I haven’t followed Velasquez at all since he’s been down. Is he just done?

Pratto has not developed as the org hoped but the training wheels are off feller. Take advantage of the opportunity

God I hope so

I envision pratto coming up and suddenly start raking. Vinnie back in a month and our dh situation is improved heading into the playoffs. Glass half full kind of guy.

Pratto will be an upgrade with the glove at first. That should be a help

Wrong? Everything I posted was accurate Mr. Ocotillo. Calgianone, right now, has played 2 fewer minor league games than Schanuel had played in before he got called up. Two.

Yes, Schanuel and Caglianone are different types of hitters, with Schanuel being more of an OBP guy with low power and Caglianone having massive power but a lot of swing-and-miss. If you're advocating for Caglianone to stay in the minors until he matches Schanuel's K% and BB%, he simply would never get called up at all.

The point is, there is less of a need for minor league seasoning now than ever, what with all the advanced training techniques, your trackman, your Driveline, all that. Advanced college hitters don't necessarily need much time in the minors at all, as Schanuel has proven.

How about Zack Neto? He had more than Schanuel's 22 total minor league games before he got called up: he was drafted in 2022, played in the minros for a whopping total of 42 games, and was in the majors in 2023. Now in his second pro season, he already has locked up a 20/20 season with a month left to go, with a 112 OPS+ and a bWAR of 4.1 and growing.

Call Caglianone up!

I’m sure we could just plug in DeJong at first as well.

Was just going to say, wasn’t Prattos best feature his Defense?
Let’s Go, Kid!!!

He then got to the bigs and proved those reports to be inaccurate.

Damn. That was last year, right? I kind of cleared my memory of that. Thanks.

Sweet, Loftin is back up

I don't think he would do well but it would be fascinating. Someday I'd like to see some bad MLB team who didn't care about winning just insert their 1st rd pick in the majors and see how he does and progresses.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lucas Erceg is day to day. Has swelling and soreness in the hand and said he hopes to be back very soon. He’s understandably upset about the play last night. Most upset about the injury to Vinnie Pasquantino. Says his teammates, including Vinnie, supported and consoled him.</p>&mdash; Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldbergkc/status/1829631957124129019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It’s happened in the past — David Clyde, Bob Horner, Pete Incaviglia …

The gap between AAA and MLB pitching is greater than it has ever been. Even polished prospects are struggling to adapt and adjust.

I don’t Caglianone has done enough to make anyone think he can skip up. He hasn’t even really forced a promotion to AA, which is the other big jump for hitters and pitchers.

If it’s me pushing the buttons, I would call up Pratto. Your defense at 1B would would improve tremendously, he works counts, and he has power.

The K rate is out of control and looks like it will always be an issue, but an IF defense of DeJong, Witt, Garcia/Massey, and Pratto would be pretty stout.

Seems like it's been a while though.

Salvy needs the days off, to just DH, doesnt need the grind of playing in the field everyday.

Schanuel and Neto tore the cover off the ball at the Double-A level. They got called up because they put up video game numbers. Double-A is the proving ground of the minors.

Caglianone is performing around a league average rate in a small sample size at high Single-A. It would be setting him up to fail to bring him up. Let him get confidence first and hope he goes on a heater. .244/.319/.402 is not a slash line that screams major league call up. He's still adjusting to pro pitching and wood bats.

Royals add Pham. Sucks that Vinny got hurt I assume they would've added him anyway

https://x.com/BNightengale/status/18...zx7lBoCDQ&s=19

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Royals Claim Tommy Pham <a href="https://t.co/WhwqjTmonf">https://t.co/WhwqjTmonf</a> <a href="https://t.co/v9UbDmUbwA">pic.twitter.com/v9UbDmUbwA</a></p>&mdash; MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1829932448966230025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He'll bring a competitive fire to the clubhouse. He's also a good teammate.

Royals claim 1B Robbie Grossman from the Rangers

Nice!! Picollo is trying

Picollo is becoming like Veach. He sees a weakness and instantly addresses it

He seems like a reerun. But if it means our brawler spirit is unleashed, I'm def on board. Royals literally kicked ass all season long in 2015, right from the outset. Would be an opportune time to recapture that fightin' passion.

