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**SubGod22** · August 2, 2012, 09:18 AM

Butler, Holland named top Royals in July

Butler led the team with four home runs in July with 16 RBIs. He hit .327 with a club-leading .404 on-base percentage, as well, and hit a memorable walk-off home run to beat the Mariners on July 18.

Holland, the team's newly named closer, posted a 2.70 ERA in 12 July games, which was the lowest among Royals pitchers with multiple appearances in the month. He struck out 17 hitters and limited them to a .213 batting average over 13 1/3 innings.

Royals recall Jeffress to fill Broxton's spot

In 37 games with Omaha this season, Jeffress is 5-4 with a 4.97 ERA. He has struck out 61 batters in 58 innings.

Manager Ned Yost said Jeffress would slide into the bullpen and pitch in a middle-relief role. He said the decision to recall Jeffress stemmed from increased consistency from the righty.

He has been pitching better, but I'd still have rather seen Joseph get called up.
Eary runs, Mendoza's strong start lead Royals

KANSAS CITY - Luis Mendoza had his own family cheering section right behind home plate on Wednesday night and they had a lot to yell about.

Mendoza pitched 7 1/3 superb innings to give the Royals their second straight victory over Cleveland, 5-2, after they'd returned to Kauffman Stadium with the burden of five straight losses on the road.

Perhaps all it took was a change from cool Seattle to 99-degree Missouri. Whatever it was, the Royals suddenly are as hot as the thermometer. This marked the first time the Royals have won back-to-back games since June 29 when they won their fourth straight at Minnesota. That's right, more than a month ago. Don't forget, they staggered through July with a 7-19 record.
They got a lift by winning the homestand opener, 8-3, over the Indians.

A Royals Opinion: Deadline And Beyond

Sam Selman
My last post I talked about 2012 draft picks Kyle Zimmer and Colin Rodgers. Who I left out was 2012 2nd round pick Sam Selman. So far he has been dominant at Idaho Falls, posting a 1.67 ERA in 32.1 innings. What’s even more impressive is that he has 44 strikeouts in that time. That is averaging a ridiculous 12.2 SO/9. Like Zimmer it is thought that he could move through the system at a quicker pace. It is looking like the Royals got several good young pitchers is this draft and maybe just maybe they can solve their rotation issues in the future.

That was my favorite section. I could see Selman and Zimmer and perhaps Rodgers making it to KC in '14. If all 3 can keep it up, I think we'll be alright. And there are still potential starters in Adam, Marks, Ventura, Lamb, Duffy, Sulbaran, Marimon and I'm sure I'm missing a couple. We know they won't all work out, but if we can get 3 or 4 out of that group we'll be ok. And some could end up being very good relievers as well.

**SubGod22** · August 2, 2012, 01:03 PM

Trade Deadline Mostly A Success For Royals

The July 31 trade deadline is a great thing for bloggers and for bad baseball teams. For us bloggers, it’s an easy topic of discussion, especially if you want to trash the general manager (“Why didn’t he trade Player A for Players B, C, D, and the other team’s best prospect?” Not that I’ve seen any Royals bloggers doing that.). For bad baseball teams, it’s a chance to turn players who aren’t part of the future into players who might someday be useful.

It’s easy to say the Royals should have traded Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Mijares, and anyone else. Of course, we don’t know who they tried to trade, or what offers were available for those guys. I am mildly surprised they did not trade Mijares—contending teams will always want a left-handed reliever who excels at getting lefties out. But since he’s under team control through 2014, the pressure to trade him was not as great as it would have been if he were an impending free agent. I don’t mind keeping Mijares around for a while.

Besides, there is always a good chance that Yuni or Frenchy can be traded in August—all they have to do is clear waivers, which I would think they could easily do. It could be an indictment of Dayton Moore that he has both these players on his roster, and neither one is good enough to attract much trade value. But as I said, we don’t know what offers there were for those players. I think we can assume there wasn’t much, though.

Valid points. And it will be interesting to see what Moore and the Royals choose to do with Soria. 8 mil is a lot of money for a guy coming off his 2nd TJS. And that money could definitely be used to try and land a top of the rotation type.

