Man that guy is a queer

Future Blue Jay

It doesn't appear to be much of a factor since NIL was implemented.

But even if NIL was, it's a scout's job to find out before the draft what a kid and his family are willing to sign for.

If a guy gets drafted high, a team has good reason to believe the player is going to sign for X amount. At that point, NIL is not a factor.

Usually, if there's a breakdown in the negotiations after the pick has been made, it's due to a medical reason and the team backtracks on its signing bonus figure.

Old Slogan:

OURTIME!

New Slogan:

AIDSTIME!

Won't be the only championship Vlad wins this year. What a player.

ALCS runner up champion is not an actual championship.

You know this, correct?

The HR Derby champ is WS bound.

They did go for it in round 11. Picked up an OF who was ranked 115 on MLB's top 250. Considered one of the best hitters in the SEC.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jared Dickey off the board.<br><br>Kansas City Royals. 11th round.<br><br>I very much doubt the Royals would take him unless they were prepared to go waaaaay overslot and sign him.</p>&mdash; Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) <a href="https://twitter.com/wesrucker247/status/1678827794191511562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Trying to pull what they did with David Sandlin and Austin Charles last year.

They also drafted a guy named Ethan Bosacker...Bosacker hilarious name.

I love me a little Dickey

Did you play football for Northwestern?

Dodgers drafted D.J. Uiagalelei, the former Clemson QB in the draft.

With the draft in the books, I have fairly gross Allard Baird vibes from this one.

No consistent vision or plan going on there. They took a cheaper sign at #8 and don't seem to have a plan to really spend that money (and if the plan is to spend it on the kid they took at 44 and Dickey, I must say I think that plan is, frankly, pretty godsdamned stupid).

Even Baird would run into the occasional Greinke or Gordo, two players GMDM never could come close to matching WAR wise through the draft.

This looks like GMDM's frugality at the top with no plan whatsoever for how to take advantage of that in the later rounds.

Greinke is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, so I’m not sure many GMs would live up to that pick.

But the biggest issue Moore had was adjusting once the slot system went into place. They never quite figured out how to work that, though they worked the 2013 draft pretty well.

In the Baird days, he basically could make one legit pick, but not for a bank-busting first rounder, and then had to draft a bunch of guys who wouldn’t take much to sign. They didn’t empty the clip.

This draft felt like they didn’t empty the clip.

Maybe they just missed the guy they were saving money for. Maybe it’s the big righthander from Illinois. But have some contingencies in place.

You found the words I was looking for.

Baird had that one pick at the top of the draft (Billy Butler was another), and for whatever reason, had a not terrible ratio with that one card he got to play (I feel like GMDM would outthink himself at times in Round 1).

This draft just even feels void of that one legit Baird pick.

Salvy getting the AL the lead, scoring a run.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Salvy also has the second-most All-Star Game runs by a Royals player<br><br>5 ⚾ George Brett<br>3 ⚾ Salvador Pérez<br>1 ⚾ Hosmer, Dye, Bo, White, Rojas</p>&mdash; Royals Stats (@RoyalsStats) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalsStats/status/1678949600504283137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

#13 retired and a Salvy statue is going to look good in downtown KC.

Shitty Blue Jay giving up a home run.

He's always just stayed so likeable, even with the shit team he's on now.

He's currently my favorite Royal ever but I would be fine with them moving him on to finish his career. There's no point in keeping him in KC now.

Yeah. I keep looking at Chase Dollander, Chase Davis, and Matt Shaw.

Dollander is a guy who reminds me a lot of another player recruited and coached by Dollander's college skipper... Max Scherzer. In that he is a guy who was viewed as a potential 1-1 pick entering his junior year, then had a weird/bad command year. The size and assortment of stuff is even similar to Max. I don't think he's that good (Scherzer has a legitimate Hall of Fame case), but Dollander has a lot of upside and would have been a good floor/ceiling mesh at 1-8 (Scherzer went 1-9 to Arizona, as I recall).

Davis and Shaw are similar guys... college bats that I think are really underrated. They are the type of high contact, low K, all-fields power hitters that I would love to see KC invest in more heavily from the college ranks.

I also just really like Hurston Waldrep, because he already has a great three-pitch mix, and I think he's going to be a good major league hurler for a long time. Atlanta will probably maximize that.

I had to go down to the Twitter rabbit hole, man lots of Salvy hate on being an all-star.

The only thing anyone can ding that man on is framing a pitch. Which has to be the absolute most over valued statistic I've ever seen. Some people act like if a catcher can't frame a pitch, then he's trash. When in reality it has minimal effect on a game.

