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)

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Originally Posted by UCF Knight (Post 7995618)

I am sitting here watching this NLCS game.. and crap with one or two real pitchers we are as good as both of those teams.

Unfortunatly, we don't play in the NL

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/12...s-aims-to.html

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Posted on Oct. 12, 2011
Royals prospect Myers aims to get back on track
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star

SURPRISE, Ariz. | It is here, under Arizona’s still-brutal autumnal sun, that outfielder Wil Myers seeks to append an upbeat conclusion to a summer of sobering disappointment.

It was only a few months ago that Myers typically found himself linked with first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas as the brightest nonpitching prospects in what reigned unchallenged as baseball’s best farm system.

Some scouts then viewed Myers as the best of the three.

But while Hosmer and Moustakas carved out a future this season in the Royals’ big-league lineup, Myers battled through a series of injuries and, for the first time, something other than unqualified on-field success while slogging away at Class AA Northwest Arkansas.

“That was tough,” he acknowledged in assessing his .254 average. “I’ve never struggled like that before. And another thing, I’ve never dealt with injuries before in high school. Growing up, I never had any big-time injuries where I was out for a period of time.
“But, yeah, struggling at the plate … that was definitely something new for me.”
Myers batted .324 in his first two pro seasons after his selection, as an 18-year-old, in the third round of the 2009 draft. That success included a scalding .346 over 58 games at the end of 2010 at Class A Wilmington and its notoriously unfriendly hitters’ park.
That sweet run-production swing — along with the emergence of Wilmington teammate Salvador Perez — prompted the Royals to shift Myers this season from catcher to the outfield in an attempt to shorten his timetable to the big leagues.
The Royals also expected Myers to struggle, they insist.
“This time last year,” general manager Dayton Moore said, “we were debating whether to send him back to the Carolina League for half of a year or to Double-A.”
Moore said minor-league hitting coordinator Jack Maloof was “adamant” that Myers be sent to Northwest Arkansas precisely because he’d never experienced failure.
“We thought he needed to experience some,” Moore said.
And … he did, though not right away. Myers got off to a quick start before a freak off-field knee injury derailed his season in late April. Racing from his car to his apartment in a rain storm, he slipped on wet concrete and slammed his left knee into a building column.
“It cut through, and I had to have four staples and two stitches to repair it,” he said. “It was bad. I missed a week with that. Then I came back, played a few games, and that scab got infected. I missed more time and had to have surgery on it.”
Even so, Myers returned in early June with four hits in his first nine at-bats, which boosted his average to .301. He was still at .296 after going two for three on July 1. Another strong finish would put a high shine back on his resume.

