14-4?

Wow. The Royals are flat-out destroying Arizona. I wonder how much of it was real or was it mostly B-teamers trying to make the club? All of our runs were scored in 5 innings, so that is an encouraging sign that it was probably the regulars.

Billy was 2-3 with 3 RBI.
Getz was 2-3
Hosmer was 1-3.
Moose was 2-3 with 2 RBI.
Frenchy was 2-3.

Max Ramirez hit a grand slam.

Dwyer didn't seem to look too good.

I just noticed that Mark Teahen is up to bat for AZ. LOL

16-4 K.C. now.

And Teahen just struck out on 4 pitches.

Lets hope the law of averages redeems Frenchy this season. Perhaps he'll be slightly less of a panty waste

Uggghh I just heard Richard Justice on the radio saying that "Wil Myers has a real chance to make the Rays a championship team."

Will Meyers is Mark Quinn

We better hope so.

Baseball Prospectus released its top 101 prospect list yesterday.

Zimmer, Starling, Ventura and Mondesi all make the cut.

Zimmer is at 41, Starling at 49, Mondesi at 58, Ventura at 62. Bonifacio narrowly missed.

Jason Parks, the BP guy, is REALLY high on Mondesi. Loves him.

Odorizzi down to 83. Has Myers at 7 (behind Taveras, who's at 3).

I remember this one time when the Royals destroyed spring training and won the Cactus League. Then the regular season began and they lost 100 games.

Crazy how high Mondesi is rated. Is he the youngest player to crack the top 100?

I think so.

He could jump into the top 25 with a good campaign at full-season ball. He's going to be 18 for most of the season... if he continues to flash the defensive skills and instincts that those who have seen him have raved about, and holds his own offensively, he's going to skyrocket.

Here's the BP scouting report on him:

Strengths: Instincts are off-the-chart; tremendous feel for the game; 6 defensive profile at shortstop; plus arm; plus range; slick actions; soft hands; fluid swing from both sides of the plate; can drive the ball into the gaps despite limited (present) strength; easy feel for good contact; hit tool projects to plus; good baserunner; shows legit baseball skills at very young age.

Weaknesses: Lots of developmental unknowns; athletic body/frame, but needs to add strength; see ball, hit ball mentality in the box; susceptible to off-speed offerings; more bat speed from the right-side; lacks power potential.

Explanation of Risk: Extreme risk; despite game skills and precocious talent, wide gap between present and future; only 17 years old

The Year Ahead: Mondesi has the potential to be a special talent, but his statistical output in the next few years might not accurately reflect the scouting reports. Despite being an advanced talent for his age—with instincts that one source dubbed “Jeter like,” and possessing major league bloodlines—Mondesi is still only 17-years-old and will be playing against much older competition if he jumps to the full-season level. His lack of strength could limit his offensive function for a few years, but his glove work will continue to draw praise, as will his overall approach to the game, which mirrors a major-league veteran more than a player that would be entering his senior year in high school.

Ignore it, Opinions are like assholes

http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-train...rs-very-strong

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Wil Myers question people seem to keep asking in the camp of those Tampa Bay Rays is this:

Is there any chance he starts the season on their big league roster?

But in reality, there’s about as much chance of that as there is of Rocco Baldelli starting the season on their big league roster. So the Wil Myers question we should really be asking is probably this:

What are the chances this guy makes an impact in the big leagues this season?

That, however, is a prediction the Rays aren't ready to make. But let’s just say this: Betting against it isn't a real good idea.

“We’re very sensitive to putting big expectations on young players,” the Rays’ executive vice president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, said Tuesday before his team’s Grapefruit League game against the Astros. “He’s certainly capable of helping us win games in 2013. And I’m confident he WILL help us win games in 2013. But we’re still very early on in the process of getting to know him, being around him, watching the way he works, observing the way he goes about the process of getting better in every facet of the game.

Expectations are high for 22-year-old Rays outfielder Wil Myers.
“To this point, everything’s been very positive,” Friedman went on. “The first impression has been very strong. So we’re anxious to spend the next four or five weeks around him and continue his development.”

Even with players they drafted and developed on their own, the Rays have long been cautious about rushing their future stars to the big leagues, for both baseball and economic reasons. But in a case like this, where almost no one in their camp had even laid eyes on Myers before the past two weeks, it’s safe to assume they’ll be even more cautious.