I won't complain if they pick up the option, but I could see where it'd make more sense not to. Especially when you have guys like Holland, Herrera and Crow in the pen that could be very good closers. I'm starting to lean towards not picking it up. They could always decline the option and try to resign him for less. But it may be better to just cut ties and wish him well.

**RoyalShock** · August 2, 2012, 02:04 PM

I think they brought Jeffress up because he's a hard-throwing right-hander - somewhat like Broxton. It may also be to give him one last shot to show his stuff. I'm not optimistic.

As for Soria, it's time to either see if he can start or decline the option. We all know that pitchers throw harder in relief. I don't think Soria's elbow can deal with it anymore. Maybe it will hold up better under a little less stress.

**Awesome Sauce Malone** · August 2, 2012, 08:38 PM

one more month before the Royals call up Myers so he can sit on the bench and pinch run on the offset chance there is a blow out win.

**SubGod22** · August 6, 2012, 10:37 AM

Originally posted by Awesome Sauce Malone View Post

one more month before the Royals call up Myers so he can sit on the bench and pinch run on the offset chance there is a blow out win.

I certainly hope they're not that stupid. But it is what they've done with Gio when he's been up.

I've fallen a bit behind as I was asked to work the MAYB National Tournament this weekend so I'm playing catch up and probably going to miss a few things. Kuntz replaces Sisson on Royals' coaching staff. Personally, I like this move. The Royals have made so many baserunning mistakes under Sisson that I have to believe it's his teachings. I like the Royals being aggressive, but there's a difference between aggressive and stupid. I also think Kuntz is the type of guy that will have a positive impact on the younger guys. I never understood why they took him out of this role in the first place.

And in even better news, Royals designate Yuniesky Betancourt for assignment. What slightly lowers my excitement is that it wasn't done for Gio. They're bringing up Tony Abreu. I will say he's had a pretty good year but strikes out a ton. I'd rather see Falu or Gio up. But at least Yuni is gone.

**SubGod22** · August 6, 2012, 01:58 PM

Friday Notes

We’ve reached the dog days, and it feels like we’re there as fans. Maybe it’s just me, but I can safely say that I’m having a harder time than usual keeping up with yet another lost season for the Royals. I think I’ve been over this before, but maybe it’s the expectations. Or maybe I’m just tired of the losing. Whatever it is, the dog days of August aren’t just for the players this year. But for some reason I keep going out there and watching every night. I either have a sickness or I really care about you guys. Let’s just get to the notes before this gets sappy.

It looks like Jeff Francoeur is going to play tonight, but I think the Royals may have come to the conclusion that Francoeur just couldn’t stay in the lineup anymore because he was hurting them so bad. A lot of people compare him and his season to Eric Hosmer, but they’re forgetting the big difference that Francoeur is in his prime and likely will not be getting any better. This is a learning experience for Eric Hosmer. We may look back in 10 years and be able to accurately say that Hosmer had a flash in the pan rookie year and just wasn’t very good (I don’t think that’ll be the case), but for now you stick with the upside and bench the veteran who just isn’t good. Francoeur will get some time, I think, but it’ll be mostly against lefties. Hopefully he can build a little value and the Royals can find a taker for him in the offseason. It certainly hasn’t hurt the case against him (and Betancourt) that the Royals offense has produced some runs in the games without them.

I like the comments on Billy. Couldn't agree more.

The Broxton Trade.

Five years ago, the Royals traded free-agent-to-be Octavio Dotel at the trading deadline. In return, they received Kyle Davies.

Two years ago, the Pirates traded free-agent-to-be Octavio Dotel at the trading deadline. In return, they received James McDonald.

In those two transactions, we can see the agony and the ecstacy of trading a relief rental. If you’re really lucky (and shrewd), you trade Dotel for McDonald (and Andrew Lambo), immediately put McDonald in your rotation, and he gives you a 3.52 ERA in 11 starts the rest of the season. McDonald hasn’t left the Pirates rotation since; after a solid 2011 (4.21 ERA but just 171 innings in 31 starts), he’s taken a step forward this year, with a 3.38 ERA in 131 innings so far, one of the biggest reasons why the Pirates are still in the playoff race. McDonald isn’t even arbitration-eligible yet; he won’t be a free agent until after the 2015 season.

If you’re not lucky, you trade Dotel for a minor leaguer who never reaches the major leagues.