Inexplicably, failure bit and bit hard. Myers simply couldn’t buy a hit through the rest of July. He went 13 for 84 over the next 24 games and finished the month at .249.
“I just felt like I wasn’t good anymore,” he said. “I’d never gone through anything like that before. I just didn’t feel comfortable at the plate. I was thinking too much. I was thinking, ‘OK, what is he going to throw here?’ And when I play, I don’t like to think too much.”
That’s the old baseball cliché, of course: Stop thinking; you’re hurting the ballclub. It’s funny now. Almost.
“I like to go up there and just do my thing,” Myers said. “But I was pressing and overthinking things. Trying to work on too many things. I couldn’t get my foot down (for proper timing). I was getting a little too selective.”
Myers arrested his decline over the closing weeks, but he still closed with just eight homers and 49 RBIs in 99 games. So getting sent to the Arizona Fall League, which styles itself as a finishing school for top prospects, was just what he needed.
“I finally feel good,” he said. “I’m finally back to where I want to be. I’m feeling healthy, and I’m feeling better at the plate.”
Myers typically bats third in the Saguaros’ lineup and has eight hits and four walks in 26 plate appearances for a .364 average and a .462 on-base percentage. He also has five extra-base hits, including two homers, and six RBIs.
Tellingly, perhaps, he’s quicker to comment on how he recently gunned down a runner at the plate from right field — a notable professional first in a still-challenging defensive switch.
“I really struggled in spring training and into the season with just catching fly balls,” Myers said. “About halfway through the year, I got pretty comfortable with that, but then, and it’s pretty weird to say, ground balls gave me some trouble when I charged them.
“I was an infielder in high school, but I found charging balls in the outfield was a lot different. It’s different throwing, too. It’s a lot different arm angle. So that was kind of cool to throw someone out at home plate.”
Crowds in the Fall League are sparse and sleepy. Many in attendance are scouts. The rest tend to be retirees and a handful of relentlessly intrepid autograph collectors. Crowds could hardly be less rowdy. (Still, no chances are taken; beer sales end in the seventh inning.)
It offers opportunity, though.
“He can hit,” assistant general manager J.J. Picollo said. “His confidence was down this year because he’d never really failed before. But guys need to fail in the minor leagues so they know how to deal with it in the major leagues.
“He’s still ahead of the curve. I think we tend to start thinking of some players a little too soon in our major-league picture just because they’re high picks. But Wil, other than (Angels phenom Mike) Trout, was the youngest guy in Double-A.”
The Royals’ decision earlier this year to sign right fielder Jeff Francoeur to a contract extension through 2013 effectively set an unofficial timetable for Myers’ development.
“He’ll probably go back to Double-A,” Moore said. “Hopefully, at the halfway point he’s doing enough to get him to Triple-A. He’s a special talent with the bat and athletically. He’s a confident kid. He always has been very sure of himself, but in a good way.”
Timetables can change.
“Kansas City likes to promote from within,” Myers said. “If you’re doing well, they’re not going to waste any time. They’re going to move you up there. Yeah, it’s cool to see guys like Moose, Hos, (Danny) Duffy and Salvador up there.
“I played with all of those guys in spring training, and now they’re in the big leagues …”
Myers let the thought hang for a moment. And then smiled.
A look at other prospects

Outfielder Wil Myers is just one of seven Royals players on the Surprise Saguaros, who also staff their roster with prospects from Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay and Texas for a 38-game schedule in the six-team Arizona Fall League.
The others:
RHP Nate Adcock: Spent the season in the big leagues following his selection last December from Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft. The Royals simply want him to get some additional innings prior to before next season.
INF Christian Colon: The fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft, he just completed his first full pro season by batting .257 with eight homers and 61 RBIs over 127 games at Class AA Northwest Arkansas.
RHP Jeremy Jeffress: A power reliever who opened the season in the big leagues before command problems prompted his demotion. Spent much of the season as a starter in order to gain innings but did so with disappointing results — a 3-6 record and 5.50 ERA in 25 games.
LHP Brendan Lafferty: A third-year pro who appeared to regress this season in compiling a 4.48 ERA while splitting time in 30 relief appearances at Northwest Arkansas and Class A Wilmington.

RHP Bryan Paukovits: Became a full-time reliever this year and posted a 3.46 ERA in 31 appearances at Wilmington after having a 4.63 ERA in three previous seasons as a starter in the low minors.
INF Anthony Seratelli: A replacement for 1B/DH Clint Robinson, who suffered a sports hernia late in the season. Seratelli, 28, batted .282 with nine homers and 64 RBIs in 129 games at Northwest Arkansas.

To reach Bob Dutton, send email to bdutton@kcstar.com. Follow his updates at twitter.com/Royals_Report

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Originally Posted by beer me (Post 7995626)

I love baseball and this game is boring me. It could be because the tards are winning though.

Greinke has certainly been nothing special in these playoffs.

The Tards can suck my balls. Just like their penis smoking fans.

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Originally Posted by UCF Knight (Post 7995678)

The Tards can suck my balls. Just like their penis smoking fans.

I knew there was something I liked about you.

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Originally Posted by SPchief (Post 7995650)

Unfortunatly, we don't play in the NL

On the other hand, we also don't have to put up with watching a season of NL baseball.

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Originally Posted by beer me (Post 7995574)

I don't suppose the folks at hardballtimes took into account that Monty was asked to work on areas that aren't his strong ones this past season and obviously his stats suffered short term for what will hopefully be long term gain.

Suppose it doesnt matter a lot right now though, his numbers are what they are.

