Because there's nothing better do after a pretty solid weekend series win over the vaunted Angels of Anaheim or Los Angeles, formerly California Angels that used to wear blue sometimes... (is it just me or do too many people try and fail at making fun of the Angels name? And is that failure just because everyone has tried?) I digress... It's time to reflect on the weekend and see what we can take from it going forward. Here's ten things I noticed and to keep an eye on going forward.

via media.vcstar.com

Dude, was that Mila Kunis over there?

Continue reading this post »

Mission 2012 is finally upon us. Spring Training began with abundant optimism. Would this finally be the year the Royals would get out of their own way and compete? Sure, the Tigers signed Prince Fielder, but a more consistent rotation (sans Kyle Davies) and continued development of prospects (Hosmer, Moose, Perez, and Giavotella) had positioned the Royals nicely. Opening day seemed like something special. But as Royals fans, and more specifically as regular readers of this site, we knew there HAD to be something afoot... Boy were we right...

via i.usatoday.net

Not long into camp, many scouts and those who track pitchers' velocity became alarmed at the lack of pop on the newly acquired Jonathan Sanchez's fastball. While typically sitting in the 92-94 range, he came in humming it in at 87-89, with his typical lack of command (the mythical three strikes in a row may have occured this spring...). Bruce Chen was getting shelled, somewhat predictably. THEN, Danny Duffy pitched the best two innings (2ip, 0h, 0bb, 0r, 5k)anyone has seen since... well, since Jeremy Affeldt, which ought to give some pause to this whole idea. Paulino also continued to struggle. Thank God for Luis Mendoza (has anyone ever written that?), the only pitcher who has given cause for optimism, or curiosity or intrigue depending on your thoughts on him.

via media.kansascity.com

Giavotella, Perez, and Moustakas all struggled to start camp. Cain dominated (and has continued to do so). Perez went hitless; Giavotella and Moose had no extra-base pop and were struggling. Surely, Perez would start hitting like most contact hitters do, and surely Gio's numbers wouldn't tempt management into starting Getz or Betancourt over him, denying the prospect the chance to develop in favor of tried and true big league failures. Moustakas, while he struggled offensively, intrigued fans and scouts with his trimmed frame and slick defense (again, has that been written before?). Speculation regarding his hitting was relegated to the "he's a slow starter" file.

via media.kansascity.com

Then, Salvador Perez signs a contract extension! Hooray! We are set at a cornerstone position for 7 years! The pessimists should have noticed this as the turning point and predicted the coming calamity. Perez, hitless in the spring, injured his knee stretching for a wide pitch thrown by (guess, go ahead) Jonathan Sanchez in warmups. He had a torn meniscus, and the prognosis following surgery was the very cautious kind; Perez will be out until June at the earliest. A previous injury to one of the contenders for his backup spot, Manny Pina, had gone mostly unnoticed due to the overwhelming optimism surrounding the club. The Royals were left with the mediocre-hitting and awful defense of Brayan Pena and non-prospect Max Ramirez. Then, another predictable calamity befell this cursed franchise, the team's most reliable reliever (except for April and May last year), closer Joakim Soria, had an elbow injury. He had damage to his UCL, requiring Tommy John Surgery. So long Mexicutioner! Thankfully, we have Greg Holland and Jonathan Broxton, in addition to Louis Coleman, Kevin Herrera, and other relievers who appear competent to handle the closer role. But things certainly had lost their luster surrounding this team.

via cdn1.sbnation.com

So with the injury component out of the way, it was management's turn to rear its ugly head to ruin our wildest dreams pertaining to the 2012 season. Every year, the Royals make a seemingly useless move to acquire a need that really is non-existent and created by reading too much into Spring Training. This year, we needed a catcher due to Perez's injury. Management longs for an all-defense, no-hitting guy at every position, so why would this be different? Humberto Quintero it is, arguably the worst hitter in the majors (we already had Getz and Betancourt). With him came Jason Bourgeois, a speedy outfielder with some infield ability who only showed promise in a half-season audition with the Astros last year. Mitch Maier and Jarrod Dyson became expendable to a degree (though each had a shot at a roster spot, Maier due to options and Dyson because that'swhatspeeddo). However, we gave up a legitimate prospect for these two bench-players-at-best, left-handed reliever Kevin Chapman, a hard throwing pitcher who has had tremendous strikeout numbers in the minors, though those have not translated to awe-inspiring other statistics. Given the lack of anything intriguing about Houston, Chapman's timetable for reaching the majors just rapidly approached, while the Royals did not get better.

