Ohtani is the greatest baseball player of all time.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/37F3ClxOTvY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nope.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shohei Othani in the World Baseball Classic hit .435/.606/.739 with 4 doubles &amp; a home run. And he had a 1.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9⅔ innings.</p>&mdash; Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericstephen/status/1638371739251142656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Shohei should win the MVP every year so long as he remains this caliber of hitter and pitcher. Just an absurd athlete.

He's the most insane player we've ever seen. The game today is so specialized and he can do it all.

Yep. Voters will always have to talk themselves out of voting for the clear best like they did to avoid Trout winning 5x.

The real question is what kind of contract does he get? I can't even imagine at this point. There's literally no comparison.

My guess is $50 mil per year at whatever length he wants.

I see you boys have taken notice of Shohei Ohtani, a player on my California Angels. As a big Angels follower, I'm very dialed in to Ohtani rumors.

Everybody knows Ohtani prefers the west coast due to the easier air travel to and from Japan. So suck on that Mets, who have the most money and their GM Billy Eppler was the Angels GM when the Angels signed Ohtani originally. Mets fans are convinced he's as good as signed already. But he won't sign there, **** them.

The Dodgers went full austerity mode this prior offseason, not spending much while letting big name players walk. League circles suspect this is because they plan on making Ohtani the highest paid athlete ever this coming offseason. Whatwhawha is correct - I've heard 50 million per. This could very well happen.

But people forget that the Angels werent good when Ohtani originally signed there, and it didn't stop him then. There hasnt been a lot of clarity why he chose them, but here is something I bet y'all didnt know. Ohtani and his interpreter Ippei are tight and he has been with Ohtani since well before he came tp the MLB. They go back. And guess where Ippei is actually from? Where he was born and lives? Not somewhere in Japan! The correct answer is Orange County California. Leage circles believe Ippei is a key reason why Ohtani chose Anaheim - he talked up the town and Ohtani wanted in.

Another factor: Japanese people value loyalty. They arent as mercernary like as Americans, willing to sign anywhere to get MuH RiNgZ. Ohtani would much prefer to win with the only American organization he has known than to just go to the local hated rival to slightly up his chances at mUh PoStSeaSoN AppEAranCeS. The truth is most all teams that try to win will make the playoffs cause the playoffs have been expanded and watered down to near meaninglessness. With LAD he could often be a 1 or 2 seed and with Anaheim it will be a 5 or 6 seed. Not that big of a deal.

Lastly, consider Moreno spends big when he wants a player, as big as anyone, and that he considers the Dodgers his biggest rival and it would kill him to have his star attraction headlining down in LA for the Dodgers. He will do whatever he can to prevent that, including matching their contract offer. He has already refused to trade Ohtani at the very real risk of him walking for nothing. I suspect this is because he has no intention of Ohtani ever wearing a different MLB uniform.

So for the preceding reasons, your boy VK says Ohtani aint going anywhere, suckerfish Met and Yankee and Dodger and Giants and Mariners fans. Find your own damn talent. Angels are gonna keep theirs.

Angels fans crying poverty in a Royals thread. **** baseball economics and **** you.

The Angels are trash. Literally have 2 guys that are once in a lifetime talents and can't even get to the post season. Scoffing at players wanting rings or post season success is what I'd expect from a moron of your caliber, so no surprise there.

Worked for Yu Darvish :rolleyes:

tl;dr

The function of the World Series originally was to pit the best of the American League against the best of the National League, the two league champions, in a series against each other to crown a champion of champions - a world champion! Originally it was a best of 9 series but it was later shortened to best of 7. That's a good playoff system. You have two leagues with their separate rules and cultures and you let the two champs battle it out to decide who's the actual one top team.

There were no other rounds. There was no NLCS and there was no ALCS, there was no seeding, there were no byes, and there were no wild cards. It was great. Baseball was America's National Pastime in these days.

Flash forward to the present, and now countless teams make it. I think we are up to what, 16 out of the 30? More than half the league? Something like a dozen wildcards per league, and some divisions have 3 out of the 4 teams getting in? That's a tournament for baskeball. It's March Madness. It's stupid, it's gimmicky, and it damn sure doesn't crown a deserving champion.

You play 162 games. You find out over that many games which teams are the best and which teams are the worst. You don't need a wacky silly exhibition style tournament lasting till mid November. People like you eat that shit up - MoRe PLaYofFs = MorE BeTTeR!, you say.

