Thanks. I found it a few minutes ago using that new Google search thingamajigger.

I appreciate you tracking it down as well though

Side note:

I'd highly recommend Memphis in May/the Memphis Music Festival to ANYONE.

We had a tremendous, debauchery-filled time. Kind of like Detroit on its weekend trip to KC.

We all know you didn't go to Memphis and were just sitting in your basement dodging CP and the Royals Repository :D

Wow. That was just masterful. I wish Dayton would spend a few minutes reading that. He could stand a lesson in reality.

I figured he finally completely lost it with the Kim Anderson hiring and he killed somebody.

That hire would make me want to off myself, not others.

Being a Mizzou/Chiefs/Royals fan is awesome. Thanks, Dad.

Why blame your dad? I am Missouri native and I chose to root for KU. It's a choice Duncan. You don't have to love teams who don't love you back. I blame only myself for rooting for the Royals.


That said if I may toot my own horn: I said 79 wins based mostly on us not feasting 15-4 on Minny again. That's all it takes to cut our win total down. We are already 2-4 vs that shit team.

You really should force yourself to watch a few Sporting games. It's refreshing to see a team constructed to compete for a championship. I also root for the three teams listed above, and it's just a completely different feeling to watch a team that actively recognizes its weaknesses and improves year after year. For a couple seasons (ie, 2012 and 2013), it looked like they were falling into the curse the above-mentioned teams (save the Royals) have all been dealt, always making it to the doorstep of greatness, but always being a "day late and a dollar short". Thanks to |Zach|, I was able to see a championship in person, which may be unlikely from the other teams, at least in my lifetime (or so it seems).

Gtfo with your Sharting Kansas City nonsense. Soccer is for 8 year olds

I have been to a Sporting game.

I just can't get really into soccer... especially something that I know is the equivalent of A baseball on the world stage (or basically a half-step up from the T-Bones).

Championships are cool and all, but when you're talking about the 8th or 9th best league in the world... I just can't get super excited about.

It's on royalsreview. They're complaining about fans not being appreciative enough for what they've done so far (which is nothing much).

Because I'm not a bandwagon fan who just roots for teams because they're good?

Did you at least go to school there? Or are you another t-shirt fan?

I'm not going to root for a football or baseball team that isn't local. So that leaves Royals and Chiefs (I liked the Cardinals/loved the Royals until spending 8 years living around Cardinals fan at Mizzou/in St. Louis. Still like and respect the team, but hate their t-shirt, front-runner fans. Note: This does not include all fans or passionate fans, with whom I enjoy talking baseball.)

And I'm certainly going to root for my alma mater in college sports. Guys that have "secondary" teams or that root for a team other than their alma mater are front runners. And I'd rather not watch sports than be that (that's what was ingrained in me by my family, my dad included. I'm a 4x legacy graduate of Mizzou).

But they had the top farm system four years ago!

And broke .500 in year 7!

That whining stuff from "Unnamed Royals official" is just infuriating. And indicative of Moore's failure in removing the last vestiges of loser culture from the organization.

Moral victories are for losers.

Double-A (transitioning to Triple-A) is probably a better comparison competition-wise.

The league is littered with guys who could easily play for teams in the mid- to lower levels of the premier league.

Maybe you could try mixing in some of the individual combat sports as well, like MMA or boxing? I've got KU during the Winter, so I can't imagine how it feels to be Kansas/Chiefs/Mizzou, but I agree with your stance against front-running.

One thing thats been a welcome respite from the endless pain of Royals baseball in the summer for me is seeing the occasional interesting UFC card, especially when one or more of my favorite fighters are on it.

I'm not a huge soccer buff, but what I've been told by friends is that it's about the 8th or 9th best league in the world.

For Baseball:

1.MLB
2.AAA
3. NPL (Japan)
4. AA/KBO (Korea - maybe slots better at High-A)
6. A+
7. College baseball
8. A ball
9. Independent A ball (Frontier, etc)
10. Rookie ball

I'd rather not watch sports than watch UFC.

I love baseball/football/basketball... but other than that... well, I have other interests and things on which to spend my time.

::cough:: Dan Glass ::cough::

I don't mind secondary teams as long as there is a sound reason. For example, I have a secondary team in college (Michigan State) who I would root for in a majority of situations because it's my dad's alma mater. I would never root for them against my own alma mater but it does give me some other rooting interests when they're not playing. I also doubt many would say rooting for MSU is a front runner position.

Similarly, I lived in the Northwest for about half my life so I became somewhat of a Seahawks fan (even when they sucked). I would still root for the Chiefs in any situation but at least I was able to somewhat enjoy the Super Bowl win (especially because it was against the Broncos). It's not the same as a Chiefs win would be but it was still pretty nice to be rooting for a winner for once.

