I just thought I'd check in to revel in the positive news with our boy's performance On the mound today.

What a bizarre world the Royals prospective success and postseason hopes genuinely outweigh the Chiefs by a large margin.

... and from the "I really am trying to not get my hopes up" department, Moose just homered off a lefty.

And it most definitely seems that he is the favorite for the 5 spot in the rotation.



More encouragement, fwiw.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Royals&amp;src=hash">#Royals</a> Moose crushes a 2-2, 2-out pitch over the RF wall for his 4th HR of the spring. The &quot;Mooose&quot; chants begin in Phoenix. 3-1 KC, top 6.</p>&mdash; Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshVernier/statuses/443866957599621120">March 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Royals&amp;src=hash">#Royals</a> Moose now 3-for-3 with a single, double and HR. Both of the extra base hits coming off of left-handers.</p>&mdash; Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshVernier/statuses/443867246738161664">March 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Still needs to prove it in regular season, but for whatever it's worth.

and Salvy Perez homered. yawn.

The bad news is that it was during an intrasquad game.

ROFL

LMAO. I like this new guy.

When you've got a plus-plus fastball, plus hammer curve and an average changeup, you don't have much work to do other than fine-tuning.

Ventura isn't working on anything other than proving he can go more innings. Last year was his audition, not this spring.

Andy McCullough is rapidly growing on me. I loved Dutton on Twitter. He was like the crabby grandfather that was really funny. McCullough is a great follow on Twitter and seems to have a really odd, yet funny relationship with Ned Yost.

He's incredible. Very, very good at what he does (and that's me with my professional journalist hat on).

LMAO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Yordano Ventura asked Bruce Chen for advice on how to dial back his velocity. There is a joke in there, somewhere.</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/443879780060917760">March 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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This guy is hilarious!

LMAO

I might have to create a twitter account just to follow him.

Huh?

Agreed.

What if this was really Dutton's sock...
:eek:

If "Ace" Ventura develops as we hope, then there's no reason why the Royals can't remain competitive after Shields leaves for at least another couple years and maybe even 2017 if we extend Gordon.

2018 is obviously looking iffy unless we find a bunch of cash or find a replacement for some of the young guys who hit free agency.

I do too. Will be a fun follow this year:

Andy McCullough ‏@McCulloughStar 59m
Alex Gordon is no longer in today's lineup. The rest of the outfield is debating whether Russell Wilson is "elite." Let's get weird.

Yes, what's lost a little bit in the excitement about the development of Ventura, Manaea, Zimmer and Almonte is that the hitting prospects are not nearly as exciting.

I love RA Mondesi, but he's more of a contributing offensive player than a lineup-carrier. .280/15/30 SB from a SS is a tanatalizing line and within his reach, but that's more of a good No. 2 hitter or lower-order hitter than a middle of the lineup star.

Dozier is a nice prospect at 3B but is probably more of a nice contributor than huge impact guy, too (Kyle Seager is a good comparison/target, I think).

Bonifacio is Billy Butler lite, but able to play RF.

Beyond those three, you're having to hope a lot. If Starling can figure out the hit tool enough to be a .260 major league player, he's a useful offensive player. Especially if he continues to post an OBP 75-90 points higher than his average (That upside would make him basically Nick Swisher if Swisher was a Gold Glove-level CF).

Elier Hernandez and Alexis Rivera and Cheslor Cuthbert are all younger, high-priced LA signings, but none has EXPLODED onto the scene yet. Also hear good things about Samir Duenez. But like I said, there's a lot of hope involved with those guys.

All the more reason to push for Hosmer/Moustakas extensions, IMO.

That they will politely decline.

Probably. But you push and maybe overspend to lock them down.

And then there's this:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Ned Yost, amateur dermatologist: &quot;You don&#39;t suntan much.&quot;</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/444145519439278081">March 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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If I'm moose, i'm jumping all over it... Hoz, not so much.

Much harder to get big-bonus first-round picks to sign a long-term extension that buys out a few FA years than it is to get someone like Perez or Escobar to do it (signed for less than $50k each).

You almost have to do it at a point when it either carries some risk for the team (paying for performance at a level they haven't consistently shown or have only shown in one season, like with Gordon).

Moustakas might be a guy you could get it done with, if you went to him NOW and offered an extension that paid him, say, $8 million a season over the next 6. That does carry a lot of risk, though.

Hosmer? We all need to come to grips with the idea that they will be watching Hosmer walk and gleaning whatever the compensation for him is in 2018.

Best wishes to Dutton, but McCullough is hilarious on twitter. Used #barves last night to announce Santana's signing, which is the best thing to come out of deadspin/twitter in the last year.

