I love speed when it's used to create elite defense in the outfield in big parks like Kaufman. But I don't really care about stealing bases too much unless you are in a game you get to face a true terrible throwing catcher (like Norris in the A's game).

Last year we had horrid RF defensive play most of the time, as well as the year before. Sometimes not too good CF play. Compare Gordon/Cain/Dyson defensive compared to typical American League garbage defensive outfielders and that is equal to probably 5-8 wins if the big field is your home field.

Bonifacio/Soler is not the answer in RF. One of them needs to become the DH and the other one needs to be traded. My guess it's going to be Bonifacio.

grim.

The assertion that Royals fans fled last summer to instead go watch “major” league soccer is perhaps the laziest part of that whole piece, which has several other lazy assertions.

I usually am a fan of Sheehan’s, but he’s also usually better than that.

Tying Hamilton’s lack of success as a hitter to the velocity jump around the league is also lazy. We’re not talking about a guy who had a gradual drop in performance or who fell off a cliff. This is who he has always been.

Any improvement he has as a hitter would have to come from becoming better at using his speed and adopting an approach that helps with that. If any team/setting could help with that, it’s KC. The sheer amount of space in his home OF should help a spray hitter, too.

Contact hitters are a little out of vogue at the moment, but they’ll cycle back as the market and pitching styles undervalue them. I think most also generally undervalue the effect of stolen base threats... haven’t seen a system yet that evaluates the effect a great stolen base threat has on the pitch selection and effectiveness of pitchers.

For example... Adalberto Mondesi is an excellent fastball hitter (all MLB hitters are, but he’s even more elite). With Hamilton and Merrifield hitting in front of him and posing SB threats, how many more fastballs will Mondesi see in attempts to control the running game? It’s an apps school thought and question, but I think new school analytics can quantify that effect.

Wait. What! Ionization?

Our season is saved! lol

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Royals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Royals</a> sign OF Terrance Gore to 1-year deal.</p>&mdash; MLBRosterMoves (@MLBRosterMoves) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBRosterMoves/status/1075120206689771520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Is there some unknown trophy given to the team with the most steals???

They even brought back Bubba....

Curious move. Is it a minor league deal?

EDIT: I'm referring to Gore.

Major league deal, which makes it even more mystifying.

Rosell Herrera DFA'd to make room for Gore.

Gore spotted at a prayer group in Olathe last Sunday.

Pay attention, folks. This is how you do funny.

They apparently covet the "fastest team in history" title.

I guess that's an approach. Not going to lie...I could be entertained by an all-world base-steeling team when competing for the division isn't a factor. But I don't like the roster construction ramifications of all this. Boni has options. What about Goodwin?