Here's a pretty good write up on Monty:

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Name: Mike Montgomery
DOB: 7/1/89
Organization: Royals
Position: Pitcher
Notable 2011 Stats: 5.32 ERA, 4.30 FIP, 15 HRA, 69 BB, 129 K, 50% GB% in 150 2/3 IP with Omaha (AAA)

Why He’s This High:*Montgomery boasts plus stuff, with a good low-90′s fastball and a curve and changeup that flash plus at times. At 6’4″ and with a lanky, projectable frame, he could grow into more velocity, and he could end up with three plus offerings–after all, he just turned 22 in July.
Statistically, Montgomery doesn’t have a whole lot left to prove in the minors after being a mid-rotation workhorse for Triple-A Omaha last season. After he missed significant time in 2010, getting through 150+ innings this season was a big step for the lefthander, and better still, he improved as the year went on. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was just 65/46 through the end of June, but was nearly twice as good thereafter, at 64/23.
Montgomery has always put up good groundball numbers and projects to excel in that area at the MLB level as well.

Why He’s This Low: Statistically, Montgomery hasn’t really excelled that much in his minor league career. He had one dominant stretch of four starts in High-A to start 2010, and his one-homer-in-110 innings performance in 2009 was pretty neat, but he hasn’t shown the ability to get elite strikeout numbers with any consistency. His K/BB numbers from Double-A and Triple-A leave a lot to be desired, and while he did make strides in that area down the stretch in 2011, there still has to be some lingering doubt about how consistent he’s going to be.
Montgomery missed significant time in 2010 with elbow problems, as I mentioned above, and his mechanics are a bit quirky, leading some to wonder if he will wind up with a more costly injury in the future. He tends to be overly straight-up-and-down in his delivery, which gives him excellent plane to the plate (hence the groundball rate) but puts some additional stress on his elbow. His landing also is somewhat inconsistent, which could be a driver of his elevated walk rates.
Injury issues, of course, are often merely speculation, and the more philosophical issue at hand is what sort of upside Montgomery has. If you squint, you can imagine him coming up with three plus offerings, filling out and becoming durable, and correcting his flaws with time, and turning into a Jon Lester-style lefty ace. If you don’t buy those improvements all coalescing for the young lefty, perhaps you see him turning into an inconsistent but useful back-of-the-rotation lefthander with more stuff than many pitchers of that ilk–like, say, Twins-era Eric Milton.
Conclusions: Most likely, Montgomery turns into something between Milton and Lester. Seasons like C.J. Wilson‘s 2010–which is a near-exact match for Montgomery’s AAA campaign in the BB/9, K/9, and GB% numbers–are probably the most likely scenario for his peak. That’s not too shabby, as Wilson was a 4.6 WAR pitcher that year.
Really, the question with Montgomery is which of his skills are going to round into form, which will fail to materialize, and which will show up but fail to gain consistency. He’s got three pitches that could be plus, but none of them are plus right now. He might strike out a well-above-average number of guys, and he might have a great walk rate, but he hasn’t been consistent in either department in the minors, let alone the majors. There’s no “signature skill” to hang your hat on here, nothing that you can look at and say “I know he’ll do ______ really well in the majors.” The closest thing is probably his groundball ability, which is a plus, but that’s not the sort of attribute that puts guys at the top of prospect lists.
That uncertainty aside, this is a 22-year-old with a number of potentially excellent qualities, and a pitcher who’s probably just a dozen Triple-A starts away from being ready for a shot at a big-league rotation. While it’s easy to focus on the underwhelming stats or the lack of one bigtime attribute to fall in love with, we shouldn’t overlook all the positives that allowed Montgomery to ascend this far this fast. There are more question marks here than there are for most big prospects with a full year of Triple-A experience, but Montgomery still holds plenty of intrigue and potential, and even if he meets his (healthy) downside, he should contribute as an innings-eater.

Check out all of the Seedlings To Stars 2012 Top 100 Prospects*here!

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Originally Posted by KChiefs1 (Post 7995552)

Bubba!

Rany on Bubba:

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2011

Bubba Starling And The Importance Of Age.

