Nick Franklin available from Seattle since they acquired Cano:
http://metsblog.com/metsblog/mariner...nick-franklin/


I know it won't happen because DM is in love with Escobar's glove but I'd love to see it. I'd have a real short leash on Escobar since he's a total zero with the bat. Franklin is 22, hit 225-12-45 in only 300ab. OLIVER projections show him to be a 3.5 WAR guy the next 5 years while Escobar is projected to be a 0.0 WAR:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx...10&position=SS

6th inning song news (for those who care): the Royals plan to put 32 songs in a bracket, and have two songs face off against each other every home game until there is a winner sometime in early June. (Fans will vote by text at the game)

ANYTHING but that ****ing Garth song.

Prediction: Low places will be in the bracket, and it will crush the field. Then we'll be stuck with low places forever.

Alternate Prediction: Sweet Caroline

I don't want either of them, but if they are gonna let the fans methodically vote between 32 of them, then I don't trust the fans to pick anything that is new or unique.

They've done something similar in the past, not a bracket with an eventual winner, but they'd post 3 songs on the scoreboard and fans would text in their pick to play later in the game.

Going to miss watching groups of Twins fans with an entire row to themselves arms locked, swaying to friends in low places.

If in some horrific alternate-reality hellscape, the final vote was between Low Places and Sweet Caroline and we had to choose one, I'd reluctantly vote for Low Places.

Sweet Caroline is a catchy tune, but it is creepy as hell. It was written during a period in music history when slightly (or sometimes very) pedo songs were common.

Plus Sweet Caroline makes me think of the Red Sox. **** the Red Sox. Sorry MIA.

Fenway already does Sweet Caroline so it would be fitting if our fanbase votes it in.

**** Sweet Caroline and dumbass Neil Diamond. That song is creepy. "Touching me, touching you?" That shits stupid.

And Friends in Low places is just too overplayed.

We are the NEW look Royals so let's act like it.

Most of our fanbase probably doesn't even know that they do.

:facepalm:

Yost wants 12 pitchers, so the Royals are probably going to try to get through the first month or two without a backup middle infielder.

edit: in an emergency (like if someone is hurt on the road or gets tossed out of a game), they might have Valencia or Moose play 2nd.

Sweet Caroline? That won't happen.

I think the only song that has a chance of beating the incumbent is "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

I submitted "In a Big Country" by Big Country and "December, 1963" by Frankie Valli.

If Sweet Caroline wins this contest that might break my fandom. I can handle eons of losing baseball but I couldn't morally support that shit.

Don't Stop Believin would be highly ironic. Or accurate, one of the two if not both.

Boys 'Round Here by Blake Shelton would be HIGHLY appropriate.

The chorus

"Red red red red red red red red red red redneck"

Yes, the song seems highly applicable. Sends a not-so-subliminal message to casual fans. Might be effective, actually? (<-- not a good thing. Increased complacency, etc.)

Would make the diehards sick if the losing continues, though.

Fun song to play when we're down 9-2 in the sixth to the Astros!

:slaps forehead:

Roster construction continues to be a massive problem.

Cain is going to draw a TON of walks hitting 8th, if he shows any plate discipline at all. Teams are going to pitch around him to get to Escobar, especially in late innings, knowing KC can't pinch hit for him.

So glad they're hanging on to Dyson, though! (rolls eyes)

Franklin would be an interesting trade target if the Mariners are not asking too much for him. Jack Z is terrible, so KC might be able to get a nice discount there. I'm still concerned about the way FRanklin fell off after his hot start (he was flat-out awful from like July 1 on), but he's a young guy with upside.

But Dyson is FAST, and stuff.

Someone needs to make a video of Dyson jumping over a car so all the hand wringing can come to an end with him.

So I can't get over this today...

One of the guys in my fantasy keeper league did NOT keep Andrew McCutchen today.

This is an auction/keeper league. He could have kept McCutchen for $20. To compare, Miguel Cabrera went for $49 the last time he was open in the auction, two years ago, and was kept this season for $57.

What the hell?

Twins uber-prospect 3B Miguel Sano (#8 overall) has TJ surgery and is out for the year. First, great news since I hate that franchise. Second, it shows taht there's no such thing as ANY prospect.

I have no answer to that. Were you able to nab him?

We're adding two expansion teams that will do an expansion draft for keepers from the available FA pool.

McCutch will be the first pick.

Comparisons:

This guy kept Brett Gardner (19), Nick Markakis (11), Josh Hamilton (28), Alexei Ramirez (11), Jon Lester (29), Johnny Cueto (16), David Wright (34) and Aramis Ramirez (30) as well as Yu Darvish (28).

W
T
F

Yeah, not an injury that should give a position player any long term issues... but it does put him out until probably mid-season next year.

