I will say this, though: Those losses in 76-78 (especially 77) made the victory in 1980 that much sweeter. That was still the best sports moment in my life -- yes, even better than the 1985 World Series victory.

Patek?

Yes. The indelible image from Game 5.

Memory burn.

**** the Yankees

Truth.

REP

AND A Big **** YOU TO CHRIS CHAMBLISS

DUDE. I was born in '85. I've never seen this. Hell, I've never experienced a legitimately good Royals team (other than last year). That video is awesome. To hell with the Yankees.

With a broken broom handle

Haha, I'm somewhat surprised one or the other didn't get kicked out. In today's world, that would be a ten game suspension for both of them.

So some of you are telling me there was a time when the Royals played in an actual meaningful game?! This is ****ing incredible.

Believe it.

There was, and it was incredible times.

I'm getting myself a little too pumped for baseball season. I just finished Ken Burns' Baseball...I've always been a huge fan...but that shit has me overly excited.

Looks like our 1 in 100 shot of retaining Santana is back up to 1 in 10,000 or so.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/s...ometime-020914

So, if the Orioles sign him, we get the 17th overall pick and if the Blue Jays sign him, we get the 49th overall pick?

Boo.

No. We get a sandwich pick(between 1st and 2nd) regardless

Thanks for the clarification.

My understanding of the qualifying offer is that the Royals get the same pick regardless.

Rules:
- If you sign a player who holds a qualifying offer, you surrender your first round pick, unless you have a pick in the top 10, in which case you would surrender your second pick (whether second round, a comp pick or a competitive balance pick).
- The surrendered pick simply vanishes. Everyone behind it moves up a spot. For example, the Orioles' 17th pick would cease to exist, and the Royals would actually move up from the 18th pick in Round 1 to the 17th pick.
- The team that lost the player gets a compensation pick AFTER the first round but before the competitive balance round.

So, how does this break out for KC?

If the Orioles sign Ervin Santana, KC will get:

Pick No. 17 in Round 1 (assuming none of the 4 teams in front of them sign another player with a QO, like Kendrys Morales, Nelson Cruz, Stephen Drew)
Pick No. 34 (Comp Round pick - for Santana - could slide down if more QO guys are signed)
Pick No. 39 (Competitive Balance pick - could slide down a few slots as QO guys are signed)
Pick No. 57 (round 2 pick - could slide up if someone like the Mariners - who have a protected round 1 pick - signs Nelson Cruz or Stephen Drew)

Four picks in the top 60 is pretty sweet. Lot of money to play with in the draft.

Here's a link to the current draft order.

I would feel bad for Erv if he ends up in Baltimore. Not a good fit for him, at all.

Thanks a ton for the information, guys.

Its mostly the same, but if someone other than Toronto gets Santana, then our sandwich pick improves by one pick because the vanished pick would be a 1st rounder. If Toronto signs, then the vanished pick is a 2nd rounder.

Orioles would be pretty stupid to go after him with the small ballparks prevalent in the AL east, including their own, but then again, they've never been smart in the FA market.

MLB Trade Rumors says that the Orioles aren't close to a deal with Santana at this time. That seems like it would just be asking for trouble with Santana pitching in Camden Yards. Hell, not only there, but Yankee Stadium and Fenway too.


I probably just repeated what has been said about 100 times already, but I can't help it, i'm ready for baseball! :)

100 times? I just said it a post ahead of yours! But yes, the Orioles are a horrifically stupid franchise when it comes to signing free agents.

If you check Orioles boards at all (which I've done a few times this offseason - checking in on Manny Machado and Dylan Bundy for fantasy purposes, mostly), you'll notice that a portion of their fanbase seems ready to revolt because they haven't spent any money.

If they don't sign at least on FA SP of note, I think they're going to have some trouble on their hands with at least some of the fans. Could be motivating them here....

Isn't today the deadline to trade Bonaficio?

Otherwise, we pay most of his salary anyway and a new team could pick him off the waiver wire for league minimum.

Surely there is a taker for him...

I think they're only on the hook for 1/6 of his salary at this point, or about 600k. Same situation as Luke Hochevar last year, when many of us - myself included - were calling for them to cut him loose.

On to Santana news...

Orioles, Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees and Indians have all checked on Santana in the past few days, according to a tweet.

Recent news seems to be that both the Blue Jays and the Orioles are NOT the teams driving closer to a deal with Ervin. Not sure what that means.

Today should be interesting.

I'll agree with you guys that Santana is not a good fit in Baltimore. Also, even if they do it and his elbow is of any concern at all, his will be the longest physical in the history of mankind.

Today is Alex Gordon's 30th Birthday!
http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/tea...evel=%27ALL%27

Happy Birthday Alex!