To each his own. But the whole "Ohanti needs a different team to get into the playoffs" rationale is now obsolete with all the playoff expansion they've done and plan on for the future. The Angels will surely get in this year now that they have ML quality depth. And in baseball, any team can beat any team in a short series. The best teams in baseball win like 60% of the time and the worst teams in baseball win like 40% of time. It isn't basketball where the better team will win a substantial amount of the time. This is why I think it was stupid to use the basketball postseason format for baseball. But it sure is profitable!

When Ohtani came over from Japan, he was considered too young to be a full free agent. So instead of signing for unlimited money (and he would have got hundreds upon hundreds of millions as one of the most sought after free agents in history), he was limited to what teams could give him from their international bonus pool, which was generally like 3 million to 10 million dollars, TOTAL, for SIX years of control! And he'd be like any other rookie, able to be optioned down to the minors on the regular, etc etc. His actual salary (not counting the small bonus) was rookie scale pay, so like 250K per year.

So he left maybe 250 million dollars on the table to come to the US when he did, when any rational, wise money-motivated person would stay in Japan a mere one or two years, then come over for the 250 million or more. He voluntarily signed up for SIX years of control at relatively no compensation instead of waiting 2 years to be able to demand anything he wanted.

This leads me to believe that Ohtani is a lot different than Yu Darvish. When he signed with the Angels in the offseason he did, he made it clear that his primary motivation is NOT money. And by picking the Angels themselves, he made it clear his primary motivation is also not MuH RiNgZ either. He's a different guy. He's one of a kind. And he's an Angel.

Get used to it!

It's also absolutely ridiculous that he didn't win the MVP last year. The guy was 4th in cy young voting, so he was absolutely insane on the mound and then at the plate he had 34 HRs and a .875 OPS, but a shit Yankee hit a bunch of HRs playing in a park that has no place in ML, so Judge won.

100% spot on Mr. Poopybutthole. And what grinds my gears even MORE about that injustice of an MVP award last year, MLB was having special juiced balls brought in for Aaron Judge's at bats to get him more homers. This is not even speculation, it is proven, as per the scientific research of astrophysicist Dr. Meredith Wills.

It's a wild conspiracy theory some mad fan would make up but it's actually 100% true, and makes all of Judge's homers very suspect. How many would he have hit with normal balls like all other hitters got? 40? 45? And would that have won him the MVP over Ohtani? **** no!

I got receipts. Here is an article that summarizes the findings, oddly published by golf digest (but you sure won't find it on mlb.com or any of the sites that rely on MLB for access). https://www.golfdigest.com/story/mlb...w-york-yankees

An excerpt:

And this link to an insider.com article actually shows the research findings in more detail:

https://www.insider.com/mlb-used-two...-third-2022-12

So yes, Ohtani got robbed by the dumb MVP voters, but he also got robbed by the league itself when they used extra bouncy balls for Aaron Judge to ensure he got the HR record (or was close enough to sell a ton of tickets). Really infuriating stuff.

I remember when we talked about the Royals in this thread…….

Fine fine. There is a Royal related issue that's been on my mind. Fantasy baseball experts everywhere seem to agree that Edward Olivares is an excellent late round steal, cause he's going on average in the 36th round, but he has a quality bat and he'll provide way better offense for your fantasy team than anyone else that deep in drafts. They say he'll be an everyday starter for the Royals and will be quite good.

But it's the Royals. They aren't as predictable or frankly, logical, as these fantasy analysts are assuming. We all know they brought in Jackie Bradley Jr. and we all know they love their poor-hitting aging veterans. But VK, I'm told, the Royals are in a rebuild and will want to see what their younger, higher ceiling guys can do!

I'm not so convinced. I suspect that Olivares will be parked on the bench more often than not, and that we'll see a ton more of JBJ in the OF than anyone in the national media is claiming.

I have been unsuccessful in finding any website that shows spring training stats, so I don't know how Isbel, Olivares, JBJ himself, or even Franmil Reyes are even doing. Anyone been following the KC spring training want to elucidate? Predictions?

Will Edward Olivares be an everyday player for the Royals or just a part time bench bat that they never let play regularly enough to get into a groove? Same question for Kyle Isbel.

Fantasy leagues have drafts that go 36 rounds? If you're that interested in Edward Olivares, I'm thinking your league needs to slim down rosters a bit. I'm pretty sure I'd quit playing if I was pondering the likelihood of Edward Olivares being a late round steal.

