2012 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[alnorth]

2012 Slogan: Our Time

A better, more accurate 2012 Slogan: It is Finally Next Year
(from Great Expectations)

An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division
(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:



Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

[Demonpenz]

Sal Perez... Mexican Johnny Bench....Juan Bencho!

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

OK so his english isn't so good... I don't care as long as he's the player he looks like he'll be.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

The Story...


Royals lock up Perez for five years

Club options could keep young catcher in KC until 2019

By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com | 02/27/12 10:37 PM EST

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Citing a need for long-term stability at a key position, the Royals on Monday announced a deal with catcher Salvador Perez that will keep him in Kansas City for at least five years -- and, possibly, for the next eight years.

The five-year contract runs through 2016 with club options for each of the following three seasons. The contract guarantees Perez $7 million but could be worth $26.75 million for the full eight years if all the options are exercised and all the incentives are achieved.

Perez will receive a guaranteed $750,000 for this year, $1 million for 2013, $1.5 million for 2014, $1.75 million for 2015 and $2 million for 2016. The option year salaries are $3.75 million in 2017, $5 million in 2018 and $6 million in 2019, with no buyouts. Escalators, based on various awards (such as Gold Gloves) earned during the first five years, and performance bonuses, based on games started at catcher in the three option years, could increase the total take substantially.


"I play the game hard, work hard every day, and I want to be in Kansas City for, like, 20 years," Perez said.

By signing such a deal, Perez might sacrifice some higher salaries that could be achieved through the arbitration process or free agency.

"That's fine with me, because I want to play here," he said.

The ballclub, by guaranteeing a certain amount of money, takes the gamble that Perez will be worth it and will remain healthy.

"Every long-term deal always has a certain amount of risk," general manager Dayton Moore said. "Ultimately, will this player perform and produce over the lifetime of the contract? We believe Salvy will. Will he stay healthy? Well, he's 21 years old, as strong as a bull and works very, very hard."

Perez thanked the Glass family, which owns the Royals, Moore and many others who had a role in his signing and development.

"I like Kansas City. They gave me the chance when I was young," Perez said. "I want to play for Kansas City for a long time."

Perez had not yet shared his contract news with his mother, Yilda, who was at home in Venezuela.

"She doesn't know yet," he said, with a huge smile. "She may not sleep tonight."

Perez said he'd break the news gently so his mother doesn't get too excited.

"I'm going to take it slow, because she might die or something," he said with a deep laugh.

Perez didn't make his Major League debut until last Aug. 10, but he hit .331 and earned praise from pitchers for his game-calling in the 39 games he started at catcher.

Manager Ned Yost, a former catcher, remembers how impressed he was when he first watched Perez play.

"It took about two days for me to realize he was special," Yost said. "I've been in this game a long time. I've been at the big league level a long time and see hundreds of catchers come through. And I've never seen one like him. He's a very rare find."

Moore said that he and Yost had discussed the importance of signing Perez at the end of the 2011 season. He'd also heard from other players.

"Salvy talks to his teammates, and his teammates talk to us, and we're around each other every day," Moore said. "And Ned felt this was very important for us to do going forward. We talked about it the last game of the season -- that it'd be important to do something long-term. And some of our pitchers said, 'We need to keep this guy here long term.'"

Discussions with Perez's agent, Gustavo Vasquez, heated up about 2 1/2 weeks ago. The negotiations also involved Royals officials Dean Taylor, Jin Wong and Rene Francisco.

"It came together in the last 24 hours," Moore said, who added that the Royals pursued the deal aggressively. "We feel, to a man in this organization, that he exemplifies everything that we want in leadership and ability behind the plate at the catcher position."

Perez signed in 2006 at the age of 16.

"I started to dream about playing in the big leagues when I was 15 years old," he said. "When I was 15, some people in Venezuela told me I could sign and be in the big leagues. That's when I started thinking about it."

Now he has a long-term deal with Kansas City.

"He's the total package. I've never seen anybody that compares to him," Yost said.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Dr. noonanbeermefever

OK so his english isn't so good... I don't care as long as he's the player he looks like he'll be.

