That's a lot of coin to pay someone to be DH'ing.. whoever it is.

If the Royals continue to avoid even threatening post-season success, I'm going to define "championship" by having someone break the organization's regular season HR record. Seriously, it's embarrassing.

And a flag should be raised for that accomplishment. We could do it on Wacky Wednesday, which comes after T-Shirt Tuesday, and Mother**** Fans Monday.

It kills me every year when 2 or 3 players are flirting with 30+ HR's at the allstar break. 34 frickin homeruns is ridiculous.

36, which is just as pathetic.

Power is expensive, which was reaffirmed today.

Wow what the ****? I thought Fielder signed with Washington?

Jesus this is depressing. KC has no shot to compete when Detroit is spending like their the f'n Yankees.

****ing sign Edwin Jackson already you cheap bastards. We haven't even extended Alex Gordon yet.

God this just ruined my day.

OK, my glass-half-full post of the day.

MLB has STILL not yet announced whether we'll have the 2nd wild card this season, or not till 2013. That tells me they are trying to make it happen.

If our division is as terrible as many think it could be, with the Indians leading the pack, followed by the White Sox and Twins, due to the unbalanced schedule, we could rack up tons of cheap wins while the Yankees/Red Sox fight with the Blue Jays and Rays, and the Rangers/Angels fight with.... oh, never mind.

Well, maybe we can get lucky. If the AL East manages to beat themselves out of a wild card, and Selig gets the 2nd wild card done this season, maybe the West grabs one and we grab the other.

Or, maybe we beat the Tigers, heh

During the 2011 ALCS, Jim Leyland told the FOX broadcasting crew that he was considering going with a 3B Cabrera/1B VMart combination in the NL-home games of the World Series.

Key phrase bolded. Only an idiot would play Cabrera everyday at 3B.

But, hey, if Detroit wants to trot out Cabrera at 3B everyday, that's fine with me.

1) He's more likely to get injured playing a high-impact position like 3B
2) He's probably at least a -10/-15 player at 3B, which could cost 4 or 5 wins a year.

They also don't really have a good hitter to slot into the DH slot.

Would be a giant waste to play him everyday at 3B, but I'm sure they could swing it for NL-park series (interleague or postseason)

Why on earth do I always think 34. I know it's 36, yet every damn time I'm thinking of the record, 34 is what pops in my head.

I know his numbers, but Fielder could be the most expensive Mike Jacobs ever. I do like that Fielder goes to Detriot. I remember his dad jacking homeruns.

Heyman tweeted that Cabrera is willing to move to 3B to let Fielder play first. We should trade them Yuni... dream defensive infield.
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I remember his fat ass dad brushing my brother and I aside when we asked him for an autograph way back in the day.

yep, this sucks

No doubt. Fielder is not as bad as a lot of people think at 1B, but Cabrera is a butcher at 3B. Who is going to DH for them, that they'd move Cabrera to 3rd for?

I hope the Tigers are willing to move him there too. It would be nice if their defense gives away a few of the runs they gained by signing Fielder.

For all the Fielder talk.. I really don't think he is THAT good.. plus that was a solid team in Milwaukee defensively so they could kinda cover him up. I think detroit is full of bats who can't field and make him look worse.

Here's to hoping!

I don't think Cecil and Prince are on speaking terms.

Cecel was bankrupt and had some sad stuff going on in his life. I always liked it when he hit balls at the Old Detroit Staduim that went off the roof and embarrassingly (for the pitcher) came rolling off back into the field.

214 million?

****

I dunno man.

His stats are pretty ****ing good.

yep. You've got to go through some pretty odd contortions to spin this as a net plus for the Royals. Will his fat ass decline after the next 4 or 5 years? Maybe, but I'd rather not look past 4 or 5 years.

They actually upgraded from V-Mart. We would have probably been better off had he not been injured.

Unless Cito Gaston creates it out of nothing.

Solid defensively? They had freaking Betancourt running around out there.....

I have heard a lot of people talk about Fielder being overrated and could likely be a bust for his next team.

I don't know if I buy that but I sure do hear it a lot.

