Zero.

There's still one starting player in the league with a worse batting average than his.

Idk. I've got a feeling Moose is gone today.

****

@610SportsKC: #Royals Manager Ned Yost told @MLBNetwork Radio this morning that it's "unlikely" Mike Moustakas will be demoted to AAA. Your thoughts?

Not surprised, just disapointed.

Disheartening

If they cut Maxwell I am fine with it.

This is becoming a Frenchy/Getz situation so damn fast.

Frenchy must have given Mouse the incriminating photos of GMDM when he left

I really hope they have shields out there in the trade market. Moustakas has no business playing and Valencia should be starting 3rd base. I've never seen a guy struggle so bad to not be sent down

Giving up already?

Any other team, 100%. Royals 0%. Just Royals being Royal.

They would only do that if they are waaay out of it by the trade deadline.

I doubt they will be. I don't think they are bad enough. They are frustratingly mediocre, which in some ways is worse than being just plain bad.

No but if they are 10 games back close to the deadline they better field offers

Yep...they aren't good enough to win the Central and barely good enough to be in the top 5 wildcard race. This offense is putrid

The sad thing with Moose is, his hitting keeps getting worse.

He showed a lot of promise in 11-12 but just has been downhill from there. The Royals have given him every opportunity.

He's not a MLB player, he's another bust, hate to say it. He can't even hit .200

He possibly could just use a good kick in the ass that the Royals don't appear willing to provide. He has shown potential to be a good 3rd baseman in the past and had a 20 HR season. The talent is there it's figuring out how to unlock it. Some sort of change needs to happen.

How much worse does he have to be? We don't have many other very good options at third, but he's killing the team right now.

Someone posted on the KCStars board... "He would look good in a T-Bones jersey ala, Ken Harvey". ROFL

This is why they shouldn't have gotten rid of Bonofacio...valencia may be adequate at 3rd. Moustakas has to be sent down

Fine, put him on the market when they are 10 games back. You said you hoped he was on the market now, which is silly.

What's the deal with Jimmy Paredes? He's playing 3rd in Omaha. He's a switch hitter. He's batting .317 against righties and .294 against lefties. Couldn't the Royals platoon him and Valencia. Paredes against righties, Valencia against lefties? That would replace Moose's left handed bat if he's sent down.

Duncan, would love to hear your take?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Complete list of regulars with a worse weighted OPS than Moose: Nate Schierholtz, Zack Cozart, Brad Miller (not the NBA player), Jedd Gyorko</p>&mdash; Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) <a href="https://twitter.com/mellinger/statuses/466263921385426944">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Someone always has to be the worst, but you'd hope a team trying to make the playoffs could avoid having one of the 5 worst.

Gio is already up, and he's a better option right now as our plan B. Paredes might be plan D after trying Valencia full-time.

Shouldve clarified that

I can't find Gio's splits (righty versus lefty) at Omaha. But, the Royals have no lefties coming off the bench other than Dyson. Peredes would give them a left handed bat. Which, would mean more if Moose is sent down.

Man, it sure would be nice to start a winning streak, or hot streak tonight.

Gio's a better option on offense right now. The only reason we have a platoon now is because of Moose, but if the Royals are comfortable with Gio's defense at 3rd (which is an open question, I don't know if they are), then I'd rather have Gio play every day.

I'm not worried at all about having only one left-handed bat off the bench.

At this point, I would rather see Brett ".000" Hayes at 3b. Something, anything different has to be done.

"Give Moose a Special Blue Participation Ribbon, and an embossed certificate of participation he can hang in his bedroom. Take him to a nice lunch on the Plaza. Tell him that although he has disappointed us, we still love him and want him to succeed. Tell him to keep trying, hold his head up, and soon he'll be back here contributing to the organization like we know he can. Tell him he's only a few hours away, and he can bring his laundry here on weekends if he likes. Then give him a little kiss on the cheek, and put him in a very nice rental car, and let Billy Butler drive him to Omaha. I'll decide whether Billy drives the car back tonight or not." - GMDM

Fair enough. I would rather have Gio full time at 3rd than Moose. And not to kick a dead horse, but I don't believe Valencia is a full time player. He bats consistently better against lefties than righties. We're talking an average of 100 points better.