Ok, this video settles it and just pumped me up even more today. I am going to buy the mlb.com package for $100 so I can watch every game on my computer this year.

If the girlfriend gets mad at me I am coming back to this post and blaming in on Beerme.

[Pitt Gorilla]

That is awesome. Well done, Dayton.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Ok, this video settles it and just pumped me up even more today. I am going to buy the mlb.com package for $100 so I can watch every game on my computer this year.

If the girlfriend gets mad at me I am coming back to this post and blaming in on Beerme.

I can take the heat. I've believed for the last 27 years.........

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by Dr. noonanbeermefever

I can take the heat. I've believed for the last 27 years.........

I was just searching for t-shirt jerseys on the net and she looked over and said "Yea, you need more gear for the teams you like that never win."

****........

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by lewdog

I was just searching for t-shirt jerseys on the net and she looked over and said "Yea, you need more gear for the teams you like that never win."

****........

This is good... this is where lew gets the last laugh.

And she should respect you and your teams win or lose anyway. It's easy to be a Yankees fan.

GO LEW!

[DBoweShow]

Who is ready for opening day?!!!! I won't be at that game, but a big group of us are going to try and get tickets for the first Saturday game. I can't wait!

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by DBoweShow

Who is ready for opening day?!!!! I won't be at that game, but a big group of us are going to try and get tickets for the first Saturday game. I can't wait!

There's a possible CP get together opening weekend at home. Search the "Saturday at the K" thread.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Dr. noonanbeermefever

I always respect your takes Deez but I don't think this was/is necessarily the year to go all in. Detroit is the clear favorite while our team is mega young and still needs time to grow imo. Adding a guy like Jackson isn't going to change that.

I see more Cardinal games than any other team and he was solid but I wasn't very impressed by a lot of his outings. Why over-spend on a guy if you aren't really convinced about him when you have so many good, young arms in your system and guys like Paulino were diamonds in the rough? I know I'm among the minority but I'm glad we didn't go all in for Jackson.

I know everyone is hyped up about this season... and I am too... but lets be realistic about the experience on this team. Winning the division this year would be WAY over-achieving. If we're in a position to do it after the break then we can make a deal or two. In the meantime I think we're still mostly in a grow and see what we have stage.

JMO.

I don't think adding another starter at (in baseball terms) minimal cost is really going "all in." For example, if we signed Jackson for 2 at 22, would this really prohibit anything? Of course not.

And I agree that Detroit is the favorite, but the Royals certainly have a shot at the division if things break right; we're not in need of miracles here for that to happen.

[ChiTown]

Grantland article from yesterday. SIAP

2012 MLB Season Preview: Kansas City Royals
By Jonah Keri on February 27, 2012 3:51 PM ET

The Kansas City Royals came into last season loaded with young, unproven talent, a team with a bright future, but also a murky present. A year later, the Royals head into spring training loaded with young, slightly more proven talent, but also a roster that might struggle to top .500.

Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Johnny Giavotella, and Salvador Perez all claimed full-time jobs for the first time, joining Alcides Escobar to form baseball's youngest infield. Alex Gordon finally fulfilled his potential and emerged as a star, Jeff Francoeur showed he's more than a smiling face and an OBP black hole, and Melky Cabrera had a career year. The gang's all back this season save for Cabrera, who got shipped to San Francisco for Jonathan Sanchez. That Sanchez, a walks machine who made just 19 starts in 2011, could be the team's no. 2 starter, tells you what's missing from this team: front-line starting pitching. Without it, this is an intriguing, fun-to-watch team ... with third-place upside.

