2012 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[alnorth]

2012 Slogan: Our Time

A better, more accurate 2012 Slogan: It is Finally Next Year
(from Great Expectations)

An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division
(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:



Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

[Saul Good]

I hate to be negative about this team, but the two wins have really covered up some glaring problems.

Cain looks lost.
Gordon looks worse than ever at the plate.
Moose has one hit all season, and that was a routine fly ball that just cleared the 318 sign over a 3' tall fence.

Guys like Quintero and Getz have been picking up the slack, but that's fools gold. We aren't going to keep winning if our lineup contains Quintero, Gets, Escobar, and 3 guys who can't hit.

[noa]

I wouldn't worry about the prospect of Gordon not hitting. Moustakas probably won't light the world on fire, but he'll come around and put up average to decent numbers I'm guessing. I'm less certain about Cain, though, so I hope he starts to pick it up soon.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Great Expectations]

It is WAY early to give up on Gordon, but his problems now are the same ones he had during his era of non-domination. Moose has been labeled a slow starter since he became a pro. Cain's problems at the plate are concerning, his natural swing is too long/slow.

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I hate to be negative about this team, but the two wins have really covered up some glaring problems.

Cain looks lost.
Gordon looks worse than ever at the plate.
Moose has one hit all season, and that was a routine fly ball that just cleared the 318 sign over a 3' tall fence.

Guys like Quintero and Getz have been picking up the slack, but that's fools gold. We aren't going to keep winning if our lineup contains Quintero, Gets, Escobar, and 3 guys who can't hit.

I agree, sort of. Kind of a small sample size.

We all know Gordon will turn it around.

And what difference does it make about Moustakas' home run? As long as it clears the fence regardless of the time of day, wind factor, etc etc a home run is a home run.

[Jenson71]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I hate to be negative about this team, but the two wins have really covered up some glaring problems.

Cain looks lost.
Gordon looks worse than ever at the plate.
Moose has one hit all season, and that was a routine fly ball that just cleared the 318 sign over a 3' tall fence.

Guys like Quintero and Getz have been picking up the slack, but that's fools gold. We aren't going to keep winning if our lineup contains Quintero, Gets, Escobar, and 3 guys who can't hit.

I can't possibly get worried after the first series featuring some pretty solid opposing pitchers. If we're seeing the same trend after April 15th, I will start to be concerned.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

I agree, sort of. Kind of a small sample size.

We all know Gordon will turn it around.

And what difference does it make about Moustakas' home run? As long as it clears the fence regardless of the time of day, wind factor, etc etc a home run is a home run.

We don't know that he will turn it around. We have several years of history showing that he won't and one showing that he will. He's back to swinging over the top of pitches. He's rolling over strikes and fanning on hard stuff low and away. When he struggles, he seems to lack the ability to recognize strikes. It's like he swings at a belt-high fastball regardless of what is actually thrown.

As far as Moose goes, of course the HR counted. What I'm saying is that it wasn't really an encouraging sign. He hit a lazy fly ball, and someone happened to put a fence in front of it. Quintero hit a ball 80 feet farther yesterday, and it was an out. I'll get excited when Moose starts squaring up a few pitches. If I play golf, and my drive hits a tree, bounces off the cart path, and bounces back into the middle of the fairway, I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that my swing must be improving just because the result was positive.

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

We don't know that he will turn it around. We have several years of history showing that he won't and one showing that he will. He's back to swinging over the top of pitches. He's rolling over strikes and fanning on hard stuff low and away. When he struggles, he seems to lack the ability to recognize strikes. It's like he swings at a belt-high fastball regardless of what is actually thrown.

As far as Moose goes, of course the HR counted. What I'm saying is that it wasn't really an encouraging sign. He hit a lazy fly ball, and someone happened to put a fence in front of it. Quintero hit a ball 80 feet farther yesterday, and it was an out. I'll get excited when Moose starts squaring up a few pitches. If I play golf, and my drive hits a tree, bounces off the cart path, and bounces back into the middle of the fairway, I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that my swing must be improving just because the result was positive.

Fair enough. Great points. I still think it's too small of a sample size.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by CJizzles

Fair enough. Great points. I still think it's too small of a sample size.

I'm willing to give Cain and Moose the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the sample size. Gordon's the one that scares me because he has a long history of this.

Fortunately, he's shown that he can overcome it. Hopefully he can figure out how to do it on the fly. I will say that his swing isn't quite as long as it was in the past.

