I'm certainly not going to get all over your ass and I'm also not going to act like GMDM is Theo Epstein but he deserves full credit for the moves he made to bring the Royals back to respectability and then to a title. He traded for Wade Davis so that's not lucking into anything. Questioning the Cuteo and Zobrist trades is peculiar. They won and those guys played big roles. You could look at any moves made by a team that went on to win a championship and ask the same question. He made those trades, those guys helped KC win a title, he gets credit. Period. Now, you wanna knock him for what he's done since or this current team or some of his draft pick? Fair. But give credit when it's due.

You are a dipshit.

FFS. LMAO

Searching through Royals minor league stats is like grabbing your own pile of shit out of the toilet and picking through it searching for a golden nugget.

Even Seuly Matias isn't all that impressive anymore, his average has plummeted.

I have zero hopes for anything of substance coming from the minors.

Cueto? Maybe. But no way on Zobrist. He played a huge role throughout the playoffs and helped lengthen that lineup to where there really were no major holes.

You deserve people all over your ass. To take a playoff bound team like those 2015 Royals and say, "I'm good with Colon and Infante at 2B and Jeremy Guthrie/Brandon Finnegan/Joe Blanton as one of my playoff starters" is idiotic. The Royals were bound to suck again anyway, so what does it matter if we saved on a few prospects, only one of which has worked out for other teams (Manaea).

And at the time of the trade, Alex Rios was sucking eggs at the plate and Gordon was hurt.

It was a CRUCIALLY important trade. I don't think any Royals fan with a brain regrets it one bit

Davis was traded for to be a starter irrc. No one expected him to be the best reliever in the league.

This team is dead. They all know they aren't good enough to win. We have one starting pitcher that is a major league player, the others are trash. The offense laid down today against a bad Sonny Gray.

Ok I won't question Zobrist. He did help a ton, but Cueto was less than good for the most part.

The Royals were going to the playoffs with or without Cueto. He was brought in to win in the playoffs and came up big a few times during that run.

Whatever a 2 hitter in the deciding game of the ALDS and a CG 2 hitter in the WS is worth, I guess... LMAO

No. This revisionist history needs to stop. Cueto pitched 2 of the top 3 all time postseason starts for the Royals. Any pitcher who pitches two 2 hitters in the playoffs is absolutely worth the trade. We likely do not make it out of the ALDS without Cueto.

"But, Mr. Chiefspants, we scored 7 runs in Game 5, any pitcher could have kept the Stros below 7 runs."

Nope, completely wrong, hypothetical poster. If you remember, we were shutout until the 4th inning. Had we gone with Chris Young (a flyball pitcher facing the Stros a second time - yikes) and the Stros rushed him for 5 run - the Stros pitch sequencing, strategy and use of pitchers completely changes. Most importantly - Hinch likely doesn't pull McHugh, whose reliance on soft tossing offspeed pitches was a perfect matchup against the aggressive free swinging Royals - and he likely makes it out of the 5th with minimal damage. Remember, he only got in trouble because an offspeed pitch got away from him to hit Sal, and the Stros outfield positioning turned a flyball out into a double for Gordon.

That doesn't even begin to get into the importance of Game 2 of the World Series. After we exhausted our bullpen in Game 1, Cueto gave our entire pen critical rest before we again relied heavily on them in Games 3-5. After watching the Mets' pen collapse, are we really going to discount his incredible complete game 2 hitter he threw against the Mets on the baseball's biggest stage?

Sorry - I love Cueto, but this continued criticism just baffles me. The dude was a legendary ace when we needed one the most - and do we actually miss John Lamb, Brandon "bullpen" Finnegan, and Cody "still in the minors" Reed so much that we're still questioning this trade? No way.

Cueto and Zo both were critical for our title - and I'd argue they were both equally important in the 2015 postseason.

He’s 19 and leads a full season league in HR. That’s impressive.

