Nothing quite like 9th inning bullpen meltdowns to destroy the morale of the club.

Well, we get to see how Marsh is as a SP tonight. Hopefully he does as well as the other SPs. Not talking to you RPs.

Early returns....pretty, pretty, good.

Permanently closed according to a Google search. Executive Beechcraft sold the commuter business to new owners. They promptly locked the old hanger about 4 to 5 years ago. Doubt they ever reopen. Beechcraft leased the hanger to the museum with a free use agreement that the new company didn't honor.

I'd say the chances of a game in Baltimore today are slim.

Fug was looking forward to some 10:05am weekday baseball today

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The start of today’s game will be delayed due to inclement weather. We will update with more information as it becomes available. <a href="https://t.co/K3q22WVgZm">https://t.co/K3q22WVgZm</a></p>&mdash; Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) <a href="https://twitter.com/Orioles/status/1775561445956104224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ragans is for real, you guys.

This is like Jake Arrieta all over again. Injured and disappointing. Traded. Gets healthy and makes very minor mechanical adjustment.

Turns into an ace outta nowhere.

This team can win the AL Central as-is. If they could add a productive veteran bat - preferably a lefty - and add one more arm in the pen - even better.

I'm sure some of you have read this, duncan might know if this dude is a good read or not in general, but figure it was worth posting.

My buddy sent me it a week back after talking about Ragans a little.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/cole-rag...riately-hyped/

.

Damn man.

Garcia kept his head down on a decent pitch and drove it out opposite field.

I thought I was high on the guy but if he can do THAT he's even better than I gave him credit for. Damn that was a nice piece of hitting.

Time to reevaluate Smith's role methinks

Back-to-back-to-back World Series champion!!!!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QT13kk8HDDo?si=kXvDwDmD99VbwXjT" 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>

and some new effective bullpen pieces.

They clearly need a closer

Bears worth mentioning again.

This team man... If it isn't one thing, it's another. It's only six games, and by next week, we'll probably be bitching about the starters while the bullpen gets their shit together.

But a shaky pen will really **** things up. It's demoralizing to watch your team lose in such ways, and just kills the morale. Plus it screws with a manager's head after a certain point, because he'll never know when he should pull his starter, and he'll end up in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

These ****ers better get things tightened up right quick, because we're not even two weeks into the year and the bullpen has directly lead to 4 losses. I'm already sick of this shit.

This was the pitcher the Marlins were trying to build a package around to get Bobby Witt Jr. Can't imagine how bad things would feel if this happened while Bobby was tearing it up for the Marlins.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Right-hander Eury Perez, one of the best pitching prospects in recent years, will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season, per the Marlins. In a year of awful pitching injuries, this is among the worst: a 20-year-old handled with immense care still gets hurt.</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1775934249322860730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seems like a good time to rehash the "should they just hit these kids with the surgery when drafted" question.

Anyone wanna buy 4 tickets and parking pass for tonight's game? Section 224 row BB and a parking pass for $100.

Those are some pretty nice seats. Good night to go to a game too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">10 pitchers in MLB history have had 105+ strikeouts and an ERA under 2.50 throught their first 14 starts with a team <a href="https://t.co/sRHKCCYu8h">pic.twitter.com/sRHKCCYu8h</a></p>&mdash; BrooksGate (@Brooks_Gate) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brooks_Gate/status/1776282964319469994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yep I got sickness in my house or I would have to snag those. Very legit offer

I'm gonna cave and buy the bally's app instead. I thought I'd be able to make it a while not being able to actually watch baseball, just listening. And so far, it's not the best.

This team has a chance to be legit exciting and I need to be able to watch it

Still available?

Curious to see if the Royals actually have their city connect jerseys yet. Seeing on Twitter both the Rangers and Brewers were supposed to have their Friday night jerseys but Fanatics hasn't sent them yet. This jersey thing has been a disaster. I really think this had to be why the Royals didn't have powder blues last weekend.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Brewers will not be wearing their customary Friday home game City Connects tonight. They have not — and try to not be flabbergasted by this — arrived from Fanatics and Nike yet.</p>&mdash; Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CyrtHogg/status/1776360726245863545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pull out the Monarchs stuff

Oakland A's home uni for 2024!

I've got sickness over here too.

What you got?

BTW: Karen Kornacki is going into the Missouri Sports HOF. Emil Brown Approves!

Did Will Smith just lose his job to the Ice General, James McArthur?

.500 beisbol !!

