I like Cain's power and speed at that spot, but I see where you're coming from. I'm splitting hairs, as I think we would be good with either.

If he gets enough AB's. It's looking like he'll bat 7th

If he stays healthy. He's kind of snake bitten injury bug type of a player...

Probably not, more due to health. Talent is probably there.

He has been smashing the shit out of the ball in the Cactus League.

If he plays 150 games, I can't see why he doesn't get at least 15 HR's and steal 25 bases.

The talent is there.

That's what I'm banking on.

I have him in all of my leagues, too. And Alex Gordon. Oh and Salvador Perez.

And Frenchy? Because he's the league winner.

I am in two money league.

I have Gordon and Salvy in one league, Shields in the other.

Moose went early in both of my drafts! I wasn't touching Hosmer after he royally ****ed me last year.

I didn't touch Shields with a 30 foot pole.

He fell far as ****, had to take a chance.

Your girlfriend is next.

If this happens, pics.

While she wears her Hosmer jersey.

Would really like the Royals to replace Francour and Hoch....

As Getz, but he's the least of my concerns at this point.

Unbuttoned.

Lew, you in? You're the key piece here.

Q

Yeah, c'mon lew.

Don't be a bundle of sticks.

The guy does a gentlemanly (word?) thing in buying his gf a jersey and he gets **** for it. LMAO

He's a good dude.

But, seriously, he can share pictures of Hosmer puss pounding his girl then share the pictures with strange men on the interwebzzzz.

We're all Royals fans here

Huh?

I understand where George is coming from...judging from his past posts we are about the same age & have had similar childhoods. I wasn't trying to slam him but relate to him. He is a Royals fan who cares because he posts in this thread, even though they are very negative. I keep hoping they will eventually be the organization they were when I was a kid & young adult.

The entire Astros team salary is $25 mil? Holy ****ing shit, I thought the Royals were cheap.

19 homers is his ceiling in leadoff. 24 anywhere else. 100+r. 60rbi. 50doubles. 35 steals.

The spring homers are a mirage. There is a good article about the cactus league and why so many runs and homers get hit.

Opening day can't get here soon enough! Good think KU basketball has filled most of the time in-between opening day.

A new AL team we get to knock around this season. :)

It's actually 31 for what I read but thats just sick **** I feel sorry for them

Lorenzo Cain's eye test says his swing and build is Torri Hunter, but the way his body really is is Ron Gant after a nice motorcycle ride.

Legit chance? No

Tiny possibility? I guess so. If he went 15/20, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

Rany on LoCain:

the season can't start soon enough

LEW WE R WAITING!

Let this be so. Please.

Forgot to share this but the other night at Royals vs Dodgers the guy behind us taps me on the shoulder as says, "Hey, you just made TV!" He said he told his son where they were sitting and when the TV Crew panned the crowd behind home plate, they hit our section. He forwarded the picture to us. Check out this gem. Must have been a great joke!

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...3770105_n1.jpg

I love what LoCain brings when he is healthy. Keep in mind that he has been playing with a bad hammy last year - we should expect an increase in defensive and stolen base production. However - he takes walks at a Frenchy-like rate. We really need to improve his patience at the plate. Hell, him taking walks and being more selective could increase his power numbers.

Probably just followed an AB by Frenchy.

LOl she doesnt look like she thought it was very funny

Your fart must have really stunk, Lew.

Lo walks at a rate of 1 walk every 17 PA's... however this is a sample size (he only has 425 Plate Appearances in his career).

Frenchy walks at a rate of 1 walk every 19.6 PA's.

Lo's averages in the Minors were much different.

He averaged 1 walk every 11.5 PA's which is fabulous.

Frenchy in the minors averaged 1 walk every 17.5 PA's.

Given time, Lo's Walk rate and on base percentage will increase.. He has the track record for it. The guy hasn't even accumulated enough at bats over his career to equal a complete ML season as of yet. It'll undoubtedly improve.

I hope so, Zeke.

The caveat is obviously, that he can stay healthy.

Rany made a good point while answering a question:

The Royals have to win in April, because we've got a pretty tough May.

I thought the same thing. Looks like he just unleashed a mega fart on her.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Royals">#Royals</a> keep George Kottaras over Brett Hayes as backup to starting catcher Salvy Perez.</p>&mdash; Bob Dutton (@Royals_Report) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals_Report/status/317685390662303746">March 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Good

The damned tigers just signed verlander 8/202

sweet jeebus

wow.

Hope his arm falls off

May is the definitely going to be the most telling month. The rest doesn't look SO bad.

http://deadspin.com/2013-payrolls-an...team-462765594

14 teams in MLB have payrolls above $100 million. Royals are still in the bottom third. Don't know if this was already posted, sorry if re-post.

I can see paying a young superstar position player, but signing any pitcher, no matter who he is, to a massive 8 year contract is ludicrous.

So, about that over/under on the Astros. It is 59.5, everyone has it at 59.5.

