2010 Kansas City Royals Repository thread

[SPchief]

All Royals All The Time!

After consultation with others who peruse the game threads we decided to create this as a repository for all things Royals. Minor league news, AL (ahem) Central (thanks Vonne) news and anything Royals can be found here.

alnorth, me and atleast 5 others will continue the game threads as usual. But if you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

If a big story breaks, you can still start a thread about it. There is merely an all inclusive thread that will make a easy for us all to keep up with all things Royals.


Welcome! "Grab a Brew... don't cost nuthin"...[spills beer on feet]

[BillSelfsTrophycase]

Originally Posted by MVChiefFan

I think we should move DeJesus to left, Podsednik to center and put Guillen in right. I know his defense sucks but his bat is on fire right now and I'm not in favor of letting Kila just toil on the bench waiting for pinch hit opportunities.

Wayy to obvious for Hillman to figure out

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by thurman merman

but...but...I thought he didn't have any power? I thought he was on steroids and 2008 was a fluke?

I still am a little skeptical of his power potential (most of his track record shows mediocre - yes, even minimal for a 1B/DH - power)...

But like I said, I'm a Royals fan. So if Kila proves my gut feelings about him wrong, I'll be OK with it.

Speaking of minor leaguers... wonder how the guys claiming Moore should be fired for drafting Moustakas and Hosmer feel right now.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I still am a little skeptical of his power potential (most of his track record shows mediocre - yes, even minimal for a 1B/DH - power)...

But like I said, I'm a Royals fan. So if Kila proves my gut feelings about him wrong, I'll be OK with it.

Speaking of minor leaguers... wonder how the guys claiming Moore should be fired for drafting Moustakas and Hosmer feel right now.

Moore should be fired with horrid MLB moves

[duncan_idaho]

I'm not sure if Moore will survive long enough for his draft picks to really start making an impact (or even sure he should survive)...

But the job he has done in the minors is looking pretty strong right now.

[Reaper16]

New interview with Dayton Moore. Some dude who does online reporting on the Omaha Royals for Omaha Examiner (the website where they let anyone who can type be a reporter for them) got one-on-one time with Dayton. Wow.

Originally Posted by Omaha Examiner interview

Is the organization making a turn around?

Our team is better and our organization is better. You know, three years ago, we had no left-hand pitching prospects in our system. We didn’t have one catching prospect in our system. We have very little speed at all in the organization and as you know, our ballpark demands that if we’re going to be successful, we need speed and athleticism out there. All those components are put in place right now on the minor league level, and it takes time. It’s a process that you go through to get your organization turned around to be successful. When Terry Ryan took over for the Minnesota Twins in ‘94, they already had a built farm system and six straight years [they had] 87-97 loses and in year seven they were .500. In year eight, they went to the playoffs and won their division, and they already had a farm system that was built. So, not making excuses, [it’s] just the way it is. That’s the way it works in baseball.
We’re never comfortable and satisfied with where we are, but we know we’re better.
Seven of the nine guys in the lineup for Omaha a couple of nights ago are former Northwest Arkansas Naturals. That’s different from what we’ve seen in the past here in Omaha.

That’s a good sign. Last year, our Northwest Arkansas team was comprised of home grown talent. This year it’s the same and hopefully that’s a sign that we’re doing things the right way. That’s not to say that there won’t be gaps from time to time, because there will, but you want the nucleolus of your ballclub to be homegrown players.
And having them come up through the system together – that’s a good thing, right?

Yeah, it is. It is. That’s a good point. You want them to win and play together.
You’ve certainly faced your share of criticism over the past season or two. In your first year, I heard you talk about needing to surround yourself with people who have a critical eye and not a critical spirit. First, explain the difference. Second, tell me what that looks like.

I appreciate you bringing that up. The people who work with me closely are all very outspoken and my management style encourages them to speak their mind.
People with a critical eye – you know that whatever criticism or opinion that they have, you know it’s for the best of the Kansas City Royals; not what’s best for me or them. It’s what’s best for the Kansas City Royals.
People who look at you with a critical spirit – they want you to fail.
They are rooting for it, in a way.

Yeah, they want you to fail.
I want to be the type of person who looks at things with a critical eye and not a critical spirit.
With what we’re doing in Kansas City – we knew what the challenges were going to be – I remind all our people when they come here or to stay here when we’ve extended them to be a part of the organization, this is the toughest challenge in all of sports in my opinion.
Where the Royals were, what we’re trying to do, and the economic conditions of baseball and the challenges – again it’s an eight to ten year deal to try to get this thing turned around. If everything goes perfect, it’s eight to ten years because, you take a guy like [Eric] Hosmer in the draft – it’s three to four years before they get to the major leagues and then it’s another three to four years before they become a good major league player to help your team win.
We’re not perfect people, but the group we have are passionate about getting this thing right in Kansas City.
The year [2006] the Royals took Luke Hochevar in the draft, a guy like Tim Lincecum gets passed up by nine teams and Evan Longoria was passed over by Kansas City and several other teams too. Talk to me about the hit and miss factor of the draft. But also talk about dealing with the signability factor.

