I don't know anything about Vasquez, but Gasparini is interesting. He's regarded by many as the best prospect from Europe ever (He's Italian).

Switch hitter with plus speed, will stick at SS or CF. Possibly is a little underrated due to his locale/comp.

Vasquez is a Venezuelan OF. I imagine that means he's a corner bat with pop potential.

Tigers lost again today. :clap:

Okay, minus the profit part.

Are European players even good at baseball? I've never heard of one.

People said Lough’s upside was David DeJesus, and that’s exactly what he’s been so far – a .300 hitter with speed that’s almost good enough to be in CF.

I think the “super utility” and “4th OF” comments are anticipating a drop-off in production. If he continues I don’t see why he can’t be an everyday guy (albeit on a team without the funds to have all-stars at every position – ideally we’d like more power from RF, but we can’t have everything and a .300 hitter is a nice consolation.)

I don't want to DFA Gutierrez.

He's been pitching too good-mediocre for the Tigers to pick him up for the summer.

I'm hearing a lot about the Padres needing pitching. I wonder if they'd be interested in Chen or Hochevar. Hochevar has shown stuff lately, and can really help them.

Crazy off the wall shit here, but do you think Kyle Blanks can be had?

http://media.tumblr.com/63e246371147...Cwg1qz4rgp.gif

For Luke?

That would be a Billy Beane type steal if Moore pulled it off. I'm guessing they'd want Santana or a package of our prospects in exchange.

But, I will say that there have been confirmed reports that we HAVE been scouting their ballclub.

My biggest concern with Blanks is injury history. But the ball just explodes off his bat.

Not for either of those guys, unless they're a throw-in piece.

Their OF is not great, and Blanks is easily one of their 2-3 best guys there, with no real alternatives.

One of those guys plus a few prospects might get it done, but if they're in contention at all, I can't see them moving Blanks.

Yeah, I just got a tweet-back from someone familiar with the Padres, telling me that they probably wouldn't part with him because of injuries to Quentin/Alonso.

Rany can eat a dick as of late.

Moore is never the smartest guy in the room. No way we get Blanks.

Padres outfielder/first baseman Kyle Blanks is batting .301 (28 for 93) with a .527 slugging percentage, five home runs, six doubles and 18 RBI in 24 games in June.



So basically, he's doing what Hosmer has this month. And we want to get him for....Luke Hochevar? Would you trade Hosmer right now for Luke?

Maybe as part of a package, especially if the Royals ate most of his salary. Pitching is king, and as we saw on the other side of it, you usually get to rape if you're dealing the pitcher. But yeah, it's far-fetched.

I think Blanks is a nice gem.

We have to go out and find an RF with some pop.

Lough is a 4th OF (and a pretty good one considering he has the speed to play CF when needed).

I'd love Blanks but they wont give him up for a decent SP.

Royals need another SP if they want to continue

The guy literally just has bad games. He gives us a three runs or less performance in two out of three. It's not quite as good as my initial impression, I was thinking 3/4 - but still. He probably does belong in the pen - he isn't really efficient enough to be a starter and he has to take a lot off his fastball.

DATE--IP--ER
05APR--5.0--4
10APR--5.0--0
17APR--7.0--0
24APR--3.2--3
29APR--4.2--8
05MAY--6.0--1
10MAY--5.0--7
15MAY--5.1--4
21MAY--5.0--3
26MAY--6.1--3
31MAY--5.0--6
06JUN--5.0--0 -(Note:3 unearned runs given up)
11JUN--6.2--2
16JUN--6.0--2
22JUN--7.0--2
29JUN--1.0--6

Davis needs to go to the bullpen where he belongs

By that, it looks like he's doing pretty good, after some shellings earlier

Just like Hochevar....

I hope a few more starts he will do well but i think if duffy is healthy get him up soon and move davis to the pen. Help 2 spots

What about Paulino? Am I missing the news on him or is there nothing out there?

His shoulder was bothering him after his simulated game again so they postponed his rehab stint again.

