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?

[Bowser]

We've assembled a hell of a National League lineup.

[Prison Bitch]

For all the famed hype about the glorious farm system of 2011, nothing has come of it. Literally, nothing. And even worse, there's nothing left anymore. I read we're in the 15-20 range right now in farm system rankings.


Dayton's clock is ticking. Tick tock, tick tock.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by Bowser

We've assembled a hell of a AAA lineup.

fixed your post

[cabletech94]

prolly posted somewhere else, didn't see it.

ticker during the game says that myers hit a grand slam for tampa bay. pretty sure that's his first ml homer.

/our time

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

For all the famed hype about the glorious farm system of 2011, nothing has come of it. Literally, nothing. And even worse, there's nothing left anymore. I read we're in the 15-20 range right now in farm system rankings.


Dayton's clock is ticking. Tick tock, tick tock.

I can almost guarantee you that he's got through at least midway 2014. When he made the Shields trade, I'm certain he convinced Glass that it created a two-year window. And he'll tell Glass now that he's assembled the pitching, now give him this offseason to acquire some hitters, and we'll be competitive in 2014.

And by competitive, I mean if we win 80+ games, he'll think that means we're on the right track (in year 8) to finally begin turning the corner to slowly start working our way up to 82, then 85 then 87 then 90 wins and hopefully compete for the division title sometime around 2018 ... although since Mondesi and Bonafacio will be relatively new, Dayton will argue for patience, that we can't expect these young players to actually compete until 2020 or so.

I'm sorry, but I've become so ****ing cynical about this regime.

[-King-]

Wil Myers hit a grand slam today...

[chefsos]

Watching Myers' granny clip, I thought it was Longoria initially. Did he always have that batting stance?

[DeezNutz]

To get Stanton, Rany thinks it would take the following:

Ventura, Zimmer, Mondessi, and Cuthbert.

Done. Done. Done. Mother****ing done. "Prospects." **** 'em all.

[Nightfyre]

It's gonna take more than one bat to make us competitive. We are hardly in bet the farm territory here - and that's essentially what that trade would be.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

It's gonna take more than one bat to make us competitive. We are hardly in bet the farm territory here - and that's essentially what that trade would be.

Stanton is controllable for the next 3 1/2 years. He's a major piece to trying to make a run for the foreseeable future.

Moore is a ****ing idiot if he doesn't strongly pursue this trade. But, alas, we know that Moore is a ****ing idiot.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

To get Stanton, Rany thinks it would take the following:

Ventura, Zimmer, Mondessi, and Cuthbert.

Done. Done. Done. Mother****ing done. "Prospects." **** 'em all.

Who's Stanton?

[DeezNutz]

And prospects are complete bullshit.

We traded a damn near "sure thing" for Shields, so no one should balk at trading any other prospect, especially for a legit power bat.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by -King-

Who's Stanton?

This beast: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...tantmi03.shtml

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Originally Posted by -King-

Wil Myers hit a grand slam today...

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

I can almost guarantee you that he's got through at least midway 2014. When he made the Shields trade, I'm certain he convinced Glass that it created a two-year window. And he'll tell Glass now that he's assembled the pitching, now give him this offseason to acquire some hitters, and we'll be competitive in 2014.

And by competitive, I mean if we win 80+ games, he'll think that means we're on the right track (in year 8) to finally begin turning the corner to slowly start working our way up to 82, then 85 then 87 then 90 wins and hopefully compete for the division title sometime around 2018 ... although since Mondesi and Bonafacio will be relatively new, Dayton will argue for patience, that we can't expect these young players to actually compete until 2020 or so.

I'm sorry, but I've become so ****ing cynical about this regime.

Dayton has next year on his contract so the skinflint owner will likely factor that.

Sure, he has told everyone these two years are the end point o his plan. After 2014 that will be the end of the line. He has zero clue how to build a winning team. Winning 78 or so games in year 8 isn't success, it's embarrassing