Stubbs is utterly finished.

@rustindodd: One note: If Kennedy takes the opt-out clause after the 2017 season, he will receive a $6M buyout from the Royals.

This may be a reason he opts out

Thats..... weird. So, he wouldn't need to beat 49 over the last 3 years, he would need to beat 43 over the last 3 years.

Heyward has the same provision.

His was a 'deferred signing bonus' that triggers if he opts out (and it's a $20 million windfall, all but assuring that he does).

Can we please just do away with guaranteed contracts already?

The power wielded by the MLBPA is just astonishing to me. No cap AND guaranteed contracts. Pretty sweet gig.

The weird thing is that if any sport needs guaranteed contracts, its football with the short careers and injury risk.

So its basically a 2 for 27 deal so we can make a push in our window and he can build his value with our park and defense. Seems like a win/win.

And if there's any sport where I'd never EVER agree to give one, it's football.

The NFLPA can strike for as long as they'd like - they'll never get guaranteed contracts. All I could see that ever made that a reality was some kind of lawsuit; maybe a collusion thing where the federal government stepped in and blasted away at the NFL.

whose gonna play 2nd base for us this coming season?

No.

Who is on first.

What?

???? They get only 39% of league revenues, far below NFL and NBA players

Whats on Second.

Speaking of....MLB salaries will near record $4 billion.

ROFL

http://deadspin.com/fox-sports-publi...log-1755917568

Fox Sports: 2015 Royals are the 2nd worst WS champions since 2000 based on batting average

This is the dumbest reasoning I've ever seen for anything. Ever.

Correct

Stopped reading after WS champions.

*** Official 2016 Royals Offseason Repository ***
 

Based on what? He had a very productive 2014 season and went 15-20 in less than 400 ABs, and OPSed nearly .950 vs lefties.

His 2015 was a nightmare that saw him getting very infrequent playing time, but if you're talking about a cheap option, Stubbs probably offers as much as you're going to find.

Especially if you're looking for a guy who fits the Royals' defensive profile. Stubbs remains a good defender, capable of plus performance in a corner or average in CF.

I don't see a significant injury or anything about his tools regressing significantly. Think he just got off to a slow start and never recovered from it. That's more of a risk for part-time players...

Just need to win back to back now and shut everybody up for good.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Alex Gordon on Noah Syndergaard: &quot;That&#39;s bull shi... Bush League.&quot;</p>&mdash; Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/BKSportsTalk/status/693192231243485184">January 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Will be an interesting opening day that's for sure.

Side note:
Baseball Prospectus released its top 100 today.

Raul Adalberto Mondesi checks in at No. 16 despite his lack of Minor League production.

Just saying... (I've been on this guy since he was in Idaho Falls and had a friend send me video of him from there).

Is this a super delayed reaction?

For real. Are they seriously letting Infante compete for the job?

Looked at tickets for opening day. They were off the charts. Probably going to end up taking a vacation day to watch it at home.

Since I was in prospect mode, I did a littler research on the young Cuban player I mentioned last week, Lazarito (Lazaro Armentaros).

I'll try to keep it short.

Signing considerations:

KC will be restricted in its Latin America signings beginning July 2, and not able to sign a player to a bonus of more than $300,000. However, Armentaros can sign with a team after Feb. 10, which means KC would not yet be in the penalty box.

My proposal, if Armentaros impressed KC scouts: Sign him. It's going to take $5-6 million, at least... But KC can't sign a LA player for big dollars until the 2017-18 period, so you could pair those savings, plus what you would spend in July this year on LA free agents, plus the money you save with not having a first round pick, and make it happen within their 3-5 prospect spending structure.

It all comes down to how impressed they were, and not all scouts love him. But it would inject some superstar-level upside into the system.

Yeah. He finally had the surgery he has delayed since May 2014. Maybe a healthy Infante steps up.

Colon will also be a factor, as will Mondesi if he hits and both Colon and Infante struggle.

Five bobbleheads are part of Royals’ 2016 promotions

One of them is Ned Yost, I'd like to get it myself.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt...0/ned%20bobble

The others are Kendrys Morales, Alcides Escobar, Wade Davis and Salvador Perez.

Infante is a good defender. He at least gives us something at 2B, especially considering the Royals value defense as much as offense. And... I don't think he could possibly hit any worse. I'm an Orlando fan but I hope the platoon of him and Dyson holds up when exposed over a whole season.

