(New) 2013 Kansas City Royals Repository
 

New thread, this time with more burst.

Proposed 2013 Slogan: Tigers: They're what's for dinner
Actual 2013 Slogan: Come to Play
A better, more accurate, or alternative slogan: All in, no panic, we promise.

Dayton Moore has pushed all his chips in and is riding on King/Jack suited, hoping it comes together, he gets some good luck, and he hits the nuts by the river card. There's potential, oh yes, there's potential. There's also risk.

At the midway point, Dayton is left counting on the river card. The flop and turn didn't help him, and he's looking at the Tigers holding a pair of Queens and the Indians holding a pair of 9s. His 2013 plan hasn't failed - yet - but the odds are not in his favor.

Burning questions updates below.

Burning Questions for 2013:

1) Will the improve rotation be improved enough? Does James Shields pitch like a fringe No. 1 away from Tampa Bay? Does Ervin Santana pitch to his highest upside in his walk year? Can Jeremy Guthrie build on his strong performance as a Royal in 2012? Can Wade Davis bring his new mentality- and velocity - back to the rotation?

Midseason check-in: Yes, the rotation is certainly improved enough. Shields has pitched like a fringe No. 1 and Santana is having his best season. Guthrie has horrible peripherals but has continued to perform well at his home park and eat innings on the road. Davis brought neither his kick-ass mentality or improved velocity back to the rotation and is in Luke Hochevar/Hiram Davies territory.

2) When will Luke Hochevar be shown the door?
Midseason check-in: It appears, never, at this point. Hochevar has been solid in non-leverage situations, though pretty much every time he has been used with men on base in an inning, it has been a disaster.

3) Does Hosmer bounce back?
Midseason check-in: It took some time, but Hosmer's performance from June 1 on is probably the most encouraging thing about the 2013 season so far.
4) Can Moustakas hit for a whole season like he did in the first half of 2012?
Midseason check-in: Nope. Moustakas was god-awful, then great for about 3 weeks, then god-awful again. He has been better since he started working with Brett and Grafol but still has a long way to go.
5) Who regresses?
Midseason check-in: Welp, Alicides Escobar is not a surprising name here (though Yost's stubborn insistence on hitting him second is ridiculous). Billy Butler is a surprise. He isn't having a terrible year - still contributing a lot to the offense - but he's not hitting for the average or power he has displayed over the past several years.
6) Who plays 2B?
Midseason check-in: A whole bunch of people, and not that great. Gio is at least getting a shot, though he once again is not doing much with it.
7) Can Jeff Francoeur be at least replacement level, rather than epic horrible level?
Midseason check-in: Hahahahahahahahahahaha
8) Will Dayton Moore survive to see 2014?
Midseason check-in: Outlook uncertain. Probably still around, unless the team completely tanks in the second half and he does something foolish. My guess - he sacrifices Ned Yost this offseason and gets one more shot with a new manager in 2014.
9) Will Danny Duffy come back healthy? And if he does, is he the same, better or worse?
Midseason check-in: Yes. Velocity looks the same, and it looks likely he is the same guy as before.
10) And the big one: Has KC added enough to run down the big-money Detroit Tigers?
Midseason check-in: Doesn't look like it, does it?

Stretch run repository!

In for the 7 game slide!!!

Biggest series of the last 10 years.

In.

:Royals:

You da MAN Duncan.

The Royals released Frenchy, started a winning streak.

Now they need to release EJ, start another winning streak.

I'm in, I guess.

When can we expect to hear who Bonifacio is replacing on the roster?

Tyler Bray is here!

Dutton said by 3pm today

Elliot Johnson is batting .186 against LHP and .176 against RHP. I don't think his defense makes up for that offense to justify a roster spot.

Lets keep that road game winning stretch going! The time is now!

Let's start with PB telling us how he really feels about the Greinke trade. I'm not sure we're clear yet.

Maybe he won't be able to post in this new thread? Or, maybe he won't notice that it exists?

It was probably the worst trade in history! Seriously guys!

Big game today. Who is going to step up and make the game thread? We need a proven winner for this one!

What defense? Same with Getz?

Yost/DM talk about those two like they are plus-defenders. They aren't even average, in my opinion. Getz has no idea what he's doing around 2nd base on double-plays. And EJ showed his wizardry in the field yesterday.

Maybe Duncan or a smarter-than-me baseball mind can explain why Royals Brass seem to think those two are good ballplayers?