This is like the parent who refuses to discipline the child. Not that Moose needs discipline (other than the plate variety), but it's obvious to all that he needs to be demoted, needs to be dealt with, something to shake him up...but the Royals just won't count to 3 and actually bring him to the bus station.

I don't generally believe in "sending a message", nor do I usually believe that some players might "not care" or "not try hard enough". This situation is pretty simple and cut and dried for me. I'm sure Moose is upset, worried, and trying as hard as he can, but he's killing us right now.

He looks so bad that I also don't think he has to face MLB pitching, it looks like AAA pitching could be enough of a challenge for him. Maybe he'll figure it out and maybe he needs time to rediscover his swing, but at this point he needs to do that in games that don't count.

If he can OPS over .900 in Omaha for a full month, then we can talk about his return, if that ever happens.

But,but,but........his defense.........

Maybe we should send Moose to AA Northwest Arkansas. Make him do yard work at David Glass' house to help work off that $5 million we've paid him so far.

I'd have to listen again, but I'm pretty sure that Jayson Stark said (on 810 earlier today) that Moose is 3-53 against last pitch fastballs.

That is ****ing amazingly bad.

Moose is one strange case that is for sure. When he does seem to get a hit its either a homer or double. He has 16 hits on the year, yet 14 RBIs - which is tied with Billy and more than Salvy and he still leads the team in home runs.

I'm also comfortable with the idea that Moose is probably our best defensive option, I don't want to completely dismiss his defense, but he's not THAT good.

The difference between his runs saved and Gio/Valencia/whoever's runs saved is probably a lot less than the difference in runs created simply because Moose is so incredibly awful at the plate right now.

I believe Valencia is right at 0.0 and Moose is .3 on defense WAR.

Only Royals fans would sit around and try to see how many ways they can quantify the deepness and profoundness of how bad one of their players sucks.

Other organizations just bench the guy, send him down or cut him, and get over it. But we're different. It's a process.

Karen Kornacki will probably ask Ned "Does Moose have a wife and children? How will they survive his demotion? Don't you feel bad about taking food out of the mouths of innocent babies???"

People are missing the point if they think demoting Moose is either a kick in the ass, or to light a fire under him. It's neither. It's nothing more than a simple roster move. It's not personal - he simply isn't performing. What he does down in Omaha is irrelevant because he does not belong up in MLB right now.


Mellinger argues today that Hosmer & Moose are so vital to the franchise that "This thing won't work" if they don't play well. That's bunk. The team could easily hide Moose if Billy & Alex and Sal were all hitting. Since they aren't, Moose can't be hidden any longer.

Moose just can't get singles. That is the problem. His doubles and home run rate is pretty much at the same level in 2012. Just can't get singles, which is pretty mind blowing actually and you would think would be the easiest to correct.

Not sure if he's the answer, sure he can be a utility guy, but I'd rather give Gio a shot. At least you have a chance of finding an everyday player out there. Peredes has Zero walks this year at AAA, none. 21 K's in 77 Abs. Sure he's batting around .300, but probably pretty easy for MLB pitching to exploit.

Infante on DL, Ciriaco up

Probably right move putting Infante on DL, but that doesn't preclude also sending Moose down.

Oh, well, give him another 25 ABs or so to prove all the haters wrong, right Dayton?

God damn it.

I thought they needed to clear roster space for another reliever?

Damn

They must have a bunch of Moose antlers they want to give away in June....

IM sure the goal posts have moved again.....

In a sick way, I kinda want to see them justify giving 500 ABs to a guy hitting under .200 for the year. They'll say, "Well, he raised his average from .147 to .198. That's progress." Or, "Well, he did lead the team in home runs with 12." Or, "His attitude never changed. He worked hard the entire year. That's something to build on. I've never been wrong about a player who showed that much grit."

So is Moose going to learn how to hit singles in Omaha because that is what he is failing at the MLB level - everything else is fairly normal for him percentage wise.

FYP

"Moose is handling adversity better than he did last year" says Ned

25 ABs???

You mean however many until the All-Star break because I have no doubt they'll let him play half a season to figure it out.

After what I heard Yost say today, I agree. They are in no rush to send Moosey down. Sitting him on the bench to watch is what will fix him.