As I have gotten older the appeal of being completely invested in a specific college team has worn off. Being born and raised in Kansas sort of just leaves you as a KU fan, especially with the consistent winning of the basketball program. But it is hard to get really worked up about teenagers and kids in their early 20s the way I used to when I was younger.

I root for them and am happy for them when they win, but I don't find it necessary to watch every game, get too excited after a win, or get too low after a loss. College sports are much more appealing to me now for the competitive and athletic aspect in general, across all teams, as opposed to being solely invested in one team.

I would never feel that way about the Chiefs and Royals. I just can't quit them, not that I would want to though.

I have no secondary teams. I grew up in KC

College - Kansas State - my alma mater
MLB - Royals
NFL - Chiefs
NBA - Bulls - I lived there for years, and KC no longer has a franchise
NHL - Blackhawks - same as the above.

After that, all other teams can drink from an AIDS fountain.

It might be because half my formative years were in the Midwest while the other half were in the Northwest. And you couldn't watch the Chiefs/Royals in the NW back then.

College -Texas A&M - my alma mater (Michigan State - family school)
MLB - Royals (Mariners - although I follow them less than I do the Seahawks)
NFL - Chiefs (Seahawks)
NBA - Blazers, I guess. Don't really care about the NBA
NHL - don't care at all.

That isn't really the definition of a front runner as I see it. Some people probably have the Chiefs and Royals as secondary teams. I don't think anyone would accuse them of being front runners.

I'm just tired of Glass and Dayton remaining so silent. I mean, how can they find this crap acceptable? put some ultimatums on your team.

It would be different if this was only the 2nd or 3rd year of a rebuild. expectations were to make the playoffs, not just be happy your at the MLB level.
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When Moore ISN'T remaining silent, he's just doing something that moves the goalposts.

It's like he doesn't understand that there is a record of the things he said in years past on the internet.

Given his lack of understanding and the application of baseball metrics, are we sure he truly understands how the internets work;)

The farm system was such a barren dumpster fire when DM was hired, that in my view it was basically impossible for the Royals to win in the first 3 years, no matter what.

So, I'm treating this as basically the 3rd year where its fair to judge the GM. That said, the first year we lost, the second year we traded Wil Myers for 2 years of Shields and won 86 games but failed to make the playoffs, and so far this year isn't very encouraging, so I'm not going to bother defending him unless we make the playoffs.

edit: we're in much better shape now, so if Glass were to hypothetically fire DM after this year or in 2015, I'd start judging the new GM's W/L results immediately.

I'm an alum. And yes, everyone roots for their school obv. My point on that was there are many regional choices on where to attend college or who to root for....but only 1 choice for MLB or NFL. You and I were born into that mess no doubt. It's very frustrating.


The Royals are my favorite team and its my favorite pro sport which makes it worse. For those on the board who marginally follow them it's not that annoying but for me at least, I can't fathom why we suck for decades on end. The laws of probability would make this run of suck hardly do-able.

College - Kansas, went to school there
MLB - Royals
NFL - Chiefs, used to be the Cowboys. (My dad is a Cowboys fan, so I legitimately could have went that way, but sometime in high school I decided to switch because the Chiefs were local, and once I switched, it was for good, none of this having a favorite NFC team nonsense. I no longer care about Dallas)
NBA - don't care, won't follow it even if KC gets a team
NHL - don't care, won't follow it even if KC gets a team

http://msn.foxsports.com/kansas-city...dressed-050614

'Frustrated' Moore says Royals' poor offensive approach has been addressed


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals general manager Dayton Moore sees the same thing Royals fans are seeing -- a team that is just not producing enough runs to reach its expectation of being a playoff contender.

"I'm as frustrated as anyone," Moore told FOXSportsKansasCity.com by phone. "It's very simple why we're not winning as much as we should be -- we're getting plenty of base runners but just not driving them in.

"(Monday) was another example. What did we have, 19 base runners? That's a game we dominated but couldn't get enough runs home. Our ability to get runs home has to improve. Period."

As the Royals' slide reached five games Monday night, the question becomes: What can Moore do to help the situation?

A trade seems unlikely at this point.

"There's not a lot you can do because there aren't a lot of players available (for a trade) right now," Moore said. "And I still have a lot of faith in the guys we have."


And Moore isn't about to swap out hitting coaches again. After firing Kevin Seitzer after the 2012 season and then reassigning Seitzer's replacements -- Jack Maloof and Andre David -- last May, Moore plans on sticking with hitting coach Pedro Grifol for now.

