A few tidbits, just for fun:

Billy Butler is on pace for 92 BB’s.  If he makes it he’ll be the first Royal since Kevin Seitzer in 1987 to have over 90 (and first since Jose Offerman in 1998 to have over 80)

Alex Gordon is on pace for 6.2 fWAR, If he makes it, he’ll be the first Royal position player to clear 6 since Carlos Beltran’s 6.8 in 2003.

Last year Jason Kendall had 490 PA’s without a dinger, this year Chris Getz is on pace to blow that away and become the first Royal since Freddie Patek in 1972 to go over 500 PA’s without going yard. 

Will they make it?

What else you got?

New Rule – 610 must give Robert Ford pronunciation lessons before he does his next radio show.  In the span of two minutes talking about the Rangers in the pre-game show, he broke out a Justin “Smo-ack” AND a “Be-yoo” (Beau) Jones reference.  Be-yoo? Really??

New Rule – 610 must tell Bob Fesco that it is 2010, not 2004, why is he back in town?  In the same radio show last night Ford was interviewing Fesco and while discussing whether now is a good time to trade Greinke, Fesco said essentially that he doesn’t trust the Royals to bring in good prospects in return.  Why does he feel this way?  Well, because they couldn’t get any good prospects in return for Damon, Dye or Beltran, of course.  Huh?  Ford correctly asked Fesco if it made a difference to him that that happened during a previous regime.  Response: no, this regime has shown to be just as bad – pointing to the Affeldt trade as the prime example.  Is that widely considered to be a disaster trade?

I was listening to the “Baseball Show” (I think its called) during Petro’s show at lunch today.  For those not familiar, it’s a weekly, sort of “State of the Royals” show, normally with Jeff Montgomery, but today Mike Macfarlane sat in.  As sort of a gage to see how far the major league club has come since DMGM took over, they went through position by position and compared 2006  vs. 2009.  it was sort of comical that Mac was confused by the fact that some players from ’06 are still on the team, but in different positions:

Petro:  3rd base, 2006 Teahen v. 2009 Gordon

Mac: but Teahen is still on the team???

Petro: yes, but he is not the starting 3rd baseman…

Repeat for DeJesus in LF.  Buck as back-up catcher, etc.

Anyway...

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I recall much discussion on this site last year and in the off season regarding players the Royals were rumored to be chasing, were chasing, were on the trading block and whom other teams coveted.  As well as the players many on this site advocated pursuing.  I’ve been thinking that it would be interesting to see how some of the players involved in the discussion were performing this year.

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Well it should, because it is eerily similar to KC's first game in Oakland Last year.  It was a little earlier in the year, but here was the situation on April 18th, 2008:

The Royals came into Oakland still feeling pretty good about themselves after starting the year 9-7.  They sent Brian Bannister to the hill with his spotless 3-0 record and microscopic 0.86 ERA to face an Oakland offense that was struggling to say the least.  They had lost 4 of their previous 5 games while scoring a total of 7 runs. 

Needless to say the Royals lost that game in similar fashion to last night, or at least a similar score (13-2).  Bannister actually held it together for a while and the Royals led 2-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, when he was touched for 4, effectively ending the game for the Royals and their dormant offense.  It was the two headed godzilla of Yashuiko Yabuta and Hideo Nomo that really opened the flood gates by giving up 8 runs as they combined to pitch the eighth inning. 

The A's bats were officially alive again and they swept the Royals by a combined score of 26-8 in three games.  This firmly entrenched the Royals in one of their patented losing streaks as they were swept again the next series, this time at home at the hands of the Indians...combined score 26-7.  ouch!!

Here's hoping the similarities between last year and this end now.

Spring training is now 21 days away and I know most of us are jonesing for some hardball.  Football is essentially over and basketball is merely a sideline show between seasons. 

I know that Royals Reviewers are spread far and wide and there are now many options that allow following the team from virtually anywhere.  There has been much healthy debate and criticism over the winter, but lets get on with this thing already. 

My question is this:

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.

- Albert Einstein

Its offseason, so there is a lot of off topic mumbo jumbo to discuss and nothing is more prevalent than the proliferation of our democracy.  I get the feeling there are a lot of contributors who consider themselves political - in addition to baseball - junkies.  So, just for fun, how about a poll?  (She did NOT say that!!)