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?

[Coach]

The face... meh.

Nice set though.

[cookster50]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Heres the whole set of 10 photos of the drunk girl

http://imgur.com/a/oHuuq#6LPovRM

I was wondering what all the cheering was for.

[Coach]

Ah, the good old Lou Brown...

"I figure it's going to take 32 more victories to win this thing. Every time we win, we peel a section...."

[Prison Bitch]

Royals and Pirates both 12/15 in their leagues in attendance at ~1.2m. So much for the theory that winning draws fans, it really doesn't. Small markets can't support baseball very easily. Tampa can't draw either. Cleveland can't draw, Oakland can't draw. (Cleveland is dead last in attendance in the AL)


MLB is a sport for super large markets that can throw millions of warm bodies into the stands over a long drawn out 6-month season. STL is probably the lone exception to the rule.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Royals and Pirates both 12/15 in their leagues in attendance at ~1.2m. So much for the theory that winning draws fans, it really doesn't. Small markets can't support baseball very easily. Tampa can't draw either. Cleveland can't draw, Oakland can't draw. (Cleveland is dead last in attendance in the AL)


MLB is a sport for super large markets that can throw millions of warm bodies into the stands over a long drawn out 6-month season. STL is probably the lone exception to the rule.

Tampa can't draw because everybody down there is from the northeast originally. Oakland can't draw because its a dying city.

I have no idea about the other cities? KC used to draw solidly when they were good. I wonder if having them on TV most nights hurts their attendance? It didn't used to be that way back in the day.

[TLO]

This is fantastic. I've never been so excited about the Royals.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Royals and Pirates both 12/15 in their leagues in attendance at ~1.2m. So much for the theory that winning draws fans, it really doesn't. Small markets can't support baseball very easily. Tampa can't draw either. Cleveland can't draw, Oakland can't draw. (Cleveland is dead last in attendance in the AL)


MLB is a sport for super large markets that can throw millions of warm bodies into the stands over a long drawn out 6-month season. STL is probably the lone exception to the rule.

In fairness, the Royals have been out of it until this recent winning streak. Let's see if attendance gets a bump now that we're back home and the games suddenly matter.

[DeezNutz]

Yeah, the Royals don't prove shit in terms of attendance, yet. They were dead in the water at the break. And now this.

If this run continues and no one goes out, then we'll have to accept the fact.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Yeah, the Royals don't prove shit in terms of attendance, yet. They were dead in the water at the break. And now this.

If this run continues and no one goes out, then we'll have to accept the fact.

Not to mention the Royals are 3rd from the bottom in home games so far only the Cardinals and White Sox have played less. The Royals should see a big jump this week with the Red Sox coming in this weekend.

[Ceej]

God.

ESPN is so unwatchable.

MOAR AROD HIGHLIGHTS PLZ!

[TLO]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

God.

ESPN is so unwatchable.

MOAR AROD HIGHLIGHTS PLZ!

Just about to post the same thing. I made the mistake of watching baseball tonight thinking there might be some Royals talk. 7/8's A-Rod talk. **** you ESPN

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Yep.

I figured I'd root for a sweep by whoever one the first game.......so let's go Detroit the rest of this series!

Not me, I want Cleveland to win out and bring Detroit back into the fold. We play both Cleveland and Detroit enough to take care of them once we are caught up. We can take this division, Cleveland plays more road games than we do, Detroit is on even playing field with us home and away.

Go Cleveland, they will fail down the stretch,let's shoot for Detroit, just keep winning!

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

Just about to post the same thing. I made the mistake of watching baseball tonight thinking there might be some Royals talk. 7/8's A-Rod talk. **** you ESPN

It's really odd how the media works sometimes.

Giving the antagonist all of the limelight.

[Walrus]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Who were those clowns that wanted to send down Hos & Moose?

Well Moose was hitting under .200 for most of the season, and only until June 22nd did he raise his average over .200. It's not like people were blindly begging for him to be sent down. He was awful for months, but now obviously he is playing better down the stretch.

[Walrus]

And realistically there was no way Hos and Moose were going to be sent down, as their are no other options for those positions. People were frustrated with their lack of production(Mostly Moose).