Many people on here have recently decided that they think based on some of the decisions that DM has made that he is incompetent as a GM.  Incompetence means "lacks the necessary skills to do something."  If this is true, that DM is truly an incompetent GM, then obviously he should be fired as GM of the Royals. 

I'm just curious who all out there thinks that GMDM should be removed as GM of the Royals.  Because if you honestly think he is incompetent then you want someone else in his place as of today.

I really hope that management gets a little more positive reinforcement when they bring up AAA relievers and cut the ones that are only on the team because they have to pay them. 

For some reason, the only one I still have hope for is Tejeda.  The sooner we replace Farnsworth and Cruz with Rosa and Wood the better.  If Tejeda continues to walk every other batter he faces, then I'd really like to see Brian Bullington also. 

We are so at the "glass half full/empty" stage of the season. 

Glass half full: "Our hitting is proving to be competitive in the AL, especially in the Central.  Once Zack gets right and Meche gets out of Spring Training mode our rotation will also be very competitive with the way Hoch, Banny, and Davies are performing at 3, 4, and 5.  If we can add the prospects at reliever and they can get the game from the 7th to the 9th, then we might end up being the team to beat."

Glass half empty: "Wow.  Our lineup is playing WAY over their heads right now.  Hoch, Banny, and Davies have been great at 3, 4, and 5.  Soria is automatic.  All this...and we're STILL ONLY 5-7.  Hitters are going to come back down, Davies is going to go back into AAAA mode soon.  We are staring 100 losses in the face."

Don't know if I believe it, but I hope Glass half fulls are right.

With the announcement of the Crow signing, I think we can now look at the AA Naturals as the team that we will all be keeping an eye on next year.  Just like we did a few years back with Butler, Gordon, Greinke, Hoch, and others, I think we should pretty much load up our prospects at this level and let them play together for at least the 1st half of next season.  I know that people will say that Hosmer and Moustakas haven't earned this promotion but I think it's still a good idea to get those guys out of Wilmington.  If this is playing them up a little early I'm ok with it.  They need to start producing against better competition.

The NW lineup should include those two along with possibly Taylor, Johnny G (not a great year but also could benefit from getting out of Wilmington), and possibly Wil Myers by the middle of the season.  The rotation should incluse Crow, Duffy, Montgomery, and possibly Melville and Dwyer by the middle of the season.

I say give this group a season to play together at AA and bring them up when they're ready, probably 2011.

Thoughts?

How often do we get something like this to follow?  It seems like more fun than posting about Yuniesky or Trey or bullpen problems. 

I heard this question on the radio today:  if Tom Watson holds on today should KC have a parade for him?  I say yes.  Tom is as big a part of Kansas City sports as the Royals and Chiefs and his winning this thing at almost 60 would be one of the biggest moments in the history of the sport.  To me, that says a parade from Olathe to Liberty!  Ok, not that far.

In the AROD post about steroids this guy made a comment that "Mike Sweeney likely used also."  Why would you just throw this around?  Some people take the integrity of the game seriously so I can't think of many things more disrespectful than commenting like this when you have NOTHING to base this on.

In my opinion, if Sweeney would have been on roids his career wouldn't have crashed with injuries.  We'd probably be talking about one of the best right handed hitter in the past 15 years.  But because he refused his body broke down in different ways.

This is what I think.  There's a minute chance I'm proven wrong but until that happens lets not make outrageous claims like this so non-chalantly.

Being that we made the Coco Crisp trade, I still see us making another trade, probably involving DDJ or Teahen.  I still like the idea of getting Fontenot and Pie from the Cubs for either one of those guys.  I know not a lot of people like this for DDJ but Fontenot could start right away at 2B (900 OPS last year) putting Callaspo as utility again.  This would also put Pie as 4th OF (good spot for him being that we are would be waiting for him to get better and realize his talent).  These two moves  get rid of TPJ and Gathright.

New Bench:  Buck, Shealy, Callaspo, and Pie. (no TPJ, Gload, German, Gathright)

Lineup:

C Olivo

1 Jacobs

2 Fontenot

3 Gordon

S Aviles

L Teahen/DDJ (one would be traded)

C Crisp

R Guillen

DH Butler

Are you telling me this isn't any better than last year?  With this, we just dumped ALL of the fluff off the 25 man roster!  ALL OF IT!  GLOAD!  GATHRIGHT!   TPJ!  And what did we add to the team to get rid of those 3?  A guy who just hit 32 bombs, a guy with a 900 OPS who plays good 2B, and a slick fielding CF that just hit .450 in the playoffs.  And what did we have to get rid of to makes these changes?  Really?  Just 2 middle relievers and an average OFer?

