2013 Kansas City Royals Repository Thread

[duncan_idaho]

Proposed 2013 Slogan: Tigers: They're what's for dinner
Actual 2013 Slogan: Come to Play
A better, more accurate, or alternative slogan: All in, no panic, we promise.

Dayton Moore has pushed all his chips in and is riding on King/Jack suited, hoping it comes together, he gets some good luck, and he hits the nuts by the river card. There's potential, oh yes, there's potential. There's also risk.

At the midway point, Dayton is left counting on the river card. The flop and turn didn't help him, and he's looking at the Tigers holding a pair of Queens and the Indians holding a pair of 9s. His 2013 plan hasn't failed - yet - but the odds are not in his favor.

Burning questions updates below.

Burning Questions for 2013:

1) Will the improve rotation be improved enough? Does James Shields pitch like a fringe No. 1 away from Tampa Bay? Does Ervin Santana pitch to his highest upside in his walk year? Can Jeremy Guthrie build on his strong performance as a Royal in 2012? Can Wade Davis bring his new mentality- and velocity - back to the rotation?

Midseason check-in: Yes, the rotation is certainly improved enough. Shields has pitched like a fringe No. 1 and Santana is having his best season. Guthrie has horrible peripherals but has continued to perform well at his home park and eat innings on the road. Davis brought neither his kick-ass mentality or improved velocity back to the rotation and is in Luke Hochevar/Hiram Davies territory.

2) When will Luke Hochevar be shown the door?
Midseason check-in: It appears, never, at this point. Hochevar has been solid in non-leverage situations, though pretty much every time he has been used with men on base in an inning, it has been a disaster.

3) Does Hosmer bounce back?
Midseason check-in: It took some time, but Hosmer's performance from June 1 on is probably the most encouraging thing about the 2013 season so far.
4) Can Moustakas hit for a whole season like he did in the first half of 2012?
Midseason check-in: Nope. Moustakas was god-awful, then great for about 3 weeks, then god-awful again. He has been better since he started working with Brett and Grafol but still has a long way to go.
5) Who regresses?
Midseason check-in: Welp, Alicides Escobar is not a surprising name here (though Yost's stubborn insistence on hitting him second is ridiculous). Billy Butler is a surprise. He isn't having a terrible year - still contributing a lot to the offense - but he's not hitting for the average or power he has displayed over the past several years.
6) Who plays 2B?
Midseason check-in: A whole bunch of people, and not that great. Gio is at least getting a shot, though he once again is not doing much with it.
7) Can Jeff Francoeur be at least replacement level, rather than epic horrible level?
Midseason check-in: Hahahahahahahahahahaha
8) Will Dayton Moore survive to see 2014?
Midseason check-in: Outlook uncertain. Probably still around, unless the team completely tanks in the second half and he does something foolish. My guess - he sacrifices Ned Yost this offseason and gets one more shot with a new manager in 2014.
9) Will Danny Duffy come back healthy? And if he does, is he the same, better or worse?
Midseason check-in: Yes. Velocity looks the same, and it looks likely he is the same guy as before.
10) And the big one: Has KC added enough to run down the big-money Detroit Tigers?
Midseason check-in: Doesn't look like it, does it?

[Demonpenz]

Just admit that keeping Moose and Frenchy around this long was a mistake...cut Frenchy..... Moose to the minors and move on.

[Prison Bitch]

Dayton told us last year "It could take 10 years" to win. I wonder if Dayton and his family ever go to a restaurant, get crappy food, then get told "Hey we're all still learning here. It could take 10 years for us to serve you good food."


I wonder if Dayton would take his family back to such a place.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

Just admit that keeping Moose and Frenchy around this long was a mistake...cut Frenchy..... Moose to the minors and move on.

Frenchy? No doubt in my mind it's time to cut him. Guy is finished unless his buddy Melky sends him another shipment.

