......and Santana belts one out off of Barney.

Of course....

Indians win again. Blue Jays kind of tanked that one at the end going to the position players.

WHERE'S OUR GAME THREAD?

Ask and you shall receive :)

4:10 here today. Love it. :D

Best move the Mets ever made. They freed up 6M to do that deal in 2000, which they spent on Mike Hampton who dominated the NLCS and got them to the WS.


They took the comp pick from Hampton leaving for Colorado and took some guy named David Wright. Worth many, many Bonillas.

http://deadspin.com/johnny-cueto-rem...-hi-1782972801

WTF Johnny?

One of the comments says to go to James Shields' Instagram to see pics of his dead arm, ROFL.

That's a pretty common way to remember the dead in different cultures of Latin America. It's why pictures of Oscar Tavaras' body were uploaded to social media.

7 games back ..Ryan Goins on DL with strained forearm after pitching. Ok someone beat the Indians now

Just listened to Curt Nelson of the Royals Hall of Fame talk at the national hall of fame. Trophy is here as is this display.

Sink or swim time, Starling to AAA

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Really? Holy crap! The guy is hitting .185 at AA.

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

Royals announce that Bubba Starling is being promoted to Class AAA Omaha. He was hitting . 185/.251/.322 at Northwest Arkansas.

Rustin Dodd

Huh?????

Showcase for a trade?????


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4 years ago: what is Dayton thinking?
Now: Trust the process

Thats odd. Maybe better hitting coach at AAA?

Cmon Starling

@RobertMurrayBBE: Teams interested in Rays' Matt Moore: Red Sox, Rangers, Dodgers, Astros, Royals, Yankees, Orioles. http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/knu...in-rays-moore/

Royals are desperate for something with bubba

@FlannyMLB: About Bubba promotion: Club official says they think change of scenery will help, plus rebooting his average. #Royals

@BHIndepMO: The streak... is over. Toronto beats Cleveland 9-6.

Is it to late for football for Bubba.

So are we sure Morales wont be back next year?

It's amazing how much things can change in one month.

I thought we released him?!? /Royals Fan

He has that one year Mutual for 11 million but I figure that won't do it. Maybe 3 for 30?

Might be possible to let him go and install Eibner in there, and rotate it around with him, Sal, and some other guys who may need a rest from being on the field, but still take their cuts.

Sounds like a potential huge down grade for a team going all in.

Awesome.

Dufffy working his way to, dare I say it, Ace of the Staff?


https://youtu.be/4eWZ63DjHxA?t=41s

@Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: #Rays actively discussing starting pitchers, looking to jump market with so few quality starters available.

Pomeranz pitches tonight for San Diego vs Yankees.


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I think we need to get a roll call on the DFA KenMo boys in the GDT so that we may designate them for assignment to the minors of GDT commentary.

I was at that game with a Yankees fan buddy. Wil Myers swings too hard at the plate and is a hot dog at first base. Saw a Shields jersey. 440 walk off homer was pretty cool.

After the game - lasers and country music - does it get any better?

This is peak Danny Duffy. Hitting his ceiling. When he commands the ball and throws his offspeed pitches for strikes, he's a top of rotation guy.

This is combining his ability to limit hard contact (which was his key in 2014) with great command, which is why the strikeouts are way up. Exciting.

If they can just solidify that No. 5 rotation spot, I think the rest of the rotation is good enough to get it done.

In a potential playoff series, you'd be hoping to have Duffy and Volquez make most of your road starts, and use Kennedy/Ventura at home.


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Love Petco Park. Gonna be there next week, hopefully able to score some ASG tickets.

I was a fan of the Myers trade then and sure am not gonna knock it now, but I'd take a dude who swings to hard to the tune of .285 and 19hrs any day.

Think this is the kind of starter he is the rest of the way? Also think they trade for a mid tier starter before the deadline ...maybe hellickson, Matt Moore?

Here's my question.

Are you watching the wild card standings at this point in the season?

Watching Quick Pitch, they seem to focus more on WC standings than division standings, and that seems awfully premature to me.

The season has a long way to go yet.

The sooner the better when it comes to getting another starting pitcher. It's getting really tiresome putting up with Chris Young and his 3 innings 5+ run games. Unnecessary strain on a bullpen that's already been used a ton this season.

There's no doubt. Today's game is only the halfway mark of the season. Remember two years ago, the Royals seemed to bounce up and down the standings. They were in 1st, then fell way behind (which led to the Ibanez meeting), then came back from 7 or 8 down to pass the Tigers in about 3-4 weeks, only to lose the division in September. And that was almost all in the 2nd half.