Stat scouting minor league players doesn’t take into account their age for the level, the park they play in, or what they’re working on at the time. Stats are secondary to development.

The Lexington and Wilmington rosters have a lot of interesting players having strong campaigns (including MJ Melendez, who has been impressive defensively at C and is showing strong power and a quality approach).

It’s not pretty above a-ball, though.

Nicky Lopez is about the only bat above a-ball that I think will amount to anything, and Foster Griffin and Scott Blewett are the only SPs who might be a real contributor in a major league rotation.

They traded for him hoping he would be a good starter but knowing he could be an elite reliever as a backup plan. Moving him to the pen absolutely was on the radar when they made the deal. I heard Moore say as much personally in February 2013.

Holland and Herrera were products of the Royals system. Ryan Madson was a second-chance signing who paid off huge. Luke Hochevar was an internal product (who never was what you’d hope to get from a No. 1 overall pick, but WAS the winning pitcher in the decisive game of a World Series).

Sure, there was some luck involved in building that pen, but any good outcome in Baseball requires some luck. Most of it was just good work by the front office.

2016 - injuries to Cain and Moose, derailed that season
2017 - Ventura's death. Ventura pitched last year, we take the 2nd wild card over the Twins more than likely

Ventura's death has caused a lot of the problems with the starting pitching. Losing a cost controlled ace unexpectedly is something you can't plan for through minors and the band aids haven't been the best.

@Shauncore: I tried finding similar historical seasons to what Seuly Matias is doing this year, but they basically don't exist. As far as I can tell, no 20 or younger player has had a .300 ISO in A-Ball let alone the .386 ISO Matias has now. https://twitter.com/Shauncore/status...153472/photo/1

Not the most impressive list of names.

Cueto putting the team on his back in the deciding game 5 against Houston? He was masterful that day and helped us win the ALDS. And then a complete game 2 hitter to take game two in the WS against the Mets.

FFS now you're just trolling, or as Dane likes to put it: a Butt****ing moron.

I'm sure it's already been talked about, but just read an article again about how Ronald Acuna almost came here before Atlanta swooped in with a bigger offer. It seems like just another mishap or bad luck that seems to be the norm around here now. Let's hope the draft next month ushers in a new era in Royals baseball.

Let's shoot for 2021

Maybe this is what we could shoot for
Jake Junis 3.8 ERA
FREE AGENT 3.9 ERA
Foster Griffin 4.2 ERA
Daniel Tillo 4.1 ERA
Trevor Oaks 4.4 ERA

1B - Nick Pratto .286 20 HR
2B - Whit Merrifield .305 22 HR
3B - Hunter Dozier .270 14 HR
SS - Raul Mondesi .286 15 HR
RF - Jorge Bonifacio .266 25 HR
CF - Michael Gigliotti .301 7 HR
LF - Khalil Lee .247 22 HR
DH - Jorge Soler .264 37 HR
C - MJ Melendez .275 17 HR
UTILITY - Nicky Lopez .286 2 HR
BENCH - SEULY MATIAS

Staumont 2.54
Lovelady 2.45
Adam 2.94
McCarthy 3.2
Keller 3.2
Skoglund long man

Some day I wish we could develop a real ace. Ventura had the potential, but unfortunately we'll never know. Otherwise, the last ace we've developed in house was Greinke.

Hadn't heard the name Tim Collins in a while but he's back up in Majors with Washington, replacing another former Royal Ryan Madson who went on the DL.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nationals announce they’ve called up Tim Collins to replace Ryan Madson, who was put on the 10-day DL. Howie Kendrick was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man. Collins hasn’t appeared in a major league game since 2014. He’s undergone 2 Tommy John surgeries since then</p>&mdash; Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) <a href="https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/998613410555355137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A few edits/thoughts:

3B Emmanuel Rivera (Wilmington) is more likely to be the 3B at that point.

I can’t imagine Matias being a bench guy at that point.

