Gio won the George Brett award for best hitter in the orginization

Escobar is a turd.


WAR this year: Butler 0.5, Kotarras 0.5, Tejada 0.4. Lulz that says it all.

FYP

Hopefully Will Smith continues to start in AAA.

I don't think Duffy will be ready anytime soon. Dude avgs alot of pitches per inning so far and a high 5 era w/ walks.

Not a fan of Chen starting cause we have 1-3 SP's but have almost 2 holes now in the rotation

Did you see my post from earlier today? His first outing in Omaha is kind of skewing the sample size.

I don't think he's ready to pitch in the majors tomorrow... but post-ASB is a legit possibility, if his next 2-3 MiLB starts go well.

Pitch count has recently gotten in the 80s/90s, so he's close to being where you want him from that regard.

Just read it...i'm hoping he can be ready by the trade deadline if needed. I want them to be careful with him for sure. Hopefully he's working the kinks out.

So far so good. Hopefully we provide Shields some run support tomorrow night.

Ibanez went 2-5 with a HR tonight. 22 on the year.

Just thought I would place this here and walk away.

I doubt he'll want to leave his home city during what could be his final season.

I'd love to be wrong, though.

Come help our power problem Ibanez

If you get Ibanez, you plan to contend for a pennant this season, right? I mean, Raul will be, what, 47 next season?

I'd think if Dayton is ALL in for trying to win the division this year and save his own ass he may try it. Royals have this year and next year with Shields and only this year with Santana and Shields.

I still don't think this team can win the division with the current holes and would be smarter to see what they can get for Shields or Santana.

I hope i'm wrong

They'll try to keep Shields but will most likely deal Santana. He's going to demand too much, and he hasn't been as consistent as Shields -not this year but career wise I mean. Also what they do will depend on what Paulino and Duffy can do in the next couple weeks.

I hope they take a hard look at trading Santana, cause i'd like to think near that deadline or the deadline day there will be huge demand for a SP. That said i just don't see Dayton waiving the white flag if the Royals are at .500 or just above .500.

If we are around .500 at the break, I keep Santana and play it out. If we're more than 2 games under, I'd look at moving him.

If they're within a handful at worst games out of first I think they have to try. They def. need to break .500 and stay above it

Trading Santana makes sense if:

1) You're out of playoff contention for 2013 (more than a half-dozen games back)
2) You get back a legitimate top 50-75 prospect who is ready to help the big-league club in 2014. You're talking about guys like Adalbert Mondesi/Cheslor Cuthbert/Jorge Bonifacio (current) or Danny Duffy (past) at that point.

If both of those things aren't present, I think you get more value out of him by keeping him, tendering him a qualifying offer, and picking up a supplemental pick in the 2014 draft (which is valuable for the draft pool dollars AND the potential to add a top 75 type guy to your squad).

For example, if the Royals had owned a supplemental pick in this draft, they could have taken Austin Meadows at No. 8 instead of Dozier and comfortably signed him while still landing Manaea and maybe even Dozier.

Yeah, I think the stat I read the other day was since the Wildcard era, no team 5 games under .500 at the AS break has reached the post season. I think it was only a couple that had reached the post season sitting 2 games under at the AS break. The A's last year and the Twins in '03. I'm too lazy to look up the actual stat, though.

Given that Garza appears to be the top pitcher on the market, Santana might bring a really nice haul.

This could be a perfect "buy low, sell high" opportunity.

Probably BS but Matt Garza, Cubs talking contract extension

Yeah, i wouldn't trade Santana just to get some b guys, it'd have to be the right deal. As for Garza, hes likely to go regardless of that extension talk...esp if he gets traded Santanas price would be huge.

Duncan, Can you elaborate on this. The supplemental picks in the 2013 draft were after round 3. How would that have changed the Dozier / Manaea (balance pick) to Meadows / Manaea ? thanks, DS

At least win the division and go from there. This team can hit, they just can't hit for power on a consistent basis. Raul will help that.

And what is there to lose? A b prospect and a little over a mill?

If the Royals are close and serious they have to make hard attempts to get a starting RF'er and 2b. Utley and Ibanez should be able to be had granted they want to come

KK and Danny rippin Rex and his dumb-assery

The system works like this:

If the Royals make a qualifying offer to a free agent who signs with another team. They get a compensation pick at the end of the first-round.

The team that signed Santana would lose its first-round pick, unless it is in the top 10 of the draft (in which case it would lose its next-highest pick). The team that lost Santana would then receive a pick at the end of the first round.

Example from this year: The Brewers had the 17th pick and signed Kyle Lohse, who was on a qualifying offer from the Cardinals. The Brewers lost their pick, with everyone behind them moving up one slot, and the Cardinals ended up with a compensation pick in the first round (No. 28).

So, if KC had been in a similar boat and made a qualifying offer to another FA THIS year, they would have received an extra pick somewhere between 28 and 34. (All comp picks are taken BEFORE the start of the competitive balance round).

