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?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I guess I missed this last year, but while looking up our draft position, I found out that we won the new "competitive balance" draft lottery for 2013. One of our ping-pong balls was drawn first, so we were awarded the first of the 6 bonus 1st-round picks out of 13 teams who were in the drawing.

So, in the draft this year, we'll have 3 of the first 46 picks. (#8, #33, #46)

Oddly, the Yankees will have 3 of the first 32 picks, they got 2 comp picks for losing Soriano and Swisher.

This means if a player LIKE Mark Appel were to slip to No. 8, KC might have the financial flexibility to take him and pay him what he wants.

Do the competitive balance picks come out before the other comp picks? I think that's the way those work, but it's been a while since I looked at that.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

This means if a player LIKE Mark Appel were to slip to No. 8, KC might have the financial flexibility to take him and pay him what he wants.

Do the competitive balance picks come out before the other comp picks? I think that's the way those work, but it's been a while since I looked at that.

comp picks come before the competitive balance picks.

[gblowfish]

So....how long in April until we get the double digit losing streak?

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

So....how long in April until we get the double digit losing streak?

Your mouth, shut it you must.

[gblowfish]

I'm in my own Royals spring training.
You know, I have to work on my pessimism. Try out some new stuff, work on my delivery. I'll only throw out a couple of insults, then I'll go get my stretching in. I promise I'll be good to go by opening day.

[alnorth]

We kinda got screwed on our schedule a little bit. Each team this year plays each division opponent 19 times, which means 9/10 games at home/away in some order. So, some teams will get an extra home game vs some of their division rivals, no big deal but you'd figure you'd get the extra home game against 2 division rivals.

The Royals have 9 home/10 away against everybody but the Indians. 3 teams have the advantage on us, instead of just 2. Also, you play each non-division AL team either 6 or 7 times. We get both the Yankees and Red Sox 7 times. We also get the Rays and Angels 7 times. The really bad teams in the AL, we generally only get 6 games. (Oakland, Houston) We do get the Orioles 7 times if you count them as "probably bad" or mediocre. The only tough team we get 6 against is Texas.

[gblowfish]

Weren't the Royals better on the road than at home last year?

[CaliforniaChief]

I'm really excited about the season!

This team seems to pass the eye test in terms of being competitive (and no, not Trey's eye test). Whereas before people knew that our lack of talent would sabotage this team, this year's level of talent ought to keep us competitive throughout the season.

And man, do I need that.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Weren't the Royals better on the road than at home last year?

Just checked. 37-44 at home and 35-46 away. With better pitching we should do really good at home in this big park.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Just checked. 37-44 at home and 35-46 away. With better pitching we should do really good at home in this big park.

Except LeadHead Ned wants the team to become more of a power hitting team. Doesn't match well for the stadium we play half our games in

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Except LeadHead Ned wants the team to become more of a power hitting team. Doesn't match well for the stadium we play half our games in

except we play in the American League, so we probably should try to be a power-hitting team if possible. I completely agree with the change in hitting philosophy.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by alnorth

except we play in the American League, so we probably should try to be a power-hitting team if possible. I completely agree with the change in hitting philosophy.

I agree. A middle of the pack HR team is going to score more than the team that leads the league in singles.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Except LeadHead Ned wants the team to become more of a power hitting team. Doesn't match well for the stadium we play half our games in

You will like it when Hosmer and Moose actually swing at first pitch strikes right down the middle of plate and send it over the fence.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Except LeadHead Ned wants the team to become more of a power hitting team. Doesn't match well for the stadium we play half our games in

As long as it makes Ned forget the bunt sign, I’m cool with it.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

As for the Royals... a 20-game jump would be a large surprise. I think my expectations as of Day 1 break in around 84-85 wins. Which is probably enough to keep them in the wild card race all season.

If they don't make the playoffs in 2013 or 2014, the trade is a failure.

Reasons for optimism:

1) Better than their record a year ago. The Royals were unlucky, winning about 4-5 games fewer than their pythag suggested was normal.

2) Salvador Perez for 120 games as C and likely 15-20 as DH, rather than 75.

3) Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas improvement/rebound potential. The huge upside is still there for both. Early reports are good, and they're focused on things they should be - what pitches they're taking, what pitches they're driving, etc.

4) Stronger overall pitching staff. It's not likely to all work out as sunshine and roses. If it does, the Royals will challenge the Tigers legitimately. But it's still going to be a massive improvement, even if Davis is just league average, Santana is only OK, and Guthrie and Shields take small steps back from their performances last year.

(Of course, it could go south. Guthrie could pitch an entire season like he did in Colorado, Santana could be just as bad, Davis could get hurt, and Shields could do what he did in 2010)

5) Strengths are still strengths. The bullpen is still young, strong, and stacked with hard-throwing, strikeout artists. The defense is still young, and good (And could be much improved with Perez and Cain healthy).

I think you're right on here. I think our starting pitching was so historically bad that making up 20 games by having even an average starting pitching is not as crazy as it seems. It would seem, barring injury, that we've done better than that. This projects as a better than average starting staff. We should have a better than average pen. If Hosmer, Moose, and Escobar all improve (which they should) and Perez and Cain play a full season, I see no reason at all why this team shouldn't be 20 games better than last year.