Lazaro Armenteros Highlight Video

http://www.baseballamerica.com/inter...ghlight-video/

I’m very hopeful that we will see a much improved Omar Infante in spring training. The surgery to remove the bone chips in his right elbow should help. The problem with the elbow supposedly caused him to alter his normal movement which then caused shoulder soreness and a continued lack of production. Also Christian Colon will be given the opportunity to win the job. As others have mentioned, Raul Mondesi is also waiting in the wings.

I'm not a metrics guy and rarely dig into stats beyond batting average, RBI's, K's and ERA. But I did watch nearly all 162 games last year and of course, every game in the post season and I never got the sense that Orlando or Dyson would be a weaker option than Alex Rios.

As a matter of fact, I've got a good friend that I either text or speak with after each Royals game here in SoCal and I couldn't figure out why Dyson, and especially Orlando, weren't getting more playing time instead of Rios.

I suppose it could end up being a wash but my gut feeling is that the Royals won't lose anything defensively and will most likely see an offensive improvement with Dyson & Orlando over Rios.

But that said, predicting what players might do is a season always carries risk until they actually do it.

Unless Infante shows improvement in his offense why not try Colon that's what it boils down to. Might as well give the youngster experience.

Dyson/Orlando are undoubtedly a huge defensive upgrade from Rios. I'm not sure the power Orlando displayed last year is real, but the offensive upside is similar to what KC actually got from Rios.

I'm not sure they're sold on Orlando, either, as they keep looking at cheap OF options.

I'd prefer KC spend their money on a young player like Lazaro rather than a Drew Stubbs or Marlon Byrd. Lazaro Armenteros is only 16 so we would have to wait on him.

I'm thinking it would take $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 to sign Byrd. He has made the $8,000,000 over each of the last 2 seasons. He had a .271 batting average, 6 HR VS LHP last season.

Would Drew Stubbs sign a minor league deal with KC that allow him to compete for a roster spot? If he makes the 25 man roster, then $2,000,000 for the year. He was a good player in 2014 but last year was terrible. Drew has a career batting average of .276 VS LHP.

Also want to see what these guys can do -

Reymond Fuentes last year at Omaha he had a .308 batting average with 9 home runs. He batted .326 in 33 games in Puerto Rico this winter.

Paulo Orlando .249 (.265 VS LHP), 7 HR in 241 AB, and then this winter in Venezuela, he has batted .295 in 27 games with 4 HR.

Jose Martinez In Omaha .384 batting average, 10 HR in 341 at bats. Also .317 in 60 games, 3 HR in Venezuela this winter

Brett Eibner, .303 and 19 HR in Omaha. Had a .301 average VS RHP and .308 VS LHP.

I like the fact that Fuentes, Orlando, and Martinez all worked on their game this winter.

@Royals: #Royals sign OF Travis Snider to a minor league contract with an invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Interesting signing by KC. Dayton continues to work it.

Maybe Snider is our left handed bat to pair up with LHB Jarrod Dyson. Snider has hit LHP just a shade better than RHP with a career .247 compared to .243. He has hit far more home runs off of RHP though at 46 VS 8.

What's the low down on this guy anyway? Is he back up for OF injuries or can he be more then that.

Hey I remember Travis Snider with the Blue Jays.

Psssst, (bricks whispers) he's not that good.

He's got to be a better defender than that walking meat sack the Blue Jays trotted out in RF last season.

He was a former first rounder but I assume he's an injury only guy that is AAA depth

Hey, look, I throw to second!

I remember when Travis Snider was "too much" to include with Kyle Drabek for Zack Greinke. LOL.

Did anyone go to Fan Fest today?

I took the family. Had an ok time, but too many people there to get much out of it. Fun to start getting back into the baseball swing.

If you're going to post your own articles on here, acknowledge that you're the one writing them. Otherwise you're just spamming.

Please explain.

It's truly incredible I was about to post this very thing and you beat me to the punch. You must have ESP

The more I read on this deal, the more I like.

Very low risk since it is a minor league deal BUT it might give the Royals a left handed bat for their bench.

Reasons to like the Travis Snider signing.

