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.

The 2013 season is closer than we realize. The Royals will feature a rebuilt rotation that likely includes 4 new starters. The most-watched prospects of 2012, Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi are gone, the price required to rebuild the rotation.

The Royals still have Sal Perz, who has even more of a "star" look to him than a year ago. They still have Alcides Escobar, who was a little less SS jesus in 2012 but brought more at the plate. Billy Butler finally hit a number of home runs that matches his build and how hard he hits the ball. Alex Gordon did it again. Hosmer and Moose struggled.

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.

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?
2) When will Luke Hochevar be shown the door?
3) Does Hosmer bounce back?
4) Can Moustakas hit for a whole season like he did in the first half of 2012?
5) Who regresses?
6) Who plays 2B?
7) Can Jeff Francoeur be at least replacement level, rather than epic horrible level?
8) Will Dayton Moore survive to see 2014?
9) Will Danny Duffy come back healthy? And if he does, is he the same, better or worse?
10) And the big one: Has KC added enough to run down the big-money Detroit Tigers?

[unnecessary drama]

Originally Posted by Zeke

If Hosmer and Mous develop into consistent hitters at the ML level this season, we will improve to over 700 runs.

Expecting Cain to put up those numbers is complete and total homerism. The guy has all of 8 career HR's and 45 RBi's in 400+ AB's spread out over 3 seasons...

If he stays healthy, we're looking at about a .750 OPS guy that plays respectable defense.

Maybe it's homerism. I'm a fantasy baseball player and he was getting all sorts of buzz prior to his injury and he was raking a bit after his injury. I'm not sure, I like the kid.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I would say that depends largely on Hosmer and Moose. Not Frenchy and Getz.

Moose and Hos both taking big steps forward (is a big if) does not make this offense elite. Having 2 guys that rake will not make up having 2 guys that don't show up.

Having NEGATIVE impact bats in your lineup is much more damaging than having a couple of "good" players in the lineup. And neither of them were "good" players last year. If they take huge strides as suggested, they can become "good" players. That is still nothing near "elite". That's the whole point.

This team will struggle to score 700 runs, unless multiple people jump the fence and develop. They won't sniff 800 runs like the guy i was addressing, originally.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Capt Tasty Cheeks

well take an offense in the AL central and tell me why they are better than KC's offense.

Detroit has two GREAT bats and a few pretty good ones...but they have holes, too.

The White Sox strike out way too often, but they have a pretty comparable offense...probably more power for less average.

We are better offensively than Cleveland and Minnesota.

Ok, we'll just stop right there.... You're making me chuckle.

Not sure if you're just trolling, or really don't know what you're talking about.

Chicago's offense is lightyears better than KC's. They scored 75 more runs than we did. That's a fairly sizeable difference. Minnesota's offense even outscored KC's by 25 runs (mainly due to their ability to get on base).

KC and Cleveland are right on par with each other, offensively. We scored 9 more runs than them... so there's the two teams that you should compare from last year.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Capt Tasty Cheeks

Maybe it's homerism. I'm a fantasy baseball player and he was getting all sorts of buzz prior to his injury and he was raking a bit after his injury. I'm not sure, I like the kid.

by Fantasy do you mean "fantasy world"? Because if you're talking fantasy as in "stats league" then you didn't pay attention to the numbers.

He will steal you a few bases to help your fantasy team, that's if you can keep him in the lineup...

[teedubya]

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

Lets get it over with early.

[BigRedChief]

Why isn't DM making a move for Shumaker? Seems like a no brainer. Can play 2B and all outfield spots. Hits close to .300 every year. A really good locker room guy. Could provide some veteran leadership in the locker room. Knows how to win, has two World Championships rings.

Cards won't be asking much. He just doesn't fit into our plans this year but seems to be a great fit for the Royals.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I'm gonna predict the first 10 game losing streak to be in early May.

This is where I'm at. I can't fall for another offseason in KC. #onpapercontenders

[theelusiveeightrop]

The Royals seem to be doing lots of maneuvering to improve from 71 to 74 wins.

[thurman merman]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Ok, we'll just stop right there.... You're making me chuckle.

Not sure if you're just trolling, or really don't know what you're talking about.

Chicago's offense is lightyears better than KC's. They scored 75 more runs than we did. That's a fairly sizeable difference. Minnesota's offense even outscored KC's by 25 runs (mainly due to their ability to get on base).

KC and Cleveland are right on par with each other, offensively. We scored 9 more runs than them... so there's the two teams that you should compare from last year.

Chicago will be losing Youk, losing AJP (most likely), and Alex Rios cannot be expected to do what he did last year (he's quite possibly the most inconsistent player in baseball history). Konerko is also getting up there. The Royals might be closer to them than you think in 2013.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I would hate to see anyone leave our pen. It is so good and with an improved rotation in front of them they could be unhittable. Surely we have a few players in the minors that could net us a serviceable RF.

The pen is so deep, they could afford to move a guy.

Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins, Aaron Crow are proven, front-line bullpen arms.

Louis Coleman is a proven solid piece - especially when used correctly (i.e. for RH-heavy matchups ... something that would be more possible if you have 3-4 starters pounding out 200 IP).

Donnie Joseph, Juan Gutierrez, etc. are other guys that would be potential pieces in the bullpen. And you can always find bullpen guys, something Moore has shown a real penchant for.

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Moose just needs to stretch his first half out to a full season and he will be really good. I think no more Seitzer is a win as well. I can't believe how much he screwed with guys' swings and approaches. That and hopefully the days of taking first pitch strikes right down the middle no matter the situation are over as well.

Whose swings did you see effected? The two that needed the most help, Hosmer and Frenchy, didn't look to change their approach or swing during the season hardly at all. Hosmer did for short periods, but always fell back to his ripping and Frenchy never stopped ripping

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

Whose swings did you see effected? The two that needed the most help, Hosmer and Frenchy, didn't look to change their approach or swing during the season hardly at all. Hosmer did for short periods, but always fell back to his ripping and Frenchy never stopped ripping

Hosmer was consistently tweaking and altering his approach and swing. Seitzer talked about it all the time. It was after his horribly bad luck start that they started trying to work on things and adjust them (don't recall the specifics anymore) even nothing was broken. I don't really think Hosmer needed help. It wasn't until they broke what wasn't fixed that things started getting bad for him as far as making poor contact and having ugly swings.

I really don't care about Frenchy and am not sure he can be helped. And it just seems like Seitzer had a lot of influence in that he wanted the guys to be patient even in favorable situations, so they would just watch meatballs go right by.

[unnecessary drama]

I'm not trying to troll I just think our offense didn't live up to its potential last year. We had a terrible year from Hosmer, less than half a year from Perez, less than a quarter of a year with Cain...and all of these young guys are going into the season with another year under their belt where typically the primes of a lot of careers start around age 24, 25, 26...

but hey, maybe I'm too optimistic