I would think if we are going to put a mega package together, we need to start worrying about getting Hosmer on a long term deal. Maybe even Moose, only because it would have to be a team friendly deal due to his production at this point.

I don't want them to go the way of Beltran.

Updated this roster sheet. I assume Bueno will take Hoch's active spot, no idea who will take the 40-man spot.

I don't think so. The Royals have had plenty of guys on offense produce gaudy numbers in the past, only to fall off the cliff completely during the regular season. Spring training means nothing to me, good or bad.

A bad spring means more to me than a good spring does.

I'm not putting too much stock in what Moustakas is doing, but like al said, you'd rather see him going well than going poorly.

I was a little encouraged by his HR yesterday. He was facing a guy who's had some success against lefties in the majors - at a pretty good level - and was able to stay back and punish a hanging breaking ball.

Last year, that would have been a pop-up to SS.

So that's a good sign.

**** you for saying this

I saw this on TV the other night. Channel 5 sports is ultra lame.

This is exactly why we can't win a playoff game. The Royals have a better D than the Chiefs.

Channel 5 in general is ultra lame.

Rosenthal reporting that Santana is considering switching agents.

interesting

Heh....yeah, blame the agent...

In this case, he can. This move if it happens indicates to me that Santana is willing to play on a 1 or 2 year deal while his current agent is balking at every team and willing to wait until June to POSSIBLY get a long term deal.

He can do that because it IS the agents fault.
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His agent screwed him over with that 100 mill starting spot

At this point he probably would have been willing to take Vargas's deal. His agent hilariously misjudged his value, and compounded that by acting like an unprofessional fool on twitter.

Heh, I didn't even factor in the twitter episode in my last post. I can imagine Santana going to his agent and asking where things stand. And his agent is just saying, don't worry, wait it out, we'll get you that $100 million. And Santana just looking at common sense knowing it's not there anymore.

Another study measuring catcher defense was put out by baseball prospectus, and the results are kinda startling and confirm earlier studies trying to measure the same thing.

Framing and Blocking Pitches: A Regressed, Probabilistic Model

The math is very dense, and they had to account for the fact that some elite pitchers can get favorable calls from the umpire no matter who they are throwing to, and some umpires come with wacky strike zones anyway, all of which is very hard to do.

They have concluded that catchers can have a really huge impact on the strike zone. The best defensive catchers can add a staggering 2 full WAR from just their pitch framing alone, and the worst defensive catchers lose more than a full WAR from their bad defense. This is probably not being priced in correctly in the free agent market.

This looks like one of those rare moments where the conventional wisdom from the old-timers was not just confirmed, if anything catcher defense is probably even more important than the old-school guys were already giving it credit for.

edit: here's a 1-paragraph summary

edit2: According to BP's new-fangled catching stat, Salvy Perez is pretty much average in the new statistics they are adding. He's slightly below average in framing and a little above average in blocking pitches. This obviously doesn't include his ability to throw out runners which is way above average.

Oh, and if anyone cares, we apparently fought the White Sox to a 6-6 draw today. Vargas went 3 scoreless, Gordon went 3-3, and Ciriaco of all people homered in the dry Arizona air.

Good luck this season fellas.

Ervin Santana has fired his agent.

He does not plan to hire a new agent right now, apparently he plans to negotiate his own contract.

First smart move he made in a while. Should had done that a month ago.

I'm gonna add that this might not be confirmed. This is being reported by a guy who writes for a newspaper in the Dominican, so it seems to be real media but no one else has confirmed it yet.

edit: he also works for AP.

Also reading that Santana has been keeping busy with his own spring training workouts near the cactus league teams in Scottsdale, AZ.

OK, CBS has now confirmed that he fired his agent, but he won't be representing himself. He switched to a new agent.

The Baltimore Orioles and Ervin Santana: As Pointless as a Dull Pencil

Ervin SantanaOutside Pitch’s own Max Wildstein has been on top of recent news regarding free agent Ervin Santana, and most recently reports that the Baltimore Orioles would be considered the front-runners for Santana if his asking price comes down.

While I’m certainly not denying the validity of Wildstein’s report, I have to ask: Why are the Orioles wasting their time?

Yes, the Orioles would only have to surrender a third-round pick in this June’s draft in order to sign Santana, as they’ve already forfeited their first- and second-round choices by signing free agents Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz. But, even if Santana’s asking price does drop, does Baltimore really need him? Sure, Santana posted a career best 3.24 ERA last year in Kansas City, and, perhaps more appealing to the Orioles, he logged 211.0 innings; it’s the fourth time in the last six seasons that Santana has pitched at least 200 innings.

