And....
we stand there and look at strike three to end a game TWO nights in a row.

These guys take the cake at finding pathetic, pussy ways to lose. It's a gift, a gift I tell you....

Great 9th inning

And to think I was mildly optimistic Tuesday

Well, so much for this season.
Again, we can't score more than 3 runs.

Let the fire sale begin!

I really hope no one tries to continue with the "it's only one game schtick."

They'll win tomorrow of course..

It's time to sell after Detroit sweeps them at the k

I ended it after getting our asses kicked by the Yanks the last two games. This team is cooked and anyone that still believes we're "in it" is in even more denial than Yost when he thinks Escobar is "a good #2 hitter".

I've been trying to be objective about this year. Yeah, the team isn't trolling in the cellar as they usually are. Of course, the year is only half over. They could still end up finishing 20 games out. Moose has been terrible. He is killing this team. He's even worse than Frenchy was, and still they plug him into the lineup day after day. No power. None. Orioles get 36 homers from Davis BEFORE the ASG, and we get.... Billy Butler walking. Whether or not they lose tomorrow, I think you have to blow this thing up. If we can't compete with Cleveland, we have problems. Big big problems. Let's not even talk about Detroit, especially if they trade for a closer.

Glass is a happy guy, Cardinals are in first place, so....

Don't expect anything earth shaking.

He's really turning a corner.....

Moose should be in AAA, period.

Chen has, what, a 2.60 ERA? And just pitched 6 scoreless in his first start. We could get something.

DM just needs more time. 7 years to work up to mediocrity....give him 7 more to build up to a true competitor.

Well it's over...like a stinky afterbirth

Jeff Francoeur's first day as a member of the Giants, and Lincecum throws a no-hitter. Obviously not a coincidence.

Lincecum threw what, 148 pitches? That's a huge huge risk though....

Yeah. That's a Livan Hernandezesque performance. Watch him give up 9 runs next time out. He's not exactly the first guy you'd want to throw almost 150 pitches in a game.

Or turn into Gil Meche

All-Star break will give him a long rest.

Tampa 55-41 now

Okay?

WE TRADED WIL MYER FOR JAY SHIELD AND THEEY STILL BETER TAN US. :(

I could give two ****ing shits about the Rays.

Unless, they brought Canseco back.

:)

BUT IF WE TYEP ENOUNGH TIMEZ WE CAN TIEM MACHIANE TO REVER HISTORA.

Funny thing is if you wanted to be a Oriolesfan level troll about it, David Lough has a higher OPS than Myers.

I never believed in curses but the Kansas City Royals have to be the closest thing.

I've called it the Denkinger Curse for a while.

It's a self-induced curse called the Hunt-Glass curse...

What's more confounding is how one city could be so unlucky as to have THOSE TWO family own our major teams...

One has to wonder what might be different if they had to actually live in the city where their teams are.... By all means the homers for those two families will point out that A) there is no such rule and they will also B) try to indicate that it wouldn't matter.

Oh well, I'm sure with attitudes like that we'll keep getting more of the same...

Incredibly stupid by the Giants...he has been pitching better lately. I'll be shocked if he is not shelled on his next turn

Well, looks like MU fans and KU fans can start hating each other again.

You ****ing dickheads!!

I lived the Blessed Kaufman days, but have a much greater appreciation now. Baseball needs fiscal sanity. This would help some. Being invested in your city does matter. No way glASS feels the torment day to day. Dude doesn't care.

If there's one thing I do think glASS is trying to do that's right for the game it's to bring fiscal sense (equality...) to the sport. Granted, he's doing little more than letting one team fail badly and hoping, someday, the world cares, but 9 out of 10 lawyers will agree that in the legal sense of the word it is "something." It's stupid, it's ridiculous, and it won't work, but it's as much has his greedy ass is willing to do to fix a very broken system.

If there's one other thing he's "doing", I'd say that keeping inept people in key positions and allowing them (not putting any pressure on them until it's too late) to make obviously bad decisions to allow/ensure the team keep failing.

He sees himself as a visionary, a revolutionary thinker of sorts, a game changer......and won't ever change as long as that kind of coin keeps rolling into his account.

Bitching about Glass is a waste at this point...he will never sell the royals and we are stuck with him as fans. Thing is, if GMDM made the right decisions with the money that has been freed up and on the farm this wouldnt be an issue. fact is GMDM is the sole reason the Royals suck to this point. Glass hired the 'up and coming' star GM and opened his wallet a bit....it's time for GMDM to go and let someone else try this with the same amount of $$$ to spend.