SP needs a lot of help

Like the potential shape of that pen, though

The most amazing thing is that he's now 6-foot-4.

Wat

Fixed it.

I checked on the standings before our series. What’s the deal? I looked at tonights line up and you guys got some damn good players in that lineup. They having down years? Is it pitching?

We’ve looked like shit this year. Played the Reds a lot so it makes the record better than what we really are.

There is a distinct and troubling lack of Maarten Gasparini at 2B in this lineup.

The Battle of Missouri begins tonight!

I don't have alot of faith in that guinea.

Considering he’s been converted full-time to OF and is still struggling to hit for average at A ball...

Should the Royals try to pick him up

@jakemkaplan: The Astros announced tonight they released former top prospect Jon Singleton. He's currently serving an 100-game suspension and was in the last year of the five-year, $10 million extension he signed in June 2014.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We suck again. <a href="https://t.co/zUp31RwPhf">pic.twitter.com/zUp31RwPhf</a></p>&mdash; Jeremy Scheuch (@jeremyscheuch) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremyscheuch/status/998761053826764800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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We’re officially back to having the worst record in all of baseball.

Now, if we can just stay on that course for the remainder of the year, secure the #1 pick and trade off a few guys before the deadline, we might be able to restock the farm system over the next couple years with some really good depth and high end talent to go along with our solid cast at A ball . . . . .

Remember when we were excited that the old Alex Gordon was "back"? Well, after his batting average peaked at .321 on May 8, he's gone 4 for his last 40, including 0 for his last 14.

He HAS walked 6 times (one intentional) over that span.

Bummer.

Hitting for average is for pussies.

Meanwhile, Sean Manaea has given up 4 runs in each of his last four starts and is averaging only 90 mph on his fastball...

I know people (rightly) cite him as the only real piece we had to give up for Cueto and Zo, but he's yet to prove he can pitch at a consistent level through a full season of play. I wouldn't be surprised if he did - but still, it's worth keeping an eye on.

His health issues were the biggest reason they kept Almonte instead of him, as I understand it.

They thought he’d always deal with nagging injuries.

Is Nate Karns still alive?

You mean Nate Zimmer?

None of the others have done anything even remotely productive.

Excellent!

Next time I go to the K, I'm wearing a shirt that says, "I saw my team trade Jarrod Dyson for Nate Karns, and all I got was this lowsy T-shirt!"

Currently tied with the WSux and 1 game behind The BMore Oreos ........

Oh, and Texas has called up a journeyman AAA pitcher for tonight's game. He will most likely throw 6 shutout innings..........:D

Guys, time to embrace the suck and hope that a Stephen Strasburg or Casey Mize type emerges for the 2019 draft.

Can’t imagine the White Sox getting worse (though the Orioles could when thy move Manny Machado), but he Royals WILL when they trade Herrera and Moustakas.

Carlos Hernandez at Lexington is a SP to watch, as are Dan Tillo and Gerson Garabito and Evan Steele (all at A+ or A, shocker!).

Hernandez is huge (6-6) and throws hard. Needs to continue to improve his control but is really intriguing moving forward.

If they get lucky and can nab an advanced college arm with high upside with the 2019 selection, KC’s rebuild really starts to take shape. Ultimately, you just take the best player, though, regardless of position. Stockpile talent and trade if necessary.

Honestly, there should not be a single player on this roster that shouldn't be on the trade block, and that includes Salvy. Maybe especially Salvy.

@JonHeyman: Sources: royals are ready to start talking trade (in here: a rundown of potential chips) https://frsbaseball.com/mlb/royals/h...rade-business/

Can't say that's too surprising. Although the disappointing part is right there in the article. We basically have one for sure trade chip in Herrera. Duffy has cratered his value, the demand might not be that high for Moose and Kennedy makes too much money. With a payroll sitting at like $130 million I wonder if they're just going to try and shed salary.

Yeah, not surprising.

