Kansas City and the Month of June

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Perez assigned to Omaha

KANSAS CITY -- Catcher Salvador Perez has been assigned to Triple-A Omaha to continue his road back from left knee surgery.

Perez will report to the Storm Chasers on an injury rehabilitation assignment for their Thursday night game against Round Rock.

"We want to get him back to playing nine innings," manager Ned Yost said. "He caught seven innings yesterday [in Arizona extended camp] with four at-bats. We don't know how long it'll be. It won't be another month, I can tell you that."

This is a great sign. A week or maybe two and we could see him back. No need to rush him, but the sooner the better. He's better defensively than the two we currently have and has at least as good of a bat if not better. Upgrade coming soon!
Paulino leaves game with groin strain

KANSAS CITY -- Felipe Paulino has been through groin injuries before and he doesn't want to risk a more serious problem by pushing himself too hard.

The Royals' big right-hander had to leave Wednesday night's 4-2 loss to the Twins in the first inning because of a strained right groin. He had suffered a similar injury in 2009 while with the Houston Astros which put him on the disabled list. "I was a rookie and I didn't care if it was sore," Paulino said. "I was still pushing and I really pulled my groin and it put me out like a month. So now I feel the same deal in that spot, so I'll try to be little smarter on that point."

He's been by far our best pitcher so this really hurts. Especially considering we can't fill out our rotation with any sort of consistency. Chen and Paulino have been it since Duff went down. Hochevar is hit and miss. If Paulino ends up on the DL again, look for Odorizzi or Monty to be given a shot. Verdugo could get a spot start if needed.
Royals lose Paulino, then series finale to Twins

Paulino, one of the American League's most effective pitchers of late, was drilled above the right knee by Ben Revere's line drive to open the game. Although Paulino remained in the game after that shot, three batters later he suffered a right groin strain.

That occurred as he delivered his last pitch to Justin Morneau, who flied out.

"When I threw the pitch, I felt it pull and when the fly ball went to center field I tried to go back up home plate," Paulino said. "But when I tried to push off, I said, 'No, man!' and I stopped right there. I didn't want to push it. I might miss the next start, but I don't want to miss four or five."

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Royals plan lineup shuffle for interleague

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals are likely to line up with first baseman Eric Hosmer in right field, designated hitter Billy Butler at first base and right fielder Jeff Francoeur in center this weekend at Pittsburgh.

In Interleague play in National League cities, there's no DH and the pitchers hit.

"We're trying to get our best bats in the lineup. You can't have Billy sitting out," manager Ned Yost said. "We're not sitting Hoz out, he's swinging the bat much better now."

This could be bad. I'd feel better with Gordon in CF and Frenchy in LF.
Notes On The Road To Nowhere

It is starting to feel like the Royals are slowly slipping into anonymity: not good enough to be noteworthy and not bad enough to be made fun of.

Last night, Kansas City had to go to their bullpen for eight plus innings of work and quite honestly got decent enough results. Luis Mendoza allowed an inherited runner to score in the first, gave up two more runs in the fifth and Kelvin Herrera was touched for another in the seventh. That is not lock down work obviously, but it should have been good enough against Nick Blackburn and four Minnesota relievers. It wasn’t.

On a six game homestand against maybe the two weakest teams in the American League, the Royals managed to plate just 17 runs in six games on their way to a disappointing 3-3 record. All three wins came when the much maligned starting rotation combined with the much heralded bullpen to toss shutouts. Before the season, I bet you didn’t expect three shutouts in six games at any point against anyone.

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KC calls up slugging prospect Robinson

PITTSBURGH -- At the moment the Royals were announcing the start of pitcher Kyle Zimmer's professional journey, first baseman Clint Robinson was marking the pinnacle of his six-season trek to the team's Major League roster.

While Zimmer's signing press conference was going on Thursday inside Kauffman Stadium, Robinson was stepping onto a bus outside the stadium to join his Kansas City teammates for the flight to Pittsburgh.

In a move that becomes effective on Friday, Robinson was called up from Triple-A Omaha to give the Royals another bat off the bench for the Interleague series against the Pirates. Left-hander pitcher Ryan Verdugo, who spent just two games in KC without playing, was optioned back to the Storm Chasers.

I have mixed emotions. He's only going to get a couple of at bats and then get sent back down. But at least it gives us a big bat off the bench. Surprised they didn't bring Falu back up though...

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Friday Notes

I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little disappointed in the result of the last home stand. If the Royals have any aspirations of contending, they have to do better than 3-3 against teams like Oakland and Minnesota. I guess the fact that after the start this team had that I’m disappointed in a six game stretch where the Royals won half of the games says a lot about how far this team has come. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations of this team after they’ve had such a strong stretch. This is the time of the season when the Royals need to put together a strong stretch if they have any aspirations of getting back into the race.