via www.cbc.ca

Then the Royals did something that should have been foreseeable but really smacks in the face of everything they talk about: they didn't trust the PROCESS. The Royals optioned Giavotella to AAA to allow Getz and Betancourt to play at second base. Giavotella destroyed AAA pitching last year, much moreso than even Moustakas ever did (admittedly, with less power), landed with a splash in the majors, only to fade off considerably the last month of the year. His sub-par numbers gave pause to many prospect-buffs, and his continued below average defense somehow led the Royals to re-sign Yunieski Betancourt this offseason. Then it was revealed Giavotella was playing injured, and he had surgery in the winter. Though he had proven all he could at the minor league level, he showed up to spring playing slightly better defense but without the hitting ability he had displayed in past years. Management went back to the only thing they knew how to do, replace him with failed veterans. Getz and Betancourt would be mainstays on the team in 2012, at least until Giavotella proved something (that he needs more grit, presumably) to management.

via i.usatoday.net

So here we are. Our opening day lineup may look like this: Gordon LF, Cain CF, Hosmer 1B, Butler DH, Frenchy RF, Moose 3B (has also hit like crap this spring), Getz/Betancourt 2B, Quintero C, Escobar SS. Add to that the inspring meaning of the move, embodied by Chris Getz being enthusiastic about his ability to relax and work on his bunting (he actually said this), and the follow-up sacrifice bunt in the first inning of a game, we are positioned for some serious anger and disappointment for the first half of the 2012 season. Mission 2012 looks a lot like 2011 right now. "Our Time" became Quintero, Getz, and Betancourt. While optimistic just a few weeks ago, reality stepped in, and today we are where we are comfortable as Royals fans: pessimistic and ready for an uninspiring summer.

Poll

From the start of Spring Training until today, how much has your optimism regarding 2012 decreased?

5%

None

4 votes

36%

Just a Little

29 votes

33%

A Lot

27 votes

25%

I feel like I do every year as a Royals fan, 2012 is now no different

20 votes

80 votes | Poll has closed

It has been an exciting year for Royals fans, as the super-hyped and talented mega-prospects have gradually made their way to Kansas City.  With that comes the amazing highlights of these young ballplayers, with a glimpse of what we have to look forward to, maybe even a parade on the Plaza (giggles in the background).  Buster Olney recently noted that other franchises are "in awe" of the collection of position player prospects the Royals have assembled and have brought to the majors this season.  Here are their highlights.  Jeff Francouer is on this list too, three times.

Note to Dayton Moore: If you're reading this, ask your wife and children to leave the room now, as you may be embarrassed by a hard-on while watching this.  

Continue reading this post »

On May 2, 2010, the Royals traded prospect reliever Carlos Rosa to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for shortstop Rey Navarro.  Navarro was a third round pick of the D-Backs in 2007 who hadn't hit at all in his first few professional seasons.  At the time of the trade last May, many of us were puzzled why the Royals would deal a promising prospect arm off of a team that had an awful bullpen (I seem to recall this was around the same time as the Josh Rupe experiment).  Baseball America had Navarro as the number 12 prospect in the Arizona system, but most people did not agree with the trade for a no-hitting middle infielder.  Throughout the prospect dominance of the Royals' 2010, however, Rey Navarro continued to hit like a non-prospect.  Then something changed a bit.

via pinetarpress.com

On 6/18/11, Navarro hit his 6th and 7th homers of the season.

Continue reading this post »

With the call-up of Mike Moustakas, the Royals are now much deeper into their rebuilding phase.  Eric Hosmer was the first taste of this, and boy have we loved that so far.  Hosmer has shown us that maybe, just maybe, Dayton Moore might know something about the draft and player development that could translate to the majors.  Moustakas may show us more.  But if the BA Top 100 list of this past year is any indication, the one that... uh... ranked us the best of all time supposedly, the Royals should have been supplementing their high-end position player call-ups with top tier pitching prospects.  So far, Danny Duffy is the only one to make an appearance, but that move appeared to be more of necessity than one with an eye on player development.  Our starting pitching this year was supposed to suck, but it torpedoed very quickly with bad pitching and injuries.  So, where is this pitching that was supposed to carry us through the finishing touches of the Process?

 

via official-rules.org

A helpful guide for Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery, and Chris Dwyer; but don't show this to Francouer, as it surely would just puzzle him for the rest of the season

The answer is not especially encouraging.