If you’re really unlucky (or just a poor judge of talent), you trade Dotel for Davies, a pitcher who looks good enough to pitch in the majors – and pitches just barely good enough to keep his job for four years. Davies made 99 starts with the Royals, with a 5.34 ERA, and that constitutes the good part of his career. He was actually worth 1.6 bWAR during his time with the Royals, so he was nominally better than a replacement-level pitcher – but given the millions spent on him, the roster spot he occupied, and the opportunities he was granted, you could argue that the Royals would have been better off trading Dotel for shares in Lehman Brothers.

If you want to blast the Royals for their ineffectual trade history at the deadline, you can start here – my friend Soren Petro certainly has. The Pirates traded the exact same player, only two years older, and got a pitcher who was willing to step into their rotation immediately and become a mid-rotation starter in time. The Royals got Kyle Davies.

I enjoy me some Rany. And he goes much farther than just this...

**SubGod22** · August 7, 2012, 08:43 AM

Mijares heads to Giants in waiver deal. The article doesn't state what we get in return. I'll find it somewhere.

Mendoza's efforts spoiled in eigth inning

Monday's contest followed a July 15 matchup in Kansas City in which Sale also got the best Mendoza. In that outing, Sale tossed eight innings of one-run ball to earn the win, while Mendoza allowed two runs in 7 1/2 innings.

Mendoza has a 3.61 ERA in his last six starts but is just 2-4 in that span.

"He's been great lately," Gordon said. "We just haven't been scoring runs for him."
Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur each homered for the Royals. Francoeur's came in the fifth, while Butler's, his career-high-tying 21st, came in the seventh.

Mendoza may have turned himself into a solid pitcher. Maybe he does have a spot in the rotation next year. If he could get some run support he'd look even better.

And an answer to the first post...Royals Literally Give Jose Mijares Away To San Francisco Giants

Jose Mijares has thrown 38.2 innings as a Royal. Over that span, he has a 2.56 ERA, a 1.267 WHIP and a 37/13 K/BB ratio. He’s making $950,000 this year and has two years of control left after 2012.

He’s also a left-handed pitcher, a commodity during the playoff push.

And the Royals let him go for nothing. The Giants put in a waiver claim and the Royals didn’t seek out a trade. It’s not clear if they passed him through waivers and simply let the Giants have him or if they made some mistake in the waiver process that allowed him to be claimed for nothing, but what is clear is that he’s now a San Francisco Giant.

How do they let him go and not get anything in return? Not even cash? I don't know what to think about this...

**SubGod22** · August 8, 2012, 09:48 AM

Royals' late offense ends Chen's winless streak

Chen tossed 6 2/3 strong innings to earn his first win in seven starts as the Royals beat the White Sox, 5-2, at U.S. Cellular Field to halt a five-game road losing streak.

Alex Gordon drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh and Billy Butler set a career high with his 22nd home run in the eighth as the Royals won for the fifth time in their last eight games.

A Royals Opinion: Moving Through August

Kyle Smith and Sam Selman
I consistently lead off my posts with something negative. Mainly because the Royals are awful yet again. Yet when someone has starts like Kyle Smith and Sam Selman had last night, it is worthy to lead-off. Smith pitched 7 inning gave up 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and 12 strikeouts. In 40.2 innings at Kane County he has 54 strikeouts and only 12 walks. He is only 19 years old and showing that he may be something in this Royals Organization. Meanwhile Sam Selman pitched 5 innings giving up just 1 hit, 0 runs, 2 walks and 11 Strikeouts. 10 of the strikeouts were swinging. In 41.1 innings at Idaho Falls he has 62 strikeouts and only 15 walks. Both of these guys are putting up great numbers and it will be exciting to see what they can do in the years to come.

#Country Breakfast
Billy Butler is just an all around great hitter that sometimes it is easy to take his season for granted. He has nothing but great seasons since becoming a Royal; however, this season’s power surge has been a welcome addition. He has been moving up the all-time Royals list in hits, doubles and RBIs, but until this year he had been known as having “doubles power”. Well last night home run number 22 was hit. While it is unlikely, baring a huge couple of weeks, that he breaks the illusive Royals Home Run Record, the fact that he has finally showing really good power only helps this team in the future. Everyone you have been put on Balboni watch!