Paulinoaki

He's played well enough that he needs to prove that he's a fourth outfielder. Until we trade for Stanton, of course.

Then Low and Penz can go **** themselves.

LMAO Better than bad doesn't equal good I suppose.

And, FTR, when the topic of semi-shitty outfielders comes up, it often seems that Cain stands outside of these discussions, and he shouldn't. He has done little to separate himself meaningfully from the likes of Dyson and Lough.

Thus, when we trade a bunch of "pitching prospects" for Stanton, it will be a 3-for-all in the octagon of semi-worthlessness at the 'Lil K, the new home of the Frenchy Quarter. To commemorate, RF has been slightly sunk in comparison to the rest of the diamond.

Cain has been 'ok' offensively and pretty good defensively. I still want to see more from a 26 yr old CF'er. Atleast be a Mike Cameron batting .260-270 with around 20 HR and good defense

Cain is, basically, Michael Tucker right now.

Now would be a good time for the Royals to play the best baseball they can. If only they had some kind of home field advantage. Hopefully the locals will turn out for this important series.

13 games until the break. We need to go 8-5 to get us to .500 (46-46) at the break. If we can do that, I think we'll be within 3 to 4 games and then anything can happen.

8 wins seems pretty doable, but it starts with taking both series at home.

Make or Break series begins tonight.

We have got to beat Cleveland at least two out of three starting today. A sweep would be fantastic!

Word up. Cain has been absolutely horrible the past few weeks. Since June 11 he is hitting .130 with 1 HR, 2 RBI, and 18 K in 54 at-bats (1 K per 3 AB).

I will be bringing my good luck with me to four of these games. Going to three in New York and one in Cleveland. I anticipate they will win all of these games 13 to 0.

I saw Schilling talking about verlander he said last year he threw 76% of his fastballs at 95 mph or higher. This year that number has dropped to 22%, meaning he isn't throwing as hard as he did before.

We need someone with some crazy mojo start tonight's game thread.

Doesn't SPChief have a pretty good W/L ratio?

It's all been arranged...I will be at the game which should mean extra innings but ultimately a win.

I had a nice 4 game streak. I'm 4-1 for the year, but I don't know if that meets your qualifications for "crazy mojo"

Cain is on pace for about 3.0 WAR, despite the recent struggles. Obviously, he isn't going to reach that mark if he continues to hit like he did in June, but I was a little surprised. Must be a REALLY weak year for CFs offensively.

.270/.330/.400 is a good target for Cain. If he can provide that while playing the level of defense he does, he's a very valuable and cheap piece.

I don't think Miami is going to trade Stanton.

Cain is complete dog-shit at the plate. Has a 92 OPS+ and has struck out 3x as often as he's walked. His fielding stats are providing all his WAR. Looks like he's severely cut into Alex' fielding stats this year.


The other guy in that Greinke trade is OPS+ 70. Now you might be thinking "What's so bad with a SS having a 70 OPS?" Consider that is the exact same OPS George Kottaras has. And he's batting .143.

Rustin Dodd ‏@rustindodd 1h
Baseball America reports the
Royals have signed 16-year-old Italian shortstop Marten Gasparini ($1.3M), dubbed the best Euro prospect ever.
Retweeted by Kansas City Star

David Lough currently has an OPS over .800. If he keeps that up -- which I seriously doubt he can -- he would be a very valuable player. If he keeps his OPS over .700, he's a tremendous upgrade over Jeff Francouer, and the price of a further upgrade (a legit .800+ OPS guy) is going to be quite high.

If I were DM and looking to trade starting pitchers for offense, I'd still be looking to acquire prospects rather than over-the-hill vets.

Cast your vote to rename Frenchy Quarter
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/02...ls-rename.html

Who was the best prospect ever before him?

Quick internet search brought this article up -

http://www.baseballamerica.com/inter...prospect-ever/


Marten Gasparini, 15, Might Be Europe’s Best Prospect Ever

May 20, 2013 by Ben Badler


International scouting directors spend hundreds of days every year in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela to evaluate baseball’s top international amateur prospects.