I’ll get back to looking at starting pitchers soon, but first I wanted to point out a pair of articles I wrote for Baseball Prospectus, which are free and open to the public, and which you can read here and here.

If you don’t have the time to read those articles, here’s the summation in one sentence: at least when it comes to high school hitters, a player’s age on the day he is drafted has a dramatic effect on the odds that he succeeds in the major leagues. A high school hitter who is drafted when he is 17 is much, much more likely to become a star than one who is drafted when he is 18, even if both are selected at the same point in the draft.

While I was astonished to find that the effect was this strong, I have suspected that there was some sort of an effect for a long time now. The reason for my suspicion was precisely because, in the weeks leading up to a draft, I’d read dozens if not hundreds of articles talking about every potential first-round pick, his strengths and weaknesses, his signability, who’s trending up or down – but almost never would someone mention that Player X was still 17 while Player Y was almost 19. This struck me as very strange. After all, we know that with major league hitters, the difference between a 21-year-old and a 22-year-old is substantial enough to comment on. Given that teenagers are still developing physically and improving at a more rapid pace than twentysomethings, wouldn’t it matter if a high school senior was particularly young or old for his age? Turns out it does.

There are always exceptions, of course. The first time I gave this a lot of thought was back in 2007, when the Royals had the #2 pick in the draft and were all set to draft high school third baseman Josh Vitters – and then, the morning of the draft, decided that Mike Moustakas was signable and picked him instead. While Moustakas seemed to project a little better, I was concerned at the time that no one was pointing out their difference in age. Moustakas born on 9/11/88, being one of the oldest players in his high school class; Vitters was born 8/27/89, being one of the youngest players in his class. Moustakas was almost exactly one year older than Vitters, and that extra year of development might prove to be crucial.

At least so far, it hasn’t. While Vitters is not a bust yet, his development has been hampered by his ultra-aggressiveness at the plate, and he hit .283/.322/.448 for the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate this year. Moustakas, obviously, is in the majors, and a year ago – when he was the same age Vitters is now – he hit .322/.369/.630 between Double-A and Triple-A.

We have to hope that Bubba Starling is another exception. Starling was born on 8/3/1992; he had actually turned 19 years old. He was the third-oldest high school hitter drafted in the top 100 picks this year. Historically, it’s rare for a player as old as Starling was – roughly 18 years, 10 months old on Draft Day – to develop into a star. But there are certainly reasons for optimism here. Like Moustakas, who was one of the best hitters in southern California as a junior, Starling didn’t exactly come out of nowhere in his senior year. He’s an extremely athletic player who had a lot of success playing for Team USA before his senior year, the summer he turned 18. If he had been eligible for the draft as a high school junior, frankly, the Royals would probably have drafted him #4 that year instead of Christian Colon.

If you’re looking for a good comp for Starling, I would point towards Rocco Baldelli. Like Starling, Baldelli was a player who was old for his draft class – he turned 19 in September – but an extremely athletic draft pick, one of the best athletes in the draft in years. Like Starling, Baldelli played against weak high school competition – he’s from Rhode Island – and both are right-handed hitting outfielders. Baldelli was taken with the #6 pick in 2000, which is considered by many to be the weakest draft of all time.

Baldelli’s career was ultimately betrayed by his body; he was starting in the majors by 2003, when he was 21, and was a league-average hitter at age 21 and 22. He missed all of 2005 with an injury, but came back in 2006 and hit .302/.339/.533 at the age of 24. He would play in just 135 games the rest of his career, ultimately getting diagnosed with a rare genetic problem with his mitochondria that explained his inability to stay healthy.

Assuming Starling can stay healthy, a career path like Baldelli’s is certainly possible, and I still think he’s an excellent prospect. But my findings force me to downgrade him a tick, at least until we see him on the field for a full season. If time allows, I’m hoping to give you a list of the Royals’ top prospects at some point, and one of the most difficult questions to answer for that list is this: who’s the Royals’ #1 prospect? I think you can make a case for six different guys, but no one stands out as being elite. Starling could be that guy, but based on these findings I would be reluctant to rank him #1 overall until we see some results.