Do we have the best starting pitching in the league or what?

Based on the graphic I saw in-game, it seems pretty inarguable to this point in the season.

What we'd give for a Dayton Moore bullpen about now...


























jk

Will Klein is a name to watch in Omaha for potential bullpen reinforcement. Throws hard, nasty slider.

This team just making it out of April with a record somewhere around .500 (or better) will go a long ways. Nice to see the boys not get off to such a shit start that it feels like a mountain to climb the rest of the way.

Not Royals related, but just read Shane Bieber is done for the year. UCL reconstruction again for the guy. Was off to an amazing start too.

It would appear the White Sox are just what the Royals needed, what with their total wins at 1, the only teams worse so far are the A's and the Marlins. When do we play them? :drool:

Edit: I see the Tigers get to play the A's today, so it works both ways I guess.

I started watching the Royals in 1981, when I was ten years old. Though I was too young to appreciate it, those were the golden years when our team wasn't vastly outspent by the bigger markets.

2014 and 2015 were nothing short of a miracle. Outside of the HDH bullpen and Cain in center field, those were not dominant teams with elite players. But they played team-oriented Royals-style baseball and broke through. Glorious.

It seems every other year of my fandom the season is over by June 1. I'm not a stats guy, but I'd have a hard time believing there is any other team in baseball that has had such horrific starts every year. Then the out-of-contention-by-June team seems to always inject hope by finishing strong every September. It's a depressing cycle we've seen over and over.

The 1-6 White Sox record is what I've come to expect from the Royals every sesaon. So I very much appreciate the .500 record -- even in early April. And I fervently hope it lasts at least until summer comes. And, who knows, if the team can stay around .500 all season it might help change what is currently a terrible public perception of the club.

The 2014 rotation was really good. Shields was good, Duffy had a great year, and Ventura was outstanding. Guthrie and Vargas were really effective.

The lineup had holes, but the pitching and defense were just so excellent.

The 2015 squad was pretty balanced and effective offensively. Lots of hard contact, low Ks, no glaring black holes in the lineup once they added Zobrist.

I honestly can't get behind the team as much because I think there is a reasonable chance they move to Nashville. I hope we get some certainty soon

LMAO

Well the 2024 Royals are gonna play in KC so I think you're best off just viewing it thru that lens

And that certainty thing, well good luck waiting on that

Nailed it.

God I hate you so much lol. Sherman is a ****ing Kansas City guy. All the other owners are KC people. There is no way this team moves out of the metro area.

You think their only motivation was intrinsic value for KC? The group of people who now own the Royals are simply trying to increase the value of the team to flip it for a profit. Sherman is the figurehead.

Nashville is looking like a real possibility

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The 2024 <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Royals</a> are the first team in *Major League history* whose starting pitchers have recorded ≥ 6.0 innings and ≤ 1 run allowed in 7 of the 1st 9 games.</p>&mdash; Nick Kappel (@NickKappel) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickKappel/status/1776981350525886476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hard not to like the early returns of what they did this offseason, and the way we now seem to be able to coach pitching or pull guys when they need to be pulled.

Has an any owner of a professional sports team ever done that? What owner has bought up a pro franchise just to turn around and sell it for a profit? How does that make any sense? These guys make all kinds of money in different ventures and owning a pro team is very exclusive. There are way more billionaires (~2800) than baseball owners. He's not selling the club anytime soon.

****ing Bobby Witt Jr is absolutely crushing the ball right now. His avg exit velocity is 101 and his hard hit % is 76.9%. A really promising trend, although early is his walk rate is 2.2% higher so far than his career avg and he's just barely under league average. That's a real positive sign and if he keeps it up, then I could see him getting an MVP this year.

What about Regina, Saskatchewan?

Bobby Witt Jr is already at 1.3 bWAR. Extrapolated over a 162 game season and that comes out to a 23.4 bWAR season lmao. He's at 0.9 fWAR which is tied for 2nd. He's only behind Mookie Betts in both. Betts is just absolutely insane right now.

Name one professional sports owner whose sole purpose was to buy a team just to flip it for a profit. It doesn’t happen, ever. Calm the **** down drama queen.

Amazing. It also seems like their RPs are starting to come around, sans Will Smith. Knock on wood.

I'm about 95% he's trolling, but he's actually a big enough dumb shit to legitimately believe this, so I'm not sure.

I need to stop praising guys I guess, because every single time I do they go out and look like they might start a slump lol.

