If someone deserves it- he does. Kid's got talent. If he can be half as funny on camera as he is on twitter he could be a big talent.

I've heard that LA is a decent place to go if you have any interest on being on TV or some type of career in sports entertainment? That's the rumor at least.

It's pretty much the same team that was running away with the division before Zobrist and Cueto arrived. I think they'll still have 90 win plus potential especially adding Kennedy. Zobrist is a big hit, but Orlando/Dyson is an upgrade.

I posted a few weeks back I thought Gordon waiting this long was a good sign. He didn't want to leave as I thought. It's a good deal for both sides. There's always a chance if we are sitting pretty they take a shot at some guys to fill some gaps. It's another year fielding a competitive baseball team so I'll take it.

Can't wait to see the defending World Champs in Spring Training :)

The fact that I may be living in Lawrence come summertime will not be good for my bank account LMAO. Would love to attend some games and meet some of the CP Royals guys this summer.

His relationship Ned was sure an interesting one. Ned loved to make fun of him. I am definitely going to miss Andy, but it didn't take very long for Royals fans to see his talent and suspect that he may be onto bigger and better things sooner than later. Whoever the KC Star hires in his place has some very big shoes to fill.

Definitely. To the Star's credit, I don't know if there's another paper in America that's churned out more quality sportswriters and columnists- certainly not over the last 30 years or so.

With respect to Andy, I had little doubt that a bigger market was in the cards for him, but I didn't foresee as quick a jump for him. The kid lucked out doubletime.

His 2 seasons covering back to back World Series, and I have little doubt that the Royals higher profile nationally put his work in the spotlight to get noticed that much faster.

Has Bob Dutton killed himself yet after abandoning team after ages just as they have their gigantic success in 3 decades?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Bob's gruff and dry sense of humor, but you have to think part of this eats at him given how the team did right after he leaves the Royals beat.

Good points re: Dutton. To make it worse for him is that he went to cover the Mariners. That team seemed like it was finally trending in the right direction after pouring money into Cano and finishing with 87 wins in 2014, only to fall into a crater from the get-go of 2015 and finish 10 games under .500. Talk about a career of writing for misery (at least for the last couple of decades.).

After Nate Bukaty left FSKC, Ned needed a new guy to make fun of every day. Andy took it all in stride. He is a great writer and while I think most are sad to see him go, we all understand why he's leaving.

FG: "Royals win again, keep Alex Gordon"
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/royal...p-alex-gordon/

2 interesting parts:

Obviously, he will age. He’s already started. Last year he stole just two bases, and he didn’t hit a triple. He’s unlikely to be an elite baserunner again, and he’s unlikely to maintain the extent of his defensive range in left field. But there are two things: one, Gordon shouldn’t hit the wall all of a sudden, and two, a lot of his defensive value is actually tied up in his arm, which has been the third-most valuable in the outfield of the past decade by both UZR and DRS.. I don’t know how outfield arms age, compared to range, but my sense is that they should age better....

We can do something really simple. The last four years, Gordon has been an outfielder worth 18.6 WAR. Over the last 30 years, there have been 23 outfielders worth something within 2.5 wins of that between the ages of 28-31. Between 32-35, those same outfielders averaged 12.5 WAR. These are just the simplest possible Gordon comps, but if you projected Gordon to be worth 12.5 WAR over the next four years, you’d expect him to sign a contract worth about $100 million.

I'm actually optimistic about his level of defense remaining extremely high. Alex has never been speedy. He's fantastic at recognition of the the ball coming off the bat and judging the trajectory instantly. He wastes so few steps in getting position to play the ball. A slight decrease in speed is going to hamper catching up to a few balls maybe. When you have Cain or Dyson playing beside you, that significantly cuts down on the gaps that neither one of the 3 are outside their zone of coverage.

As for arm strength. It's a bit harder to tell because at this point guys aren't testing him. His assist numbers have been down for a while, and it's not because of diminished performance. Runners almost never challenge him, thus the opportunities for him to make those plays aren't there like they have been or are for other guys at his position.

I'm completely down with 1-8, especially if Infante is healed up and "fixed". I hate, that's probably too strong, I strongly dislike having a rotation in the outfield between Dys and Orlando. I have no problem with those guys being our 4th and 5th OF'rs, but I really don't want to see either one of those guys as an everyday RF

I'd rather see Eibner and Dyson platoon with Orlando as our 5th guy. Eibner has mashed lefties, he'd also have the most power in the lineup. His HR's that I saw in AZ last year were all no doubters. Rios his several, but while the ball was in the air I was never sure if they'd get out. Eibner's were crushed.

Get us to the trade deadline and then try to deal for a rent a bat for the postseason stretch.

He made an incredible throw in game 3 of the ALDS. I believe was Carter trying to stretch out a double. He's still got a gun.

That's why I read these write-ups and study the data: I would never guess it was his arm that was so valuable. I see him sliding into foul ground, running back to the alleys and jumping over the walls into the crowd and thought that was his value. I was guessing his speed decline would hurt his game severely.......but it appears the data says I'm wrong.


Net: he can probably go .250-10-70 with declining defense and still earn 2 WAR/yr. that's his floor, barring injury. This contract probably will work out.

Dayton Moore is extremely happy you approve.