Royals 2013 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread - Page 40

duncan_idaho · 10:01 AM

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?

Prison Bitch · 01-13-2013, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Three7s

I figured he'd be a 15-20 homer guy when I followed him in the Minors. If anyone else expected more, then I don't know what to say. He's a line-drive hitter. If he can bump up his average more, he could be similar to Mauer.

Really? You saw him hit 29 HR his only minor league season, and you figured he'd hit 15 in the bigs as a mature, experienced hitter? YOu would literally be the only person who thought that low.

Also he's nowhere near Mauer since Alex can't make consistent contact. He swings at terrible pitches and Mauer rarely does. However, Alex is a good athlete and is healthy (unlike Mauer) and is really providing surplus value in LF and on the basepaths. He's basically turned into Darrin Erstad.

**DeezNutz** · 01-13-2013, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Yeah, those 14 bombs he hit in 650 AB last year were REALLLLLLY impressive. Gosh weren't you just blown away by that power surge? Don't you suspect steroids or something now when a guy hits 14 home runs in a season? What a power hitter!

He's a slap and line drive hitter, not close to a power hitter. He was supposed to be a Ryan Braun and hit 35hr. Maybe he'd fall short and be an Aramis Ramirez and hit 25 every year. Nobody thought he'd have Mark Teahen power. Alex hits line drives and is able to leg out lots of extra bases with his speed & athleticism and intelligence.

But his power is barely existent. He's a shadow of what we thought he'd be. Nobody figured he'd become a 5-WAR player by racking up tons of legged-out doubles and playing great defense in LF. Tht wasn't what we thought we were getting.

I have no idea of the intent of your first paragraph.

Gordon hits a lot of line drives and his approach is gap to gap, all of which are fine. While Gordon didn't end up living up to the hype, he's still ridiculously productive and valuable.

Don't denigrate what he does by labeling him a "slap hitter," which is inaccurate. Plain and simple.

**Saul Good** · 01-13-2013, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJizzles

Jack-King off.

Well played!

That's actually why that hand popped into my mind.

duncan_idaho · 01-13-2013, 02:37 PM

Calling Alex Gordon a slap hitter is just ignorant. He is a line-drive hitter, yes. But there's a big difference between guys that drive the ball and guys that try to slap it.

Juan Pierre is a perfect example of a slap hitter. Scott Podesdnik also fits the bill. There's a big difference between those guys and Alex Gordon.

He's probably not going to hit 30+ year after year, at least not playing home games at the K. But he's still someone who is going to average around 20 HR a season with the ability to hit 25.

Ceej · 01-13-2013, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saul Good

That's actually why that hand popped into my mind.

Terrible ****ing hand that gets mucked by me OOP 90% of the time.

mr. tegu · 01-15-2013, 08:36 AM

Anyone going to FanFest? It is this Saturday.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/...um/fanfest.jsp

Great Expectations · 01-17-2013, 01:41 PM

Any chance the Royals are interested in Marcum? What would it take to get Upton from Arizona? Colon, Bubba, and Smith?

duncan_idaho · 01-17-2013, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

Any chance the Royals are interested in Marcum? What would it take to get Upton from Arizona? Colon, Bubba, and Smith?

Arizona would probably need much more than that from KC to move Upton.

Bubba + Ventura + Colon is more likely (and only because they really like Colon, apparently).

I don't know if we'll see a Marcum signing, in fact I doubt it... but they ARE kicking the tires on Javier Vazquez, still.

stevenidol · 01-17-2013, 02:00 PM

I follow Bob Dutton, the Royals beat writer for the KC Star, on twitter and you can really tell how tired he is of answering people's questions about Jeff Franceour and the Shields trade.

Every moron fan that sends a "can we trade Jeff Franceour for Giancarlo Stantion" type question or "Dempster is better than Shields, we should have kept Myers" comment gets a response that seems to me like absolute disdain.

It's pretty entertaining.

**DeezNutz** · 01-17-2013, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Arizona would probably need much more than that from KC to move Upton.

Bubba + Ventura + Colon is more likely (and only because they really like Colon, apparently).

I don't know if we'll see a Marcum signing, in fact I doubt it... but they ARE kicking the tires on Javier Vazquez, still.

Done. Yesterday.

If we're going all in, so be it.

duncan_idaho · 01-17-2013, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Done. Yesterday.

If we're going all in, so be it.

In retrospect, that package is probably light UNLESS something else of note is included. Maybe one of the other SSs (Calixte?).

But yeah, I'd be willing to swing a strong package to Arizona for Upton.

TLO · 01-17-2013, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lewdog

Check out my new signature guys!

I'm glad you decided to save it.

cookster50 · 01-17-2013, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

In retrospect, that package is probably light UNLESS something else of note is included. Maybe one of the other SSs (Calixte?).

But yeah, I'd be willing to swing a strong package to Arizona for Upton.

They'd want someone more established than any of those players to be the centerpiece.

**SAUTO** · 01-17-2013, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Done. Yesterday.

If we're going all in, so be it.

agreed

duncan_idaho · 01-17-2013, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cookster50

They'd want someone more established than any of those players to be the centerpiece.

They've been linked to packages from the Rangers that included Mike Olt and the Braves that included Julio Teheran.

I don't know that anyone really knows what they truly want or what it would take to pull the trigger.

12-11-2012, 09:59 AM
duncan_idaho M-I-Z-Z-O-U Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $-1889692	2013 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread 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? Last edited by duncan_idaho; 07-15-2013 at 10:01 AM..
Posts: 22,310

01-13-2013, 02:37 PM	#589
duncan_idaho M-I-Z-Z-O-U Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $-1889692	Calling Alex Gordon a slap hitter is just ignorant. He is a line-drive hitter, yes. But there's a big difference between guys that drive the ball and guys that try to slap it. Juan Pierre is a perfect example of a slap hitter. Scott Podesdnik also fits the bill. There's a big difference between those guys and Alex Gordon. He's probably not going to hit 30+ year after year, at least not playing home games at the K. But he's still someone who is going to average around 20 HR a season with the ability to hit 25. __________________ "You gotta love livin', cause dying is a pain in the ass." ---- Sinatra
Posts: 22,310

01-15-2013, 08:36 AM	#591
mr. tegu Forever Royal Join Date: Mar 2012 Casino cash: $-1658700	Anyone going to FanFest? It is this Saturday. http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/...um/fanfest.jsp
Posts: 26,454

01-17-2013, 01:41 PM	#592
Great Expectations MVP Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Joplin, MO Casino cash: $10902338	Any chance the Royals are interested in Marcum? What would it take to get Upton from Arizona? Colon, Bubba, and Smith? __________________
Posts: 7,302

01-17-2013, 02:00 PM	#594
stevenidol Banned Join Date: Jul 2011 Casino cash: $10004900	I follow Bob Dutton, the Royals beat writer for the KC Star, on twitter and you can really tell how tired he is of answering people's questions about Jeff Franceour and the Shields trade. Every moron fan that sends a "can we trade Jeff Franceour for Giancarlo Stantion" type question or "Dempster is better than Shields, we should have kept Myers" comment gets a response that seems to me like absolute disdain. It's pretty entertaining.
Posts: 476