The decision to take Starling concerns less about Starling and more about the guy the Royals didn’t take, Francisco Lindor, especially since Lindor was taken by the in-division rival Indians with the #8 pick. Lindor doesn’t turn 18 for another month; he’s a full 16 months younger than Starling, and I believe he was the youngest player signed in the entire 2011 draft. One thing that really stood out from my study was how many star players were drafted when they were still 17. Indeed, I’ve already heard scouts raving about Lindor in instructional league, above and beyond the raves you would naturally expect from a top-10 pick.

There’s no blame to be meted out here. I would expect teams to take age into greater consideration in the draft next year, but if any teams were aware of this effect before now, they’re keeping that to themselves. It will be certainly interesting to follow Starling and Lindor going forward, and I’m certainly hoping for a replay of the Moustakas/Vitters dynamic. But at this very moment, if I could choose to have one of the two players, I’d take Lindor. Which is a strange thing to say given that we’ve barely seen either one on the field yet. But I think my findings are that significant.

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Originally Posted by KChiefs1 (Post 7995569)

Lamb breakdown:

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Name: John Lamb
DOB: 7/10/90
Organization: Royals
Position: Pitcher
Notable 2011 Stats: 3.09 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 3 HRA, 13 BB, 22 K, 43% GB% in 35 IP with Northwest Arkansas (AA)

Why He’s This High: Lamb is a very polished lefthanded pitcher who is well ahead of the age curve. He reached Double-A in mid-2010 right around his 20th birthday after blowing through High-A with a 90/15 K/BB in 74 2/3 innings, doing so on the back of exquisite command and a good fastball/changeup combination. That earned him Baseball America’s #18 overall prospect ranking last offseason, and he ranked #38 on my list. On that list last year, I said Lamb was “an extremely polished pitcher who could wind up similar to the Mets incarnation of Johan Santana.”
Another pitcher one could compare Lamb to is Cole Hamels. While Hamels has kicked his average velocity up to ~92 mph in recent years, he initially threw around 89-92, right around where Lamb sits, and both Hamels and Lamb look to the changeup as an out pitch, with an iffy curveball as the third offering.
Lamb has a simple, repeatable delivery that allows him to throw tons of strikes, and should be able to pound the zone in the majors. At 6’4″ and 200 lbs., he’s a lean and fairly projectable pitcher who, like Hamels, could gain some velocity later in his career.

Why He’s This Low: The 500-pound elephant in the room, of course, is that Lamb underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow after throwing 35 innings this season, and he certainly won’t be ready to start 2012 on time. The hope as of now is that he could be back on the mound in Northwest Arkansas around his 22nd birthday.
Of course, while the recovery rate from UCL replacements is quite high, there has to be a considerable amount of worry that his stuff won’t come all the way back after the injury and subsequent long break for rehab. Given that his stuff was more above-average than truly plus before his injury, it’s possible that he could lose a bit of velocity and turn into a stereotypical back-of-the-rotation lefty. Let’s make this clear, though: this scenario is merely possible, not probable. Nonetheless, Lamb’s near-term outlook is cloudier than that of all but a few prospects (viz. late 2011 signees, and perhaps Barret Loux) on this list.
Furthermore, Lamb has thrown 68 innings in Double-A between 2010 and 2011, and while he didn’t embarrass himself, he didn’t perform especially well, striking out just 48 while walking 26. That comes with big “young for the level” and “possibly pitching hurt” caveats, but given that Double-A is often the toughest level to transition to for minor leaguers, it’s possible that Lamb’s lack of bigtime stuff caught up to him. Clearly, his approach ran him into some problems, as his walk rate nearly doubled from High-A; that’s not going to cut the mustard for a guy who was a near-universal Top 50 prospect entering the year, especially when coupled with the injury uncertainty.

