Pair of 7s.

Those ZIPS projections look interesting, especially with Shields, Santana and Guthrie.

I would be surprised if 2/3 don't OVERPERFORM those projections by a half run to a full run.

As for the hand... I like Ace/Jack. King/Ten might be better.

I don't get that projection at all - we had 80+ starts eaten up by complete crap, below replacement level guys. We had another 40 eaten up by replacement guys. Just by getting them out of there, we improve probably 5 wins or more.


Now does 72 to 77 wins sound like a lot? No. But it ain't 2 wins. GMAFB

I agree with this. I would think we would gain 5 wins alone by not being out of games in the first couple innings. There had to be at least five times alone last year where we were in a hole very early in the game. Now I know what was posted above is likely an objective prediction of what will happen, and my feeling doesn't really dispute that, but it's very hard for me to believe that improving our starting rotation to the extent that we have will not translate into immediate success.

Am I just being a complete homer in thinking that?

Ned Yost this morning said that 6 Royals have the potential to hit 25+ HRs this season. He had Cain and Gordon hitting 20-25. Moose and Hosmer hitting 25-30. Perez hitting 30-35 and Butler hitting 35-40.

And he also talked about being much more aggressive this season on offense and letting the hitters take big swings when they needed to.

I'll defecate in a cereal bowl and eat it in front of the entire chiefs planet if sal perez hits 35 homers.

This

Frank Yost what are you saying!

I would be shocked if anyone hit 35 HRs.

Check out my new signature guys!

Now I'm not sure if I want Salvy to hit 35 HR's...

ROFL

If that actually happens, we'll comfortably win the division unless the pitching completely falls apart.

There is no way this team is gonna hit that many homers. Not a chance in hell.

It'd be one of the best offenses in baseball. Yost and the Royals are just trying to butter everyone up. I guess they haven't realized that we've sucked for 25+ years.

Yost needs to learn how to shut up.

Wicked's been spewing shit since he got here, so should be used to the flavor by now.....

This is so dumb since Detroit's power hitting duo hit 44 & 30 and won the division with ease. I mean, if Prince "of power" FIelder only hits 30 home runs, who the hell really believes Sal Perez would hit 35? Butler hitting 40?


Ned Yost should be slapped across the face for being an idiot. Gordon aint hitting 25 either, eh's basically become a slap hitter now.

pocket fours

If we're going to use a poker analogy, we have to acknowledge that the Royals are short-stacked. KJ isn't a great hand, but eventually you have to push in chips on your own terms.

I think you better pray to Sweet Jesus you are right, because about 50 CPers are going to hold you to this quote.

We ain't talkin' cocoa pebbles, either!

lol. A slap hitter who led the league in doubles. Are HRs far more valuable than doubles? Of course. But let's not go crazy in the other direction in order to prove a point about Gordon's HR capability because it ends up looking foolish.

I've seen butler killing it in the weight room. Watch out Kauffman Stadium

Jack-King off.

Well played!

Well played.

Yeah, those 14 bombs he hit in 650 AB last year were REALLLLLLY impressive. Gosh weren't you just blown away by that power surge? Don't you suspect steroids or something now when a guy hits 14 home runs in a season? What a power hitter!



He's a slap and line drive hitter, not close to a power hitter. He was supposed to be a Ryan Braun and hit 35hr. Maybe he'd fall short and be an Aramis Ramirez and hit 25 every year. Nobody thought he'd have Mark Teahen power. Alex hits line drives and is able to leg out lots of extra bases with his speed & athleticism and intelligence.


But his power is barely existent. He's a shadow of what we thought he'd be. Nobody figured he'd become a 5-WAR player by racking up tons of legged-out doubles and playing great defense in LF. Tht wasn't what we thought we were getting.

I figured he'd be a 15-20 homer guy when I followed him in the Minors. If anyone else expected more, then I don't know what to say. He's a line-drive hitter. If he can bump up his average more, he could be similar to Mauer.

Really? You saw him hit 29 HR his only minor league season, and you figured he'd hit 15 in the bigs as a mature, experienced hitter? YOu would literally be the only person who thought that low.


Also he's nowhere near Mauer since Alex can't make consistent contact. He swings at terrible pitches and Mauer rarely does. However, Alex is a good athlete and is healthy (unlike Mauer) and is really providing surplus value in LF and on the basepaths. He's basically turned into Darrin Erstad.

I have no idea of the intent of your first paragraph.

Gordon hits a lot of line drives and his approach is gap to gap, all of which are fine. While Gordon didn't end up living up to the hype, he's still ridiculously productive and valuable.

Don't denigrate what he does by labeling him a "slap hitter," which is inaccurate. Plain and simple.

That's actually why that hand popped into my mind.

Calling Alex Gordon a slap hitter is just ignorant. He is a line-drive hitter, yes. But there's a big difference between guys that drive the ball and guys that try to slap it.

Juan Pierre is a perfect example of a slap hitter. Scott Podesdnik also fits the bill. There's a big difference between those guys and Alex Gordon.

He's probably not going to hit 30+ year after year, at least not playing home games at the K. But he's still someone who is going to average around 20 HR a season with the ability to hit 25.

Terrible ****ing hand that gets mucked by me OOP 90% of the time.

Anyone going to FanFest? It is this Saturday.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/...um/fanfest.jsp

Any chance the Royals are interested in Marcum? What would it take to get Upton from Arizona? Colon, Bubba, and Smith?

Arizona would probably need much more than that from KC to move Upton.

Bubba + Ventura + Colon is more likely (and only because they really like Colon, apparently).

I don't know if we'll see a Marcum signing, in fact I doubt it... but they ARE kicking the tires on Javier Vazquez, still.

