High five.

Bummed about Minor...maybe next season.

Right now it would be nice if him or Vargas take one spot. I still think we need to pick up one more arm and maybe a few guys coming up to be options if someone got hurt

http://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics...witter-premium

CHICAGO — Billy Butler missed the past two games against the White Sox because he was injured in an altercation with teammate Danny Valencia, The Chronicle has learned.

No one in the Oakland clubhouse would discuss the matter on the record, but no one denied that it occurred, either.

“No comment,” Valencia said after the team’s 4-2 loss to the White Sox. “What happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse.”

Manager Bob Melvin would not comment on the incident, which occurred Friday night, according to sources. Melvin said Saturday only that Butler was out with nausea and vomiting, but he specifically ruled out the flu when asked if that was Butler’s ailment.

ALSO

OAKLAND, CA - JULY 24: Billy Butler #16 of the Oakland Athletics celebrates a solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning to regain the lead against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum on July 24, 2016 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Don Feria/Getty Images) A’s Billy Butler hurt by Danny Valencia in altercation, sources CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 21: Khris Davis #2 of the Oakland Athletics is greeted by Marcus Semien #10 after hitting a two-run homer against the Chicago White Sox during the fourth inning on August 21, 2016 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) Khris Davis hits 32nd homer, but A’s lose at Chicago
Nausea and vomiting typically are among the symptoms of concussions.

Valencia did not play in the finale in Chicago, quite possibly because of the altercation, though he also was 2-for-20 lifetime against White Sox starter Jose Quintana.

Butler and Valencia were teammates with Kansas City in 2014 as well as the second half of last year and this year in Oakland, and they are known to engage in a great deal of loud banter in the clubhouse and on the field

Billy Butler Injured In Clubhouse Altercation With Danny Valencia

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/...-valencia.html


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I heard Valencia said he didn't like barbeque and Billy Butler took offense

I heard Valencia said Billy was out of shape and Billy Butler said from his recliner "Come over here and say that"

I heard Valencia ran around Billy screaming "I can't break orbit captain, I can't break orbit"

I heard Valencia said that Billy was a student of the game, the diabetes game.

I heard Valencia say that when Billy sits around the house, he literally sits around the house.

That's ****ing amazing. This little run has been hella fun

The sweep at Texas was a killer

Hottest two teams in baseball, this weekend in Boston. We are also on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

This week was huge because this team is legit in the mix now. 3.5 games back with 38 to play is nothing. Only catch is there's so many teams in the mix, going to be a grind, but they at least have a legit shot now.

Now this is real...:clap:

These buttholes are sucking everyone in with wildcard hopes. I despise July so hard.

Don't get me wrong. It's cool they righted the ship. I had just made my peace with shifting my aim to next season after 7 - 20.

Duffy aside, any playoff run would look a lot rosier with another rental arm capable of tossing BBs.

Isn't it always the case since the 2 wildcard spots that there's a bunch of teams chasing at this point and teams really don't start dropping off until mid September?

No doubt since there are 2 wild cards, but every year's different. It feels like there's a whole blob of teams all packed together now. I honestly don't remember last year because the Royals were so far out in 1st at this point.

Two years ago, it felt a little different because the A's and Angels were way out ahead of everyone else. The A's fell apart though and made it an exciting finish for both spots.

Two years ago at this point:

Angels 73-50
Orioles 71-52
Royals 69-55

1. Athletics 73-51 +6
2. Mariners 67-57
2. Tigers 66-56
Yankees -3 GB
Blue Jays -3.5 GB
Indians -4.5 GB


So I guess not too different, other than the A's being way out in front in the WC. This year we have the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles all up high in the mix with a lot of division games coming up.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don&#39;t understand all the negativity towards Danny Valencia. One of the better teammates/friends I&#39;ve had in this game.</p>&mdash; Eric Hosmer (@TheRealHos35) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealHos35/status/767557546915819521">August 22, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Doesn't Hos not like Billy Butler too? I'm wondering what happened between Valencia and Butler...isn't DV known ti be a club house cancer

Danny V is a "SWAG" boy and a total douche. Lots of reports that he can be a clubhouse disaster.

I could see why Hosmer likes him.

Moore is also known to trade guys who are negatively impacting the attitudes of other players.

He cut our best reliever in 2011 because of the effect he was having on the attitudes of the young LA players. It would make sense if Valencia was bringing out some of Hos' less desirable attributes.

@FlannyMLB: Valencia was not highly regarded in the clubhouse https://twitter.com/krew723/status/767510044292239361

Exactly...there's a reason Valencia doesn't stick around long on teams. Not sure why Hosmers chiming in..

Who was the reliever

Is this really the best time to bring that up? Can you not enjoy anything?

