2013 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[duncan_idaho]

Proposed 2013 Slogan: Tigers: They're what's for dinner
Actual 2013 Slogan: Come to Play
A better, more accurate, or alternative slogan: All in, no panic, we promise.

Dayton Moore has pushed all his chips in and is riding on King/Jack suited, hoping it comes together, he gets some good luck, and he hits the nuts by the river card. There's potential, oh yes, there's potential. There's also risk.

At the midway point, Dayton is left counting on the river card. The flop and turn didn't help him, and he's looking at the Tigers holding a pair of Queens and the Indians holding a pair of 9s. His 2013 plan hasn't failed - yet - but the odds are not in his favor.

Burning questions updates below.

Burning Questions for 2013:

1) Will the improve rotation be improved enough? Does James Shields pitch like a fringe No. 1 away from Tampa Bay? Does Ervin Santana pitch to his highest upside in his walk year? Can Jeremy Guthrie build on his strong performance as a Royal in 2012? Can Wade Davis bring his new mentality- and velocity - back to the rotation?

Midseason check-in: Yes, the rotation is certainly improved enough. Shields has pitched like a fringe No. 1 and Santana is having his best season. Guthrie has horrible peripherals but has continued to perform well at his home park and eat innings on the road. Davis brought neither his kick-ass mentality or improved velocity back to the rotation and is in Luke Hochevar/Hiram Davies territory.

2) When will Luke Hochevar be shown the door?
Midseason check-in: It appears, never, at this point. Hochevar has been solid in non-leverage situations, though pretty much every time he has been used with men on base in an inning, it has been a disaster.

3) Does Hosmer bounce back?
Midseason check-in: It took some time, but Hosmer's performance from June 1 on is probably the most encouraging thing about the 2013 season so far.
4) Can Moustakas hit for a whole season like he did in the first half of 2012?
Midseason check-in: Nope. Moustakas was god-awful, then great for about 3 weeks, then god-awful again. He has been better since he started working with Brett and Grafol but still has a long way to go.
5) Who regresses?
Midseason check-in: Welp, Alicides Escobar is not a surprising name here (though Yost's stubborn insistence on hitting him second is ridiculous). Billy Butler is a surprise. He isn't having a terrible year - still contributing a lot to the offense - but he's not hitting for the average or power he has displayed over the past several years.
6) Who plays 2B?
Midseason check-in: A whole bunch of people, and not that great. Gio is at least getting a shot, though he once again is not doing much with it.
7) Can Jeff Francoeur be at least replacement level, rather than epic horrible level?
Midseason check-in: Hahahahahahahahahahaha
8) Will Dayton Moore survive to see 2014?
Midseason check-in: Outlook uncertain. Probably still around, unless the team completely tanks in the second half and he does something foolish. My guess - he sacrifices Ned Yost this offseason and gets one more shot with a new manager in 2014.
9) Will Danny Duffy come back healthy? And if he does, is he the same, better or worse?
Midseason check-in: Yes. Velocity looks the same, and it looks likely he is the same guy as before.
10) And the big one: Has KC added enough to run down the big-money Detroit Tigers?
Midseason check-in: Doesn't look like it, does it?

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by Zeke

If Hosmer and Mous develop into consistent hitters at the ML level this season, we will improve to over 700 runs.

Expecting Cain to put up those numbers is complete and total homerism. The guy has all of 8 career HR's and 45 RBi's in 400+ AB's spread out over 3 seasons...

If he stays healthy, we're looking at about a .750 OPS guy that plays respectable defense.

Maybe it's homerism. I'm a fantasy baseball player and he was getting all sorts of buzz prior to his injury and he was raking a bit after his injury. I'm not sure, I like the kid.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I would say that depends largely on Hosmer and Moose. Not Frenchy and Getz.

Moose and Hos both taking big steps forward (is a big if) does not make this offense elite. Having 2 guys that rake will not make up having 2 guys that don't show up.

Having NEGATIVE impact bats in your lineup is much more damaging than having a couple of "good" players in the lineup. And neither of them were "good" players last year. If they take huge strides as suggested, they can become "good" players. That is still nothing near "elite". That's the whole point.

This team will struggle to score 700 runs, unless multiple people jump the fence and develop. They won't sniff 800 runs like the guy i was addressing, originally.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by Capt Tasty Cheeks

well take an offense in the AL central and tell me why they are better than KC's offense.

Detroit has two GREAT bats and a few pretty good ones...but they have holes, too.