Absolutely my friend! One format of fantasy baseball that is pretty much just for the most hardcore of baseball enthusiasts is "mono-leagues", which are AL-Only and NL-Only leagues. In those, your total player universe is cut in half so basically every player on a 26-man roster in the league becomes fantasy relevant (excepting the lower tiers of relievers), even platoon hitters. Good prospects that are close to getting called up are also generally rostered - I'm holding on to Brandon Pfaadt in the NL and Oscar Colas in the AL even though I doubt either makes the opening day roster. Colas might.

Then there are "draft and hold" leagues that have normal roster sizes and use the full MLB player universe, but go a TON of rounds, cause you are allowed ZERO pickups after the draft, ZERO trades, ZERO transactions of any kind except setting your roster. So you gotta have each position backed up like three-fold, and still you can run out of active players if the injury bug is unkind. The NFBC is my favorite platform for those, where they have NFBC50 leagues: 50 dollar buy-in, 50 rounds, draft n hold format.

Olivares is very much on fantasy radars. Isbel, not so much, although he did have that stretch a few seasons ago where he looked like a legit power/speed guy.

Jackie Bradley Junior is not on any fantasy radars of course. I just have my doubts that the Royals will do the obvious and smart thing and let both Olivares and Isbel play every day, even through slumps. I remember Chris Getz playing 2B over a higher ceiling, better hitting young Johnny Giovatella. And not just for a stretch of time. It was multiple SEASONS they wouldn't let Giovatella have a real chance, even though he raked any chance he did get, minors and majors. It took until he changed organizations for him to get a real shot, with the Angels, and he was legit good. Not a star, but definitely and immediately better than Getz!

I'm worried Olivares and/or Isbel will get the Giavotella treatment once again.

Hey Hey I saw Barlow pitch at Camelback Stadium today

Rough day for Franmil today but the man is built

https://i.imgur.com/ochghRg.jpg

I play in a 50-round league with 15 teams but you keep the roster for the whole year. No adds, drops or trades.

At the end of the draft, I still have a list of 20 players I want to add to my roster. I wish it was a 60-round draft.

Judge had the rare year that would knock Ohtani off the pedestal.

Baseball Reference WAR
Judge 10.6, Ohtani 9.0

Fangraphs WAR
Judge 11.4, Ohtani 9.4

I'm not a slave to WAR by any means. But dissecting it closely, Judge was in the vicinity with Ohtani and any voter that voted for Judge had a perfectly good case to vote for him.

From the 2023 Baseball Prospectus annual about Judge:

"An aspect of Judge's herculean season that hasn't gotten nearly as much press as his exploits at the plate is the fact that he was essentially playing a new position this year, and a challenging one at that. The ineffectiveness of Aaron Hicks and the injury to Harrison Bader pushed Judge into center field, which accounted for the majority of his defensive innings for the first time in his career. Prior to this season, Judge had played only 3.9% of his defensive innings in center. Among players this century with at least 4,000 prior defensive innings in the outfield, that 3.9 rate is the third-lowest for a player who made center their primary outfield position (in 2013, both Andre Ethier and Shin-Soo Choo made the move to CF with less experience in center than Judge did.) Not only was it an unusual switch that helped his team fill a hole, Judge was good out there, too: all publicly available metrics pegged him as an above-average defensive center fielder last year, and his arm is nearly as impressive as his bat. Though it's not what people will remember most about his MVP season, Judge's defensive abilities are a big part of what's made him such a superstar."

Ranking all 30 farm systems
March 22nd, 2023
Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra



29. Kansas City Royals
2022 midseason rank: 21
2022 preseason rank: 8
2021 midseason rank: 5
2021 preseason rank: 10

Top 100 prospects: Gavin Cross, OF (No. 62)

“As it stands, that Major League readiness is a point in the system’s favor, but once so many lose prospect status, expect a steep drop.” That’s what we wrote in the 2022 midseason rankings, and the Royals have dropped eight spots as more graduations rolled in, with Maikel Garcia, Nick Loftin and Drew Waters not far behind. Top 2022 pick Cross should at least lead the group for a while as he enters his first full season, and 2021 prep selections Ben Kudrna, Frank Mozzicato and Carter Jensen could jump with more experience in their second extended campaigns.


https://www.mlb.com/news/farm-system...=1679576049545

As they do from time to time, MLB Trade Rumors had a chat the other day with their writer Anthony Franco. One person asked pretty much my exact question about Edward Olivares! Here is the excerpt:

Pitcher List has predicted the Royals opening day lineup with some commentary. Against Sonny Gray (RHP):

Note that they show two starting RFs and no LF, so that's a typo and I suspect they meant MJ will be in LF. But the key takeaway is that the mystery about whether Olivares will get a regular shot does continue....