LINEUP (Bill James projections: AVG/OBP/SLG, wOBA)
LF Alex Gordon (.276/.361/.467, .359)
2B Johnny Giavotella (.295/.342/.419, .334)
1B Eric Hosmer (.311/.362/.494, .369)
DH Billy Butler (.301/.372/.477, .363)
3B Mike Moustakas (.278/.323/.447, .336)
RF Jeff Francoeur (.269/.317/.432, .321)
C Salvador Perez (.287/.317/.413, .319)
CF Lorenzo Cain (.284/.337/.416, .334)
SS Alcides Escobar (.267/.309/.360, .297)

Feel free to sub in ZiPS for some of these overoptimistic projections (Cain .306 wOBA per ZiPS vs. .334 per Bill James; Giavotella .309 wOBA per ZiPS vs. .334 per Bill James). Still, there's some thump here, with Hosmer the biggest threat to go nuts on the league. The more subtle positive for the Royals is a team defense that finished 11th in Ultimate Zone Rating last year and could be improved in 2012. Though Cain's chances of hitting .305 with pop like Cabrera did last year are slim to none, he could provide a massive defensive upgrade in center field; saving 15-plus runs more than Cabrera did with the glove last year is a possibility. If they're going to overcome a mediocre rotation, an elite defense would certainly help.

ROTATION (Bill James projections: IP, FIP)
Luke Hochevar (189, 4.27)
Jonathan Sanchez (159, 4.10)
Bruce Chen (194, 4.58)
Aaron Crow (127, 4.23)
Felipe Paulino (157, 3.95)

MLBDepthCharts.com lists Paulino as the no. 5 starter, but he's probably better than anyone else the Royals have. Sanchez barely pitched half a season last year; Crow struggled with command and now must throw 100 more innings in his conversion back to starting; Hochevar and Chen both do a good job limiting walks, but neither misses enough bats to be a top starter (though the Royals still think Hochevar can start to take on the form that made him a no. 1 overall draft pick). Still, it's Paulino, a scrap-heap pickup from the Rockies last May, who offers the most promise, striking out nearly a batter an inning and boosting his ground-ball rate last season. Royals starters struggled to go deep into games in 2011, ranking just 24th in innings pitched. But the bullpen figures to help on that front, with Greg Holland and Joakim Soria forming one of the best reliever duos in baseball last year, Jonathan Broxton signed in the hopes of a rebound season, and some promising young talent knocking on the door.

BREAKOUT PICK
Paulino. His trends are all pointing in the right direction, and he should blow away last year's career high of 157 innings pitched, setting the stage for a big year. If you're looking for an excellent semi-sleeper in your fantasy league, Paulino's a great pick.

IF EVERYTHING BREAKS RIGHT
Paulino and Hochevar give the Royals 400 better-than-expected innings, Hosmer becomes an elite slugger a couple years ahead of schedule, and the up-the-middle tandem of Escobar and Cain dominate defensively, helping give the Royals' run prevention a big lift. Eighty-five wins and a second-place finish would be a long shot ... but it is possible.

IF EVERYTHING GOES WRONG
Crow's a bust in the rotation, Moustakas is slow to develop following last season's weak results (.300 wOBA), and Soria gets hurt before he can be traded for a viable starting pitching prospect. Of course, if the Royals' pitching falters, Mike Montgomery and Danny Duffy could get the call, which wouldn't be a bad outcome for a team that's likely a year or two away even in the best-case scenario.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...as-city-royals

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Crow's a bust in the rotation, Moustakas is slow to develop following last season's weak results (.300 wOBA), and Soria gets hurt before he can be traded for a viable starting pitching prospect.

Its the Royals, so this will happen.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

I don't think adding another starter at (in baseball terms) minimal cost is really going "all in." For example, if we signed Jackson for 2 at 22, would this really prohibit anything? Of course not.

And I agree that Detroit is the favorite, but the Royals certainly have a shot at the division if things break right; we're not in need of miracles here for that to happen.

Fair enough.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

I don't think adding another starter at (in baseball terms) minimal cost is really going "all in." For example, if we signed Jackson for 2 at 22, would this really prohibit anything? Of course not.

And I agree that Detroit is the favorite, but the Royals certainly have a shot at the division if things break right; we're not in need of miracles here for that to happen.

We are in need of some good break out seasons from our starting pitching. We have the offense, we just need starting pitching.