But Santana is still just a season removed from giving up 39 home runs, and has given up an average of 27.29 home runs per season since 2007. Pitching in the AL East, let alone in Camden Yards, certainly wouldn’t help him cut down on those numbers, and could actually result in those worsening further. Additionally, the argument can be made that Santana really won’t present a significant (if any sort) of upgrade over any of the Orioles current five projected starters. Johan Santana signing aside, Baltimore figures to have an Opening Day rotation of Jimenez, Miguel Gonzalez, Chris Tillman, Bud Norris and Wei-Yin Chen. One potential scenario would have Santana moving into the rotation with Norris becoming the team’s closer, though, despite Norris’ 4.80 ERA after being traded to Baltimore last year, his ability to keep hitters in the ballpark profiles much better than Santana’s fly ball-style.

And if the Orioles have any aspirations of signing Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy and/or Bud Norris to extensions, it’ll certainly take away some funds. Even if Santana is signed to a one-year, $10-million deal in hopes of getting paid in a thin free-agent pitching market next offseason, it would be $10-million in funds that could ultimately be saved and/or put towards extensions for the current contracts the Orioles are hoping to extend. With several players due arbitration raises next off-season, that money may not even help the Orioles maintain their current talent.

So, while it’s certainly exciting for Baltimore fans to finally see their front office wheeling and dealing after what had been a boring offseason until February, now Dan Duquette and company need to understand that it’s time to pump the brakes.

Follow Michael Natelli on Twitter @MichaelNatelli.

Santana update: no one knows what the hell is going on right now with his representation. Whatever the situation is with his agent, its gotten complicated and weird enough that the player's union has now gotten involved for some reason.

edit: apparently it is not unusual for the MLBPA to get involved with situations involving an agent. MLB agents are certified and regulated by MLBPA, not by MLB.

So Bean Stringfellow now represents 3 MLB players, rather than 4.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if the MLBPA yanked his license. He really messed up his negotiations for Santana.

Penny released. Better now than to take any more innings from somebody with a legit shot or one of the kids that needs the experience.

Sounds like it's Tommy John for Hoch. ****.

We had littleto no injury concerns last year, aside from Cain, and know we getting the injury bug.

Can confirm.

Next man up

Figured this would be the case when I first heard of the nature of his injury. I feel a little bad for Hoch, but feel worse for us fans.

I can't believe I am saying this, but Hoch was valuable to this team last year . He succeeded where he was asked to succeed. Even though our bullpen is deep, I feel this is a major loss.

Only because we are paying him $5 mil to do nothing. I have no doubt he will be replaceable.

does not matter if he makes $5m or $500k. it is still a loss.

Can only hope you are right on your replacement theory.

He's in a position that we will be able to replace his production internally. The loss of production from a monetary standpoint definitely matters when you are the Royals.

Hoch posted a sub-2 ERA and had 82 K in 70 IP. Those are great numbers. While he is overpaid... I'd say it's unlikely someone else steps up and pitches quite that well. Hope I'm wrong.

To be fair, there's no guarantee Hoch himself would repeat those numbers either.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Dayton Moore on his latest talks with Ervin Santana: “I don’t think it’s anything that we’re going to be able to work with.&quot; Status quo.</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/442022820348829696">March 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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A far more salient point, IMO.

Hope you are wrong ,too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>One reason Brad Penny was released: He injured his non-throwing hand punching a wall on Thursday, source says.</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/442028361892655105">March 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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LMAO At least he hit one thing he aimed for.

You can't expect a guy with a track record in 800+ innings of a 5+ ERA ball to repeat his anomaly season. the guy's WHIP was cut in half last season from the norm... that's great, he had a great year... but to expect that to all of a sudden be his norm is mindbogglingly insane.

Walls are big and easy to hit.

Why not? It was different last year because he wasn't starting, he wasn't trying to pace himself. He was able to go sling it. Now maybe he wouldn't post a sub-2 ERA, but he could've still been effective.

he could've been effective... not arguing that... But the royals are in no shortage of quality relievers.

The point you're avoiding is that he's replaceable at a fraction of the cost. (I was vehemently against him being on the roster last year.. imo he is all that is wrong with Dayton Moore)

What really sucks from a discussion standpoint is that we'll probably never know reagarding Hoch in the future... He'll come back from TJ Surgery but we won't be able to tell if last season was or wasn't a fluke definitively. :(

You are assuming that if the Royals didn't spend $5 mil on Hochevar that they would have spent it somewhere else.

