Merrifield has looked terrible the last few days. I have no problem with him getting a day off. 2 for 14 with 8 strikeouts in the last 3 games.

I hope Dyson has his track shoes on

I don't understand the reference. Morales is a much better athlete than Butler.

I don't think the difference is as much as you're making it out to be. If we're talking about fielding ability on a scale of 1 to 10.... Butler could be a 1 and Morales could be a 2.

As in they both deserve the DH sport.

Not all slow, fat guys are created equal.

Morales is slow, but he has good hands, great coordination, and tracks the ball well in the OF. He had a 97 percent route efficiency on that running catch in RF against Carpenter last night. That's impressive

Even younger Billy Butler didn't have the goods to play a passable LF.


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Duncan have you heard anything on a Matt Moore trade?

I have not heard anything specific. Know the Rays are willing to move him, not sure how much he helps KC. He's been very up and down since returning from TJ and doesn't have the overwhelming stuff he once did.


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Saw Odorizzi's name thrown around to as being traded.

In



:D

Why not CC Sabathia? Having a real nice bounceback year, FA in November, and I checked his contract: $0 buyout.

http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/I_96fa51_868048.gif

The Bud Norris ship has sailed. Andy McCullough confirming that the Dodgers have acquired his services.

I think that's a really nice fit, actually. Would be the least costly and be very solid.


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You passive aggressive sonofabiitch!:cuss:

:D

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> lineup vs. Leake:<br><br>Gordon LF<br>Merrifield 2B<br>Morales RF<br>Hosmer 1B<br>Perez C<br>Colon 3B<br>Escobar SS<br>Dyson CF<br>Young P</p>&mdash; David Lesky (@DBLesky) <a href="https://twitter.com/DBLesky/status/748600094446886912">June 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If you&#39;re worried about Morales in RF with a fly ball pitcher like Young going, remember that guys don&#39;t have to chase down home runs.</p>&mdash; David Lesky (@DBLesky) <a href="https://twitter.com/DBLesky/status/748600827338600448">June 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

zing!

lolololololololololololololol

Sure about that? According to Cot's Contracts, for 2017 he has a $25M vesting option with a $5M buyout.

But then: His 2017 salary is guaranteed if Sabathia 1) does not end 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury, 2) does not spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or 3) does not make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury.

FG has $0 buyout and the $25 vesting with your parameters. Not sure if he hits them, but his start today was pushed back due to arm issues.

Yanks are about 500. They may buy instead of sale at this point.

I still think the trade deadline needs to be moved back like 2 weeks.

Its hard to believe that the Royals have no better option than Young?

WTF???

It's a different world now with the two wild cards. 24 of the 30 teams are within 7 games of a playoff spot... which is basically one hot stretch away from contention. Same thing happened last year.

Hey slackers, it's a 6:10 start tonight. Where's the game thread? I'm not starting it.

Royals up already 1-0.

2 base error by Peralta put Merrifield at 2nd. Then attempts to steal 3rd on the next pitch and Bryan Pena threw the ball into left field.

Brandon Finnegan tonight: 2.1 IP, 8 ER, 5 H, 5 BB. Dane will be along shortly to tell us how his absence has ruined the Royals season.

It is still way early but at this point I would venture to say Zobrist and Cueto cost much less than people thought.

At some point, the Royals are going to have to find another pitcher to shore up the bottom of the starting rotation. Can't be throwing Chris Young out there and have him only finish 4 innings. It taxes the bullpen. And I cannot trust Dillon Gee getting through 3 innings w/o him giving up an homerun.

Not promising to see is that some of the regulars who are usually reliable, are springing leaks.

I don't understand why Gee is not starting over Young at this point. His ERA is 2+ runs lower.

He's terrible too. Medlen is getting rocked in Omaha as well.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kris Medlen&#39;s allowed five runs in five innings, so far, in his 4th rehab start &amp; 2nd with Omaha. He&#39;s given up 3 HRs, two to Randal Grichuk</p>&mdash; Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshVernier610/status/748687764976115712">July 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

4.06 ERA is not terrible. Chris Young is terrible.

At this point there is no answer at the 5.

