It's nice to have Shields and Santana, but they're rentals. Santana will be gone after this year, Shields after next. We still can't develop pitching.

I'm pretty sure Jesus couldn't fix this team with Glass as the owner, so I'm not giving DM a break (he's evidently not God), but I am going to say that he too didn't have the cash available to fix this team - only DG does, and he's the wrong guy to ask to part with guaranteed profits for a banner. Nope, he's Wal-Mart, and if there's one thing Wal-Mart-types don't care about it's paying top dollar for a banner. And paying employees is the last thing the Wal-Mart mindset allows to happen. Just pay them enough to not get in trouble... Hell, hire fat people, they're easy to bully!

Sure, DM got more than some others, but he never had enough to have the depth at hitting, pitching, relieving and fielding that it takes to put together a squad that can make a run. And he only got that because of the overwhelming bad press that was mounting, and even Wal-Mart-types will give an inch to have those cameras turned away.

I'll agree with the masses that hitting Escobar #2 has been both silly and ego driven, but alas it's the majors and this seems to be what managers and GMs do to themselves at this level.

And last, playing for this team has become something akin to jail, sent down, sent off, or just hidden. Sure, we always have a Gordon who's our long-term good player, maybe even three darn good players, but eventually the Gordons of the world realize it's not going to happen here and look for a way out. We were all up in arms the other night when shit-for-brains suggested that that Perez, somehow, be in pin-stripes. We all know it might, and probably, will happen (him going somewhere better), and the anger wasn't the fact that was true, but instead that he said it....we just never talk about it; it's a dirty little secret that won't hurt us if we never face-up to it. So, while it's a fact, it's one that's never spoken about from the booth. I'm not giving Hud a break, he's one dumb son of a bitch, he's got a long way to go to understand how this house works, but in this case his lack of local tradition and ways just bit him.. But, again, he was too stupid to not keep on talking about it...

Good morning....

Good morning! Who cares if our star players leave? Tampa and Minny and Cleveland and Florida and Oakland have dealt with that too for years. They've lost every bit as much (if not more) talent than we have, they just plug holes better and frankly they develop pitching which we simply....cannot....do.


Beane once said "wins draw fans, not stars. I could have Barney the Dinosaur playing RF but what does it matter to the fans if the team can't win any games?" Look at STL dumping Pujols onto the Angels while they keep winning.


I was watching Pitt vs Oakland the other night. Kurkjian was on with a graphic showing the Oakland starting rotation is making 4.9m. Yeah, combined. Beane can both develop and trade for young pitching but we have developed 1 excellent starter in the past 25 years.

The Royals had ample payroll to make a push this year.
It was just wasted on:
Frenchy - 7 mill
Chen - 4 mill
Hoch - 4 mill
15 mill is a lot of scratch. That is an elite SP salary. Thats roughly a fifth of our payroll, just wasted.

It will be really interesting to see what happens next year when our contract for Guthrie blows up and Moose and Hos hit arbitration.

Ventura/Duffy will replace Santana, we'll give Davis another year (Ala Hoch/Davies) and we'll be our way to another 78 win season!

2015 is when the party will really get started.

Let's be honest - the next wave of talent is a ways out and is not projected to be nearly as strong as the current wave was projected to be. 78 wins seems like a stretch.

If David and Dayton decide that this once 17-10 team has the talent for a late season run (without making any moves for any other pieces), this is how I forsee the next three years.

2013- 77-81 Wins
2014- 75-79 Wins
2015- 70-74 Wins

And the cycle will continue in a downward trajectory until we're circling the AL's toilet once again.

If we hit 75 in any of the three seasons, It will be surprising to me. Mañana, mañana, mañana. 28 years.................

What is with this team striking out looking? Jesus. Two nights in a row.