For sure.

I think a whole lot of people are getting butt hurt over nothing. I thought it was hilarious.

Butt-hurt? Pfft.

Moose came off as an equal tool to Danny Clinkscales 98-LB weakling reporter tactics. They are both douchebags

Incorrect, Clinkscales has no bag.

Ditka is a mouth-breathing tool. He has the intellect of a wet fart and the opinions to match.

Dude, you are wrong. Ditka doesn't lack for intelligence. He lacks a filter that goes between the brain and his mouth.

A professional athlete acting like a douche. Shocking!

Yeah. I have no problems with a brash attitude, or putting the bonehead media in its place. But not when you're literally the worst hitter in the entire major league. Needs a giant slice of AAA humble pie... The Royals are coddling him and not holding him to any accountability at all. And this is what happens.

What happened?

Petro v GMDM at 11:05 WHB

He's on 610 right now. Tip toeing around Moustakas' interview yesterday.

EDIT: Complete waste of time so far. They asked one question about Moustakas, Dayton danced around it and now it's on to questions about how great the team is.

These guys stink.

Lee Judges take on the Moose incident. Grain of Salt, hes a big time "homer"


The media made Kansas City Royals' third baseman Mike Moustakas mad -- and if someone publicly called for our demotion, we probably wouldn’t enjoy that either -- and now it seems Mike Moustakas has made the media mad.


Mike hit two doubles and drove a third baseball to the warning track on Wednesday. People have been talking about Mike being sent back to the minors, so after a game like Wednesday’s, some of those same people wanted to talk to Mike.

But if someone was burying you on Tuesday and wanted to talk to about the great game you had on Wednesday, you might not feel like doing so.

The media gathered around his locker, but Mike wasn’t there. After a while, he showed up, did something at his locker, then walked off again.

At that point I decided to punt. It looked like Mike was going to make everyone wait some more -- so I went back to the press box, grabbed my backpack and returned to the clubhouse.

Moustakas was still not at his locker so I started talking to one of his teammates. I said forcing the media to wait was kinda funny, but he probably wasn’t helping himself. We’d get sulky about being put on hold while deadlines approached and look for payback opportunities ... just wait until the next time Mike takes an 0-fer.

And once he got back to his locker he deflected questions about his performance and repeatedly talked about the pitching performance of Jason Vargas.

So not only were the members of the media forced to stand around staring at each other while their deadlines approached, once Moustakas showed up, we couldn’t get the quotes we wanted.

However you decide to feel about this -- and it’s America, no matter how little information we possess, we have to have opinions about everything -- give Mike Moustakas credit: in one of the biggest at-bats of his career, he came through.

Moustakas came to the plate in the second inning with one out and the bases loaded. The game was still scoreless. Strike out, pop up or hit into a double play and Mike would get booed. People would be saying his critics were right. Mike Moustakas should be sent to the minor leagues.

Instead, he roped a bases-clearing double down into the right field corner, giving Jason Vargas and the Royals bullpen all the runs they’d need for a 3-2 victory.

On Wednesday the Royals third baseman was the hero, but if the media gets another chance to be negative about Mike Moustakas, don’t be surprised if we take it.

Royals 3, Rockies 2.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/14...#storylink=cpy

Aww... Did the big bad KC media beat up on the worse everyday player in baseball.... Poor guy.

810 wants to make this Moose thing into a big deal SO bad

Yep. It is so obvious they want this to be huge. They are still mad the Royals are with 610.

I'm happy they only asked a couple Moose questions. I don't get why people want to hear 100 questions about Moose like they're going to say anything mind blowing.

They ask questions about Moustakas because he's the worst hitter in baseball yet can't find his way off the team. I don't think anybody in the media or the fans understand why he is still on the team and questioning management is the only way we would ever get any insight to their thought process.

But fluff questions may be your thing and so be it.

In other words: the media is full of petulant asshats who are vindictive when they don't get what they want, when the want. Noted.

Starling is the main one to be concerned about. He's been absolutely dreadful and likely is not on a top 15 list next year unless he makes a dramatic reversal.

Ventura has performed quite well. Zimmer is a week behind the plan that has been in place for him from the start of the season. If he keeps getting pushed, I think you start worrying.

RA Mondesi must have slumped over the last week to 10 days, because 2 weeks ago he was putting up insane numbers at age 18 in a terrible hitting environment at High A. Scouting reports on him have been glowing, so I don't think he's disappointing at all. He's faster and BETTER at SS than expected. Good combo. He's a bad stretch away from vastly exceeding expectations.

