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?

[KCUnited]

I was down in Mexico last week visiting the inlaws. Went looking for a glass for a rum and coke light when I came across this gem.



84 wins, fellas.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

If his arm stays healthy, he has dynamite stuff and the body to handle a big workload.

His fastball/slider combo were pretty impressive last year. I'm hoping he comes back strong from that.

It will be interesting to see what happens if BOTH Paulino and Duffy come back strong. The rotation this year and next will get crowded.

1 - Shields
2 - Guthrie
3 - Santana/open spot
4 - Davis
5 - Menchechen/open spot

With the following all knocking on the door. Not enough room for everyone...
Duffy
Paulino
Ventura
Zimmer
Lamb

I would say you have to expect that 1 of our starting 5 this year will struggle, so that leaves room for this year. We only have this year in control of Paulino, IIRC. Maybe try to get him in at #5 before the deadline if hes healthy and garner some interest? Anywho, Santana will be gone next year imo and #5 will be full. Still, like you said, pitching is going to be ready soon, gonna have another deal in the works id think.

[lewdog]

For those of you playing silly video baseball games I made a thread, so this is the last post about it in the KC royals thread.

http://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=271005

[duncan_idaho]

From JJ Cooper on Twitter: Asked a scout if it is fair to compare Adalberto Mondesi to Profar . Yeah he said but Mondesi will have more power.

IT MOVED

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

From JJ Cooper on Twitter: Asked a scout if it is fair to compare Adalberto Mondesi to Profar . Yeah he said but Mondesi will have more power.

IT MOVED

erection.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

From JJ Cooper on Twitter: Asked a scout if it is fair to compare Adalberto Mondesi to Profar . Yeah he said but Mondesi will have more power.

Wow!

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

From JJ Cooper on Twitter: Asked a scout if it is fair to compare Adalberto Mondesi to Profar . Yeah he said but Mondesi will have more power.

IT MOVED

[Kidd Lex]

Mondesi is so young, I just don't know how you can project his ceiling yet. I keep hearing he may become the best player to ever grace our system, but being a die hard Royals fan, I've learned to dream big is a dangerous game. Cue Johnny Damon/George Brett fighting over remote.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by The God Hypothesis

Mondesi is so young, I just don't know how you can project his ceiling yet. I keep hearing he may become the best player to ever grace our system, but being a die hard Royals fan, I've learned to dream big is a dangerous game. Cue Johnny Damon/George Brett fighting over remote.

The projection is based on a few things:

1) His defensive skills. He has the skillset (quickness, range, arm) to stay at SS and play it at the MLB level. Quickness and range are hard to miss/obvious on a scout at that position. The arm probably includes a big of projection.

2) Feel for baseball. Every scout who sees Mondesi comes away GUSHING about Mondesi's instincts and intangibles. This is something that's hard to quantify, but most scouts are confident in their ability to spot it.

Best example is Derek Jeter. Think about the play against the A's/Jeremy Giambi in the ALCS a decade or so ago (where he made the amazing backwards shovel play to nail Giambi at the plate). That's an instinct play.

3) Hitting performance at a young age. Mondesi was one of the better hitters in Idaho Falls last year and in the league as well. He was the best-hitting shortstop in the league. And he was 2-3 years younger than EVERYONE he was playing against. The ability to hold his own at the plate - and it's about more than BA... batting eye, patience, power potential, etc. come into play also - at that age is HIGHLY impressive.

Mondesi might only hit .250 this year. But that wouldn't be a sign he's busting out. Just that he's likely a bit young to be playing that level and hasn't developed enough physically to hit consistently there.

Most 17-year-olds just aren't strong or mature enough to have tremendous hitting success in full season ball. Bryce Harper is an excellent example. At age 18, he had a mediocre run at AA. At age 19, he got off to a rough start at AAA. Yet his prospect status never dimmed (and he showed why once he got to the majors).

[Kidd Lex]

Rep Duncan!!

Both for the most in depth analysis of Mondesi I've read yet, and my now raging boner.

[Saul Good]

I've heard very little about this kid.

[duncan_idaho]

I might be the only person who likes Aldaberto Mondesi more than Jason Parks over at Baseball Prospectus.

I have been touting the guy here, there and everywhere since he early last summer (basically the start of Idaho Falls' season). It started as a side follow of Elier Hernandez... quickly realized "Hey, Raul's kid is hitting over .300 with good slug at age 16" ... kept waiting for the big drop-off to come, and it never did.

I think he's going to EXPLODE up every prospect list by this time next season. Idaho Falls is a tough place for industry scouts to get to... but he'll get more exposure this season, and I think the more people that see him, the more people that will fall in love with him.

I have a buddy who still works covering baseball who texted me about Mondesi after seeing him for the first time. Basically asking me if I knew about the kid... it was a pretty humorous exchange.

He had only seen the kid take BP when he started texting me. I told him to wait until he saw him in the field. More effusive texts came in after that...

Just because it's early, and I'm waiting for an web conference to start... here's Profar's line from short-season Spokane (low-A) at age 17:
.250/.323/.373 SLG... 8/11 SB ... 23 XBH in 252 AB

Here's Mondesi's line from Idaho Falls (which is Rookie league, one level lower than Spokane) at age 16/17:

.290/.346/.386 SLG ... 11/13 SB.... 12 XBH in 203 AB (Profar was a 2B machine in Spokane, but Mondesi hit a handful of HR and 3B and hit for a higher average, thus the difference in SLG).

If you're just comparing numbers, what Mondesi did at Idaho Falls is roughly equivalent to what Profar did at Spokane at age 17.

[Shogun]

Moose and Esky will sit today. Nothing serious, just recovering some minor bruises

[Strongside]

Gordo with a leadoff homer. His 3rd of the spring.

ROYALS-112
OPP-51

Say what you want about it just being spring, but that shit is impressive.

[alnorth]

Salvador Perez is back from the WBC and playing today. Here's where things stand at 2nd base:

2013 Kansas City Royals 2B Deathmatch: Two men enter Arizona, one man leaves

Getz - 25 AB, .320/.346/.480, 1BB, 5K, 1HR, 1E
Giavotella - 23 AB, .304/.333/.348, 0BB, 3K, 0HR, 0E