2012 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[alnorth]

2012 Slogan: Our Time

A better, more accurate 2012 Slogan: It is Finally Next Year
(from Great Expectations)

An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division
(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:



Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

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.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

That would be a great deal for the Royals.

Holland is a very very talented young pitcher that would immediately be the best pitcher on your staff. He's a power lefty that can show up with shutdown stuff on any given night.

Hell, the Rangers even extended him under a fairly team friendly deal through 2016 w/ a reasonable club option in 2017. That would be an excellent get for KC. I'm honestly a little puzzled why the Rangers would give him up.

Rumor is that they're on the edge of a blockbuster deal with Grienke and need to clear some room financially.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

In the proposed 4 way:

Royals get Holland, give up Adam and Colon
Rangers get Upton, give up Holland and Olt
Indians get Olt and Adam?, give up Cabrerra
D-Backs get Cabrerra and Colon?, give up Upton

I don't believe it. That would be a pretty big win for the Royals.

[DJ's left nut]

And playing the role of the Royals in this little drama would be the D-Backs.

Getting only an overrated Asdrubal Cabrera and Christian Colon for Justin Upton is just pathetic.

If they have a brain in their heads, they'll scuttle this deal and wait until the Hamilton dust dies down. If the Rangers don't have hammy, they'll offer Andrus in a deal for Upton.

Frankly, if that's the asking price for Justin Upton, every team in baseball should be trying to top that deal. The kid is incredibly talented.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

That would be a great deal for the Royals.

Holland is a very very talented young pitcher that would immediately be the best pitcher on your staff. He's a power lefty that can show up with shutdown stuff on any given night.

Hell, the Rangers even extended him under a fairly team friendly deal through 2016 w/ a reasonable club option in 2017. That would be an excellent get for KC. I'm honestly a little puzzled why the Rangers would give him up.

They'd have to be pretty confident in getting Greinke I'd think. If Texas gets Upton at 3/$39 left on his deal, that frees up money that may be aligned to Hamilton that could then be spent on Greinke. So if you're Texas, would you rather have Greinke/Upton or Holland/Hamilton/Olt?

[ChiefsCountry]

Also I think Greinke personality wise would fit in fine in Dallas. Remember his girlfiriend was a Cowboys cheerleader and not to mention Dallas is Kansas City on steroids for the most part.

[Mr. Laz]

i thought Grienke was already heading somewhere?

[alnorth]

Injecting a dark cloud into this collective dream we're having where we transform Colon and a random dude into a #2/3 pitcher...

Suppose we're giving up Myers? Its not as hilariously stupid as Myers for Dickey, but I don't think I'd be as happy if it ended up being Myers going who knows where for Holland.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by ChiefsandO'sfan

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal

Blockbuster brewing? Story: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/w...shields-120412 … #Rangers #Rays #Diamondbacks #Indians

They misspelled "Royals"

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KevB

They'd have to be pretty confident in getting Greinke I'd think. If Texas gets Upton at 3/$39 left on his deal, that frees up money that may be aligned to Hamilton that could then be spent on Greinke. So if you're Texas, would you rather have Greinke/Upton or Holland/Hamilton/Olt?

Oh, the deal makes sense from the Rangers perspective, to be sure. You just don't often see teams moving a young guy they just extended for that long.

Perhaps Harrison wasn't enough to get it done.

Like I said, the real confusion here comes from Arizona's willingness to part with Upton for such a paltry return. I can only assume they're biting on the Cabrera hype and going by his web gem clips instead of his actual ability. Cabrera is an average fielder at best that will likely be playing 2b in 2 years.

Look at Cabrera's scouting reports and trends, especially defensively, and compare them to the scouting reports and trends for Yuniesky Betancourt at the same time and you'll see some very startling similarities.

Cabrera's a slightly better version of Yuni and as he gets older and heavier (it already started last year), his rapidly diminishing range is just going to bottom out altogether. The guy's just not very good.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Injecting a dark cloud into this collective dream we're having where we transform Colon and a random dude into a #2/3 pitcher...

Suppose we're giving up Myers? Its not as hilariously stupid as Myers for Dickey, but I don't think I'd be as happy if it ended up being Myers going who knows where for Holland.

I really, really hope it isn't Myers.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Laz

i thought Grienke was already heading somewhere?

He's in a bidding war between Texas and the Dodgers.

[Mr. Laz]

leave it up to Al to hike a leg and piss on all of us


it's not like every Royals fan doesn't get enough bad news without anticipating it.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Injecting a dark cloud into this collective dream we're having where we transform Colon and a random dude into a #2/3 pitcher...

Suppose we're giving up Myers? Its not as hilariously stupid as Myers for Dickey, but I don't think I'd be as happy if it ended up being Myers going who knows where for Holland.

Well, I want to hang on to Myers so he can replace Frenchy.

But Holland is closer to that "Myers only for ..." criteria. He's not an established ace, and not quite Matt Moore, but he's much more than a prospect and he's under team control for several years.

So I'd probably lament losing Myers, but wouldn't be outraged like I would Myers for Lester or Shields.

[alnorth]

Oh wait, Holland is not a free agent until 2019. Last year the Rangers signed him to a big long-term contract that bought out a free agent year, with 2 team options for 2 more free agent years. He's under team control for potentially 6 more years, not 3.

That increases his value a bit, a Myers for Holland+someone else could be close to par.

[alnorth]

Presuming that Holland is on the table (maybe he is not, we're just speculating here), with that contract and 6 years of control, Colon wouldn't come anywhere close to doing it, unless Texas is unusually desperate to dump payroll.