Latest Santana news:

I'm increasing our odds of retaining him from 1 in 10,000, to 1 in... hmm... the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

That is (looking it up...) according to Wikipedia, somewhere between 100 and 400 billion. Sounds about right. I'll split the difference and say our odds of re-signing Santana is 1 in 250,000,000,000

Dayton Moore preseason press conference at 130 on 610.

Dayton gets questioned about Ervin Santana, he responds saying they signed Vargas and Chen to fill the roles of veterans on the rotation.

Idiot Josh Vernier then asks a question about the young starters. No follow-up on if Santana even has an offer on the table from the Royals.

Maybe he didn't ask the question because everyone knows that they don't.

Apparently the Royals could not work out a trade for Bonifacio. They have placed him on release waivers. If anyone claims him, they will have to pay his entire $3.5MM salary.

They meaning the team that signs him or the Royals?

Dayton says that Yordano Ventura will be allowed to throw 200 IP this year.

Well, obviously if someone claims him, that team would pay him.

If not, his contract is not guaranteed yet. If he clears waivers and is released, we'll only owe him about 600k.

Am I the only one that doesn’t really understand this move? Some radio guy says he requested the trade/release because he wanted to be a starter, but seems more likely it is a cost-cutting move, no? Up until the was DFA, people were under the impression he would play a pretty significant role for us this year, even if coming off the bench.

probably a little of both.

Correct. I don't see any more moves until MAYBE the trade deadline.

Seems about right. He was right at 150 IP last season and has had a steady progression of work for years.

64 to 84 to 110 to 150 last season.

I thought he was insurance in case Moose sucked again?

Also - I think not re-signing Santana will come back to take a big fat chunk right outta Dayton's ass.

Apparently, they have more confidence in Danny Valencia in that role than Bonifacio.

I think moving Bonifacio is short-sighted. If they made him the primary backup in CF behind Cain, they'd get plenty of utility out of him in a super-sub role. But KC is stuck

It's a cheap move that doesn't make much sense by itself. If they had completed a trade and gotten anything useful out of him, it at least makes a little more sense.

At this point, it's just a salary dump.

I'm not as worried about Santana himself - I actually think we'll see Jason Vargas out-perform Santana this year - but if Ventura, Duffy and Zimmer are not as good as Moore and co. expect - at least 2/3 of them - this rotation starts entering the danger zone.

Let's give DM some props here - he did the smart thing by using Santana during his final year prior to FA and then cut him loose. That's what smart small market teams do. The dumb ones try to re-sign these guys in an open market.

Sure. I could understand a mild critique if Santana ends up signing for 3 years, $33 million or something like that...

But I'm honestly not convinced those three years for Santana go better than 3 years of Vargas.

Apparently Dayton blamed Kauffman Stadium for our inability to draw walks again today. That's a discouraging sign considering our lineup for next year.

What's the rationale behind this?

It's pretty clear that Dayton doesn't understand a lot of the more modern advancements in baseball and that grinding out walks and at-bats is not about being able to hit HR. That's a very antiquated thought process.

Look at the Cardinals... they played in a park that depressed HR totals last year at a rate very similar to the K and still were able to draw a ton of walks. Or the Rays, who led the major leagues in BBs despite playing at the Trop.

Drawing walks is about going to the plate with an approach that accepts a walk and is willing to work two strike counts and foul off pitches on the outside part of the plate until the pitcher gives them something that can be put into play.

A lot of old-school baseball people think you only draw a lot of walks if the opposing team is scared of your home run power.

HR power helps, but is less important than the things I mentioned in my last post.

Wish I'd been there. I would have asked him why, then, were the Orioles - who play in a place that INCREASES HR output substantially - so bad at drawing walks last year, while their division rivals, the Rays - who play in a place that notoriously DECREASES HR output - were so good at it?

Thanks. I'll readily admit I didn't really start watching baseball until last season regularly.

That sort of stuff is totally foreign to me.

Does he think there's something wrong with the K's batter's eye?

Because DM is functionally illiterate when it comes to any form of advanced metrics. Seriously, in some areas of analysis he is truly one stupid mother****er.

I wish the true answer was something like that. But if there was an issue with the batter's eye, they could fix it (and Royals opponents/K park factor would not be so neutral when it comes to walks).

It's slightly below average in terms of BB rate in a park, but not by much.

Pretty clear the Royals have some old school organizational thought that they won't be able to draw walks consistently because they don't have guys who have power to hit the ball out of the yard and therefore be respected and frequently walked.

Jack Maloof was just stupid enough to share those types of comments in a public forum and be made to take the fall for it.

