KC Royals - July

[SubGod22]

Royals may look to restock via Deadline deals

They've got outfielders in Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur, both of whom have reinvigorated flagging careers; a corner infielder in Wilson Betemit, who switch-hits and does it well, and pitchers in Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis or Kyle Davies, all starters who could fill a rotation vacancy somewhere.

Those are the most obvious possible trade pieces that the Royals have on their roster. But what would they want in return?

Their biggest needs are top-of-the-line starting pitchers and a right-handed hitter with power. And, yeah, granting those wishes on the list with players who will have immediate impact is not very likely.

Not without sacrificing some hot young players, and the Royals are building around the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow and Danny Duffy, so that's not going to happen.

"Any deal that we would potentially make would be something that we felt would help us long term," general manager Dayton Moore said. "We'll be open-minded as we move forward, as we always are, but there's no specific strategy in place where we're trying to push a certain player."

If the Royals are going to deal any of their veterans, probably the most they can get in return are more young prospects who might help the cause in the next year or two. That's when the Royals' master plan has them maturing and blossoming into contenders.

He said Davies

[SubGod22]

This could have gone in either thread, but I'm sticking it here... Talking Future Because The Present Is No Fun

Well, here we are at the exact halfway point of 2011 and our Kansas City Royals have just been swept by the San Diego Padres. That is the same San Diego team that, despite three wins in a row, still sports a record in the lowest quarter of major league baseball. The sweep leaves Kansas City with the worst record in the American League and the second worst record in all of baseball behind the Houston Astros.

We are entering prime trade rumor time (I’m not sure exactly how many times I logged onto MLBTradeRumors yesterday, but it was more than enough) and you can bet that more columns will follow speculating on possible trades and potential moves. For today, however, this Royals squad has worn me out. I don’t want to discuss Melky Cabrera or Chris Getz or, heaven forbid, Kyle Davies. Aaron Crow to the rotation? Joakim Soria on the block? Not today.

Instead, let’s take a look past 2011 and, for the most part, past 2012. While it may not necessarily be an ‘everything’s coming up roses’ sort of list, it is at least something other than the 2011 Kansas City Royals.

Second Half Crystal Ball

So we’ve reached the midway point in what was supposed to be a transitional season. A season where the young guys would start to filter in and the Royals would stop finishing in last place. The young guys are here, but last place is still the reality. More than anything, I blame the Cleveland Indians, who are still playing way above their heads.

Normally, I’ll hand out a report card so to speak at the All-Star Break, which has always served as the de facto half way point, even if most of the time teams are on their 90th game of the season.

So while you breathlessly await my grades, I figured it was a good time to throw some second half predictions out there.

[RoyalShock]

Re: KC Royals - July

Royals may look to restock via Deadline deals

They've got outfielders in Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur, both of whom have reinvigorated flagging careers; a corner infielder in Wilson Betemit, who switch-hits and does it well, and pitchers in Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis or Kyle Davies, all starters who could fill a rotation vacancy somewhere.

Those are the most obvious possible trade pieces that the Royals have on their roster. But what would they want in return?

Their biggest needs are top-of-the-line starting pitchers and a right-handed hitter with power. And, yeah, granting those wishes on the list with players who will have immediate impact is not very likely.

Not without sacrificing some hot young players, and the Royals are building around the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow and Danny Duffy, so that's not going to happen.

"Any deal that we would potentially make would be something that we felt would help us long term," general manager Dayton Moore said. "We'll be open-minded as we move forward, as we always are, but there's no specific strategy in place where we're trying to push a certain player."

If the Royals are going to deal any of their veterans, probably the most they can get in return are more young prospects who might help the cause in the next year or two. That's when the Royals' master plan has them maturing and blossoming into contenders.

He said Davies

It's really not that surprising that Davies would be mentioned . . .

starters who could fill a rotation vacancy somewhere

That "somewhere" could be an AA or AAA roster!

[SubGod22]

From Rany. It's long, as is the norm. Royals Today: Mid-Season Update. I haven't had a chance to read thru it as I don't have the time now. But he usually has some pretty good points and loves his numbers.

[ShockerFever]

I've tried to keep my lips sealed regarding the Royals this year, but back to the worst record in the AL..

Who saw THAT coming? :roll:

[SubGod22]

I've tried to keep my lips sealed regarding the Royals this year, but back to the worst record in the AL..

