I was on my site today looking at CFB lines and came across the 2012 World Series odds. Most interesting to me is TEX at 13-1 and TB at 20-1. Can't say I'm putting anything on any of them, but I can imagine a situation where TEX signs Prince Fielder and that line drops immediately to +600 or so. These odds also have the AL central going in this order:

DET 16-1

CHI 28-1

MIN 60-1

CLE 66-1

KC 90-1

Might be some value later in taking KC's over on the total W's bet.

Continue reading this post »

I was doing my semi-regular checkup on Alex Gordon's climb up the fangraphs WAR rankings this morning and noticed he's carrying a .361 BABIP. We all know he's been a revelation this season but is this all just a mirage soon to fade into Bob Hamelin/Angel Berroa-esque memories?

Continue reading this post »

There's no doubt we're short-term sellers, but Ubaldo is a great longer term buying opportunity. If baseball reference's contract numbers are correct, Ubaldo's contract going forward is 4.2M, 5.75M, and 8M for 2012 - 2014, respectively.

Continue reading this post »

I don't know if a FanPost is the appropriate place to do this. Really, I'm not sure if there's any appropriate place to do this. I'm getting married in a couple months and am putting together a groom's cake. As sad as it is, I'd like to do something Royals themed. Since this is the largest group of Royals degenerates probably on the planet, I wanted to tap into this expertise. As my day job is as an accountant, I'm far from a design expert of any type. Any suggestions you guys might have would be appreciated. Thanks

Continue reading this post »

Just to further depress all of us that Kendall's getting everyday action and that we somehow chose the worst of 3 options this offseason (assuming there were only 3 options...) in giving Kendall the starting C job over Olivo and Buck, here's the 2009 and 2010 (projected) stats for our catchers. I'd say if anything, these are optimistic for 2010 because of the obvious wear on Kendall as he makes a run at the major league record for games caught.

Continue reading this post »

Just did a quick and dirty analysis of the 25-man roster to determine who's likely to/should be dealt before the upcoming trade deadline. Some of this is pretty obvious, but I kinda wanted to get the consensus opinion on the options in the next week. No one's ranked in any order, just debate the categorization.

Continue reading this post »

During MLB Tonight, Chris Rose interviewed Jon Heyman and one of the topics was why the Royals would want to move Soria. Heyman went through the obvious reasons that we're all aware of and then this bit:

"The original thing for them was they would trade anyone but Greinke or Butler. Now I'm hearing they just want to trade Guillen and Farnsworth and keep everybody else, so they must like their team a lot more than everybody else does."

Continue reading this post »

This Kaegel gem hit the Royals Web Site today.

So apparently, we're feeling pretty good about that  0.45% chance of making the playoffs this year. Gems like:

"You look at today and we're a good week and a day from being out of first place. That's the way I look at it. If something bad happens and some [other teams] start losing some games and we get on a bit of a run. ... I mean we were 10 games out at the All-Star break in Atlanta and we ended up winning the division. So we're in a good spot."

are absolutely ridiculous if thought about with any logic at all. Dick Kaegel must just be looking for some silver lining to this moribund season. "...Jason Kendall with bat-handling skill next..." really? Can we not get a little criticism for hitting a guy who while hitting 2nd has put up numbers like .250/.310/.286 (approx)? The fact that he's gotten 340 plate appearances this season is a complete travesty. The only regular position player under 27 is Billy Butler and these jokers seem happy with that. They feel this team is headed somewhere. We're 10 games under .500 and we probably need to play 48-26 ball to even have a shot at winning the division. I'm not sure if they are delusional or just creating a delusion to spur interest/belief, but it's a delusion nonetheless. If they aren't making every effort to deal every bit of useful veteran off this lineup, it's inexcusable.

As an Atlanta resident, I'm attending all 3 games. Anyone else planning on getting out? Looks like Zack's going to start Friday night against Kris Medlen. I'll be the fool in the Royals gear a few rows behind the dugout. I'm hoping for a good series considering how much crap I take from Braves fans down here. I believe it's the first time the Royals play the Braves. They've certainly never played in Atlanta. Hope to see a good Royals crowd.

Since this year is a lost cause, we need to start building next year's team. Really, I believe the question is, Are the "Core Players" good enough?

Continue reading this post »

Just a little depressing exercise I usually do with my fantasy baseball teams - Identify the dead wood.

Continue reading this post »

Gwinnett Braves vs Norfolk Tides. The Tides are the O's AAA affiliate, so I was pretty excited about seeing Wieters, but he's D2D because he tweaked his hamstring last night, so we're a little short on star power. Pitching matchup is Chris Tillman vs. Todd Redmond. The Random Royal Sighting is Donnie Murphy who somehow ended up with the O's in AAA. Anything I should be watching for between these two?