I don't get need picks in baseball. You literally have so many sources for obtaining the right pieces at the major league level and you are projecting so far out. Take the best prospect you can sign.

I just threw up..............:doh!:

To slightly defend the front office... which I've done before on that pick... the 2010 draft had 3 clear players who were a cut above everyone else (Manny Machado, Jameson Taillon and Bryce Harper). The Royals picked 4th.

There were about 15 players who were considered options at that spot (By MLB, not by the Royals), so it was a tough pick to have (kind of like having No. 2 in 2007 after David Price, or No. 5 in 2012). Drew Pomeranz and Yasmani Grandal were probably the most common consensus as the next-best guys available.

Matt Harvey had some buzz, but there was some industry fatigue with North Carolina products after the lack of success of Andrew Miller and Alex White.

Chris Sale was viewed as the guy with perhaps the best stuff, but he had played at a small school and there were (And still are, honestly) severe concerns about his ability to hold up as a starting pitcher.

The Royals decided to go safe with a guy they thought had a high MLB floor (as no worse than Placido Polanco) and could play a solid SS or Gold Glove-level 2B. He also fit into a position that was an extreme organizational hole, so that worked, too.

Obviously, it has not worked. Sounds like the Royals have a two-week hole to fill... could do worse than Colon at this point. Maybe MLB action is the jump he needs to get back on track... it's unlikely but stranger things have happened.

I hear ya

Assuming Infante is out an extended period of time could to make Gordon/Aoki work at the top of the lineup?

I'm going to elbow drop puppies if Alcides is in the 2 hole.

"Andy McCullough ‏@McCulloughStar 3m

Infante has a sprained jaw, required 6 stitches and has a "non-concussive head injury." He'll be evaluated for 48 hours before DL decision."

good news

How long would the recovery from the bone spur surgery take? Should he just go ahead and get it out of the way, now, if he's out anyway?

Chris sale bases his fashion around Stephen Kings book Thinner.

Great news

Well seeing as this may just be a few games, it wouldnt be close to the same time frame.

That is very good news.

If the jaw is not broken and he does not have a concussion, I'd bet he isn't even DLed.

When I was 12, I took a baseball off the orbital ridge above my eye from my second baseman (i was playing SS during warm ups and was turning to take the "balls in" throw from the OF... my 2B chose that moment to rocket a final double play turn practice toss at me, which drilled me above my left eye). No concussion, nothing broken.

I was fine after 3-4 days (had stitch marks around my eyebrow, which my then-girlfriend thought was cool).

Now, granted, that was a baseball that was probably throw 50 MPH (from about 15 feet away) rather than a ball thrown 90 from 60... but it also hit me in a much more sensitive area.

I had no idea anyone outside the porn industry could sprain their jaw......

IDK, he's a likeable guy. I think everyone wanted him to succeed, he was the big piece of the youth movement with Hosmer. Not sure who he even compares to now at the big league level. Maybe Andy Marte.

Since his jaw isn't broken, I assume Infante won't feel the need to go all Al Cowens on Heath Bell next time he faces him.

heh



The long reign of “Friends In Low Places” at Kauffman Stadium is over.




Garth Brooks’ ‘Friends In Low Places’ eliminated in voting for new Royals’ sixth-inning song


Garth Brooks’ 1990 single was defeated on Monday night as part of the first round of the Royals’ contest to find a new sixth-inning anthem.

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” received more votes than Brooks’ song on Monday.

The contest to determine the new sixth-inning song will end in June.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/08...#storylink=cpy

Thank god

Boy, that will be a disheartening song to hear when we are out of contention in August :evil: I can't get my hopes up this early after last year's double groin kick from the Chiefs/Royals.

One awful song replaces another.

I'd listen to a recording of you singing Brittney Spears' "Toxic" if it got that ****ing Garth song shit canned at the game.

It's going to be YMCA or Dancing Queen or some other shit like that.

This town will go for the ****ing shit Bon Jovi song.

That's what I'm betting on.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xFrGuyw1V8s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dancing queen got beat out Sunday by Centerfieb

I went to the Sporting game on Saturday (first time, friends asked my wife and I to go and they had club seats, so we went).

As expected, there were a lot of things about the fan experience that were far superior to the K. (the product still sucks, 0-0 tie, woo soccer)

This "vote on the song" thing is just a childish and weak attempt to engage some fans that really adds nothing to the experience.

It's glaring that the ownership and marketing group at SKC 'gets it' just as much as the folks in the K don't.

Thats just the song that beat it in the bracket, not the song thats replacing it.

yeah but, soccer sucks and stuff

Glass needs to sell to SKC. That said, neither he nor his son will slay that hog.

Can the SKC owners meet the MLB requirements for ownership?

Yes. At least two members of that group are wealthier than Glass. The combined net worth of the entire group is likely between $7-10 billion.

I don't see why not, as written.

Christ..

Was not aware. Thanks.

That estimate might be a little bit high... was thinking Illig and Patterson had both been estimated at around $3.5 billion. Know they've been in the billionaires club since the middle of the past decade, and all Cerner has done since then is explode.

