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]

Rany made a great point earlier today: we need either to sell or to buy. Doing nothing would be a poor, poor choice.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Rany made a great point earlier today: we need either to sell or to buy. Doing nothing would be a poor, poor choice.

I agree with him. Doing nothing and not trying to improve this year or for the future would be disappointing. Because this is the Royals, I expect to be disappointed.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I think our best bet is still the Central though.

With Detroit getting a closer today, that might be pretty tough.

[sedated]

Seems DM got himself into a bit of an escalation of commitment scenario. With the Shields trade, they are invested in winning now. To do nothing would waste the trade (and everything we gave up), so now we have to spend more to justify the sunk cost.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by sedated

Seems DM got himself into a bit of an escalation of commitment scenario. With the Shields trade, they are invested in winning now. To do nothing would waste the trade (and everything we gave up), so now we have to spend more to justify the sunk cost.

Exactly. You can't partially go all in, which is precisely what DM did.

[mr. tegu]

Through Sunday for the AL Central teams.

Detroit:
- Strasburg vs Sanchez
- Gonzalez vs Verlander
This is a pretty equal series so Detroit going 1-1 is reasonable.

- Three vs Chicago: Pretty lopsided so realistically our best hope is 2-1.
That would put Detroit at 62-47 after next Sunday.

Cleveland:
- Danks vs McAllister
- Peavy vs Kazmir
- Quintana vs Kluber
- Sale vs Masterson
Pitching wise, the matchups aren't that unequal. Hopefully, the White Sox get a little bit of luck and take two games and Cleveland goes 2-2.

- Three at the Marlins. We can really only hope that Cleveland loses one to go 2-1.
That would put Cleveland at 60-51

Kansas City:
- Santana vs Pelfrey
- Guthrie vs Correia
- Shields vs Diamond
The pitching matchups favor us big time. This is a series we must win two, but I think we can go 3-0.

- Three vs the Mets. The pitching matchups will be mostly equal. Their offense has been struggling even more than ours so hopefully we can get 2 to go 2-1. That puts us at 56-52 after Sunday.

Detroit - 62-47
Cleveland - 60-51, 3 GB
Kansas City - 56-52, 5.5 GB

If we can do this we pick up 1.5 games in the AL Central and assuredly move up in the wildcard standings.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by sedated

With Detroit getting a closer today, that might be pretty tough.

He is a set up man for them. Benoit is still the closer.

[DeezNutz]

Our singular focus right now has to be running down Cleveland. Then, we try to chase down Detroit. Going to need to play well and have a bit of luck.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

As long as you're off the Rios wagon. ****, man.

Not really. Rios is what this team is lacking, a big bat. Not to mention in 2014 he will play out of his mind since he will be looking for another big contract.

[DeezNutz]

Big bat? What? You must be an Alex Smith fan, too, since you want Rios to be something he's never been, too.

Unless 25 HRs in a season is KC for "big bat," which is possible.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Exactly. You can't partially go all in, which is precisely what DM did.

Dayton Moore's efforts since the end of last season are the equivalent of playing the tip game with a girl you think MIGHT have an STD because of her rep.

[DeezNutz]

.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Not really. Rios is what this team is lacking, a big bat. Not to mention in 2014 he will play out of his mind since he will be looking for another big contract.

Did you watch these past three games? He did essentially nothing on offense or defense.

He has one HR since June 29th.
Three doubles since June 23rd.
Thirteen RBIs since July 2nd.

Lough in those same time spans has 3 HRs, 6 doubles, and 9 RBIs.

[DeezNutz]

And Rios is a -0.8 dWAR player according to BR, while Lough has been outstanding defensively, dWAR 1.2.

I will flip my ****ing shit if DM does something as stupid as trading for Rios.

[ChiefsCountry]

Howie Kendrick should be the main target anyways.