**SubGod22** · August 9, 2012, 08:48 AM

Butler 'fits' power game in offensive arsenal

Yost credited Butler's increased offseason conditioning for him reaching the 20-homer plateau for the second time in his six-year career, the other coming in 2009 (21). Butler hit only 19 and 15 homers the last two years, respectively, but moved this winter to Arizona near the Royals' Spring Training complex in Surprise.

"[He] showed up to Spring Training in the best shape I've ever seen him in and he's maintained it," Yost said.

Butler's increased power hasn't negatively affected the rest of his game. He entered Wednesday batting .301 (.298 career hitter), reaching base at a .370 clip (nine points above his career on-base percentage of .361) and has struck out 70 times (his 162-game average is 93). He also earned his first All-Star nod this season.

I hate to say it as I love me some Country Breakfast, but they may have to look into trading him in the winter. He'd get a pretty decent return. He doesn't offer a lot on D, but he's a very good offensive player who should hit .300, hit 25 or so HRs and drive in 100. You know what you're going to get with him. I'm torn on the idea though, but he could get a decent starting pitcher...

Guthrie pins down White Sox for first KC victory

Sneak Peek: Free Agent Pitchers The Royals Should Consider This Offseason

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you know the Royals have one glaring need, a shortcoming that will prevent the team from ever reaching the playoffs if it isn’t addressed. Yes, they need a second baseman. Yes, they need someone in the bullpen to step up (hopefully Greg Holland) and be the closer. Yes, they need clutch hits. Yes, they need Eric Hosmer to find himself and they need to promote Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi. But all of these needs are trumped by one big hairy gnarling deficiency – Starting pitching.

Prior to the recent trading deadline, conventional wisdom indicated the Royals were seeking major league ready starting pitching to help their struggling staff. The Royals possess the trading chips that could have secured a big name such as the Cub’s #1, Matt Garza, but they were unwilling to part with them. When all you’re offering is Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur, Jonathan Broxton, and/or Jose Mijares, you aren’t going to get much in return.

This lack of movement provides us with a clue that it’s unlikely the Royals plan to open up the prospect vault and trade any of their blue chip minor leaguers anytime soon. This leaves us with the hope that one of the Royals promising pitchers on the farm will suddenly develop into a superstar, which is not likely anytime soon, or maybe, just maybe David Glass might finally consider writing a check during free agency for a legitimate arm to lead the club.

Based on experience, I realize it’s unlikely the Royals will pursue any truly big names, other than the slight possibility that they might go after Greinke. However, there will be a few “affordable” pitchers available in the coming free agency period who I think the Royals should consider next off season. I’ll give you my short list showing the current status of these pitchers, and with the exception of Greinke and possibly Jackson, I don’t think the Glass family can make the excuse that any of these guys are too expensive. Any one (or better yet – two) of these players could provide a positive impact for the club in 2013.

**SubGod22** · August 10, 2012, 09:47 AM

Butler leads Royals' hit parade against O's

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles gave away jersey T-shirts with pitcher Wei-Yin Chen's No. 16 and name in Mandarin on the back. Fans barely had a chance to slip into them before Chen gave away four runs to the Royals without getting a single out.

With Billy Butler belting three extra-base hits, including a three-run homer, the Royals and left-hander Will Smith dominated Baltimore, 8-2, on Thursday night at Camden Yards. It was the Royals' third straight victory and ended the Orioles' five-game streak.

Butler was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle, but his first-inning home run gave Smith some nice breathing room. And Smith's strong seven-inning performance followed back-to-back victories by Bruce Chen and Jeremy Guthrie, and a solid outing by Luis Mendoza, all at Chicago.

Who would have though Country Breakfast would miss the cycle because of a single?

Friday Notes

A good week of baseball can do a lot to change a person’s mood toward the season. I don’t know about you, but I remember when I was younger and I’d sit down to watch SportsCenter, I never wanted to watch the highlights if they lost, but I never wanted to miss it if the Royals won. That hasn’t changed today as I almost never watch Quick Pitch after a Royals loss, but I find myself tuning in on the days they win. This is still a team sadly going nowhere, but winning is still more fun than losing. I know a lot of people would look at this team as the same old teases if they go on and win some games and hurt their draft position, but next year’s draft is considered pretty weak anyway. Oh well. To the notes!

