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?

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by tredadda

Sadly KC is a smaller market than Chicago and the Royals have been awful for so long no one outside of here cares about them. I think they should have mentioned what Lough did, but respect is earned and they have not done that yet.

i'm late to this party, but on the early baseball tonight edition, d-lough had the number 1 webgem.

of course, i haven't watched SC this morning, and that may have changed. but isn't it nice to follow a (ahem) "winner"?

let's go royals!!!

p.s. suck it hawk.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Baseball Tonight highlights was all about Sale and the bad baserunning in the 9th. NONE of the defensive gems shown other than Lough's catch. Whitesox are 20 games under .500 and it was all about Sale.

****ing asshole whores!

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Baseball Tonight highlights was all about Sale and the bad baserunning in the 9th. NONE of the defensive gems shown other than Lough's catch. Whitesox are 20 games under .500 and it was all about Sale.

Turn off SC. Turn on MLB network. All 5 great plays were part of the highlights.

[BlackHelicopters]

Originally Posted by cabletech94

i'm late to this party, but on the early baseball tonight edition, d-lough had the number 1 webgem.

of course, i haven't watched SC this morning, and that may have changed. but isn't it nice to follow a (ahem) "winner"?

let's go royals!!!

p.s. suck it hawk.

Your mistake was watching the 4 letter network. Almost a sin.

[Archie F. Swin]

My take is that the Royals have a better chance of making a run with Santana. The reason is: they've gotten to this point without much help from the bats of Gordon, Butler, Moose or Escobar. I would put my money on confidence that our offensive production will go up a few notches. We would really need Ervins reliable pitching to keep things steady. Of course I say all this in the glow of Lough's impressive performances.

[DeezNutz]

No, the Royals cannot sell at this point. In fact, they have to look to improve at 2B for this year and beyond.

I'd look into Beckham. Kendrick would be a dream but likely too costly, and I'd also explore a prospect swap for Wong.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

No, the Royals cannot sell at this point. In fact, they have to look to improve at 2B for this year and beyond.

I'd look into Beckham. Kendrick would be a dream but likely too costly, and I'd also explore a prospect swap for Wong.

Going .500 only means something to the fans. That's it. Getting a good return out of Santana instead of keeping him and winning 2.5 more games is pointless. Sell Santana, you must. If you don't, you have failed as an organization again. Selling gives you a shot to take a run at it last year. Take the emotion out of it. You have Shields for one more year, have to make the most of whatever next year will bring.

[SAUTO]

I'm ok with keeping him and trying to bring the guy back next year.
Posted via Mobile Device

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Going .500 only means something to the fans. That's it. Getting a good return out of Santana instead of keeping him and winning 2.5 more games is pointless. Sell Santana, you must. If you don't, you have failed as an organization again. Selling gives you a shot to take a run at it last year. Take the emotion out of it. You have Shields for one more year, have to make the most of whatever next year will bring.

Logically, you're absolutely right. But that's not what's going to happen when the team is only 6 games out of a playoff spot, coming off of trading its top overall prospect for this type of window.

[Cephalic Trauma]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

No, the Royals cannot sell at this point. In fact, they have to look to improve at 2B for this year and beyond.

I'd look into Beckham. Kendrick would be a dream but likely too costly, and I'd also explore a prospect swap for Wong.

Thanks Rany.

[58kcfan89]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

My take is that the Royals have a better chance of making a run with Santana. The reason is: they've gotten to this point without much help from the bats of Gordon, Butler, Moose or Escobar. I would put my money on confidence that our offensive production will go up a few notches. We would really need Ervins reliable pitching to keep things steady. Of course I say all this in the glow of Lough's impressive performances.

I'm torn. On the one hand, Erv has been awesome this season, but (barring an '07 Rockies type run) we're not likely going anywhere this season. Love watching the guy pitch and would love to see him back, but this has to be about helping us in 2014 and beyond.

Originally Posted by BWillie

Going .500 only means something to the fans. That's it. Getting a good return out of Santana instead of keeping him and winning 2.5 more games is pointless. Sell Santana, you must. If you don't, you have failed as an organization again. Selling gives you a shot to take a run at it last year. Take the emotion out of it. You have Shields for one more year, have to make the most of whatever next year will bring.

Every time I think I'm done with the season, these guys rattle off 5 straight. And I don't see this team winning anything this season. But .500 may mean something to ownership, especially with a team that's fairly young and will return many of its best parts next year, and especially if attendance is up throughout the entire season. Might convince The Hole to put a few more dollars into payroll if he sees it as progress. I doubt it, but ya never know.

And is it really that out of the question that we can't/won't re-sign Santana? Francoeur's contract is off the books, as are Hochevar & Chen's. That's a lot of money, no? I feel like (as long as he's asking for a reasonable amount) we could re-up on Erv & go get a decent 2B this winter for all the money we've been wasting on 2 of those 3 (and I'm not sure how much longer Chen can keep up his smoke & mirrors "fool em with offspeed stuff all night" act).


I'll give this team some credit. This conversation is at least a little bit better than "What can we get for [insert every productive player on the major league team here]?" we're so used to.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Cephalic Trauma

Thanks Rany.

Is Rany advocating Beckham? I actually haven't seen him claim much about acquisitions since his position is that the Royals are not legit buyers, which is pretty much true.

[Cephalic Trauma]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Is Rany advocating Beckham? I actually haven't seen him claim much about acquisitions since his position is that the Royals are not legit buyers, which is pretty much true.

He tweeted about it last night. Someone asked him about Rios, and he said he would rather have Beckham.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Logically, you're absolutely right. But that's not what's going to happen when the team is only 6 games out of a playoff spot, coming off of trading its top overall prospect for this type of window.

Plus having an owner who is regarded by many as cheap and not interested in winning. Glass' reputation would literally be better served by going for it and coming up short than trading guys off and alienating most of the average ticket buyers.

[Deberg_1990]

Attendance is up, and we will finish near .500

We don't have to be buyers or sellers.....

/Glass