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?

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

A Hypothetical: It's the last week of July, the Royals are 6 games back from the division and 4.5 back from the wildcard. Danny Duffy has returned from Tommy John surgery and is pitching well, and Felipe Paulino is set to return any day. Do we trade the last two months we have of Ervin Santana for a second baseman who could provide a much needed boost for the lineup? Discuss..

Yes if the second baseman could be a long term solution. If we're that far back, a couple of starts from Santana aren't going to matter much.

[a pp roach]

if the royals are 4.5 behind the wildcard two months before the playoffs I'll jizz in my pants

and post pics of it.

[Demonpenz]

I was thinking about this as well. Need a stick and need to trade for some.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Pretty interesting...




Would be funny if another fight broke out. But this time in Sydney.

[DeezNutz]

And where the hell is Dyson? Dude pulls something so stupid that Ken Harvey laughed, and the player is still on the DL?

Because KC.

[Tytanium]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

And where the hell is Dyson? Dude pulls something so stupid that Ken Harvey laughed, and the player is still on the DL?

Because KC.

High ankle sprain. He's slated for a mid-June return.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

And where the hell is Dyson? Dude pulls something so stupid that Ken Harvey laughed, and the player is still on the DL?

Because KC.

Almost done with rehab at Omaha, I think (hope?).

He started out rough there (0-11 in his first 2-3 games) but has started hitting in the 3-4 games since.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I send Duffy down to Omaha and save some service time. Paulino to the rotation. Mendoza to the rotation. Davis back to the pen. JC Gutierrez DFefffingA.

Sounds good. Paulino was incredible last year before he got hurt.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by thurman merman

Sounds good. Paulino was incredible last year before he got hurt.

I think he's also out of options, which Duffy still has. And I'm not sure they bring him back after this season (though that will depend on how he pitches down the stretch). So might as well get what you can out of him now.

Plus, it saves time on Duffy's clock, which isn't a bad thing, and I'm not 100 percent sure he's ready to go. We'll see how his second OMaha start goes.

[Ceej]

I like the thought of Duffy in the starting rotation more.

I like having at least one lefty in the rotation.

[bsp4444]

Showcase Paulino. Somebody may overpay for him.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I think he's also out of options, which Duffy still has. And I'm not sure they bring him back after this season (though that will depend on how he pitches down the stretch). So might as well get what you can out of him now.

Plus, it saves time on Duffy's clock, which isn't a bad thing, and I'm not 100 percent sure he's ready to go. We'll see how his second OMaha start goes.

19 hits and 6 walks in 13 IP in his rehab starts. I know that depends on what they are having him do for rehab. They may just want him to throw strikes and get his velocity back up to speed. At this point, I don't think he is anywhere close to ready to come back to the bigs yet.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

19 hits and 6 walks in 13 IP in his rehab starts. I know that depends on what they are having him do for rehab. They may just want him to throw strikes and get his velocity back up to speed. At this point, I don't think he is anywhere close to ready to come back to the bigs yet.

Control/command are the last thing to come back after Tommy John, usually.

It sounds like Duffy's velocity is just fine (he's been pumping 95-96).

His first start in Omaha was really bad (7 hit, 2 BB in just 2 IP) and is skewing those numbers a bit.

Walk rate was a little high in his three starts at NWA (4 in 10 2/3 works out to about 3.4 BB/9, which isn't great but isn't awful, either), but that was the only real concern there.

We'll see how he does in his next few Omaha starts. That BB rate still needs to come down. Would like to see him get down to around 2 BB/9 rate at Omaha, which is where he was in 2010 and 2011.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

And where the hell is Dyson? Dude pulls something so stupid that Ken Harvey laughed, and the player is still on the DL?

Because KC.

I heard yesterday that they wanted to get him 25-35 at-bats before taking him off the DL. As of yesterday he was at 41.

[Codered]

They have to know Frenchy at this point is worthless and it's best to just eat the money and go with Dyson and Lough right?