One bright side... at least Grifol is from outside Dayton Moore's Atlanta/Old School brain trust and seems to understand some of the more modern aspects of the game.

Unfortunately, he specifically cited how difficult it is to hit home runs at the K when making the comment.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Sure, if you have a powerful lineup and/or a tiny ballpark that strikes fear in the hearts of your opponent, that might have a small impact on walks, but patient hitters can draw walks anywhere, because pitchers are not going to radically alter how they pitch from game to game. If you have a finesse guy he's always going to aim for the corners wherever he's pitching, and if you have a guy who throws 99 with movement, he's going to pump them into the strike zone regardless of ballpark.

I still can't wait till GMDM is fired

Fever and Hud discussed the lack of walks last year several times on tv. Royals are a HITTING team and don't need no stinking walks

No one walks to a WS win-GMDM

So you are hoping for a bad season so he is fired sooner rather than later?

Def not hoping for a bad season....I just think GMDM does some really stupid shit and his success wont last long.

I am concerned he will have just enough success for glASS to keep him around.

Moore is an a very interesting spot.

He's got pitching on the way to help supplement the good young offensive core... and there is some offensive talent on the way.

If he and his scouting folks don't completely blow the 2010 draft (and spend a TON of money in 2011 with little tangible result so far), they're probably in great shape long term. As it is, there's a gap in prospects that's going to require some of the young hitters to develop QUICKLY.

The farm system is strong and has a lot of PREMIUM SP on the way, quickly... but probably does not have a single PREMIUM offensive prospect in it.

You need to turn out a premium hitter and pitcher every 3-4 years for this process to work.

‏RT @McCulloughStar
Moore says Royals budget will be about $90 million for 2014, which is past their "break-even point." Referred to this payroll as a "gamble."

So Moore continues to lie for David Glass. Awesome.

I can believe that our break-even point could be about 90 million, but that certainly isn't "past" our break-even point.

Break even is 89.999 million.

I don't know... I think everybody is just throwing darts with all these financial numbers. DM could be lying through his teeth there. He could be telling the truth. I don't know. I don't know how anyone really knows. We have a terrible TV contract and our attendance isn't that great... so I can't imagine our max payroll is too insane. I think as we move forward the TV contract issue is going to hurt us.

Either way, DM is getting to spend way more than most of the other small market teams, so it shouldn't be an excuse.

Hud is an imbecile.

I'll never understand the walk thing. The ballpark should have zero effect on that. I don't get what he's thinking there.

I thought the ballpark suppressed homers long before DM got there. There's really no sound reason behind it, but for some reason it doesn't happen. We've had a lot of good hitters over the years. Now HR totals are way down and hitting 30 HRs is an accomplishment these days. I don't like that he uses it as an excuse though.

Just for fun, I dug up some old research I did a couple years ago. The books are not open, all we can do is speculate on revenue and costs, but a lot of the big stuff *IS* known, so I think we can take a reasonable stab at a break-even estimate. I have links to support most of this if needed.

Revenue:

National TV: Long-term $50MM. Right now, probably about $45MM since TV deals tend to start below average and end above average.

Our crappy local TV deal: $20MM

Tickets: About $38MM?

Revenue Sharing: About $35MM

Total: Roughly $138MM

Not Included: Concessions, licensing fees on apparel, ad revenue from sponsers. Probably not much there. Jackson County takes all the parking.

Costs, other than salaries for players on the 40-man roster:

MLBPA pensions and related costs: $10MM

Bonus Pools: varies, but probably $10MM

Non-player salary and benefits, ignoring the owner and the board (includes front office, groundskeepers, scouts, GMDM, etc): Unknown, but this has got to be at least $15MM, could be more. The Royals employ over 150 people who aren't players.

Team Travel: Probably $5MM

Rent to Jackson County: 250k + 5% of net receipts, whatever that is.

Utilities: Probably $2.5MM

Costs not included above: Arizona, minor leagues, vendors, debt service (if any?), probably other stuff I didn't think of.

The non-player costs are at least $42.5MM, and could be more. So, our break-even for the 40-man roster could be as much as $95MM (+$5MM when the national TV deal matures), but its probably a bit less than that, so I can believe $90MM. Our next opportunity for a big revenue bump (unless we start selling out the K) is when the local TV deal expires.

Also, the value of the franchise obviously goes up every year since we're talking about one of 30 franchises in a rich-boy's club that wealthy men covet membership to, so he'll make money someday if he sells the team, but I don't count that as part of the annual break-even point.

Frankly I'm tired of hearing our ballpark used as an excuse for everything that our team doesn't do well.

My. Dyin'. Ass.

Pretty much this.

This team would kill on the old carpet, except Belly of course

So they cut Kottaras. The Walk machine.