• Of course, I just don’t see that as a possibility. I think this team still has a chance to get better than they are, and they are 21-17 since their 3-14 start, but I just don’t see enough long winning streaks being able to be put together with the current starting rotation. Maybe Felipe Paulino will make his next start or only miss one, but the Royals are currently running a rotation of Chen, Mazzaro and Hochevar outside of Paulino. I think Will Smith can eventually be a back of the rotation guy in the big leagues, but he’s certainly not there yet, and I think he’d be considered the current fifth starter in spite of being down at AAA. I think the four listed above have a chance to run off four straight good starts, but I don’t see two straight strong enough turns to get a big winning streak.

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It'll be interesting if the OF costs us a game in Pittsburgh or not. We'll get our first test tonight with Frenchy in CF and Hos in RF.

I'm also curious to see how many ABs Clint will get. And will they leave him up for Milwaukee since they head back out on the road with no DH right after that? He's done everything they've asked of him and he's done it well. I know he doesn't have a future in KC unless heaven forbid the Royals trade Country Breakfast for pitching. But he deserves a shot somewhere. All he does is hit well over .300 and hit bombs and drive in runs in Omaha.

The other question seems to be will Myers and/or Odorizzi be called up in June? I honestly think Odorizzi has the best shot of making it up first due to the starting rotation being in chaos. There have been mixed reports on when the Super Two cutoff could be. Some are saying mid to late June and others have said early to mid July. They're going to hold off on both as long as they can. Plus there's the whole 40 man roster thing and who to drop to put these two on.

Sounds like Duff will be moved to the 60 day but that will just allow Sal to come back on the 40 with no other moves required. Personally, if you had to remove two from the 40 my vote would go for Jason Bourgeois and Yuni. I just forgot that Pina should come off the 60 soon as well. That would mean another move would need to be made. Quintero? He's served his purpose but with both of them back he's not really needed. The only other options are if you're willing to sacrifice a couple of guys you don't think will ever make it as a Royal in David Lough or Derrick Robinson.

Only other options are trading someone like Frenchy or Butler or maybe one of the others... It'll be interesting to see what they do to make these moves.

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Toney final piece to Royals-Astros trade

PITTSBURGH -- The deal that brought catcher Humberto Quintero and outfielder Jason Bourgeois to the Royals from the Astros has finally been completed.

The March 20 deal netted Houston left-handed pitcher Kevin Chapman and a player to be named. That player is Minor League outfielder D'Andre Toney, the Royals announced on Sunday.

Toney, 20, was on the Rookie classification roster at Surprise, Ariz., and has been assigned to the Greeneville Astros of the Appalachian League. Toney was selected by the Royals in the 14th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Hardaway High School in Columbus, Ga.

Dayton got screwed over on this trade. A catcher on the verge of retirement and a worthless CF with speed for a future closer and a potential OF with lots of tools. A lot of people were very high on Toney. Sucks to see him go and we get nothing in return. Moore failed on this trade. We could have just signed an old catcher without giving up two future MLB talents.
Paulino was placed on the DL this weekend

PITTSBURGH -- Time ran out for Royals starting pitcher Felipe Paulino, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday as the club recalled right-hander Nate Adcock from Triple-A Omaha.

Paulino, one of the Royals' brightest lights since he's been in the rotation, had to leave last Wednesday night's game against the Twins with a strained right groin. His immediate future was uncertain until now.

"We wanted to give him a couple days to see if he could get better," manager Ned Yost said. "He wouldn't make his next start, and it would be doubtful if he could make the start after that."

I wondered if this were coming. With the groin, they probably don't want to take a chance with him batting and running around the bases. Hopefully he's back in the near future.
Cain getting another look at torn hip flexor

PITTSBURGH -- Center fielder Lorenzo Cain is returning to Kansas City for another look at the torn hip flexor that has put him on the disabled list and recovering at the Royals' camp in Surprise, Ariz.

"He's been sent back to Kansas City, but it's not a serious thing. I think he's slated to go out on [Minor League] rehab next week sometime," manager Ned Yost said.

Cain began the season as the Royals' starting center fielder and his troubles began in the fifth game on April 10 at Oakland, when he banged into the wall while making a catch. He went on the disabled list with a left groin strain and later was sent on a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

I'm thinking Wil will play in CF before Cain does.

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Players Wanted - Apply Now

Dismal.

That is my complete analysis of the three game sweep at the hands of the Pirates.