Continue reading this post »

A lot has been made of the Royals recent struggles.  One of the familiar themes is that the Royals do this every year, and that prolonged slumps usually show themselves at the end of May, numbing Royals fans to the reality of the long, small-market, losing summers we know so well.  But what have been the common threads of the last ten years?  Because it certainly is not a hot April followed by a bad May and rest of the year.  Only in 2003, 2009, and 2011 could this even be plausible.  But there are hallmarks of this franchise over the past decade that we all know well, and they lead to the ever growing disappointment.

Continue reading this post »

via mlblogsroyals.files.wordpress.com

The Royals are facing a dilemma that some are already discussing.  Dayton Moore quenched his thirst for veteran presence behind the plate and grit by trading for old man and grit expert Matt Treanor.  The void created by the loss of Jason Kendall's grit for a month could not be possibly filled from within the ranks, so Dayton thought outside the box, but not outside of the Surprise, AZ Spring Training complex.  He picked up the only other type of grit seen in veteran catchers: the minor league talent who willed his way to the majors and managed to stay.  When Jason Kendall returns in late April or early May, there is a quandary.  Surely such combined grit (Treanor + Kendall) could not be on the roster at the same time, especially with the jolly and loveable former Brave Brayan Pena around.  Some would say the everyday grit of Kendall far outweighs the grit of Treanor, but his path to the majors certainly has earned him respect, if not PA.  Whose grit will woo the favor of Dayton Moore sufficient to enjoy Kansas City's summer?  We have to go to the tale of the tape for this one.

Poll

Who is grittier?

31%

Jason Kendall

17 votes

68%

Matt Treanor

37 votes

54 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

I want to know if there is any measurement or source that can simply account for outs made on the bases.  I know Bill James has a widely respected plus/minus system that is often invoked.  Of note, the Royals have been the worst team in this category for years, despite the annual managerial claims of improved baserunning, making examples of players (or the whole team), etc.  But what is good baserunning, really?  To be sure, there are times when risks are necessary, or worth it.  But in general, I think a baserunner's job, best summed up, is to not make an out to sacrifice a chance at scoring.  After all, it's hard enough to get ON BASE.  So, I would like to know how many OUTS are made on the bases by the Royals, then compared to other teams.  The extra base taken into account with Bill James' work is irrelevant to the constant duty of the baserunner to not make an out.  So, statheads, see what you can dig up!

via media.kansascity.com

Now, aggressiveness is a necessity, regardless of what statheads will tell you about outs... Our front office greatly values the hustling runner, even if he is out.

via media.scout.com

Jason Kendall is such a prick.

I REWOUND MYSELF, and a week ago, I put a post out suggesting that it is wrong to hope for injury to a player for personal reasons, but it can be rationalized if that hope is for the good of the team.  Now, Jason Kendall has proven himself to be the evil asshole himself.  Was it him who made fun of Billy?  Sure seems possible now.  Was it him who shot JFK?  He may be old enough.  Was it him who started the PED rage in baseball?  There surely is no other way to explain HIS early career "power."  Seriously, that rude exchange with Nick Wright has made me re-evaluate my moral position on hoping for injury, specifically to Kendall.  I hope he gets injured, ending his career, that no one hires him to coach after his playing days, that funnier details emerge about his sketchy personal life.  What a jerk.  Hopefully Moose has his head on his shoulders enough to dismiss comments or whatever "advice" from this aging and angry useless piece of crap.  I felt a new post should be put up for this, not just a comment.  Hat tips to kcscoliny and Will for getting this news out there; together we can get Kendall out of KC more quickly!

There is a major ethical dilemma lurking around the 2011 Kansas City Royals.  Their veteran catcher and future hall of famer Jason Kendall is progressing way ahead of schedule in his return from rotator cuff surgery.  While this would seem to be good news, and it no doubt is great news for Jason personally, it is purely awful for the Royals.  Is it ethical to root for injuries?  How about a delayed rehab regimen or stint?  What about a freak car accident?  Am I a bad person?

 

via nbchardballtalk.files.wordpress.com

Jason wants me to just rub some dirt on this idea, it'll be fine.

Continue reading this post »

Well, I was looking at what our team looks like, and well, it sucks.  There's potential sure.  But there's also a lot of major league at bats that have yielded poor results.  See (punchline) Jeff Francouer, Melky Cabrera, Chris Getz, Alex Gordon, and others... But really if you look around the diamond, there are a ton of prospects who were once thought awesome but have fallen on hard times (many of them ended up in KC for this reason). 

 

via mlb.mlb.com

Continue reading this post »

In one of the most exciting postseason games thus far, the Atlanta Braves defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-4 in extra innings Friday night.  What got that victory to occur is a series of events inextricably linked to the Kansas City Royals.  Here they are.