Miguel Almonte has also received glowing in person reports from people outside the organization who think he's more advanced at that age than Yordano Ventura was. He doesn't have the velocity but has a better changeup and breaking pitch at that age. It's kind of hard to believe his ERA is as high as it is... his K/BB rate is great (3:1), he's not giving up a ton of hits (31 in 38 innings), and his HR rate isn't sky high. Might just be a case of some bad luck on balls in play. I'm still very excited about him.

Dozier's in-person reports have been great. I think he's struggling due to Wilmington/Carolina league. Shows good plate discipline at least, which is something this organization tends to lack.

Christian Binford is probably having the best season of any Royals minor leaguer. He has 48k in 40 IP versus just 7 BB, which is pretty great. His stuff isn't overwhelming, but he's tall and has three good pitches, and he misses bats. Kind of similar to Chris Tillman in Baltimore (6-5/6-5, 90-91, extreme downhill plane on pitches, big-breaking slider, changeup). He's exceeding expectations by quite a bit.

Cheslor Cuthbert and Bonifacio are interesting at AA. Boni has scuffled a bit (OPS around .700). He's young for that league, but I'd prefer to see him hitting better.

Cuthbert has kind of made himself interesting again because he has started hitting with some pop and still is showing excellent plate discipline (5 HR, OBP something like .090 points higher than his AVG).

Orlando Calixte has only played in 4 games at AA, but he has 2 HR so far. That's encouraging (would be nice if he continues to hit well, because his glove is good enough to stick at SS. 1) Makes him great trade bait as Mondesi continues to push him; 2) He and Mondesi could be a very good-fielding and cheap and plus offensive MI for a long time)

Elier Hernandez and Samir Duenez haven't done much with the bat yet, but they're so much younger than the average age for their levels (an 18 year old playing against 21-22 year olds and a 19 year old playing against 22-23), it's hard to know much without scouting reports (which I've not seen nor heard).

Adam has been disappointing. Stuff has slid back and I don't think he moves quickly.

Manaea's raw numbers are bad, but he's on a pretty strict pitch count (limited to 75, I believe) and that has hurt him in a few very short, very bad outings. remember, this is a guy who sat out all of the second half of last season due to a hip surgery. Scouting reports have been highly positive, and he has missed a ton of bats (32 K in 22 1/3 IP, 4:1 K:BB) with good control.

Eibner has also fallen off after a torrid start... he's mired in a terrible slump. If he doesn't pull out of it, we're probably talking about him as a reliever next season.

I'm absolutely fine with the media being vindictive and taking it out on him in the future if they want to, simply because what Moose did was moronic.

This is like one of those "got pulled over by a cop" situations where you may have some rights or whatever, but you have to be smart. If you are polite maybe you get off with a warning, and if you get out of your car waving your hands walking to the cop screaming "hey I wasn't speeding you a-hole", you may wind up on the curb in zip ties getting ready to defend yourself from some kind of trumped-up attempted assault charges, assuming you didn't get shot first. Maybe you have a constitutional right to be a jerk, but sometimes you gotta realize when your up against someone with the power to ruin your day, and you gotta be smart.

Similarly, Moose is not Barry freaking Bonds. He may have wanted to stick it to them after getting 2 doubles but even in the age of the internet, the newspaper, TV, and radio guys still have a lot of power to sway public opinion, and as an athlete it is in your best interest to try to get them to like you and defend you when the fans start grumbling. Once you put up hall of fame stats and get enough love from the fans so that they won't be swayed by the media, then feel free to be an ass if you want.

Wow that's a very detailed write up, do you go to these games or something? I haven't ever followed minor league baseball even in 2011 when we had "the bestest system evah!" I've gone to a few minor league games and they're dreadful because the guys are scrawny and very little is hit hard

Baltimore has a left handed pitcher starting today. We'll probably see Valencia at third for the Royals. Maybe Maxwell in RF.

Andy McCullough ‏@McCulloughStar 1h
Do What We Do Lineup: Aoki 9, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Perez 2, Gordon 7, Valencia 5, Giavotella 4, Cain 8, Escobar 6, Ventura 1. #royals

Mondesi and Almonte were the two I figured were meeting expectations going into the season, maybe you could throw Cuthbert in there as well.

Zimmer and Calixte are too incomplete to begin to assess, although I am nervous about Zimmer.