JFC! They are making it out to be a big thing that "Moose isn't in the lineup tonight" against a LHP. That's been the case all season...

Moose might as well try to become a three true outcome hitter. Might salvage his career.

Awesome. I knew somebody would GIF that up.

Minnesota beat Boston tonight on a walkoff to knock them back to .500. The Royals are one of five teams at .500 and one game out of a WC spot.

11 of the 15 AL teams are within three games of .500. We're almost to the quarter mark and except for Houston the whole league is wide open.

as soon as moose starts hitting can we start printing em?

Yeah, the trade deadline this year is going to be both boring and expensive.

Marlins young phenom Jose Fernandez tore his UCL and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery soon.

I saw that on the ticker last nite and was bummed. He was the best pitcher in the game IMO, maybe after Kershaw. His slider was the best I've ever seen. I wondered if the extreme bend on it was causing any issues on his arm and apparently it was. It wasn't human to have that much english on the pitches.


In other news: when is MLB going to ban Colorado from leaderboards? Colorado is batting .301 as a team and 2nd place is .260. Mike Cuddyer (remember him?) spent 10 years in Minny and never hit above .284. Won the NL batting title at .331 last year in Denver. STUPID

its like me watching a Royals game....

Missed the Fernandez ACL injury. That's terrible, but considering how hard he throws I guess it isn't all that surprising.

That seems to be the main contributor for guys blowing elbows.

Still doesn't make the Bubba Starling pick feel any better, though.

or watching Anthony Rendon, the next pick in that draft, having great success at MLB level while Starling continues to be a failure at the A ball level.

Rendon also plays 3B and 2B, which is greatly needed at this point.

I'll just leave this here and slowly back away...

6) Anthony Rendon
7) Archie Bradley
8) Franicsco Lindor
9) Javier Baez
10) Corey Spangenberg (Not much yet but at least not a colossal failulre at MiLB level)
11) George Springer
12) Taylor Jungmann (Meh)
13) Brandon Nimmo (close. Great OBP skills, can play CF)
14) Jose Fernandez

Is it that we can't draft or that we can't develop?

Yes.

The Royals have drafted well in most years under Dayton Moore. The 2010 and 2011 drafts are kind of black holes when you look at the first round picks. There are a few picks in each of those drafts later that could save the overall draft class, but Christian Colon and Bubba Starling are two big, ugly marks.

Minor league development is better now than it was, but I think it's pretty clear there's a problem with developing hitters. I believe his name is "Jack Maloof."

Pitching development seems to have gotten better since they minimized Bill Fischer (another dinosaur like Maloof). Can only hope the hitting development has done the same since Maloof was fired as hitting coach last year.

Dayton Moore sees a 19-19 team and whines about everybody asking about the 3B who's hitting .148 instead of praising the bullpen and starting pitching.

Compare that to John Mozeliak's reaction to the Cards' 20-20 start:

"The fact you're not winning baseball games is concerning. ... This is a talented club and I still believe in it. But having a belief in something is far different than actually getting it done. It's still early in the season where you can't hit the panic button, but you have to see the trend line changing."

"The clock is ticking, but it's not a panic mode or reactionary place where you have to do something just to do something. People have to be aware that this is not acceptable baseball at this point."

http://msn.foxsports.com/midwest/sto...aseball-051414

In case anyone was wondering we now have more wins already this May than we had all of last May.

Edit - Is what I will be posting when we win three more games this month.

I feel like we just won the Stanley Cup.

I thought we won 8 games in May last year? We are currently at 6 I believe.

Stop reading my future posts! But, yes you are correct. I was thinking it was five last season for some reason.

Anybody hear Moose's post game interview?

3-4 different reporters asked him about his game winning hit, and he completely refused to talk about it. Every time someone asked about his hit, he would simply praise Ventura's pitching. They then asked why he wasn't answering the question about his hit, and he repeated praise for Ventura again.

He came off like a bitter childish douche..

Royals appear to be a bunch of douche lords based on this article:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/learnin...the-clubhouse/

I thought it was awesome. If the media is going to spend all day and night talking bad about him, they should be prepared for his reaction to that, good or bad.