#Royals sign utility infielder Yuniesky Betancourt to a one-year deal for 2012. Yuni expected to back up at short, third and second.

Your new CBA! now with

1. A cap on international spending
2. A declaration that drafted players may only sign minor-league deals
3. A 75% tax on teams going 5% overslot for draft picks
4. some tinkering with the luxary tax
5. A giant middle finger to the Royals ever competing again. Thanks Bud!

Worst part of draft bonus system in new CBA is that teams can lose future picks for spending too much. Hurts low-revenue teams the most.

Sources exclusively tell NBC Action News the Royals could announce as soon as Monday they have sold the naming rights to Kauffman Stadium.

Sources close to the Royals say the baseball team will announce Kauffman Stadium will include a corporate name.

.....

Sources say according to the lease, half of the money will go to the Royals, half will go back to the Jackson County taxpayers to pay for stadium maintenance.

Sources close to the Royals say the corporation is a bank but they would not confirm which one.

However, it is worth noting that the chairman of the board of Arkansas based Arvest Bank is the son of the late Sam Walton of the Walmart family.

"since I don't understand English well, I don't pay attention to what the critics say, so I don't get mad"

My choice as manager would be Trey Hillman. Smart guy. AL experience. Knows the Yankees. Will be a good mgr again for somebody

What happens when the Royals season ends

#Royals trade 1B Kila Ka'aihue to Oakland for minor-league pitcher. Ka'aihue designated for assignment last week.

Also, talked with Dayton Moore. Clarified the $55M-$60M quote. Said #Royals can sustain $75M-$80M payroll if winning and drawing well.

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He was speaking in generalities, but did mention 2.4M as "drawing well." They were at 1.6 last year, 1.8 in '09. Headed for 1.6-ish this yr.

We're never gonna out-talent anybody here. I understand it goes with the territory, but there was a lot of criticism deflected about why we would sign a guy like Jeff Francoeur. But the truth of the matter is we're not going to out-talent anybody here in Kansas City. It's impossible to do.

We've got one of the smallest markets in all of sports, period. Our owner is a terrific owner, but he's not going to go out and spend a $100 million payroll and a $100 million payroll when we can only sustain a $55 million or $60 million payroll in this market.

So we've gotta, our team has to be better than anybody else. We have to have synergy. We have to have togetherness, very similar to what the Colorado Rockies had three years ago. They had some young, talented players. But they played together, they loved each other, their families got along, and they went out and played hard every single night.

Spent Wednesday night at the K, heard from Ned, Hosmer, Moustakas, Ryan, Dayton Moore, read up about it

#royals GM Dayton Moore made it sound like Giavotella will not get called up soon. Told me Getz is a "mistake-free player." More at 6.

The #Royals are seeking "near ready'' starting pitching in exchange for OFs Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur.

Mellinger hits Royals on cheapness over Negro Leagues day

@Ipl_Baseball is proud to announce the signing of Elier Hernandez to the K.C Royals for $3,050,000!

Kila gives up on trying to draw walks

"Why would you write that? I don't drink 25 cups of coffee a day, Maybe seven or eight or 10, but not 25. And why is that anybody's business, how many cups of coffee I drink? That's the stuff that (ticks) me off."

LHP Everett Teaford optioned to Omaha. LHP Bruce Chen returned from rehab assignment and is the Royals starting pitcher tonight.

Your lineup for tonight: Melky 8, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Gordon 7, Francoeur 9, Moustakas 5, Pena 2, Escobar 6, Getz 4

Arizona Diamondbacks Call Up Wily Mo Pena To DH v. Royals

Royals recall OF Jarrod Dyson from Class AAA Omaha

"If it was on purpose, I mean what is your retaliation? What are you retaliating -- that Albert got hurt at first on a clean play? Or that there was a pitch inside that almost hit Albert that didn't? I'd say, 'Quit being a bunch of babies.'"

Can't make it to the game tonight? Our game will be TELEVISED live on Metro Sports in Kansas City & Lincoln and Cox Ch. 2 in Omaha.

Ned Yost, about pinch hitting for Escobar late

"Yeah, not right now. I'm not gonna do it. I don't care what anybody says. I'm not gonna do it. This is a kid that I think is gonna hit one day. I want him having as many at-bats as he can get, because there's gonna come a time when we're in line to win a championship and I want him to be able to handle himself in those situations.

Even we tied the ballgame up today, I would have been without the league's best shortstop if we came back. So we're gonna have to find ways to get him going and get him productive in those types of situations"

About previous experiences with development

"I've gone through this with players before. I went through it with JJ Hardy. JJ Hardy was hitting .170. Everybody was screaming about JJ Hardy, 'why are we not pinch hitting for him? how much longer are we gonna go with a guy that hitting .170?' next year he hit 25hrs and made the all-star team. So, I got a little bit of an idea of what i'm doing here.

I think this kid is gonna hit and yeah, it hurts right now. Do I think about pinch hitting for him every time in those situations? Yes, Yes, I'm dying to. But I know it's in our best interests right now that we don't do it. For big picture thought, yeah I wanna do it. But, this kid, I think, is gonna hit one day.

I want him in these situations. I want him in these clutch situations. I want him one time to be successful in it and then hopefully that will take some of the burden off of him and he can be successful more and more and more. But we're gonna have to have him.

Ya know, when we get good, we can't be taking the league's best shortstop out of the game in the 8th and 9th inning, to pinch hit. We just can't. We gotta have him. We have him productive in these spots. And the only way to do it is to keep running him out there."

About Escobar hitting hurting the team:

"It's gonna be a benefit to all the other guys when he becomes successful in that. So it's a give and take situation. Yeah, it's detrimental right now, to the team, a little bit. But there's no guarantee that anybody I put in there to pinch hit is gonna get a hit. I mean, there's no guarantee. Escy's hitting .200, even if I got a guy who is hitting .300, he's gonna get one more hit in ten at-bats, than Escobar is. So there's no guarantee that if I pinch hit there, we got a guy on. But it does increase our odds.

But down the road, it's gonna benefit them greatly that he's gonna be able to be productive in those situations and be able to go back out there and play his gold-glove caliber defense in the field, help us win ballgames"