Currently, Wil Myers is hitting .341/.388/.714 through right at 100 AAA plate appearances. He has been playing centerfield in Omaha, but I have yet to get any definitve review of how he has been playing centerfield. Is he Jeff Francoeur with a touch more range? David DeJesus minus the instincts? Melky Cabrera only…well, Melky Cabrera? Maybe Myers will fall in with the Moustakas syndrome. You know, we all thought that Moustakas might be passable defensively at third, only to see him be a very good defensive third baseman (at least preliminarily). Maybe Myers could be the same sort of deal in center. Maybe.

For fun, I did exhaustively comprehensive research in the last four and one-half minutes, and pulled the leaders in wOBA from Fangraphs and reviewed how many AAA plate appearances each of them had before hitting the major leagues. The results, as you might imagine from such a small sample size is quite varied:

I know financially they want to wait, but I'm not sure how much longer they can afford to do so. Myers is ready. We need someone in CF that can hit and he's the man. Odorizzi also isn't too far away either.

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I decided to check out Kings of Kauffman and may start adding some of their thoughts about all things Royals.

The Monday Rant

Challenge accepted. Kind of.

Last week on Twitter I was challenged to write 7,500 words on Yuniesky Betancourt and why he isn’t the best option for the Royals to be playing second base. I’m sure I could come up with a few descriptive things to say about Betancourt, and I’m sure if pressed into action, I could come up with 7,500 on why he shouldn’t be on the Royals roster. I’m sure of it. But there’s little reason to go there now, that horse has been beaten dead for a while.

The first acquisition of Betancourt via trade was at least justifiable from the standpoint of there not being any other shortstop in the system capable of playing the position, and there was at least some buy low characteristics of the deal. In the end, it wouldn’t prove to be a complete disaster because at the very least Betancourt’s ability to stay healthy allowed the Royals to buy time to find his replacement.

The second acquisition last offseason made little-to-no-sense given his history as a below-average defensive shortstop, his history with the Royals as a negative-2.1fWAR(!) in 2009* and 0.9 fWAR in 2010, and the Royals really already had someone on the roster capable of doing what he does in Johnny Giavotella. Oh, that, and he creates a whole lot of outs offensively.

*Admittedly part of that season was with Seattle

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No offense, pitchers

Prior to the season, I wrote of the Super Bullpen. A group of awesome bullpen arms and some suggestions on how to utilize such a group to help a less than impressive starting rotation. So far, the Royals have deployed their Super Bullpen in an extremely effective way. The entire pitching staff sports a 4.15 ERA*, which includes a 5.12 starting rotation ERA.

*ERA is an imperfect stat, but for clarity and simplicity, we’re using it today.

It’s not exactly a dominant staff, but in the Royals division it’s certainly competitive. The following chart shows each team in the AL Central’s staff ERA (ERA), Starters ERA (sERA) and Relief ERA (rERA).

Numbers don't lie. I have faith that the offense will get better. Hopefully sooner rather than later. And I think both the offense and the starting pitching will get a nice bump when a couple of Major League ready players in Omaha finally get the call.

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It was only a matter of time. The greatest 2nd baseman Yost has ever known was just recalled from AAA to KC and Gio is going back down. Getz and the Yunigma... :banghead:

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Sanchez has been activated after some lackluster starts in Omaha and will start tonight in the meltdown.......game against the Brewers...

Greinke reflects on time in KC after strong start

KANSAS CITY -- Back at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since being traded from the Royals to the Brewers, Zack Greinke did some things he used to do when he called the stadium home.

He got his hair cut by "the haircut guy from back in the day." He said hello to Oxygen Dave, his "favorite fan ever." And, most importantly for him, he threw a great game, allowing just one run over seven innings.

Just like old times.

I don't know if him returning to KC is possible or not, but I like to think about a rotation of Greinke (ACE), Odorizzi, Paulino, Monty and Chen/Duffy(eventually)/Lamb. Potentially pretty solid.

Mendoza's stellar outing leads Royals

KANSAS CITY -- If the pitching matchup was Zack Greinke vs. Luis Mendoza, who'd you think would be working on a no-hitter? Wrong. It was Mendoza.

Mendoza didn't get his no-hitter, but the Royals got the Interleague victory, 2-1, over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night with 24,258 fans witnessing Greinke's return to Kauffman Stadium. Greinke pitched with his usual efficiency for seven innings but wasn't involved in the decision.

"You knew Zack was going to be Zack," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "You knew he was going to be tough coming back."
That he was, giving up his only run on Alex Gordon's leadoff homer in the first inning, and then settling into an outing reminiscent of many he had on the same field as a Royal.

Who saw this game coming?

Happy Mendoza Day

The Prodigal Greinke returns and on paper it’s a mismatch. One Cy Young Award winner against one PCL pitcher of the year. One who was dealt in a blockbuster in exchange for four players against one who was acquired for cash considerations. One who is one of the best starters in the NL against one who is an emergency starter used only because everyone else is hurt.