Salvy dong and double today at Peoria Sports Complex
Welcome back big man

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Daniel Lynch left the game with left shoulder discomfort. He&#39;ll have tests done to determine what it is and what&#39;s next, Matt Quatraro said: &quot;Didn’t feel right. But who knows. Sometimes they get in there and test it and it’s not as bad as you think. But definitely some concern.”</p>&mdash; Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) <a href="https://twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/1639038679326023682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yeah, you kinda knew something was wrong when the trainer walked him off the mound

Per Forbes, the Royals TV deal is 3rd worst in the league only beating Minnesota and Milwaukee. Average TV viewership is 20th in the league. The Royals have an operating income of 32.8 million which is ranked 14th.

They list the Mets as dead last in operating income at -$138.5 mil!

You haven't been following the news? The counterparty (Bally Sports, it appears) of the TV deals for 14 teams went bankrupt, so the terms each team had under their deals have been rendered N/A. So really the Royals are now tied with 13 other teams for worst TV deal, because they don't have one. Or at least it's on the verge of being that way.

Here's your list of teams that really don't have a TV contract anymore:

It's a wild and developing story.

MLB is making steady plans to do it themselves though, so the 'we expect it to be like normal' may just be legal posturing or public-facing optimism or some such spin. Check this out:


All excerpts from the below link. The whole thing is worth a read cause it's gonna affect the Royals and as soon as this here coming season. As the article says:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...ackouts-mlb-tv

This sounds like a great opportunity for the MLB to do something forward thinking with half of their league to make sure more people can actually watch the games.

But I expect them to lose the ball in the sun on this, as usual.

Of course I have but Bally being in bankruptcy doesn't mean the existing deals no longer exist.

My understanding is that it means exactly that if, or when, payments due to the MLB are missed. So far that has already happened for the Diamondbacks and Padres, with the others of the 14 TBD and we'll find out over the next month.

Eddie O. dong today and Keller was pitching good at Surprise Stadium today

Bally is such a terrible company. Those mother****ers got into so many contracts with different teams and botched it worse than any company I've ever seen when it comes to broadcasting.

I really like how they make me log in everyday, so Ive just quit watching

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...a4d68050b.html

The broadcast company’s bankruptcy filing this week that burst professional sports rights-fee bubble will cause immediate financial concerns but ultimately force an overdue “reset” that shoves the industry and Major League Baseball away from a “broken” model toward a better, more accessible product for fans, a Cardinals executive said.

Diamond Sports Group, parent company of Bally Sports Midwest, the regional sports network partner of the Cardinals and Blues, submitted for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday night as it restructures $8 billion in debt. Some teams and leagues are bracing for a lower volume on revenues and the potential for broadcast deals to be unplugged.

The Cardinals are “pretty confident” there won’t be any interruption to their game broadcasts as the regular season opens March 30, club president Bill DeWitt III assured Friday morning.

They do hope for change to how games are broadcast — and soon.

“(Fans) care about the games. Are they watching the games?” DeWitt told the Post-Dispatch after meeting with sponsors on their annual visit to the team’s spring training complex at Roger Dean Stadium. “Right now, the reality is we have a lot of fans who want to and cannot watch the games anyway because of cord-cutting. Let’s say they’re Cardinals fans and there is no direct-to-consumer product for them. They can get every game but the Cardinals through MLB.TV. It’s already broken. I’m actually somewhat optimistic that this whole process will fix our distribution problems that we have right now. Which are real.

“From a fan’s standpoint, I actually don’t see it getting worse. I see it getting better,” DeWitt continued. “From a team standpoint, it’s scary. From a fan’s standpoint, they should be like, ‘Bring it on.’ Bring on a new model.”

The Cardinals have tied their spending on payroll to the $1.1 billion rights fee deal struck with Bally Sports Midwest that began in 2018, and the bulk of that payout remains in the years ahead. The Cardinals are owed around $70 million for the 2023 season.

A payment from Bally Sports to the Cardinals is due in April, and the club expects that to be paid on time and unaffected by the bankruptcy process.

“If they don’t make payments on rights fees that’s a problem for the industry, including us,” DeWitt said. “Our particular RSN is in a little bit better shape than some of the others. So, they say, if the entities are solvent they’ll probably get preserved as opposed to resetting. Short term, I think we’re in OK shape. When you go further out on the chessboard, I think there are a lot of ways this could go.”

