I posted in the game thread as well. But thank you royals. I brought my family down to last nights game(Sat thru the rain delay) and watched a Royals victory. As we were leaving this mrng the Mrs. challenged me. She said, "Shall we go to the game today." I took the bait. Put it to a family vote 5-0. Watched the game while she kept the kids busy. In the sixth inning I went out and got them all. Told them we were leaving after the inning if we didn't score. You all know what happened. Probably the greatest game ever that I have seen in person.

We probably will never compete with Detroit, or win a Division but Thank you Royals for making me root for you and believe. We are home now and all 3 of my kids are wearing their KC Royals hats with the RWB KC.

Greatest 4th ever.

Good to get as many wins as possible while we still can. We've got a tough couple series coming up after this one.

To not play.

20 of our 25 games this month are against teams over .500. If we can be close to .500 at the end of the month things lighten up for August (18 of 30 games against sub. 500 teams).

Lots of games against Cleveland, Detroit and Seattle (for whatever reason) in September. I hope the fact that we are playing two series with the Mariners in September means Cleveland and Detroit have two series against Oakland and Texas.

dude is cool as a cucumber

Herrera went 3.1 innings of no hit ball with 7 K's and two BB.

Are they stretching him out to start?

No, they said they were trying to get him as much work as possible to try to work out the kinks quicker.

Not sure if srs. If so, is that common practice?

I think they also want him to realize that he can throw a 97 mph fastball with movement to get major league hitters out instead of a 101 mph straight fastball that gets blasted 420 feet.

I've never heard of it before but I seem to remember reading it somewhere earlier in the thread.

Is it time to move Mondesi up to NW Ark? Or should he be left in Wilmington due to his young age?

Sounds decent for the long haul.

Nice, thanks.

The logic I heard was that they wanted him to start throwing ALL of his pitches again. They felt he had strayed away from a few of them, iirc

So if three weeks pass and Gio is hitting adequately and the Royals are still in the hunt, and assuming they are buyers at the deadline...what is the move they make? I would assume they need a right handed power bat for RF. Who will be available?

Bullpen needs help, but could be solved by Herrera's return, Duffy (whether Duffy himself or Davis moving there to make room for Duffy in the rotation), or other callups. Essentially, I don't see them going outside the system to solve bullpen issues.

Any chance they upgrade 3B for the second half and let Moose figure it out in Omaha?

He's not in Wilmington yet. He's at Lexington, the A ball affiliate.

I don't think we'll see him even in Wilmington this year, as he turns 18 later this month. That would be an extremely aggressive promotion for him, especially since he's just now starting to find his stride at Lexington.

Young guys like that, you have to be conservative with promotions. Unless he really goes insane at Lexington (something like hitting .350 for a month), I'd guess he stays there.

None. And why would they? He has actually been somewhat productive recently. Last 28 days at .296/.342/.736. Obviously we would like to see some more pop, but he has not been a black hole in the lineup that will lose you games. He isn't hitting for enough power yet to win them games, but it is progress.

Hosmer was fiddling around .270 for quite a while this season just hitting some singles with the occasional double. He has finally turned on the power. Hopefully Moustakas can do the same thing now that he appears much more comfortable at the plate.

They also have Louis Coleman pitching very well at Omaha, and he's had success in the bigs in the past. And Everett Teaford could help in the bully, too. I agree, I think there's plenty of in-house options there.

So if Rios doesn't want to come here (or at least he thought about us when putting us on his no-trade list), that takes a big RH power option from the outfield off our list (which I think is the big need.)

Kyle Blanks is probably unrealistic (I tried.)

Josh Willingham is a decent option, but he's hurt.

I've always been a fan of Michael Cuddyer, but Colorado's probably not moving him now.

Alfonso Soriano? Yuck.

Coleman should already be here and you can demote Hererra, Crow, whoever you want to get it done. Coleman should have 1 role and that's to dominate RH which he's always done. Crow did it for 1 year but can't anymore becuase he can't throw Strike 1 ever.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits.../louis-coleman


If I were another MLB team I'd have already tried to pry away Gio and Coleman and made them starters.

Nate Shierholtz is cheap and controlled for this year and next. Slugging .521. Is it worth taking a chance on him?

In terms of moves that we can make, I'm a little concerned about Tim Collins and would think about Buddy Baumann or Donnie Joseph to face the lefties.

I think Coleman is worth a look, but would love to see Herrera get fixed too.

I wouldn't mind him, honestly....just looking for some right-handed pop. But yeah, he'd be an upgrade over where we are now.

Completely agree Tegu and Siberian.

Up until the Gio promotion the biggest holes have been 2B and RF. I'm not sold on Gio but I'll give him his shot. But assuming he is the answer, our biggest need is a bat in RF.