I’m making a conscious effort to talk more about Billy Butler. He’s just so easy to forget about because he consistently puts up these numbers every single year. It’s very easy to get caught up in complaining about Hosmer’s slump or the starting pitching or the fact that Yost called for a bunt in the fourth, but Billy Butler just continues to hit and he’s having probably his best season to date. The OPS is higher than it’s ever been and the doubles have turned into homers. He’s even set his career high this season and looks like he’s on the way to 30 for the year. You all know that, but I wanted to make sure Butler got some publicity because I feel like he deserves even more than he gets.

**SubGod22** · August 10, 2012, 10:19 AM

Decision Time For The Royals

Let’s start with the good news. The Yuniesky Betancourt Era (version 2.0) is over. I was at Kauffman Stadium last Friday night, and I just stared in amazement when Yuni’s stats were on the scoreboard. With an on-base percentage of .256, Betancourt was making an out almost 75% of the time. Naturally, the Royals gave this guy 228 plate appearances and $2 million this season. And he would probably still be around if he hadn’t apparently complained that he wasn’t playing enough. I don’t want to get into the whole “losing culture” thing (David Lesky covered it pretty well earlier this week), but in my mind, the best way to develop a winning culture is by, well, winning. And getting rid of an offensive (and defensive, even though he was slightly better at second base than he was at shortstop) sinkhole can only help with that.

On second thought, I do want to get into the winning culture discussion a bit. We’ve heard for the last few years that one reason to get excited about this group of prospects won at all levels of the minors. And that is true, pretty much. Class A Wilmington won its division in 2009, Class AA Northwest Arkansas won its division and the league playoffs in 2010, and Class AAA Omaha won its division and league playoffs in 2011. Of course, not all the key players were on all those teams when they won—Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez were already big leaguers when the Storm Chasers won their title last year. But they were part of winning teams and playoff victories at some point.

However, there is one key component to those teams who is not currently in the majors but needs to be, I believe. Yes, I am once again pushing for Johnny Giavotella to get his chance to play.

I couldn't agree with this more. I give Getz credit for becoming an average player this year. I huge improvement over last season. But he's nothing special on either side of the ball. Gio needs a fair shot at showing if he's a big leaguer or not. He's obviously more than a AAA player. Question remains if he's a big leaguer or a AAAA player. The way the Royals have handled this player leaves that question up in the air.

**SubGod22** · August 13, 2012, 09:52 AM

Chasing Balboni: Billy Butler

I love writing about Billy Butler.

In the last couple of years, Butler’s gotten a bad rap. He’s always been a good contact hitter and one of the best at hitting doubles. His size, though, suggested that he should be able to hit for more power. Because he wasn’t, a group of fans would perk up if he went into any slump, however brief, and state that Butler was an overrated player and that anyone could do his job as designated hitter.

It’s for that reason that I love writing about Billy Butler.

Truth is that yes, he does look like a player who should be able to knock out 30 homers year in and year out. It’s just never happened before.

Earlier this season, Butler was showing strong power numbers. At the All-Star break, he was a legitimate option to join the American League home run derby team (and infamously did not get selected). In the past week, he’s set a new career high in homers in a season, and there’s plenty of 2012 to go.

Billy Butler - Royals Great

Something I’ve always been interested in is certain player’s places in history. Both in their team’s histories and within the history of baseball. Billy Butler, the topic of this article, is a fantastic hitter, but I don’t think we’re exactly ready for a conversation about Butler’s place among the all-time greats, but we can very definitely talk about where he ranks in Royals history and what it all means. Prior to Butler’s power surge in July of last season, many Royals fans were more concerned with what Butler isn’t rather than what he was. Since the Red Sox series in Fenway last July, Billy Butler has hit .302/.361/.523 with 37 2B, 1 3B, 36 HR with 126 RBI in his last 663 AB. That’s pretty darn solid and has sort of opened people’s eyes to the kind of hitter Billy Butler is.