<iframe width="315" height="560" src="https://youtube.com/embed/0oIu1r9fC5Y?si=NuS1U8Nr76ZzL2hV" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Grossman (1B) and Pham (OF) :hmmm:

Walk machine.

Old

Sucks

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Royals Designate Austin Nola, CJ Alexander For Assignment <a href="https://t.co/5v9uInrzik">https://t.co/5v9uInrzik</a> <a href="https://t.co/J3N0EbKfsG">pic.twitter.com/J3N0EbKfsG</a></p>&mdash; MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1829949026151620871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pham is a league average offensive performer this year. He has a xwOBA of .334.

This organization is ****ing exhausting. CJ Alexander didn't deserve to get any kind of look in the majors? Dude had a .907 OPS in AAA, but nah **** him. We have Adam Frazier and Garrett Hampson.

What will our RHP and LHP lineup be? Grossman and Pham gonna be in vs lefties eh

Alexander is 28 and will probably clear waivers and get outrighted back to Triple-A Omaha. I don't see anybody claiming him.

Looks like they just picked up Yuli Gurriel too. Gotta give them credit they're trying to find guys however they can right now.

Royals doing chiefs things

Yeah and be off the 40 man roster so he can sit and rot in AAA, so that the shit stains keep getting playing time.

Nah, Chiefs pick up good players.

They also got Yuli Gurriel

He's a man. He's 40.

He's organization filler. You're overrating him.

.253/.315/.452 is his career slash line.

He's hitting well in his second exposure to Triple-A at 28. Ho hum.

Some guys are late bloomers and it'd be nice to give some of these guys an extended look, because they are being blocked by absolute shit. They did the same shit with Brent Rooker and look how that turned out.

Just like how Walter Pennington and Evan Sisk should have been pitching in the ML bullpen, but are being blocked by hot ****ing ass.

They have let some guys slip away but part of that is being slightly more aggressive overall. The flip side of that is getting guys like Erceg. But it's September tomorrow and we're in a playoff race. It's time to win, not find out if our AAA guys can hack it.

I believe pitchers are more likely than hitters to be late bloomers and become above-average performers because they can develop a wipe out pitch overnight.

It's much rarer for a hitter to change his stripes. Rooker has a .909 career OPS in the minors. He's not some guy that learned how to hit suddenly, he just never got the long leash in the majors until recently.

He got some playing time and he was 100% in over his head in every facet of the game.

Oh, damn dude, then you should apply to be a head scout if you are able to judge a guys ability based on 3 games and 2 innings. Those 8 ABs were all you needed to deem the kid 100% in over his head.

Garrett Hampson has shown me that he's not capable of doing anything right and has a .586 OPS and Adam Frazier is worse than Hampson and gets more playing time.

So many younger guys that have never gotten more than a handful of games in the majors.

John Rave, CJ Alexander, Logan Porter, Walter Pennington, Evan Sisk, Brent Rooker.

That's just the ones from recent memory. Sure they might all suck, but they won't suck or cost anymore than the trash that's keeping them down in the minors. Piccolo is the same mother****er Dayton Moore was in this regard.

It's gotta be disheartening to anyone drafted by this franchise in the later rounds or if you get traded here and your not a highly rated guy. You can crush it all through the minors and all you will get is maybe 10 games to show anything and if you don't come out killing it, then by and no more chance again.

We went from hyped to sad pretty quick

I'm very hyped. Just some things that really irritate me too. They're not above criticism.

You’re not entirely wrong, but I think you’re kinda barking at the moon.

You’ve cherry picked a few examples to go scorched earth on.

But the Royals have also made terrific moves at the same time during all of this.

You’re no better as a scout than me, or pretty much anyone here. If I’m wrong, this is when you give us your resume. Ten years ago, there were fans like you railing the Royals for giving up on Tony Bats. 30 years ago, fans shit themselves because we gave up on Cecil Fielder.

I’ve got news for you. It’s an inexact science, and you can yell at the sky all night if you want, but it won’t change anything except for your blood pressure.

