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?

[siberian khatru]

ETA on Ventura's TJ surgery: Spring 2014

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Bambi

Brought this up in the other thread but where the **** is Sal Perez?

Wherever he is, I doubt he's walking much.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

ETA on Ventura's TJ surgery: Spring 2014

No, it will happen midseason. That's the way these things go for the Royals.

JJ Cooper tweeted a bit last night about the Royals' cookie cutter approach to SPs. Trying to rubber stamp that fastball/curveball/changeup/clean mechanics look.

I think that's why guys like Crow and now - apparently - Zimmer have struggled with deception so much. Both have great stuff, throw hard, have GREAT secondary pitches (not exaggerating - Zimmer's curve and Crow's slider were both PLUS major league pitches when they were drafted) and K rates, but get hit so often.

This organization is clearly behind the times when it comes to the way it develops its players. Which really shouldn't surprise me, considering that they're behind the times on everything else.

I think they do a good job identifying talent and scouting. But the development guys have failed, en masse.

What it creates? Minor league prospects that scouts love, but who have trouble translating their tools to MLB success.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

No, it will happen midseason. That's the way these things go for the Royals.

JJ Cooper tweeted a bit last night about the Royals' cookie cutter approach to SPs. Trying to rubber stamp that fastball/curveball/changeup/clean mechanics look.

I think that's why guys like Crow and now - apparently - Zimmer have struggled with deception so much. Both have great stuff, throw hard, have GREAT secondary pitches (not exaggerating - Zimmer's curve and Crow's slider were both PLUS major league pitches when they were drafted) and K rates, but get hit so often.

This organization is clearly behind the times when it comes to the way it develops its players. Which really shouldn't surprise me, considering that they're behind the times on everything else.

I think they do a good job identifying talent and scouting. But the development guys have failed, en masse.

What it creates? Minor league prospects that scouts love, but who have trouble translating their tools to MLB success.

They "cleaned up" Tim Collins, and he's gone from nearly unhittable to average. Part of his success was the unorthodox nature of his mechanics; he hid the ball incredibly well before they changed him.

edit: so what I wrote above was my perception of his performance so far this year, but looking at the numbers......he's been about the same as usual. One noticeable difference is his K rate, which I'd still argue has dropped because he's lost some deception.

[Reaper16]

There's irony, too, in the "clean mechanics" approach not helping prevent Tommy John surgery in guys like Duffy and Lamb.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by KevB

They "cleaned up" Tim Collins, and he's gone from nearly unhittable to average. Part of his success was the unorthodox nature of his mechanics; he hid the ball incredibly well before they changed him.

edit: so what I wrote above was my perception of his performance so far this year, but looking at the numbers......he's been about the same as usual. One noticeable difference is his K rate, which I'd still argue has dropped because he's lost some deception.

Part of the issue with Collins is that Ned Yost doesn't know how to use him.

Yost looks at him and sees a LHP with good stuff. What he doesn't see is that Collins is more effective against RHPs in his career than against LHPs. Better strikeout rate, fewer walks, better BAA, lower OPS.

Collins DID have some mechanical issues that needed work. THe extreme leg kick made it hard for him to repeat mechanics. They managed to reduce it without reducing his deception.

I know Eiland isn't against stuff like that. Look at the slight trunk rotation he had guthrie adopt when he got here, which increased his deception factor.

And organizationally, Zack Greinke adopted the same thing (on his own, I assume) shortly before he took off as a strikeout pitcher.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

There's irony, too, in the "clean mechanics" approach not helping prevent Tommy John surgery in guys like Duffy and Lamb.

Yes. Those guys were probably destined for TJ regardless of what the Royals did... but both are more natural slider throwers, IMO. Sometimes, an arm that can take throwing sliders can't take throwing curveballs (And vice versa). That's why cookie cutter is bad...

[Prison Bitch]

Dayton spent $30 million buying the top 3 o his rotation from others. Wow what a talented scout he must be to do that!!!! If he hadn't they would probably be headed for 95 losses again since he developed nobody on his own.


But he did buy pitching. If only Baird was allowed to cover his failures like Dayton is.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I won't criticize signing Frenchy in the first place, because they needed a RF and he looked like a decent stopgap, even at that salary. Refusing to cut bait with him at any point (and letting him influence the decision to dump Seitzer) is a huge mistake and indicative of the extreme loyalty Dayton has (and is held back by).

Can you please elaborate a little further on this? First I've heard of it

[Prison Bitch]

Just eight clubs have failed to make the playoffs since he was hired in May 2006, and the Royals are the lone team in the group that hasn’t made a GM change.

If Kansas City fails to advance to the postseason in 2013, Moore will have one of the five longest GM tenures without a playoff appearance in the last two decades. Former Royals GM Herk Robinson leads that list with nine playoff-less seasons.


http://www.baseballamerica.com/minor...ospects-14339/

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Dayton spent $30 million buying the top 3 o his rotation from others. Wow what a talented scout he must be to do that!!!! If he hadn't they would probably be headed for 95 losses again since he developed nobody on his own.


But he did buy pitching. If only Baird was allowed to cover his failures like Dayton is.

I still think Baird was a decent baseball man.

Smarter people than David Glass have trusted him. Glass just gave him absolutely no chance to succeed.

[Prison Bitch]

It's looking now like that's precisely the case.

[ChiTown]

I threw in the towel last week. I'm sure I will be waiting until hell freezes over, but I won't get back to being the same fan I used to be until the Glass Family sells the Franchise to an Owner that actually gives a flip about winning.

It sucks. I have 2 Son's that have NO INTEREST in the Royals. NONE. I have tried to get them into this team, but they've been an absolute joke their entire lives. Makes me sick to think that I couldn't find a shred of a silver lining for them to hang on to.

[BlackHelicopters]

Did not know Francoeur helped get Seitzer fired. Is this true?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by RockChalk

Can you please elaborate a little further on this? First I've heard of it

It's based off of radio interviews with Seitzer and Moore right after they fired him.

Moore cited Seitzer's inability to get Hosmer and Francoeur going as reasons for the move.

Seitzer also provided some hilarious insight on "Team leader" Jeff Francoeur throwing him and Billy Butler under the bus.