“We've obviously read a lot of scouting reports, watched a lot of video, talked to a lot of guys who have seen him play,” Friedman said. “And that’s great. That’s obviously a very important part of the process of acquiring players. But I think you end up knowing more about a guy after you've been around him for a week or two than you do from watching a guy play for three games. So we’re anxious to learn all of the different things about him and how he goes about his work, etc., that you can’t possibly know without being around him.”

Myers’ offensive talents have pretty much jumped off the field at his new team in a short time. (For what it’s worth, he’s 3-for-7 this spring, with a walk and a double, in three games.) But because the Rays were well aware he started his career as a catcher and has played only 93 minor league games in right field, they have devoted as much extra time and effort as possible to accelerating his progress as an outfielder.

“He hasn't played the position for that long,” Friedman said. “So just [to help him with] the nuances of the position, [coaches] George Hendrick and Dave Martinez have been working with him a lot out there. And that’s an attempt just to expedite that learning curve. It’s not like this guy has played the outfield all his life. So we’re spending a lot of time with him on that aspect.”

You can bet the mortgage to the beach house that work will continue in exotic Durham, N.C., for a couple of months this season. But at some point, this man is coming to a St. Petersburg dome near you. And that’s when the Wil Myers questions will really get fun.

Royals doing work again today. Wade Davis put in 2 scoreless in his first start and we lead the tribe, who are undefeated as well I think, 4-0.

Wasn't or isn't John Lamb supposed to pitch today?

He threw on SUnday, I think. Velo was still down. If he's not sitting 89-92 by the end of spring training, that's probably a warning sign.

In positive news, Noel Arguelles was sitting at 91 the other day. With his secondary stuff and control, if he can stay there, he's a prospect again.

That's disappointing. I was (and still am) holding out hope that he was going to be a pitcher we developed.

Yeah I liked him a lot coming up. Hopefully it comes back.

On a positive note, Billy hit one out today, drove in 3. Hosmer took 2 walks...Ventura strong again, and Wade Davis with 2 scoreless innings.

4-0 KC in the 7th.

Only 2 hits surrendered thus far by:

Wade Davis
Yordano Ventura
Donnie Joseph
Justin Marks

Feeling pretty damn good about our pitching staff so far. I know it's early, but it's looking promising.

It's always a plus when last year ACE gets bumped down the 5th spot after bringing in 4 new guys.

Another win for the Royals...4-1.

Meaningless? Probably. Somewhat encouraging? To me? Yes.

Still plenty of time for him to get the arm strength back. They were very cautious with him, and this is his first real effort at throwing hard since the injury.

On a positive note, his command was excellent, which is usually the last thing to come back after a trip to Dr. Andrews. Three scenarios:

1) He's sacrificing a little velo for command as he works back
2) His velo isn't all the way back yet (he's about 3 mph off where he was before TJ)
3) He's not the same.

1 and 2 still give him plenty of time to get up to speed.

I need my daily Wil Myers fix.

Not sure if this was posted, but Crasnick did a piece on James Shields.

http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-train...-james-shields

If Shields suffers an arm injury, I don't know what I will do.

Thanks for the info, Duncan. I always appreciate your insight.

Ordering a Moustakas jersey tonight I think. I have the fever!

Too many vanilla tootsie rolls?

He plays a lot like Brett did. Good choice

ROFL

No, Moose carries a mini-bat in his pants!

Not sure if serious...............?

Brett does a lot of shit that makes him unlikable now. But when he played, he was an intense mother****er. I'll never forget when he went after popups when he was in his 30's, sliding on his ass into the opposition's dugout. That's what I always liked about him. Moose has shown that same type of intensity when he plays. Kid's got spunk

Yes. The Royals need more red ass white trash mother ****ers. We need one to balance the complete ****sticks that are Hosmer-Dyson-Francour. Those guys are the gosh jeepers guys but we need some guys that will dive after balls throw brush back pitch's etc. We need an actual good player to chew ass when someone is not running out ground balls.

I am not biting on the Hosmer hate in this post. I think he was extremely frustrated through the struggles last year but chose to laugh it off/try to stay loose. Different personalities, but I don't think it means he doesn't care like Frenchturd and Dyson.

Ok.....I took the bite. ROFL

Gawd, I needed to visit this thread with 2ft of snow on the ground...