I'm not really sure it matters. Everybody's 5's are kind of meh(with the exception of maybe the Indians, I guess?). The stabilization and consistency of 1-4 is a much greater need

Id be happy if we had meh at 5.

What crawled up Morales' ass?

Lets hope whatever was put in it doesn't show up on a test until after the season.

Agreed. We're more in dreck territory

Wouldn't be surprised if one pitcher burns out, one becomes a solid #2, and the other 3 become a fringe to successful bullpen pieces.

Sounds right.

Monthly Attendance Update:
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...68ecc6d53c.jpg


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Yeah right at that Yankees number. I'd love to get a figure on how many people actually enter the stadium. Watch just about any Yankees game this year and that place is never even close to reaching 38k.

A larger sample.

Whats the deal with Cleveland? They hate winning?

So it looks like Hoz and Salvy make the AS team. Who else does Ned bring? Wade? Herrera? Cain may be named in a honorary move but obviously no way he plays.

Wade
Kelvin
Hos
Salvy
Fan Vote: Cain

I pay more attention to the FIP. He's at 5.32. That's not very good. Young is worse, I will give you that. Either way, both are trash, and it should be upgraded before the deadline or someone in Omaha.

Shockingly, we entered the Season with both in the Starting Rotation

Whit Zobrist and Cuban Breakfast right now. :D

I seriously wouldn't be shocked if Kendrys keeps hitting like this for the next few days. He was a key piece of a WS champ team and if he can get to .275ish with 12 hr and 45 ribbies, Ned could easily justify the reward.


Edit: actually, the rest of the league can get ****ed. Ned doesn't have to justify shit. I hope he puts CY on the All Star team just to say "**** you, rest of the AL. You don't like it? Beat us"

Wow. The Boston Red Sox have been banned from signing international players for one year, and MLB has voided the contracts for 5 of their international prospects, declaring them to be free agents.

Apparently they were cheating, and circumventing international signing bonus rules somehow.

edit: MLB also said that for any team who signs any of those 5 players, the first $300,000 paid to that player in signing bonuses will not count against that team's signing bonus pool.

*** Official 2016 Royals Repository, Version 1 ***
 

Raul Mondesi's suspension is over. He hit a HR last night. Currently has a .250/.300/.465 line at AA.

That power is becoming real,
I think. You watch his swing and it's so explosive/so much bat speed. I get why they think he can hit 3rd in the majors.

The 50 point bulge between AVG and OBp is also encouraging. If he can just maintain an average walk rate, he's going to be a productive major league hitter.

If he can do that and the hit tool progresses (he has the raw skills, just needs the experience to catch up with them), what the Indians are getting from Francisco Lindor could one day be generated by Mondesi.


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More details: The Red Sox were limited to a $300,000 per player cap this year for international prospects as a penalty for going hog wild last year and blowing past their pool.

So, what they did was give $300,000 to the player they wanted, and also gave $200,000-$300,000 to lesser prospects who were unlikely to be signed but had the same agent as the "good" prospect, with the understanding that the agent would take all that money, give it all to the good player, and the lesser prospects would go along with it because they at least were getting an opportunity.

edit: the two "good" prospects were OF's Simon Muzziotti and Albert Guaimaro. The other 3 don't matter.

I got a 50 point bulge just reading this.

I'm not sure he's ever going to be quite as good as Lindor, at least from his track record. In 5 years of MiLB ball Lindor produced at +.100 OPS rate and Mondesi strikes out twice as much with half the walk rate. I get the fascination with his tools but at some point he has to start producing. At this point he's more Alcides Escobar than Francisco Lindor.

Gee? When was the last time any of the Royals pitching did not give up a home run?