Or Moose. Or Hosmer. Or how KC can't support the Royals. Or Gordon. Or Butler. Or how James Shields isn't worth anything.

Cain and Moose are wayyyyy too young to be hurt. Cain is just a glass Joe.

Dammit. He found it

I think the problem with Cain is that he doesn't put in the effort. Brett alluded to this in an interview with 810 after he stepped down. Something along the lines of when he took the position, there were a few guys not putting in the effort he expected out of them. Mentioned Cain. But that after getting onto him about it, Cain started putting in a lot of effort.

I think he injuries are directly related to that. He may be in good shape based on genetics, but if he's not working out and training his body correctly, the type of injuries he seems to get would be a result of that. Getting an oblique strain in BP is WEAK

He replaces Francour as Clubhouse cheerleader.
Posted via Mobile Device

It's my opinion that Getz is a good 2nd baseman. And, from things I've read (Judging the Royals), he's smart running the bases.

What I don't understand is his hitting;
He bats left handed but has a better average against LHP (.256) than he does against RHP (.202). I think .256 would be acceptable for a good 2nd baseman. But, that .202 against RHP sucks. Anyway, I'd keep him over EJ.

Ned? Is that you?

Step 1: Stop reading anything Lee Judge writes about the Royals or baseball in general.

Step 3: Profit.

Getz's defense and baserunning are SEVERELY overrated by the Royals' front office.

Ha !! I could be wrong about Getz's defense. But, I think he's better defensively that Gio.

What happened to "Step 2" ?

It's a South Park reference.

Getz is marginally better than Giavotella at 2B. He has below-average range and a rag arm. He is sure-handed, though.

His base-running is solid but nothing special for a light-hitting middle infielder. HAve to get on base to take advantage of that, and he doesn't.

So, when Moose and Cain return, can the Royals win with a platoon of Carrol (.300+ against LHP) and Bonifacio at 2nd?

I never watch South Park.

Many thanks for the new Repository, Duncan.

It washes the stink of the rotting Marlins series off our hands, and today is a new day.

All of you naysayers and Neyers can GTFO and STFU

Let's do this.

Ervin Santana ‏@ErvinSantana_54 39m
Today is the only day. Yesterday is gone. #JohnWooden

I'm not even sure it's marginally, anymore. And he may be "quick" around the bases, but I think he's a stupid base-runner

Sure. Assuming Cain and Moose don't fall off a cliff when coming back from the injuries.

Bonifacio MIGHT be able to handle the job straight up. Depends on how he adapts to the change of scenery.

Caroll is fine as a util guy who plays against lefties. Asking him to do anything more than that is a disaster.

I presume the platoon at 2B will be Bonifacio and whoever survives of Getz and Johnson. I can't see Carrol playing over them especially since he would be our back up 3B.

How can any serious baseball person even contemplate keeping "Lin" Elliot Johnson on a MLB roster, let alone a 40 man. DFA his worthless ass, there are at LEAST 4 better options in the system.

Gio, Colon, Falu, Seratelli

Hey, I've been cheering for this team since my family moved here in '86. I watch every game that I can, winning or losing.

But I'm pissed off about yesterday, and the shit lineup we threw out there. I get that injuries have hurt us, but going to Detroit with 3 spots in our lineup guaranteed to be some form of Getz/Dyson/Carroll/Bonifacio just sucks. I get that the Omaha guys are "unknowns" at this point, but we KNOW that Getz and Carroll can't hit, period.

Plus in two of those Detroit games, you can replace Sal in the lineup with Kottaras. So we are going into our biggest series in 20 years with 3 good hitters (Hoz, Butler, Gordon) 3 guys hitting decent (Lough, Sal, Escobar) and 3 guys that could not hit if the ball was sitting on a stand.

Colon and Falu both can play SS, so they would make sense to promote and replace Johnson.

If I'm choosing between Getz and Johnson at the MLB level, though, and they haven't added another guy capable of playing SS, I keep Johnson because of his ability to play SS. Despite his error yesterday, I still believe Johnson is a better defender and base runner than Getz.

This whole situation is an excellent example of the danger of over-exposing a bench guy like Johnson, and why you can't just take a guy's production in a small sample size and project his WAR over a full season.

Let's go Royals... losing 2/3 to the Marlins sucked balls. Let's win 4/5 against the Tigers.

In on the new thread. Also in on the new 8 game winning streak starting tonight.

Oh we were all pissed off yesterday. It was an abomination. But it's over, and you can't let that stick with you. Not questioning anyone's fandom, just saying that it's time to move forward.