Even if we make the playoffs 3 of the next 4 seasons with a World Series victory? I realize that is asking a lot but I am just speaking hypothetically.

Unless the ownership group is prepared to pay him $15-25 million a year and hand out its first $100 million contract, it's highly unlikely.

I don't see how wild success would have anything to do with Hosmer testing free agency under Boras.

I meant as far as resigning him. I have to assume success equals money.

Only against the wishes of his agent.

Barring some big injury risk or failure risk (Moose), Boras does not believe in extensions before free agency, period. He's fine with re-signing with a team, but only after he can clearly see that the team is the highest bidder or at least close to the highest bidder.

For you guys with MLB.tv, Royals play the Indians at 305 and Cleveland's station is broadcasting the game.

I have Reds @ Dodgers. :(

That's a statement based purely on emotion that also happens to be completely untrue. It turns out that Santana didn't go to a division rival, but I'd say the Royals handled the situation properly. Santana and his agents are the ones who asked for the hundred million dollar contract. Should the Royals have just anted up, paid the hundred million, and guaranteed that they won't enough money to pay the players who don't suck every other year?

ROFL

Hosmer just tied it up with a homer

Shit, Perez is looking like his knee is hurt. Swung at a bad pitch and then came down to one knee, gritting his teeth and reaching down his leg.

:(

Peguero singles in Hos, Butler to 3rd with no outs

3-3

Moose hits a rocket to Frenchy, gets Billy home, 4-3 Royals.

Ummm. Is he ok?

There was no drama surrounding the incident. He continued his at-bat and ran at what seemed to be his usual speed to the base before being thrown out.

I reacted because I worry that it will only become worse over time, and I think that there's a possibility that we go a large part of the regular season without him.

HES BACK! TO THE SHIP!

@ChrisCotillo · 4m

Brett Tomko is signing a minor league deal with the #Royals, source confirms. First reported by @YorkSportsGuy.

Yabuta print 'em

He's not dealing with a known knee injury that is feared to be "getting worse".

He had knee surgery in the past few years and has had other lower-body injuries in the meantime. Combine that with the fact that he's a catcher whom we genuinely need and I see reason to worry if he's exhibiting signs of pain or fatigue in spring training.

Do you wrap your kids in bubble wrap?

I would if my son was the stud catcher on my favorite team.

Well lets just hope, for the kids sake, that thing doesn't pop at the bottom.

So, on the other board Ventura's amazing outing has sparked a fierce argument over service time. Some Royals fans are so beaten-down that it seems service time should always rule all.

I get it, yes you only need to keep Ventura in AAA for about 3 or 4 weeks to lock up that extra year (in 2020) and normally I'd be all for that, but not this year. If Ventura continues to look like an ace, then we need those extra 4 or 5 starts. That may the difference between having 1 or 2 extra wins, which could keep us in or out of the playoffs.

Our margin is too narrow, and the team could suck in 2020 for all we know. If Ventura continues to look great, then that 7th year be damned, we need him.

I don't think service time rules all, but I certainly think duffy will suffice for a month. Especially to preserve a whole year of service.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>al scout says yordano ventura, the 101-mph throwing royals rhp, is a (very) early rookie of yr candidate. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23VenturaHighway&amp;src=hash">#VenturaHighway</a></p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/statuses/444482177968111616">March 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Wow... The kid has one start... ONE START that he's shown ace stuff... Sure, he's been effective in his few other starts dating to last year, but he labors... The guy still has to learn how to pitch past the 4th and 5th innings. We've been waiting for Duffy to make that turn for 2+ years now...

Some Royals fans need to temper expectations! lol

Sure I wanna see him pitching at KC like everyone else... we want to see him in a Royals uniform, but damn.. it was one start!

I'm also annoyed that Chen is still seen as sort of a lock. He may have been a lock back when we were still thinking of keeping Ventura down a while, but now that he's obviously ready to fly out of the gate, I think Chen should go to the bullpen, and we should go with both Duffy and Ventura.

The scouts and people paid to judge these things are all convinced, thats good enough for me.

I'll also flip it on you: why is 2020 so valuable that we should be willing to do anything, anything at all, that might even slightly damage 2014? If we keep Ventura down a month, he looks awesome the rest of the year, and we miss the playoffs by one game, I'm going to be very unhappy. By the time 2020 rolls around the team might not be good and we may end up trading him off that July.

You have got to agree that if we ignore service time and focus only on baseball reasons, the right thing to do is to go with Ventura at #5, and that anybody else hurts the team at least a little bit.

Thats the beginning and end of it for me. If we were a lot better than the Tigers or if we had no chance at the playoffs then thats different, but we need every last fraction of WAR.