The division could still change hands multiple times, especially with four teams in the mix this year.

I think there's a good chance he is what he has been for the past month-six weeks the rest of the way. Which gives them a legit ToR arm.

I'm not nuts about either of those guys, but both would be improvements on Chris Young or Medlen.

I'd prefer a cheaper option who can just be solid to those guys. Moore is going to have a bigger price tag, I think. And I don't trust Hellickson coming back to the AL given his recent numbers.


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So 43-38 halfway thru. Pace for 86 wins. That's really remarkable given our injury problems and rotation woes. I'm pretty impressed they've won as often as they have

Which brings up the question - how much more rope are they going to give Young before they decide to pull him for Gee or Wang or really anyone else? I've said it all along - Young is best utilized out of the pen, and for a start spot if necessary. He doesn't have an "out" pitch. You can't have a guy throw every fifth day with essentially two pitches in his arsenal, even if he is your #5 guy.

According to Susan Slusser Royals are watching Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.


http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/0...s-dodgers.html

I am not necessarily "watching" them, but rather just aware of where the Royals are. As bad as this season seems to have been thus far, the Royals are still right there and most-definitely in contention. Get this team some average pitching and it will fly.

Gotta think either guy is going to cost a lot in prospects, but with them we would have a good shot of catching the Indians.

Reminds me of what Duffy was flirting with becoming before his injury sidelined him just as he was looking like he was coming into his own. I'm a huge Duffy fan so I admit my bias when I say if he can get into a routine and defined spot and work with the staff to clean up his mechanics and the rest, I think he's got it in him to be a nasty #2.

Bubbas first 2 at bats : double off the wall and 3 run HR. Not bad.

Said this before the season started. Young as a SP on opening day was a huge mistake. Medlan didn't help, but it was sort of stopgap and indicated that the FO intended to get an arm before the trade deadline. Someone who is going to give you an 80% chance to win every time they take the mound.

As troublesome the 5 in the rotation is, it's meaningless come September, but without an anchor arm to count on they're dead in the water. Ventura is so unpredictable you can't bank on him even though he can get hot and turn in dominate appearances.

It's deadheat summer, so as troubling the homers their giving up may be, and it is something that needs correcting, but it's not a disqualifier in and of itself.

This Duffy is a pretty solid No 1. He's not an elite ace but would slot into that second tier of SPs (where James Shields used to reside.


I don't think either costs the same type of Haul as Cueto or Zobrist commanded.

Cueto had five years of excellence/top 10 performance in his history. Rich Hill's sample size is really small. Something more like Kazmir's cost would make sense there.

No idea on Reddick. He'd be a nice fit in KC, though.



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I would think Reddicks cost would be close to Zobrist. Hill maybe less but there isnt a surplus of top of the rotation guys to pick from like last year either.

I'm watching the division first and foremost. But, I mean, if the Blue Jays, Astros, Red Sox, etc. are playing bottom dwellers, I'm rooting for the bottom dwellers.

One thing that really stands out to me looking at the stats halfway through the season is how much more they are striking out this year. Last year the whole team only had 973 strikeouts. This year they are on pace for 1188.

Hosmer - 108 Ks in 2015, on pace for 136 this year.
Escobar - 75 Ks in 2015, on pace for 102 this year.
Perez - 82 Ks in 2015, on pace for 134 this year.
Cain - 98 Ks in 2015, on pace for 128 this year.
Morales - 103 Ks in 2015, on pace for 120 this year.
Gordon - on pace for 20,000,000 Ks in both years if he doesn't get hurt.

Part of the thing that made this team so fun to watch last year was how much they put the ball in play and how little they struck out. They finished 2nd in the AL in batting average last year, and believe it or not they're still 2nd in the AL this year. But they've gone from 6th in the league in runs last year to 14th this year. This is all with virtually the same team OBP and OPS.
I have to think that the increase in strikeouts is really hurting this team. You can afford to strike out a lot if you're a team like the Astros or the Blue Jays that can overcome that with power. But the Royals are not built to be a team that strikes out a lot.

I didn't want to overplay my hand, but it think that is reasonable assuming he can avoid being erratic. Doesn't have to be perfect or dominate 7, just no innings the wheel's fall off or surrender 5+ every 5 or 6th start.

Everyone on and off the DL really messes with seeing the ball well. In part, at least.

