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.

The 2013 season is closer than we realize. The Royals will feature a rebuilt rotation that likely includes 4 new starters. The most-watched prospects of 2012, Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi are gone, the price required to rebuild the rotation.

The Royals still have Sal Perz, who has even more of a "star" look to him than a year ago. They still have Alcides Escobar, who was a little less SS jesus in 2012 but brought more at the plate. Billy Butler finally hit a number of home runs that matches his build and how hard he hits the ball. Alex Gordon did it again. Hosmer and Moose struggled.

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.

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?
2) When will Luke Hochevar be shown the door?
3) Does Hosmer bounce back?
4) Can Moustakas hit for a whole season like he did in the first half of 2012?
5) Who regresses?
6) Who plays 2B?
7) Can Jeff Francoeur be at least replacement level, rather than epic horrible level?
8) Will Dayton Moore survive to see 2014?
9) Will Danny Duffy come back healthy? And if he does, is he the same, better or worse?
10) And the big one: Has KC added enough to run down the big-money Detroit Tigers?

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by sedated

Every time this thread is bumped, I think we signed a new starting pitcher.

Every time I see it bumped I get pumped because for the first time in a long time and basically my whole life we can have legitimate optimism about the upcoming season. I don't really count 2004.

[theelusiveeightrop]

Endy Chavez has come home. Life is good.

[alnorth]

welp. The Royals got better, but according to at least one of the computers, they did not improve enough. The ZiPS projection is not fully out yet, but since the Royals "went all in", they released a sneak preview of KC.

Our rotation was upgraded by about 2 wins. Hopefully some of our hitters will bounce back a lot more than expected, and Frenchy will have a WAR on the correct side of zero. Billy Butler is projected to be our most valuable hitter, and James Shields is projected to be our most valuable pitcher.

It’s not that the additions of Wade Davis and James Shields won’t help the Royals: they will. It’s to what degree they’ll help — especially considering the cost (i.e. Wil Myers). While ZiPS projects the Toronto Blue Jays’ renovated starting rotation (featured yesterday) to produce about 10 more wins than in 2012, Kansas City’s starting rotation is forecast to post a collective mark only about one or two wins better than last year’s version (which recorded a 7.6 WAR, all told, it appears).

[alnorth]

instant fun poll: the Royals went all-in.

What two cards are we holding? To make it simple, assume we went all-in pre-flop, we bet first, with 5 players at the table.

I'll say Queen-King suited.

[MeatRock]

Ace Jack. Seems fitting.

[DeezNutz]

Pair of 7s.

[duncan_idaho]

Those ZIPS projections look interesting, especially with Shields, Santana and Guthrie.

I would be surprised if 2/3 don't OVERPERFORM those projections by a half run to a full run.

As for the hand... I like Ace/Jack. King/Ten might be better.

[Prison Bitch]

I don't get that projection at all - we had 80+ starts eaten up by complete crap, below replacement level guys. We had another 40 eaten up by replacement guys. Just by getting them out of there, we improve probably 5 wins or more.


Now does 72 to 77 wins sound like a lot? No. But it ain't 2 wins. GMAFB

[Cephalic Trauma]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I don't get that projection at all - we had 80+ starts eaten up by complete crap, below replacement level guys. We had another 40 eaten up by replacement guys. Just by getting them out of there, we improve probably 5 wins or more.


Now does 72 to 77 wins sound like a lot? No. But it ain't 2 wins. GMAFB

I agree with this. I would think we would gain 5 wins alone by not being out of games in the first couple innings. There had to be at least five times alone last year where we were in a hole very early in the game. Now I know what was posted above is likely an objective prediction of what will happen, and my feeling doesn't really dispute that, but it's very hard for me to believe that improving our starting rotation to the extent that we have will not translate into immediate success.

Am I just being a complete homer in thinking that?

[-King-]

Ned Yost this morning said that 6 Royals have the potential to hit 25+ HRs this season. He had Cain and Gordon hitting 20-25. Moose and Hosmer hitting 25-30. Perez hitting 30-35 and Butler hitting 35-40.

And he also talked about being much more aggressive this season on offense and letting the hitters take big swings when they needed to.

[Prison Bitch]

I'll defecate in a cereal bowl and eat it in front of the entire chiefs planet if sal perez hits 35 homers.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I'll defecate in a cereal bowl and eat it in front of the entire chiefs planet if sal perez hits 35 homers.

This

[Shogun]

Frank Yost what are you saying!

[stevenidol]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I'll defecate in a cereal bowl and eat it in front of the entire chiefs planet if sal perez hits 35 homers.

I would be shocked if anyone hit 35 HRs.

[lewdog]

Check out my new signature guys!