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?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

He hasn't thrown his changeup much this year.

Last year that thing was devastating.

He still throws it 23% of the time vs. 28% of the time last year.

And honestly, that's probably not because of design but because of pitch sequencing.

Like most guys with a devastating changeup, Herrera uses his has a putaway pitch and often when he's ahead in the count. If he can't get to a putaway count, he won't likely throw that changeup as often.

Looking through his situational stats, it looks like he starts about 1/2 the batters he faces with a ball. If you start from behind in the count, you're going to constantly be fighting to get out of 'fastball' counts to allow you to go to your off-speed stuff.

It looks to be a simple control issue to me. He can't get ahead of batters. Now even when he does, he's giving up a .316 BA and .887 OPS, but when he's behind his OPS jumps to a staggering 1.297 based largely on the strength of a near .800 Slg%.

When the guy falls behind, he gets crushed. And he's just falling behind way too much.

So you may be right in that his lack of changeup use is a problem. However, his lack of changeup use is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is erratic control that keeps him from getting into positive counts that allow him to go to his off-speed stuff. That control keeps him from using his best pitch and allows batters to tee off on him when he's forced to come to them rather than work the corners.

[Prison Bitch]

Most fans probably missed Dayton's craziest rant of the year (which is saying something!). That's when he tried to explain in the KC Star that sending Herrera down made sense but keeping Moose up was different. Why? Because "hitters need to face MLB pitching. There's no substitute."

One might have been thinking, well then what's the substitute for pitchers facing MLB hitting? And of course this would be sane. But sane is not how Dayton thinks. He makes shit up as he goes.

[Three7s]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Most fans probably missed Dayton's craziest rant of the year (which is saying something!). That's when he tried to explain in the KC Star that sending Herrera down made sense but keeping Moose up was different. Why? Because "hitters need to face MLB pitching. There's no substitute."

One might have been thinking, well then what's the substitute for pitchers facing MLB hitting? And of course this would be sane. But sane is not how Dayton thinks. He makes shit up as he goes.

He hates bad pitching. He doesn't mind a bad offense.

[Ceej]

@DJ

i based that off of my own opinion. I thought before he was originally demoted he wasn't throwing it nearly as often.

Maybe it isn't nearly as effective as last year's.

But, him overthrowing has been blatant this year. Overthrows, falls behind in the count, then throws a high 90s meatball right down the middle.

Boom.

[KCGal]

Ned must go. He babies them. He expects development not winning. He gets what he expects. If I hear him talk about the "kids" one more time I'm going to lose it. Kids don't get millions of dollars to play freaking baseball. We're never going to get past .500 with him in charge.

[GloryDayz]

How much does the owner make "no matter how many games they lose"? That's all you need to know when you ask yourself why so many of these clowns are still around in this organization...

\thread

[Sure-Oz]

Pretty sure Dan Glass still thinks Myers is on the Royals

[Sure-Oz]

Royals have the exact same record as last year at this time.

SOB

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by ChiefsandO'sfan

The WBC is what happened. Herrera, Rodney and Strop all look like crap this year.

What about Miguel Cabrera, Yadier Molina, David Wright, Joe Mauer, Adrian Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, Derek Holland, Gio Gonzalez, Wandy Rodriguez, Santiago Casilla, etc.?

[AussieChiefsFan]

Shame they couldn't eak out a win there. Is be happy with winning just one, if we can get the win tomorrow.

[Archie F. Swin]

Wow....I just looked at the July schedule. Surely by the end of next month we'll know for for sure of this Royals team is contender or pretender.

[chefsos]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Wow....I just looked at the July schedule. Surely by the end of next month we'll know for for sure of this Royals team is contender or pretender.

I don't know how to say this without looking like a troll, but I think pretender is a couple levels up from where they are right now. That's a team that needs a spark (drill sgt. manager maybe?) in the worst way.

[Archie F. Swin]

So, is July 31st GMDM's deadline to make a move for a bat, or is it earlier?

[Prison Bitch]

All moot, the team can't hit the ball out of the infield. Not remotely competitive with legit teams. We're basically a Seattle.

[WhawhaWhat]

Bob Dutton ‏@Royals_Report
#Royals vs. ATL LHP Minor: Gordon 7, Escobar 6, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Perez 2, Cain 8, Moustakas 5, Francoeur 9, Tejada 4 and Mendoza 1.

Lineup of doom.