If bitching about glASS is a waste, so too then is bitching about the Royals, GMDM, how GMDM spends money (which might be glASS's will), and any other coach or player in this organization.

glASS owns this train wreck, so if he's off limits so too should be his employees... And there's no way to be a local fan and not bitch, so it'll start with glASS and move through his ranks...

Kansas City Royals ‏@Royals 20m

#Royals reinstate RHP Wade Davis from the Paternity Leave List, designate RHP J.C. Gutierrez for assignment.

SHUD UP BEAKER BREATH

Royals Designate J.C. Gutierrez For Assignment on his 30th birthday. Quite the Royals thing to do. I imagine he'll get picked up though. His numbers this year haven't been bad.

Can't ****ing fire an owner though man? Glass is the WORST owner, trust me i know this...

This fanbase lives off of hope. Fact is that GMDM has done a crap job of making the best farm system in the majors into the A's of MLB, thats what the Royals should be.

Non leverage situations, just like Hochy

ROT IN BLACK AND BABY POOP GREEN HELL!

Sure but he has a 3.38 ERA with 5.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 25 relief appearances this season. Plus he can throw 95 mph. Someone will take a shot.

All we have left in this city is bitching, please don't suggest we leave one guy out because there's nothing that will ever force him to sell or do something meaningful to have his team succeed. Much like the Hunt family, he's a greedy **** and should garner bad press at every turn. Those close to him should be allowed to hear the honest opinions of others so that when they're close to him, they can at least, if only silently, question the man. Someday, one of those people who is close to him will ask him why, other than being rich, he's such a loser. At some point in time I hope one of those people won't be a whore to the man and decide that sucking off his financial teet is their only option, and break ranks. So I think the open and honest public criticism needs to continue to feed that person the information they need to have that hopefully-not-private conversation with the ogre. The sooner one of those being paid hush-money of sorts breaks ranks, the sooner we might be a winning team.

At a minimum glASS should have the balls to be very public, and relentless in the media, with the sport's lack of sensible pay structure. I wonder how many weekly rants in the media from an owner it would take before the owners would try to vote him off the island. It ould be more fun to watch than his team is most of the time... And MY tax dollars go into the stadium where THAT team plays, so telling us to just not follow the team is bullshit. If my tax dollars support it, I can bitch about it. If he doesn't like it, move the ****ing team (regardless of his agreement).

I might suggest, if there's one thing worse, or equal to, baseball's lack of some sensible and enforceable salary equality is that there's nothing that can be done about deadbeat owners like glASS.

And good morning....

Why don't you care about the Rays? It's a peer franchise. We hired Dayton in May 2006 and ended up 62-100. The Rays went 61-100. In 2007 we won 69 and they won 66. About even right?


Five years since, they've gone to the playoffs 4 times including the WS and averaged 92 wins per year. Explain to me why Dayton is still spinning his wheels in his 8th year now when Tampa (with lower payrolls every year) is able to keep winning? How can they "re-build" trading off Shields and getting nothing from Myers and be this good?

At least we no longer have to worry about watching what other teams do.

We at least got a mention on Sunday Night Baseball. Talking about 2nd half schedules and how the Braves only have 19 games against teams with winning records and don't go west again.

Meanwhile, the Royals will have a stretch where they play 44 games in 44 days due to rainouts, then around the end of that stretch, play the Indians and Tigers for two solid weeks. So, we've got that going for us.

I think at this point we need to concede that we are sellers and get what we can for Hoch/Chen/Santana.

Unfortunately I have to agree. This team just lacks any kind of hunger. If they don't they surely don't display it.

My guess is the team doesn't do anything and stands pat.

Or it's going to expend more resources in an effort to win in '14.

GMs who trade the top prospect in baseball for a pitcher with two years of control don't fold shop at the break in year one. This is going to be about DM covering his incompetent ass.

More Jose Guillens and Mike Jacobs on the way?

.OBP be damned, I say!

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Didn't see this posted...

Holland named to All-Star team as a replacement. So, that's 3 Royals All-Stars. Been awhile--1988.

Yo, Dayton...how about a look at a real process? BTW, pass this on to that dumb **** manager of yours...

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They hit on several pitchers, plus they picked first in the David Price draft. Their GM is far better than DM.

That's why while complaining about Glass isn't necessarily "wrong"... there are several teams... teams like Tampa, Cleveland, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Oakland and on and on... that have done more with less money. And that doesn't even include the record spending in the draft and Latin America. If Glass wanted to come out and give everyone a middle finger and tell Dayton he's been given a lot more than other "small" markets... he'd be right.

Funny how we do everything opposite of Oakland..

Billy Beane: No bunts...a bunt is an out..

Ned Yost: Bunt him over....

Billy Beane: Take more..if you get on base we win. If you don't, we lose

Ned Yost: See pitch, swing at pitch...WTF is a walk, anyway?

Anyone care to explain how Greg Holland got into the ASG over Jim Johnson?

What a travesty.

It's not just Yost. The no walk and no patience at the plate thing dates back over 20+ years. It's a decades long organizational fail. But yea, Yost is still a sh*t sandwhich.

Zimmer promoted to AA.

His last four starts: 24 IP, 14 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 36 K

WHile much of what you say is accurate, glASS is DM's boss so he can't point that middle finger into the mirror.

It's simple, he hires people with certain traits. IOW, he like the manegarial version of Rex Hud! He requires yes-men who A) remember their place, and B) no matter what, they're making tons of money for an irrelevant game.

So once again, glASS, his son, and I suspect the whole group who gather around his turkey on Thanks Giving day, are ****ing asshole pieces of shit and whore-ass bitches who are the scum of the earth, the puss in the festering wound... And glASS owns this train wreck because he hired the people who hired the people who hired the people who hire the players.

Why can't we "hit" on several pitchers? We picked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 9 under Moore and what the hell did we get? Eric Hosmer, a fat-ass 3B who sucks, a middle reliever who sucks, and a 2B who's fat and stuck in AAA because he sucks.


Seriously let me take over for 8 years. I probably won't win shit but I'll get you 70 wins per year like Dayton did, just by random roster management and drafting in order of BB America's rankings.

Why exactly would Johnson get in over Holland? Because he has more saves?

Holland 35 IP, 21 H, 11 BBs, 60 Ks, 0.914 WHIP
Johnson 43.2 IP, 42 H, 14 BBs, 36 Ks, 1.282 WHIP

Holland averages slightly lower HRs and BBs per 9. He also more than doubles Johnson in Ks per 9.

We know. He was simply mocking ChiefandO's douche.

My second sentence says it all.

I figured it was pretty obvious.

Kelvin Herrera's last four outings in Omaha: 10.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K

He hasn't given up a hit in his last 7.1 IP, and he hasn't had a baserunner in his last 4 IP.

He owns AAA, /slow clap. He and the leprechaun have "royally" sucked at the bigs this year (pun intended)

I assume he can still read the thread without posting in it.

Right, that's self-evident. If every Royals thread came down to 1 sentence explanations like, how did we lose to Cleveland? "They're better." Well no shit, but why?


The broader point is this: Dayton said he needed 10 years to "fix" us. But what was Tampa's roster in 2006? I doubt more than 1-2 players on their 25 man roster are still around. I'm positive Oakland and Minny and Pittsburgh and etc etc have completely different rosters from 2006. What did they have that allowed them to build rosters in the SAME TIME FRAME as Dayton has, while we suck?

OP updated with my thoughts on the team at the mid-way point.

Also, here's a prospect update. I think I'll start with a top 15 and see if more guys jump to the forefront for me.

1) Raul Mondesi. A new name (literally) for this list, but Raul Mondesi's second son named Raul has been about everything you could hope for as a 17-year-old at A ball. The counting stats don't look great by themselves, but considering his age, they stand out. Reports on his D have also been good.

What to watch: Can he maintain everything over the course of the second half?

2) Yordano Ventura. Dominated AA and has shown some good signs while being up and down at Omaha. Stuff has taken a step forward this year, with better movement on his heater and more consistent secondary pitches.

What to watch: Ventura needs to improve his pitch efficiency, control and command, but his arsenal is MLB-ready now.

3) Kyle Zimmer. Was awesome to start the season and close June/July at Wilmington but got rocked at a troubling level in-between. Seems to have figured out some things and is now flashing an above-average changeup. Promoted to NWA this weekend.

What to watch: Does the changeup continue to show plus? Can he add some deception and improve the success of his fastball? If he has a successful second half at NWA, he probably starts 2014 in Omaha and is a potential ASB/second-half promotion.

4) Sean Manaea. Isn't going to pitch this year, but the 2013 supplemental pick offers a TON of helium and could move quickly.