Who saw THAT coming? :roll:

With about 1/3 of the team being rookies? Nobody.... :roll:

[SubGod22]

Controversial call costs KC

I can't see anything in the video provided. Horrible way to lose a game. It's also troubling how animated the ump is about it.

[RoyalShock]

The ump clearly didn't see what he thought he did. All Crow did was step off the rubber in a textbook manner before entering the stretch.

[SB Shock]

The key thing was he was not trying to gain an advantage so whatever the umpire did see should have been a no call.

[SubGod22]

Aaron Crow is an All-Star, but Alex Gordon is a victim

An almost non-existent part of this process is looking at which players have out-performed their peers and should represent their teams at the game. It seems to be at best a tertiary criteria for selection. So given the way the system works now, Aaron Crow was the obvious selection. However, he’s far from the most valuable player on the team. That distinction belongs to Alex Gordon, who has been the best left-fielder in the American League.
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Among left fielders in the American League, Alex Gordon is 1st in fWAR, 2nd in wOBA, 1st in OBP, 2nd in SLG. He’s been an excellent defender, an excellent hitter and he’s been doing it for the entire season. He’s been mercifully placed into the Final Vote where he will almost undoubtedly lose to a player from a better team in a larger market. Meanwhile, his teammate who hasn’t come any where near being as productive as he has (nor jerked around near as much), will be representing the Royals at the All-Star game.
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The worst part of this whole debacle is the fact that for the 4th year in the last 6 there will almost assuredly be no Royals in the box score of the All-Star game. In the modern “it counts now because we can’t have a tie for some reason in an exhibition game” All-Star game, pitchers are left on the bench in case of exta-innings. Barring some extraordinary scenario or a mandate from the Commissioner’s office to ensure every team’s representative makes it into the game, Crow will languish on the bench. That will leave the thousands of Royals fans feeling a bit empty after the game.
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As fans of one of the worst franchises in sports, we have few moments of pride in our team. The chance to see one of our own on the same field with the superstars is one of them. Watching Soria enter the game and saying “Hey, that’s our guy! Show ‘em what you got!” is a moment of true pride for Royals fans. Watching one of our own take the plate is a fuzzy memory that last took place in the 2004 when Ken Harvey went 0-for-1. The last time we got to stand up in our living rooms and cheer for a Royal getting a hit in the All-Star game was in 1989 when Bo Jackson won the game’s MVP award.

[SubGod22]

The Stench of Losing

I didn’t see the walk-off balk when it happened. It was a holiday and I was with my family. Fireworks trumps Royals baseball these days. Sort of… I was still following the game on my phone.

When I saw what happened – that All-Star Aaron Crow balked in the winning run – I laughed, send off a Tweet about the Buddy Bell Corollary (Help me out people, is this a corollary or an axiom? We need to settle this because it comes up at least once a month.) about never saying you hit rock bottom and then went about my business of drinking beer and shooting bottle rockets at my neighbor who is a Cardinals fan.

I’m numb.

Seriously… I just can’t get worked up about the way this organization loses. Not anymore. Seagulls in the outfield? Check. Letting a catchable flyball drop between a pair of outfielders? Uh-huh. Kyle Davies? Ohhhh, yeah.

At this point, if a T-Rex stomped out of the Royals bullpen in left and smashed Alex Gordon while he was trying to make a catch with two down in the top of the ninth, my reaction would pretty much be to shrug my shoulders and go hunt some nachos.

The Royals are my novocain.

Don’t take that the wrong way… I still love this team. It’s part of my DNA, part of who I am. Nothing will change that. (If 10 years of the dream team of Allard Baird and Dayton Moore can’t kill fandom, it’s damn near rock solid.) I just don’t get surprised at what I see on the field.

A nice read from Royals Authority. Starting pitching is the big problem right now. I still have faith that Monty and Duffy will be fine and near the top of the rotation in the near future. Paulino has been solid. Hochevar has his bad moments but has been better. But there are still a lot of question marks. Monty has struggled but nobody seems worried. He's been working on a few things and they think he's about to put it together. Duffy improves every time he goes out. We still need another arm at the top of the rotation. Chen and Paulino are no better than 4's. Hochevar could be a 3. Duffy isn't quite ready to be a 1 or 2. Monty is still in AAA and not quite ready. Odorizzi just got promoted to AA. Maybe he'll figure in sometime next year. Lamb is on the shelf for awhile. Dwyer looks like he'll be in the pen. I'm not sure we have anyone else on the farm that'll be ready next year. Not early next year anyway.

