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?

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

When we lost last night I felt the season might be wrapping up soon. They have to go 3-3 these next two weeks in the Cleveland games. If they lose ground they aren't coming back. We're just not a very good team, it's time we deal with reality. We are 6.5 back of Cleveland but only 5 ahead of Chicago in last. So we're closer to last than to first.

We're going nowhere and it's time to listen to Santana offers.

5.5 back.

[Prison Bitch]

Ok then, equidistant from first to last. Same deal.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

5.5 back.

Exactly.

This is an important series. The Royals need to pick up at least one game (take 2/3). That is still possible.

Losing the first game and saying the season is over is an extreme overreaction. But that's the specialty of some individuals.

[BlackHelicopters]

We appear to be treading water, and just barely. Cleveland sweeps us, and seals our fate.

[Demonpenz]

Cabrera having problems Verlander not being the stud he is. This division is wide open.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

O's banned from thread

He's begging to be let back

[RockChalk]

Late to the party, but a ban on C&O's fan from this thread is appropriate. If we could just ban him from the entire site, that would be great, but I realize that is asking too much.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

This thread feels so..... clean.

[RockChalk]

Love that not a single person posted in here saying they wanted C&O back. He's one of those people that you just know is definitely as annoying in real life, as he is on here.

[WhawhaWhat]

Anibal Sanchez is back in the Tigers rotation Saturday night against the Indians.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by RockChalk

Love that not a single person posted in here saying they wanted C&O back. He's one of those people that you just know is definitely as annoying in real life, as he is on here.

Given his twitter addiction and lack of a real life, I always pictured him as a dorky high school kid with no friends.

[Sure-Oz]

Originally Posted by tambaberry

Ok you can't just say that without a link or posting the tweets.

Sorry I was mobile then...here is a summary...he blocked me and other fans that disagreed. He's very sensitive on Twitter and looks for tweets against royals but pointed out 1 guy who is a great royals twitter follow. Attached tweets that may have started Duffys beef...these tweets are deleted now I think. @KCKingdomFS Not sure if you saw this, but I think this had a lot to do with Duffy's comments. https://mobile.twitter.com/LeviPayto...014016/photo/1


http://kckingdom.com/?p=3922

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

He has been pretty good against lefties this year, but I think that's a fluke more than anything else.

Collins' command has been spotty of late, and it's killing them. Same with Crow. Those two need to turn it around, and quickly.

The biggest difference between this year and last year is that the bullpen is being used less. Maybe they needed all that use to keep them sharp. Let's move to the four-man rotation consisting of Shields/Santana/Guthrie/Duffy and cap their pitches at say, 90 - to help keep the bullpen sharp. What say you duncan?

[Nightfyre]

Read the daily hit list from baseball prospectus for day and I thought to myself: "This author must be a Royals fan." Because this was his comment for the Royals: "The Royals got a grand slam from Alex Gordon and lost anyway because they're the Royals."

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

The biggest difference between this year and last year is that the bullpen is being used less. Maybe they needed all that use to keep them sharp. Let's move to the four-man rotation consisting of Shields/Santana/Guthrie/Duffy and cap their pitches at say, 90 - to help keep the bullpen sharp. What say you duncan?

I think the days of the 4-man rotation are probably a thing of the past. With how much $$ is invested in pitchers, teams are going to do everything they can to keep starters fresh.

I'd stick with the 5-man rotation in a few weeks, rotating in Danny Duffy for Wade Davis.

I'd move Davis to the pen to solidify things a bit. I'd identify my LOOGY (probably Will Smith), and stick to using him as that. I'd DFA JC Gutierrez and Call up Louis Coleman. Collins goes down to work on FB command.

Roles:

CLoser: Holland
Clean inning: (Used in medium or long relief at start of innings) Chen, Hochevar
LOOGY: Will Smith
ROOGY: Louis Coleman
8th inning options: Crow, Davis