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?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Why not Hosmer short term? If Hosmer starts hitting for power swap him and Cain.

Hos
Cain
Gordan
Butler
Moose
Escobar
Salvy
Frenchy/Dyson
Johnson/Getz

I would put Perez at five or six, but I like Hosmer at leadoff given his current situation.

Hopefully Moose can keep up his production from the last two weeks.

[alnorth]

MLB just confirmed that the umps blew it in Houston. Its too bad the Angels won, we could have had the first upheld protest in decades.

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by tomahawk kid

WTF?

Where did that come from?

The friend of a friend.

Apparently a roadie.

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by doomy3

The friend of a friend.

Apparently a roadie.

Billy sends have naked pics to someone that helps load the trucks?

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by tomahawk kid

Billy sends have naked pics to someone that helps load the trucks?

No idea, man. I'm sure it was sent to/intended for a female.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by doomy3

No idea, man. I'm sure it was sent to/intended for a female.

Country Kitchen waitress?

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Hootie

math doesn't take into account anxiety or crowd effect on 4th down

it simply doesn't

math doesn't have the gray area professional sports has

Um, it absolutely does. WTF are you talking about?

[jbwm89]

Originally Posted by doomy3

The friend of a friend.

Apparently a roadie.

I've seen the same picture, won't reveal the source but Billy is sharing it for sure.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I was in favor of leaving Gordon at the top to start the season because I was hopeful the Royals could get decent production behind Butler in the 4-5 spots.

As the season has gone on and that has NOT happened, it became a little different. I didn't think Lorenzo Cain would be this productive at the plate.

I still don't like Escobar in the leadoff spot - OBP issues - long term, but now that the lineup has been shaken up, I think you roll with it for a little while and see what happens.

I'm in the same boat, I also argued for Gordon to stay at leadoff. Hootie is right that you need guys who drive the ball in the middle of the lineup to score runs. But, you also need guys at the top getting on base. I'd hoped Butler/Hos/Moose/Sal would be consistently driving the ball, but that hasn't happened. So, I'm good with switching things up. It was time. I still think Gordon could shift back to the top if those supposed middle of the lineup guys get it going. I don't like Alcides at leadoff, but he's probably the best option if not Gordon.

[-King-]

In other news... Myers hasn't been anything special in triple A this year...

Currently .275/.372/.422 and has hit .171 the last 10 games.

[PunkinDrublic]

Picked up a bottle of Billy Butlers hit it a ton BBQ sauce today. KC trip complete.

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Picked up a bottle of Billy Butlers hit it a ton BBQ sauce today. KC trip complete.

We used it on some ribs last weekend.

Its pretty good - I think it tastes alot like Gates.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Do people still want to send Hosmer and Moose to AAA?

[gblowfish]

Didn't know if you guys had seen this, I thought it was cool.
Here's a gif of Yu Darvish, and his five main pitches, all overlapped. So you can see why this guy is so hard to hit. You never know what's going to come out of his hand, how fast, and where....

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/20...ch-repertoire/

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Do people still want to send Hosmer and Moose to AAA?

heh, no..we have no better options really. Ill just say that we wont ever win anything unless they develop into stars. We desperately need their bats to come alive. At this point in their careers they have been very average.