They are usually talking about his body, thinking he's gonna eat his way out of a career. However, he's still young and going strong, he's got to be good for at least another 4 years or so. The Tigers may regret this contract in 2018 since big guys apparently age a bit quicker, but until then, we've now got to beat them with Fielder.

He's been a fat slob since he entered the league, but he's an unusually athletic and agile fatty who has missed little if any time due to injuries.

I wouldn't bet on him going anywhere anytime soon, other than right up the Royals' ass, of course.

I was completely shocked to see the Tigers sign him....did not see it coming!

I then got depressed thinking how long we have to compete against him in the division.
F word

Billy Butler thinks he's dreamy

I think in honor of the Royals season and specifically Billy B., I am going to ask the girlfriend if we can have breakfast for dinner for the entire opening week of the season!

Coming strong like a Hochevar heater.

Meh, they were just trying to keep up with the Royals offense. I won't shit my pants quite yet.

They've got a couple of fat slobs.

Yeah, he really sucks. Average season for his career so far: .390 OBP, .282 AVG, 37 HR, 106 RBI, .929 OPS, .540 SLG. What a turd.

:rolleyes:

He does not suck by any means....but he was overpaid. No way is he worth 214 million dollars.

Not overpaid nearly as much as Pujols.

Overpaid is overpaid.

Yes, he is. Dude is going to be 28 in May, just entering his prime. Good deal for Royals fans.

IBB. IBB. IBB.

No way it is a good deal for the Royals, I still have some optimism though. If we had a legit shot to win the division before, we still have a fighting chance now.

For sure. **** them; we're not conceding anything.

Sure would be nice if Montgomery came up and did his best (insert name of instant stud pitcher) impression, though.

I hate the fact that I am going to have to watch him wear out our pitching staff for the next 5 years (his productive years). This move (no injuries) gives them this division by 10 games.

**** them. They are scared of us. Thats why this happened.

Odoreazy is going to be "the guy" throw in greinke when he re signs and we have two #1 and at least one two.

Only halfway kidding.
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I still like the Royals chances.

Whether the Tigers overpaid or not is irrelevant. That signing changes the AL Central immediately with the on-field talent.

I would love it if GMDM responded with a blockbuster trade for a front-line starter as if to say "It's on, Tigers."

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, back to reality. Still love our team's progress, but this hurts us.

At finishing second?

Hey I'd be thrilled to death with second next year. Then a final push for the big time

No kidding. I'll be really happy with a .500+ record with improvement from all the young guys. I'd be ecstatic with a 2nd place finish this early into the thing...

Lot of baseball left to be played, it's not over yet
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I guess I am in the minority, but I am not phased by this move. Fielder is good, but something in my gut says he won't play up to the level of his contract or put up the numbers that he did in Milwaukee. He does improve the Tigers, but I don't feel like he will cost us a shot at the division.

So tell me gang.

Is this the year where I won't want to claw my eyes out and stop watching baseball by June.

In short, I'm a pretty casual fan. How excited should I be?

Pretty excited. Plus theres more guys still coming up.

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EXCITED. If not totally this year we are only a year or so from being a legit ws contender year in and year out.

We will probably contend for our division this year if august/september werent just an abberation. We played teams that needed to win and beat them quite often.

Just need pitcher to be the guy
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I think two of our three best players arent even in kc yet.
E
Odoreazy and myers, hosmer with escobar and moose close behind.
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Sal Perez is the undervalued piece at this point. If he's what we saw in '11, he'll be a complete game-changer and the key cog to a tremendous amount of success in KC.

**** I forgot about him. add him to the list, what most positions are filled?

It's about time to get excited. For REALZ.
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Most important (and hardest to fill) position players might already be with the team in Escobar and Perez. Now, if Cain and/or Starling are/is tits, oh ****...

Did I mention that fat Billy is going to start hitting home runs this year? And that the first T-Shirt Tuesday giveaway is a wolf shirt?

WhaT most isn't what I trying to say, should have been a ****ing comma in there. Punctuation and caps arent my forte
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I'll still maintain that Montgomery is the best pitcher coming through the system, despite his difficulties at AAA. Only lefthanded pitcher I'd really rather have is Matt Moore.

I think Myers is going to be a stud and might force his way into the lineup next season.