As part of their broadcast rights deal, the Cardinals have a minority ownership stake in Bally Sports Midwest. That was originally seen as an additional source of revenue, a way to share in the profits of the broadcast that have since shriveled. The team has since sold a slice of that ownership back.

The Cardinals plotted their payroll plans and budget for the 2023 season knowing there was turbulence ahead for the existing rights-fee model. By opening day, they expected to have 80% of their tickets sold, and they had a season ticket renewal rate of greater than 90%. This past winter, the Cardinals and the 29 other major-league clubs received a $30 million share of Disney’s final payoff for a tech business purchase from MLB. The Cardinals positioned themselves to try and avoid any staff reduction or cutbacks in 2023.

“I think that’s premature … and in some ways the season, financially, is already pretty clear,” DeWitt said. “For next year, who knows? Tell me how we do on the field. I think ’23 looks good regardless, even if the Bally’s (situation) is some concern, we’ll figure out something. I’m not predicting short-term meltdown for our finances. There might need to be a readjustment if one of those scenarios leads to lower revenues for every club.”

What created this broadcast bind for teams like the Cardinals and RSNs like Bally Sports Midwest was the large purchase of the networks by Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group and the sudden plummet of subscribers. For the past decade, live sporting events have been among the most desired broadcast properties because they were a rarity in a streaming world: appointment viewing with the inability to fast-forward through the advertisements. The cost of the sports channels could also be folded into a cable bill so that all subscribers were covering the cost, whether they watched the sports or not. The Cardinals were one of the teams that capitalized their reach and their ratings for a new deal as rights fees soared throughout baseball. That fueled spending on free agents and payrolls.

Cord-cutting led to a dramatic plummet in subscribers, reducing it by almost half in the past 12 years, and the numbers are still falling.

At the same time, sports teams, particularly MLB, have maintained an archaic blackout policy that limits a fan’s access to teams within geographic regions. In some areas where the Cardinals could reach fans through a streaming service, they and five other teams are blacked out. DeWitt told the sponsors Friday that a goal of any modernized broadcast plan should be “full distribution in the market.” He was blunt in his view of blackout restrictions.

“They stink,” he told sponsors. “You’re telling a customer who wants your product they cannot have it.”

Major League Baseball augmented its staff in the commissioner’s office to prepare for this rights-fee reckoning and is preparing to mobilize broadcast plans for any location that loses its rights deal and distribution due to Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy. They may offer those games to local fans via streaming. Teams, like the Cardinals, are workshopping “what if” scenarios. DeWitt outlined three possible outcomes.

Diamond Sports could continue to run viable RSNs and work with the Cardinals and other teams for a new agreement. Or, a third party could purchase the RSNs out of Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy and then teams are dealing with a new partner.

Or, MLB “gets into the business of broadcasting,” DeWitt said.

That would eliminate the RSNs but it also would radically alter rights fees so that teams and leagues get the revenue they generate and have to address disparity between markets.

“We don’t know which one is going to play out,” DeWitt said. “Those are three of the options. There are varying degrees of angst about each.”

Even as the channels change, there is one signal coming through clear.

Change.

“If we can get this going — even if it takes a disaster in local media to make that happen,” DeWitt said. “It’s both a cause for angst but also a cause for an opportunity as well for the industry to do a reset that would provide us with the framework for a better arrangement.”

As soon as they miss a payment it will. The teams(with MLB's backing) will void them immediately

Sent from my SM-S906U1 using Tapatalk

MLB has to have by far the dumbest ownership/commissioner in all pro sports. Just money hungry idiots.

No the NBA owns that title.

Why in the world is Singer not opening day pitcher?

Not even close. MLB doesn't allow most of its fans to watch games. How the hell are you gonna grow your fan base if no one can even watch the local team easily. It's been like this awhile.

He should be, but they want the dude with the experience. I'm really excited for singer this year. He's a dark horse CY Young candidate.

I would guess because he mostly sat on the bench for the WBC instead of getting his arm ready for the season in spring training.

His arm isn't built up enough because of the WBC, with the Lynch injury the Royals only have 3 pitchers ready to throw starter pitch counts.

Also Lovelady, Taylor and Staumont got optioned to AAA.

Yeah that's the shitty part of playing in a meaningless baseball tournament.

Ahh makes sense. I haven't followed our bullpen except for Chapman. Surprising Staumont and Lovelady are starting down there.

Rumor has it Taylor and Lovelady were told keep doing what you're doing and has to do with them coming off injury...