Conclusions: There’s a lot to like about Lamb. He’s always been very young for his levels and he’s never pitched badly. He brings stellar command of a fairly well-rounded arsenal, a big frame, and good mechanics to the mound.
And yet, he’s probably had the least auspicious last season-and-a-half than anyone on this list, between the merely average Double-A pitching and the injury. It could be 2013 until Lamb is back at full strength and with a somewhat near-normal workload, and by then, he’ll be 2 1/2 years removed from dominance. On the plus side, he’ll still be a few months from his 23rd birthday and almost ready for Triple-A.
If he can get back in form, the upside of a Hamels/Ricky Romero-type pitcher remains. Barring a bigtime postsurgical disaster, Lamb should still be a big-league contributor, but it could be more in the vein of John Lannan if his stuff doesn’t come all the way back and/or he can’t find a way to miss bats more reliably in the upper minors.

Previous installments in the Seedlings To Stars 2012 Top 100 Prospects:

Stadium Journey's review if The K:

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The K
Official Review by Jack Winter, Stadium Journey Regional Correspondent

Inaugurated on April 10, 1973, Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium is the longtime home of the Kansas City Royals. Simply known as “The K” or “Kauffman” to regulars, it is located at the Truman Sports Complex along with the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

Though the Royals have arguably been Major League Baseball’s most downtrodden franchise since their lone World Series win in 1985, one would hardly know it given Kauffman’s tremendous combination of originality and amenities new and old. Already one of the most unique venues in baseball, The K underwent a massive face-lift completed in time for Opening Day 2009. Given the fantastic new additions to a ballpark that already carried a solid reputation, it’s no surprise Kansas City was selected to host July’s 2012 MLB All-Star Game.

Led by an abnormally large group of talented youngsters, the Royals look poised for a long-awaited playoff berth within the near future. Their coming success should be met with open arms by fans across the country, as a venue like Kauffman Stadium deserves not just an All-Star Game, but a national spotlight for a wealth of October baseball.
4.0

What is FANFARE?

The FANFARE scale is our metric device for rating each stadium experience. It covers the following:
Food & Beverage
Atmosphere
Neighborhood
Fans
Access
Return on Investment
Extras
Each area is rated from 0 to 5 stars with 5 being the best. The overall composite score is the "FANFARE Score".

Food & Beverage***5/5
That the available concessions are arguably the most impressive aspect of a stadium experience would be a bad sign for most. Not at The K, though, as its selection of food and drink no doubt rates among the best in baseball, and all sporting venues across the country.

Typical food and drink fare like hot dogs, bratwursts, and the like are available at every turn and are reasonably priced. What makes the concessions at Kauffman special, though, is its wide selection of KC-born favorites. Signature sandwiches like the KC Ribeye Steak and Royals’ Pork T ($10.50 each, but worth it) combine traditional stadium food with local flare that makes Kansas City “cowtown.” All-Star BBQ serves classic hometown dishes like burnt ends and a half rack of ribs ($16, but feeds more than one), while Boulevard Brewing Company stands offer the best beer in the midwest. Topsy’s Popcorn and Sheridan’s Frozen Custard are two local options for those with a sweet tooth, while Rivals Sports Bar – a 150 seat restaurant located high in right-field – makes eating at the ballpark seem like a night out on the town.

Atmosphere***4/5
Surprisingly, the overall atmosphere at Kauffman Stadium was barely diminished by the Royals’ non-existent postseason hopes. Instead, everyone in the stadium young and old seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The newly renovated outfield portion of The K was especially vibrant. The Royals Hall of Fame was crowded, the Bud Light Party Zone was packed with people eating and drinking, children loved playing putt-putt, “running the bases”, and the merry-go-round, while the outfield’s huge fountains provided a special and unique element to baseball. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more entertainment-filled area than Kauffman’s outfield, and it no doubt played a special role in finally bringing the All-Star Game to KC.

Fans were engaged in play on the field as well as stadium promotions shown on one of the biggest high-definition LED screens in the world, located in center field. On a crisp autumn night, there were few at The K who’d have rather been anywhere else.