Over the past year, those top scouting officials have added a less traditional baseball country to their itineraries.

That’s because one of this year’s top international prospects is Marten Gasparini, a 15-year-old Italian shortstop who is expected to sign the biggest contract ever for a European amateur player. Gasparini, who turns 16 on May 24, is 6 feet, 175 pounds, hits from both sides of the plate and is an outstanding athlete with 65-70 speed on the 20-80 scouting scale.

Once he becomes eligible to sign when the 2013-14 international signing period opens on July 2, Gasparini will likely net a bonus north of $1 million. While Dodgers vice president of international scouting Bob Engle made the Mariners a leader in signing European prospects until he left in October and the Cubs have also shown interest, most sources believe the Royals are the frontrunners to sign Gasparini.

The last European prospect to captivate this much attention from major league teams was Max Kepler, a German outfielder who signed with the Twins in 2009 for a European-record $800,000 and entered 2013 as Minnesota’s No. 10 prospect. In Gasparini, some scouts believe they are watching the best European prospect they have ever seen.

Yet Gasparini isn’t just good for a European player—he’s one of the premier prospects in the entire international market.

“He’s a well-above-average athlete with really good agility and really good body control,” said one international scouting director. “It’s a good body on an athlete with tools. He brings a lot to the table. Even if he goes to center field, he profiles there at a premium position. The competition level in Europe is more like middle-of-the-road high school in the United States and he’s not facing the 92-94 mph some of the Dominicans face, but he hits in games. He’s a really interesting guy.”

Discovering The Game

Born to an Italian father and a mother of Jamaican descent who grew up in London, Gasparini speaks Italian and English. Growing up in the small northeastern Italian town of Alture in the Friuli region along the Slovenian border, Gasparini originally dabbled in other sports as a child. He had played soccer. He had tried his hand at martial arts.

Gasparini also happened to live close to a club baseball team in Cervignano, which is how he got his start in the sport. Then in May 2011, when he was just about to turn 14, Gasparini showed up to a tryout for the Italian Baseball Academy. Bill Holmberg, who up until a year ago had scouted for the Cubs, now works as the director of the Italian Baseball Academy and serves as the Italian national team’s pitching coach. He immediately recognized Gasparini’s potential.

“As soon as I saw him at 13,” Holmberg said, “I knew we had a chance to create a superior player if we could work with him for a couple years.”

Gasparini joined the academy in September 2011, moving nearly 300 miles away form home to live and train in Tirrenia, Italy.

“He was extremely raw in his actions at shortstop, and his swing wasn’t what it has become,” Holmberg said. “But from the beginning you could see he had bat speed, range and an above-average arm for his age (85 mph) at 13 from shortstop.”

At the Italian academy, Gasparini worked with infield instructor Pedro Jova, hitting instructor Marco Mazzieri, Gianni Natale, Armando Gutierrez, Daniele Santolupo and the rest of the academy coaching staff every day. By 14, he was already attracting the attention of major league scouts.

After a year in the academy, Gasparini went to Chihuahua, Mexico to play shortstop for Italy in the 15U World Championship, a tournament heavily attended by international scouting directors. While Italy went just 3-5 in the tournament, Gasparini shined, hitting .419/.514/.710 by going 13-for-31 with a double, four triples and six stolen bases in six tries.

Just a few days after the 11-day tournament ended, Gasparini was in Seoul, South Korea playing center field for Italy in the 18U World Championship. Gasparini struggled at the plate (2-for-17), but he was the second-youngest player in the tournament, facing players three years older than him.

Since those tournaments, Gasparini has only continued to improve and draw more top scouts from major league teams to Italy. Scouts highest on Gasparini believe he has the potential to hit at the top of the order, with gap power now that should improve as he adds strength to his frame.

