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?

[Toadkiller]

I have a friend who is a Giants fan, this makes me laugh so much.


http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/0...cut-by-royals/

The Giants have reached that stage of this collapsing season where they are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. The evidence is their signing of outfielder Jeff Francoeur to a minor-league contract. Francoeur, 29, was released by the Royals after hitting .208 with three homers and a paltry .571 OPS in 193 plate appearances.
He is going to Fresno with the understanding that he will be called up to the big-league club sooner rather than later after he gets a few at-bats and does some work in left field, where he has played in two games as a major-leaguer. Francoeur was always a right fielder, with an excellent arm, but the Giants have Hunter Pence there.
This is a standard no-risk Brian Sabean flier. The Royals will pay the all but a couple hundred thousand dollars left on Francoeur’s $7.5 million salary, and the team hopes the Braves’ 2002 first-round draft pick can find new vigor in San Francisco as Pat Burrell did in 2010 after he was cut loose by Tampa Bay amid talk that his hitting days were over. That worked out well for the Giants.
Moreover, Francoeur can’t do any worse at the plate than Juan Perez or Cole Gillespie have during their looks.
Francoeur has not been a good hitter since 2011, when he hit 20 homers and batted .285 with an .805 OPS for the Royals.
Some of my followers on Twitter (@hankschulman) have asked why the Giants just don’t call up Gary Brown or Roger Kieschnick and see what they can do. Believe me, I’ve asked the question. Sabean believes that despite Kieschnick’s All-Star numbers in the Pacific Coast League, and Brown’s improvement over the past month, neither is ready to compete against big-league pitching.
But that question is fluid. If the Giants conclude they have no chance this year — and that date might come a lot sooner than everyone expected — they might decide to look at Brown or Kieschnick with an eye toward 2014.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller

I have a friend who is a Giants fan, this makes me laugh so much.


http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/0...cut-by-royals/

Wall of text. Enter is your friend.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Wall of text. Enter is your friend.

so just quote the wall o' text again so it can take up an entire page of the thread

[Toadkiller]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Wall of text. Enter is your friend.

Copied and pasted from the link, link provided in case someone wanted the source. Kindly go **** yourself.

[SPchief]

Zimmer went 6IP 4H 0BB 13K tonight

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Zimmer went 6IP 4H 0BB 13K tonight

1 run allowed...nice...he's had an era of almost 6 but he is striking guys out

[C3HIEF3S]

Great to see Zimmer getting it together. I believe he has put together 3-4 nice starts now in a row.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Zimmer went 6IP 4H 0BB 13K tonight

Oh my...

[Brianfo]

My apologies Mr. Butler. Great game and great series, so far. Keep it going.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Zimmer went 6IP 4H 0BB 13K tonight

Maybe he WAS actually working on something earlier this year.... He is trending the right way.

Lot of guys on the farm doing that, actually. Duffy, Ventura, Cuthbert, Bonifacio, Calixte included.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Maybe he WAS actually working on something earlier this year.... He is trending the right way.

Lot of guys on the farm doing that, actually. Duffy, Ventura, Cuthbert, Bonifacio, Calixte included.

According to BP this morning, Zimmer worked primarily with the fastball and curveball last night.

His attempts to develop a slider so far this year have not gone well. He still needs at least a "Show-me" changeup to reach his upside, but Shelby Miller's success in St. Louis this year shows a guy can pitch at a high level with a plus fastball and plus curve, and a rarely used/average change.

[Demonpenz]

Outfield Defense has been awesome since Francour died.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Outfield Defense has been awesome since Francour died.

What was he doing reffing a soccer game in Brazil, anyway?

[Demonpenz]

Smiling...only this time it was his neck.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Smiling...only this time it was his neck.

If you watch the video, a kid in a Royals hat runs on the field and nut taps what's left of his torso. It was a fitting end. He died the way he lived, you know...