Also, Nick Franklin's line in the second half last year:

.194/.280/.333
6 HR
10 2B
1 3B

Pair that with him being an average defender at 2B and below average at SS, and his market might be smaller than the M's expect. Might be a good chance to buy low on the guy.

I'd see if the Royals could do it for a package that largely involves one of the middle relievers (Crow, Collins, Herrera, Davis, Hochevar) and some extra pieces (maybe a Jason Adam?)

That's a killer in his development though.

Holy shit. And don't even feel guilty taking his money at the end of the season. He's earned his future beatdown, lol.

Good to see that we are finally in full agreement on something. Piss on the Twins.

Yeah, we're up to 14 teams now. $150 buy in each makes the pot $2100. Winner gets 40-45 percent of that. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th also get payouts. Rest goes to CBS league fees.

I'm kind of the Kevin McCarthur of this league... keep finishing 2nd or 3rd.

The guy that dropped McCutch only has $94 on auction day (out of $300) and only has one top 50 player (Darvish) on his roster. This is from a team that finished 2nd overall last year.

He also neglected keeping Matt Carpenter ($4) and Shin Soo Choo ($22).

Moose just got his first homer of the spring on a 2-2 pitch. So ready for warm weather and baseball.

What was Escobar's line?

Also really bad.

.216/.233/.260
1 HR
6 2B
1 3B

Escobar was TPJ-esque with the bat last year. There's no way around that. He was a very plus defensive player. But if he continues to hit at that level, he's not something you can carry in the lineup every day.

Just commenting that if I'm looking at bringing in a guy who struggled that much at the plate and is not a good defender, the price should be fairly low.

I still think Franklin has potential and I still like his pop. But it shouldn't be an extremely costly acquisition.

How you listening?

Moose 2-2 with 2 HRs

If one believes he can hit at this level (as I do) and if someone buys the 3.5 war projections by Oliver (I'm mixed in that), he will be quite expensive. And Seattle only needs 1 front office who does.

MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Do you get MLB.tv or the MLB At Bat app?

Hosmer is 3-3 so far today with 2 doubles.

HOSMER now 3-3

I think he can hit, but the K rate is terrifying. Could be another Brandon Wood type.

I don't buy the 3.5 WAR projections at all... especially considering Oliver is projecting him to save runs. Guy is not going to save runs, especially if he's playing SS.

of course, he's a middle infielder who can't really pick the ball, so we should realize he's not a Dayton Moore player. Therefore, any talk about him is probably for naught, anyway.

Peguero singles in Hosmer, 5-0

Didn't Moose win the Cactus League Triple Crown last year?

According to GMDM, Moose led us to the World Series last year.

yeah, we've got him signed to a very club-friendly deal (if he's not worthless) too. And, I bought a freakin' Escobar jersey a couple years ago.

We really, really need Escobar to hit at a not-embarrassing level.

That last part is certainly true.

Haven't been paying attention... What's the latest on Ervin?

His agent has said that Ervin will wait until June (if he has to) in order to get out of being attached to the QO.


So, about one in a billion.

So according to Yost, John Lamb's velocity was at 90-92 yesterday. That's a good sign.

That is a very good sign.

His fastball command was good last year. He just wasn't effective because he was pumping 84-86 and didn't have enough separation with his change and curve.

If he can sit 90-92 over a full start/full season, he's right back to useful/interesting.

I'd like to hear that from someone not affiliated with the Royals before I get too excited.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>90-93. Arm speed looked much better. RT <a href="https://twitter.com/Gromacki16">@Gromacki16</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks">@ProfessorParks</a> What&#39;s John Lamb&#39;s fastball sitting at?</p>&mdash; Jason Parks (@ProfessorParks) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks/statuses/440263787518496768">March 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If Frenchy thinks he's depressed, he should have sat on our side of the TV screen, watching him stink up the joint in April and May last year....

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...sed-last-year/

I'm thrilled that we don't have to worry about him in our lineup anymore, but I genuinely feel for the guy if he is/was clinically depressed.

Interesting little article from Neyer, on the increasing rate of strikeouts, and what should be done about it.

Couple questions: is this a problem? If it is, what should be done about it?

Since I also don't like Three True Outcomes baseball (walks, strikeouts, home runs), I'd like the K rate to be lower without increasing home runs or walks. So some "solutions" won't work. (if you reduce the strike zone, thats going to increase the number of walks.)

Neyer argued for lowering the mound, but I think I'd rather move it back 1 or 2 feet. The problem isn't movement, its pitching speed, pitchers have been progressing on pitching speed more than the hitters ability to react.

The pitcher has been moved back before, in the earliest days they were 45 feet from the plate, but they were overpowering the hitters so badly that every few years they'd move the pitcher a few more feet until they finally arrived at 60 feet 6 inches through trial and error at about 1893. Its over 120 years later, and now I think its time to move the pitcher back a few more feet.

