I still think 89-90 wins.

They will be just fine without low-leverage Luke.

Hmmm I would be surprised as hell if our overall offensive production doesn't improve by quite a bit this year.

Pitching should be roughly the same. Ventura has a decent shot to match Santana's production.

80-82 wins would be very disappointing.

You think that's enough for a playoff spot or the division?

It will be in the running, I believe.

Think the ceiling is a few wins higher than that. If everything goes right (Hosmer hits all year, Butler and Gordon return to form, Moose breaks through, every other hitter performs to average, Cain is healthy, Ventura is healthy and pitches like a RotY, team is healthy), the ceiling is actually pretty high.

Olney and Crastnick were talking about it on their podcast today. 92 wins was their expectation for us.

And what if they actually win the division... Can they hang with any team in teh AL?

Nvm. 82 wins it is...

"I'll believe that when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet"

...Sorry, too many years as a Royals fan.

Coming up on the 29th season...

When you get into 5-game and 7-game series, you really only need to have 2 great pitchers to be roughly even with anyone. If we win the division, we probably will have found someone who could pitch beside Shields.

We'd be heavy underdogs against a terrific-looking team like the Dodgers, but I'd give us at least a 35-40% chance in 7 games against them.

If Moose hits and Ventura delivers, we'll be good. Especially Ventura. Lot of pressure to put on a kid, but we have to develop a starting pitcher. We could have 9 Wil Myers in the lineup and it wouldn't matter.

You obviously missed the exploits last year of Aaron "Negative WAR" Crow, Tiny Tim Collins walking every third batter and Kelvin "Chicks dig the long ball" Herrerra.


I do like the last one to at least step up this year.

They should be committed to an asylum immediately, before they hurt someone or themselves.

The last time we ended above .500 we then had three straight seasons of 100 loss baseball.

It was the 1980's the last time we had back to back winning seasons.

I read a Star article a few weeks back where Butler was getting some work in at 1st base. I guess they want more lineup flexibility this year?

I'd just be happy if they keep tabs on his weight this year. Not publicly, in the clubhouse, and make sure he stays fit and trim...

If they do that, it'll help him a LOT.

As for first base, he's not the best but if he stays in shape he could work in on occasion.

Giavotella optioned to Omaha.


Wellbye.jpeg

Well that, and it would be nice if he had any trade value at all next off-season.

Game's on FSKC if anyone wants to watch. Aoki leads off with a single

Thanks man!

OMG BELLY OUR TIME BABY!

Alex just misses a 3 run HR

Screw anyone who disagrees. I love Dyson!

Interesting article on the star about Schuster, the Royals have pretty much no intention whatsoever of putting him on the active roster, the Royals are performing some MLB transaction voodoo.

Its all about Carlos Peguero, his performance this spring has been great, but he has no options, zero chance of making the team, and the Royals want to keep him. He could be outrighted to Omaha, but he'd have to clear waivers first, and the Royals are afraid that if he was on waivers now, then someone might grab him.

Enter the DFA rule. When you DFA someone, you don't have to do anything for 10 days. 10 days from now, when he finally hits waivers, the season will have started and the other 29 teams will have had to set their rosters. Sure, one of them could make a mental note to be ready to clear a spot a few days after the season starts, but maybe they won't bother. He's more likely to clear waivers 10 days from now than tonight.

To DFA someone, you need a reason. Someone else has to take his spot. They could have promoted a minor leaguer but instead they saw Schuster, and thought "what the hell, maybe we can work out a trade", and picked him up.

Big boy Home Run! The Royals just sat and watched.

Chen gives up one to Parking Lot JJ

Horrible effort by Gordon. Someone should give him popcorn. Season over.

What, for his clutch hitting, his power or his great reads on fly balls?

Chen getting drilled

COME ON CHEN

Odds that Chen collects his 15-start bonus?

Anybody watching via a stream? firstrowsports isn't working for me...

Not good. /Zimmer

All of the above of course.

Well, I see I turned this thing on at just the right time.

Yeah no joke.

OK, I think I'll change the channel now...

Fun Fact: Chen has qualified for 10 and 5 rights under the CBA, which means he has a full no-trade this season.

Why are they trying to run on Perez? LMAO

Shields vs. Verlander for the opener

I've already taken off work to watch that game. Any objections to me starting that game thread Monday at 12:01 am?

Apparently Francoeur has been signed by the Padres to a minor league deal.

Have at it alnorth

The most pressing question is..

What in the world replaces Breakn a Sweat for Royals victories??

HOsmer gets tossed. I likey

Sounds good!

What?!

lololol. Dumpster fire

2 close pitches and he "asked" the home plate ump. Now Ned's out mouthing

lol @ trash fans booing hosmer while he walks out of a spring training game

He asked and got tossed in spring training? He must have asked with some different verbage.

Hosmer followed the home plate umpire up the first base line, said one sentence and I believe the Home Plate Ump said "Oh that's bullshit" while he was tossing him

Haha.

Oh, Bwuce.

Hoz probably wanted to night off. Good for him.

heh....it's starting to fall apart!!!!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/detroi...140500962.html

Hosmer must have a hot date, one last chance to bang some chick before they leave Arizona. Good for him.

oh. well, if thats what happened, Hosmer got himself run out then.

a really cool story - sorry if repost:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...2656.html?vp=1

Great. Rex Hudler with heavy machine guns and sniper rifles.

Best part of the night so far. Guthrie with his Uncle Hud going strong right now.

Gutrie doing standup in the dugout

No, but it better work God Dammit! Or else!!!!!!!!!

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

Opening game starts at 10 am for me! **** my life.

Those aren't the only three guys in the pen.

Wade Davis (dominant as a reliever in 2012, dominant in that role for KC last year)

Kelvin Herrera (was great in the second half and very good after his return from Omaha - only allowed 1 HR in his final 38 IP).

Louis Coleman (lights out all season, especially against RHH, and greatly improved against LHH)

And yes, Crow and Collins. But Yost is actually carrying a lefty specialist in the pen this year, which should allow him to use Collins more appropriately (against RH hitters or more mixed lineups).

Crow, for as much as you rail against him, still has a good track record as a reliever and big-time stuff. He walks too many hitters, but he also has a good strikeout rate and is tough on elite RH bats. And he's not going to be the linchpin of the bullpen. Neither will Collins. Those roles likely fall to Davis and Herrera, who is really effective against LHP pitching because of his changeup.

Bueno looks muy Bueno!

Love watching Salvy work with the pitchers.

He runs the team

Since Bray is passé, I went ahead and updated my avatar.

Great column from Rany the other day. Amazing fact:


http://www.ranyontheroyals.com

Back in 2011, I believe I wrote somewhere – and you’ll have to forgive me, I can’t find the reference – that the Royals probably had more Latin American talent in their farm system at that moment than they had developed in the 37 years before Dayton Moore was hired combined. Now, I know I can be guilty of hyperbole sometimes, hyperbole that occasionally tiptoes the line of outright untruth. But I stand by that statement 100%.

Here is a list of every amateur player that the Royals signed out of Latin America from 1969 to 2006, that would bat even 500 times or throw even 150 innings in the major leagues. (It’s possible that I missed someone, but I tried to be extremely thorough in my search.)

Player Signed Career bWAR

Melido Perez 1983 1987-1995 11.3
Luis Salazar 1973 1980-1992 9.1
Hipolito Pichardo 1987 1992-2002 6.3
Carlos Febles 1993 1998-2003 3.5
Runelvys Hernandez 1997 2002-2008 3.3
Andres Blanco 2000 2004-2011 1.2
Ambiorix Burgos 2000 2005-2007 0.7
Onix Concepcion 1976 1980-1987 0.0

This is an astounding list. In 37 years, the Royals came up with eight players that would last the equivalent of just one season in the major leagues, barely one every five years – two in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, two in the 1990s, and two in 2000. And it’s actually worse than that, because only three of those players amassed even 4 bWAR – the equivalent of basically two league-average seasons – in their careers.

Over 37 years, the best Latin American player the Royals developed who made a contribution to the team was Hipolito Pichardo. That is one of the most astoundingly depressing facts about the franchise that I’ve ever written, and I’ve written a lot of astoundingly depressing facts.

Good luck this year guys, except your 4 games against the Cards.:)

It will be nice to have you meet Mr. Ventura. HAHAHAHAHA

Ump having a career night. 9 caught looking so far

Escobar just hit the ball so hard that he knocked the shortstop over!

LMAO

Royals manager Ned Yost said Tuesday that he expects Omar Infante (elbow) to be ready for Opening Day.


Infante admitted that his elbow was still bothering him during a minor league game Tuesday, but Yost was pleased overall. "He played five innings, made two plays at second, had five at-bats, walked and scored from first on a double, so he looked good," Yost said. "Everything went well." Infante will play in another minor league game Wednesday before serving as a DH in a Cactus League game Thursday. "If he does good in all that, we're going to fly him to Milwaukee and let him play in both of those exhibition games and be ready for Opening Day," Yost said.
Source: Royals.mlb.com
Mar 25 - 11:05 PM

I'm really starting to worry about who the backup infielder will be for Infante/Esky. I don't think Valencia can play all the spots, can he?

Ciriaco didn't look good in the field last night.

So, it looks like MLB.tv will not be showing opening day games.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index...date=3/31/2014
This doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I understand MLB wants butts in the seats, but I don't live in the Royals media mkt. That's why I watch Royals games on MLB.tv!!

Pretty irrelevant, IMO. They have the Omaha pipeline up the road during half their games. As long as you can get through one game of Infante playing SS (if Escobar goes down) and Valencia or Moose playing 2B (if Infante goes down, then it's not really a pressing question. For that matter, I heard a random mention at some point during one of the ST telecasts that Yost thinks Moose can still play a decent SS in a pinch, if need be (he was drafted as a SS).

Point is...none of these are "great" options...they're just one-game emergency options. They HAVE indicated that if they wanted to give Escobar a game off, they put Valencia at 2B and Infante at SS, where he used to play as a utility guy back in the day.

And apparently, they're not broadcasting any audio/radio either...according to that page! CRAZY!!! >end sarcasm<

Dude...all the regular season game lineups/schedule are BLANK. You could calm down and think this through. They simply haven't updated their mlb.tv lineups for the start of the season. It will be on mlb.tv. Bank on it.

He just needs to play 2B for 2 or 3 days next month. It won't be pretty, but he probably won't hurt us. Infante can cover for Escobar.

I think the plan is to wait until some injury in April or early May fixes the problem for us and we can bring up someone to give them a rest in May/June. If we are blessed enough to have no position player go on the DL for the first 2 months, then thats a good problem to have.