I like Lough, and Dyson has his moments. But I don't think either are more than #4 outfielders in the big leagues. They are great weapons off the bench, and good depth for injuries, but not every day guys. We need an impact bat in RF.

Not sold on Cain right now either, but the guy has had some big time clutch hits this year. He is streaky, and that only highlights the value of Lough and Dyson more as viable backups. I think a lot of Cain's struggles are still bc of his lack of experience. His ceiling is much higher than the other two.

Schierholtz is a decent option. Would obviously want someone with more pop, but it's not like we're going to get Sammy Sosa in his steroid days.

It will be interesting to see the other teams that drop from the race in the next few weeks. Hopefully we're not one of them.

I don't think Schierholtz is much of an upgrade. Prior to this year, I think he pretty much was David Lough. He's slugging better this year, but that's park-driven -- he's OPSing 1.054 at Wrigley, .678 on the road.

Yeah, I overlooked the right-handed part. :doh!:

Other takeaways might be that baseball is its own worst enemy, but like a cat it has nine lives.

You know baseball is an awesome sport because if it weren't there's no way a system as ****ed-up as this would survive...

It takes a LOT of very determined self-serving lawyers working for a few self-serving owners and many self-serving players (duh!!) to justify this abortion of equality and spirit of equal competition.

But alas, baseball will survive because it's just a fun sport...

Baseball is so messed up, they need a salary cap. Paying a guy like Alex Rodriguez who cheats that much money is insanity.

The other thing about Rios is when he signed his contract. I believe it was 2008? I would have put the Royals on my no trade list too (ok maybe I wouldn't have...but I'm trying to be objective). But now that they are contending would he be willing to waive that? So it depends on his motives there.

You could go for some like Ibanez, and move him to right...but I think his defense has gotten to Frenchy levels without the arm. Twins aren't trading Willingham to the Royals, and even if they were he won't be ready before the deadline.

The fact Louis Coleman has spent the entire season so far toiling at Omaha is criminal.

What's also criminal is that they have 3 lefties in the pen and not one of them is a true lefty specialist who is lights out against LHP. I know they THINK Tim Collins is that, but it completely ignores his history.

They need to make room for Coleman and either Donnie Joseph or Buddy Baumann.

Baumann's numbers against lefties really stand out... 7 2/3 IP, 20 K, 5 H, 2 BB.

So, basically, he has recorded 23 outs vs. LHH, and 20 of them have been Ks.

Most no-trade lists are updated on a yearly basis. They typically are not set in stone based on when a contract was signed.

Did not know that. Good info. Thanks.

Coleman should of had Collin's spot a week ago.

Just noticed that Ryne Stanek from Overland Park (Blue Valley High School) signed for $1.75 million with the Rays. Good for him.

Brian Wilson, former Giants closer, should be ready about the end of July to start pitching again. It would be cool to have him come in and be a 7th/8th inning guy down the stretch. Kauffman will help his numbers and get him a deal next year.

Also the Carl Crawford is coming off the DL for the Dodgers soon and they will have too many guys for 3 spots. No way they are getting rid of Kemp or Puig but I bet a deal can be made for Ethier or maybe, most likely not tough, Crawford.

I had completely overlooked Baumann. Thanks.

Joseph's wildness still scares me. Although I haven't checked in a couple of weeks, has that improved at all?

Why? Who did he cheat? The Yankees offered him that contract, he just signed it. If anything he was smart enough to fool them out of millions but that's the Yankees fault, not his.

Besides, the Yankees owners inherited their ballclub anyway from their dad. They got a 1B gift (tax free based on the laws at the time of pops' passing) that they didn't do squat to earn themselves. If anything, they're the ones who need a "salary cap". Alex at least earned most of his $$$ over his career.

Earned it by using performance enhancing drugs to make himself better. So, Lance Armstrong deserves to have all those titles?

God damn I love that guy. So funny.

Would love to have him just for the lulz if nothing else.

Not a bad idea, but I don't think he will be entirely ready by the time September rolls around. Have to account for rehab assignments, and this is only assuming he rolls through his rehabs and without any injury set backs.

If he wants to do it for the league minimum for a year, and try it in the Minors, I would not be too opposed. But on the other hand, I like to think that KC has a lot of in-house options in Omaha though.

Yes, why do people give a **** what these athletes put in their bodies? I just want to be entertained, I don't care what is happening behind the scenes.

That is extremely boring to me. What if at where you work someone got promoted in front of you because he cheated and you knew it, would that not piss you off?

Why do you care what someone else puts in their body?

Steroids shouldn't even be illegal to begin with.

I don't care what they put in their body as long as I am not paying to watch them play a game. I want hard work and natural athleticism to be put on display.