“The thing I see when I watch Marten swing the bat is the bat speed,” Holmberg said. “I don’t think he will be a pure power guy, more of a leadoff guy or maybe a two-hole hitter. But I do think that he could eventually hit 20 or so home runs a year.”

If a team is willing to spend more than $1 million on Gasparini, it’s likely that organization will let him start his career at shortstop. He has good range up the middle, although making plays on balls hit to his right are more of a challenge because of his arm strength. Scouts give him a 40 to 50 arm on the 20-80 scale and have concerns about his throwing mechanics, which is why some think he might be a better fit in center field. Yet while some scouts last year thought he was a surefire center fielder, now those same evaluators believe it’s a coin flip whether he will have to change positions.

“His arm action is a short arm action with a little funk to it, so I’m not sure if you can project it enough to play the shortstop position,” said one scout. “But he’s athletic and he has really good actions for a kid coming from that area. You look at that kid and you can compare him to some of the really smooth actions coming out of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.”

Holmberg is among those who believe Gasparini has a chance to stay at shortstop. The plan at the Italian academy was to leave him at shortstop until he forced his way off the position, but over the past year he has only improved his chances to stay there.

“The player who he reminds of most is Derek Jeter,” Holmberg said. “Now I realize those are some big shoes to fill and they are definitely different in their swings and some skills, but I think they are similar in their actions. I have seen Marten make some plays on (defense) that are more advanced than what should be the case considering the age on his identity card.”

Rare Talent

While Kepler was another athletic European prospect, he was 6-foot-4, 180 pounds when he signed and figured to settle into a corner outfield position, though he played mostly center field last year at Rookie-level Elizabethton. Gasparini isn’t as big as Kepler, but he has more speed and a better chance to stay at a premium position.

“I’ve never had another player in our system with his ability or athleticism,” Holmberg said. “I wish we had 10 of them every year—it sure would make my job easier. Seriously, I’ve coached a little bit in the States and have scouted for the Cubs in the past, and I have never had the pleasure to coach or to scout a player Marten’s age with similar tools to his. Some have been close, but no one who could be considered in the same sentence. We had Max Kepler from Germany a few years ago who had great tools, but they were different player types and had different skill sets.”

In March, Italy’s World Baseball Classic team surprised people by making it out of the first round and nearly reaching the finals in San Francisco, but it did so with a roster nearly devoid of Italian-born players. Throughout Europe, attracting athletes of Gasparini’s caliber into baseball has been a difficult task.

“Our main problem in developing players is not the lack of coaching or facilities, it’s the lack of high-quality games that our kids can play,” Holmberg said. “Quality competition—that is the real battle after we have been able to interest the superior athletes in our sport. We really need to play 120 games a year with our best players. Then, you would probably see even more quality players coming out of Europe and into pro ball.”

There are signs it’s going in the right direction. Alex Liddi, who was born, raised and signed in Italy, made his major league debut with the Mariners in 2011. Donald Lutz, who was born in the United States but was raised in Germany, followed Liddi to become the second graduate of MLB’s European academy to play in the big leagues when the Reds called him up last month.

“The average player is better,” Holmberg said. “The level of play has gotten better. The coaching has gotten better. Everything across the board is better than it was even five years ago.

“We will never get all or most of the best athletes—soccer and other sports are too popular. Slowly but surely baseball is being recognized as an alternative for these young athletes and I think it can only get better.”

Dave Winfield

Please don't comission a million Lough tshirts.

I'm treating Lough the same way I did Aviles. I'm optimistic, but he's going to have to prove it his second time through the league.

I know George Blowfish voted for this one: Lough Places

Yeah, he's filled in nicely, does his job. Potentially naming something after the guy though is Royals Marketing going...well, going full Royals Marketing.

Royals and Jayhawks brethren....go for it!!!

done

They signed the Gasparini kid. $1.3 million.

Intriguing prospect. Sounds like competition is his biggest question mark, but he has shined in international competition against legit pitching.

If he sticks at SS, could be a big-time type (switch hitter, 15-20 HR pop, good speed).