Neighborhood***1/5
For a Chiefs game, the Truman Sports Complex offers anything you’d want for a tailgating experience. What has to be one of the biggest parking lots in the country amidst pure isolation makes for an all-encompassing NFL experience. As tailgating isn’t exactly a storied baseball tradition, the area surrounding the Sports Complex leaves much to be desired for the Royals. Some fans take advantage of the space surrounding the stadium and eat/drink outside their cars before gametime, but such activity is sparse and hardly worth mentioning. In short, Kauffman Stadium’s neighborhood is a lone black eye on what is otherwise a great experience.

Fans***4/5
Some of Kansas City’s senior sports fanatics – unbeknownst to most – characterize it as a “baseball town.” Watching a game in Kauffman Stadium, it’s easy to see why they feel that way.

The crowd hangs on every pitch, reacting with fervor to each called ball and strike. When the Royals strike offensively, fans go wild and yearn for more. Despite a small attendance number, this was a crowd that was clearly educated and loved the game.

The fun had at The K was obviously not just due to the stadium itself. The fans, of course, contributed a great deal to an atmosphere that would be appreciated by a baseball fanatic or a first-timer looking to catch a foul ball.

Access***4/5
Truman Sports Complex is surrounded by two major interstate highways, and is also accessible by multiple service roads. The huge parking lot makes for easy parking, and approaching or exiting the Sports Complex is equally care-free.

Once inside Kauffman Stadium, finding your seat and anything else is done with ease. A large concourse encircles the bottom portion of the stadium, while escalators and circular walkways lead to The K’s upper levels.

The only negative with regard to access is the abnormally deep and wide steps on the stadium’s lower level. In between innings and other times of heavy traffic, this often leads to some backup in the aisles as the stairs are relatively difficult to traverse.

Return on Investment***5/5
In general, the prices of tickets and concessions at Kauffman Stadium align consistently with those of other parks around Major League Baseball. Considering recent updates and the fact that it’s surely among the league’s best venues, that speaks well to getting great bang for your buck.

Buying a “walk-up” ticket, though, might as well amount to stealing. Most every game, it’s possible to walk up to an office at The K and purchase a seat for the paltry price of $9. Your seat won’t be along the third base line or in the fountains, but for a stadium with good sight-lines and a seemingly endless amount of extra entertainment activities, that hardly matters.

A $9 ticket or not, a trip to Kauffman Stadium is more than worth the price of admission.

Extras***5/5
Where to begin?

The outfield alone deserves four extra points. The videoboard and fountains make Kauffman Stadium one of the most aesthetically unique in all of sports, while the countless number of activities for children and Bud Light Party Deck ensure that fans of all ages and interests will have a great time at The K.

Kauffman Stadium’s myriad of food and drink choices deserves an extra mention, as well, as it surely rates as one of the best in all of professional sports.

K.C. latest Laffey Tour over America destination

Mike Burke Cumberland Times-News

As of now it appears Aaron Laffey will be wearing royal blue again — Kansas City Royals blue, that is — as the Royals acquired the former Allegany High School left-hander from the New York Yankees in a waivers claim on Tuesday.

Laffey, 26, split last season with the Yankees and the Seattle Mariners after spending the four previous seasons with the Cleveland Indians. The former 16th-round draft pick went to the Yankees in a waiver deal in August and went 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 11 appearances for the Bombers. Overall, in 47 games, he was 3-2 with a 3.88 ERA.

“It gives us another option from the left side,” general manager Dayton Moore told the Kansas City Star. “(Laffey’s) still very young. He’s always had the ability to spin the ball, and our scouts feel like he’s an upgrade for us.”

Laffey, who was immediately placed on Kansas City’s 40-man roster, is first-time arbitration eligible this winter after making $431,600, according to the Star. He also has one option remaining, meaning he could be sent to the minors without clearing waivers — the gift that never stops reminding he played in the Indians organization his first four years.

After starting in the big leagues his first three seasons, Laffey was moved to the bullpen in 2010 by Cleveland. In 126 career games, including 49 starts, he is 21-23 lifetime with a 4.34 ERA.

“He’s versatile,” Moore told the Star. “He can be a swing-type guy.”

And so it continues. The Yankees, who were eliminated from the postseason last Friday by Detroit, decided not to offer Laffey a tenured contract, which was no shocker since the reason they acquired him for the stretch was injuries to their left-handed relievers, who are expected to be back and healthy next season.