Luke Hochevar out for season
Updated: March 7, 2014, 2:40 PM ET
By Jerry Crasnick | ESPN.com

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The Kansas City Royals suffered a significant blow to their bullpen Friday when they learned that reliever Luke Hochevar will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and miss the 2014 season.

Hochevar, 30, went 5-2 with a 1.92 ERA last season while striking out 82 batters in 70 1/3 innings. His injury will weaken a Kansas City bullpen that led the American League with a 2.55 ERA last year and ranked sixth in the AL with 491 strikeouts.


Royals reliever Luke Hochevar, who felt a twinge in his right elbow during Monday's outing, will need Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2014 season.
The Royals initially diagnosed Hochevar's injury as a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. But manager Ned Yost said subsequent tests revealed that Hochevar's UCL might be as much as 65 percent torn. Hochever had previously suffered a 20-45 percent tear in 2010 and was able to come back and pitch without undergoing surgery.

Yost said he expects the procedure to take place sometime in the next two weeks.

"It's inevitable that this thing is going to go, so it's in everybody's best interests that we just go ahead and do it now,'' Yost said. "With a 50 percent tear and as much as a 65 percent tear, he wouldn't be even what he was last year. So it would be a constant battle -- a constant, every time on the mound: 'Is this the day?'

"It's common sense. What's best for our organization and what's best for Luke Hochevar is to go ahead and do it now.''

Hochevar, the first overall pick in the 2006 MLB draft, is one of the senior members of the Kansas City roster along with Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. He's making $5.2 million this season and will be eligible for free agency in November.

"This is a kid who's played his heart out for the Royals in this rebuilding process,'' Yost said. "He's given us everything he's got. He's a phenomenal young man, he's a tremendous teammate, and you really, really want to see him be a part of this. It's extremely hard.''

General manager Dayton Moore and Yost said the Royals will probably fill the void in their bullpen from within. The Royals' contingent of setup and middle relievers in front of closer Greg Holland includes Aaron Crow, Kelvin Herrera, Louis Coleman and Wade Davis from the right side and Tim Collins and Francisley Bueno from the left.

"We're going to look internally first,'' Moore said. "We feel like we have the depth and the numbers necessary. I don't know if it'll be as outstanding as Luke was last year. But we have some talented arms. You plan worst-case scenario, so we're constantly looking.''

****.

Serves them right for wasting money on the loser.

yep, i agree with that... and while that may be the case, you still want to see wiser decisions on that front.

About time to hear from the non tender folk.

#Royals Chen on Hochevar "The first thing he said to me was that he felt like he let the team down."
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According to a scout on twitter, Sean Manaea looks really good. Obviously healthy and recovered from the injury that scared some teams off in the draft, throwing 93-94, easy delivery, great command. Starting to look like a steal. If all goes well, we could put him on the Kyle Zimmer progression plan.

Nice to hear some good news today.

Yup, sucks about Hoch for sure, though. I know people around here don't like him too much, but he's still a very good setup man, and it still hurts this team greatly this coming season.

I agree. Now give us that money so we can use it on Santana.

LMAO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: Ervin Santana now seeking a one-year deal, and wants to sign as quickly as possible.</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/statuses/442091093740363777">March 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Figures

Please get Ervin back.

Oh Geeze. ..

Royals have to give Erv a call, and find a way

Hoch was great last year, but after arbitration is now an anchor around the Royals neck. Watch him rehab for a year. Can't give him a contract next year under any circumstances. Hoch experiment is over. Nothing to see here.

ROFL

Andy McCullough ‏@McCulloughStar 18s

Despite word Santana will take a 1-year deal, Moore says Royals "moving forward" w/out him. "The candidates for our rotation are in-house."

welp

**** you, Dayton.

Sure hope the Royals have the insurance placed on Hoch's contract that if he gets injured, that the Royals should be able to get some of that money back.

somewhere and somehow, GMDM feels like he won the world series.:spock:

Bruce replied...

Well Luke, you let the team down 5 of the last 6 years so what's another?!

They do.

Hoch......well bye

He was not insured. Teams don't do those except for huge long-term deals. The premium and terms these days apparently make it not worth it except for insuring deals that would cripple your team if they get hurt.

edit:

another Santana tidbit, back when Santana's representation was still up in the air.

Getting Santana back would sure make me feel a lot better about the pitching staff this year. Another pitcher like Guthrie ( they claim Vargas gets into trouble a lot) doesn't make make me feel like this years staff will be better then last years

The group of Royals fans on this board seem to be really good people.