Figure the other three guys are bringing SOMETHING to the table, too...

easily. They would be one of the wealthiest ownership groups in baseball.

Its also no secret that they are Royals fans. The SKC guys reportedly go to several games a year.

I wish Glass would sell to someone who gave a shit about being competitive.

Final naive question . Do MLB rules prohibit cross ownership with an MLS franchise?

here's to hoping they can afford to make the Glass boys die of "natural causes"

Why don't they make glASS an offer he can't refuse.

nope. Some MLB, NBA, and NFL owners also have at least partial ownership of a MLS team.

The Cerner guys became a viable possibility only recently. Before they came along, there was really nobody for Glass to sell to and be assured of keeping the team in KC. Every other wealthy KC family doesn't give a damn about sports.

I don't buy the whole "I can't sell the team and be assured it would stay in KC," spin. Glass has been terrible for the team.

For 20 years he has been a vampire, sucking every last penny out. Now that he has demolished the fanbase, he is putting in just enough to break even and stir up enough interest to get a few more cashflow heartbeats out of the dead rotting corpse that is Royal's baseball. Then he'll die and leave it to his son to sell to whomever.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Asked who his backup SS is, Ned Yost said &quot;You,&quot; meaning me. Holy crap, you guys. The Royals are screwed.</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/453639184004050944">April 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Why not bring up Colon and send down one of our worthless relievers?

Fine, but you are wrong.

No one else was willing to buy the team unless they could relocate, and everyone in KC (until recently) who could afford the team didn't care about sports and didn't want it.

Because it would cost them $400M. At 10% interest that's 40m they'd have to find in savings on revenue of 130m. That can come from two sources: Slashing payroll 40m or raising revenue 40m. If people want lower payrolls or higher prices they should want Cerner

So you would presume to know all of the potential suitors to purchase the Royals in the last 20 years? Seems to be a lofty assumption.

Indications are that the Glass family is not willing to sell at this time.

"Would love for them to pick up the phone" is something I've heard the SportingClub guys say in the past, when interviewed.

So where is the 25% increase in ticket prices being spent?

I imagine they'd look at the team as another long-term investment and focus more on doing well over 10 years and 20 years than on balancing the purchase price immediately. That's what they've done with SKC.

Assuming they'd have to slash $40 million from payroll is going a bit far, I think.

For one thing, it assumes it's true the Royals are losing money last year/this year on payroll.

For another, it assumes they wouldn't improve the fan experience and drive attendance up. From what I've seen, I have no doubt that group would make sure it made the K a more fun, attractive environment and increase attendance and revenue.

Finally, those guys seem savvy enough to realize that the No. 1 factor for being profitable is winning and having good perception in your community. Buying the team and immediately slashing $30 million from the payroll would hurt your bottom line because it depresses excitement.

Even if they're trying to break even on the overall balance sheet, I don't think you'd see those guys chopping payroll into the $50-60 million area.

Seriously, though.

What do they do in that situation?

If Valencia goes down, I mean. Not Escobar.

Move Gordon to 3rd and Moose to 2nd? Legitimate question.

What else can be done to enhance the fan experience? What do the people want? (besides a consistent winner)

My wife and I love going to just sit and watch the game so it is hard for me to perceive what others would want as part of the experience.

1) Win
2) Stop doing cheesy shit like "random 6th inning manufactured song tradition contest"
3) Be active and engaged in the community
4) Improve the ballpark experience (top notch customer service, great concessions)
5) Build traditions (you can't tell me they can't find something similar to the cauldron to build a tradition in an outfield section. Do it based on the Royals and not on an individual player or something)

Just quick things that come to mind. Winning is most important.

Far fewer would go to SKC games if they were losing 3-0 every week.

Payroll.

Develop a star, which hopefully we'll see the beginnings of tonight. Greinke was a fairly decent draw on some shit teams. Also, how about somebody hit it over the wall with some consistency, that brings people out.

I know you are passionate about this, but I gotta pick this apart a little bit. #1 seems to be the only thing needed in your list, and thats not exactly easy.

Just about everyone does #2. Doing #2 does not harm attendance at all. I don't think #3 would do much. They are fine on 4 and 5. The concessions are good, and I don't think there's anything inherently superior with doing something unique in a section that doesn't involve a player vs does involve a player. If SKC was a losing team, the cauldron would be lifeless and dorky, just like Gordonation.

If the team wins almost every year, that would fix everything.

1 - That is obvious and is the most important, but I was thinking what else.
2 - I don't think that keeps people from coming. Do you? You don't have to stop that in order to add other things.
3 - That would help. I am not sure how or in what way that is accomplished. Any ideas?
4 - They have definitely been trying that and I think with some success. People really enjoy the outfield. Lowering the cost of food would be something that I would think would increase attendance though.
5 - The Frenchy quarter? You didn't like that?!!

#2, it's not literally keeping people from coming... but their marketing is shit... shit shit... and isn't helping AT ALL. The appeal this team\club has is that it's the hometown team that has been here for the majority if not all of our lives. And that's hand wrapped and delivered for them... no effort on their part.