Maybe they can find something at the deadline but I don't think they'll come away with anything more than an end of the rotation guy.

[SubGod22]

Gordon, Soria win Royals' monthly honors

In June, Gordon batted .306, including a .357 mark during his 14-game hitting streak. He led the team in doubles (6) and walks (14) and was second in several other categories. He also led Major League outfielders with eight assists.

Paulino's first win helps Royals even series

This was Paulino's first victory in almost 13 months -- since June 10, 2010, when he was pitching for the Houston Astros and beat the Chicago Cubs. This was his seventh start for Kansas City since being obtained from the Colorado Rockies on May 26. His Royals record is now 1-2 with an ERA of 3.38. Overall this season he's 1-6 with a 4.31 ERA.

Paulino ran up 122 pitches in his six innings, getting nine strikeouts. That's a heavy load for any pitcher to carry, but he's used to it, going 117 and 118 pitches in his previous two starts.

"I extend him out more than I do anybody else because he's a big, strong kid," Yost said. "He can handle it."

In fact, Paulino embraces the work.

"I'm feeling strong right now," Paulino said. "I worked so hard for this to get the right opportunity in Kansas City, and every time I pitch in a game I give you everything I've got."

Alcides Escobar, a .366 hitter in his last 25 games, powered a two-run triple to right-center field in the second inning to give Paulino a 3-0 lead.

[RoyalShock]

A nice read from Royals Authority. Starting pitching is the big problem right now. I still have faith that Monty and Duffy will be fine and near the top of the rotation in the near future. Paulino has been solid. Hochevar has his bad moments but has been better. But there are still a lot of question marks. Monty has struggled but nobody seems worried. He's been working on a few things and they think he's about to put it together. Duffy improves every time he goes out. We still need another arm at the top of the rotation. Chen and Paulino are no better than 4's. Hochevar could be a 3. Duffy isn't quite ready to be a 1 or 2. Monty is still in AAA and not quite ready. Odorizzi just got promoted to AA. Maybe he'll figure in sometime next year. Lamb is on the shelf for awhile. Dwyer looks like he'll be in the pen. I'm not sure we have anyone else on the farm that'll be ready next year. Not early next year anyway.

Maybe they can find something at the deadline but I don't think they'll come away with anything more than an end of the rotation guy.

I actually think Paulino has the stuff to be a #3 starter and Hochevar is the 4/5 guy. Luke has yet to have a league-average or better season (not counting his "cup of coffee" in 2007). Paulino has put up a 3.38 ERA for KC in seven starts so far this year. I'm not sure you can find seven consecutive starts in Luke's history that can compare (I haven't actually looked). Paulino and Hochevar share a similar walk rate but Paulino's K rate is much better and he appears so far to be more consistent.

I just hope he's not having a Robinson Tejeda season where he teases you into thinking he's a long-term starter, only to regress the next year.

As for our 1/2 starters, I'm not convinced we actually have them in the system yet. Monty needs to dominate AAA like Greinke did. Lamb could be that guy after surgery but we're at least two years from finding that out. And it's too soon to know if Odirizzi or Arguelles project to be that good. I fear KC will end up having a stable of guys that are no better than #3 starters and will struggle to sign or trade for top-of-the-rotation talent.

[SubGod22]

I agree with Paulino, just trying not to get too excited about him. His history shows he'll blow up soon. Waiting to see if that actually happens. He does throw a lot of pitches and I'm not sure how that will play in the long run. Luke needs to manage to stop having that one disasterous inning he runs into every other start or so. I hope the keep Duffy in KC all year so he can continue to work and progress. He could be a 2 type. I have high hopes for Odorizzi. We'll see how he finishes the year at NWA. He gets his first start tomorrow.

I hope Monty has a good outing today and starts to get it together. I'm not giving up on him, but he needs to get his control in order. Lamb is looking at 2013 maybe. I know TJ surgery isn't as bad as it once was. Wish we had a few more arms closer to the bigs. They keep moving people to the pen. Baumann? He's looked good so far this year. Not a top of the rotation guy though. So we're back to a bunch of 3-5 types. If the offense continues to produce maybe that'll be enough for a year or two.

Speaking of which, Giavotella and Cain should be up in the next few weeks. Cain probably will be, but sadly, I don't think Giavotella will get his shot this year. Yost loves Getz...

[SubGod22]

Noticed that Hos just hit a solo homer to give KC a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd. I believe that gives the young man 8.