1. This is a low risk minor league deal.

2. In 2014, Travis Snider in 322 at bats, hit .264 and 13 HR for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

3. Will be 28 years old this season and has 54 career home runs.

4. It is one more minor league outfield option to combine with right handed hitting Brett Eibner, Jose Martinez, Bubba Starling, Terrance Gore, Jorge Boifacio, and left handed hitting Reymond Fuentes. Let the best player play.


Negatives to the signing.

1. Career slashline of .244/.311/.399

2. Always lots of hope for him as a 1st round draft pick and a top prospect for the Toronto Blue Jays but it has never really developed.

3. Left handed hitter but has a career average of .243 VS RHP and .247 VS LHP. His home runs do come off of RHP with 46 to 8 coming from LHP.

Special guest at the Kansas-Kentucky game:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaAf_RdUAAAzBwU.jpg

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShaneEwin...957444/photo/1

http://twitter.com/ShaneEwing/status...957444/photo/1

*** Official 2016 Royals Offseason Repository ***
 

https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/692850246821392384

Agents say the Royals are trying to add one more OF at low cost. David Murphy seems like a good fit, but probably out of their price range

New Pet Peeve amongst Royals fans: Fans who assume KC will trade one of the core guys who hits FA after 2017, before the 2017 season.

Everything Moore has done this offseason has pointed towards maximizing the 2016 and 2017 window.

Trading one of Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas, Davis, is in direct opposition of that approach.

I could MAYBE see them trading Escobar in the unlikely scenario that Mondesi forces his way to the bigs in 2016 and they end up with a surplus of SS (though I'd think it more likely they just play Mondesi at 2B for Escobar's final year). But anyone else? Nah.

I know we won't go on a trading binge, but if this year goes poorly, I wouldn't be opposed to stocking the farm system.

If we were doing somewhat poorly by the break in 2017, I'd be all for trading guys away and rebuilding the farm system. Could you imagine the talent you could acquire by parting ways with 3-4 of those guys?

FYP

Sure, if at midseason it is t happening, obviously, you can make moves.

But in the offseason? Makes no sense.

KChiefs1 have you been kidnapped by Von Miller?

Back in NYC for the first time in 3 months - the last time I was here we won the World Series.

Feels good.

Help!

In Caribbean Series opener, Venezuela beats Puerto Rico 2 – 1.
Royal’s Jose Martinez drives in the 2 runs with a triple in the 2nd inning. Jose played LF and also went 2 for 3 at the plate.

New contracts for Salvy and Moose?

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/01/31/...artner=ya5nbcs

Royals will have World Series ring ceremony on Tuesday, April 5

I'd be pretty pissed about this if I had shelled out a lot for opening day tickets on stubhub.

Most teams don't do the ring ceremony on opening day for precisely that reason.

You'll sell out opening day anyway. By putting the ring ceremony on a later date, you'll ensure another sellout.

It may be frustrating for some, but it's just good business.

This surprises me. I thought he did pretty good in Omaha last year.

Royals release RHP Coleman

The Royals officially released right-hander Louis Coleman on Wednesday.

Coleman, who turns 30 on April 4, had been designated for assignment last week to clear room on the 40-man roster after the signing of right-hander Ian Kennedy. He also was designated for assignment in the spring of 2015, but re-signed with the Royals.

Coleman pitched in four games last season, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three relief innings. His best season came in 2013, when he pitched in 27 games, going 3-0 and posting a 0.61 ERA.

http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article...as-city-royals

Well, flag still gets raised on opening day and that's the coolest thing. I was gonna snap, seeing how I just bought tickets to KC for the wife and I. But I'm good with seeing the flag

That's a 3:15 first pitch too. Summa ya'll be playing hookey

Not really. ESPN won't show the pre-game ring ceremony like FSKC did last year's ALCS ring presentation.

I'm cool with this. I want to see the pre-game ceremonies.

Plus it forces the Mets to suffer a double misery. Enjoy watching us hang our banner on the opening day, and have a side of shitburger on Tuesday by watching us get the rings.

Bitches.

Should do the ring ceremony when Synderdouche was pitching

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/dDdQzAd8cw">pic.twitter.com/dDdQzAd8cw</a></p>&mdash; Mike Sciandra (@MikeSciandra) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSciandra/status/695036736464904192">February 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
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10 Spring Training games on FSKC