That would have given KC:

No. 8 (regular pick)
No. 28-34 (comp pick for FA)
No. 35 (competitive balance pick)
No. 46 (second-round pick)

With the extra $1.75 million the Royals got for the extra comp pick, they could have taken Meadows at No. 8 and paid him slot (because they no longer need to save at that pick to sign Manaea). They can take Manaea with either of the next two picks, and take a lesser college player they're certain of signing with the other. That's where the savings for signing Manaea could have been found.

In next year's draft, the Royals likely will be picking somewhere in the teens with their first-round pick. If they make a qualifying offer to Santana and he signs with a different team, they'll get an extra pick at the end of the first round for him, with the signing team forfeiting their first-rounder. Then, they'll get a competitive balance pick.

That extra $1.75 million from the extra first-round pick could come in really handy. That would give the flexibility to take someone with their REGULAR first-rounder who was falling due to price concerns. Or simply let them take another first-round type talent.

The problem is 7 million for a half season of utley may hinder us signing guys in the future because we're maxed out and cheap.

Jesus man. You are a bamf when it comes to baseball.

I have a friend who is a Giants fan, this makes me laugh so much.


http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/0...cut-by-royals/

The Giants have reached that stage of this collapsing season where they are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. The evidence is their signing of outfielder Jeff Francoeur to a minor-league contract. Francoeur, 29, was released by the Royals after hitting .208 with three homers and a paltry .571 OPS in 193 plate appearances.
He is going to Fresno with the understanding that he will be called up to the big-league club sooner rather than later after he gets a few at-bats and does some work in left field, where he has played in two games as a major-leaguer. Francoeur was always a right fielder, with an excellent arm, but the Giants have Hunter Pence there.
This is a standard no-risk Brian Sabean flier. The Royals will pay the all but a couple hundred thousand dollars left on Francoeur’s $7.5 million salary, and the team hopes the Braves’ 2002 first-round draft pick can find new vigor in San Francisco as Pat Burrell did in 2010 after he was cut loose by Tampa Bay amid talk that his hitting days were over. That worked out well for the Giants.
Moreover, Francoeur can’t do any worse at the plate than Juan Perez or Cole Gillespie have during their looks.
Francoeur has not been a good hitter since 2011, when he hit 20 homers and batted .285 with an .805 OPS for the Royals.
Some of my followers on Twitter (@hankschulman) have asked why the Giants just don’t call up Gary Brown or Roger Kieschnick and see what they can do. Believe me, I’ve asked the question. Sabean believes that despite Kieschnick’s All-Star numbers in the Pacific Coast League, and Brown’s improvement over the past month, neither is ready to compete against big-league pitching.
But that question is fluid. If the Giants conclude they have no chance this year — and that date might come a lot sooner than everyone expected — they might decide to look at Brown or Kieschnick with an eye toward 2014.

Wall of text. Enter is your friend.

so just quote the wall o' text again so it can take up an entire page of the thread

Copied and pasted from the link, link provided in case someone wanted the source. Kindly go **** yourself.

Zimmer went 6IP 4H 0BB 13K tonight

1 run allowed...nice...he's had an era of almost 6 but he is striking guys out

Great to see Zimmer getting it together. I believe he has put together 3-4 nice starts now in a row.

Oh my...

My apologies Mr. Butler. Great game and great series, so far. Keep it going.

Maybe he WAS actually working on something earlier this year.... He is trending the right way.

Lot of guys on the farm doing that, actually. Duffy, Ventura, Cuthbert, Bonifacio, Calixte included.

According to BP this morning, Zimmer worked primarily with the fastball and curveball last night.

His attempts to develop a slider so far this year have not gone well. He still needs at least a "Show-me" changeup to reach his upside, but Shelby Miller's success in St. Louis this year shows a guy can pitch at a high level with a plus fastball and plus curve, and a rarely used/average change.

Outfield Defense has been awesome since Francour died.

What was he doing reffing a soccer game in Brazil, anyway?

Smiling...only this time it was his neck.

If you watch the video, a kid in a Royals hat runs on the field and nut taps what's left of his torso. It was a fitting end. He died the way he lived, you know...

read this same post on royals curve...why do you say that his attempts to develop a slider have not gone well? Curious. Keith Law said he is has 3 plus pitches.

If Law said that, the changeup must be the third-pitch he's referring to, or he caught him on a good night with the slider.

BP referenced it as "his worst pitch" according to many scouts, and cited overuse of that pitch as a potential reason for his struggles this year.

CBS Sports talking about Santana's future with the Royals:
http://tinyurl.com/l9h73ad

From the link. That is pretty sweet!

Rest in Peace

It will be awesome if Lough continues to develop


now if we can just find a 2nd baseman

Let's assume, for a moment, the Royals make a September run at the playoffs. Do we call up Ventura or not?

We're in the toughest part of our schedule right now. After our homestand with Detroit and the Jim Johnson's, the schedule eases considerably.