Our first draft was 2007. You can look back on the same situation in that draft. [Jason] Heyward is a guy we passed on. [Matt] Wieters and [Rick] Porcello were two guys we couldn’t afford. Our budget was $6.5 million that year. Porcello signed for $7.2 million. Wieters was asking for $10 million and he signed for $6 million. We couldn’t afford them. That’s just the way it is – that’s the structure we’re under. But Heyward signed for $2 million or $2.1 or something like that. We gave [Mike] Moustakas $4 million. But that’s the nature of the draft. Moustakas is going to be a good player.
That’s why you’ve got to stay aggressive. You can’t back off. You just stay aggressive and it’ll work out. We had a good draft in ’08. We had another good draft in ’09. And we expect to have a good draft here in 2010. Internationally we’re being more aggressive. We’re doing some good things. It’s costing us more money than we’d like because of the nature of the bonuses. It only goes so far, but we’re getting our share.
Talk to me about how you view your role as the general manager of the Royals. There is a segment of the fanbase that is quite passionate about the Royals but some of them have grown skeptical in recent years.

I’m very passionate about the Kansas City Royals. They were my boyhood team. I’m very passionate about baseball. I care deeply the people who work with us. I care deeply about the players who commit to be a part of this organization because it’s all about the players at the end of the day.
I’m concerned about the impression that people have about the Kansas City Royals. I want every young boy and every young girl to grow up loving the Kansas City Royals. There is a generation of people who saw nothing but winning and now there’s a generation of people who have seen nothing but losing.
For the baseball family – or that dad or that grandfather who grew up loving the Royals and seeing them perform in all their glory days to now have a grandchild or a son or a great grandson, in some cases, who have never seen the Royals win and they root for the Phillies and they root for the Red Sox and they root for the Yankees because those are the teams that win, or they root for the Braves because those are the teams that have won, it’s got to be in a way – it’s probably not heartbreaking – I probably take it a little more serious than it actually is, but there’s some disappointment.
It’d be no different than, you know – we’re in Nebraska and [having] a family [who loves] the Nebraska Cornhuskers and suddenly somebody’s rooting for KU.

http://www.examiner.com/x-15807-Omah...r-Dayton-Moore

[Sure-Oz]

We passed on Heyward too??

I hope Mous pans out

[DeezNutz]

Moore: "[Matt] Wieters and [Rick] Porcello were two guys we couldn’t afford."

As I've been saying for years, "signability" is still an applicable term in Kansas City's drafts.

[noa]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

We passed on Heyward too??

I hope Mous pans out

A lot of teams passed on him because they hadn't seen him hit like Atlanta had. He drew a lot of walks when scouts were at games and didn't do a lot of pre-game batting practice on the field, and the Braves put out misinformation about his size, vision, and ability to scare off other teams. Even that Marlins who actually had scouted him a fair amount passed on him because they only saw him walk a ton.

[Demonpenz]

we've had thousands of players over the last 10 years and only 1 super star. blows

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

We passed on Heyward too??

I hope Mous pans out

Yeha that hurts. Heyward is fucking raking. And he's 20. Kid is gonna be a star.

[The Poz]

Can any of you guys tell me if what you think of Mike Aviles? For my fantasy pool I'm hurting at the SS position (Erick Aybar) and looking to take a flyer on someone. I see he's been called up and has played well the past couple of games. Thanks.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by The Poz

Can any of you guys tell me if what you think of Mike Aviles? For my fantasy pool I'm hurting at the SS position (Erick Aybar) and looking to take a flyer on someone. I see he's been called up and has played well the past couple of games. Thanks.

I think he's a pretty good player, probably not as good as he was in 2008, but above average -- and certainly better than Yuni.

But that's the problem. So long as Yuni is there, Aviles' playing time will always be at risk.

[The Poz]

Strange, does Aviles also play 2b? The Yahoo! depth chart has him as the starter there. Win/win for fantasy poolies if he gets the duel position availability.

[Sure-Oz]

I think he will play 2b as well as SS, i bet he could be 2b and SS soon.

As for the Royals, i was listening to nick wright and he brings up a good point about Guillen and Ankiel blocking players. This season isn't going anywhere anyway, Maier, and Kila should start so we can see if these guys are apart of the future. It won't happen cause DM is trying to fool us thinking these loser vets that won't be around are worth playing. I think i initially liked the ankiel signing, but its worthless, if anything i hope they are all released or traded before the deadline. I was pretty irritated with Bloomy starting for Maier, the guy has no business starting, hell Maier probably doesn't either but we may as well have him play this season.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by The Poz

Can any of you guys tell me if what you think of Mike Aviles? For my fantasy pool I'm hurting at the SS position (Erick Aybar) and looking to take a flyer on someone. I see he's been called up and has played well the past couple of games. Thanks.

He won't be good. I'd drop him