I won't complain too much about the way he was handled. Leash was MAYBE a week longer than I would have liked to see.

Moose? I was ready to send him down last month IF he didn't show positive signs in that Cleveland series. He did. A lot of them. He just wasn't able to sustain them for more than a few weeks.

I don't think Omaha is a magic bullet, but he does look frustrated and like he has lost his confidence. Restoring his swing and that confidence against a lower level of pitching might be his best shot at this point.

I still will maintain that many of the baseball fans on this forum are TOO reactive to small sample sizes, and that sending Moustakas down after the first two weeks was too soon, though.

[ChiefsCountry]

What a bunch of whiny vaginas. By next Monday we will be above .500 again probably by 3 or 4 games. Baseball is a long ass season thinks generally work themselves out. Its a shame that Hootie is a voice of reason in these threads.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Dayton told us last year "It could take 10 years" to win. I wonder if Dayton and his family ever go to a restaurant, get crappy food, then get told "Hey we're all still learning here. It could take 10 years for us to serve you good food."


I wonder if Dayton would take his family back to such a place.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don't think Omaha is a magic bullet, but he does look frustrated and like he has lost his confidence. Restoring his swing and that confidence against a lower level of pitching might be his best shot at this point.

I still will maintain that many of the baseball fans on this forum are TOO reactive to small sample sizes, and that sending Moustakas down after the first two weeks was too soon, though.

I agree that he looks frustrated but who replaces Moustakas at 3b if he goes down to Omaha? Elliot Johnson? Irving Falu? I doubt Tejada is going to get everyday playing time.

[Tytanium]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

I agree that he looks frustrated but who replaces Moustakas at 3b if he goes down to Omaha? Elliot Johnson? Irving Falu? I doubt Tejada is going to get everyday playing time.

Falu was servicable, at least. Switch hitter too. He's the best option of a bunch of bad options at this point.

In his playing time last year, 29 hits, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts in 91 plate appearances. He's been toiling down in the minors for far to long to not be a major league level backup.

[kcchiefsus]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

I agree that he looks frustrated but who replaces Moustakas at 3b if he goes down to Omaha? Elliot Johnson? Irving Falu? I doubt Tejada is going to get everyday playing time.

It's really not that hard to replace Moose's horrible statistics. Hell, let's give Tony Pena Jr. a call, he would likely be an upgrade (sarcasm).

[Old Dog]

Who replaces him doesn't really matter at this point, the kid has lost confidence and he's frustrated as all hell.
Send him back down for a bit and see if he can get it figured out.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

What a bunch of whiny vaginas. By next Monday we will be above .500 again probably by 3 or 4 games. Baseball is a long ass season thinks generally work themselves out. Its a shame that Hootie is a voice of reason in these threads.

It's a football board full of football fans who treat baseball like it's football.

They aren't used to watching so it's a bit understandable.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Nzoner

It has to do with I'm tired of mr high school baseball all american thinking he knows everything and i just decided to use that post.OK?

Well I guess, but it seemed kinda silly
Posted via Mobile Device

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by unnecessary drama

It's a football board full of football fans who treat baseball like it's football.

They aren't used to watching so it's a bit understandable.

Yeah, we haven't watched 30 years of playoff-less baseball. We haven't seen routine 95 loss seasons. We haven't seen a full generation of kids grow up here watching 1 winning team (barely at that) in the past 20.


Clearly the fans here suck and are the problem and just don't "get it" like you do.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by unnecessary drama

It's a football board full of football fans who treat baseball like it's football.

They aren't used to watching so it's a bit understandable.

Were you even alive when the Royals won the World Series?

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Were you even alive when the Royals won the World Series?

I was 3 years old, almost 4 though.

[gblowfish]

That gets me too. 27 years of futility, and these young dipshits are going "Geez, show some patience!"

I was at game seven of the 1985 series. I know what it's like to win it all. It's the best.

Might as well start following Moses around in the desert.....