Yeah, the Royals sign guys who could probably be replaced by guys who don’t get paid shit, but if they all suck, what’s the difference? You’re not paying the salaries, so why give a shit? Does it make it better to have Loftin being Frazier? I guarantee if that happened, you’d be bitching about bringing in a veteran. It’s a no win, no lose thing.

You know what really sucks? We just lost our starting first baseman for the year who was having a very good year. We’ve got nobody who can replace Vinnie right now. We also lost Lorenzen for the next several weeks. That sucks, because he was doing great, and it’s a crapshoot about how he’s gonna get filled in.

And generally speaking, you don’t show up much to be happy or show joy in what has been a pretty amazing season all things considered. You show up to complain about why this happened, why this didn’t happen. Blah, blah, blah…. Maybe that’s how you roll, but I think it must be exhausting.

But I do get it. I’m still pissed about Covid for so many reasons and the pettiest is because my Jayhawks didn’t get a chance at the NCAA tourney, in a year when they were probably at worst a Final Four team.

But dude, seriously, try to lighten up…

Its hard not to think, that theres nobody in the Royals system, whom couldnt swing the bat as well as Hampson or Frazier. You know what youve got with them, not much. Vinnies injury was devastating. Royals were already a weak hitting team, now much worse. It seems like the only way they are going to win is if their starting pitcher throws a no hitter, and someone hits a single home run, or opposing pitchers walk in a run with the bases loaded, leading to a 1-0 win. I feel bad for the players, but they havent given up trying.

I'm not saying that I'm a better scout than anyone. I'm saying this franchise has had a habit of playing shitty veterans, that shouldn't even be in the ML, over younger guys. I didn't cherry pick anything. I just picked guys that did damn good in the minors and performed really well in AAA, but never got a real shot with the big league club.

How is this such a hard concept for so many of you to grasp?

Hampson stinks, too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We have made the following roster moves: <a href="https://t.co/c5jvGcS1ez">pic.twitter.com/c5jvGcS1ez</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1830254006415073666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Nick Loftin sent down yet Hampson and Frazier live

Take a look around the league. You’ll find endless examples of other teams doing exactly the same thing.

Same shit different year.

****ing Gurriel is 40 years old, hasn't played in the majors all year, and hasn't had a good season since 2021, but he's playing over young guys with tons more upside. Grossman is 2 weeks from being 35 and has been absolute ass this season, but **** the young guys. Pham is 36 years old and has a negative ****ing WAR for the year, but it's all good.

Gentry gets 5 ABs and it's time to say **** off for some old pieces of shit. This is some of the most embarrassing shit I've ever seen from this team and that's saying alot.

Don't even get me started on the bullpen. This shit franchise is doing everything they possibly can to turn this special season into a miserable one.

You know what’s ruining this year? You and your incessant whining and shit posting.

Pham had two hits today and Gurriel drove in one of the two runs. It's September and we're in a playoff race. The goal at this point is to win, whatever it takes. This isn't even close the same thing as almost any other year. It's probably only the 5th or 6th time this team has even been in contention at this point in the last 30 years and they're being aggressive. I don't know how you could be miserable about that.

Amen. It’s September 1st and we’re currently a WC team. Raise your hand if you actually thought that was even a remote possibility on April 1st.

I can step back and reassess and be content in the greater picture; but 5 in a row is a real gut punch way to start September.

Never thought I'd be so happy to be going up against the Guardians next, but I sure as hell am.

My posts in here have leaned way more towards positive than negative. Sorry I'm not a blind ****ing homer and can't seem to get excited about signing old and wayyyyy past their prime players when we could get the same production from guys in the farm system. We just added a 35, 36, and 40 ****ing year old to the major league roster for a playoff push. **** that.

A blind squirrel finds the nut every once in awhile.

If the goal is to win, then signing guys that absolutely no one else wanted because they're old as shit and suck ass is a pretty dumb way of going about it. This "aggressiveness" is stupid as shit.

I'm not miserable I'm annoyed.

Gentry has struck out 30% of the time this year in Triple-A. That's not a player you bet on unless he's bringing light tower power. Gentry is a fringe major leaguer.