The Frenchman sucks, but he always tries hard. Can't fault his "want to. "

Spring Training wins mean shit, but I guess you have to start somewhere. I would be happy if I was still some what interested in September. It's been a long ****ing time!

Just for fun... I crunched some numbers on Greg Holland post-DL stint last year...

2.08 ERA | 1.24 WHIP | 12 K:9 | Opponents BAA of .189

He's going to be an elite closer... if you play fantasy baseball, you can probably get top 5-10 closer numbers out of him despite drafting him being the 15th-20th closer drafted.

Anxious to hit the road for Arizona....Kinda like Public Enemy

Rays not impressed by Royals' player-development approach. Say OF Wil Myers needs to learn to be "complete player."

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseb...player/1276538

Matt Cassel tried hard. Didn't change the fact that he sucked.

:hmmm:

Go Royals! At least they showed some balls in wanting to win this year unlike the bastards across the parking lot.

Just to take your mind off Alex Smith:

Bob Dutton ‏@Royals_Report

#Royals pull RHP Luke Hochevar after third walk in 1 2/3 innings vs. Mil. Has thrown 38 pitches. One hit, one run (so far), two strikeouts.

I hope Geno Smith and Wil Myers become roommates.

**** these stupid organizations with a rusty spoon.

He ended up allowing 2 ER.

Just cut his ass.

Nice.

Opening Day Starter?:hmmm:

after seeing the direction of the chiefs now (alex smith)... and this absurd offseason for the royals... i'm at the point now where it all is beginning to feel numb.

this might be the post that sums up my fandom.

LHP Bruce Chen: six up, six down, two strikeouts against Brewers. 29 pitches, 22 strikes.

No idea who he faced however. Could be that Luke faced the Brewers best guys and Chen was against minor leaguers.

Chen has always been more consistent than Hoch.

Check DominateChen for roids!

Numb is a great description. Also dumb-founded, flabbergasted...........

I really don't know how the Royals offseason was that absurd. James Shields trade after sitting down and thinking about it, makes alot of sense even with giving up Myers. Hoch is what it is. We got some solid pitching out of the offseason.

If Hoch does that all spring, we might be able to cut him and win the inevitable greivance against the union.

In order to save money and cut him, Hoch cant just be bad the next few weeks, he's got to be unbelievably terrible.

This. Royals had a good offseason IMO

So I had planned on getting a Geno Smith authentic jersey with part of my tax return money. Then today happened.

I want to buy a Sal Perez jersey, but am not entirely convinced he won't be playing for the A's in three years (I know he's got a long-term contract here, but I've had bad luck with baseball jerseys). Anyone want to push me over the ledge to buy one? If it's a bad idea, I'm just going to save it. Might be a better option anyway lol

Oh, and **** Hochevar.

I already bought my Perez jersey and he doesn't seem to have been cursed yet by it. I am hoping he is immune to jersey curses.

5-0-1

interesting article on the days before the big james shields trade. It almost didn't happen, Tampa Bay was working on a 3-team trade with Arizona and Texas that fell through right before we came in.

Rosenthal was talking about it on MLB Network today.

Well at least he is honest? :shrug:

I like this trade more & more...

Shields just finished pitching, he's going only 1 inning today, by his request.

#1: ground out to first unassisted (1 pitch)
#2: fly out to right (7 pitches)
#3: called strikeout (5 pitches)

Glad to see Morneau is having a great spring for my Twins. Just in time for his contract year when he leaves to the Yankees.

It was a solid offseason. But not sure yet if its good enough to get us a winning record or playoff appearance. Contrary to popular belief, the Royals problems are not all pitching. We don’t know if Hosmer and Moose will develop into stars. Will Francour continue to cockblock our offense? We don’t hit with RISP. We don’t walk enough…….Yost is still our manager…..Lots of question marks.

Hoch makes me feel all nostalgic about Kyle Davies.

Kill me now.

What method of death do you prefer? I prefer a slow agonizing death brought on by being a royals fan.

Headline for tomorrow's paper: Big Game James gets shut down in the midst of a no-no. Suck it haters!

6-0-1

We dominate the Cactus League....
Too bad that don't mean Squat in the AL Central!

2013's 2nd base ultimate deathmatch update:

Getz 10AB, .300/.300/.400, 0BB, 2K

Giavotella 11AB, .273/.333/.364, 0BB, 2K

Moar power?

they each have 1 double. Does that count?