What to watch: Spring training next year and where he's assigned (I'm hoping Wilmington).

5) Miguel Almonte. Kind of came out of nowhere for most (we discussed him a BIT, I think, in the offseason on this thread). BP considers him Zimmer's equal as a prospect. Good body, great changeup, fastball that has more in the tank and already sits low 90s/touches 95-96. Needs to get stronger, add a little velo, and decide on a breaking pitch (and then develop it to at least an average level). HUGE upside.

What to watch: Does he force KC to promote him to the next level this year?

6) Jorge Bonifacio. His numbers at Wilmington aren't QUITE what Wil Myers' were at the same age, but they're close enough to be excited. 19-20 year olds who can OPS 800+ at Wilmington deserve attention and excitement.

What to watch: Does he force KC to promote him to NWA? He'd probably be there already if not for a hand injury earlier this year. Either way, he's poised to start 2014 at NWA.

7) Bubba Starling. Still has the highest upside of any prospect in the Royals system. Hit tool is still an issue. Floor is still really low.

What to watch: Can he break .250 in BA over the second half?

8) Cheslor Cuthbert. Bounce-back year for CC, who performed well at Wilmington and earned a promotion to NWA, where he struggled early but has started to hit of late. STill profiles as a solid 3B with good OBP skills and 20 HR pop.

What to watch: Does he continue heating up as the summer goes on?

9) Hunter Dozier. The 2013 first-rounder is far down the list, but that's more a statement about the system than him. Dozier has had a good start to his career at the minor league level, though he hasn't set the world on fire, either.

What to watch: Where does he finish 2013? He's performed well enough to deserve a promotion, but when does it happen and where does he go from there?

10) Kyle Smith. Still is small and maxed out physically, but still has good-enough stuff and pitchability to be a solid back-end starter at the majors. Nice trade chip.

What to watch: Does he get a shot at NWA this year? And what happens if he does? This will be a key jump for Smith, as AA is where pitchability guys are made or broken.

11) Orlando Calixte. Terrible start hides some of his strong performance since then. Still probably not a SS, but offers nice pop from a 2B spot. Another good trade chip.

What to watch: Can he close the season with a .750 OPS at NWA? Considering his age and position, would be a very positive sign.

12) Alexis Rivera. Call me crazy, but I look at his age and production so far, and I see a potential star hitter for KC.

What to watch: Everything. He's just in rookie ball, but I like the package!

13) Jason Adam. Horrible start at AA had me wondering if he would be the next to bust at that level for KC, but he has turned it around since then. 3.65 ERA and 1.25 WHIP with 7.5 K/9 rate since May 1, respectable numbers for the hitter's league he pitches in.

What to watch: Does the strong rebound last the entire season?

14) Elier Hernandez. Still hasn't lived up to the hype from his signing, but still a lot to like. Power potential is still there.

What to watch: Does his production start to match his ability?

15) Chris Dwyer. The lefty has been solid at Omaha, though his K rate suffered to do it. Could be a solid back-end starter in the majors still, or a plus bullpen piece. Probably best serves KC as part of a trade package.

What to watch: Can he maintain current results while bringing his K rate back up?

I think most Royals fans are done hearing about minor league prospects for a long time. The "greatest farm system ever" in 2011 was a total washout. 5 top-20 prospects and 4 of them did nothing for us, the 5th is an average player (Hosmer). And we still suck 3 years later.

If the best farm system ever rated by BB America in 30 years can't even be respectable at the big league level, I doubt the #18 ranked one or whatever we are now will be.

This. I'm thinking Duncan has painted a pretty rosy picture, but this is still the Royals and they suck.

I go back to the whole "accountability" thing. Who's been held accountable? So far it's been Frenchy, Getz, Herrera and Gutierrez. That's it.

Not rosy... I always try to be honest about prospects and potential sticking points/failure points.

I follow minor league baseball closely for everyone, not just the Royals. Other than Ventura and MAYBE Dwyer, there's nobody on that list that helps this year or next. Only other help point is by trading some of those guys. I imagine Dayton Moore will make some moves in the offseason to try to make a run in 2014, if he's still around.

Knowing who's there gives you an idea of what prospects could be flipped for help (either mid-season or in the offseason).

Duncan: Always enjoy your insight, and appreciate the mid season report and prospect report. Looks as if we are in wait il 2014 mode. Sad.

I appreciate your insight to the minor league players and everything else. Your worst post in this thread is still better than PB's best post.