Sign me up for that.  I just can't take the over-analyzing anymore.

Anyway we can change the name of this site to "The Fans of Rob Neyer?"

Watching the games this weekend has gotten me excited about next year (not to mention the rest of this one, if we can just finish this tough homestand well, like 4-2, maybe we can cut the division lead to around 8 or 9, maybe better.  Dammit!  I do this every year).  If Callaspo gets back and gets to play a little I think he can prove  himself enough to earn a platoon with Esty at 2B next year.  Also, I'd love to get Shealy some time at the end of the season at 1B and maybe he'll prove he can platoon at 1B next year also, but not with Gload...with Teahen.  I have Teahen at 1B because I'm starting to really like Maier.  He reminds me a lot of Aviles.  Now his numbers aren't there yet, but I think over time he could be that kinda guy.  I think he also reminds me on DeJesus 2 or 3 years ago.  I think he projects to be the same type of player.  This also moves Dejesus to left and Guillen to right.  Add in Gordon (3b), Butler (DH), Aviles (SS), and combo of Buck and Olivo in semi-platoon role at C.

Lineup vs. Righties:  Aviles, Teahen, DeJesus, Guillen, Gordon, Butler, Callaspo, Buck, Maier

Lineup vs. Lefties:  Aviles, DeJesus, Butler, Guillen, Gordon, Olivo, Shealy, Esty, Maier

Now this all follows my theory of not going out and getting a big FA this off season.  I'm of the belief of setting a 5 to 7 year plan with salaries that starts with them being lower for the next 2 years before we need to sign our own players that earn a longer contract (whoever they may be).  If we stay between 60-70 mil. the next 2 seasons we can then afford to be in the 100's in years 4 through 6.  That would allow us to get everyone we deem fit a longer contract.

It's just my theory.  And still think that lineup could compete next year if our rotation progresses. 

I know we are all excited about the recent winning ways of our boys in blue and the way our offense has been performing,  but I don't think we are performing well because of all the players that get into the lineup but in spite of that.  At what point do we know what we have and go with a certain lineup for the rest of the way (barring injuries and the OCCASIONAL day off)?  I'm going with July 15th.  I figure by then Butler will have taken Pena's place on the team and possibly Grud will be back playing regularly.  I think these guys should be in there 19 out of 20 games.  Olivo and Buck (DH and C), Butler (DH or 1B), Aviles (SS), Gordon (3B), Grud (2B), if Grud gets traded then Callaspo (2B), DDJ, Guillen, and Teahen (OF).  Our lineup against right handers could include Gload instead of Olivo or Buck.  But THAT'S IT.  2 lineups.  Games that include Gathright and Pena make me throw up in my mouth a little.  None of those 1st 11 guys are auto outs.

What do you think?  July 15th?  By then we should see:

DDJ

Aviles

Gordon

Guillen

Grud

Teahen

Butler

Olivo / Gload

Buck      

Just so everyone knows my fantasy football team name was Royal Fan=Packer Fan.  I'm 31 years old, so I basically spent all of my 20's cheering for my favorite baseball player of all time, Mike Sweeney, in the summers and favorite footballer, Brett Favre, in the falls and winters.  In the same month they both left my teams.  At a very, very, very lower level, I feel like a dad of military kids and getting 2 of those bad letters in the same month.  I understand why we didn't resign Sweeney, and I understand that Favre is 'tired mentally,' but this is NOT what I need while I am selling my house and trying to get a new job.  I need April to be better, like the Royals start with 15-8 record and Alex is hitting .432 with 7 bombs.  Then, the Pack follows it up by trading up 6 spots and drafts Aqib Talib with the 21st pick of the 1st round.  NOW THAT WOULD BE A REBOUND MONTH!

Reading Sisquatch's diary about Dan Cortes started to get me thinking about the talented Wilmington rotation that is moving up to AA this year.  That is, Dan Cortes, Julio Pimental, Blake Johnson, and Rowdy Hardy.  The fact that we got the 1st three in trades where they weren't even the main player involved really gets me excited thinking about GMDM's evaluating ability.  Didn't we get all three in about a 5 month span?  I'd like to think we can get guys like this about once a year at worst.  