I follow Bob Dutton, the Royals beat writer for the KC Star, on twitter and you can really tell how tired he is of answering people's questions about Jeff Franceour and the Shields trade.

Every moron fan that sends a "can we trade Jeff Franceour for Giancarlo Stantion" type question or "Dempster is better than Shields, we should have kept Myers" comment gets a response that seems to me like absolute disdain.

It's pretty entertaining.

Done. Yesterday.

If we're going all in, so be it.

In retrospect, that package is probably light UNLESS something else of note is included. Maybe one of the other SSs (Calixte?).

But yeah, I'd be willing to swing a strong package to Arizona for Upton.

I'm glad you decided to save it.

They'd want someone more established than any of those players to be the centerpiece.

agreed

They've been linked to packages from the Rangers that included Mike Olt and the Braves that included Julio Teheran.

I don't know that anyone really knows what they truly want or what it would take to pull the trigger.

They make another big trade... and they are REALLY REALLY trying to win this year, and THEY MEAN IT THIS TIME!

Royals...Baseball!
We Really, Really Mean It This Year!

ROFL

Basically $5 million a year to eat innings and blow up in the 4th or 5th innings in those ball games!

<img class="image" alt="" width="500" height="375" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m561hjjkLS1r5lqojo1_400.gif">

Those guys are more established as prospects than Bubba. Give Bubba 2-3 years and he might be in the same sentence, but then again, 2-3 years he may be batting .210 and not a prospect at all. Olt and Teheran have done the time to prove their prospect status. That's all I was saying.

QUOTE=Mr. Laz;9330777][/QUOTE]
:banghead:

CUT HOCHEVAR, FIRE MOORE! -SAVEOURROYALS.COM

Someone needs to Photoshop the Brokeback Mountain poster with Moore Hugging Hoch.


I cant quit you!!!!!

SaveOurRoyals

Where do I sign up?

I'll donate.

Why the F would they want to avoid arbitration??

Anyone outside the Royals organization would take a look at Hoch and immediately reject whatever he is asking for.

Dumb. Brokedick mountain is correct.

He was always going to be given at least about mid-4 by the arbitrator. Thats why we wanted him cut, he was going to get pretty much about what we agreed to today. When we didn't cut him by the deadline last year, we immediately lost roughly $4-5MM barring some kind of trade.

Yep. Completely indifferent to this move today because the decision was made a long time ago, which is when I appropriately freaked out and mother****ed DM's idiotic ass.

glASS? Really? Thanks for the kick in the groin.

"Luke Hochevar is a pitcher with the talent to pitch at the front of a rotation for a playoff team. He's a great teammate, and nobody works harder. We think this is the year he puts it all together."

I wonder where I've heard that before. :hmmm:

K.D. initials?

Dont care if hoch is around another year. Kind of knew it was gonna happen. Can't wait for baseball season

Catchers and pitchers report in about 3 weeks?

Went out to FanFest this morning. Judging by the crowd, it took 20 minutes to get in (and this morning was only for season ticket holders) This town is ready for baseball season.

Oh, and Hochaver has a Tom Hanks in Castaway style beard growing.

At this point, the best we can hope for is that they give him only 2 months before exiling him to the bullpen. You could also hope that he's amazingly horrid in spring and they cut him, but thats a longshot. (We don't have to pay the full contract if we cut him in spring)

If only...

Dutton yesterday was on a full out mission to defend Hochaver on Twitter. It was odd

I guess if you want to dream, we could also hope that Hoch inexplicably explodes as the #2 type of pitcher we all long ago gave up on ever seeing, proving the Royals right, but that's crazy-talk.

The writing with Hochevar was on the wall when we didn't DFA him at the deadline. I don't know why everyone's so upset.

As Al said, our best hope is that it clicks this spring. If not, we can still cut our losses or try him in the pen.

I just absolutely do not understand this franchise's love for Hochevar.

Dude should have been cut 2 years ago.

For those wanting him cut in spring, I don't remember all the details, but I believe he really does have to be completely, utterly awful for us to get out of paying the full contract. If he's merely mediocre or kinda bad in spring training and we cut him, Hoch would be able to file a grievance with the union to get his full contract paid and probably win.

I rarely defend Dutyon, but he is right when he says Hochevar has flashed no. 2 stuff. That's true. he even has flashed it over a full half season (2011).

I am as done with Hochevar as anyone, but there is plenty to pick at. No need to denigrate the raw stuff. It is there. I understand why scouts like him.

Big piece on the Royals at SI.com today.

http://mlb.si.com/2013/01/21/winter-...?sct=uk_t11_a5

Our time?

Ouch. Seems like Soren Petro is the only person on earth that liked that trade.

Blue Jays signed Mark DeRosa for 1 year, $750k, with a club option for 2014. That would have been a good signing for the Royals, because the dude can play all over the field and he's a decent bat. Very cheap as well. Report I read said that he just wanted to be the 25th man on the roster.

D'backs trade Justin Upton to Braves. Their outfield is now Justin Upton, BJ Upton, and Jason Heyward.

Braves get Justin Upton and third baseman Chris Johnson from D'backs
D'Backs get third baseman/outfielder Martin Prado, starting pitcher Randall Delgado, minor-league shortstop Nick Ahmed, minor-league pitcher Zeke Spruill and minor-league infielder Brandon Drury.

Good deal for both sides.

Well, on the positive side
if thats true, at least Moore will be gone soon.....

not if Glass wouldn't give him any money so his only option was a trade

Yep, if the Royals crash and burn as predicted, he's fired.

He had over $83MM to work with.

The alternative was not to go buy some other pitcher, the alternative was to presume that 2014 would be the year to go for it, with Myers firmly entrenched in RF.

A "crash and burn" is not really expected. What is expected is something around .500