Per Buster Olney today -

I hung out with Ryan Lefebvre last night during 4th celebrations out at Lake Winnebago... and he said that the Sonic Slam had only happened 3-4 times in the 13 years that he's been here.

I'd literally NEVER seen it happen before. I wonder if Sonic was pissed.

25k is pocket change to that franchise...

Right, later this month or in August. This is the guy who has been out of baseball for some time, and you have to consider that he needs all the work and reps in the minors for him to get ready, and this is all assuming there is no set backs.

Plus, I just think there are better in-house candidates at this point. I'm more of wanting to get a bat, or a back-end of the rotation starter, because sometimes, Davis scares me more than not, same with Mendoza as well.

This. I just want to be entertained could care less how they get there to do it.

I heard it on the radio once, but never seen it happen in person or on TV.

Watched Matt Stairs do it approximately 10 years ago or so. Don't think it's happened since then.

If they were doing their job better than me, because they did some bio-metric implant to be smarter... then they still deserve the job because at the end of the day.. they do it better. That analogy is fail.

I'm not really making an argument on whether Rodriguez is a good person or a cheater. I'm just pointing out that the Yankees are to blame for his contract, that's all. Nobody held a gun to Cashman's head and forced him to offer that deal.

Sonic gets their name involved with a memory that will last a lifetime. In 15 years when Puig signs a vet minimum here to wrap up his career he will fly out on the warning track, then Ryan Levever go...Wow that brought up this memory of 15 years ago today when Lorenzo Cain hit a grand slam to win some vag bag 25k on the sonic slam inning.

Per Rotoworld:

Royals released OF Jeff Francoeur.

Francoeur was designated for assignment earlier this week and cleared waivers with ease. Despite a disappointing .208/.249/.322 batting line this season, he shouldn't have trouble netting a big league contract somewhere.

I hope Francour lands with the Yankees so I can boo him harder.

Taco Bell dump> Francouer

Actually, Hank Steinbrenner pretty much did.

Great, more to my point then. The actual owner with the actual cash decided to sign a guy who laid an egg. Nobody held a gun to Hank's head.

Man, this lineup is pretty much a bucket of yuck until Gordon returns.

Lough
Escobar
Hosmer
Butler
Perez
Cain
Moustakas
Giavotella
Dyson

Yep. and it was against Cleveland as well, iirc. @ Jacobs Field.

Why do the Royals give away such cheap publicity to Sonic? So they pay this thing out once every decade and spend a couple hundred bucks thru the year on random homers? Surely they're paying the Royals a lot more for that ad space than they're paying on this promotion. Surely they're paying 10x as much to Glass as they are to the fans.

I'd like to see Giavotella in the 2 slot with Hosmer this hot... see what Gio can do when he sees a steady diet of fastballs.

I would be okay with anyone but Escobar.

I like Gia - didn't he originally bat second in one of his stints in KC or even DLough.

Yep. That is the one that he mentioned being the last one that he could remember.

Stairs was such a stud.

I LOVED him.

On a side note, when I went out to the Riverfront for the fireworks last night, there was a lot of KC Royals stuff being worn by people, more than I can count, especially in JULY!

Feels. Good. Man.

Ummmmm, I'm pretty sure "cheating" - depending on where you draw the line - is happening at work regardless of injections.

That being said, parallels, albeit they've become accepted in today's culture would be dismissed as proper. So the person who runs out and gets his/her MBA for the leg-up isn't thought to be a cheater, just more educated (and they've earned it). I'm not sure the less popular athletic equivalent of a person juicing, working his ass off in the gym and hitting for more power (and even healing more quickly) isn't the same. Actually, the MBA is nothing more than potential, juicing isn't anything without results, so it might be more pure.

Look, I know juicing isn't popular because a certain group thinks they're bad and offer an unfair competitive advantage. I can connect the same dots, and I don't care about it in the Pros. I am concerned about it before the Pros, but I don't think there's a good way to keep it at just the Pro-athlete level. So It's not like I don't have any reservations, but I'm not sure I'm willing to keep those adults who understand the consequences of them away from them just because some idiot kid in high school starts a chain reaction at that level.

Anyway, I'm tired of having a baseball team that seems to struggle (usually) with taking other team's pitcher's mistakes over the fence, so I want them to juice, work their asses off in the gym and then entertain me... Same with the Chiefs...

Stairs is also awesome for producing this quote (it may be a little paraphrased).

"I'm not gonna lie. I just go up there and see how far I can hit it. I won't lie. I try to hit homeruns."

Wacky Canadian

Using banned drugs is equal to going to college?
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Posnanski had an article about Matt Stairs...if you like Stairs it is worth the read.

No mention of Stairs' purty blonde locks yet?

Too focused on his ab.

Where can I get cheap royals tickets?

it is .org