Now, out of those 4 guys, which one is going to end up the best?  Who knows.  But I'd think ideally we get 2 of them into the rotation and maybe 1 in the pen.  And the 4th as a good piece of a trade?  Again, ALL speculation.  But it's starting to get fun again thinking about our prospects.

Wouldn't it be kind of ironic if the R's signed Fukudome and Kuroda to add to Shake (Yabuta) and Sergent Hillman being that there would be 3 Japanese players playing near Harry S. Truman Rd.?
Discuss...                                                                                                                  

I knew that would get your attention.  This actually has nothing to do with the Royals, but has to do with the Royals Review fantasy football league.  I saw that someone just picked up Corey Chavous.  My cousin is the same age as me and went to Vanderbilt with Chavous.  They lived on the same dorm hall their freshman year.  To this day, he still says the main thing he remembers from his freshman year is Corey Chavous walking down the hall buck naked to the bathroom when he took showers.  Also, he took my cousin's Madden '94 Sega game......I'm sure he still plays it all the time.

Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible game tonight. Where do you even begin? You don't. You start looking ahead to next season. Matt486 gets that ball rolling for us.-RR

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I teach at an alternative school in Independence, MO and we have to take these ridiculous classes to continue our certification in various things, like First Aid, CPR, etc... Well, today's training was on abuse and neglect.  I've taught PE at this school for 7 years, so I have gone through this training about...let's see...carry the 3, add the 2...7 TIMES!  I could have said, "Just give me the test and I can go back to my gym."  But I didn't, that would be a little rude.  Instead, I used my time wisely, you know, figuring out exactly what 25 players should be on the roster at the beginning of next season.  

I started with what moves we need to make in the off season.  I'm not a fan of spending every cent we have to get overpaid free agents, I would like for us to save some of that money to extend the contracts of our young guys in 3-5 years.  I only have us signing one free agent, Aaron Rowand.  Rowand is a good leader, hits 20-25 HR's, steals bases, plays great center field, and isn't going to cost as much as Hunter and Jones.  Rowand obviously plays CF for us in '08.

Our other 2 additions to the team are by the way of trading.  We've all seen the list of possible outfielders we could trade for, and I can't get past Carlos Quentin as being the one that makes the most sense.  He shouldn't cost too much since there isn't any room for him in Arizona.  I'm thinking one of our 1B/DH types that they might think has upside, like we see in Quentin.  I'm thinking Justin Huber.  They might get better offers than Huber, so I'm going to say that we have been starting Billy Buckner all these games in September to showcase him as a possible trade piece.  He also goes to the D-Backs.  Quentin plays LF for us in '08.

The other player we trade for I have recently heard mentioned as trade bait, and that's Dontrelle Willis.  I know, I know, he had a 5.5 ERA this year.  This works because again I don't think it will take much to get him, since he is in the last year of his contract and we all know Florida won't resign anybody.  If we have people that say they see where D Train has flawed this year (arm angle, tipping pitches, etc.) and we can fix the problems, AND we can get a 3-4 year deal done before the trade, it kinda makes sense.  I'm thinking David DeJesus time in KC could be over.  I know ther are many DDJ fans here, but if you think about it, where is he above average?  He hits .265, 7 HR's, no speed.  We need more than that.  He can be a valuable player, just not to us.  He's the kind of player Florida likes to get; cheaper price the next few years, and an established major leaguer.  They also like getting good low level prospects, and we have 4 young pitchers moving from Wilmington to Arkansas next year: Hardy, Cortes, Johnson, and Pimental.  One of those guys also goes to Florida.  Willis is in the rotation for us in '08.

This puts Quentin and Rowand with Teahen in the outfield.  Our infield is already set, with Gordon, Pena, Grud, and Butler from left to right.  This leaves DH.  If you ask all the people on this site what they want to do with Sweeney, half will want to sign him to a low level contract, the other half wants him to play his last game in a Royals uniform this Sunday.  I am on the half that says sign him to the veteran minimum contract and have him platoon at DH. Whose the lefty hitter that he platoons with?  Craig Brazell.  I think he's earned his chance to hit in the majors.  He's still only 27, led all of the minor leagues in HR's, and a lot of guys find their stroke late.  And really, this isn't that late.  Again, he's only 27.  Platooning Sweeney and Brazell would save Sweeney because if he's only starting against lefties, he would have a lot of rest time and would kinda be a part time bench coach.  Brazell would probably have a decent amount of success only hitting against righties.  I think together they could hit 30 HR's.  Maybe I'm smoking crack.  Either way.

