ChiefsPlanet - Royals 2011 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

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2011 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread (https://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=240326)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374121)

Alex Gordon: the poster child for why many fans don't believe.

Talk all you want about depth, overwhelming numbers, etc. The fact remains, '06 Gordon would be the #1 prospect in the system. Yeah, there might be some banter about Myers and Hosmer, but Gordon would be #1.

And if he can fail, anyone can fail. And thus the understandable skepticism.

Certainly it's going to work this time, right? Right?

Gordon's complete inability to deal with failure is his biggest problem, but his massive K rate at Class AA in 2005 probably should have been more of a warning sign than any of us realized.

Hosmer definitely has shown he can overcome that, and so has Moose. So there's that at least...

Gordon was the system in 2006. I think that's the main difference now. They have players everywhere, infield, outfield, and especially pitching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374121)

please, for the love of god (or whatever), let it work THIS time. please?

Quote:

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho (Post 7374160)

Gordon was also a college walk-on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by keg in kc (Post 7374162)

Gordon was the system in 2006. I think that's the main difference now. They have players everywhere, infield, outfield, and especially pitching.

Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that '06 him would be our #1 now.

And I agree with duncan that there were warning signs, but we have that now with our big prospects:

1. Moose's strike-zone judgment has been questioned.
2. Hosmer, literally, couldn't see.
**agree that these two have taken steps, especially Hosmer**
3. Myers is going to move positions (I hope). And he's young as hell and likely has never sniffed failure, either.
4. Montgomery has had some injuries.

Look, I'm not predicting failure. Far from it. Like any other halfway knowledgeable Royals fan, I'm ****ing pumped about all our prospects. But this doesn't change the fact that everyone thought it was a lock that Gordon would be a monster, and it didn't happen. Therefore, I can sympathize with the pessimists.

Is Gordon "dominating" yet?

Note to Alex: Slide feet first, dipshit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374121)

Just to borrow a gambling analogy, since that is one of my weaknesses. (You can see me at the local blackjack or craps table at least once or twice a month), anyone can crap out. When Gordon came up, the dice were handed to us and we rolled snake eyes. (well, actually that would have been good for me since I always play the dont's, but that distracts from this analogy)

This time we've got 10 or 15 chips to play with, betting one chip at a time. What are the odds we lose on 10 or more of these guys? Its not just depth and its not just impact players, we've got a silly abundance of impact prospects. It really is hard for us to screw this one up.

I'm an atheist, but if the Royals suck in 2014, I'll start to wonder simply because this would seem to be overwhelming evidence that some kind of God hates my favorite baseball team.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alnorth (Post 7374214)

Yes. The skepticism is not warranted because the odds are so heavily in favor of a positive outcome that there might as well not be any odds. It's nearly mathematically and statistically impossible for the Royals to have this blow up in their face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374173)

Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that '06 him would be our #1 now.

That doesn't really mean anything, that was perhaps the point I was trying to make...

If one or two of these guys flame out (and no doubt they will...) the farm system isn't empty. There's no "great white hope", "boom-or-bust", "if this one guy doesn't make it we're doomed" thing going on now. They're going to be coming up in waves now. And they're developing more waves behind the initial waves.

It's sort of like what's going on with the Chiefs right now - this is oddly a random thought I had earlier in the day - the organizations are being built in a completely different way now than they were 5 years ago, and this may be the first time in a long time (at least as long as I've lived here) where there's some actual reason to have hope for the future. It's not just a matter of being a blind homer now.

I mean, seriously, it's not just a pipe dream to think that we'd have very good teams here in both football and baseball by 2012 or 2013. It's forcing me to kind of change the way I look at both teams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374173)

I know what you mean.

But the good news is that though Gordon would likely be most people's No. 1, it would be close. And some people would make the case for Moustakas or Hosmer or even Myers.

It would take a miracle for more than half the prospects to not be at least solid big league players. And you're going to find some stars in there while you're at it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alnorth (Post 7374214)

What would almost be more painful than a monumental flame out would be if the majority of these prospects end up being "meh" or average ML players. Is it too much to ask for our own superstar position player/pitcher without any baggage? Preferably a position player.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7374250)

Just to play devil's advocate, I'm reminded of this recent recent fangraphs article back in December where they started to analyze the royals farm hype.

Even though they had to reluctantly agree that our farm was fantastic, at least a couple teams have recently failed to become good within a few years despite having great farm systems. Their weakness? Their GM's failed to excel anywhere else aside from developing in-house prospects; no outstanding trades and no great free agents.

So, it would not be impossible to blow this golden chance we have, but the cards have not been stacked this far in our favor in decades. Especially given our weak division where every other year it seems to me that some mediocre Chicago/Minnesota/Detroit team that seems merely "OK" manages to win our pathetic division. If we become legitimately good, we could have a stranglehold on the AL Central.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KurtCobain (Post 7372896)

A division that a young talented team could easily take control of for years to come.

if they do compete it will be for a couple years, no longer. All this talent will be traded by 2016, and we will be told to wait for 2020. Unless glass does us all a favor and wraps his lips around a .44 magnum and squeezes the trigger.

http://www.omahabaseball360.com/1/po...avan-stop.html

Quote:

<TABLE style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Q & A with Alex Gordon during Royals Caravan stop 01/21/2011
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http://www.omahabaseball360.com/uplo...595082.jpg?325

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by Lee Warren

The Kansas City Royals Caravan rolled into Omaha on Thursday, making a stop at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center to visit children and then moved on to the Ultimate Baseball Academy where players took questions from fans and signed autographs.

Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Frank White and John Mayberry were on the caravan this year. Mitch Meier was scheduled to be there as well, but was unable to make it due to travel issues. Gordon, Hochevar, and White met with the media at the hospital and you’ll be able to read what they had to say here over the next few days.

Here is the Q & A with Gordon:

Talk about the work you’ve been doing during the off-season.

Usually during the off-season I do a lot of infield work as far as ground balls and everything. But right now I’m just trying to keep my speed in shape and my arm strength healthy. I kind of learned from DeJesus – training with him the last couple of years – what he did as an outfielder. I just follow his work ethic and what he did.

What are your thoughts about the off-season moves—trading DeJesus, trading Greinke?

It’s always sad to see guys go who you know and who are good players you feel can help the team, but that’s part of the game and part of the business. I think they made some good trades and brought in some new guys who are going to help out. I think you are going to see that in Spring Training and we’ll see what they can do.

A lot of people seem to think the team is waiting for 2012—

Well, hopefully a lot of people are going to think that and hopefully we can surprise some people. I know people outside of here aren’t going to believe in us, but I know inside the clubhouse we’re going to have an attitude that we’re going to play hard; we’ll have a young clubhouse that’s going to go out there and compete and do anything they can to win. Hopefully that will grow on everybody.

Talk about the team signing Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera.

I’ve known Jeff for a while and I know Dayton really wanted him over here because of his leadership and the kind of teammate he is, so it was good to get him in here. We know he has some great baseball ability and hopefully he can show it off here.

For the past couple of years, you haven’t been able to play start to finish.

Yeah, you know, the last couple of years have been disappointing to say the least – injuries, getting sent down, a position change – you’ve just got to stay positive and look ahead instead of looking in the past. I know in my mind it’s going to be a good year.

Your numbers have been down the past couple of years. Is that due to injuries and not being able to get into a rhythm?

It could be. I don’t want to sit here and try and blow excuses to you. But the numbers were down, so that’s what it is. I need to pick it up and rebound and help the team out better than I’ve done the last two years.

You’ve got to feel good though about the way you came down to Omaha last year to learn how to play the outfield. You took good routes to the ball, made some great throws and convinced people that you really were a legitimate outfielder.

The first couple of weeks (in Omaha) were definitely not like that. I was taking bad routes. I’ll be honest, it was tough to judge the ball off the bat and get the angles down. [And it probably didn’t help that] I was using a pitcher’s glove in the outfield because I didn’t have one. But playing every day and getting that repetition and just getting acclimated to the outfield helped. I think I got better every week. When I got called up I was feeling a lot more comfortable.

You worked with Kevin Seitzer during the off-season. Have you done that before?

Yeah, since he’s been the hitting coach. He stays in Kansas City and obviously I’m there so we always get started pretty early. This year was no different. We started around December 1. Lucas May has been coming with me too.

Have you changed anything significant about your hitting?

Yeah. I can’t tell you though [laughter]. I’ll let you guys find out in Spring Training. But yeah, we’ve been making some adjustments and I know it was something he wanted to do with me last season when I got called up, but to do it in the middle of the season, it’s kind of hard to change your ways. There are a couple of things we’re doing different and I think it feels good and it’s going to work.

How difficult is to make a change like that?

It is tough, but you’ve got to let the ego go. Seitzer knows what he’s talking about. He’s been there and he’s done it. You’ve just got to believe in other people sometimes and we believe in Seitzer. We believe in what he’s preaching.

One thing fans ask about is a quote attributed to you saying you were going to dominate. Were you just feeling it that day, or what?

What did you want me to say, I was going to do – ahhhhhhh okay? Okay, maybe dominate wasn’t the right word. A reporter came up to me when I was taking BP and asked me how I was going to do next year and was just kind of throwing that around – adrenaline [flowing] while taking BP and I was like, “I’m going to dominate.” I think it got blown out of proportion. I think I’m going to play a lot better than I did the last couple of years, but maybe people took “dominate” the wrong way. I didn’t want to say, “I’m going to do okay.” I didn’t really know it was an interview. He was just kind of asking me. And that’s just what I said.

Do you feel relaxed having the contract issue behind you? You always have to prove yourself though ...

When I sign my contract I don’t think my mindset changes at all. I was going in there to prove something. You know, the last couple of years, I think people are kind of giving up on me and hopefully I can do what I think I’m capable of doing.

At the same time, is there a you have to produce now type of mentality – not that that has never been the case with you.

Yeah, you’re in the big leagues. You got to. There’s young kids and we’ve got a lot of young kids coming now and they’re going to be nipping at your heels and you’ve got to do something to help the team.

You’ve admitted that you’ve heard the talk about you [not putting up good numbers]. If you put together a good year, how good is that going to feel?

You know, it’s going to feel great, but to be honest, I’ve been here for four years and I think I just want to win. And even if I have an okay year, and we’re winning, that’s fine with me. It’s going to make the season a lot better and everybody enjoy it a lot more.

What do you think about the minor league system? The talk is that it’s the best in baseball.

I’ve seen a couple of them – Hosmer and Moustakas – I haven’t seen some of the young arms, but just hearing about them, you can’t really ignore it. They’re coming up and I think Ned knows he’s hopefully going to build the team around some of those guys and hopefully they can help us – if not this year then hopefully in the next couple of years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII (Post 7374439)

Actually, I'd bet that NO ONE who is currently in the minor leagues will be traded by 2016. As one of the key rookies would have to break spring training with the big club to even be in his final year of team control. And that's not going to happen.

They're not going to pay to keep EVERYBODY. But the Royals will be able to keep the best of this crop of players. The key is having a farm system that will keep producing (see the Twins, for a close example).

And the second wave already looks very promising.