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?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

I'm not so sure about that.

Dyson has pretty poor judgment when the ball flies off the bat.

There was nothing to judge there, though. It was a line drive into the gap.

[mr. tegu]

Now that Hosmer is making more consistent contact, I really hope we can see him start to recognize bad pitches sooner and start to turn on them. Hopefully a more relaxed yet aggressive attitude will help him with that. Early in the season he always seemed to be on the defensive.

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

There was nothing to judge there, though. It was a line drive into the gap.

Sure there was. Playing outfield you have to have some sort of judgment.

And me saying Dyson has poor judgment was a generalization, not in relation to Lough's play.

[WhawhaWhat]

http://deadspin.com/eric-hosmers-wal...f-ba-513191305

Billy's sauce getting more pub on Deadspin.

[BlackHelicopters]

All women crave Billy's sauce.

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

http://deadspin.com/eric-hosmers-wal...f-ba-513191305

Billy's sauce getting more pub on Deadspin.

@ this comment:

Luckily Jeff Francoeur's Shit-It-A-Ton colostomy bag never made it out of the prototype stage.

[Coach]

[sedated]

Last 2 posts =

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

Sure there was. Playing outfield you have to have some sort of judgment.

And me saying Dyson has poor judgment was a generalization, not in relation to Lough's play.

Dyson's defense has seemed to improve some this year. Last year he looked like the dudes that played right field in Little League

[Archie F. Swin]

Yesterday I watched the movie 'Major League' for the first time in 20 years. Not only does it work as a comedy, but its also a pretty legit baseball movie. It definitely stands the test of time. I'm not sure they could have cast a better actor to play the skipper.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Yesterday I watched the movie 'Major League' for the first time in 20 years. Not only does it work as a comedy, but its also a pretty legit baseball movie. It definitely stands the test of time. I'm not sure they could have cast a better actor to play the skipper.

After we win the World Series this year maybe they will finally make a movie about the Royals. All the elements are there from the BBQ sauce to complete ineptitude for a whole month.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Yesterday I watched the movie 'Major League' for the first time in 20 years. Not only does it work as a comedy, but its also a pretty legit baseball movie. It definitely stands the test of time. I'm not sure they could have cast a better actor to play the skipper.

I watch that every year at the beginning of spring training. It never gets old.

[Archie F. Swin]

I opened the 1986 Topps pack. The 1st card I saw... pic.twitter.com/sp7y55f4wo

— Eric Stangel (@EricStangel) June 14, 2013

[duncan_idaho]

Sean Manaea signing watch:

There's a great thread on the Royals scout board tracking draft signings. Currently, the Royals have signed 7 of the 11 picks whose bonuses count towards the draft pool.

They signed second-round pick Cody Reed for exactly his slot value. All others have seen savings, some significant.

If the Royals can sign 3rd-round pick Cody Hope and 4th-round pick Zane Evans for slot, they would have about $3.75 million to offer Manaea. That would involve paying the tax for going the 8 percent over your draft pool you're allowed without loss of picks.

What would be great is if Hope is willing to sign for 500k, saving another 160k. They could get that deal pretty darn close to $4 million flat if that's the case.

Also, don't know if it has been discussed here, but the Royals drafted a guy whose last name is Fukofuka. He's probably an under-slot signing throwaway guy (the only video of him playing baseball on the web is 2 minutes long and features him picking at a blister on his hand in the BP cage for 1/2 of it, and fouling balls off in soft toss for the other half), but the name is awesome.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

I opened the 1986 Topps pack. The 1st card I saw... pic.twitter.com/sp7y55f4wo

— Eric Stangel (@EricStangel) June 14, 2013

Seriously, as soon as I saw that pic I smelled the bubble gum.

The brain is an amazing thing.