The White Sox strike out way too often, but they have a pretty comparable offense...probably more power for less average.

We are better offensively than Cleveland and Minnesota.

Ok, we'll just stop right there.... You're making me chuckle.

Not sure if you're just trolling, or really don't know what you're talking about.

Chicago's offense is lightyears better than KC's. They scored 75 more runs than we did. That's a fairly sizeable difference. Minnesota's offense even outscored KC's by 25 runs (mainly due to their ability to get on base).

KC and Cleveland are right on par with each other, offensively. We scored 9 more runs than them... so there's the two teams that you should compare from last year.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by Capt Tasty Cheeks

Maybe it's homerism. I'm a fantasy baseball player and he was getting all sorts of buzz prior to his injury and he was raking a bit after his injury. I'm not sure, I like the kid.

by Fantasy do you mean "fantasy world"? Because if you're talking fantasy as in "stats league" then you didn't pay attention to the numbers.

He will steal you a few bases to help your fantasy team, that's if you can keep him in the lineup...

[teedubya]

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

Lets get it over with early.

[BigRedChief]

Why isn't DM making a move for Shumaker? Seems like a no brainer. Can play 2B and all outfield spots. Hits close to .300 every year. A really good locker room guy. Could provide some veteran leadership in the locker room. Knows how to win, has two World Championships rings.

Cards won't be asking much. He just doesn't fit into our plans this year but seems to be a great fit for the Royals.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

This is where I'm at. I can't fall for another offseason in KC. #onpapercontenders

[BlackHelicopters]

The Royals seem to be doing lots of maneuvering to improve from 71 to 74 wins.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Ok, we'll just stop right there.... You're making me chuckle.

Not sure if you're just trolling, or really don't know what you're talking about.

Chicago's offense is lightyears better than KC's. They scored 75 more runs than we did. That's a fairly sizeable difference. Minnesota's offense even outscored KC's by 25 runs (mainly due to their ability to get on base).

KC and Cleveland are right on par with each other, offensively. We scored 9 more runs than them... so there's the two teams that you should compare from last year.

Chicago will be losing Youk, losing AJP (most likely), and Alex Rios cannot be expected to do what he did last year (he's quite possibly the most inconsistent player in baseball history). Konerko is also getting up there. The Royals might be closer to them than you think in 2013.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I would hate to see anyone leave our pen. It is so good and with an improved rotation in front of them they could be unhittable. Surely we have a few players in the minors that could net us a serviceable RF.

The pen is so deep, they could afford to move a guy.

Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins, Aaron Crow are proven, front-line bullpen arms.

Louis Coleman is a proven solid piece - especially when used correctly (i.e. for RH-heavy matchups ... something that would be more possible if you have 3-4 starters pounding out 200 IP).

Donnie Joseph, Juan Gutierrez, etc. are other guys that would be potential pieces in the bullpen. And you can always find bullpen guys, something Moore has shown a real penchant for.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Moose just needs to stretch his first half out to a full season and he will be really good. I think no more Seitzer is a win as well. I can't believe how much he screwed with guys' swings and approaches. That and hopefully the days of taking first pitch strikes right down the middle no matter the situation are over as well.

Whose swings did you see effected? The two that needed the most help, Hosmer and Frenchy, didn't look to change their approach or swing during the season hardly at all. Hosmer did for short periods, but always fell back to his ripping and Frenchy never stopped ripping

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Whose swings did you see effected? The two that needed the most help, Hosmer and Frenchy, didn't look to change their approach or swing during the season hardly at all. Hosmer did for short periods, but always fell back to his ripping and Frenchy never stopped ripping

Hosmer was consistently tweaking and altering his approach and swing. Seitzer talked about it all the time. It was after his horribly bad luck start that they started trying to work on things and adjust them (don't recall the specifics anymore) even nothing was broken. I don't really think Hosmer needed help. It wasn't until they broke what wasn't fixed that things started getting bad for him as far as making poor contact and having ugly swings.

I really don't care about Frenchy and am not sure he can be helped. And it just seems like Seitzer had a lot of influence in that he wanted the guys to be patient even in favorable situations, so they would just watch meatballs go right by.

[Hootie]

I'm not trying to troll I just think our offense didn't live up to its potential last year. We had a terrible year from Hosmer, less than half a year from Perez, less than a quarter of a year with Cain...and all of these young guys are going into the season with another year under their belt where typically the primes of a lot of careers start around age 24, 25, 26...

but hey, maybe I'm too optimistic