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?

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

If you have been paying attention I've been giving Royal fans major props for years. How many 100 loss seasons? How many hopeless seasons have you endured? Yet, you still go out to the K and support your team. Still have the passion. Any fan should admire that just from a fan perspective. Respect from a fan to another. No homo.

Yes I've noticed and it makes it hard to hate you like I'm supposed to. Just another example of Cardinals fans stealing all the fun lol.

[SAUTO]

On another note. Did anyone think greinke looked totally weird at his press conference, like he was freaking the **** out.
Posted via Mobile Device

[KevB]

So the Indians give up one year of Shin Soo-Choo and Tony Sipp and get back Trevor Bauer and Drew Stubbs? Damn. Stubbs isn't great, but he interesting with his athletic ability and defense. Bauer could be fronting their rotation within the next couple of years.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

If you have been paying attention I've been giving Royal fans major props for years. How many 100 loss seasons? How many hopeless seasons have you endured? Yet, you still go out to the K and support your team. Still have the passion. Any fan should admire that just from a fan perspective. Respect from a fan to another. No homo.

come on, man.

you know it's at least a little homo.

[alnorth]

In the spirit of "oh well, I guess our GM decided to go for it, so lets go for it. Hey, maybe we'll get lucky" This is a fun article. This guy did what I thought about doing last night, but was too lazy.

How the Royals can win the AL Central

I wont paste the whole article, but in the end he's 2 wins short and trying to figure out where to stick them:

Now we need to find two more wins among the position players.

There are a number of ways to do this, such as adding 0.2 WAR to every regular (boring), taking a couple regulars and making them a bit better (also boring), making Francoeur into an almost-average player (meh) or hand all of that WAR to one player (fun!).

I like the last option, even though it’s a bit reckless.

I’m going to give those 2 WAR to Hosmer and make him a 3.3 for 2013.

Hosmer rated 26th in WAR among the 30 players with 300 at-bats who played at least half their games at first base last season. Bumping him to a 3.3 would jump him 20 spots, to the point of being viewed among the better first basemen in the game.

So, Royals fans, that’s what you’re looking at. Unrealistic? Probably.

But here’s the key point: No one said this was going to be easy.

[CaliforniaChief]

How about raising $100 million and replacing Jeff Francouer with Josh Hamilton?

And then sending Hochevar, a couple of prospects, and a few million dollars for R.A. Dickey and a contract extension?

[duncan_idaho]

Good lord, the Diamondbacks are just giving talent away. They must have REALLY soured on Trevor Bauer to move him for that package.

So far this offseason, they've traded Chris Young and Trevor Bauer in an attempt to find a shortstop and the best guy they ended up with is a no-slug guy with a career minor-league OPS under .700 (OK, so it's .699). OH, and he doesn't steal bases either. Didi Gregorius

I realize Young has warts, but he's still a strong defender in CF who is consistently 20/20 when healthy - and who looked like he was figuring it out before he got hurt last season.

And Bauer - despite his quirkiness and MLB struggles - was still dominant in his first run through the minors. Much more so than Danny Hultzen, and nearly as much as Dylan Bundy (probably better, comparing their higher minors numbers).

Makes me wonder what they would have offered up for Christian Colon. Towers has long been a fan of his, as have other guys in that front office. Colon hasn't been overwhelming in the minors so far, but his offensive profile is much better than Gregorius, though he doesn't project as well defensively at SS.

[stevenidol]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Good lord, the Diamondbacks are just giving talent away. They must have REALLY soured on Trevor Bauer to move him for that package.

So far this offseason, they've traded Chris Young and Trevor Bauer in an attempt to find a shortstop and the best guy they ended up with is a no-slug guy with a career minor-league OPS under .700 (OK, so it's .699). OH, and he doesn't steal bases either. Didi Gregorius

I realize Young has warts, but he's still a strong defender in CF who is consistently 20/20 when healthy - and who looked like he was figuring it out before he got hurt last season.

And Bauer - despite his quirkiness and MLB struggles - was still dominant in his first run through the minors. Much more so than Danny Hultzen, and nearly as much as Dylan Bundy (probably better, comparing their higher minors numbers).

Makes me wonder what they would have offered up for Christian Colon. Towers has long been a fan of his, as have other guys in that front office. Colon hasn't been overwhelming in the minors so far, but his offensive profile is much better than Gregorius, though he doesn't project as well defensively at SS.

It would be great if they could put a package together to get Justin Upton and put him in RF.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by stevenidol

It would be great if they could put a package together to get Justin Upton and put him in RF.

They won't move Upton now, they say. Sitting tight with him.

Makes you wonder if a package of Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery, Colon and Orlando Calixte might have been enough to pry Upton and Bauer from Arizona, doesn't it? COnsidering they basically gave Bauer away.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

They won't move Upton now, they say. Sitting tight with him.

Makes you wonder if a package of Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery, Colon and Orlando Calixte might have been enough to pry Upton and Bauer from Arizona, doesn't it? COnsidering they basically gave Bauer away.

Yes it does make me wonder!

[Nightfyre]

The more I think about the Royal's transactions, the more I begin to think that this is about creating a winning environment for the youngsters. The fact is that they need to have hope going into the season that they can contend. I mean, you could see the pressure that losing was creating on the younger guys last year.

[stevenidol]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

They won't move Upton now, they say. Sitting tight with him.

Makes you wonder if a package of Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery, Colon and Orlando Calixte might have been enough to pry Upton and Bauer from Arizona, doesn't it? COnsidering they basically gave Bauer away.

The Royals still have a lot in the cupboard and if the D'Backs are looking to dump payroll they may take on Francoeur and/or Hochevar because their contracts would come off the books after the season.

I understand this is pipe dream, but it's fun to speculate.

[CaliforniaChief]

I'll say this. The players seem more excited than I've ever seen on social media/through the news.

[stevenidol]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

The more I think about the Royal's transactions, the more I begin to think that this is about creating a winning environment for the youngsters. The fact is that they need to have hope going into the season that they can contend. I mean, you could see the pressure that losing was creating on the younger guys last year.

That is the one aspect that the Sabre stats guys can't measure. The human factor of feeling like you are playing for a team that is trying to win and not playing behind a SP that couldn't start on most other teams.

[stevenidol]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

I'll say this. The players seem more excited than I've ever seen on social media/through the news.

David Price was royally pissed too.