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?

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

It's a Viking funeral.

TO THE WATCHTOWER!!!!!

[BlackHelicopters]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

TO THE WATCHTOWER!!!!!

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Was thinking the same thing. He must be set financially in case he gets blackballed by MLB.

Every ex MLB player with even marginal service time is. They get a decent pension and free healthcare for life.

Source:

MLB players must play 43 days in the majors to earn a minimum $34,000 annual pension plan. Just one day in the majors gets them lifetime healthcare coverage. After 10 years in the big leagues, benefits grow to $100,000 annually.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-n...#ixzz2VCBC9B2G

[BlackHelicopters]

What s the consensus? Yost and GMDM last the season?

[PunkinDrublic]

David Glass took a team I loved as a child and used it to turn me into a very angry middle aged man.

[Sure-Oz]

I hate Frenchy even more with those stupid comments. **** that guy

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

What s the consensus? Yost and GMDM last the season?

Probably. It would be hard to justify allowing Dayton to make a 3rd manager hire especially when manager candidates know his future is really shaky. Dayton has another year on his deal although $1m isn't that much of a buyout for Glass to make if he chooses to do so. The next regime is largely working with the same roster for next year anyway.

[Three7s]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Probably. It would be hard to justify allowing Dayton to make a 3rd manager hire especially when manager candidates know his future is really shaky. Dayton has another year on his deal although $1m isn't that much of a buyout for Glass to make if he chooses to do so. The next regime is largely working with the same roster for next year anyway.

A roster full of failures.

[Nightfyre]

Our whole team save Alex lacks plate discipline. Maybe our coaches are pushing this "aggressive swinging mentality." I mean, I'm no baseball expert, but if I was a player, my approach wouldn't be to swing at anything close and try to put the ball in play. It would be to sit and wait for MY pitch until two strikes, and then revert to just trying to get a ball in play.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

Our whole team save Alex lacks plate discipline. Maybe our coaches are pushing this "aggressive swinging mentality." I mean, I'm no baseball expert, but if I was a player, my approach wouldn't be to swing at anything close and try to put the ball in play. It would be to sit and wait for MY pitch until two strikes, and then revert to just trying to get a ball in play.

No one on this team takes ****ing pitches. I wonder what the percentage is of our hitters who get in 0-2 counts?

[gblowfish]

It was nice to not have to watch them lose tonight.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

It was nice to not have to watch them lose tonight.

We be sweeping those Twins, Georgie Boy!

[duncan_idaho]

John Lamb watch:

He was hitting 91-92 early in his start last night and faded as the game wore on (was 84-85 by the time his pitch count got into the 80s and got lit up a bit at that point).

Still, a positive sign. If he can HIT that velocity, that just means he has to build up his stamina further as he goes along. Every pitcher and every arm is different.

Best thing all along has been the way he retained his command. If his velocity comes back and he can get to 100 pitches sitting at 91-92, he's in good shape.

Why do I spend so much time blathering about John Lamb?

1) I always thought he was the best of the pitching prospects from the BFSiBH. This is a guy who has the skills to be a Jon Lester sort of pitcher.

2) Lamb, Ventura, Duffy, Zimmer are the key to this team's ability to succeed under the new GM (which I still think happens at the end of the year). If two of those four guys hit, the rebuild window is shortened.

In fact, if you compare the rebuild this GM would be facing and the one Moore faced in 2006... much better shape for the new guy.

Gordon, Butler, Perez, Escobar and Cain are all fairly well to extremely well established as major leaguers. Perez, Butler and Gordon are "pluses" for their positions. Cain and Escobar are, at least, above-average defenders who can hit well enough to stick at those spots.

Hosmer and Moustakas still have the talent that popped off the field at scouts. With better instruction, that talent could be unlocked. It's hard to look at what Hosmer is doing and listen to the Seitzer interview without thinking someone else can get through to him.

Shields and Guthrie are more established than anything Moore had in his rotation in 2006 (and Shields is a better trade chip in 2014 than anything Moore had).

And the young pitching... still a lot of good, controlled guys in the bullpen. Still a lot of high impact guys dotting the minors.

[SPATCH]

Still in denial that we are facing another rebuild... such a tough pill to swallow this time around...

[Prison Bitch]

Quick trivia: match the player with his career OPS.

(1) Angel Berroa,
(2) Neifi Perez,
(3) Alcides Escobar

(a) .656 (b) .672 (c) .677