Hasn't Mondesi always had power? At any rate hopefully he can get to AAA by the end of the year and give it a go in Omaha all season in 2017. That way we can finally cycle out Alshittys for the 2018 season.

In other news Bonifacio is showing major power.

ROFL

Oh, I'm not sure of that, either. But he has the tools to be a .300 hitter with 20-25 HR power. And defensively he's right there with him (maybe a little more arm). The power has started to translate, finally, over the past few seasons. The hit tool usually comes last, but there's reason for optimism there, too.

Lindor also was a year older at each stop of the minors. This season is the first time we can compare their performance at the same level at the same age.

Lindor was .278/.352/.389 at AA Akron at age 20. Mondesi compares fairly closely with that right now (much more SLG, less OBP).

Escobar never had the type of pop Mondesi has started to translate to games in the past few years.

Ian Desmond with good defense is probably a better "good case" comparison for Mondesi (the version that was a .270ish hitter with 20/20 production for the Nats). But his ceiling is absolutely as high as current Lindor.

Guys like Mondesi are hard to frame just based on stats, considering how aggressively they've advanced him. He's been facing guys five-six years older than him his entire career. That can be brutal, especially at the A ball level.


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That's the plan for him. I think next year is Escobar's last, and wouldn't be surprised to see Mondesi worked in over the second half if he stays healthy and progresses at a solid clip.

I'm hopeful Mondesi can mimic some of the strides bonifacio has made. Finally living up to tools, hitting for average and power, etc.


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Glad to see something done, unlike the NFL that plays favorites and doles out subjective treatment. That's what you get when you put a marketing bitch in charge.

I kinda like the new commish. He's a 1000x better than Roger. Though, I think the NBA's new commissioner is going to prove to be outstanding in due time.

Still bar none best Royals info poster around CP. Thanks for the info!

Sounds like something you probably whined about when the Yanks and Red Sux did that.

Link?

Happy Bobby Bonilla payday, everyone! Another July 1st, another $1.2MM check from the Mets

I posted this in the game thread Monday. We have played 3 more games since.

28th - 1 HR
29th - 1 HR
30th - 2 HR

So for the month...

27 games played

0 HR: 3 games
1 HR: 11 games
2+ HR: 13 games

So, for the month of June, we have given up at least 1 home run in 24 of 27 games. Out-****ing-standing!

-19 run differential, 13-14 record in June. After this Phillies series, we'll be at the halfway point of the season.

Lazarito is closed to signing with Oakland for $3M allegedly.


:dammitdayton:

Royals are limited in this pool because of spending last year. Can't go above 300k unless it's for one of the Red Sox guys.


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:dammitmanfred:

Jays and Tribe are in the 15th inning. 1-1 score, with both teams failing to capitalize on pretty good scoring chances within the last couple innings.

Runner on 2nd no outs. Bunt squeeze and let's go home.

Toronto 1st and 3rd 1 out.

Anyone like east coast start times? I love em, 6pm is great.

My favorite. There's still time after the game to watch something else

Blue Jays down to their last pitcher and he appears to be pitching hurt. 2B Ryan Goins warming up in the bullpen.

Jesus Christ both these teams are fundamentally terrible. Donaldson gets a great jump and the batter just decides to go ahead and hit a lazy fly ball to double him up. Last inning 2 unproductive outs in big spots.

But I'm sure they draw a lot of walks - so on paper they're both like 95 win teams.

Going to the 18th inning. Ryan Goins is coming in. Let the adventure begin.

Toronto apparently refuses to burn up a starter in this game.

LMAO Goins pitches out of a bases loaded jam. This game is nuts.

Dumb question. We want this game to go on as long as possible to wear down Clevelands pitching right?

That's already happened... unless this goes 25 innings or something. Cleveland's starter tomorrow has thrown the last 3 innings... already thrown over 60 pitches.

Now in the 19th, Darwin Barney moves in from 2B to pitch for the Blue Jays. Don't see many games where two position players pitch for the same team.