Billy Butler is a hitter, today, tomorrow, next year. Leave him alone. If you want to see Omaha, take I-29 north and shut the heck up

Just let the fat boy hit.

I'd like to digress from from search for jazz negatives to talk just a bit about Billy Butler. Sam Mellinger brought this to mind in a Star column and Kevin Scobee added his own thoughts of KoK, which is an excellent read.

The fans here are so enamored with the future, with what MIGHT be someday (If you are a Royals fan this all too familiar…), they don’t recognize what they already have. One poster on the Star column about Billy said something so damned dumb I can’t get it out of my head. He said he was MAD at Billy for “keeping his average above .300" because that was keeping "us" from getting a look at Clint Robinson, the next flavor-of- the-month in Omaha.

Mad at Billy Butler for not failing! Mad at Billy Butler for hitting .300! What on earth has sports come to in this society? This guy thinks the next Mickey Mantle is in Omaha held back by a .300 hitter in Kansas City. If I'm not mistaken, the intelligentsia among the fan base once thought Kia was being held back by Billy. Were they the same ones clamoring for the Hawaiian to be optioned back to Omaha when he fizzled? Probably.

Now, they want to trade the only proven .300 hitter on the team.

I’m sure Oakland or Boston would be in the market for Mr. Butler. They subscribe to the theory that stolen bases are not a good risk most of the time, that hitters who have patience and only swing at good pitches help the ball club, that driving the ball to the gaps wins games. Ah, you say, but Billy hits into a lot of double plays (between singles and doubles). Seems to me Frenchy has hit into more double plays this year than Billy.

But Billy is not racking up big time RBIs. RBIs measure what the players around a player do. Really, no sense discussing that where the Royals are concerned. If you're angry about Billy's RBI totals, talk to the three or four guys in front of him.

Oh yes, and while we're hating on Butler, we're snuggling up to Chris Getz.

Heard Bob Davis calling the game a few weeks ago with Denny Matthews. Getz is up. It's a 10-pitch at bat. He's fouling pitch after pitch off. Bob's going on and on and on about Getz. He says to Denny, “He's really driving up the pitch count here. Denny, you have to say something positive about a guy who looks at so many pitches.” The moment of silence that followed spoke volumes. You could almost feel Denny roll his eyes through the radio. Finally, Denny says, “Well, yes.” That 'yes' was flat as a squashed squirrel on the freeway. Getz grounded to second on the next pitch.

But the intelligentsia love the new blood from Omaha. Why, they're guaranteed to be stars already.

We’ll see if Hosmer is a hitter second time through the league. Looks to me like they've already found that hole in his swing. And Moose? Like Hosmer, he looks like the real deal. But, we'll see where they are in July.

The grass will always be greener in Omaha, I’m afraid.

--Lofflin