Continue reading this post »

As a Royals fan, I don't know if I've seen many seasons like this one.  At first glance, 95 losses seems normal for me.  After all, I'm in that lost generation (Born December 1985).  But this season started for me with my prediction that this would be the worst Royals team ever.  That did not materialize due to a series of bizarre developments where Dayton Moore seemed to disavow all the dumb moves he had made in the last two and a half seasons in an effort to finally trust his own system.  In the meantime, players got chances, other problems (Kendall) simply disappeared due to injury, and now we can say that we actually are rebuilding, and everyone knows it.  We are on the same page (except for Yuni).  The growing pains (losses) came in bunches, but it was actually interesting to watch for a couple months.

All that said, here is my season in review for the players, with their grades, Whitlock-style.

via media.kansascity.com

The three players that define the 2010 Royals celebrating a win, and Jai Miller in the background

Continue reading this post »

via media.kansascity.com

Wilson Betemit's 2010 is hardly new to discussion here at RR.  Rany recently had a mini-section discussing him as the team-leader for homers this year (clubhouse leader=Guillen, Yuni hitting from the sand on 16, shortly ahead of Wilson).  Betemit's future prospects with the team are kind of odd, though.  Much has been made of Dayton plucking him off the scrap heap because no one else wanted him.  This is part of the story, but with one-time top prospects like Betemit, how much of a chance does he deserve?  I'll answer that and hopefully show how he's an asset beyond this year.

Continue reading this post »

I honestly can't remember a two week period where so many people have voiced so many different opinions about Yuniesky Betancourt.  Traditional haters smart writers that so many of us love, including Rany and Posnanski have chimed in lately, offering reassessments or new thoughts relevant to Yuni.  A good friend of mine has recently called my renewed hatred for Yuni (during this hot stretch) unreasonable, and that I should give him a chance.  I, however, still do not find any of this new analysis persuasive, and I STILL do not like Yuni.  I'll show the most relevant stats below, as well as what some of the talking heads have said, followed by where I think we are and why I think all this new talk is dumb.

 

via isportsweb.com

Shocked that TAKING a pitch is possible, Yuni heads back to the dugout to research the phenonmenon.

Continue reading this post »

Coming into this season, back in March 2010, Royals fans had at least some reasons (however silly they seem now) to be optimistic about the rotation.  Greinke just won the Cy Young!!! Meche has had time to rehab and fix his shoulder; maybe he can pitch well again.  Hochevar flashed some promise in 2009, maybe he's turned the corner!  Bannister was bad in 2009, but he CAN'T be THAT bad again, can he?  And really, Kyle Davies deserves one more good shot.  These were all common themes coming into the season.

Our rotation is now Greinke, Bruce Chen, Kyle Davies, Sean O'Sullivan, and Bryan Bullington.

In March, how f***ed would we have thought a rotation consisting of Chen, Davies, and Bullington would be?  The team keeps losing, but is isn't largely the rotation's fault.  Well, our rotation isn't good, but it's mostly not due to the guys we would have guessed.

via royalsblog.kansascity.com

C'Mon CHEN!!!!

Continue reading this post »

There have been numerous posts throughout this season about the laughable attempt by the Kansas City Star to document Royals games on a daily basis using "stats."  They assigned Lee Judge, cartoonist and general funny man, to watch every game and attempt to find a way to evaluate the players and comment daily.  While this is usually a good read, the scoring system sucks and is hard to take seriously.  In fact, it contributes to fan ignorance and to the arrogance of old baseball men and the baseball 'establishment.'  On his daily posts online, I've commented a few times recanting how dumb it is when Kendall gets points for nonsense or the same for Betancourt, Bloomy, or others that get points for difficult plays (this is just like assigning errors, in terms of difficulty and accuracy, revealing scorer prejudice and inconsistency).  For reference, Betancourt (!!!!) is the team's MVP this year, with Butler and Kendall close behind.  Judge used the write-up from yesterday's game as an opportunity to address some criticism of his system (perhaps mine?), and his response was "Get a Life." 

 

via www.grantham.edu

I really wished the Star could hire someone to engage in meaningful baseball discussion, not "I'm better than you" style journalism for a daily feature.

