we also need a bullpen.

and meche hasn't been that great. bannister has been up and down. hoch hasn't really done much except for a few good starts here and there.

and I'd wait to give Crow the #2 spot; we've heard all kinds of hype plenty of times before about pitchers we just drafted.


...and, yes, we still need an offense.

You forgot the part where we trade Zack for a major league ready Catcher, a A pitcher and a AAA 3B.

And it's about damn time the Royals sign the guy. I don't love him, but don't hate him, either. I just hope to the baseball gods that he pans out as advertised. It would have been nice to see him get some work in at the minor-league level and maybe even an inning or 2 at the ML level this month as well....

I know his dad, he told me something was going to pop soon a couple of weeks ago.

As long as the Royals don't pay to sign upper tier players.....they will continue to go nowhere.

Their scouting dept needs to drive off a cliff.

Moore and Hillman have ****ed Meche's arm. Even if he were to return to health, but the time we have the bats, he'll be done.

Bannister, if Moore and Hillman haven't ****ed him up, too, could be a decent #4-5.

Hochevar, however, is average at best, even as a #4-5, and that's being kind. He was and is a perfect example of how the team has ruined a bunch of very high, very important picks in recent years.

My source told me that everything's done on the deal, so it should be announced anytime.

Puff puff pass man... don't be bogartin'

Print em
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TINSTAAPP

He's nothing 'til he's toeing the rubber.

There are a lot more David Clydes than there are Zack Greinkes. If you get 1 legitimate #3 starting pitcher out of the entire crop of minor league arms you have right now, consider yourselves fortunate.

Greinke
--
--
Hochevar
Bannister

Congrats, you're a #2 and #3 starter away from a championship rotation. Keep in mind that 'championship rotations' generally have guys like Matt Cain, Cliff Lee, Adam Wainwright, AJ Burnett, Curt Schilling, etc... as the #2 guy and someone with an ERA in the top 1/3 of the league as a #3.

Calling Crowe a #2 based on his stuff is about like me saying "We'll have 3 CY winners in 4 years when Shelby Miller proves better than Wainwright."

Those 2/3 starters are a hell of a lot easier to project than produce...

I'm more pessimistic about this sack of shit franchise than just about anyone, but this is ridiculous.

Your statement is no more true about the Royals than it is about any ML team.

And, miraculously, teams all around the league produce talented arms.

At times, your Cards love causes hyperbole to run into this thread.

Okay, for instance, my Cardinals.

You know how many of our pitchers are products of our farm? Precisely 0.

Carp -- FA
WW -- Trade
Piniero -- Trade
Lohse -- FA
Smoltz -- FA
Wellemeyer -- Scrap heap.

WW is close, we traded for him as a AA prospect and developed him. Since 1990, we have really only 1 true homegrown pitching success story - Matt Morris. In the meantime we have 2 SPs that threw no-hitters as rookies for us after incredibly succesful minor league stints that went on to do nothing else for the rest of their careers (Bud Smith and Jose Jiminez).

Your recent past is filled with the Jeff Austins, Kyle Snyders and Jeremy Affeldts. Look at the draft record of the team most synonymous with developing pitching over the last 2+ decades in ATL and you'll see only 1 true success within the org.

Look at most teams and you'll find a similar trend. Look in the other baseball thread and you'll see my Orioles example. Seriously, just look around baseball and you'll see that a vast minority of teams have a homegrown ace and even fewer can point to their top 3 pitchers and say they came from within the system. The Twins, Angels and Giants are the exceptions to the rule.

I'm not saying the phenomenon is unusual to the Royals - it's everywhere. I didn't come up with the TINSTAAPP concept, Bill James did. I don't believe I said anything unreasonable or unduly critical. The Royals have 2 legitimate high-end pitching prospects in Crowe and Melville. If one of those guys end up as a #3 or higher, you'll have bucked a mathmatically undeniable trend. If any of the other pitchers in your system do it, you'll have definitely done so.

Cardinal fan or not, I absolutely stand by my assertion.

***** YEAH!
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So did he sign or not? Im getting reports they are still working on it...

I'd throw Montgomery in with Melville and Crowe, but otherwise I don't disagree with your premise. The related point to be made however, is that many teams trade away their home grown talent while still in the minors to obtain a more proven asset. Therefore, just because a team doesn't reap the direct benefit of their minor league pitchers, it doesn't mean they aren't valuable in procuring other arms.

It is done. Not sure why they aren't releasing it yet. Maybe there are some final sticking points or something, but everyone at Kauffman knows it is done.