Top Ramen
Jun 16, 2008 Jun 01, 2012 35 2095
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1985 DVD Contest: 2011 Season Post-Mortem
by Top Ramen on Jun 21, 2011 12:38 AM EDT
on Royals Review
Guess I'll throw my hat into this one. Rather than detail a bulletpoint plan, breaking down every possible move between now and the start of the 2012 season, I'm going to follow in the path of my previous fanposts: The Betancourt trade recapped through Instant Messenger, a recap of the post-season awards banquet, and Through the magic of Twitter.
With that said, I've managed to obtain a transcript from the front office post-mortem on the season. Warning, somewhat long.
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Meche gets hammered in rehab start
"RHP Gil Meche(notes) gave up seven runs on eight hits in four innings Monday in a rehab assignment at Triple-A Omaha against New Orleans."
Not good.
Royals Managers 2005-Present: A Summer Blockbuster Trilogy
by Top Ramen on Jul 9, 2010 12:36 AM EDT
on Royals Review
Inspired by the heated discussion on managerial skills from Will's thread, a decided to revisit the days of the Royals last 3 managers, including Ned Yost. It turns out the Royals had a series of summer blockbuster movies on their hands that the promotions department obviously didn't do enough with.
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The one where we fisk Jose Guillen
by Top Ramen on Jul 1, 2010 10:03 PM EDT
on Royals Review
So Jose went off on his team through the press again. Here's the original article. Not that it needed it, but we analyze Jose's statements after the jump.
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OT - Good news everyone! Futurama lives!
Futurama returns tomorrow. Even though they pretty much answered all unanswered questions in the movies, here's hoping it doesn't suck.
Comprehensive scouting report on Yuniesky Betancourt
by Top Ramen on Apr 8, 2010 10:03 PM EDT
on Royals Review
I've been able to get my hands on a comprehensive scouting report on Yuni. Don't ask me how I got it, you don't want to know.
Be forewarned, you might want to be sitting down for this.
Don't say I didn't warn you...
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This Week in Royals-related Internet Memes (TWIRM)
by Top Ramen on Apr 7, 2010 1:17 AM EDT
on Royals Review
Well, it's been a while since I've done a FanPost. Previously, we explored the behind the scenes look at the trade for Yuniesky Betancourt, the decision making behind Opening Day 2009 (aka Farnsworth-Gate), as well as a behind the scenes look at how 2008's scouting took place.
This week we return with a look at various Royals related internet memes.
Enjoy
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Matt Herges won't be in your video game
Found this on deadspin -- It's a fairly interesting article on the players who crossed the picket lines during the strike and how it affected video games.
There are only five active players left who crossed the picket lines left during the strike. Due to being banned from the MLBPA, none of the five:Brendan Donnelly, Matt Herges, Ron Mahay, Jamie Walker and Kevin Millar have been or will be in any video games. Interestingly enough, the Royals signed 3 of them in recent years.
Royals now considering Thames, Gomes
"The Royals are looking to add a power hitter, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The bat would slot into right field or the DH spot, depending on the health of Jose Guillen.
...
Gomes, 29, was non-tendered by the Reds after hitting .267/.338/.541 in 314 plate appearances. Thames, 33 in March, hit .252/.323/.453 in 294 plate appearances for the Tigers and was cut loose in November."
Depending on the size of the deal, I wouldn't mind either as a DH. Picking either up turns the roster into a trainwreck through -- Fields, Gomes/Thames, and Callaspo all fighting for the DH spot.
over 2 years ago
Top Ramen
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The 2008 offseason explained in relation to Jason Kendall
by Top Ramen on Dec 10, 2009 11:25 AM EST
on Royals Review
It's been a while since we've been able to unearth anything groundbreaking from the Royals. After the Yuni-Gate transcript was released, many of our contacts dried up (or we been busy, and haven't had a chance to make something up).
In any event, we've finally discovered an internal document that was presented to David Glass as a part of the 2008 end of the year review. This lead to the massive amount of money spent on players like Mike Jacobs, Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz and Willie Bloomquist in the offseason leading up to 2009.
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A Recap of the Post-Season Awards Banquet
by Top Ramen on Oct 1, 2009 12:47 PM EDT
on Royals Review
Well, it's been a while since we've unearthed a Royals transcript, and not much interesting has happened in the meantime. Let's see, Ron Mahay got traded, Aaron Crow just signed, and the Royals have gone on a late season winning streak in an attempt to ease the sting of the ineptitude seen throughout the season. That's about it.