So does this team have a chance to be decent? I don't want to get my expectations up. But a little dose of hope goes a long way.

I think they do. Cole Ragans is a legit Cy Young candidate and Bobby is a legit MVP/best player in the entire majors. The SP can fall off quite a bit and still be good and the offense has multiple guys. We're not going through our typical beginning of the year slumps where all our hitters/pitchers are dog shit and thats gotta be great for their confidence and morale. Being 6-4 also has to be a huge confidence boost and sweeping a 4 game series is just what this team needed. Last year's team would have lost that game today for sure. They just seem different this year.

Almost all of them?

Look up the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan’s tenure as majority owner of the Leafs and Raptors (MLSE).

Revote now?

That's a pretty smart deal and makes sense for them to do it. So that's 1 example that's an apples to oranges comparison.

Not really the same thing is it? Of course you knew that, but you had to put your stupid Canadian two cents in anyway. Go suck Lebron James’ dick some more and leave the Royals talk to the adults.

Milwaukee Buck’s owner Marc Lasry.

25%.

That's not an actual owner. He wasn't the majority guy

Sherman owned reportedly 30% of the Cleveland Indians before he got the Royals. He was in line to become the majority owner of Cleveland, but bought his hometown team that he loves instead. The Indians are much more valuable than the Royals.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Royals Sign Zach Davies To Minor League Deal <a href="https://t.co/s6fwpG2R2I">https://t.co/s6fwpG2R2I</a> <a href="https://t.co/0Z5ufCzZFM">pic.twitter.com/0Z5ufCzZFM</a></p>&mdash; MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1777498131778634195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I think they call those 'loonies' or 'syrup nickles' up there

NGL missing these dudes today

Only thing that can keep down these Royals is an off day!!!!

Might be sub 100 losses this year!

But honestly a .500 record would be a nice start. Not getting my hopes up any higher than that.

Why all the talk about pitcher injuries? Is it because people want to blame the pitch clock for something?

Here are the number of MiL & ML pitchers that had TJ surgery per year. This is by calendar year, but it seems like things are actually much much better than they were.

2024 - 19
2023 - 88
2022 - 96
2021 - 151
2020 - 76
2019 - 123
2018 - 134
2017 - 144
2016 - 144

Looks like things are better than they have been by quite a bit.

Who says Lasry was not a majority owner of the Bucks before he sold his stake?

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sport...li/5309727001/

What’s your point? When he bought the team he was one of the two majority owners. The Buck’s owners basically laid out the framework Sherman & Co desire with building a new arena with connected entertainment district to maximize the value of the franchise and once complete he sold for a giant profit.

As with the hedge fund he operated, seems his intent was to flip it for a huge profit. So, it appears it does happen.

It's because Spencer Strider and Shane Bieber went down to elbow strains in less than a 24-hour period, and Eury Perez was lost for the season not long before them.

But you're right in the sense that this escalation of Tommy John surgeries happened well before the pitch clock and it's a baseball-wide epidemic that originates at the youth level. It's probably more velocity related than anything else.

You asked for an owner who bought a sports team purposely to turn it around and make a profit and I gave you one. Don’t cry about it because you don’t like the answer.

Try getting that mental midget Tony Clark to believe you. Meanwhile, he just got another raise to be the head of the union. Dude is a ****ing imbecile.

It was one owner that only owned 25% of the team. So there is 1 example of an individual and one example of a group selling for profit.

And let's be real, the reason the franchise valuation went up so high is because they became winners not because of a new stadium and entertainment district.

Tons of people can operate a hedge fund. Flipping that for huge profit is a shit ton different than finally becoming majority owner of the team you grew up rooting for and then selling that team for a profit. To act like he's not making 10's of millions a year running the team is laughable.

I'm saying recently the trend hasn't been an escalation in Tommy John. 2022 and 2023 had significantly less TJ surgery than every year besides the 2020 season where they had an extremely shortened season.

I know you said that and I agree that Tony Clark is dead wrong.

My point being is 2023-24 is still escalated when compared to Tommy John surgeries in the 1990s and 2000s, and this has been a problem going on for a while that has nothing to do with the pitch clock. Experts like Dr. Andrews believe the main culprit is the high end velocity.

It's not even an MLB issue either. Tommy John surgeries are happening at the youth baseball level, too.

Yeah, I get ya. Too many idiot little league/hs coaches doing anything they can to win instead of looking out for these kids and also these ligaments aren't made to do what they are doing.