shortstop would've come through in that situation, of course. Even Hanley Ramirez makes an out 60 percent of the time. But there was a near guarantee that Pena WASN'T getting a hit in that situation, one more night where the bottom of the Royals' lineup is hemorrhaging outs.
Look, this is nothing new. Pena is, by everything I've seen and heard, a terrific guy. He's pretty good defensively, though not Ozzie Smith like some in the Royals' dugout and front office want you to believe.
But he absolutely should not be on a major league roster, especially not one with Luis Hernandez*, who is essentially Pena except younger and with options. The Royals weren't a powerhouse to begin with, and have only been crushed by injuries, but this one can't be blamed on any sort of bad luck.
* Hernandez -- who entered the game hitting .195/.233/.195 -- actually pinch hit for Pena in the 7th inning, which, you know, is a pretty good description of where this team is. And then, Tug Hulett pinch hit for Hernandez, which is a bizarre string of moves from the manager, and more thoughts on him this afternoon.
That he was on the opening day roster and has been for going on three years is an indictment on the Royals' farm system, and has been since last season, when all of this became obvious. It's one of the reasons J.J. Picollo is now the scouting director.
If the Royals' system isn't in a better place in a few years, J.J. will be replaced.
Depending on other factors, maybe Dayton Moore, too.
" I'll take the .285 OBP...it's better than what we've got now..."
Actually Francouer's .285 is significantly worse than Jose Guillen's .342 OBP. And Frenchy's slugging of .351 is even more pathetic than Guillen's .397. And his numbers have gone down every year he's played but one.
If Francouer could play shortstop his .636 OPS would only be better than four SS's in baseball.
No on Francouer.