Really looking forward to the defensive improvement we should see. Gordon is only going to get better at the fundamentals of left field. Cain will be a big upgrade in center and cover much more ground. And Francouer is a weapon in RF with his arm, even if his range is a little shaky.

Not sure Perez is really a .300 hitter, but I'd be happy with .280 from him, which I think is sustainable.

Get some pop from Moose like we saw in September, and some improvement from Hosmer and Gordon (yes, from Gordon, who thinks he will be better in his second year with this approach, and so does Seitzer), and that offense will score some runs.

REALLY would like to add another solid pitcher, but we'll see if it happens...

I keep saying it. This offense should be in the top 5 in most major categories. If we get even average pitching, we'll be right there with the Tigers the whole way.

I totally agree... I haven't given up on Montgomery yet. I still have high hopes for him... I think he's going to be in the rotation when this team is good.

I stand by what I said. Monty will WILL be our two, maybe our three. Odireazy greinke monty duffy.

Or odoreazy monty duffy
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Bold statement, and one you're unique in. If you're right, definite bragging rights.

All indications I've seen are that Odorizzi lags behind a bit in pure "stuff" but has the makings of an excellent No. 2/3 starter.

Montgomery, near as I can tell, has Cole Hamels-like upside. That would be pretty damn sweet.

Just remember who said it...


Deez (iirc) got me looking at meyers more but I'm convinced.
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Thoughts on the Tigers...

This move probably pays off in spades this season... but some concerns:

1) In 2013, what are they going to do with Martinez? If Cabrera plays 3B everyday, he'll be atrocious. Fielder is below-average at 1B. Avila and Peralta are OK at C and SS, respectively (with Peralta trending to below-average). Jackson is above-average in center. Boesch is bad in RF and Raburn might be the worst LF in baseball (since the only one worse, Delmon Young, is the Tigers' DH).

Good luck trying to trade a 1B/DH on the wrong side of 30 coming back from a major knee injury and with diminishing power.

2) The rotation. History shows us Verlander will probably take a step back in 2012 due to workload. But beyond him? I love Max Scherzer, but he's probably never more than an OK No. 3. Fister was incredibly lucky last year. Porcello is still baffling (results don't match what the eye shows). Can I also point out that Scherzer, Fister and Porcello are all extreme groundball pitchers. You know when groundball pitchers struggle? When their defense blows giant chunks. Hmm...

3) The lineup, beyond Cabrera and Fielder, is not that great. Austin Jackson and Ramon Santiago are black holes offensively. Raburn is a below-average offensive LF. Boesch is an average offensive RF. Avila is going to regress (.366 BABIP vs. 21% LD rate in 2011 tells me so).

They are the front runners in 2012, definitely, but this is a team that has some major flaws. It has $80 million/year tied up in four players, one of whom is a pitcher and the other three being 1B/DH types who have no value beyond their bat.

After sleeping on it........yep, we're still ****ed.

Is he overpaid? Sure.

But who cares? It's just money.

Baseball doesn't have a salary cap, and Mike Illitich apparently doesn't give a **** if he profits a dime. He just wants to win. You have to admire it when he doesn't have the revenue of a city like NY or LA behind him.

Yes his contract will look ugly towards the end as he's pushing 350 pounds, but our window for contention will likely be over by then. We have 5-6 years coming up where we will have a lot of young, cost-controlled talent. They begin to hit free agency in 2016/2017, and we won't be able to keep most of them.

Detroit has a core Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, M-Cab, and Fielder for the next few years. To compete with that, we will need everything to go right: a couple ace-level pitchers develop and Hosmer/Myers/Moose become elite, All Star-level position players.

This sucks.

Yeah, the Royals are probably ****ed for 2012.

It will be interesting to see what they get for Victor Martinez after this season. He's got two seasons left on a huge deal at ages 34 and 35, coming back from a severe knee injury that limits one of the things that makes him most valuable (the ability to play catcher).

Rick Porcello? Not scared. Here's a guy who, for his career, averages fewer than 5K/9 with a normal walk rate (2.4 BB/9). That's why he gets lit up (Career ERA around 4.5).

Max Scherzer is one of my favorite major league players because of the Mizzou connection, but he is not much more than a No. 3 pitcher (and his strikeout and walk rates are trending the wrong way).