You know if Salvy was better at English, he would be instant TV studio guy for FOX or ESPN the moment he retires.

When his career is up for the Hall of Fame, framing isn't going to be as much of a factor as his OBP. That's where the voters are going to kill him like they did with Andre Dawson for so many years.

Baseball Hall of Fame voters are the biggest cucks in the world. The stupidity they go off on.

Agreed. The absolute worst type of sports journalist.

It’s not all of them by any means.

I know/have known a bunch. Rick Hummel was possibly the best person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. And then there are guys that absolutely suck.

The guy that took over for me when I left the sports journalism world is a member of BBWA and has a vote. He does a good job with it.

That's the most frustrating part of the whole thing for me. We can tolerate terrible baseball for a few years if we know there's a plan in place to build something special. But it doesn't seem to be there.

If management was as focused on the plan as much as ownership is on building a new stadium, we'd be on to something.

I guess I don't know that I agree with the no vision thing. They seemed to love his bat and raved about it saying that it would play middle order regardless of what position he plays. People keep saying it's a signability pick but that's not really true. He was rated by basically everyone as a mid first rounder. This wasn't a Mozzicato or Dozier situation where they took someone with a clear second round grade. Did they reach a little bit? Sure. But if you like his bat and think it's amazing then reaching a few spots isn't that crazy. Their second round pick was right where he was projected to go and one of the best players available, so that wasn't some sort of crazy reach.

To me it sounds like they took the best player on their board with their first two picks and that's all you can really ask for. Is it who I would have picked? No, but they didn't do something like take high ceiling/low floor guys who they can rush to the majors trying to win quickly. And honestly at this point the Royals have basically screwed up every position possible in the first round, so any pick is going to draw some ire. Dollander? We couldn't even get Asa Lacy to the bigs, to say nothing of our other 547 college pitchers we have drafted highly the past few years that haven't gone anywhere. Matt Shaw and Tommy Troy? Colon 2.0. Noble Myer? Lol no. You can be cynical about anyone at this point with the Royals.

My problem is they drafted Mitchell because he will be an under slot pick, but they didn't really use that to their advantage.

Source? Everyone keeps repeating this but I haven't heard anyone from the Royals say "we like his bat and we like that we can spread some money around later in the draft by saving costs here". Just because they liked a player slightly higher than consensus doesn't automatically mean they were doing it to spread money around later.

The Royals would never ever say that you doofus. Just like they wouldn't have said that about Hunter Dozier when he was drafted so they could pay underslot.

Yes I understand that, which is why I called out in my first post that there isn't any evidence this is a Dozier situation. He was projected to go as high as 5 picks later in mock drafts. We have absolutely no logical evidence that we took him as a sign ability pick and yet everyone is saying that he was. This is fans saying "I don't like the pick so they must be saving money to make it multiple guys to make up for the pick, but then they didn't take more guys so they screwed up and took an underslot guy but didn't really go throwing money around later". Not the logical "the royals liked him a little more than the consensus and yes they might have saved a small amount which is why they took the 11th rounder but their entire draft strategy was not cutting a huge deal for a massive reach like Dozier".

If they actually give Blake Mitchell slot that pick is an F.

It's not just fans. It was viewed as an underslot pick when it was made by folks in the MLB draft community and in the days leading to the draft.

If it IS an underslot deal, and the savings are being spent on Wolters and Dickey, they better be right about those two guys and about Mitchell, too.

If it is NOT an underslot deal for Mitchell, they better be even more right about HIM.

They would never say that publicly. We will see when he does sign.

After hearing Keith Law today, I’m less sure Mitchell was an under slot pick.

Like I said, they had better be right.

I cant wait until MLB games start up again

Here is some 2024 draft news to keep an eye out on
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Massive transfer portal news as RHP Chase Burns (5-3, 4.25 ERA) has announced he will be transferring to Wake Forest. One of the premier arms in all of college baseball, Burns has a thunderous FB (t 102) and a hellacious SL. Potential top-10 pick in 2024. <a href="https://t.co/ZhCeh1wJGt">pic.twitter.com/ZhCeh1wJGt</a></p>&mdash; Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterGFlaherty/status/1679319158373117954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Burns must think the University of Tennessee coaching staff is letting him down, he had a 6.10 ERA as a sophomore.

Wake Forest's Rhett Lowder got picked seventh overall with good, not great stuff because he posted had a 30.6% K rate and a 26% K-BB. The whole WF starting rotation was good. He's going there to get fixed and maximize his profile.

https://i.redd.it/op0yzwqb8kbb1.jpg

ESPN brings the heat with their mid season grades.

The A's are bringing up top prospect infielders Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom, too. The Royals don't have second-half reinforcements like them to get excited about.

