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.

[Nightfyre]

I'm just saying: We have a lot of arms that are due to come up next year. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

[Mizzou_8541]

Has anyone heard an update on Lamb? I know he has been throwing for awhile, but any timetable when he returns to pitching?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Mizzou_8541

Has anyone heard an update on Lamb? I know he has been throwing for awhile, but any timetable when he returns to pitching?

His father is a baseball scout and has run a blog for a while (baseball prospect dad, I think). He posted something last week about Lamb injuring an ankle and getting pushed back a week. He was supposed to make his first "start" today.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

I'm just saying: We have a lot of arms that are due to come up next year. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

Unfortunately, I don't believe this is true anymore. We have Odo on the horizon, and that's about it.

We're going to have to be active and successful in FA, or we'll have to make some astute trades with our prospects, which we should have been doing for several years now, but alas...

[Mizzou_8541]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

His father is a baseball scout and has run a blog for a while (baseball prospect dad, I think). He posted something last week about Lamb injuring an ankle and getting pushed back a week. He was supposed to make his first "start" today.

Thanks for the info, and that's some bad luck. I will be anxious to see how he recovers.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Unfortunately, I don't believe this is true anymore. We have Odo on the horizon, and that's about it.

We're going to have to be active and successful in FA, or we'll have to make some astute trades with our prospects, which we should have been doing for several years now, but alas...

Losing Paulino and Duffy to TJ surgery really gutted this position.

With those two and Odo in place, that's three pretty bright spots (with upside and decent floors).

Right now, the in-house 2013 rotation candidates:

Odorizzi
Chen (will be in it)
Hochevar (will be in it, acceptable No. 5)


big gap
(these are guys who are ok as filler/fifth starters but not going to give you much more - and potentially much less)
Mazzero
Teaford
Adcock
Will Smith
Ryan Verdugo

Question Marks
John Lamb - will he recover his form quickly? If he has a Strasbourg-like recovery, he could be starting in MLB by September 2012. Unlikely. More likely eta: Midseason 2013.

Duffy - do they get him back for late 2013 at all?

Paulino - see Duffy.

Mike Montgomery. Results suck, and recent reports have his stuff slipping. Uh-oh.

Yordano Ventura - LOOOOONG ways away. Still at High-A Wilmington.

Kyle Zimmer. See Ventura. Could move quickly - will know more by end of this year, based on his performance.

Aaron Crow - do they finally move him to the rotation? And is he successful?

Sadly, the in-house options have been devastated. Deez is right. They will have to make some moves or have TREMENDOUS luck to answer the SP problem in-house.

I think the past offseason/this offseason was/is the time to move prospects. Moving any before 2011 would have been premature, IMO.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

big gap
(these are guys who are ok as filler/fifth starters but not going to give you much more - and potentially much less)
Mazzero
Teaford
Adcock
Will Smith
Ryan Verdugo

What about Mendoza?

[DeezNutz]

Long relief.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Long relief.

So...the only reliever-turned-starter that has looked good, is the only guy that we won't consider for the rotation.

We'd rather consider a guy like Crow, whose last stint as a stater in the minors was just short of disasterous, and who pretty clearly lacks the ability to be a starter.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by sedated

What about Mendoza?

I just left him out.

You could easily include him in that group (they're all pretty much the same guy)

[ChiefsCountry]

Royals are going to have to acquire two starting pitchers for next season somehow.

FA
FA
Ordo
Chen
Hocheaver

I think you have to look at Duffy and Paulino as possible replacements for Chen and Hocheaver/FA in the roatation when they return.

[chiefqueen]

I heard Joel Goldberg say on a pregame show a couple of weeks ago that Duffy's injury will likely require 18 months recovery time (which would mean he does not pitch at all in 2013). He did not elaborate.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by chiefqueen

I heard Joel Goldberg say on a pregame show a couple of weeks ago that Duffy's injury will likely require 18 months recovery time (which would mean he does not pitch at all in 2013). He did not elaborate.

Unlikely they'd have any educated guess at how long it is going to take at this point. Surgery is barely a month old, and he just got the wrappings off the other day. It all depends on how the rehab goes.

Unless there was other damage that hasn't been disclosed.

Typical recovery time is 12-18 months. It's probably Goldberg going worst-case scenario. And most guys need 18 months to get all the way back (80-90 percent at 12 months, typically)

But, hey maybe that will increase the urgency in seeking pitching help... which is a good thing.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by sedated

So...the only reliever-turned-starter that has looked good, is the only guy that we won't consider for the rotation.

We'd rather consider a guy like Crow, whose last stint as a stater in the minors was just short of disasterous, and who pretty clearly lacks the ability to be a starter.

I don't think that Crow is an option at all because of a lack of a third pitch and the fact that he's too much in the mold of "max effort."

Yost has been saying for weeks that he wants Mendoza back in the pen as long relief and believes this is his best role, so that's part of the reason for my previous post, too.

It would be great for Mendoza to be an answer for the rotation, but I just don't think that it's likely.

[CaliforniaChief]

I'm hoping that Teaford can be part of the answer. His ceiling is probably a 4, but he can be a serviceable one at that, IMO.