SB Nation User Blog: Royal Kingdom

From "attainable" girl next door to downright HOT! from cover of SHAPE magazine. I'm sure...

Royal Kingdom — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:34:08 -0000

From "attainable" girl next door to downright HOT! from cover of SHAPE magazine.

I'm sure she's been in the threads, but thought she deserved her own shot.

Hi _____, Earlier today, an email promoting Kansas City Royals postseason tickets was sent to...

Royal Kingdom — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:29:27 -0000

Hi _____,
Earlier today, an email promoting Kansas City Royals postseason tickets was sent to you. This, unfortunately, was a mistake. We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.

Sincerely,

The StubHub Team

The second of two e-mails I received from StubHub today. The first one was indeed inconvenient and confusing...they got a joker in the house...

A Fun Flashback

Royal Kingdom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:13:14 -0000

Top Movies Set in Vegas

Royal Kingdom — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:46:41 -0000

Top Movies Set in Vegas

Casino
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
The Hangover
The Cooler

Make Grit, not WAR

Royal Kingdom — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:33:33 -0000

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...

...there were a few comparisons that could go either way, but the one that struck me was when they got to the utility guys: 2006 German v. 2009 Bloomers and Mac’s resounding answer was, of course, the Spork. It is yet another example of how the judgment of “baseball men” is clouded by words like scrappy and gritty and (possibly) whiteness.

The numbers:

2009 Bloomquist: 261/310/361/671 | .303 wOBA | -0.1 WAR

2006 German: 326/422/459/880 | .389 wOBA | 1.8 WAR

In his defense, I’m sure his memory is of 2008 German, who was probably inferior to 2009 Bloomquist, and he didn’t have the stats in front of him, but if it caused me to raise an eyebrow, he should of at least thought about his answer.

Long live Willie "on base guy" Bloomquist

Jeff Bianchi goes 3-5 with 3 Doubles in his AA Debut

Royal Kingdom — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:12:12 -0000

Jeff Bianchi goes 3-5 with 3 Doubles in his AA Debut

Blue Rocks express their disapproval of Bianchi's promotion by getting no hit by some guy who was 1-8 with an ERA around 5.

At some point in the next month or so, the Royals are going to have to throw in the towel on the...

Royal Kingdom — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:06:38 -0000

At some point in the next month or so, the Royals are going to have to throw in the towel on the 2009 season, and when they get to that point, they should just dump Guillen and Jacobs. Their salaries are a sunk cost, and they’re standing in the way of the team getting better. You can’t rebuild with replacement level players making millions of dollars, and unfortunately, the Royals have too many guys that fit that category.

Fangraphs - "Royal Dilemma"

What if Bloggers Became General Managers?

Royal Kingdom — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:13:20 -0000

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.

Much of the talk revolved around Zack Greinke and we know that many of the Rangers’ fans if not their front office lusted after our boy. A quick search revealed this trade proposal that most RRers were quick to dismiss, but some were at least warm to.

Greinke for Eric Hurley, Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia

With the additions of these three, the Royals would have to clear some room, so lets make the following assumptions:

Hurley would still have been injured in a Royals uniform, he would be replaced by a *ahem* replacement level starter.

Davis would replace Mike Jacobs and Leo Nunez would still be on the roster, the professor or Cruz would be not be here. (for this study it makes no difference as they both rest on the same WAR value, so lets just say no more Farnsworth)

Salty would replace Miguel Olivo. I believe this was Miggy’s option year, so the Royals would likely have not gotten anything in return from him.

The numbers (Thanks as always to FanGraphs for the free info.):

Additions:

Replacement starter for injured Hurley: 0.0 WAR

Davis: -0.2 WAR

Salty: 0.5 WAR

Nunez: -0.2 WAR

TOTAL: 0.1 WAR

Subtractions:

Greinke: 4.4 WAR

Jacobs: 0.3 WAR

Farnsworth: 0.2 WAR

Olivo: 0.2 WAR

TOTAL: 5.1 WAR

Net Change: -5.0 Wins…Gulp!! How would 18-32 look right now, besides “familiar”

I did not go through the financials, but it is obvious that the Royals could have saved a lot of money if the above assumption held true. Also, the injury to Hurley is just dumb luck, who knows how he would have done in KC if healthy

Its difficult to evaluate a trade 2 months in, so the usual caveats apply, but I think its safe to say that this one would have been a disaster for the Royals.

Does Yesterday's Debacle Feel Like Deja Vu?

Royal Kingdom — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:04:02 -0000

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.

If You Vote for Alberto All of Your Wildest Dreams Will Come True

Royal Kingdom — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:27:37 -0000

If You Vote for Alberto All of Your Wildest Dreams Will Come True

Currently, the MLB all-star ballot lists Mark Teahen as the Royals 2B. Many on this site were very skeptical about the move for Teahen and clamored for Alberto, and we all know how he is playing...

Yes, the All-Star game is dumb and outdated
Yes, stupid fans shouldn't pick the players, but...

but we need vindication. Add Callaspo as a write-in vote for 2B.

Vote for Alberto...I don't know if a write-in candidate has ever won the starting job, but wouldn't it be cool.

The grass roots campaign begins NOW!!!11111

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN

**Update**

Poz, Rany, Sam, Dick, Bob, Steven, Danny, Kietz, Soren, Terez et al...I know you check this site, please use your voices to spread the word.