Bobby has been getting better each month. Unless you are just doing Prison Bitch drive by stat posting.

Trade him then. No one on this team should be protected from being traded.

Yet offensively he's worse than he was last year...

18 months ago every publication out there had the top 3 prospects as Rutschman, Rodriguez and Witt and the order depended on the writer they were that close..

And 18 months later Witt is trailing them pretty significantly as an MLB player, why is that?

You just spouting shit off again. Look at Julio Rodriguez vs Bobby Witt for this year.

You want to trade a young, talented, controlled guy in the midst his second season who has 4 more years control AFTER this one? And is a potential superstar? Just because? I mean I get the nobody is untradeable stance, but you dont trade a potential star like that, just because you might get something in return. He could break out and be a star in 2-3 years with REAL value. We are in full rebuild and replenishment. His potential value down the road could be exponentially increased. These are the players you need, not to dump. He is showing improvement, let in play out, in my opinion.

Yes because the first half of this year is the only comparison...lets not mention that Rodriguez shit all over Witt for the entirety of last year.

So far for their major league careers Witt is trailing behind the other 2. Shit to this point Gunner Henderson is a better MLB player.

I'd listen depending on the offer...no one should be untouchable on a team this bad.

Witt has gotten better both offensively (a very little) and defensively (a little more). But he sure does not look to be a generational talent. Rutschmann and Julio Rodriguez would be preferred, and it's not even close. I don't even know how you could debate otherwise with a straight face.

There stats from last year were about the same as well. Bobby had more hits, doubles, triples, RBIs, and stolen bases. Rodriguez beat him on home runs. Witt had a rough shitty year defensively as a rookie.

And Witt's stats compared to Rutschman's are pretty much the same as well. Bobby beat him in most stat categories in 2022 as well. Rustchman takes more walks and doesn't strike out.

I can't envision a trade where it makes sense for KC to actually move Bobby Witt. I'm not sure what a team would be giving up to get him.

Teams don't make the type of mistakes they would have to be willing to make to offer enough for him. The computers don't let it happen.

Witt, Rodriguez, and Rutschmann all have very similar stats this year. Not debating the other two aren't better than Witt right now, but the comment that "it's not even close" is off base.

???

Rodriguez was 6.0 WAR and Rutschmann 5.2 WAR. Along with both their better offense than Witt Jr, they have shown to be fantastic defenders at their position.

This year, knucklehead.

With the current state of the organization, there is no way the Royals will be competitive in the 4 years remaining of Witt's team control. If trading him brings in a haul that will shorten the timeline towards competitiveness, go for it. If that type of return is not there, then I agree, let it play out.

I totally agree, to right the ship it may take a probably unpopular move. With that said, I don't trust JJ with that sort of shrewd move.

That would be an incredibly weird deal these days.

The Royals would want an absolute haul, and it would be incredibly risky for someone to grant their requests/demands.

The trade to be made would be Pasquantino.

You can't argue to me that Witt is just as good when they have all been playing in the MLB for 18 months and we have

Rutschman at 7.5 WAR
Rodriguez at 7.9 WAR
Witt at 4.8 WAR

That is significant.

I feel like this trade Bobby crew should go look at the 2011-2012 Royals discussion. I feel like the "give up, burn it all down" discussion is deja vu. While I question whether or not this youth movement will result in playoffs, I also recognize that it is super early, sophomore slumps are common, and if the key pieces bounce back, we are a few pitchers away. If you squint, you can see it.

The problem is the Royals have no minor league reinforcements. Anyone who may be something is a long ways away.

The only dudes I can say maybe they should bring up to see them at the MLB level are

Will Klein-Reliever
Angel Zerpa and John Bowlan who are both starters so already that's like ehh
Nick Loftin

They are failing exceptionally hard with 90% of the guys who they were supposed to be able to win with already up.

Once again a stupid as shit comment from you. Bobby Witt Jr went from being maybe the worst SS when it comes to defense last year - Fangraphs had his Def ranked at -4.2 and there were only 2 others with negative DEF and the closest was -1.4, so he was incredibly bad- to being the 6th ranked SS by DEF at 7.6.

He's 5th in WAR among SS. The main thing Rutschmann and Julio had on Witt last year was defensive value. That advantage is gone and Julio has dropped off big time with the bat.

Ok now do this year. Witt Jr had atrocious D last year and that tanked his WAR.

Fangraphs has WAR for this year at

Witt Jr. - 2.4 WAR
JRod - 2.5 WAR
Rutschmann - 2.2 WAR

You can definitely argue Witt is just as good when you're not trying to be pessimistic about every single aspect of the team. Yeah they suck shit and things don't look good, but Witt Jr is one of the only bright spots on the team.