The reaction from pundits has been to laugh and yell "My God thats easy, take the under". I know the Astros are going to be bad, but to windmill-slam the under 59.5 for any team seems.... aggressive.

Are they really that bad?

Verlander deal is INSANE. I realize it only adds 5 guaranteed years, with a 6th option year, but good lord that's a lot of money to tie to a guy for years 33-37.

I think this comes back to bite the Tigers down the road, unless he maintains dominance well into his late 30s and salaries explode (which, I guess, is possible and probably considering all the TV money explosion going on).

Mets owe johan santana $31 million despite not pitching again.

Alex Gordon- wow- he has been the best player in baseball. 7 Homers and just knocking pitches all over the place.

Kind of wondering why Hoch choker is still on this team. I am not sure what they are seeing in him?? They put him in the bull pin and he gives up 5 runs and pisses the game away to back ups? I think they just resigned him too?? I don't get it?

Rick Ankiel is likely their starting right fielder...

Worst lineup in baseball + worst rotation in baseball are a bad combo.

Yep there has been a Lot of articles on how cheap Glass has been with this team. His investment has went from 96 mil to over 400 mil without doing much of nothing. He has made another 50 to 100 mil in profit- but Hey that is the Walmart way-lol

No else who pays attention to baseball really gets it, either.

I call it "Kyle Davies eyes." Dayton Moore and co. see something in Hochevar that no one else sees, but they're convinced everyone wants him.

:doh!: I think they have a few more contracts like that as well.

Yankees are worse than that. I think they have about 50 mil or more on the DL right now-lol

Jason Bay. Bobby Bonilla (I think they owe Bonilla money until he dies).

LMAO Kyle davies eyes. Isn't that a song? lol

So if we can't even get one good inning out of him against minor players- what can we expect against a team like the Angels with Trout, Pujols, Hamilton and Trumbo?

:hmmm: It won't be pretty.

Here are the over/under's, from Bovada.

AL West

LAA 91.5
TEX 86.5
OAK 84.5
SEA 77.5
HOU 59.5

AL Central

DET 92.5
CWS 81.5
KC 78.5
CLE 78.5
MIN 68.5

AL East

TOR 88.5
TB 87.5
NYY 84.5
BOS 82.5
BAL 78.5

NL West

LAD 90.5
SF 87.5
ARI 81.5
SD 74.5
COL 71.5

NL Central

CIN 91.5
STL 86.5
MIL 80.5
PIT 77.5
CHC 73.5

NL East

WAS 92.5
ATL 87.5
PHI 84.5
NYM 74.5
MIA 63.5

Lets say you had to bet your rent money or mortgage payment over or under for one of those teams. To make it interesting, lets take STL, KC, and Houston off the table. What would you choose?

Do any of those lines really stick out as being off aside from maybe Houston and (we hope) KC?

edit: I think I'd bet the under on the Yankees.

Poor Houston. $25 mill payroll, A-Rod alone will make $29 mill. This is why baseball is so screwed up:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/91...ombined-salary

The Mets are the king of bad contracts. Their contract with Bobby Bonilla may arguably be the worst contract in sports history. In 1999, the Mets wanted to get rid of Bonilla, but that would have cost $5.9MM. Bonilla agreed to let the Mets defer that payment for 11 years and then spread it out over 25 years.... at 8% interest.

Even though he's been retired for many years, in 2011 the Mets paid Bonilla about $1.2MM, and they'll be sending him or his estate checks every year until 2035. The $5.9MM they owed will eventually become about $30MM.

make a move

But Houston has to play a Full year- Arod only half of it-lol I think Arod has a few more years of payments coming to him as well- his contract is tighter than David Glass's wallet.

LMAO wow- how many HR's did Bobby Bo hit for them-lol

In 1999, he hit .160/.277/.303, just 4HR

Well, at least he walked a lot.

Buster Posey just got 8/167, which will be the longest contract ever for a catcher.

The Giants waited too long, the Royals did not. Our Perez contract is going to look like a steal soon.

I think Posey only has 1 more year of service time too. The Salvy deal is one of the best in baseball right now. Escobar's is pretty great for the team as well.

Our starters are out, Ubaldo Jimenez one-hit our lineup through 4 innings, but that one hit by Gordon left the yard. Game tied 1-1.

They're going to regret giving Joe Mauer that much money...

Like I was saying in my previous post- Gordon looking like the best player in baseball right now.

Royals up 3-1 through 7

BP's farm system rankings are out. The Cardinals are #1, the Angels are last.

4. Twins
7. Royals
19. Indians
28. White Sox
29. Tigers

Francour, Hochever, Chen = 15 Million in salary for a team spending $80. Smdh GMDM.

And this is where Baseball Prospectus beats the others, in my opinion. They do a MUCH better job of seeing the lower level guys and scouting them than the other big services.

They were high on the Cardinals' current crop much earlier than anyone else.

The reason they gave for still ranking us this high after the trade was interesting. They think our low minors are stacked with undrafted latin players who no one is talking about yet.