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?

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I'm not sure we know enough about either trade to be too upset. Justin Smoak says hey.

And Betancourt says hi right back, with Frenchy waving in the background.

[dmahurin]

Made the mistake of reading a bleacher report article about 2013 predictions and they think the royals will have the worst starting rotation ERA in the AL. I didn't even realize it was bleacher report until it was to late.

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

.500 season is a failure.

You don't trade a premium player in Myers for .500.

If it isn't playoffs, the trade was an absolute failure.

[Cephalic Trauma]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

If it isn't playoffs, the trade was an absolute failure.

I agree with this under one condition: we don't make it during the two years we have Shields.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

If it isn't playoffs, the trade was an absolute failure.

Nope. Cannot bring "real" expectations into a Royals thread.

81 wins = success! What, you think they can really make a 20-game jump?!!!? Forget that DM is essentially betting the same thing.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

And Betancourt says hi right back, with Frenchy waving in the background.

i think you're supporting my point; prospects should always be viewed with skepticism, especially when comparing them with legitimate major-league talent (shields).

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

I expect a .500 season anything less would not be acceptable.

I'd be somewhat disappointed if we don't get a wild card spot, but I'll be very, very disappointed if we don't have a winning record.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

i think you're supporting my point; prospects should always be viewed with skepticism, especially when comparing them with legitimate major-league talent (shields).

Kind of. I thought you were ripping on Rany for "missing" on Kila. However, one cannot compare those two prospects (Kila and Myers) in any way, shape, or form.

Kila was far older, to the point that he was running out of "prospect" designation. Furthermore, we had jack and shit at the ML level. Myers, on the other hand, is a legit prospect by anyone's standards. Far easier to project, and in a completely different stratosphere than Kila.

DM, however, has proven himself to be incredibly flawed in his ability to assess ML talent, as the names in my last post note.

[SnakeXJones]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Mark Quinn is will meyers

Brandon Wood more like it

[Archie F. Swin]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

These trades have really deflated me. First Myers and odo, then Alex Smith.
Posted via Mobile Device

Get back to me 10 months from now

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

If it isn't playoffs, the trade was an absolute failure.

I agree 100000%

esp when you have the WORST PLAYER IN MLB starting in RF

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Nope. Cannot bring "real" expectations into a Royals thread.

81 wins = success! What, you think they can really make a 20-game jump?!!!? Forget that DM is essentially betting the same thing.

We are a shoe in for the Cactus League Championship!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!

Dayton = Geeeneeus

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

These trades have really deflated me. First Myers and odo, then Alex Smith.
Posted via Mobile Device

Myers I get - and agree with.

But it became clear in the past year or so that Odorizzi was never going to be a stud unless one of his secondary pitches jumped up to be a true out pitch, or unless his fastball velocity took a big jump.

Davis is, at worst, going to be as good as Odorizzi. Even if he doesn't bring back any of the lessons he picked up in the bullpen. Even if he's just a nice, solid No. 4 pitcher who eats innings.

Davis has already answered some of the questions -workload, can he maintain his stuff from the 75-100 pitch level, which Odo has struggled with - that will make or break Odo as even a MLB-contributor.

[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.

[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).