So now, after being placed on waivers, he belongs to the Royals for as late as Dec. 13, the deadline for offering a player a contract or going to arbitration.

While it was likely a lot of kicks for Laffey down the stretch to be with the Yankees, the team he grew up rooting for, he couldn’t have been comfortable or happy in the role as left-handed specialist the Yankees had him in. Again, that’s no fault of the Yankees, because it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. But Laffey has a lot of untapped innings in that restless left arm of his, so it just felt unnatural seeing him sit around in hurry-up-and-wait circumstances.

The feeling here has always been that at the very least Laffey is a long-middle reliever; at the very most, a starter. His make-up and his arm, not to mention the side of his body his pitching arm is on, make him a starter, who still has plenty of time in front of him to prove it.

Left-handed starters of Laffey’s ilk — not overpowering, but with some zip and with a know-how for how to pitch — have a tendency to have long big-league careers after their early organizations go too stubbornly by the book because they’re afraid to decide whether to make the lefty a starter or put him in the bullpen.

You don’t believe me, ask Jamie Moyer, who had no zip, but who always knew how to get hitters out.

Laffey understood when he decided to make this his life’s work that there was the possibility for years like this one. Four teams in one season since the beginning of spring training, though, is probably more than even he understood could happen. Still, things happen for a reason, although in baseball, it doesn’t always feel that way. As Jim Bouton said, “You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around the whole time.”

The best grip for Laffey in this season, however, is there has always been a demand for his services. There’s always been a buyer and through all of the here-and-there he’s had to experience, that’s not a constant easy to come by in a business and in a game that can be as screwy as this one can often times be.

Now in a town that not only has the best barbecue in America, but a rich baseball soul, and for an organization that clearly knows the value of left-handed pitching and wasted very little time in securing him, who’s to say this won’t be the start of precisely what Laffey has set out to accomplish in this game from the beginning?

We’ll know more, perhaps, on or before Dec. 13. But in the meantime, color Aaron Laffey royal blue once more — a color scheme he has long felt at home with in the past.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com

http://times-news.com/localsports/x3...ca-destination

Lots of good info KChiefs1 and Wilson8.... thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by beer me (Post 7994587)

Royals interview Eiland to be pitching coach

Former Yanks instructor reportedly in talks to replace McClure
By Adam Holt / MLB.com | 10/14/11 11:35 AM ET

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals' search for a new pitching coach may have advanced to the interview stage.

The Kansas City Star reported on Friday that the Royals interviewed former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland to replace Bob McClure, who was dismissed the day after the season ended. Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore declined to acknowledge if Eiland had been interviewed.

"It just wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss any of the candidates at this time," Moore said in a phone interview. "There's several very good candidates out there and we're just filtering through the process."

Eiland was New York's pitching coach from 2008-10, was dismissed, and took an advisory role with the Rays afterward.

McClure had been the Royals' pitching coach for the last six years.

Moore said that there's no timetable for the club to make a hire and that the Royals will wait for the right fit.

"Whenever we feel comfortable with the right person," he said.

At the time of his dismissal, Royals manager Ned Yost said: "I'm looking for a guy that pitched in the big leagues for a long time with mediocre stuff. Usually those guys that have to work real hard at their game and have longevity in their game are going to make dynamic pitching coaches."

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseb...royals/1196675

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilson8 (Post 7996331)

Odd thing to say...

I'd love to hire Orel Hershiser (sp).

Quote:

Originally Posted by beer me (Post 7996343)

Odd thing to say...

I'd love to hire Orel Hershiser (sp).

I think the point was a player that was in the majors for many years but didn’t have the stuff to be more than a mid level pitcher probably had to know more about the art of pitching and could share that with a pitching staff.

I think Orel could be a good pitching coach but he probably has too many other things going for him to consider being on the road for a long major league season and making less money. He has a son playing baseball at USC and he has his analyst job with ESPN.

Most guys that were star pitchers probably don't have the financial need to work as a pitching coach.

I stated last season Brian Bannister would make an excellent pitching coach.