@jazayerli: In all seriousness, I bet Dayton - who says he traded for Cueto because he felt he owed it to his players - acquires someone by month's end.

@jazayerli: 3.5 games out. The Royals have made up 6 games on the wild card in 16 days, and 4 games in 8 days. This. Team.

Who the hell is going to clear waivers that we would get?

I'm surely not going to complain if DM adds a starter, but wouldn't they have to clear waivers to be traded at this point? What SP out there would be a significant enough upgrade but would be able to be traded for at this point?

I think we're gonna ride our top 3 as far as we can go this year. In all honest, Eddie would rank amongst the top tier 4's in the league. If Duffy, Ventura, and Kennedy continue to pitch like they have, this team will be in the mix come late September.

José Mijares. I had to look back a bit, it was actually in 2012. IIRC he was cut the day after the trading deadline and swooped up by San Fran. RoyalsCorner went ape**** at first. Mijares was only 27 and had a 2.56 ERA. Later it came out that he hated being on a "pretender like the Royals" and was a terrible influence for Alcides Escobar. It worked out for Mijares, as he ended up pitching in the playoffs for San Fran and scooped up a ring.

For a while, Dayton putting "team chemistry" as high as a priority as WAR was what caused him to be lambasted for this move as well as the Shields trade, but it's hard to argue with the results now. It also helped that he finally became willing to cut the talentless blackholes (Getz, Frenchy, Davies) that only brought grit and a locker room presence to the table.

Yeah I'm even more skeptical because a starter will probably cost too much.

I could certainly see them trading for a reliever, and I think maybe they should. Just give up a low level prospect or cash considerations. Just try to fill the gap until Wade gets back. Even though the bullpen is doing well the last couple weeks. With Strahm's emergence we could have a pretty good bullpen when Davis gets back.

I think this may be the most important week of the season(clearly this could change if we're a few out in late Sept). The Royals take their scorching hot play on the road against two playoff contenders. There is very little room for error. 3-3 is the bare minimum this week. 2-4 or worse turns the narrative again. By this time next week, we will have a much more realistic view of whether or not this team is contender vs pretender.

That's a good point. Shore up the pen a little more and ride out our winning formula.

Ervin Santana could be one of those that could fit that, doubt it would happen though and I honestly have no idea what his contract situation is (too lazy to look right now).

Also, if Santana (or anyone) was put through waivers, a team could "block" the Royals essentially from trying to trade for him by putting a claim on him (or anyone they feel the Royals could be targeting).. resulting in the player's respective team to withdraw their waiver request.

2/27 remains on Ervin's deal.

Honestly I'd rather we get bit pieces and focus our money on locking up Danny.

Agreed.

He really hated Billy.




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I thought Hosmer was a team leader & he supported Valencia? Interesting.




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Damn at this rate they'll be in the #2 wild card spot by September 1.




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Well...

If Billy had stayed in any kind of shape at all, even if it was his 2013 shape, we likely roll to a title in 2014.

I will always appreciate his clutch hits in the WC, though.

You're telling me this guy doesn't look in shape to you?!?!????????????????/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0mQYDlCAAA_12C.jpg

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

Someone should start a prediction thread about the final Royals record & where they finish.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...873dd673ed.jpg

Hottest team in baseball. Pitching hasn't allowed more than 1 run in what, last 6 ? We're 9-1 last 10 and 3.5 out from WC.

World series again bitches !

Re: Valencia... He's also a Miami guy, so not surprised Hosmer sided with him. But pretty sure Valencia's influence on Hosmer is one of the reasons the Royals dumped him for nothing.

He was too much of a douche for the Toronto clubhouse, doesn't that say it all?

The Twins don't seem to want to put Santana on waivers, so I assume they think he can help them compete in the next two years.

The Dodgers have put Kazmir out there, but that's about it as far as SP goes.


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Travel-Day for the Royals today. So no game tonight for our sizzling hot Team.

Tonight's Other Games of Interest:

* Astros @ Pirates - HOU tied with the R's for the last WC Spot - 3.5 GB

* Nationals @ Orioles - BAL clinging to the last WC Spot after losing 3 straight. Big Match-up in the DC Area

* Red Sox @ TB - BoSox are about as hot as KC right now .5 GB of TOR for the East Division

* Indians @ A's - Indians playing well, would love to see them get tripped up in Oak Town

* Yankees @ Mariners - Royals need to make up some ground on SEA. Go Yankees (puke!)

Getting the cart too far out in front of the horse here, our road record is horrible, less this last road stand. If we clear that up, then it's possible, remember, 2 years ago we had a good road record, well over .500.

Yep. Pass. I liked Santana his 1st go round, but don't want to revisit him @ that price.