Continue reading this post »

So last night, I had my sober ride back from the bar stop by Wal-Mart so I could pick up my copy of Madden '11.  Drunk as is, I just went to bed without playing.  But today I got my fill, playing for a majority of the day.  As with every Madden holiday, it was a blast.  But I do have some thoughts on the game, some Chiefs related, and some not.  I know there have been posts about ratings here (some more than a month or two old), but I'll comment on that anyway.  One gamer's opinion is just that, and disagreements are expected.  I encourage people to play for themselves and hope I can at least help out or encourage Madden discussion.

via toppayingideas.com

Continue reading this post »

As most media types have noted, Zack is disappointed with some of the recent moves and is skeptical of the team's competitiveness before the end of his contract in 2012.  He makes very astute observations ("wait, who are these young guys and why have I not met them before?"), and yes, it is never pleasant to hear the face of the franchise lament the state of things.  But while some have taken his comments as a sign that he wants out, I did not get that impression.  Instead, I read that he really does want to win here, and he has grown sad because the reality is that he might not, despite spending nearly a decade in KC.  Is it showing a lack of faith in the young players and the organization?  Yes, but who can blame him after his experience?  We can't as fans that have seen the team suck.  Does it mean he wants to leave?  Not necessarily.

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Continue reading this post »

You know what really grinds my gears?  By now it has become apparent that many local Royals fans have given up on Gordon at the Major League level.  "He's a prima donna"... "he doesn't hustle"... "he's always injured like Mike Sweeney"... "I wish he played like Willie Bloomquist."  These are all common criticisms of Gordon in the local fanbase, and these drive me insane and make me wonder at all how such people even follow baseball, or order at fast food restaurants for that matter.  They are the same rubes who love that we're leading the league in batting average (runs would be awesome), and they always want more Willie.  Many of these people read the KC Star daily, which is good and this, you would think, would make them more intelligent fans.  But I noticed in today's paper that the detailed minor league stat page left off (wait for it) Alex Gordon at Omaha.  His stats were not printed.  His name was not found.  Error on the editor's part?  Absolutely.  But I can forgive irresponsible journalism (See MSNBC, FoxNews, the Huffington Post, and others) because it's common.  But for fans that are casual and not necessarily blog readers or 'enlightened' in the sense that RR readers are, his exclusion is actually kind of a big deal. 

Especially on the same day that Ned Yost announces that RICK ANKIEL IS BACK!!!  Subtle hints were dropped by Bob Dutton that we should host a parade for Ankiel, which is maybe what Dayton was talking about after all. 

 

via www.rockhurst.edu

I can't be sure, but I think this is an artist's rendering of the statue Dayton Moore wants of himself, to be unveiled during the parade celebrating Rick Ankiel's triumphant return.  No one can convince me otherwise.  I don't understand art, just baseball.

Continue reading this post »

So my internet at work was down for a bit this morning, and I discussed fantasy football for the first time last night.  My mind wandered, and I quickly realized I'm in need of a new funny fantasy football team name.  Chiefs-relation is not required really, but I only needed about 5 minutes to come up with my own: Dexter's McClusterf#%@ (obviously most online leagues would allow me to publish in full, but you get the idea)

More funny or related Chiefs names after the jump.

(Warning: some language is offensive and hilarious, at the same time)

Continue reading this post »

As a farewell to George Steinbrenner, King George, the mob Boss of MLB, here is an adaptation of a great historical document to the pains he and the Yankees have caused us and other small market fans:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one group of baseball teams to dissolve the economic bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the baseball world, the separate and equal station to which the laws of baseball and of baseball's gods entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of other baseball owners requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation from the past and to the freedom of baseball in the time after King George. 

via skew.dailyskew.com

Continue reading this post »

I have several random thoughts, and I only have so much to say about them.  The reason for the post is that I think a lot of these thins are being missed by the mainstream media and are back stories at best here at RR.  Blake Wood's promotion seems to have been the turning point for the salvation of the bullpen, but his K numbers are frightening and one has to wonder if he is worth it.  Joakim Soria's strikeout numbers are where they always have been, but opponents are hitting him harder than ever before.  Chris Getz was the "prize", probably of the cereal box variety, of the Mark Teahen trade, and he was supposed to be a top prospect that could hold down second base for a few years.  Callaspo's OBP is sinking, and his shift to 3B is not going as smoothly as some have thought.  I will give some thoughts and put up a poll at the end of this post.

 

via smilemania.com

Poll

Are these concerns legitimate?

18%

All legitimate concerns

15 votes

21%

Soria is fine, but the others are legitimate concerns

17 votes

3%

Callaspo is fine, but the others are legitimate concerns

3 votes

20%

Soria and Callaspo are fine, but the others are legitimate concerns

16 votes

26%

Soria, Callaspo, and Wood are fine, but Getz is a concern

21 votes

7%

Wood is fine, but the others are legitimate concerns

6 votes

2%

Getz is fine, but I am delusional and the others are all legitimate concerns

2 votes

80 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »