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?

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by tambaberry

Will you guys please stop with the Wil Meyers complaining. You're grown men whining, he is gone. Get over it.

No. It was a defining moment of the Moore era, and I will not stop reflecting upon it or using it as a barometer of where the club stands going forward. Doing otherwise would result in shallow analysis, IMO.

[TambaBerry]

Then start a complaining thread, Shields has been great for us this year. If our offense was as good as last year we would have had a real shot. This trade worked for both clubs.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by tambaberry

Then start a complaining thread, Shields has been great for us this year. If our offense was as good as last year we would have had a real shot. This trade worked for both clubs.

You the keeper of this thread now?
Posted via Mobile Device

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by tambaberry

Then start a complaining thread, Shields has been great for us this year. If our offense was as good as last year we would have had a real shot. This trade worked for both clubs.

Shields has been outstanding. No question. Davis has been atrocious. Collectively, they've been a wash in terms of WAR. And Myers has been a positive WAR player in very short order.

It didn't work for both clubs. The Royals would have been better to keep Myers, start him immediately, and invest in another FA pitcher. Additionally, one must factor in the controllable years of Myers going forward.

The trade was an absolute disaster for the Royals.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

No. It was a defining moment of the Moore era, and I will not stop reflecting upon it or using it as a barometer of where the club stands going forward. Doing otherwise would result in shallow analysis, IMO.

Fair enough but have to recognize Lough too

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Fair enough but have to recognize Lough too

Absolutely. If Lough consistently performs at his current level, he's a viable RF option. Now, we're going to have to get slug from another position, but Lough is far from trash at his current clip, especially defensively speaking.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Absolutely. If Lough consistently performs at his current level, he's a viable RF option. Now, we're going to have to get slug from another position, but Lough is far from trash at his current clip, especially defensively speaking.

Definitely. If we are getting any type of power from where we should be getting it, Lough's lack of pure power would be an afterthought, and not having Myers wouldn't be as big of a deal either.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Shields has been outstanding. No question. Davis has been atrocious. Collectively, they've been a wash in terms of WAR. And Myers has been a positive WAR player in very short order.

It didn't work for both clubs. The Royals would have been better to keep Myers, start him immediately, and invest in another FA pitcher. Additionally, one must factor in the controllable years of Myers going forward.

The trade was an absolute disaster for the Royals.

People love the front-line ace and are heavily tempted to chalk it up as a win just because of him, but you are right. Wade Davis was a critically important aspect of the trade, he had to work as a starter. Since he didn't, we're probably going to lose the trade unless Myers falls apart, or if Shields goes total Cy Young on us in 2014 and leads the Royals to the postseason.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by tambaberry

Then start a complaining thread, Shields has been great for us this year. If our offense was as good as last year we would have had a real shot. This trade worked for both clubs.

Because this wasn't a Shields for Myers trade. We needed Wade Davis to be a legit #3-4 starter. He's been a legit POS and a Kyle Davies replica. **** Dayton Moore. I pray his dumb ****ing ass is fired after this season.

[Prison Bitch]

You don't need power from any lineup, you need value. Power creates more value than speed does but in the end if Lough creates as much value as Myers who cares if he doesn't have his power? We are struggling this year because Fat Ass decided to eat a bunch of country breakfasts this winter thinking he was a star, and because Moose sucks, and because DM played his pet in rf two full months when he had a good alternative in Omaha

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

You don't need power from any lineup, you need value. Power creates more value than speed does but in the end if Lough creates as much value as Myers who cares if he doesn't have his power? We are struggling this year because Fat Ass decided to eat a bunch of country breakfasts this winter thinking he was a star, and because Moose sucks, and because DM played his pet in rf two full months when he had a good alternative in Omaha

For once I agree with some of what you said, the JF torture in rf did cost us W's...

[CoMoChief]

The trade was stupid to begin with.

Why?

Because Shields is only going to be A Royal for 2 years. He'll get big money somewhere else.

Wade Davis sucks.

We give up our 1st/2nd best minor league pitching prospect and one (if not best) Royals hitting prospect in quite some time for a 2 season rental on a team that realistically isn't ready to compete w/ the big sticks of the division over the course of a season.

This team needs power bats to move our dinker hitting offense around the bases. Butler needs protection. That's the most important thing in this lineup and he simply doesn't have it.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

You don't need power from any lineup, you need value. Power creates more value than speed does but in the end if Lough creates as much value as Myers who cares if he doesn't have his power? We are struggling this year because Fat Ass decided to eat a bunch of country breakfasts this winter thinking he was a star, and because Moose sucks, and because DM played his pet in rf two full months when he had a good alternative in Omaha

It's mind boggling why the Royals stuck with Francour and now Getz for so long? The only thing I can think of why they were not up graded is because DM thought that Moose/Hosmer/Butler would make up for their suck.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

David ****ing Lough.

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by Zeke

David ****ing Lough.

Pretty good, huh?