2013 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[duncan_idaho]

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?

[mr. tegu]

Hopefully Shields can stop this little two game losing streak. Last season there was no end in sight to a losing streak but this season we have legitimate stoppers.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

April 29, 2013 3:01 pm
Bubba Starling turning it around in Class A
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com

Royals outfield prospect Bubba Starling is beginning to turn it around after a horrid start to the season for Class A Lexington. While Starling is batting just .195 through 24 games, he's hitting .321 (9 for 28) in his last seven games.

Starling homered for the second straight game Monday and has three home runs in his last seven appearances. He also has 10 RBI in his last nine games. Starling, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft, is considered a top 100 prospect by MLB.com (No. 26) and Baseball America (No. 35).

Come on Bubba!

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Hopefully Shields can stop this little two game losing streak. Last season there was no end in sight to a losing streak but this season we have legitimate stoppers.

Better than throwing Hoch or Chen.

[Great Expectations]

Giavotella is playing pretty good in Omaha, Getz isn't hitting for crap in KC.

[Discuss Thrower]

Guise, I'm telling you, call up Sheratelli!

[Archie F. Swin]

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

Giavotella is playing pretty good in Omaha, Getz isn't hitting for crap in KC.

he exhausted all his powers with that home run in Atlanta

[Archie F. Swin]

You think Shields might crap his pants staring down his former teammates?

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Hopefully Shields can stop this little two game losing streak. Last season there was no end in sight to a losing streak but this season we have legitimate stoppers.

This type of game is why we traded for Shields. The hitters are playing like crap, and they need a stopper that can hold a team to 1 or 2 runs to let the hitters get their feet under them.

That being said, I think it's time to move Alex Gordon into the 3 hole. The leadoff guy cannot lead the team in RBIs throughout the season.

[Al Bundy]

Sam Mellinger ‏@mellinger 5m

Jonathan Sanchez, DFA'd by the Pirates, the last two seasons: 1-12, 8.73 ERA, and per-9-IP avgs of 12.3 H, 2.1 HR, and 7.0 walks.

[Hootie]

yeah for some reason they let him pitch again last night and he served up a homerun to our very own Yuniesky Betancourt...who is having a MONSTER year for the Brewers.

[alnorth]

I thought this was interesting, before the season began ZiPS ran their projection as usual, and I'm sure everyone saw them, but last night they re-ran them to see how everyone's playoff odds have changed.

Here's how the AL Central looks, first number is the preseason projection, 2nd number is the odds as of this morning, third number is the change.

DET 65.1% 81.2% +16.1%
KC 22.6% 28.0% +5.4%
CLE 24.5% 9.5% -15.0%
CWS 23.7% 9.5% -14.2%
MIN 2.4% 1.5% -0.9%

Implied odds of the AL Central receiving at least one wild card:

38.3% 29.7% -8.6%

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I thought this was interesting, before the season began ZiPS ran their projection as usual, and I'm sure everyone saw them, but last night they re-ran them to see how everyone's playoff odds have changed.

Here's how the AL Central looks, first number is the preseason projection, 2nd number is the odds as of this morning, third number is the change.

DET 65.1% 81.2% +16.1%
KC 22.6% 28.0% +5.4%
CLE 24.5% 9.5% -15.0%
CWS 23.7% 9.5% -14.2%
MIN 2.4% 1.5% -0.9%

Implied odds of the AL Central receiving at least one wild card:

38.3% 29.7% -8.6%

Moving on up.

[gblowfish]

Have you guys seen the forecast for the rest of the week? It's supposed to start raining tomorrow night, rain all day Thursday and maybe SNOW on Friday. Great....just great.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

Sam Mellinger ‏@mellinger 5m

Jonathan Sanchez, DFA'd by the Pirates, the last two seasons: 1-12, 8.73 ERA, and per-9-IP avgs of 12.3 H, 2.1 HR, and 7.0 walks.

That's a DIRTY Sanchez!

[dmahurin]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Have you guys seen the forecast for the rest of the week? It's supposed to start raining tomorrow night, rain all day Thursday and maybe SNOW on Friday. Great....just great.

I know, I'm pissed about it. I was planning on going to the games Friday and Saturday.