Doug Fister? Please. Guy sucked in the pitcher's haven in Seattle, with a great defense behind him. Detroit is a friendlier ballpark for hitters, and his defense is going to be a liability. Dude's luck (see his time with Detroit last season) won't last forever.

Basically, the Tigers farm system is Jacob Turner. Other than him, no impact players getting ready on the farm.

So yeah, the Tigers are loaded up for this year. They're going to have:

1) A great No. 1 starter
2) A great 3-4 combo

For the next half-dozen years. But this team also has some severe flaws, and with $80 million tied up in four players for 2013 and 2014 and only one real bargaining chip in the minors, they're going to have a hard time plugging them.

duncan I admire the effort but you basically argued the bear case for each individual player. Scherzer and Porcello could also continue to improve, just like we are expecting our prospects to do. It is unreasonable to assume all the Tigers will deteriorate and all the Royals will get better.

And your last point about money appears moot. Mike Illitch has a net worth of $2 billion and apparently is willing to spend for a winner. There's nothing stopping him from spending another $100 million on payroll in the coming years if he has the money.

A lot of the optimism about KC's chances in the coming years was due to the assumption that Chicago and Detroit would not spend like NYY or Boston; if they do, then that changes things because Glass will never spend anywhere close to that.

There is no such thing as overpaid in baseball unless the player blocks you from signing talent around him. This team was already complete, and they paid Fielder anyway.

They weren't trying to squeeze him into a predetermined team salary maximum, so its just a billionaire's money. If the Tigers get the same guy that played in Milwaukee, he's earned his money.

Fair enough. Was just trying to provide a counterpoint to "oh, we're ****ed. Which was my first thought, too."

I don't think my comments on Porcello were "Bear market" comments. The guy has pitched three full major leagues seasons and has never struck out more than 5.1 batters per nine. It is EXTREMELY difficult to jump up that type of record. Without a sharp increase in K rate or a complete elimination of walks, he's going to be a completely luck- and fielding-dependent pitcher on a team with terrible defense.

Scherzer and Fister, that's fair. Max is, as I said, one of my favorite players (stems from watching him so much at Mizzou and being part of "Scherzer's flotilla). He definitely has the talent/stuff to improve, but he's got a pretty established record that seems to define what he is. Fister had a crazy-low BABIP in his stint as a Tiger, but he did have a sharp increase in K rate with Detroit. So maybe they found a mechanical thing or had him emphasize a certain pitch more to create that bump.

Definitely not bear market to say their farm system sucks beyond Jacob Turner (who is pretty legit).

They're going to have to spend their way past some of these holes in the coming years, and you're right that Ilitch will spend. But how much money is he willing to lose on the Tigers? Reports are he lost $20 million last year, and he's adding $30 million in salary, at least (Scherzer and Verlander both get big bumps this year).

Like I said. They're the favorites this year, for sure. But the next few years will be interesting (especially with watching them try to unload Victor Martinez or play Cabrera at 3B or LF).

I also disagree with this 5-6 year window thing people keep mentioning. The rich get richer in baseball, but "rich" isn't always about money. If we can pick out the right players to sign long term while dealing other veterans for prospects, there is no reason that we can't keep plugging in talent to replace talent.

The Grienke trade looks like it made us a better team in the long run. If we can make similar moves like that when we have enough talent in the majors to compete, I like our long term prospects.

This. Even with all of the talent that has come up we still have a too 10 system in the minors. Once current guys move on we will have players like Starling, Cuthbert, Myers, etc. to replace them. We have a better outfield than Detroit and I expect our infield to improve enough by next season to at least be competitve with Detroit. The issue then comes down to pitching. It will be hard to get somebody comparable to Verlander, but I am not impressed with the pitchers after him. If we can have better pitching 2-5 and in the bullpen we will have the advantage IMO.

Verlander's got a lot of miles on him, too.

