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?

[Prison Bitch]

We have our best team in 10 years and people want to sell? Why? Play it out. Who cares if we don't make the playoffs. Anyone who thinks simply getting STL's marginal 2B prospect makes us a winner next year is a total dumb ass to begin with.

[Archie F. Swin]

Rany also made it clear last night that Lough is a 27 old fluke and evoked the name Bob Hamlin.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by tk13

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.

Pretty much.

This team is "in it." The math certainly doesn't favor us, but I don't think that the majority of fans are aware of how long the odds are. The Royals are "winning," and selling would absolutely kill the club in terms of public perception.

[Valiant]

Yeah, they are in a bad position, they cannot sell off and piss off the fans, if this is the best team in a long while and they sell, it disenfranchises them even more if that is possible.

Would love our hitters to turn it on and rattle off a big win streak and possible more. Sucks being a KC fan.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Rany also made it clear last night that Lough is a 27 old fluke and evoked the name Bob Hamlin.

Why didn't he evoke the name Raul Ibanez?

[tk13]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Rany also made it clear last night that Lough is a 27 old fluke and evoked the name Bob Hamlin.

I don't know if he's Hamelin... he definitely doesn't take walks though. He has 4 on the season... but he actually hits enough we don't notice.

To be fair, Wil Myers is still doing the same thing. He has 7 walks in 32 games. Sounds exactly like a Royals prospect. 30 BB/150 K.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by tk13

To be fair, Wil Myers is still doing the same thing. He has 7 walks in 32 games. Sounds exactly like a Royals prospect. 30 BB/150 K.

I can live with the strikeouts as long as you hit With power to help drive in runs. I mean, an out is an out isn't it?......whether its grounding out to ss or striking out swinging. I guess it depends on the situation.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I can live with the strikeouts as long as you hit With power to help drive in runs. I mean, an out is an out isn't it?......whether its grounding out to ss or striking out swinging. I guess it depends on the situation.

No. Strikeouts are much better for pitchers. Runners can't advance, errors cannot be made, etc etc.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

No. Strikeouts are much better for pitchers. Runners can't advance, errors cannot be made, etc etc.

Yea, like I said, it's all situational. But it doesn't matter much if there's no one on. Wo cares if you pop fly to center or strikeout? How many times are Pop flies dropped?

[Paniero]

Today's game (July 28) is the MLB TV free game of the day. Helpful for us out of market folks.

[lewdog]

Make a run sure but why keep Santana??? At least trade him for something that will be around next year and upgrade the hole in our batting lineup. We sure as hell ain't signing him for what he is going to want and since his pitching has been off the charts, we wanna recoup while he is at what is surely his high point....SELL HIGH on Santana!

[Cephalic Trauma]

Utley would look so good in our lineup.

That would be an instant boost and we would contend. Probably won't happen though.

[58kcfan89]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Make a run sure but why keep Santana??? At least trade him for something that will be around next year and upgrade the hole in our batting lineup. We sure as hell ain't signing him for what he is going to want and since his pitching has been off the charts, we wanna recoup while he is at what is surely his high point....SELL HIGH on Santana!

But with Hochevar, Chen & Francoeur coming off the books, couldn't we use most/all of that money to make a solid offer to Santana? I guess I just don't get this idea that there's no chance we can re-sign him...

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by 58kcfan89

But with Hochevar, Chen & Francoeur coming off the books, couldn't we use most/all of that money to make a solid offer to Santana? I guess I just don't get this idea that there's no chance we can re-sign him...

Probably have to commit to around 3 years/$45 mil. You still want to make that offer?

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by 58kcfan89

But with Hochevar, Chen & Francoeur coming off the books, couldn't we use most/all of that money to make a solid offer to Santana? I guess I just don't get this idea that there's no chance we can re-sign him...

In what world would the Royals be paying a guy 10+M a year...likely near 13-15M? You can't take the chance that you will be able to resign him IMO. I just don't see that happening in any world from the small market Royals. He won't be looking for a one year deal but rather a multi-year contract which is much too risky for a team like the Royals to lock up that much money in one SP.