Staumont got sent down for not throwing strikes...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Randy Rosenberg ejected JT Realmuto for… this? <a href="https://t.co/9VBSKWONza">pic.twitter.com/9VBSKWONza</a></p>&mdash; �� Toronto Sports Blog (@TorontoSportsBl) <a href="https://twitter.com/TorontoSportsBl/status/1640423930031685640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Soft..very soft

LMAO

Spring Training so it's not a huge deal but that's one of the worst ejections ever.

Had that not been spring training Realmuto probably would have given him a reason for the ejection right after.

Can't be hitting umpires with the no look down low too slow. Very disrespectful.

That umpire is having a really bad day. Wife probably left him for a guy in Belize.

Umpires are such mental midgets. ****in pussy lol

sat behind Logan Porters mom and coach Saturday. coach bounced around MLB teams including the Royals as a player...I asked his name and I didnt quite catch it all but it was like Galway or Gateway...boy can he talk baseball for days

Any internet sleuths out there that can find this guy...Boone was the Coach and Quirk was on the team

must be Grotewold

Preview tonight of opening day lineup?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here&#39;s how we&#39;re lining up behind Kris Bubic tonight in Arlington to take on the Rangers.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalsST?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalsST</a> <a href="https://t.co/Zu2dW9PLWg">pic.twitter.com/Zu2dW9PLWg</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1640445928778637359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bradley should have a lock on centerfield if he can hit a lick

I think I'm most excited about Michael Massey. He reminds me of Chase Utley.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Matt Duffy &amp; Jackie Bradley Jr. have been informed they’re making the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Royals</a> roster. Franmil Reyes is likely to make it, too. Edward Olivares &amp; Nate Eaton have made it. Roster won’t be official until Thursday because of 40-man moves. KC working through final bullpen decisions.</p>&mdash; Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) <a href="https://twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/1640489801349472259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

lots to be excited about...Lets GO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You might see Franmil Reyes in a pinch-hit situation tonight, if the moment makes sense. Since he figures to be a right-handed bat off the bench on days he doesn&#39;t DH, Quatraro wants to get him comfortable doing that.</p>&mdash; Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) <a href="https://twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/1640497360685137920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bobby Witt Jr. is hitting missiles at Globe Life Field tonight. First two balls off his bat -- 109.9 mph and 108.1 mph.

Michael Massey with a 2 run dong shot

And now Doizer goes oppo with a dong

Wtf is the point

I've been worried that JBJ sees a lot of time at the expense of Olivares and each new development takes us one step further down that path. It's the Royal Way.

In other Royal news, MJ Melendez will not be playing LF as previously thought, but RF! I think that's the right spot for him cause he has that cannon for an arm. He was playing RF for Puerto Rico in the WBC and looked plenty capable out there. He went 3 for 15 in the WBC, a double and two singles, walked 4 times and K's 8 times. Not amazing but not a big deal. I'm looking for 33 bombs out of MJ and 95 RBIs.

Christian Pache is being DFA'd by the A's, I'd be surprised if the Royals didn't move on that.

Weird. This is the least I've been excited for Royals baseball in many years.

I just don't see it.

Yeah I’m just now today talking myself into caring a little bit and not shitting all over them until they give me good reason.

Excitement level like 1.5/10 currently

I think it's mainly that Moore is gone.

Is Michael Massey legit? Sorry for my ignorance.

Another Cactus League title. Print 'em

While there is some of that, I don’t get the lack of excitement. This is far and away, by a thousand miles, the most interesting royals team in the post WS core era. So basically the last 6 years. You have a guy who could be a super star if he keeps improving, a possible Ace who if he also keeps developing would be our first home grown guy in forever, the ultimate analytics hero in Vinny P who has all sorts of interesting statistical comparisons, and a bunch of guys like Melendez, waters, and Massey who are all going to play and all have some upside as well. Throw in some possible progress in the pitching department in general by switching coaches and who really knows what this team is capable of? Are they all going to work out? No, probably not. But at least it’s interesting to see what happens, which is far more interesting than watching Santana and Benetendi and Taylor play. It’s just weird to me everyone last year was like “let the kids play! We want to see the young guys!” And then the royals are by and large going to do exactly that and now so many are like “nah this is not exciting at all”. Like outside of the royals getting Juan Soto or some other pie in the sky scenario, I don’t know what people are wanting exactly.

Really? I know the team isn’t expected to make a run, but I’m thrilled that spring is arriving and baseball is going to be played soon.

Just the thought of warm weather and baseball on the patio or in person, picks me up.