I'm not arguing about 2020 and that year, I'm just pointing out the guys on radio and the forums that are absolutely clamouring for Ventura to be in the rotation... based off one start in spring training. Not directing this at you, specifically, Al.

I don't give a flipping flip about service time. We haven't had a decent pitcher be successful from our own organization since Greinke... and before that it was Rosada (and only for a very short stint)... I ache for a pitcher to call our own... This town aches... which is why I think so many want to see him here so badly... whether he's ready or not.

Just temper the expectations of the kid is all, before throwing around "Ace" comments, etc...

Also, if you start with Ventura and he "labors" as you fear or otherwise struggles, great send him down a month.

The risk is not that he might not be as good as we think or that he's not ready to go because you can just go ahead and get that year of service time back anyway, the risk is that he's on fire out of the gate and that he is so great over the next 5 years that you never get another chance again to send him down a few weeks to grab that extra year.

I'm willing to take that "risk".

The $$ paid to him guarantee'd he'd at least start out in the rotation... I'd rather go with Duffy\Ventura as well, but am Okay with Chen until he starts to falter. He's such a great dude, hard worker, and important piece of this team... I'm hoping he retires this year and stays on as a coach of some soft... that would be sweet.

If the guy is ready, he's ready... eff the service time.

Temper it is all... temper it.

Apparently the Royals have not yet ruled out bringing them both but putting one of them into the bullpen.

Here's my opening day staff:

Rotation
Shields
Vargas
Guthenator
Duffy
Chen

Pen
Ventura
Davis
Collins
Coleman
Crow
Herrera
Holland

June -> Ventura to rotation for Chen (or replacing any injuries prior)

To add to it, my other 13.

Salvy
Hoz
Infante
Al
Moose
Billy
Gordon
Cain
Aoki
Ciriaco
Velencia
Dyson
Hayes

Sorry Maxwell, you're the odd man out.

Maxwell will make the club, though... and Ventura or Duffy will start in AAA... going with only 6 in the pen.

I'm just one of those guys that likes to go through April and early May with 7 in the Pen... until the Starting pitchers get into form.

Yost is firm on wanting 12. I agree that we should start with 11 though.

Ciriaco is the odd man out, the Royals actually do plan to somehow go without a backup middle infielder at the moment.

More roster hijinx

So far Ventura looks better than Duffy. If it stays like this for the rest of ST then Ventura should be in the rotation and Duffy in AAA. If we're in an "all in" year then Ventura's service time shouldn't mean anything.

LMAO 65-20 that's awesome.

General thoughts:

Service time concerns on Ventura are probably silly, anyway, since it's HIGHLY likely, IMO, that they are able to work out a contract extension for him quickly. Dayton mentioned Ventura specifically when talking about extending Salvy and Escobar and how it was easier with guys from Latin America who did not sign for huge amounts.

His service time issues are likely blown away when the Royals buy out 2-3 years of his free agency, anyway.

As for Duffy, working him out of the pen would not be an awful way to reduce his innings this season. Work him as the long man/6th/7th guy for the first few months of the season. Gradually increase his workload. Let him work on command and "put away" pitches.

Then, at some point, swap his role with Chen's (and piggy-back Chen on Danny while you stretch him out).

On the roster situation... I imagine they view Infante as a good enough option at SS to play him there for 5-7 games a year, or good enough to slide over there in place of Escobar if he's removed for a pinch hitter (with Moustakas or Valencia moving to 2B, I guess?).

That's the only way I can see them carrying 12 pitchers and keeping Jarrod Dyson, Maxwell and Valencia all on the MLB roster (Which they seem intent to do).

Of course, don't tell the Royals that the roster spot they're holding for Dyson - because he's SUCH a weapon as a pinch runner for that pathetic fat fuck Billy Butler (their thoughts, not mine) is actually less valuable than having a legitimate utilityman who can play SS and 2B capably.

ROFL

Man, you just beat me to posting that.

Andy is on FIAH.

My only concern with putting Duffy in the pen is the Royals will probably loose another relief pitcher that is out of options.

First inning: Duffy gave up 2 hits, hit a batter, and walked in a run. He got out of a jam with a 4-6-3 double play.

edit: 23 pitches

Control issues.. I know it's still spring and he's recovering from tommy John surgery, but when is his control going to increase? Will it? Was it supposed to by now?

Duffy just gave up a 3-run homer.

Duffy is probably done after just 2 innings and 65 pitches. Royals down 5-0.

The Ventura/Duffy debate might be just about over unless they both look a lot different their next start.

Ugh...that line is gross.


And I know that ST and stats are meaningless but I'd love for this kid to just go out and dominate every once in awhile. He's got the arm to be a complete stud and just doesn't seem to put it together between the ears.

sounds like Duffy is conceding defeat.

woof