Where to begin?

I've missed a lot of Royals baseball these last couple of weeks while up in Oregon for work. But it doesn't have to be a bad thing, necessarily -- on the plus side, I got to work with some wonderful people, do a few outdoors-y things, and...

...well, I've missed a lot of bad Royals baseball.

Luckily I ended up not having time to write anything just prior to the series with the Minnesota Twins, because what I was likely to write was something like: The Royals Offense is Back, which apparently wasn't true at all.

To put it plainly, this has become a punch-and-judy offense. The Royals get plenty of hits, but just cannot generate any power. Earlier this season, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing because they were supplementing the lack of power with stolen bases. That ain't happenin' any more, so now the Royals' chances for offense are essentially the hope that one of their few extra-base hits are well-timed, or that they get lucky and bunch up their walks and singles in the same innings.

Of course, offense in general and power in particular are down across major league baseball (well, except for Jose Bautista), but with the Royals, these offensive struggles can really be pinned on something definitive: the bottom of the order.

Chris Getz has had a recent small surge where he's collected a few hits, so even though almost none of those hits were impressive and I still cringe when he's at the plate, I'll leave him alone -- Mike Aviles hasn't done anything to separate himself from Getz, and even though I'd much rather have Aviles in the lineup than Getz, Aviles' feast-or-famine plate appearances to this point can't generate much confidence.

Really, who I want to focus on is Alcides Escobar.

Let's cut the crap -- he's a black hole offensively. He's done absolutely nothing well, and I'll be the one to say it if no one else has; he's totally cancelling out his defense with how horrible he is at the plate. He doesn't hit for average, he doesn't walk, he doesn't hit for power, he isn't a good baserunner when he is on base...you name it, offensively Escobar doesn't do it.

Some people are perhaps not bothering to look, so just to make sure it's known, I'll bold-face it: Alcides Escobar is the 2nd worst hitter in all of major league baseball. Yes...not just the AL, but all of MLB. Let's look and cringe together:

• Worst SLG at .241
• Tied for 3rd worst OBP at .241
• Tied for 7th worst in batting average
• He has one more walk than Yuniesky Betancourt, who, by the way, has Escobar out-OPS'd by about 120 points
• His stolen base % is at 63%, which isn't very good at all
• There are 11 NL pitchers with 20 or more plate apperances that have a higher OPS than Escobar

For the other hitters in the Royals lineup that haven't been good in 2011, each of them has found some kind of way to contribute in at least a small way -- Getz with the walks and good baserunning, Matt Treanor with his OBP and a couple of HRs, Brayan Pena and Aviles with decent power.

The question has been brought up before, as far as how bad Escobar would have to be with the bat to render his very good defense null and void? Well...this bad. Of course, this isn't a call to remove Escobar -- the Royals aren't winning anything this year and they don't really have anyone in the minors to replace him with. However, this is a call for the Royals to begin acknowledging that this guy probably isn't it, and if he continues to flirt with a .500 OPS into the Summer, any trade discussions the Royals have should include shortstop as a "need" position.