Spitballing about Wednesday...

If Davis can't pitch, which I'm assuming he won't (rightfully so, given the circumstances), does Duffy get the call up? Dutton mentioned in a tweet that it would possibly go to Duff, so that got me a little bit excited inside my pants

That's possible. The one thing I would add is that we, as a fan base, are a very delicate and jaded bunch. We've been abused for nearly 30 years with little to no hint of the playoffs. The older fans, myself included, might be the most jaded of the bunch - we've seen the Royals win, and we know what it's like and what it can be like in this town when the Royals are good. Thing is, emotionally, we teeter a lot. We've seen winning streaks followed by massive losing streaks. We've seen the Royals take themselves out of contention early in the year, only to play great baseball in the final month of the season when it doesn't matter.

If the Royals lose 5-7 games in a row, and take themselves out of the race, I don't see the fans lining up to buy season tickets. They could still win 82-86 games, after losing 5-7 straight, and the fans will lose interest because the Playoffs are no longer a possibility. My point: I don't think flirting is going to get it done unless they stay in this thing until the final week of the season. GMDM did a lot of mortgaging to get to the Playoffs this season. He's not the only one that knows that.

In the mean time, I will be going to at least 2 games this weekend. Can't wait!

The offseason and approach heading into 2014 will be very interesting.

I could see them making a push to re-sign Santana, but I just can't shake the feeling that some team is going to offer him 5 years, $80 million. An offer KC could match - if Glass were willing - but extremely risky for a team that likely will run $80-100 million payrolls under the new revenue sharing plan.

If they can't re-sign Santana, I'd like to see KC pick up another veteran in FA, someone who can help Guthrie and Shields stabilize the rotation and eat innings. There will be several guys that fit that bill in the FA market.

The last two spots, in my opinion, end up as a competition between Wade Davis, Danny Duffy, Kyle Zimmer, Will Smith and Yordano Ventura. I could SEE Mendoza and Paulino (if they are able to bring him back) being part of the conversation, too.

They'll let Chen walk and I imagine either trade or non-tender Hochevar (you can't pay a non-closer relief pitcher $6 million+).

Trading Hochevar in the offseason should bring a strong return. His numbers ARE eye-popping (even if they're low-leverage).

As for payroll for next year, here's what comes off the books:

Francoeur: $7.5 million
Bruce Chen: $4.5 million
Hochevar: $4.56 million
Santana: $12 million
Getz: $1.05 million
Tejada: $1.1 million

It adds up to about $30 million that will come off the books. However, a lot of salaries will escalate:

Guthrie: +$6 million
Gordon: +$1 million
Perez: $ 0.5 million
Holland: ARB
Hosmer: ARB
Moustakas: ARB
Crow: ARB
Collins: ARB

I'd imagine the net payroll gain is somewhere around $10 million when all is said and done.

Which is enough to buy a FA pitcher flyer (just a solid innings eater, nothing special) and a decent 2B (not a star, but someone who can more capably fill that role than Chris fecking Getz).

Now, of course, the MLB TV deal should add a considerable amount of cash to the pool. As should increased attendance and revenue this year and anticipated increased attendance and revenue next year.

But, doesn't Kansas City have a history of drawing large crowds? I wasn't there (too young), but I understand that the Royals were heavily supported during the Ewing Kauffman days. Isn't that potential still there?

The Chiefs are heavily supported when winning. Sporting Kansas City is being supported heavily (they are winning). Shouldn't Royals see an increase, as well?

Before you say, "baseball is an anomaly" or something like that.. just know that I would counter that with "kansas city is an anomaly". KC supports the hell out of their teams when the team looks like they give a shit.

The problem Duncan is that we ahve an atrocious local cable deal. 20M. Rangers and Tigers have something like 80M deals. We're screwed until 2020.

Davis' brother's funeral is scheduled for this week. Wade is out. Duffy is scheduled to pitch in Omaha on Wednesday. Could be a good match. If not, I fully expect to see Will Smith get the call.

The crowds will be there this weekend. I think they had 21k+ last night. I expect there will be closer to 25k tonight with Shields on the mound and considering last night's ass beating

I'm just thinking it's "win now" and who better for Duffy to face than the shit lineup Minnesota is throwing out?

The problem Duncan is that we ahve an atrocious local cable deal. 20M. Rangers and Tigers have something like 80M deals. We're screwed until 2020.

Every team will see an increase in TV money over the offseason. Something like $20-22 million per team. That's from the shared TV deal and independent of the local revenue, at least as I understand it.

Basically, $600 million more in the pot for player salaries starting this offseason. Could create a REALLY charged environment if more teams take after the Dodgers.

Local TV deal sucks and limits KC quite a bit, but improved stadium revenues and better national TV money should allow KC to increase payroll.

Whether Glass actually does it? Who knows.

The Royals are selling Field Plaza tickets to tonights game for $19, which is cheaper than anyone is currently selling them on Stubhub. It's actually a good deal.

Any chance the Royals can renegotiate the TV deal? With the ratings they've seen the $20mil per season over the next 7 years is an atrocious deal.

Has to be Alex given the POY designation. Although I guess Young did too.

No, it's locked in until EOY 2019.