I'd imagine he's probably gonna get some work in this series at some point as a reliever. But you're right, his confidence can't be good that Ned is avoiding the shit out of him every chance he gets.

Ned has never struck me as a fan of Mendoza.

They gave Mendoza the starting job. No reason to have his confidence shaken. And he won't pitch vs Cleveland either as that would require someone else being skipped in the rotation.

Edit - my favorite thing about Mendoza has been his ability to adjust really quickly to the different roles he has been asked to be in during the past two seasons. He doesn't strike me at all as a me first guy.

Bob Dutton ‏@Royals_Report 3h
Fox Sports Kansas City is adding Thursday afternoon's game to its schedule. Starts at 12:05 p.m. Central and features Shields vs. Verlander.

Not only having yesterday's game cancelled, but then now having Shields Vs. Verlander pitching how could they not have the game on TV? But it was originally not going to be televised.

Luis is not a good 'ole boy.

Right link: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/23...-priority.html

Dee Brown agrees

So does Bubba Starling

This sucks. I wanted to watch Shields v Verlander and it is being sloughed off to an afternoon game? :shake:

It was always a noon game and was never supposed to be a Shields vs Verlander game. We are lucky it is going to be on at all.

Cleveland is a 4-game series so Mendoza will pitch the finale.

Great Scott! How did you know that? My signature only lists the next five games. :D

Just in case anyone missed it, the game tomorrow is airing on FSKC.

http://www.foxsportskansascity.com/m...55&feedID=5089

Maybe I jumped the gun a bit by calling for Moose to go back to Omaha

:thumb:

:(

At this point, I think Moose's head is all messed up. I'd send him down and bring up Seratelli. Seratelli is batting .355 against righties while Tejada is batting .400 against lefties. I'd platoon the two at 3rd until Moose gets his head straight.

I was against sending Moose down, but I think it's time. He has zero confidence at the plate. Sit him today and then ship him off to Omaha tomorrow.

I think they'd be doing him a favor if they did that. He has to feel some guilt for costing the team games. Last night's performance was horrific.

Christ almighty I might have to start a Royals blog for myself. Every blog I read has a back handed comment about the Royals going "All In" like trying to win this year like a winning franchise is a travisty.

Platoons are good. Never understood why they're so underutilized in baseball. We still have vestiges of old traditions that die hard, and crusty managers that are stubborn to 100 years of data. Moose cannot hit LH if you told him what the pitcher was going to throw.

Back in the 70's, the Royals had some great platoon guys. Tom Poquette / Joe Zdeb and Pete LaCock / John Wathan

Royals Review is the snarkiest about this. I actually have been gravitating towards Kings of Kauffman more recently.

In addition to being more open-minded about the moves the Royals have made of late, they also have tremendous minor league coverage (not sure what has happened to Pine Tar Press, which is no longer doing its minor league recap. It is still scouting minor league pitchers though - Lamb's velo is still down, BTW. Officially time to be concerned).

I hated the trade when it was first made, mostly because I didn't look at the comparison of Odorizzi and Wade Davis correctly. I still think Davis is better over the next 5 years than Odo is over the next six (though if anyone can improve Odo's off-speed pitches and find him an out pitch, its the Rays).

If you look at it as two separate deals, I think it's illogical to complain too much. Shields for Myers + Montgomery and Davis for Odorizzi + Leonard is really the way I look at it. And those all make sense.

Montgomery is doing the same thing for the Rays so far he has for the Royals the past few years (And has only made one start... there's something they don't like there). Pat Leonard currently has a sub-.600 OPS. Odorizzi is killling it at AAA, but no more so than a year ago.

Yes, the Royals sacrificed a lot of control of Wil Myers. But it has paid off in spades so far this year, especially when combined with the efforts of Ervin Santana (a trade I liked, as did a lot on here, but most blogggers KILLED) and the re-signing of Jeremy Guthrie (a relatively cheap innings eater at the 3 spot).

I agree that platoons are underutilized.

What's sad re: Moose is that he actually is slightly better against lefties this year than righties (and was actually nearly identical in terms of OPS against them a year ago).

I never had a huge issue with the idea of sending Moose down (I think what I was saying the other day was to give it another week or so, but the error last night makes me OK with increasing that timeline. His confidence is dropping to new lows).

I still think the Royals can ill afford to send BOTH Moustakas and Hosmer down (the main thrust of my thought process the other day, and one I probably didn't articulate clearly). Especially since I maintain that Hosmer is close to pulling it together (And he put together some nice at-bats last night against Scherzer and actually barreled the ball a few times).

Duncan, What's your thoughts on Moose. Stay with him through these bad times? Send him down? If you send him down, who plays 3rd ?

Moose’s slump

In Wednesday morning’s Kansas City Star, Mike Moustakas said he thought his .158 batting average was the result of getting out on his front foot too soon. Ned Yost called it "drifting" and here’s what that means: when a hitter swings the bat, his weight shifts from back to front. If the weight shift comes too soon, the hitter has nothing behind his swing when it’s time to make contact with the ball.

The other thing that can happen is a backside collapse. Picture a stack of children’s blocks on a table. Now imagine quickly pulling the bottom block toward you; the top block would fall away from you—that’s similar to what happens to a hitter’s swing. The hitter moves to his front foot too soon and the backside—the barrel of the bat—collapses.

Now the hitter has a loop in his swing and he’s going to have a hard time keeping the barrel above a pitch up in the zone. Check out Mike’s "Hot Zones" on the ESPN website and you’ll see he’s not hitting pitches at the top of the strike zone. If his bat head is collapsing and looping—and nobody’s told me that, but they’ve been on the road for about six months so I’m having to wing it—that would also explain why Mike’s hitting weak pop flies: he’s under the ball.

At times it looked like the Tigers were attacking Mike up in the zone and until he can stay on top of those pitches, they’ll keep doing it.



http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/24...-mattered.html

Hosmer seems to be doing pretty well so far batting consistently higher in the lineup.

Ok Moose yeah whatever...go to Omaha to work it out

I'm not mad at Moose, I know he's young and trying to find himself. If my memory serves, he had a good spring, yes? I'm optimistic that he'll turn things around.

What pisses me off is Frenchy, with a total lack of discretionary batting and the swing of a little leaguer. Every time he's up to bat, GMDM kicks me in the nuts. All I do is cuss when he's on the TV screen.

Great to hear. Now get your ass to Omaha and work it out.

Moose and Frenchy batting back to back should be criminal.

When we were discussing it the other day, I was of the mindset that you give him through the weekend to show signs of life/turning it around.

Wouldn't surprise me if they rest him today and give him one more shot against the Indians this weekend.

As for who fills in... I imagine it would be some combination of Miguel Tejada and Elliott Johnson. Johnson gives you pretty elite defense at 3B. Tejada gives you a better bat, at least against LHP.

Anthony Seratelli at Omaha is an interesting guy. He's kind of an IF version of Daniel Nava for the Red Sox. Older, switch hitting guy who never has been an elite prospect but who has hit a lot through his minor league career.

He's also versatile enough that he could play some 2B or OF, which gives Yost a little more flex than just promoting David Lough (though he probably deserves it, you can't play him everyday).

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/...k-mlb-managers

• Got into an interesting debate recently with an American League executive who was extolling the impact James Shields has made on the Royals. He took a position I didn't see coming: If he had a choice of which starter he'd give a nine-figure contract to -- Shields or Zack Greinke -- he'd take … (wait for it) … Shields.

"Greinke's stuff is a little better," he said. "And on a given day, he can rise to the occasion and just dominate. But there are other days where he almost seems a little disinterested. You never have to worry about that with Shields. He's out there for one reason -- to beat you. And then there's the impact he has on a club on a daily basis. That's one thing about Greinke. He has great stuff. But he gives you none of that."

• Shields has said he's open to sticking around in Kansas City long-term. But if he's a $100 million deal waiting to happen, it's hard to find anyone who thinks the Royals could afford that contract.

Send Moose down, bring up Seratelli and give him a shot. Maybe we luck into another Aviles for a month while Moose finds himself. Like Archie said, I'm not mad at Moose. I'd hate to lose him to AAA....I think he brings the right attitude and work ethic (by all reports) to be a leader. But, at some point, you have to perform. He knows better than anyone that he's killing the team; give him a break for a few weeks and let him find the love of the game again.

Yea, Grienke doest appear to have that killer instinct.

He didnt impress me much in the playoffs with the Brewers.

Watching Moose play this terrible in key spots is the most frustrating thing of the year. At the point I can't imagine they are helping anybody by sending him out there to get dominated night after night.

My friends and I call Greinke "Zack Nebraska."

The San Diego Padres call him "Rain Man.'

This isn't Royals, but a fantastic GIF. All of Yu Darvish's pitches at once. Wicked.

http://i.minus.com/i3SXAH4AAxtWS.gif

That's pretty bad ass.

That's neat. Do they have that for other pitchers?

I don't think so. Some guy posted it on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/com...tches_at_once/

Although once this goes viral I imagine we'll see others hopefully.

amazing how good his mechanics are...his arm angle doesn't move

I saw one for Wade Davis from last night, but all the pitches went to the exact same spot...

Right down the middle of the plate.

Zimmer had 11 Ks in 4 2/3 innings last night. Also had 4 walks. Ventura had another decent outing.

Danny Duffy ‏@DannyDuffy805 19m
On Royals website on phone at dinner. Girl walks up, "Oh that team sucks! Haha!!!" i look up, no joke.. "You smell terrible"

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah! get em in 10 innings...rub that win in with 4 extra runs.

I simply could not believe how far Gordo cranked that ball in THAT weather. James Shields owes him a favor.

Happy 20 year anniversary Hal McRae rant.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kamDqL-AGzI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Is there a radio station that broadcasts EVERY Royals game, that is accessible on the internet? (And on the TuneIn android app)

He owes him nothing. He was already off the hook.

Only through MLB. Unless you want to go the illegal route. If so, someone else will have to help you out. It's pretty cheap for the year if you just want radio though.

Go to royals.com, find the radio affilates and start searching for the radio stations in the small towns in Kansas. You will find one that doesn't turn off their internet stream.

That's a shame. There aren't any local radio stations that Atleast have home games?

Yikes, that early in the season, eh?

Im pretty sure 610 am in Kansas City has every game.

Thanks ill try them.

Just watching the highlights of yesterdays game. 4th inning called strike to martinez and he argues a bit it looks like but then looks like he starts talking to shields and big Salvi looks like he says you don't want any part of us. There are no announcers in the mlbtv highlights so just wondering what the announcers were saying, any further details?

I know their station broadcast does, but I've tried their internet stream a few times this year that didn't include the broadcast. Worth checking into though.

Hopefully they DO broadcast the games via the internet. I'll Look into it.

They turn the stream off during games.

Seriously, just download the At Bat app on your phone and pay the $20. It's completely worth it.

I might. But due to the timezone difference, it may not be worth it.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/...affiliates.jsp
Start googling the radio stations in Kansas on that list. You will find one with an internet stream.

When I'm at my pc I will. Cheers.

In the past I've had some success with small stations forgetting to cut their stream, but you can't really count on it.

Yeah I had one for awhile. They eventually caught on. I doubt you'll find one.

I do a search for Royals on TuneIn, and try to find one of the stations that's carrying it. I've never had consistent success with any one station (I want to say KFEQ has been the most reliable, but that was last year), but I also usually can find at least one.

Also, I have NO IDEA if this is at all accurate, but my anecdotal experience is that I have more luck on my mobile than on desktop PC. That could be because I usually look for a stream on firstrow or vipbox if I'm in front of the computer, but just FYI.

Either way you are listening so what is the difference? You can get a reliable stream for every game through at bat. Other benefits are you can listen to Royals announcers or the opponents announcers which can be fun. Or you can just buy the season for like $100 and actually watch them play. Have you ever gotten to watch a game?

In case it hasn't been posted here...

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/4/26/42...jeff-francoeur

Live? No. On the internet? Yes.

I think this year proves that to win you need to increase the payroll but you can win by not outspending but by how you spend your money.

The real disparity lies in how long you can hang on to your players & how you can cover your mistakes by outspending them.

I know....duh!

Is there going to be another game in this series?

We have a game tonight with them. Time to win this series!

Ah that's good. I wasn't sure because I didn't know there could be 4 games in a series.

Raul is really starting to turn it on in Lexington.

Justin Trapp is also hitting fairly well in Wilmington, I don't hear much about him. Does he have a legit chance to make it to the bigs?

Raul...or his son?

I believe the son is now going by Raul, I could be mistaken though.

In hindsight, we could have used Hochevars stellar Game 1 work in Game 2. Oh well.

There is confusion about what name he is going by right now. MiLB lists him by his legal name (which is Raul). Most other places familiar with him are still using Adalberto.

His hitting has been picking up, which is impressive. I'll still say that Mondesi's stat line is less important than the scouting report, but if he puts up a .750 OPS at 17/18 in full season ball and all else remains the same (i.e. shortstop defense still shows as MLB-level, shows the advanced instincts), you're talking about a guy who is a top 25 prospect in baseball.

Also noticed in Lexington... Bubba Starling had a nice week with the bat, severely cutting his K rate and hitting the ball with a lot more consistency.

.280/.357/.560 SLG slash line, with 2 HR last week. Only 6 Ks in 25 ABs (which is still a lot, but not for Starling and not dangerously high).

If Starling continues to hit at this level for the rest of the season, it starts to become more believable/likely that his early struggles with the bat were, in fact, due to the new approach they worked on with him over the spring and him adjusting to it.

It's a step in the right direction. Hopefully it continues.

Any news on Duffy and Paulino's recovery?