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?

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

Acquring Kendrick may be easier than we're thinking, a few people on the Royals board suggested shipping Guthrie and Escobar straight up for Aybar and Kendrick.

Make it happen, DM!

Would rather just give up some prospects for Kendrick.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by the_spatula

Would rather just give up some prospects for Kendrick.

As long as it's not Zimmer, Ventura, Mondesi, and Duffy, I'm cool with it. There might be one or two more that the names are escaping me at the moment.

[Chiefspants]

I was mostly being sarcastic with my post, I don't believe Guthrie has any substantial trade value at this point.

[Coach]

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showt...re#post9822521

Originally Posted by Coach

Well, we'll see how this week and a half plays out. Personally, it would be nice to go on a 10 game winning streak, but I don't think the odds of that happening.

If KC can get something of the following:

2 out of 3 against Detroit
2 out of 4 against Baltimore
2 out of 3 against Chicago

That to me is the best scenario. It's hard to take 3 out of 4 in a 4 game series, but it's also possible. On the other hand, it's also possible to go 1 out of 3 against the Tigers, 1 out of 4 against Baltimore, and 1 out of 3 against Chicago....

That being said, I do really believe that the Royals would have been so much better, record wise, if it wasn't for two black holes on 3rd base and 2nd base....

So I got the 2-3 out of Detroit nailed. Royals did +1 better against Baltimore. And sweeping Chicago was icing on the cake. So they did 2 games better than what I was hoping for. And both Detroit and Baltimore are better than .500 team, fighting for playoff spots. That 3 out of 4 against Baltimore did us a big favor, looking towards the WC spot.

Plus don't we play Boston at the K in the first week of August?

[Bambi]

I don't understand why 3B isn't being screamed for a replacement. No playoff caliber team has ever had someone like Moustakas on their everyday roster. Players that bad simply aren't on those teams.

[Coach]

Nice work Luke.

[SPATCH]

(Clockwise from top left) Herrera, Collins, Crow?, Mendoza, ?, Coleman?, Hochevar.

[tk13]

The other one is Will Smith.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Bambi

I don't understand why 3B isn't being screamed for a replacement. No playoff caliber team has ever had someone like Moustakas on their everyday roster. Players that bad simply aren't on those teams.

Most are open to a replacement, but it is less of an issue than 2B is. Moustakas at least has shown high-level talent in the past, and has been trending upward since June 1. the .741 OPS he has posted in July is not all-star caliber, but it is positive movement.

As for the statement about playoff-caliber teams...

Look at what Detroit is trotting out behind the plate (Alex Avila).

Look at what the Giants trotted out last... 3 members of its postseason lineup posted sub-.700 OPS for the Giants in the regular season. One of those was Hunter Pence.

The Tigers of 2012 had .700 OPS guys in RF and at DH (Delmon Young and Brennan Boeschs/Quentin Berry/Ryan Raburn/etc).

The Moustakas of June/July is not the star we hoped he would be, but he is
.265/.316/.381. Still not good, but less concerning than what they're getting out of 2B, at least to me.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

Acquring Kendrick may be easier than we're thinking, a few people on the Royals board suggested shipping Guthrie and Escobar straight up for Aybar and Kendrick.

Make it happen, DM!

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa..........Whoa.

[duncan_idaho]

Angels asking price for Kendrick seems extremely high.

I've seen some Angels fans talking about a trade with KC and saying they'd want Ventura+Mondesi+Bonifacio.

Which is just a crazy amount of talent (two top 50, one top 100) to give up for a guy who is a nice player but not a star.

No thanks.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Most are open to a replacement, but it is less of an issue than 2B is. Moustakas at least has shown high-level talent in the past, and has been trending upward since June 1. the .741 OPS he has posted in July is not all-star caliber, but it is positive movement.

As for the statement about playoff-caliber teams...

Look at what Detroit is trotting out behind the plate (Alex Avila).

Look at what the Giants trotted out last... 3 members of its postseason lineup posted sub-.700 OPS for the Giants in the regular season. One of those was Hunter Pence.

The Tigers of 2012 had .700 OPS guys in RF and at DH (Delmon Young and Brennan Boeschs/Quentin Berry/Ryan Raburn/etc).

The Moustakas of June/July is not the star we hoped he would be, but he is
.265/.316/.381. Still not good, but less concerning than what they're getting out of 2B, at least to me.

I think most everyone expected Moose to become a .275 hitter with power and play near gold glove caliber 3rd base. That was basically what was projected. No, his power numbers aren't there and he still strikes out too much but it's easy to forget that he's still really young. Those jokers that started the season as the hitting coaches really screwed all these guys up, they've all been much better since they left other than Escobar.

If Moose is hitting .265 I don't think we're having this conversation, yet that's what he's hitting over the last two months.

[Prison Bitch]

Moose's power outage has been depressing. 36 bombs his last minor league season at 21, now at age 24 he can't hit the ball out.

[Nightfyre]

Does anyone know of any good royals podcasts? I mean, one's that aren't reeruned fans squealing in a high pitched voice.

[Archie F. Swin]

The hard reality is, Moustakas is breathing down the neck of his 25th birthday and he may not he may not realize his full MLB potential until the '15 or '16 season. I just hope he's with the Royals at that time.