2012 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[alnorth]

2012 Slogan: Our Time

A better, more accurate 2012 Slogan: It is Finally Next Year
(from Great Expectations)

An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division
(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:



Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

I would pay Edwin Jackson $60MM over 5 years in a second. He's young, productive, and durable.

If Gil Meche was worth $55MM over 5 years in 2006, why isn't Jackson worth 5/60?

$60 million is a heck of a lot of money for a guy with a career 4.46 ERA.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by lewdog_5

I tried to take the slogan naming seriously....I see I was mistaken.

Royals Baseball: Serious Bidness

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

"Royals Baseball: Expectations for Once"

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

Royals Baseball: it is finally next year

Best 2 of the bunch. What are we going with?

[jbwm89]

I'm still a big fan of it is finally next year.

[jbwm89]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

I would pay Edwin Jackson $60MM over 5 years in a second. He's young, productive, and durable.

If Gil Meche was worth $55MM over 5 years in 2006, why isn't Jackson worth 5/60?

Difference being Meche's 5 years didn't tie up any resources that might be needed to resign someone because we didn't have anyone worth resigning.

Things have changed now, I hope.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by jbwm89

Difference being Meche's 5 years didn't tie up any resources that might be needed to resign someone because we didn't have anyone worth resigning.

Things have changed now, I hope.

I hate that we, as fans, have been so trained to worry exceedingly about the economic aspect of baseball.

Glass has the money, via revenue sharing, income (personal and team related), and it's time to ****ing spend it.

No excuses. Our payroll needs to be around $80M and looking to get to $100M quickly. If not, this is all pissing into the wind in the first place.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by thurman merman

$60 million is a heck of a lot of money for a guy with a career 4.46 ERA.

He's averaged a 3.7 WAR the last three seasons while throwing over 200 IP per year. I'm not sure but it doesn't look like he has missed a start the last 5 seasons, and he will only be 28 this coming season.

Go look and see what pitchers have performed similarly over the last three seasons and are also reasonably young. I think you will be surprised at how small the list is.

No he's not Verlander but he would definitely be a huge upgrade and is a legit #2/#3 starter, which we could sorely use if we really want to compete in the coming years. I'd rather not put all my eggs in the Montgomery bucket.

[duncan_idaho]

I would be willing to give Jackson pretty big money over a long-term stretch. Not sure 5 years/$60 million is required, since everyone is laughing at that request.

A lucrative 4-year deal with heavy incentives (possibly a vesting fifth year?) could get the job done, though.

He's a good pitcher. Solid No. 2/No. 3. Very similar to John Danks in terms of results, and Danks got a similar deal.

[DeezNutz]

Chewing up a shit ton of innings with decent results is worth a good amount of money, particularly with (we hope) a bunch of young arms in the rotation. So...Jackson's worth might be greater to a team like the Royals than it would be to a more seasoned staff.

[eazyb81]

Okay I went and looked and this is the list of pitchers that have 1) averaged 3.7 WAR or better the last three seasons; 2) have averaged at least 200 IP the last three seasons; and 3) are still reasonably young (i.e. around 30 or younger).

Justin Verlander

CC Sabathia

Felix Hernandez

Zack Greinke

Tim Lincecum

Dan Haren

Ubaldo Jimenez

Jon Lester

Clayton Kershaw

Jered Weaver

Matt Cain

Cole Hamels

Edwin Jackson

[SnakeXJones]

I would be happy to have Mr.Jackson on this team but not 60 Mill for 5 years maybe around the 40+

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

I would pay Edwin Jackson $60MM over 5 years in a second. He's young, productive, and durable.

If Gil Meche was worth $55MM over 5 years in 2006, why isn't Jackson worth 5/60?

I most definitely would give him 60 mil over 5 years. Would he come to KC for that much though?

The worst thing KC could do right now is throw Duffy\Crow\Random young arm out there for 150+ innings each so early in their careers... We might as well go ahead and hire a team surgeon for all the arm and shoulder surgeries we'll be performing in the next 2 to 3 years.

Jackson is durable, has experience and has shown he can perform at a high level. He's your prototypical #3 pitcher on a contending baseball team.

[jbwm89]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

I hate that we, as fans, have been so trained to worry exceedingly about the economic aspect of baseball.

Glass has the money, via revenue sharing, income (personal and team related), and it's time to ****ing spend it.

No excuses. Our payroll needs to be around $80M and looking to get to $100M quickly. If not, this is all pissing into the wind in the first place.

Very true, but if you are talking about 4-6 years down the road trying to resign most/all of our young players then you are going to need every $ of a 80-100 mil payroll. Jackson's 12 or whatever it would end up being could cause problems, especially if he is hurt/not effective.

The smart play would be to overpay for players now (next 2-3 years) and try to avoid overpaying tying up that money for when the time comes.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by jbwm89

Very true, but if you are talking about 4-6 years down the road trying to resign most/all of our young players then you are going to need every $ of a 80-100 mil payroll. Jackson's 12 or whatever it would end up being could cause problems, especially if he is hurt/not effective.

The smart play would be to overpay for players now (next 2-3 years) and try to avoid overpaying tying up that money for when the time comes.

Who knows if Hosmer, Moose, etc will even be willing to re-sign with KC? Odds are they may not since they are Boras clients, and then we're sitting on this money for nothing. But what we absolutely do know is that they are under our control for a relatively cheap cost through 2017 - that is our window to compete.

I totally agree with Deez. It sucks that KC fans and other small-market teams have become obsessed with worrying over every little penny spent by the owners. This is pro baseball and it costs money. If one $12MM/year contract is too much to risk then Glass seriously needs to sell the team and move on with his life.

[duncan_idaho]

Also: The players many are worrying about are under team control for at least five more years, in some cases six.

Right when Jackson's deal would be coming off the books, worst-case scenario.