"It's the players who have to be accountable," Moore said. "And they are and they will be. I know Pedro and Ned (Yost) are working on (the hitters') approach all the time. That approach has to get better, too.

"It's quite simple for us. We need to be having our best at-bats when it matters most, when runners are in scoring position, and that's not happening now."

The Royals are hitting just .241 with runners in scoring position. With two outs and RISP, the number is even more grim -- .211.

"That's the time when, as a group, you have to concentrate and come up with your best at-bat," Moore said. "I get that we want to be aggressive and make things happen. But you also have to be selective and wait for your pitch to do some damage. That's not happening right now."

One area that likely will change immediately is the Royals' penchant for hacking at 3-0 pitches. The Royals now have swung at six 3-0 pitches and have just one hit, a seeing-eye single by Nori Aoki. The five other swings actually have resulted in six outs -- one swing produced a double play.

"The results of that are unacceptable," Moore said firmly. "That (situation) has been addressed. Pedro and Ned understand that."

Another area where Moore wants to see improvement is the team's pattern of swinging at pitches out of the zone. The Royals, according to FanGraphs, swing at an above-average rate (30.4 percent) of pitches outside the zone, which is never a good idea for a team that is last in the league in homers (13) and has a woeful .307 on-base percentage (13th out of 15 AL teams).

"That has been addressed, too," Moore said. "Pedro and Ned are working with the hitters every day on their approach, whether it's being ahead in the count, having two strikes on you, or whatever.

"But sure, we know it has to get better. I still believe this group of guys will hit."


Overall, Moore said the team hasn't really come close to playing the type of baseball he anticipated.

"We're just not there right now," he said. "This is not the start we expected. If you look at the whole, we're getting very good starting pitching. (James) Shields and (Jason) Vargas had a couple of rough starts over the weekend, but that's normal regression. It will build back up.

"The bullpen, for the most part, has been good to very good. They've given up runs, but all bullpens give up runs at some points. The bullpen has been strong.

"What has held us back has been the inability to produce runs with runners in scoring position. Once that gets better, we'll get better. It's early May -- a lot of baseball left."

As for the team's rough 0-5 start in May and any comparisons to the 8-20 May from a year ago, Moore said: "We're just not playing well right now. It has nothing to do with the calendar. But we need to start getting some wins right now."

You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;It&#39;s very simple why we&#39;re not winning as much as we should be -- we&#39;re getting plenty of base runners but just not driving them in.&quot;</p>&mdash; Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) <a href="https://twitter.com/jazayerli/statuses/463735567616733184">May 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Royals currently rank 13th in the American League in OBP.</p>&mdash; Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) <a href="https://twitter.com/jazayerli/statuses/463735707014406144">May 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Gordo Nation!
Fireworks Fridays!
All You Can Eat Seats!
Salute the A's Night!
Buck Night!
Kids Run the Bases!
Sunday Jesus Concerts!

How can you not be happy? What exactly do you expect from a Major League Baseball Team?

ROFL @ the rany tweet. fark.

"OBP? What kind of advanced metric is that?" /Dayton Moore

I'm a little more worried after reading that. Some of that stuff might sound good, but I've always believed that your approach at the plate should generally be consistent no matter what the situation is, with some exceptions for strategic purposes (sacrifice bunt/fly, hitting it to the right side to get a guy to 3rd, etc). If you go into an at-bat with a whole different approach just because someone's at second base, you are more likely to screw yourself up.

Yikes....that quote is pretty damn scary when you think of it.

Rany has the ability to de-pants DM at a whim. So, so sad that our GM has absolutely no ****ing clue about how to assess the modern game.

Rany the dude who wanted us to drop 125m on Carl Crawford?

**** you, Dayton Whoore.

Oh, noes, are you suggesting that an analyst doesn't get everything right all of the time????

Why should the players be accountable? You're not. You certainly don't hold that galactic ****wit Ned accountable. It's time to sit some players who are not producing.

Nobody is accountable in this organization.

That wasn't a mistake. It was a major knee slapper. That would've hamstrung our franchise for years financially. It was a terrible idea

And THAT, right there, is the problem.

Oh this is good. Ned is working with the hitters. Let's also put the space program in the hands of Chiefsshrink. God will get us to Mars.

Strike zone awareness cannot be taught at the ML level.

Even Jim Fetterolf thinks Moose should be sent down.

PATIENCE!
 

...It's a process....

It is weird that a guy like DM that loves contact hitters so much would play Moose over Gio. It's totally unlike him.

Moose was Moores first draft pick right? He's going to get every available opportunity, even if it kills the team.