Moustakas is a good chip for a team with an opening. It looks like Atlanta will swing into bringing up Austin Riley. Might as well since they’ve been so aggressive with their other pieces. An injury could open something up there.

The Angels are kind of in an “all-in” mode and would still make sense to me.

Given the way Ian Kinsler has struggled, I could see them sending Moustakas home and playing Cozart at 2B.

A LH power bar like Moustakas would make a lot of sense for the Angels. They also could use Herrera.

The Angels has the worst farm system in Baseball two-three years ago and now are a top 10 system. Royals could pull the same type of quick reverse with another good draft.

Study: MLB's balls are not juiced but aerodynamically different

Translation: They're juiced, but we can't figure out how.

I'd rather give Moose an extension. Hes proven he can play. Herrera will command more in trade value anyway.

Great start for Duffy 7 2/3 ip 4 hits 1 er 2 walks 5ks

Good to see Duffy figure it out.

A couple more starts like that for Duffy and the Royals should start fielding offers . . . . .

Out of curiosity, do you not subscribe to this new theory the Cubs are using? It's basically that hitters are way more likely to make it to the majors that pitchers so they used all of their high picks on position players because they are safer.

There's a part of me that thinks maybe we should do that, go with the hitters over the pitchers early and hope you can nab some pitching later.

Royals win three in a row. Time to start talking wildcard again.

It is official, we have a winning streak!

Somewhere, Lou Brown is smiling.

Wow:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Red Sox To Designate Hanley Ramirez For Assignment <a href="https://t.co/rk6nElFnwg">https://t.co/rk6nElFnwg</a> <a href="https://t.co/ns5qFdieSd">pic.twitter.com/ns5qFdieSd</a></p>&mdash; MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1000032403228946432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Someone in my league just traded for Hanley too.

Are they trying to lose? He's been atrocious for the last month.

buying low... I mean REALLY low.

“ It has happened before”

The path to winning again runs through a Moose extension.

Trade everyone for whatever you can get. It makes no difference if you lose 120 or 85. If you want to sell tickets, just sign that fat ass Butler to vet min and make a Butler section and serve BBQ or something.

You're just full of ignorance.

I'm thinking it was a joke

Ummm . . . . . . no.

We’re already saddled with the Gordon, Kennedy and Duffy contracts while trying to rebuild, dont need to add Moose to the fray. By time the next wave comes through and is ready to win, Moose will be on thr decline. And no sense in having him here in the meantime. I’d rather win 65 games w/o him (and be looking at a Top 3 pick), then 70 games with him and being outside of the Top 5. Not worth missing out on the best top tier talent that can replinish a team that is void of top tier talent at the Minor League level.

I like Moose, but no.

Adjust your ****ing sarcasm meter and read back to Tiity Meats post. Dumdass.

Adjust your ****ing sarcasm meter. Dumbass. Titty Meat suggested it. We shouldn’t have resigned Moose in the first place. Tear it down . Tear it all down.

You’re full of other men’s jism.

The Mariners made the first move of the trade season. Traded Span and their closer Colome for two Mariners minor leaguers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rays</a> announcing deal with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mariners</a> for Span and Colome for two prospects Moore and Romero</p>&mdash; Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) <a href="https://twitter.com/TBTimes_Rays/status/1000137088568832000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I'm not sure why the Rays felt they needed to do this trade right now. Apparently they sent cash too. Span is an older vet but Colome was a very good reliever the last couple years. Led the league in saves last year. Was down a bit this year but they still had control over him a couple more years.

Basically traded them for what looks like a couple marginal prospects that aren't on any lists for the Mariners. I get why the Mariners want to be aggressive and add guys with their current record and Cano being out... but the Rays had two months to the trade deadline.

It looks like a salary dump. They paired Colome with Span to unload the salary.

Shitty move.

Bet the Cardinals feel dumb now. Colome is who they were trying to get in the offseason.