Depends upon how you gage "out of shape". If they were both training for Fraternity Beer Chugging Titles, I'd say they both came in as peek level performers.........

Couple that with the rumor that Moose won't put in extra time in the hitting cages scares me the most. Butler, he is always going to be that shape.

I didn't hear that rumor. I heard he doesn't like watching tape/video/breaking down his swing that way, but likes hitting in the cage quite a bit.

He's pretty old school in his approach in general, so hitting in the cage makes sense.

You are correct.

Just ran my simulator 25 times for the hell of it:

n=25

Royals AL Central Finish

Division Champs: 8
2nd: 13
3rd: 4
4th: 0
Dead f'ing Last: 0

Playoffs

Made it: 16
Didn't make it (includes losing a 163rd game): 9

Lost Wild Card Game: 4
Lost ALDS: 7
Lost ALCS: 0
Lost World Series: 2 (swept by the Braves, lost to the Braves in 5)
Won World Series: 3 (swept the Pirates, beat the Braves in 5, beat the Dodgers in 7)

Hmmm... my simulator may be a little too optimistic for the Royals.

By the way, that is pretty ****ing cool. REP

Thanks, still bored on my lunch hour. Gonna run one more season and show all the details, no matter what happens. Ready... and, go:

DET 102-60
KC 76-86
CLE 71-91
CWS 70-92
MIN 67-95

ALW: TEX
ALE: BOS
Wild Card #1: OAK
Wild Card #2: TB

Well, that was anticlimactic. No playoffs to simulate, and in this particular season the AL Central really sucked and Detroit kicked all our asses. Oh, well.

Kansas City Royals Appreciate Jeremy Guthrie’s Team-Friendly Move

January 24, 2014 12:36 pm EST by Doug LaCerte
Jeremy Guthrie
Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
One of the bigger Kansas City Royals stories I missed during my sports-related dark period involves patience, understanding and camaraderie. It’s a pretty darn uplifting thing to write about, especially compared to the usual up-and-down rigors of the MLB offseason and especially compared to the incredibly upsetting way the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season ended which I’m still not totally over.
Thanks to things like the recent news about Jeremy Guthrie, though, I’m slowly working through it.
On the Jan. 13, the Royals announced that Guthrie worked with them to restructure his contract in order to free up $3 million for 2014′s payroll. The team’s GM Dayton Moore explained specifics to local media and then gave the vaguest of vague explanations as to why the restructuring was used to save money this season. “We’re looking to maximize our payroll the best way we can,” Moore said.
This restructuring of the veteran righty’s contract will surely be well-appreciated by fans and management alike. Guthrie now joins former Royals ace Gil Meche as guys who will be remembered for helping out their team in special and selfless ways. Moves like this breed confidence as players buy into the team’s ability to succeed enough to make sacrifices for it. This may seem overstated for a subtle rearranging of millions of dollars (and an additional $200,000), but Guthrie went out of his way to improve the team’s chances at winning right now. That warrants a non-sarcastic tip of the cap in any regard.
Whatever Moore’s murky quote will portend remains to be seen. The recent news regarding Masahiro Tanaka keeps KC’s chances of signing a high-profile pitcher remote. I hope I’m wrong, but as of now I assume that $3 million isn’t enough to make a splash in the soon-to-be-ravenous, post-Tanaka pitching market.
Doug LaCerte is a writer for Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DLaC67, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.

Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2014/0...IxlYT74eEgg.99

NEG REP:evil:

Just for laughs, let me see how many seasons it takes before the Twins make the simulated playoffs...

After 200 seasons, still no playoffs...

edit: 500 seasons, they finished 2nd twice but still no playoffs for the Twins.

edit2: finally happened, in season #512, and boy the AL Central is a flaming train wreck in that season.

MIN 83-79
KC 80-82
CLE 76-86
DET 75-87
CWS 63-99

KC's 2014 ZiPS projections are out.

It seems to say that our lineup will be decent and the bullpen will be solid, but they are far less optimistic about our rotation than we are.

I never place much stock in these things, anyway.

Hitting projections rarely make logical sense. For example, where do they get the projection that Aoki's BA will fall 6 points off his career average and his OBP will drop 20 points?

The Vargas projection is especially bad.

Uncle Hud was on 610 for an hour today. He said he was going to try to be a little calmer this year. Yeah, right...

Its not just his manic craziness, the guy just seems... well... dumb. He adds nothing. Being calm might actually hurt him because I think all he adds to the broadcast is his frenzied style.

Any truth in the rumor that Hud was in the car with dime bag?