It won't happen anytime soon of course, because most people don't see it as a problem right now, but it would improve the game. When the three true outcomes happen more often than they should, the game is longer and less fun to watch.

Bill James made a suggestion to limit the number of throws to 1B to hold a runner on. Say, to 3. (He says you only get to throw 4 balls before you put him on anyway, isn't that a limit?) The idea would be to increase the speed aspect of the game and make it more exciting and making fast guys more valuable. And get rid of endless throws over there which annoy fans.

So my wife has some training in San Diego at the end of April and she's decided to extend her trip throughout the weekend so we can get a little vacation time there. I'm flying out Thursday afternoon on May 1st and we'll come home the following Monday.

We were looking for stuff to do there and I figured I'd check out the Padres schedule to see if they were home that weekend and we could check out a game at Petco. I bring up their schedule and what do I see?

The Royals start a 3 game series against them on Monday, May 5! So we're going to go ahead and come home Tuesday so we can watch the Royals vs. Padres in San Diego the night before.

I'm so pumped!

Good times, enjoy! Eat some fish tacos and get some in-n-out while you're there.

Hey! What goes on between my wife and I is none of your business.

LMAO

Orioles close to a minor league deal with Johan Santana

3-3 sox and royals

Big divisional game. We need this one, fellas

5-3 now , if we win this we'll stay on top of the Cactus League. Looking for nothing less than back-to-back spring training championships! :)

GOtta win inside the division

If that holds, I'll make shirts!

In a way, it'll feel like we've won our third world series.

Do you believe in miracles?

Back to Back:

http://i.imgur.com/51mbFbF.jpg

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL LMAO



Rep!

Just finished putting together a handy spreadsheet showing our 40-man roster and some notable minor leaguers, and what their financial and contract status is with the Royals for the future. Years highlighted in yellow are arbitration years. Our active roster isn't set, but I made an educated guess on who may make the team. I'm sure something is probably wrong with it, I'll refine it as we get more info. You'll also see some illogical things like 4 players listed as "must come up" for 2014 because of options when in reality we are probably going to cut those guys or outright them if they clear waivers. For guys who are not active, I also assume the Royals use every option before finally bringing them up, which probably won't be the case with a guy like Ventura.

edit: look upon Salvy Perez's contract with awe and wonder. That might be the safest Royals jersey to buy right now.

Moose making some noise-hope this is his break out year.

Commence re-scuttling the ship!

Please god this. I've been saying this for years. Also no leaving the batter's box, leaving the bench or bullpen when a player charges the mound or leaving the bench to argue a call.

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MOTHER****ING MIND!!!!!

I'm sure Yost would love his idea.

Interesting article in the star, Yost is going to try to get Butler some playing time at 1B more often. Its makes a lot of sense for the Royals, because if he can show he can play 1B, he'll have a bit more value in a trade.

As a former pitcher (though summer travel ball was the highest level I played), I would hate this idea.

I'm all for concepts that would speed up the ball game. I don't hate the idea of deadening the baseball to encourage pitchers to throw more strikes and be more aggressive in the zone. I wish they would call the strike zone as dictated, but I don't know what that's going to take.

Um... better do that on a day you have the lineup stacked and are pretty confident you can score a bunch of runs.

I assume Hosmer goes to DH on those days. No problem with that.

Random (Cynical) hypothetical: we'll find out the reason they want to keep Valencia is more to work as a defensive sub for Butler on those days than as an alternative/insurance for Moustakas.

Would be just like Dayton Moore and Yost. Obsess over a minor piece of roster construction and leave a much larger hole somewhere else.

By "speed" James was referring to speed guys. Speed aspect, more triples, stolen bases, more action. I don't think the endless throws to 1B will really shorten games significantly. To do that, all that is required is your point of calling the strike zone wider. But MLB won't do that because it kills runs and runs sell tickets.

Yeah, i get what James is saying there. I kind of switched topics but they looked connected because the same word is involved.

I get that baseball's pace drives some away from the game. I get that people who are not hardcore fans might not appreciate the smaller aspects of the game and want to see things move more quickly.

I tend to hate those ideas.

I think it is important for a pitcher to be able to throw over when he wants. I think it is important for a hitter to be able to step out of the box when he wants, as long as he asks for time quickly enough.

Muscle memory can't work if you are not relaxed. Relaxed hitters and relaxed pitchers are important factors.

If you watch a HS game - where the rules are geared to speeding it up as much as possible - you see this come into play a lot.

Welcome to the AL Central, Ian Kinsler!
on the Rangers : "To be honest with you, I hope they go 0-162. I got friends, and I love my friends, but I hope they lose their ass."

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10...-espn-magazine