I would rather take the experience of those players over fringe guys like Gentry and Alexander that have never done anything in the majors and aren't really upside plays to begin with.

You're acting like we're 30 games under. If we were 55-85 or something then yes this would be dumb. But we're literally about to start the most important week for this franchise since the World Series against the Mets.

You can't put the entire season on the line against Cleveland and Minnesota with guys like CJ Alexander who don't have any MLB at bats unless you're 1000% sure they're ready. If JJ did that, I would honestly say he deserves to be fired. Will all these signings work out? It might not but you gotta go with guys who will give you MLB at bats, which we clearly saw today. This is not the time for "developing" guys.

Who is this mult

Five in a row is tough.

They don’t have a great answer close to the majors, at Omaha. It’s not a AAAA dude like CJ Alexander or John Rave (whose best case is something approximately like Isbel, anyway).

If you want to poke holes, poke holes at signing Hampson or Frazier in the first place (you can and I will join you). At this point, Hampson is the backup CF unless you want to roll with Isbel every day, and I do not (they need to try to squeeze out some platoon advantages).

You look back at those 2020 and 2021 drafts and wish you could pull a re-do really badly. Pete Crow-Armstrong was heavily connected to the Royals when they took Lacy. Who knows how the Royals would have developed him. He 21 draft has a bunch of guys that would have been much better picks.

Being thin at the top levels just makes it hard to reinforce the good young core that IS here.

But still. I give this front office credit for being aggressive and trying to improve rather than shrugging their shoulders and whining about luck. That’s what a lot of small markets would do.

Hopefully they can recover from this tailspin and get things pointed in a positive direction before the end of the year.

Pham is a league average offensive performer this year. That works. DH him and take his league average production.

First time all year on this long of L streak, yeah? ****... Pasquatch getting hurt took the wind out of the team's sails.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OF Hunter Renfroe will begin a rehab assignment today with Northwest Arkansas (AA)</p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1831316283238838384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thankfully. Renfroe is Mickey Mantle compared to anyone else we can trot out there to play outfield.

He started out so bad earlier this year but he's really turned it around since May. But yeah they need anything they can get to pull out of this tail spin.

What's the playoff picture looking like?

Royals still 4.5 games up on the last wild card spot. Royals are 3-7 in their last 10 games, however the Red Sox have also been 3-7 and the Yankees, Twins and Mariners are all 4-6 in that same time frame. The Guardians have been 6-4 so the Royals have really only lost ground to them.

Royals are still up 4.5 games on the last Wildcard spot.

Thankfully, Boston keeps losing while we keep losing. Detroit has caught Boston, though, and has been pretty hot lately. We gotta keep our eye on them too. We play them next week, I think.

Hopefully we can get out of this funk by then.

So, with 22 games left and a 4.5 game lead for teh final WC spot, I'm guessing that means our magic number is 18?

Hoping the Royals figure something out before these other teams do and it looks like Detroit has already done that. They have a 7-3 record vs our 3-7 in the last ten games. Going to be tight.

What would you think of putting together a package for Roman Anthony? I have just read a little about him, but he seems like he would be one of few options that could be the leadoff guy we need desperately in front of BWJ for the next six years? These leadoff lefties seem hard to find

Dude - Ken Harvey once threw a baseball through Jason Grimsley's forehead before running into him.

Are you 13 years old, my guy? Because no, nothing this team can do this year will APPROACH anything resembling the Tony Pena era Royals. Those dudes lost 100+ games like clockwork and spent the better part of a decade leading off every TWIB blooper reel.

Detroit plays a few more vs San Diego and then goes to Oakland (who have been scrappy lately). Boston has one more vs the Mets then get the White Sox at home for 3. Detroit then gets the Rockies at home for 3. I don’t see any reason (other than blind homerism, which is not my bag) to think we do anything more than take one at best from both the Twins and the Yankees. We absolutely cannot get swept in either of those series. We also must win the Pirates and the Tigers series. Then we can see where things stand. Oh and it would be helpful to go ahead and win today.

Royals still have an 80% chance at the playoffs. We fine. Just a a bump.