Yet it was Luis Mendoza who was the starter of the game.

Baseball is funny sometimes.

Mendoza finished with a Game Score of 68. That’s tied with almost every Felipe Paulino start this season for sixth best this season. (Seriously, Paulino has made three starts with a Game Score of 68. He’s awesome. He’s also hurt.) Here’s the top starts by Game Score:

The Royals Are Starting To Get Healthy

It’s been a rough year. The Royals play on the field hasn’t been great, but they’ve also been struck by the injury bug. As a result, the Royals opened the year without their franchise catcher, their closer of the last four and a half years, a key starter and have seen injuries befall their most talented young starter, two of their second basemen, their prospective everyday center fielder and other players, mostly pitchers.

Again, it’s been a rough year.

Danny Duffy, Joakim Soriaand Blake Woodare done for the year. Tommy Johnsurgery has claimed all three. Felipe Paulinohit the DL after an awkward landing while fielding an infield grounder. Salvador Perezand Manuel Pina both had meniscus surgeries in spring training. Lorenzo Cainhasn’t played two full series after straining his groin, then having the ailment re-diagnosed as a hip flexor and having two rehab stints aborted.

Thankfully, though, the Royals are starting to see some players return.

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Royals option Coleman to AAA so Sanchez can show he doesn't only suck in Omaha, but in KC too

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Bullpen doing the job for Royals

KANSAS CITY -- When Ned Yost pulled Luis Mendoza in the seventh inning of Tuesday night's 2-1 victory over the Brewers, some might have been scratching their heads. Mendoza, after all, had only surrendered his first hit of the game moments earlier, and his pitch count hadn't even reached 75.

But no matter how good Mendoza had been, Yost was placing the game in the hands of perhaps his strongest unit: the Royals bullpen.

The relief corps threw three shutout innings in the win, continuing their recent trend. The bullpen has thrown 13 straight scoreless innings, lowering its overall ERA to 2.84 heading into Wednesday's game against the Brewers. Since May 20, the bullpen ERA is 1.81, the best in the Majors.

Royals use walk to walk off with win in 11th

First, the Royals had to wipe out the Brewers' 3-1 lead in the ninth, and they didn't do that until there were two outs.

That's when Alcides Escobar's triple forced the game into extra innings. Facing Brewers closer John Axford, Eric Hosmer and Moustakas each drew walks, then both scored when Escobar pounded a drive into deep left-center field.

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The Marvelous Mr. Escobar

Two on, two out, bottom of the ninth with the Royals down by two. It looked and felt like many other nights this season: the trailing Royals would do enough in the ninth to make it interesting, but ultimately not get the big hit. We have seen all too often.

Then, John Axford threw his fourth straight 97+ mph fastball to Alcides Escobar and Escobar, as he has a tendency to do with fastballs drilled it for a game tying triple. A couple innings later, Mike Moutaskas drew his third walk of the game to ‘drive’ in the winning run. Say what you want about the level of play (at times very good, at times pretty bad), but these two games with Milwaukee have been interesting.

Back to Escobar.

At the end of April, Alcides was hitting .295/.329/.449. I don’t think anyone really expected him to slug at that rate for an entire season and he didn’t. By the end of May, Escobar’s triple slash was .303/.344/.404 and after last night, it stands at .292/.330/.392. Let’s get one thing clear: Alcides Escobar can hit .292/.330/.392 from here until the end of his contract and I will have not one complaint about it.

In Defense Of Kevin Seitzer

Let’s face it, the Royals’ offense has been a big disappointment this year. Of course, all of us saw this coming, right? We knew the pitching staff would have an ERA just over 4 and be roughly around league average in runs per game through 60 games, while the offense would struggle to score runs nightly. No wait, that’s not right. Instead, the offense was supposed to help mask the rotation’s shortcomings and keep the Royals in games until the bullpen could take over.

Baseball is a funny thing sometimes. Plans go awry. A genius coach one year is an idiot the next. And then the fans who loved that coach take to Twitter and message boards calling for his head.

Of course, I refer to Kevin Seitzer here. I think right now the level of grumbling is pretty low, but there is some out there. It doesn’t help that the Royals have scored 16 runs in their last seven games.

I don’t know how much blame Seitzer deserves. Like most coaches, he probably got too much credit last year when the Royals scored 730 runs, their highest mark since 2006. So he’s probably getting too much of the blame this year with the Royals next to last in the AL at 230 runs.

For comparison, here are the Royals’ splits by position in 2011:

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Colon called up from AAA. CRob sent back to Omaha. Duffy to 60 day. Not sure why they didn't leave CRob up since they're heading back on the road where they'll likely need more bats. Oh well.