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.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Ive got insider, assholes.

Ill post it

Hai gais we found the dork who pays for it!

I mean... thanks Shogun!

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Billy Butlers footwork Reminded me of Ron Santo.......



2008 Ron Santo

Anyone know about Butler so far this year? Did he come into camp in better shape?

[Shogun]

....

McCutchen sets the table for Hosmer



This would be the 27th consecutive season the Kansas City Royals would not be part of the postseason, if they don't make it. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, this would be the 20th consecutive year without being part of baseball's October.

So for the fans of these two teams, progress is measured in other ways, and this morning's news that the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen have agreed to a six-year deal is maybe the best thing to happen to the team since before Sid Bream slid home. Fairly or not, the question of whether the Pirates would be able to keep McCutchen and build around him -- as the Colorado Rockies have with Troy Tulowitzki and the Milwaukee Brewers with Ryan Braun -- has been a Pittsburgh referendum on whether the team is serious about winning.

The Pirates have a foundation piece in place now. The Kansas City Royals are trying to do the same thing, with the wave of young talent it has drafted and developed. Last week, catcher Salvador Perez -- who the Royals hope will follow in the path of Yadier Molina and eventually become a productive hitter -- agreed to a five-year, $7 million deal. Kansas City is in negotiations with Alex Gordon, who is coming off the best season of his career, and whether or not they can get something done with him, there figure to be talks with shortstop Alcides Escobar, who is already regarded by some scouts as baseball's most talented defensive shortstop.

These conversations are a prelude to the team's most significant target: first baseman Eric Hosmer, who is the Royals' version of McCutchen, as a superstar-level talent.



"It's important for us to sign as many of our good young players as we can, long-term," Royals GM Dayton Moore said Sunday. "We need as much flexibility as we can get the next three to four years ... obviously, there is risk involved with it, but there's cost certainty.

"And you're going to have a comfort level with your own players, the guys who are homegrown, because you know them and know their families."

The risk for the Royals, of course, is if the players don't turn out to be as good as expected or if they get hurt. The Cleveland Indians were the pioneers of this kind of long-term thinking in the '90s, and with their best young players locked up, the Indians were able to build and plan and add.



A foundation of Hosmer, Gordon, Escobar and Perez not only would give the Royals a chance to win, but also would frame a structure well into the next decade, because salaries would be locked in place and budget space would be defined.



If the Royals cannot sign Hosmer, they will be in the same position as where the Brewers were with Prince Fielder the last couple of years. Because Milwaukee couldn't sign him to a long-term deal, it had to decide whether to trade him for less than equal value on the market or keep him and try to win as long as possible, knowing that he'd eventually walk away as a free agent. The Brewers kept him, and fans filled their ballpark in 2011 as Milwaukee made the playoffs, a last hurrah with Fielder before he signed with the Detroit Tigers in the offseason.



The Cincinnati Reds are now facing this situation with Joey Votto, who will be eligible for free agency after the 2013 season.



Fielder is represented by agent Scott Boras, whose clients typically go into free agency rather than signing a long-term deal in the way that Tulowitzki and Braun did.



Hosmer is a Boras client.



There are agents and general managers who believe, however, that it is extremely difficult for any young player to turn down a massive offer with a big, crooked number. "If you're 23 years old," said one agent, "are you going to turn down tens of millions of dollars?"



McCutchen did not, an enormous moment of progress for the Pirates. How will Hosmer react? We may well find out sometime in the weeks and months ahead.

If the Royals are to sign Hosmer to a Tulowitzki-like deal, a leap of faith will be required from Kansas City's ownership. But keep in mind that every time Moore's front office has asked for an extraordinary expenditure -- whether it was a free-agent signing of Gil Meche or Jose Guillen, or an investment in a draft pick -- the Glass family has responded. If there is a Hosmer deal that can be made, it's hard to imagine it won't get done.

The Royals had a good first day.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Anyone know about Butler so far this year? Did he come into camp in better shape?

Apparently yes... Yost said Billy and Moose are in the best shape of their lives.

[Demonpenz]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Anyone know about Butler so far this year? Did he come into camp in better shape?

He's going to be in the same shape if he stays healthy.

[Demonpenz]

I am going out to arizona in a couple weeks. I will give everyone the scoop.

[stonedstooge]

Billy didn't act like he fit in last year. Many times after he had home run or came in on a hit the others would high five him, but then he would wander off to one end of the dugout and sit down by himself. I hope he takes more of a leadership role this year.

[Demonpenz]

Billy has always pissed people off, he is slow, he whines about not playing first, it got his ass sent back down to the Minors in 08? He has an attitude problem because he has mashed and continues to mash at every level.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Billy has always pissed people off, he is slow, he whines about not playing first, it got his ass sent back down to the Minors in 08? He has an attitude problem because he has mashed and continues to mash at every level.

He may be the key to the Royals taking it up a notch. If he doesn't, it may be time to get someone else in the position

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Billy didn't act like he fit in last year. Many times after he had home run or came in on a hit the others would high five him, but then he would wander off to one end of the dugout and sit down by himself. I hope he takes more of a leadership role this year.

That would be nice but sometimes it's just not a guys' personality to be a vocal leader. Yost says Billy is in great shape (so I assume he's slimmed down some) and as long as he keeps hitting and getting better I personally don't care if he's rah-rah or not.

If I could imagine myself the major league player I wanted to be as a kid I'm pretty sure I'd be more the lead with my performance type who sits at the end of the bench because that's just me. (I realize that has nothing to do with the real subject here just imposing my own personality onto what I see Billy as)

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Billy has always pissed people off, he is slow, he whines about not playing first, it got his ass sent back down to the Minors in 08? He has an attitude problem because he has mashed and continues to mash at every level.

Right... '08 has everything to do with now. He wasn't a dumb kid or anything then.

[Demonpenz]

Remember last year.. Billy Whined about wanting to play first and Yost said He wanted to be an Astronaught? I think Billy is Billy. He just hits a baseball better than 99 percent of the people on earth so the Royals are kinda stuck with what he is. He is a good to great young hitter and decently priced.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Remember last year.. Billy Whined about wanting to play first and Yost said He wanted to be an Astronaught? I think Billy is Billy. He just hits a baseball better than 99 percent of the people on earth so the Royals are kinda stuck with what he is. He is a good to great young hitter and decently priced.

That's good enough for me. Especially since hitting a baseball is widely considered the hardest thing to do in sports.

If he wants to be an astronaut that's fine too lol.

Now I'll stop before I really get Demonpenz'd.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by Dr. noonanbeermefever

That's good enough for me. Especially since hitting a baseball is widely considered the hardest thing to do in sports.

If he wants to be an astronaut that's fine too lol.

Now I'll stop before I really get Demonpenz'd.

You were already Penz'd. That's mad n00bish.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by the_spatula

You were already Penz'd. That's mad n00bish.

meh that wasn't much.