Pitching is always the great equalizer. It's why Tampa continues to compete in a division where they don't have the financial power of the other teams. Even in a perfect world where Glass was insane with his money, he probably couldn't compete with Ilitch. Plus while its not quite Chicago, Detroit is still a much bigger market than KC and really the rest of the teams in the division. It's funny because you see people react to this signing like it was Pittsburgh or Cleveland that signed him... but that's not really the case.
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I really don't care what the Tigers do to be honest. Yes Fielder makes a real good team even better and they are certainly the favorites to win the division this year... maybe for a while. I care more about what WE do to improve.

But here's my take fwiw...

We weren't going to be better than Detroit yet this year anyway in all likelyhood. I'm as excited as anymore and moreso than many folks about the direction we're finally heading, however I do believe a lot of folks are getting ahead of themselves with expectations right now. We are INCREDIBLY young. 2 of our core starters this year have no more than a couple months of big league experience... Perez and Giavotella. 2 others have about half a season under their belts... Hosmer and Moustakas. Our new CFer is basically in that same boat. We have still-young pitching throughout part of the rotation and a bullpen full of puppies.

2012 is a "continuing to build" year in my estimation. I don't think it's realistic to expect a team this young to win a division just yet... even in the weak AL Central. What I want and hope to see is progress... and I do mean real progress towards becoming a championship caliber team... and I think (hope) we'll see that. But these guys... as talented as they are, are going to need a little more seasoning imo before we can start getting serious about the playoffs.

As much talent as we brought up and as well as we played late we still finished what... 20 games under .500? It's a long road back to glory in baseball. Give it some time and we should get there. This season should be a real nice building block toward what we hope to accomplish but I think while we get excited for the first time in years we need to be realistic about what to expect as well. Don't get so far ahead of ourselves that close to .500 or being .500 looks like a disappointment. That would be serious progress.

A few things that give me a little glimmer of hope for this year, too:

1) Verlander's workload/crazy 2011. It's unlikely he matches that season. (Same with Fister, honestly). Would need Scherzer to ratchet up a bit to make up for it (which is entirely possible).

2) Detroit's lucky 2011. The Tigers phythag suggest they won six more games than they should have, by the numbers (while the Royals' suggest they should have won seven more). Call it the 03 Royals effect.

3) Detroit's bullpen. Valverde was awfully shaky last year, but somehow managed to go 49/49 despite working into and out of jams in at least 1/3 of his save opportunities. More blown saves from this bullpen really aren't a stretch...

Just went from 6 to midnight.

Seriously though, watching this video makes me happy that it's so close. Yet I'm sad, because it's not close enough. Let's get this started. Our Time!

We'll see your Fielder signing and raise you a:

New for 2012! Catch a Royals game from The French Quarter, in honor of No. 21, Jeff Francoeur. Each Thursday home game, fans can purchase a $21 ticket that includes a "The Frenchy Quarter" T-shirt, drink coupon and Outfield Box seat.

Full promo schedule has been released.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/sch...3106-246027906

That drink ticket better be for an alcoholic beverage

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that Fielder went to Detroit, but it's not like they're unbeatable. I know "The Process" is something many people make fun of, but it seems to be coming around right about now and I have regained most of my faith in Dayton (although the singing of Yuni & re-singing of Getz don't help) that he's got a plan for this thing.

Plus, I haven't been optimistic about the Royals. Ever. I don't expect a division title or anything, but I'm excited for baseball. Prince Fielder's fat vegetarian ass can't take that away from me.

3:54 in, who's the girl with Moose?



Really thinking about buying a Hosmer jersey this year......... I've got some bad luck with Royals jerseys though. First one I ever bought was a Jermaine Dye one about a month before he was traded. Picked up a Gordon one right after he changed to #4 before his 2nd year and he struggled until last season...

So for the betterment of the team, I may have to hold off. But the power of Hosmer may just squash the shit out of any of my bad jersey juju...

You be very careful with this. A fan purchasing a jersey often controls that players destiny much more than he, himself does. Hard work and skill mean very little. It's all about who is wearing the jersey, almost as if it is a pseudo voodoo doll.

Just giving you a hard time about superstitions man. We all have our own quirks. Sure, you've had "bad luck" with jerseys in the past, but it's pretty safe to say it's just that, luck. Buy that jersey. Doing so will have no impact on Hosmer's, or any other young Royals', awesomeness.

I'm not really a personalized jersey type but if I were going to buy one it would be Hosmer.