Hosmer and Esc haven't been on the DL, and Cain/Gordon were striking out like mad before going on.


Gordon is at -0.1 war. He's been replacement level. He has the same war Rey Fuentes has (having 4x the plate appearances as Rey). He has to pick it up for us to go anywhere. He's not contributing anything

Preview of the Royals at the trade deadline -

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2016/7/3...adline-preview

Position players have made 18 appearances, most in the expansion (1961-) era. They gave a 5.19 ERA. The Reds team era is 5.51.

That is just a little over one more strikeout per game. I don't see that as being the reason for the lower run production. I think it is pretty simply the long stretches of the poor play of some mainstays (Gordon, Morales, Cain) combined with all of the injuries.

And preview that gives any thought to Danny Valencia being brought back is off base. They traded the guy for peanuts because he's a clubhouse cancer.


Weird how Lamb (era near 6), finnegan (era now at 4.50 and trending up) and Reed (era of 9 through two starts) aren't saving that staff, huh?


The huge increase in strikeouts has definitely hurt. Morales seems to come out of his funk, they'll need Gordon to do the same to get out of his.

I don't think what we've seen from Gordon is a sign of detioration, just him out of whack and lacking confidence. He hasn't seen the ball well and he's trying to pull everything. Needs to start letting the ball get deep and hit it to LF rather trying to pull everything and rolling over all the time.

Hopefully yesterday is a sign of things to come for him/building block.


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Actually, when your roster\game is built on putting the ball in play, and that decreases it your effectiveness. I don't think it's the only reason, but it's certainly a contribution - much like the other things you mentioned.

When pretty much every major piece of your roster is having a significant increase in strikeouts at the same time, it hurts your production. This is a team built on putting the ball in play and "keeping the line moving." The inability to do that is definitely hurting the team.

Could you give any more description on this? The Jays did exactly the same thing last year with him (while he was playing quite well) and it was rumored it happened for the same reason you're talking about (but with no real specifics).

How is it exactly that he pisses teammates off so much?

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...52031251579349








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Was told he is selfish, disruptive and charismatic, which is the biggest problem. His teammates listen to him/are influenced by him, but in a bad way.


The hitting coach at Omaha has apparently received some recognition for his work with Bonifacio and Dozier (helped greatly with Dozier's adjustment after his slump at AAA), so maybe this move was all about getting Starling involved with him all day, every day.

Stranger things have happened. Starling has every single tool you could ask for. Just a matter of hitting enough (and by "enough", I mean being a .250/.260 hitter with the ability to OBP .060-.070 higher) to let his defense, base running, and power carry him.

Best case at this point would seem to be a Mike Cameron type. I'd settle for a Randal Grichuk - someone who can play elite d (but in CF rather than a corner) and run into a mistake every 25 ABs or so and hit it 400 feet.


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That's great, so why aren't they firing the AA hitting coach?

A good question, would assume he's doing well with others. Sometimes guys just don't click/work well with a guy.

Kevin Seitzer is, by all accounts, a great hitting coach. And he couldn't reach Hosmer and Moustakas.


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Seitzer can't reach Atlantas hitters either. As the old saying goes: can't make chicken salad outta chicken sh*t

Wade Davis :(

Server goes down, and so does Wade Davis. Coincidence?

Glitch in the matrix

**** me, we can't win for losing

I would literally settle Starling turning into any major league regular at this point. Even a shit OF utility guy. The guy can't hit a baseball, which you know, is pretty important in this game. I've never had any faith that Starling would amount to shit, though. So this is not real surprising to me.

Anyone know much about Brooks Pounders? 26ks in his last 13 innings of relief at Omaha. New Cyborg?

Hosmer & Perez starters.


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final score:

Blue Jays - 21

Royals - 6

That's called "Taking them to pound town."

No surprise here, but Perez and Hosmer officially starting the All-Star Game.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters
C: Salvador Perez, Royals
1B: Eric Hosmer, Royals
2B: Jose Altuve, Astros
3B: Manny Machado, Orioles
SS: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
OF: Mookie Betts, Red Sox
OF: Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox
OF: Mike Trout, Angels
DH: David Ortiz, Red Sox

Time for the mystery Chris Young injury. He's done

Kris Medlen threw a 1-1 breaking ball in the 3rd inning, then walked directly off field & left the game, per Mark Nasser. #Royals @milb

Time to think about selling.

James Shields & Greg Holland for Oscar Tavaras?

(I completely forgot the origin of that take).