#3, having experienced SKC the past couple of years... holy shit does it make a difference. SKC was not a consistent, proven commodity when they built that stadium... they were a decent team... but not an elite team... The Ownership showed passion, ingenuity in their marketing... They engaged with Fans.. they promoted themselves as fans alongside.. and that completely lit a fire under this fanbase to immediately draw sellout after sellout once rebranded with the new stadium.. This ownership group is ridiculously intelligent and I have little doubt in my mind that they would make the entire Royals experience a freaking hot ticket in this town... with. out. a. doubt.

#4 Lowering the cost of food isn't really necessary... if you're at a game for 4 hours drinking beer... people are going to spend money on food.. especially if they are enjoying themselves... There are 100's of other things you can do....

With the interactive phone app... you sign into your seat in the stadium by scanning the barcode on your seat... then you can play games, do trivia, etc against others in the stadium... you can Order food delivered directly to your seat, paid for by your membership card. You can order a jersey from the shop, and someone will bring it to your seat for you. A freaking members Bar in the stadium... for pre-game warmup and post-game celebrations. Mind you these members are the CHEAPEST ticket on in the place. The Owner will actually hang out with the freaking fans before games. They'll get appearances from players etc. They have watch parties for away games in the club. etc.... Cutting edge shit like that, where SKC just takes it above and beyond. It engages everyone and makes you not just a spectator... but a part of the whole experience and organization. It's ****ing amazing. Imagine this shit with the Royals... My first love.

I've said this many times, but I think that having the Royals be on TV for nearly every home game hurts gate attendance. It wasn't t that way when I was growing up there. You had to listen to them on the radio or actually go to the games.

Especially in a small market like the KC area.

Win, which gets more fans to the games. More fans = more excitement.

Problem then is it's out of sight, out of mind in this day and age. Maybe you're right though.

I'd certainly have no qualms if Glass sold the team to the right person. I don't believe we'd magically be fighting the Phillies and and Red Sox in the payroll wars though. It might help boost attendance because of Glass' reputation though.

But even then, the most important thing is hiring competent baseball people. Glass has spent more than enough to put a winner on the field over the last decade, and spent more than almost anyone on the draft. There are multiple teams it seems almost every year making the playoffs while spending less money. The A's, Rays, Pirates... etc. I believe the Rockies spent less than KC when they went to the Series. On and on.

Yea, understand. You cant go back.

Plus, theres alot more competition now for entertainment dollars than back in the 70s and 80s that the Royals have to contend with. Maybe they just havent aged well?

Of course, winning cures all........

You did a much better job than I did describing some of the great things SKC does that I think would be huge and helpful factors in boosting the fan attendance.

You're obviously far more familiar than I am with SKC. I'll never be a fan because I just don't dig "major" league soccer (that is the equivalent of High A baseball or MAC football), and I don't like soccer enough as a sport to enjoy lower level comp.

But I was still blown away by the atmosphere they've created there and the small touches that line things up so well for the fans.

Good thing Moose was soo good in March.

Mike Marchtacos.

http://i.imgur.com/ld8cCuS.png

9 hits, 0 runs. Nice offense, what losers.

Yeah, they were pretty horrendous tonight.

This makes me want to cry

Go ahead and pencil in the same record as last year. Same ****ing team so far as I can tell.

Didn't Ned say after the close of the 2012 season that he wanted to hit more home runs....you don't say?

TV for today's abortion?

It shows on FSKC for UVerse here in KC @ 1 PM

Checked FSKCs website and they have the game on their schedule.

Thanks guys.

Abortion is certainly the right word.

I hate being a sourpuss fan, but the Royals really have a way of pissing in your cereal early. I think the thing that drives me the most crazy is letting Bonifacio go for no reason. Having him would allow us to bench or demote Moose, stick Valencia at 3rd, and have a credible 2B in Infante's absence. The move made no sense at the time and only looks worse now.
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It also created a real roster construction problem in that it became extremely hard to carry 12 pitchers and a utility infielder when you're carrying 5 OF and have two 1B/DH only guys. Throw in a backup catcher, and you've spent 21 of your 25 roster spots on P, OF, C, 1B and DH. Leaves you with 3 IF starters and one reserve IF.

Would have been better off carrying Bonifacio instead of Dyson or Valencia, honestly.

I beat the Boni over Dyson drum pretty hard in Jan. and Feb. This roster mess is Dayton Moore's creation.

It's very hard to carry 5 true OF and make a roster work when you also have two 1B/DH only types on your squad.

They have a decent UTIL infielder on the roster, the 2B probably makes the play on Loney's RBI single in the 9th.

Why did we let Boni go again?

Too much of this...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

For someone they apparently were concerned would pout in a backup role.

There's no way for us to know if Bonifacio truly was going to be a malcontent if relegated to a backup role, but considering the injury history of Cain and Infante and Moustakas's complete ineptness against LHP (and in general), it should have been pretty easy to sell Boni on the idea of getting two starts a week in the OF and 2-3 starts a week at 2B/3B.

Is there a history of that with Bonifacio? I seriously don't know.

Wouldn't Boni be starting in Infante's absence ?