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.

[DeezNutz]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Guthrie back plus another tier-3 FA, and we'll hear all about the potential "depth" of the rotation.

[Nightfyre]

So, uh... what is the Royal's plan with Kyle Zimmer? Surely he'll be at least at AA-Ball after next spring?

His most recent line - 6.2 IP/3 H/0 R/10SO/0 BB

[JohnnyV13]

I think mid 2014.

[Great Expectations]

A Guthrie extention would be fine. His ERA away from home with Colorado was good and he was good in the AL East. It would also allow gmdm to sign a tier 1 FA pitcher.

Of course if Guthrie is proclaimed as the savior we are effed.

I'd like to see Guthrie extended, sign a top of the rotation guy in FA, and sign a lotto ticket FA starter.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

A Guthrie extention would be fine. His ERA away from home with Colorado was good and he was good in the AL East. It would also allow gmdm to sign a tier 1 FA pitcher.

Of course if Guthrie is proclaimed as the savior we are effed.

I'd like to see Guthrie extended, sign a top of the rotation guy in FA, and sign a lotto ticket FA starter.

I'm on board with this. Guthrie's no spring chicken. Regardless, he's not really part of the long term future. If he replaces a back end rotation guy, fine. If he's considered one of the two starters we desperately need for next year, f me.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

So, uh... what is the Royal's plan with Kyle Zimmer? Surely he'll be at least at AA-Ball after next spring?

His most recent line - 6.2 IP/3 H/0 R/10SO/0 BB

That would be a really aggressive promotion for Zimmer. I'd expect he'll start next year at Wilmington (where I expect he'll put up SICK numbers) and get a second-half promotion to NWA. If he really dominates at Wilmington, they might move him to NWA quickly.

As for Guthrie (Saw the discussion below)... I suspect they'll bring him back as the "ace" and say they're holding off on big pitching acquisitions until 2014. That would be disappointing.

If they brought him back with the intention that he's the 3 starter, that would work out OK. That's really the level he has pitched at prior to landing in Colorado and struggling this year.

Merely retaining Guthrie isn't a problem and could be a nice plus. I've been stumping for bringing in 3 guys this offseason (One No. 2 level through trade, one No. 2 level through trade, one buy-low candidate to be a solid No. 3 guy). Guthrie is not a bad option for the third guy in that list.

[mr. tegu]

I am not opposed to Guthrie being a part of next year. He could be Paulino part 2. Given our injuries we need someone with his experience and potential for pretty dang good games. I don't think we should hate retaining him because of how he got here. Even this year with his poor ERA his road split was decent before coming here. We know mostly what he is and he is serviceable.

However, like some have said I also have become scared that Guthrie pitching well will prevent us from making moves this offseason. If we can get a couple legitimate guys we could be in good shape. Personally I am really eyeing Haren. IIRC he is a little older than Santana which makes me think if LA resigns Greinke they will keep Santana over Haren (assuming they don't keep both).

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I am not opposed to Guthrie being a part of next year. He could be Paulino part 2. Given our injuries we need someone with his experience and potential for pretty dang good games. I don't think we should hate retaining him because of how he got here. Even this year with his poor ERA his road split was decent before coming here. We know mostly what he is and he is serviceable.

However, like some have said I also have become scared that Guthrie pitching well will prevent us from making moves this offseason. If we can get a couple legitimate guys we could be in good shape. Personally I am really eyeing Haren. IIRC he is a little older than Santana which makes me think if LA resigns Greinke they will keep Santana over Haren (assuming they don't keep both).

I'm completely on the Haren bandwagon. I know he's struggled this year with injuries and etc, but I think he bounces back next year.

Option is pricy ($15.5 million), but the prospect price isn't going to be astronomical. And you'd have a shot at extending him if he bounces back.

Haren is not an elite ace, but he's a legit No. 1 pitcher. Easily top 5-10 pitcher in MLB the past five years.

[JohnnyV13]

Guthrie doesn't need to be extended. He's 3rd year arbitration eligible next season. I wrote about how he's sort of rescued a lost off-season for DM.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Guthrie this offseason will be our Bruce Chen of a season ago. Where we desperately try to resign him, making that a focal point of the entire offsesason.

There's always one good thing to look forward to during Royals off-season:

College Basketball.

[Nightfyre]

Interesting lines:
John lamb pitched a rehab start in rookie ball. 1 inning, fanned 2
Odorizzi went 7 ip/2 hits/2 BB/4 ks
Selman went 6 ip/5 hits/1 R/1 ER/1BB/11 ks

Starling hit his 9th hr.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Guthrie this offseason will be our Bruce Chen of a season ago. Where we desperately try to resign him, making that a focal point of the entire offsesason.

There's always one good thing to look forward to during Royals off-season:

College Basketball.

While that's possible, Guthrie is a bit more proven at least. His time with the Orioles, he was a pretty solid, No. 3-quality starter.

I'm starting to wonder how much Chen is missing the influence of Bob McClure. He has given him a lot of credit in the past for helping him master his approach to pitching. Was McClure the Chen-whisperer? Or did Chen just have two-plus years of incredible luck? He's always been a guy with a lower-than-normal BABIP. There was enough evidence for me to believe he'd figured out the 'crafty lefthander' thing. But maybe that piece he'd figured out is now in Boston...

[Nightfyre]

Chen has lost some velo, methinks. Part of getting older, I guess.

[gblowfish]

I was looking at the Royals pitching stats for the year. We got Sanchez and Verdugo for Melky, right?

Sanchez went 1-6 with a 7.76 ERA. If that's not bad enough, Verdugo is 0-1 with a 32.40 ERA.

Paulino is the only starter with a winning record (3-1). Both Chen and Hoch have 10 losses, both have ERAs in the mid-5's.

Mendoza is 6-8 but his ERA is 4.37, which is tolerable.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

Chen has lost some velo, methinks. Part of getting older, I guess.

Yeah, well I guess that Cy Young that Chen was chasing back in April/May was not meant to be....