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?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Mets owe johan santana $31 million despite not pitching again.

The Mets are the king of bad contracts. Their contract with Bobby Bonilla may arguably be the worst contract in sports history. In 1999, the Mets wanted to get rid of Bonilla, but that would have cost $5.9MM. Bonilla agreed to let the Mets defer that payment for 11 years and then spread it out over 25 years.... at 8% interest.

Even though he's been retired for many years, in 2011 the Mets paid Bonilla about $1.2MM, and they'll be sending him or his estate checks every year until 2035. The $5.9MM they owed will eventually become about $30MM.

[Demonpenz]

Originally Posted by alnorth

The Mets are the king of bad contracts. Their contract with Bobby Bonilla may arguably be the worst contract in sports history. In 1999, the Mets wanted to get rid of Bonilla, but that would have cost $5.9MM. Bonilla agreed to let the Mets defer that payment for 11 years and then spread it out over 25 years.... at 8% interest.

Even though he's been retired for many years, in 2011 the Mets paid Bonilla about $1.2MM, and they'll be sending him or his estate checks every year until 2035. The $5.9MM they owed will eventually become about $30MM.

make a move

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Poor Houston. $25 mill payroll, A-Rod alone will make $29 mill. This is why baseball is so screwed up:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/91...ombined-salary

But Houston has to play a Full year- Arod only half of it-lol I think Arod has a few more years of payments coming to him as well- his contract is tighter than David Glass's wallet.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by alnorth

The Mets are the king of bad contracts. Their contract with Bobby Bonilla may arguably be the worst contract in sports history. In 1999, the Mets wanted to get rid of Bonilla, but that would have cost $5.9MM. Bonilla agreed to let the Mets defer that payment for 11 years and then spread it out over 25 years.... at 8% interest.

Even though he's been retired for many years, in 2011 the Mets paid Bonilla about $1.2MM, and they'll be sending him or his estate checks every year until 2035. The $5.9MM they owed will eventually become about $30MM.

wow- how many HR's did Bobby Bo hit for them-lol

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

wow- how many HR's did Bobby Bo hit for them-lol

In 1999, he hit .160/.277/.303, just 4HR

Well, at least he walked a lot.

[alnorth]

Buster Posey just got 8/167, which will be the longest contract ever for a catcher.

The Giants waited too long, the Royals did not. Our Perez contract is going to look like a steal soon.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Buster Posey just got 8/167, which will be the longest contract ever for a catcher.

The Giants waited too long, the Royals did not. Our Perez contract is going to look like a steal soon.

I think Posey only has 1 more year of service time too. The Salvy deal is one of the best in baseball right now. Escobar's is pretty great for the team as well.

[alnorth]

Our starters are out, Ubaldo Jimenez one-hit our lineup through 4 innings, but that one hit by Gordon left the yard. Game tied 1-1.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Buster Posey just got 8/167, which will be the longest contract ever for a catcher.

The Giants waited too long, the Royals did not. Our Perez contract is going to look like a steal soon.

They're going to regret giving Joe Mauer that much money...

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Our starters are out, Ubaldo Jimenez one-hit our lineup through 4 innings, but that one hit by Gordon left the yard. Game tied 1-1.

Like I was saying in my previous post- Gordon looking like the best player in baseball right now.

[alnorth]

Royals up 3-1 through 7

[alnorth]

BP's farm system rankings are out. The Cardinals are #1, the Angels are last.

4. Twins
7. Royals
19. Indians
28. White Sox
29. Tigers

[Kidd Lex]

Francour, Hochever, Chen = 15 Million in salary for a team spending $80. Smdh GMDM.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by alnorth

BP's farm system rankings are out. The Cardinals are #1, the Angels are last.

4. Twins
7. Royals
19. Indians
28. White Sox
29. Tigers

And this is where Baseball Prospectus beats the others, in my opinion. They do a MUCH better job of seeing the lower level guys and scouting them than the other big services.

They were high on the Cardinals' current crop much earlier than anyone else.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

And this is where Baseball Prospectus beats the others, in my opinion. They do a MUCH better job of seeing the lower level guys and scouting them than the other big services.

They were high on the Cardinals' current crop much earlier than anyone else.

The reason they gave for still ranking us this high after the trade was interesting. They think our low minors are stacked with undrafted latin players who no one is talking about yet.