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?

[ChiefsCountry]

The two cities with the most interstate highways (Kansas City and Dallas) both have their professional sports stadiums in or near the suburbs. That should tell you something about the culture of those cities.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

duncan, it's also a bit scary that 2 of those pitchers are still on our current staff.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

The two cities with the most interstate highways (Kansas City and Dallas) both have their professional sports stadiums in or near the suburbs. That should tell you something about the culture of those cities.

DFW is a bit different. The stadiums are halfway between Dallas and Ft Worth. It's not like they put the stadium out in Plano.

[Chief_For_Life58]

they shoulda built the K on the north side of downtown inbetween dt and the river. rivermarket area-ish. i just thought id say that

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Zeke

duncan, it's also a bit scary that 2 of those pitchers are still on our current staff.

I don't mind them still being here in the bullpen. Hochever especially has some good stuff that can be well suited to a few innings. Just expecting a few innings out of him lessens the potential for his fragile mental makeup to surface and impact his performance.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Zeke

duncan, it's also a bit scary that 2 of those pitchers are still on our current staff.

I don't mind Chen as the swing guy/6th starter or even the 5th starter, at all.

Keeping Hochevar was a mistake and one that needs to be flushed ASAP.

[DeezNutz]

The focus going forward is going to be on acquiring a legit bat.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

they shoulda built the K on the north side of downtown inbetween dt and the river. rivermarket area-ish. i just thought id say that

Um...does the flood of 1951 and 1993 ring any bells????

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don't mind Chen as the swing guy/6th starter or even the 5th starter, at all.

Keeping Hochevar was a mistake and one that needs to be flushed ASAP.

If he sticks to his fastball he could be useful in the pen.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

They also were rolling out a starting staff of:

Bruce Chen
Jeff Francis
Luke Hochevar
Kyle Davies
Sean O'Sullivan

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Count me as a fan of the Truman Sports Complex. I have absolutely no desire, whatsoever, to have a downtown stadium. I do not believe it would sell more tickets, for every extra Joe you get who cuts out of work early and walks 8 blocks to see a game (if its not right next to your job, is it really that convenient?) you'll get a lot of out of towners decide to only go to 4 games that year instead of 5 or 6 because of the hassle of having to go downtown and find parking.

I agree. I'm from Springfield and I love being able to just hop on the highway and right off to go to Royals and Chiefs games.

[Ceej]

No Royals baseball tonight.

How upsetting.

[MrGiggity]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

No Royals baseball tonight.

How upsetting.

Tell me about it. Looks like I'll be cranking it all night to Kate Upton gifs instead.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by MrGiggity

Tell me about it. Looks like I'll be cranking it all night to Kate Upton gifs instead.

giggity

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess

If he sticks to his fastball he could be useful in the pen.

He needs to go to the Derek Lowe school of one-pitch pitching.

I think Hoch has the arm slot, delivery and size to really do a nice job staying on top of the ball and driving it down into the zone. If he's focused on just one pitch, I'll bet he could get really nice movement on it. He's just one of those guys that gets so locked on on being a 'complete' pitcher that he moves away from what he should be and gets himself in trouble worrying about what he could be.

He's essentially a less douchy version of Jason Marquis. Every time Marquis would start thinking he was ready to be a 4-pitch strikeout artist, he'd get his head kicked in. Then he'd calm down a bit, start leaning on his 2-seamer and have a month or longer of solid pitching.

If Hochevar would commit to being a legitimate sinkerballer, he'd prolong his career and maybe develop himself into a decent back of the rotation starter.