3 at White Sox, 3 at Twins, 3 at Mets, and 3 at home vs. Twins.

After 4 at home against Boston, it's the Marlins at home for 3. Later in August, we see the Twins and White Sox 3 more times each, at home.

Oh yeah, and with that rainout we have a 5 game series at home against the Tigers.

So to follow that, we're all in. We didn't just trade away the #1 prospect in all of baseball to dick around and be mediocre. My expectation, based on that move and the Royals' willingness to hold guys accountable, is that we're going to swing big at the deadline.

Depends on how the rest of the bullpen is pitching. If Crow, Collins, Coleman, etc. are all throwing well, you leave him down.

If you need to stabilize the pen a bit, you bring him up and let him go Matt Moore/Trevor Rosenthal out of the pen.

I think Ventura needs to perform better in AAA before we bring him up. If he goes beast mode after the break he might get a look to start in the bigs next year, but I'd be looking for him to be at best a June call up next year.

I'd move Davis to the pen and find a back-end starter before I'd move up Ventura. But that's just me.

Ventura won't be called up this year. If he does get called it will be late in the season for the pen

I've been watching wondering...specifically game 1 of the Yankees series. When we're in an 8th inning jam, runners on the corners up 3-1 with 2 outs...why don't we put in Holland for the 4 out save? Doesn't that just make sense?

If the Royals trade Santana it shows they've given up on the season.

And they probably should. This is around a .500 team, and I think it would take an epic collapse by Detroit for the Royals to actually have a shot at things in September.

The Royals are starting to put some legit pieces in place, but '14 looks more and more like the year, not '13.

All this said, I'd still be willing to push all of our chips in for Stanton.

Who is our Rotation next year? Shields and thats it?

June's rotation could look like...

Shields
Duffy
Guthrie
Davis (Ick. Paulino is a possibility, but I'm not taking his return for granted.)
Ventura

I wouldn't go all in on Stanton based on his production this year. Maybe Stanton is just sick of playing for the Marlins, I don't know. He's having a pretty bad year so far. I might trade a few prospect's excluding Ventura.

I think Ventura is going to be an ace in the future.

I would love to see billy's numbers if he played the field. I think it gets real old for him just hitting.

He might be, but "pitching prospects" don't exist, and I'd gladly trade any of them, particularly when they're listed at 180 lbs.

I agree pitching prospect's don't exist, but Ventura has shown plenty to be given a shot. I think he has great potential as a front of the line starter.

All of this is correct, and this is exactly why he has good value right now. If he can be flipped for proven, controllable ML talent, particularly a position player, I'd do it yesterday.

No one ever asks Yost why Esky continues to bat in the #2 spot?

Nope, but at least we know that Davies actually pitched well tonight. That's a relief.

So we should keep trotting out Davis, Chen and Mendoza next year? Who's to say Paulino and Duffy make it back ok? Hell, Santana might leave next year also. I would like to see Ventura called up soon to see what he is actually capable of in the majors.

Lol, I'm sure he's attempting to save face after leaving him in with the bases juiced with no outs in the sixth.

Good ol' Barnhead Ned.

Santana is as good as gone next year...

I just don't see GMDM trading anyone off this roster unless it better this team this year. He's out to save his ass....the smart thing is that the Royals won't win this division and trade Santana for a ML hitter.

I would trade the minors for Stanton

This is where Deez and I fly off the rails in different directions. I don't know if there are pitching prospects... but most teams need to develop a pitcher or two on their own to compete. Unless you're gonna pull Dave Duncan out of the weeds and go win titles with guys like Suppan and Jeff Weaver. Of course the Royals have probably developed young pitchers worse than young hitters, which is saying something.

We're allowed to use FA and trades to acquire pitchers, too. I'd say that, statistically, the odds of Duffy being a legit starter are stronger than Ventura developing into this because there's a bit more history with the former.

Just because you want to keep Ventura doesn't mean that you have to create a false binary; advocating trading a "pitching prospect" isn't the same as advocating keeping Davies in the rotation.

Santana is a one-year deal. Trade him. Or...trade the shit out of the farm to get viable pieces now.

How much productivity have we seen from "the greatest farm system in baseball history?" Answer: not enormous amounts, which proves exactly what most prospects should be used for: trade chips.

I would trade Santana and a prospect or 2 this year for a proven MLB hitter. I would still like to see Ventura called up this year to see what he's got. We are going to need to damn near revamp the rotation again next year.

I would agree that development is key for any organization. Without major organizational changes, however, I'm of the mindset that KC simply cannot develop a pitcher.

Hell, Greinke doesn't even provide evidence to the contrary because he was in the league at 20/21.

Any team trading for Santana is buying.. they won't trade any proven major league talent away while they're pushing to make the postseason.

Looks like Jeter will be back for the Yankees tomorrow.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ey...es-on-thursday

This is a sad Giants' fan breaking down their signing of Frenchee, it's pretty glorious.

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/201...ancoeur-giants