I noticed you left Paulino off the depth for 14. Are you writing him off? If healthy I think he is a solid to good starter, obviously IF is the key word there.

They don't have control of him after this year... he would need to accept a minor league deal at this point, in all likelihood.

Just not sure what becomes of him. I agree... if healthy, he's a solid piece in that rotation.

So it looks like Duffy's going to get one of the starts tomorrow...and I'm fine with that. But do you think Ventura gets a shot this year?

You guys went from "No way, starting a new repository would mess up the mojo" to "Start a new repository and we get our mojo back" in two days. Bunch of flip flopping John Kerrys!

I don't think he's quite ready... pitched six shutout innings yesterday but walked five while doing it.

His command/control still have a way to go.

When you lose 2 of 3 to the Marlins, there isn't any MOJO

Haha. It only takes a two game slide for Royals fans to change their tune.

I suspect if we lose the series to Detroit, duncan will be called upon to make another repository.

Oh there was mojo...it just wasn't good. And the old one was getting too big, so we picked the perfect time to swap it out.

Detroit is - 192, Vegas knows the mojo is gone and our lineup is now crap.

We were -225 yesterday.

The two losses to the Marlins were punishment for some in the other thread flirting with the idea that we needed a new repository despite how well we were doing. Now we had to appease and create a new one as repentence.

Hate to be negative here but I said it in a game thread last week,Yost will end up ****ing this thing up somehow,someway.

That is a pretty large trunk of a limb you are going out on there. :D

I never imagined we'd be begging and pleading for Moose to return this season.

Easily.

Dude, injury is ****ing this thing up. Moose, Cain, and Tejada all out really hurts-and we had Perez out for awhile, too. That's almost 50% of your starting lineup (I think Tejada is our best current option at 2b, don't you? Certainly offensively.)

its possible to win without cain, cuz we have a little depth at CF, but we are ****ed without Moose.

Dude,I get that,I also know that before the injuries Yost easily lost 5 games or more due to ****ed up management.I don't like the guy as a manager and think the team would be much better off without him calling the shots.

Jim Morrison says a dead Indian told the Royals to play like chit.

MOJO RISING

I assumed some would be thrilled he was out as they've wanted him sent to the minors for months.

Per Bob Dutton, Elliot Johnson has been DFA'd, and Emilio Bonifacio has reported to the team.

One game too late

1 down, Getz to go

WOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTT.

YES!

At least Getz has been getting on base. He pisses me off too, but not like EJ did.

I'd prefer Colon or Gio, but it ain't happening. Hopefully Boner (my nickname) can do something with us, and we can put Moose back at 3B soon. SOON.

Duncan, there goes your backup SS.

They must be comfortable with Bonifacio's ability to play there in a pinch, then. That's just fine.

So what do you want to trade for Elvis Andrus? He cleared waivers today.

He's got an 8 year/$120 million contract.

DFA'ing EJ was a no-brainer, but I still was afraid it wouldn't happen. I mean, how do you keep him on the roster and tell the other guys that you're still trying?

As a franchise, we would be trading away any chance of signing a free agent for 8 years.

Paging St. Louis. Paging St. Louis.

I really liked Johnson's defense at 2B. It's just too bad he fell into one of the worst hitting funks I've ever seen ... and he was a crappy hitter even before that. But with his speed and defense, if he could just hit .240-.250 he'd have value. But damn, you go 1-for-52 or whatever ...

Still rather have Reynolds at 3B and Bonifacio at 2B with Carroll the backup (since the Royals absolutely refuse to take the wild, reckless, sure-to-blow-up-in-your-face risk of calling up a minor leaguer).

Step 1 was cutting the dead weight.
Step 2 is taking 3 (or daresay 4) games from detroit.

Remain positive brethern!!!

Getz is leading off tonight's game

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Royals&amp;src=hash">#Royals</a> vs RHP Sanchez: Getz 4 Hosmer 3 Butler DH Gordon 7 Perez 2 Maxwell 9 Bonifacio 5 Escobar 6 Dyson 8 Guthrie 1</p>&mdash; Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldbergkc/statuses/368094857799409664">August 15, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I could have sworn Maxwell had awful splits against righties. If they really want him to play then Lough should be in center and leading off.

At least Maxwell is playing. Getz since coming back has been above average, he's getting on base.

He does. And you're exactly right.

How are people that get paid work in baseball for a living coming up with this shit?