The international scouting has REALLY picked it up of late. Most of the best talent in the system (Ventura, Calixte, Cuthbert, Bonifacio, Almonte) is from that source.

'Cause I got friends in Lough places,
Where the Whiskey drowns,
And the Beer chases my blues away,
But I'll be okay,

What's the deal with this? Royals' international scouting has been outstanding, but our home scouting and drafting leave a lot to be desired...

I don't think it's a scouting issue as much as it's a development issue. Hitters and pitchers have stalled at AAA and AA.

That's to be expected - AA is the biggest jump in talent in the minors - but not at the level the Royals have seen recently.

Bubba Starling was not a scouting issue, for example. He was a consensus top 5 pick and was even linked to the Mariners at No. 2 leading up to that draft. The talent was there. Development has not gone well.

You can't fault them much for the injuries to Duffy and Lamb. That's going to happen. The stalled development of first Mike Montgomery and then CHris Dwyer is concerning, too.

Really, the only guys the Royals have taken early who WEREN'T worth their draft slot were Christian Colon and Hunter Dozier. DOzier was done with a specific plan in place, and we saw how that worked out (sean Manaea). Colon was a panic pick in a draft that was viewed as very up-in-the-air after the top 3 guys.

That's really the only high pick the Royals have made that I really disagreed with (Colon). They should have stuck with Chris Sale at that point. But who knows... in the Royals' system, Sale might have turned into a LH version of Aaron Crow.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baseball suspends <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Tigers&amp;src=hash">#Tigers</a>’ Porcello six games and issues him undisclosed fine.</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/statuses/352147974593331200">July 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

??

Now is that six games, or six starts in his case?

The Tigers better hope that Anibal Sanchez is truly healthy when he returns. If his shoulder problems linger throughout the season (one of the questions lingering before his signing was his injury history), the Tigers could be in trouble.

Games. Likely 1 start.

Whatever Porcello has done, I'm sure Scherzer and Verlander were involved in too. Better suspend them just to be sure.

Sanchez got hit on the leg with a comebacker yesterday and was pulled from his rehab start. He was supposed to be activated after his start but now will probably have to make at least 1 more.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ss...ed_six_ga.html

Plunking Ben Zobrist, evidently.

Neither, really.

It's an extra day or two of rest. He'll appeal, make his start, drop his appeal the day after and serve his 6 games. 4 of those games would've been rest days anyway and if they have an off-day in there, they can shuffle the rotation up to where nobody even misses a start.

To truly force a missed start, a SP needs to be suspended 8-10 games.

As some of you may know, ChiefsandO's fan was banned from this thread based on a complaint/report that he trolls Royals fans. This isn't unusual. We frequently ban Mizzou fans from Kansas threads and vice-a-versa. But he wants back in. You tell me through rep (pos or neg - simply because I don't follow the thread and don't want to have to dig through, tallying votes) whether you want to allow him back in the thread or not. Majority wins.

Can't rep. But no. It's a bit unusual that an Orioles fan of all people wants in on Royals talk. Just my two cents.

The guy was just annoying to me, i dont know about anyone else.

No thanks.

When he really wants to troll he will have access to the game threads.

Thank you.

He has no reason to be here, he has never contributed anything to this thread other than to piss people off.

LMAO

**** no he shouldn't be allowed back.

Can't rep from my phone but **** that guy
Posted via Mobile Device

To his credit, he did break the Francouer news recently...

not good enough OFF WITH HIS HEAD

Ya he is definitely a d-bag

Condescending douche, who gloats whenever possible and has OCD when it comes to breaking news first. Banning him from the thread will be good for him.

On my phone so can't rep but keep twitter douche off the Royals thread.
Posted via Mobile Device

No.

The fact that an O's fans wants back into a Royals thread that badly is a good indicator.

alright ... which one of you guys is the Royals announcer?

He just used Lough Places in the intro


ROFL

**** no to the twitter douche.