Binford wasn't on your prospect list, but he has been very good. Not top of the rotation prospect good from what I read, but middle of the rotation ceiling (and I'll take that).

Dozier, Manea, Hernandez and Duenez are still very early in their careers and/or young, so not too worked up. I'd hoped that Hernandez would be putting up a few numbers by now though.

Boni has been a bit disappointing. Bubba, Adam and Eibner are probably done as starter level prospects.

Ultimately, my point was that as a fan, it's frustrating not to have a single "top" prospect playing at a very high level so far this season. Still early, still some young guys playing up, perhaps some bad luck, etc. I'm sure a few will get hot, and we'll have a couple of off the radar guys jump up as the season goes along.

I actually think it would be funny if Moose just offered up Crash Davis nuggets to every question.

/

Well it is, Moose is mentally soft and if you want to be a George Brett type of dickhead (which is what Moose's answer was) you better ****ing hit like Brett. But Moose is one of the if not the worst everyday (platoon or not) player in MLB. Until he starts playing ball like a major league professional player Moose can keep his snarky shithead answers to himself.

Yet another example of Moose thinking he's something he's not, and behaving this way because of Dayton's favoritism towards him. "Spare the rod spoil the child" is a lesson DM dind't learn in Bible study.

Our buddy Chris Getz has retired from baseball

Can't believe he didn't get a call from the Royals to fill in for Infante.

When will the media turn on Butler and Gordon? They are utter disgraces. 18M of dead money with these two turds. At least Gordon can play defense. But neither can hit. It's disgusting what both have become. Hope the fans start booing both like crazy for their garbage.



Is there anything more annoying than Gordon hitting a long fly out, and posing like he just hit a 450-foot Barry Bonds rocket? Alex: you suck. You aren't good.

They just need to get rid of Moore and Yost. The whole culture of this team is ****ed. They don't develop talent for shit. Blow the mother ****er up!

We're all bipolar. :(

Chris Getz has decided to retire from baseball.
Getz was outrighted off the Blue Jays' 40-man roster earlier this week but has decided to hang up his cleats rather than report to Triple-A Buffalo. Just 30, Getz finishes his career with a .250/.309/.307 batting line over parts of seven major league seasons. "I've enjoyed every minute that I've played and will always be passionate about the game," Getz said. "I'm starting a family, and I'm interested in other endeavors both inside and outside of the game."
Source: MLBDailyDish.com
May 16 - 9:40 AM

GMDM sheds a tear

Dude was a disgrace with the 4 WAR he posted last year.

Getzy's wife should be on the open market soon.

You guys are all after me in line.

Maxwell has been designated and rhp Casey Coleman has been called up

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Royals DFA&#39;d Justin Maxwell. They promoted RHP Casey Coleman in his place.</p>&mdash; Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCulloughStar/statuses/467384286820450305">May 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Casey Coleman. Meh

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Royals&amp;src=hash">#Royals</a> vs RHP Tillman: Aoki 9 Hosmer 3 Perez 2 Gordon 7 Butler DH Gio 4 Moose 5 Escobar 6 Dyson 8 Guthrie 1</p>&mdash; Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldbergkc/statuses/467385880693309440">May 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If anyone cares, we probably have lost Maxwell, there's very little chance he clears waivers.

Completely devastated.

Trying to dump my playoff ticket package for 1/2 price

Once Coleman flames out, I happily await Getz' return to the major league roster.

Why would anyone care?

Let's get Willie Bloomquist back while we're at it.

Finally Maxwell is gone. I will assume this means that once Infante comes back Gio will stay here.

I'll take the game thread tonight unless someone objects. I haven't done one for weeks and the Royals and I both sit at .500. :D

Something changes tonight. It's shit or get off the pot time.

It's weird. I used to "like" these guys and really pull for them and want to see them do well, but I've grown really tired of them. Butler and Gordon are quiet and ineffectual. Hosmer and Moustakas seem like douchebags. The whole aura and vibe of this team has started to disgust me. idk, I don't think I would mind if they blew the whole thing up.

I haven't been this disinterested in the team in a long time. I think it's because deep down I just don't see them finishing above .500 and if they do, it still won't be enough to make the playoffs. I really hope I'm wrong, but god damn I just don't see it. The team is pretty gutless and it starts at the top of the organization. Doomed from the start.

I've felt like the team wasn't very good for a while, but I have never felt this way about the Royals before--where I kind of don't like the players on a personal level.