Oh, we had a few more defenses of "The Process", a few more Trey-isms, and a lot more losses. But despite the lack of events, I apologize for the transcripts going missing throughout July and August. I guess you could say I went all Mark Teahen on you. (Ba-dump-ching!)
Anyway, in an attempt to restart the series, here's the latest transcript we've been unable to unearth -- this one coming from the organization's internal post-season awards banquet. Hope you enjoy.
Dayton: Good evening everyone. You may have noticed that we are having the awards ceremony a little early this year as there are still a handful of games remaining. Honestly, we've got a lot of work to do this offseason and wanted to get a jump start on it as soon as possible. Besides, the awards were pretty much decided anyway, there's no reason to delay gratification for a job well done.
As many have noted, we had a rough season this year in terms of wins and losses. But that's only one way to judge things -- a better way would be to look at our own personal growth. We've learned how to deal with failure, which means we've won at something more important: our lives. Everyone really a winner in that sense -- not in terms of wins and losses of course, which really isn't a fair way to judge us at this point in the process, but it terms of personally. The front office as well.
We've also learned to deal with mistakes and failure and internalize the lessons learned. We had a postmortem analysis on the season several weeks ago, but we may need to change our finding based on the hot September. Our initial findings were telling us that we have a lot of work to do to prepare for next season, but the last couple of weeks have brought it full circle and seem to be saying "Trust the Process."
So, with that, don't think of this 90+ loss season as a failure, think of it as winning at learning one of life lessons."
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Royals brass use tact in addressing Bradley rumors
"Royals officials dismiss — in strong terms — reports of possible interest in acquiring outfielder Milton Bradley from the Cubs. "Idiots" was one of the nicer comments directed at those offering such speculation."
Crow Signing To Be Announced Soon
The Kansas City Royals are on the verge of an agreement with their No. 1 draft pick, pitcher Aaron Crow, for a major league deal that will pay him between $3 million and $4.5 million, sources said.
...
Crow will start playing in the instructional league.
"The real test of a coach's mettle is not the decision itself, but how you deal with the criticism when that decision inevitably backfires. Most coaches either A) Ignore the criticism graciously, or B) Say they're ignoring it, then allow it to influence future decisions in negative ways."
"After saying that Saturday, there was no way Hillman could use Soria in the same situation Sunday, when it actually might have been a good idea. Eventually, you get to the point where you can't do ANYTHING without contradicting something you said earlier, and that's the point where you might as well hang it up."
Interesting Ron Prince @ KSU comparisons.
The "Dugout-esque" transcript from the Betancourt trade
thought you guys might enjoy it too.
The Betancourt trade recapped through Instant Messenger
by Top Ramen on Jul 12, 2009 1:18 PM EDT
on Royals Review
Through the magic of instant messaging, we can bring you the events that led to the trade of Yuniesky Betancourt + cash to the Royals for Daniel Cortes and Derrick Saito. This is the third transcript we've been able to unearth so far -- first was opening day recap, followed by the tweets being made on Twitter during the April 20th game.
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Crisp to have surgery on other shoulder too
""It was pretty severe, I guess," Crisp said. "Initially, they thought it was just a slight tear, but it ended up being pretty bad in there. They had to put a pin in there, one on the front of my rotator cuff, then five in the back and a wire in there to keep it all together." "
"Crisp pinpointed the injury to his right shoulder as occurring on April 15 against Cleveland at Kansas City."
"The left shoulder, he recalled, was hurt on May 25 as he swung for a base hit against Detroit at KC.
"I thought, 'Oh, it's not that bad,' and it just gradually got worse," he said. "And I said, 'Gosh, I can't hit from either side.'" From that point on, he had just three singles in 19 at-bats and then went on the disabled list. "
Tremendous work all around.
Crisp done for the year
I miss Ramirez already
Royals 2009 Offense vs. CHONE Projections
by Top Ramen on Jun 5, 2009 4:37 PM EDT
on Royals Review
During the offseason, I put together a spreadsheet which looked at the Royals offense over the past 10 years. It started out as a project to look at how the Royals lineup had performed with regards to RBI, but ended up showing how the overall lineup had performed.