Backups:  German, Gload, Paul Phillips, Gathright, and maybe Jason Smith.

New Rotation:

1. Meche
   
2. Willis
   
3. Greinke
   
4. Bannister
   
5. Hochevar

Short Relief:
Peralta
Riske
Gobble
Bale

Closer:
Obviously, it's Soria.

This is 28 guys.  If Hochevar is deemed not ready, then Davies moves into the rotation.  If he's ready, then either Nunez or Jorge is starting in Omaha ready to fill in in case of injuries, along with Duckworth, Ryan Braun, and Neal Musser.  Also, I'm guessing Jason Smith is the odd man out.  That trims it down to 26.  Somehow the short relief list is going to lose someone, I don't know how, I don't know why, it's just going to happen.  Now we have 25.

Opening Day Lineup:

1.  Aaron Rowand, CF
   
2.  Mark Grudzielanek, 2B
   
3.  Mark Teahen, RF
   
4.  Billy Butler, 1B
   
5.  Alex Gordon, 3B
   
6.  Craig Brazell/Mike Sweeney, DH
   
7.  Carlos Quentin, LF
   
8.  John Buck, C
   
9.  Tony Pena Jr., SS

At this point in the season, it is fairly obvious that we have 4 more than capable starters for the rest of the way, with Odie pulling up the rear.  I feel confident everytime one of these 4 step onto the mound:
Gil Meche
Brain Bannister
Leo Nunez
Kyle Davies

Again, we haven't seen Davies much, but with everything we know at this point (age, ability, up-side) he will be in the rotation the rest of the way.

So let's say he pitches pretty decent the rest of the way, say...4-3, 4.40 ERA.  He would definitely go into next year as a front runner for a spot. Let's also say that Nunez pitches somewhere in the ballpark around how he's done so far, say...4-2, 3.35 ERA.  How in the heck could you not consider him a front runner for the rotation next year?  Banny and Meche are locks.  This would already lock up 4 spots, barring major setbacks from Kyle and Leo or injuries, which just leaves one spot for the following list:
De La Rosa
Buckner
Soria
Greinke
Wright
Duckworth
Hudson
Lumsden
Hochevar

If it were my choice (which when I win Powerball tonight, in 10 years it will be), I think if Buckner is ready I'd give him a shot.  Soria is definitely the best pitcher of the bunch, but if we can get 5 good starters, and Greinke and Soria aren't on one of them, that means they are closing out games once we get it to the 7th or 8th.  I think this is best team-wise.  This is how we are winning games this year with a mediocre lineup.  Soria could be a decent starter, or Mariano Rivera the next 10 years.  Which one is better?  I don't know.

I think I want Buckner, Hudson, or Wright as my 5th guy(the other 2 in Omaha), De La Rosa- LH long reliever, Duckworth- RH long reliever, Riske and Peralta-middle relief/setup, Gobble-lefty lefty matchup,  Greinke-setup, Soria-closer.
Hochevar and Lumsden need another year in Omaha.

With all of this, we can use all free agent money on offense.

This just makes sense to me.

Here's a lofty goal for us:  If we can go 5-2 in the next 7 (4 with NY, 3 with TEX), either take 3 of 4 from Yanks and 2 of 3 from Tex, or split with Yanks and sweep Tex, and the Twinkies go 2-4 on there road trip  (that includes a trip to Cleveland) we can go into Minnesota that next monday only 5 games out of 3rd.  Then we sweep the Twins, and we're 2 out of 3rd.

Hey, I said LOFTY goal, it's not terrible to dream, is it?

Vote for who you think will be in our outfield next year.  I'm not a big fan of the thought of trading DeJesus or Teahen, but there is always a price.  Should we give Butler another chance?  Have Costa or Gathright been given enough opportunity to prove themselves?  Will Brown, Sanders, or Gload even be here?  Are Lubanski or Maier ready?  What about the speedy Derrick Robinson?  

YOU DECIDE!!!