It's technically a shape.


Pear shaped.

Twins aren't going to let him go but that price is a bargin.

I'm more concerned about what he would prevent us from doing. Bringing Duffy back (a guy who loves the org and has openly stated he wants to be here for life) should be paramount.

I wouldn't be concerned about that.

Your point is valid, but it's a bit of a stretch to say that Jose Mijares was the best reliever on that team. That was Greg Holland's breakout year with 91 Ks in 67 innings, Broxton had 23 saves, and Herrera, Collins and Crow were all decent that year.

Thanks for this listing.

Astros seemed to have gotten right vs Balt this past weekend and the Pirates may rank as one of the year's biggest disappointments but the pitching matchup tonight seems to favor the Pirates

Orioles just seem to be a team on the brink of collapse. Normally, you chalk this up as a win for the Nats but Stras has been pretty shaky his past couple starts. Hope he rights the ship here

From my perspective some combo of Bos/Tor wins the east and a WC. So while it would be sweet for Tampa to win this series(or hell, a game in this series)it's not super imperative

Again, just my opinion, but I think the Indians are good enough to not have the major collapse necessary for us to catch them. Of course, it would be awesome to be wrong but I'm certainly not expecting anything from the A's

And while I certainly want the Yankees to take this series(not going to happen), they are close enough to us in the WC that it won't totally suck when the Mariners beat them

Yeah, I had originally thought that went down in 2011 so I spaced on the the pieces we had in the bullpen. However, we had just traded Broxton and Mijares was one of our most reliable pieces left. Dropping him for absolutely nothing seemed absolutely bizarre and attracted considerable criticism to GMDM until reports of Mijares' attitude eventually surfaced.

If we can make it work I'm all for it, but it sounds like the Twins think they're due for a bounceback in 2017 and want to hold onto him.

It's funny how times change, isn't it? Back in those days we all thought GMDM was the devil, and we were all quick to criticize.

Now most of us realize that GMDM is pretty damn good at his job, and we're far more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt if he does something that appears to defy logic. (I said MOST of us, because every fan base has its share of prison bitches).

Agree.
I'm more certain of a Duffy contract than any of the other big $ guys on the team. I think he is most difficult to replace and has the most desire to stay.

I think he has learned a bit on the job also.

Certainly exceeded my expectations. 3.5 back boys!

Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xir_ynJWsH8/hqdefault.jpg

Interesting:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just spitballing here, but wouldn&#39;t be at all surprised if Mondesi gets sent down and Merrifield recalled before tomorrow.</p>&mdash; Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) <a href="https://twitter.com/jazayerli/status/767750881437626368">August 22, 2016</a></blockquote>
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What do you think? Mondesi is overmatched at the plate. Send him down until rosters expand Sept. 1, let a hot Whit (16 for his last 49) take over for awhile?

Or stick with the "we're winning with him regardless of what stats say" philosophy that fueled the Esky-at-leadoff stuff?

I wouldn't mind seeing Colon take it over.

Let's see, we've won eight straight so let's screw with the roster. I wouldn't do anything right now.

Golly I was just about to post that exact same idea.

True. His D and speed plays up. Just pinch hit in key at bats. They let him hit in those situations when it looked like we were done but are pinch hitting for him now.

Less than two weeks before the September call-ups. Leave it alone until then. Don't mess with the mojo.

Anybody with Insider access wanna post Olney's article about the MLB needing to fear the Royals!?

There winning inspite of him

Team sports can be funny. There might be something about his presence that makes them a better team.

No they are all robots that are programmed to put out numbers.

No reason to change anything on a run like this, IMO.

Meh, it's largely an individual sport. Mondesi didn't make Alex Gordon or Kennedy turn around their seasons, or put Duffy into the rotation, or heal Cain, or help Kendrys' BABIP


All would've happened with Whit

On my phone so posting it is a chore, but Clifs:

Royals are red-hot, no one wants to see them in the playoffs because of their success in recent years (and zombie-like nature), need to perform well in Boston to keep moving the right direction.


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It's just his roundup, so there isn't much depth because he covers multiple topics.

thanks AB!

Royals No. 17 prospect A.J. Puckett, fired five no-hit innings for Class A Lexington to lower his ERA to 3.09. The 2016 second-rounder notched four strikeouts and nine ground-ball outs and threw just 56 pitches (37 strikes)

Just 56 pitches in five innings. I hope this kid progresses quickly to the majors.

Strasburg to the DL with elbow soreness.

What, you don't think Yuniesky Betancourt, Mike Jacobs, Jonathan Sanchez, Joey Gathwright and Jose Guillen were great acquisitions???

Yes, I have to agree. GMDM has learned a lot on the job.