At the end of the fanpost, I compared the past 10 years to the CHONE projections for the everyday starting lineup based on Trey's anticipated lineups. Now that we're about 1/3 of the way through the season, it's probably a good time to revisit the CHONE projections versus the actual results.
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Slogangate: A spurious in-depth look at the unknown Royals 2009 promotions
by Top Ramen on Jun 1, 2009 5:35 PM EDT
on Royals Review
In the first of a series of pseudo-investigative reporting, we take a look at the marketing promotion that nearly hit the KC airwaves this summer.
We regret that this article is about as well referenced as a Selena Roberts biographical work, but when you're talking about a subject as touchy as this, it's hard to get sources to go on record.
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Through the magic of Twitter
by Top Ramen on Apr 20, 2009 9:58 PM EDT
on Royals Review
we can recreate the events that unfolded yesterday afternoon. Most of the roster got involved, as well as a few special guests.
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Somewhere in a KC office building
by Top Ramen on Apr 8, 2009 12:30 PM EDT
on Royals Review
This conversation was taking place between an administrative assistant and his boss:
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Royal Odds
" The optimism surrounding the Royals hasn't reached the folks at Bodog Gaming, the popular online gambling service that sets odds on almost everything.
Bodog posts 60-1 odds against the Royals winning the American League pennant, which are the longest on the board. The Orioles and Mariners are next at 50-1, while the Yankees are installed at 2-1 favorites followed by the Red Sox at 5-2.
The service also posts over-under odds for the Royals' victory total at 75, which is what they won last season. Other over-under odds: 20 homers for José Guillen, 12.5 victories for Meche and Greinke, and 36.5 saves for Joakim Soria."
Working to understand FIP and the projections
by Top Ramen on Mar 24, 2009 3:42 PM EDT
on Royals Review
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Willie Ballgame is underpaid
by at least one metric (MORP from BP)*:
"Here's a quick rundown of the players Dayton has brought in with full control of their contracts. That means we include guys like Crisp, because the Royals made the trade knowing how much they'd pay, but not guys like Jacobs, because he's still in his arbitration years.
The underpaid:
Willie Bloomquist, by $150,000
Coco Crisp, by $500,000
Gil Meche, by $100,000
Juan Cruz, by $350,000
The overpaid:
Guillen, by $8.875 million
Olivo, by $375,000
Ramirez, by $675,000
Farnsworth, by $1.6 million
Mahay, by $2.125 million
Bale, by $350,000"
* Please note that the opinions expressed regarding Willie Bloomquist by MORP do not represent those of Top Ramen.
Royals Offensive/RBI Analysis by batting order: 1999-2008
by Top Ramen on Mar 4, 2009 1:37 PM EST
on Royals Review
At the beginning of the offseason, I began work on a spreadsheet detailing the Royals offensive statistics by batting order position. I used baseball-reference to create a spreadsheet which covers the last 10 years for the Royals as well as what the numbers would look like based on CHONE projections for the anticipated starters.
What initially drove this analysis was the seemingly widespread belief that Jose Guillen was good due to his RBIzzzz (which has since been pretty well debunked). It evolved into a general look at how 2009's lineup compares to the past 10 years.
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Bale will be back next year
No monetary details yet:
"John Bale has agreed to a one-year contract with the Royals.
Bale, a 34-year-old left-handed pitcher, was 0-3 with a 4.39 ERA in 13 appearances, including three starts, in 2008. The Royals did not tender him a contract last week, making him a free agent, though speculation was always that Bale would return to the Royals."
Rany on Grienke
Rany with one of his longest works yet. He really wants to sign Grienke, but doesn't think it will happen.
What I found more interesting then everything though was the following quote:
"Baird didn’t get Beltran signed to a long-term deal, but as it happens, it wasn’t for lack of trying, or even for lack of succeeding – negotiations with Beltran were proceeding well until factors outside of Baird’s control intervened. (The more I learn about the Allard Baird Era, the more I’m convinced that the Allard Baird Era was not the fault of Allard Baird.)"
I'd love to hear that story.
over 3 years ago
Top Ramen
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Cubs showing interest in Teahen
When should we expect a "That's a lie. Anything you've heard about trading Teahen to the Cubs is a lie." rebuttal?
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