[Ceej]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I'm willing to give Cain and Moose the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the sample size. Gordon's the one that scares me because he has a long history of this.

Fortunately, he's shown that he can overcome it. Hopefully he can figure out how to do it on the fly. I will say that his swing isn't quite as long as it was in the past.

Give me the series in Oakland. Until then I will reserve judgment on Gordo.

[duncan_idaho]

I'm going to wait for a deeper sample size than three games before I start worrying about Gordon, Moose and/or Cain (just like I'll wait for a bigger sample size before I start thumping the chest about Quintero's XB power).

Gordon had multiple stretches last year similar to this one. He did square up a few balls in the series, he just had bad luck. Pujols and Kendrick both robbed a hit from him, too. If he is 2/11 in that series rather than 0/11, we're not having this talk. I'm still seeing the same approach from him that was successful last year - shorter swing, more aggressive with fastballs in the zone.

Moustakas is traditionally a slow starter, and I'm not going to worry much unless we get into May with him below the Mendoza line.

Cain has a long swing and is susceptible to the strikeout. This is not anything we didn't know coming into the season. It's worth giving him some more time, certainly. He also has some pop and stung several balls that didn't drop.

Too early to worry, IMO. Just like it's too soon to think Bruce Chen is going to dominate this year.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

I hate to be negative about this team, but the two wins have really covered up some glaring problems.

Cain looks lost.
Gordon looks worse than ever at the plate.
Moose has one hit all season, and that was a routine fly ball that just cleared the 318 sign over a 3' tall fence.

Guys like Quintero and Getz have been picking up the slack, but that's fools gold. We aren't going to keep winning if our lineup contains Quintero, Gets, Escobar, and 3 guys who can't hit.

The hiting will come around eventually for most guys. Far and away the most impressive thing to me so far is the solid starting pitching. Pitching is what needs to stay consistent to stay competitive.

[CaliforniaChief]

It seems like Oakland always gives us a hard time. I'm curious to see if Mendoza's ST dominance extends to the regular season. And yeah, I think we'd all breathe a sigh of relief if Alex can get a few hits as well.

I'm not even worried about Detroit. I'm just hoping for series win after series win.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Literature

I can't possibly get worried after the first series featuring some pretty solid opposing pitchers. If we're seeing the same trend after April 15th, I will start to be concerned.

I agree with this. We took 2 of 3 from one of the AL favorites against some really good pitching. And one of our biggest worries was starting pitching yet we saw our three completely out pitch their 3.

As for Gordon I do recall he hit a few hard ones that were some bad luck. Regardless that throw he made on Pujols at the plate in game 2 was huge. If not for that play the inning could get troublesome. And one thing that typically holds true is hitters are slightly behind pitchers when the season starts. I am sure Cain did not see the calibur of pitchers in the preseason, especially starters, like he did over the weekend. He will hopefully adjust and continue to play great D. On a side our outfield defense is pretty sick with all above average arms and good speed at center and left.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I'm going to wait for a deeper sample size than three games before I start worrying about Gordon, Moose and/or Cain (just like I'll wait for a bigger sample size before I start thumping the chest about Quintero's XB power).

Gordon had multiple stretches last year similar to this one. He did square up a few balls in the series, he just had bad luck. Pujols and Kendrick both robbed a hit from him, too. If he is 2/11 in that series rather than 0/11, we're not having this talk. I'm still seeing the same approach from him that was successful last year - shorter swing, more aggressive with fastballs in the zone.

Moustakas is traditionally a slow starter, and I'm not going to worry much unless we get into May with him below the Mendoza line.

Cain has a long swing and is susceptible to the strikeout. This is not anything we didn't know coming into the season. It's worth giving him some more time, certainly. He also has some pop and stung several balls that didn't drop.

Too early to worry, IMO. Just like it's too soon to think Bruce Chen is going to dominate this year.

Well said it was so great seeing Moustakas get that homerun especially since he is a slow starter. If he can just keep hitting a few of those until his BA starts to come around that will be a victory for the Royals.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

It seems like Oakland always gives us a hard time. I'm curious to see if Mendoza's ST dominance extends to the regular season. And yeah, I think we'd all breathe a sigh of relief if Alex can get a few hits as well.

I'm not even worried about Detroit. I'm just hoping for series win after series win.

That Detroit victory was my fault. When I saw Boston go up 12-10 in the 12th innnig I mentioned how it would be nice to be tied for first but its a long season and we have started out nicely. We will need Detroit to go on a month long hitting slump though. Sure would be nice to see them average "only" 6 runs for a while.