Not "a" process but The Process™

Moose was the first legit Moore pick. Varying levels of belief on how involved he was in selecting Hochevar.

But it belies a bigger problem to focus on Moose: they are too loyal and have too much faith in ALL their guys.

Btw, Bubba Starling scouting reports keep getting worse. BP had something on him this morning in which he was called Drew Stubbs-lite.

And it's going to kill them. If they keep up this trend, can you see Moore getting fired and having to rebuild anew?...Again.

Yes Moose is DMs love child no doubt. But remember, Gio was drafted in the next class (Hosmers) as a second rounder so he's also DMs spawn.

Isn't this Dayton's 9th year with the club?

He was hired in 2006, but mid-season. 2007, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 is 7 years.

I could be wrong, but it feels like there is starting to be a pattern under DMs regime.

1 year where they sort of overachieve and set high expectations for the next season, followed by a down year of underachieving. Am i dreaming? Wash, rinse, repeat....

Yes, and, probably 3 years too many, IMO.

I'm tired of that short bus monkey. He's an awful GM, and I think that is tough to debate otherwise.

uh...

There shouldn't be all that much rebuilding needed. All jokes about the "best farm system ever" aside, we do still have an awful lot in the low and mid minors, and our international minor league players could be really nice. If we went with a new GM after 2014 or 2015, he should have quite a bit to work with.

If they continue to tank this season and don't clean house afterward, I'm going to bite the bullet and start rooting for an NL team. It won't be the Cardinals, but I can't take any more of this shit. I was born a month after they won the series. Some of you older guys have at least experienced what it's like to cheer for a winning baseball team. I've only ever experienced loss and heartbreak...it's ****ing taxing. When defeat becomes the expected norm and it's all you've ever known, that's an abusive relationship...and it's very quickly becoming one that I have less qualms about ending.

You're more than welcome to start rooting for the Cardinals and posting in the Cards thread. Passionate baseball fans are always appreciated.

The Royals have plenty of passionate baseball fans. All we want to for our team to love us as much as we love it.

I have a question about the Royals' hitting approach:

What is their organizational philosophy? Do they want their hitter to be patient or attack the first hittable pitch? Also, do they want their hitters to pull the ball if it's in the middle or further in, or do they want their hitters to wait until the ball is deep into the zone to drive it the other way?

Thanks.

I'll come into the thread, grab him by the hair, and drag him back to the Royals, cave-man style.

Don't come in my neighborhood and start winking at my bitches.

I think that can be assumed given the name of this website, our presence on it, their history, and the ownership status of said team.

The problem with Dayton failing is Glass. He's a ****, but he's upped the payroll for Moore and he's done nothing with it. I can't see him giving another GM anything to work with.

Seitzer was up the middle, gap to gap.

Great approach. Perfect approach. However, he, allegedly, didn't get along with Moose and Hosmer.

Currently, I'm not aware of a guiding organizational philosophy; it's a cluster****.

The Royals are the Ike Turner of the American League.

What's the actual truth, here? I've heard that he didn't get along with Yost. Then I heard he didn't get along with Moore. Now he didn't get along with Moose and Hosmer? The **** is going on here?

He was giving Sluggerrr lap dances.

The National League isn't real baseball.

Was posting on mobile and fat fingered. Meant to say 8 and just didn't see it.

I was with Al... considering what he inherited, it was going to take a long time to rebuild correctly.

Problem is, he brought some dinosaurs with him from the Braves organization to run things, and they ran them poorly.

Minor league pitching development was pretty awful at the high minors. One noted issue is that all pitchers were forced into a fastball, changeup, curveball development schedule, even if they were better suited to throw a slider, unless they were college pitchers with an established arsenal. This was Bill Fischer's regime, and it failed.

I hear better things about development under Mark Davis. Much more individual approach and much more open. I don't know that Ventura develops the same way if he spends 11, 12 and 13 working under Fischer's tent.

And the hitting approach... has been coordinated by Jack Maloof from 2008-until last year, when he had that ill-fated stint as Royals hitting coach.

Maloof is best known for his work with Tony Gwynn and is noted for contact and average work. I'd imagine that organizational philosophy is why so many Royals hitters have a hard time handling inside pitches and hitting for power. But just a guess, there.

Thankfully, Maloof is no longer the hitting coordinator (as far as I can tell).

I'll come in, take a fat nasty, and leave. Thanks for the hospitality, though.

Neither is Royals baseball, so it's convenient.

It's impossible to root for the Cards if you've ever called the Royals your team.

Too much bound up resentment and jealousy to ever make that switch.

This is also true.