I think we all just have to accept the fact that these players that came up through the minor leagues with all of that hype, just aren't who we all thought they were going to be. At this point in many of there careers you just have to accept that. If they don't get it now, then they're probably not ever going to. I just don't think everyone is going to just flip a switch one day and then all of a sudden they're crushing the ball all over the field. This has been a long never ending ongoing problem. They can't hit big league pitching. They can't figure it out to where they're producing consistently. Now I understand many high first rd draft picks don't pan out, but if you look over the last decade, or going back to Zack Greinke, all of these other teams have gotten players like Strasburg, Harper, Longoria, Trout, McCutchen, Scherzer, and you can go on. The Royals haven't done shit in the draft other than Greinke, and Soria, and neither are still with the club, and recently they've been terrible in the draft. The sad thing is we took our best hitting prospect in forever, and traded him away for a two year rental on a pitcher that isn't going to make a difference either way because we can't score any runs offensively. The Royals took all of their eggs and put them into the basket and gambled on the fact that guys like Gordon, Hosmer, Butler, Moustakas would be the meat of the lineup and they'd rank towards the top of the majors in team batting stats. But they're just the ****ing opposite. And it sucks. And the future does not look bright.

Royals are 7 games back of the tigers. Last season they were 2 back at this time

I DVR nearly all the games, and find myself FF through them because we never score. Who wants to watch Billy Fatass ground out to short and Aoki slap 18 foul balls down the LF line before hitting a lazy flyball?


I really can't see how they're going to draw any crowds this summer. They're horribly boring to watch. Nobody can justify 3 hours (and another 1 hour drive time/parking) to sit bored watching these weaklings at the plate.

Lots and lots of $10 beers, and $5 merry go round rides sold.....

I'm a big fan and follow this team more than I should, but I don't go to many games anymore. I can't justify the value given the cost. I enjoy going out to the park even without the winning, but when it costs more than $100 to take my family out to 1 out of 162 games....on top of the fact that I know I'm going to watch a team that is a loser.....tough to justify.

Yea, I went to a game last year with the fam. 4 of us. I know spent over $100 for tix, food, drinks and outfield activities. Then another $50 in souvenirs probably.

Hard to do that more than once or twice a year.

If you guys think the Royals games are expensive, go to a game across the state and then bitch about Royals prices.

wat

Cardinal games are way more expensive to attend.

Hmmm... I wonder why.

Supply and demand?

Nope, it's the Arch.

And the caviar, smoked salmon, and wine you get in the Club Section.

Hippies.

LOL, i'd gladly pay if the Royals were consistently as good to as great as the Cards are

Because you have to buy food, drinks, activities and souvenirs at the game?

If you go to a ball game and don't have a hotdog you're unamerican.

When I was growing up, we would just bring in our own food. Giant bags of peanuts and Subway sandwiches. Probably can't do that anymore though.

How'd I forget all of that?

**** St. Louis!!

Someone fire up a game thread.

Holy shit. I just checked the standings and Oakland is at a + 91 scoring differential. The next closest is 51. That's crazy for a "small market" team even this early in the season.

They are playing great. Funny thing is there are a lot of people that couldn't name 5 guys on their team... and they have one of the smallest payrolls in the league, as usual.

They almost won 100 games last year though... and they aren't that old, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised.

Oakland has like 50 more walks than the next closest team.

I know they have 2 ex Royals with better averages and more home runs than Belly :banghead:

I bought a Royals ticket package for $40 from Smart Circle. There are two sets of two free tickets that are valid Sunday-Thursday and include 75% of the stadium. Along with that, there are six BOGO tickets in this package.

Today, I sat right below Rivals for $2, as there's a $2 surcharge for using the free ticket deal.

I also took in two bottles of water, a bag of peanuts, a bag of sunflower seeds, and two Subway sandwiches.

With parking included, I spent about $35 for myself and my girlfriend to go to the game.

They are just scared to get that bat off of their shoulders/ GMDM/Yost/Hud

The Royals starting pitcher's ERA is unbelievable;

Duffy - 1.42, 2 -3
Ventura - 2.40, 2 - 3
Shields - 2.67, 6 - 3
Vargas - 3.00, 4 - 1
Guthrie - 4.76, 2 - 3

FYP

Well, I think the point is, on a go forward basis (which excludes Chen), our SP has been about as solid as any top 5 in MLB. Guthrie has been a mess at times, but a 4.76 ERA isn't laughable. If he can smooth out his bumps - primarily the long ball, he can be a solid middle of the rotation guy