I don't think he's terrible...also by not pointing out that Rutschman is a catcher immediately devalues him, that WAR from a catcher is a big deal.

Lol a few pitchers? These guys can hardly find one pitcher, much less a few.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let&#39;s try this one more time...here is drafted WAR since 2015 for each organization. Apologize for the earlier tweet that was incorrect, there was a bug in my code. Astros in the clear lead driven by Bregman, Tucker, Pena, Straw. Rockies at the bottom with just Rodgers, Lawrence <a href="https://t.co/dROVlbakMd">pic.twitter.com/dROVlbakMd</a></p>&mdash; Down on the Farm (@downonthefarm12) <a href="https://twitter.com/downonthefarm12/status/1679626406790066178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The last 10 years of drafts - % of each MLB team&#39;s picks that made it to the majors (for any team) <a href="https://t.co/skAf1T6vWN">pic.twitter.com/skAf1T6vWN</a></p>&mdash; Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) <a href="https://twitter.com/JayCuda/status/1679265254524452866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Baseball America with a new top 100 with the 23 draftees...the Royals still at 0.

Yeah, Baseball Prospectus dropped a new midseason top 50, and each of the top 5 picks was in it, and in the top 20.

It was a really strong draft at the top, really bad year to get the worst possible result from the lottery.

Absolutely ****ing hate the god damn lottery. There are 162 games and after that if you finish with the worst record, then you are probably the worst team and deserve the best pick. Also, it's not like you can just suck for a franchise changing player that will come in and make you good the next year like you can do in football or basketball. These guys don't make it to the league for at least a year. The lottery in baseball is ****ing dumb.

We should have had the number 5 pick and should have gotten Walker Jenkins. Would have felt a hell of a lot better about this draft if we didn't have the God damn lottery. Who knows though this stupid ass franchise would probably have still taken Blake Mitchell.

Football is the only sport that hasn't gone to it, NBA, NHL and MLB all have.....I'm a Red Wings fan in hockey and they've gotten completely screwed by the lottery several times.

All it took was a couple of teams using the tanking on purpose strategy to end up as champions and the lottery happened. All these leagues think like 30-50% of the league tanking as a strategy is awful for business.

Tanking in baseball is just a terrible strategy and I don't think that teams are necessarily trying to tank just because there is no way to get a player that is going to turn a team around right after they are drafted. I think some of the owners are just cheap as **** and they don't want to pay for talent, so they just suck because the owner is just trying to spend as little as they possibly can.

The Astros tanked on purpose and honestly the Cubs did too.

The Astros building their juggernaut system out of tankimg on purpose is a huge reason this happened.

I just checked this years roster and only 2 of the 35 players that have played for the Astros this season were first round picks by the Astros;

Bregma - 2nd overall
Tucker - 5th overall

Most of their best players this year are international guys and guys drafted after like the 5th round.

This was there roster last year and where/who they were drafted by. I'll include anyone that played over 100 ABs

Hitters

Martín Maldonado - 27th round Angels
Yuli Gurriel - International Astros
Jose Altuve - International Astros
Jeremy Peña - 3rd round Astros
Alex Bregman - 1st round Astros
Chas McCormick - 21st round Astros
Michael Brantley - Brewers 7th round
Kyle Tucker - 1st round Astros
Yordan Alvarez - International Astros
Aledmys Díaz - International Cardinals
Mauricio Dubón - 26th round Red Sox
Trey Mancini - 8th round Orioles
Jake Meyers - 13th round Astros
Jose Siri - International Astros
Christian Vázquez - 9th round Red Sox

Pitchers with over 10 or more appearances

Rafael Montero - International Mets
Hector Neris - International Phillies
Phil Maton - 20th round Padres
Ryne Stanek - 3rd round Mariners
Bryan Abreu - International Astros
Ryan Pressly - 11th round Red Sox
Framber Valdez - International Astros
Cristian Javier - International Astros
José Urquidy - International Astros
Seth Martinez - 17th round Athletics
Justin Verlander - 1st round Tigers in
Luis Garcia - International Astros
Will Smith - 40th round Rays
Blake Taylor - 2nd round Pirates
Jake Odorizzi - 1st round Brewers

Doesn't seem like tanking had much to do with why the Astros are good. Seems like they know how to assemble talent, develop talent, and get international guys that amount to something. Seems like another stupid thing for MLB to do if the Astros were the reason for the lottery being implemented.

Great call cancelling the game tonight. Pretty sure the rain was done by 7:30. Dumbass organization.