I don’t have to tell you that Butler is slow and that he doesn’t have a whole lot of positional value. I don’t think Butler is quite as bad defensively as some people seem to think, but he’s also no better than average depending on what metric you’re using and what day you catch him on, but he’s still a first baseman which holds very little positional value. What Butler is, though, is a pure hitter who looks to be turning many of those doubles he hit in previous seasons into home runs, and it’s been really fun to watch him climb the leaderboards among Royals greats as this season has progressed. At some point in the next couple weeks, Butler will likely hit his 100th career homer and sometime in the early portion of next season, he’ll likely notch his 500th RBI. The numbers are beginning to accumulate, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.

My brother informed me that there's a feeling that Gio will get called up in the next couple of weeks. However, it appears that the front office has given up on him as an everyday second baseman as he's been getting reps at third and that they want to turn him into a utility guy. Most everybody that's not in the front office seems to think that it's a mistake to do this to him. Especially when there are fine utility guys like Abreu, Falu, Seratelli and Colon already close and in the system. Go figure.

He also heard that we shouldn't expect to see Myers up at all this year and it may be a month or so into next season before we do. Another move the front office thinks is best for the organization. That's complete BS.

There's a chance that Hochevar won't return as he's due something like 5 million if he does. I won't be heartbroken if he's gone. The money saved from him, and potentially parting with Soria, could help in landing a front of the rotation pitcher.

**SubGod22** · August 14, 2012, 10:23 AM

Here's a very nice read on A1 and what he brings to the organization. Gordon determined to return winning culture to KC

KANSAS CITY -- Manager Ned Yost wants a team of winners to demolish the "losing culture" of the Royals and build a championship foundation. Left field is a good place to look.

In many ways, Alex Gordon is the rock of the Royals.

"He fits in at the top of the class," Yost said.

The Gordon that the fans see is a solid hitter, a hard-driving baserunner, a Gold Glove left fielder. The Gordon that his teammates see is a lean-bodied physical specimen, dripping with sweat in the weight room or intensely calculating how to hit a ball in the batting cage or how best to field and throw one in early-afternoon practices.
He's a disciplined man driven toward excellence.

Hard work is in Gordon's genes, but it really crystallized in 2009-10, when injuries and poor performance had him going up and down between the Major Leagues and the Minors.

"It was a privilege to be here. Not that I took advantage of it, but I don't think I really knew how lucky I was to be here and how fortunate I was to be here," he said. "So I come here every day thinking, 'Today could be my last day.' And I just go out there and work hard and do my best."

Then there's this from Rany... The 2012 Royals And The Illusion Of Chemistry.

This may sound incredibly funny in retrospect, but when I was in Arizona to watch the Royals during spring training, the article I wanted to write was about whether the Royals would outperform expectations because of their fantastic chemistry.

Hold your laughter for a moment. As ridiculous as that might sound today, it was essentially accepted as fact then that, in addition to having a roster chock-full of young talent, the Royals had assembled a team full of good personalities. Let’s just take a look at the projected lineup. Keep in mind this is the impression I had of each of these players back in early March, an impression informed by people around the team as well as my own observations:

Catcher: Salvador Perez is one of the most popular players in any clubhouse he’s been in. Pitchers love to throw to him. He has an infectious personality that transcends the language barrier.

First Base: Eric Hosmer is a popular guy, but more germanely to a guy who was thought to be the Royals’ best young player, he has the swagger of being the alpha male in the clubhouse. He was the straw that stirred the Royals’ drink, minus Reggie Jackson’s narcissism and divisiveness. Basically, he was The Man.

Second Base: Johnny Giavotella has tremendous makeup, the kind of grinding mentality that got him named captain of his college team as a sophomore, and turned a 5’8” 185-pounder into a major leaguer.

Shortstop: Perhaps it’s because he’s from Latin America, or perhaps it’s because he came up in a different organization, but I don’t have a feel for Alcides Escobar’s clubhouse presence one way or another. I certainly haven’t heard anything bad about it. For lack of better information, we’ll say he’s neutral.

Third Base: We heard nearly as much about Mike Moustakas’ leadership skills in the minor leagues as we did about his bat. His leadership is more vocal than some of the other guys on this list – whether it’s talking to the media or to his teammates. Obviously, the way he’s made himself into an excellent defense third baseman this year is testament to his work ethic.

A quick story about Moustakas – I was in the clubhouse after a game last year and there was a scrum of reporters around Moustakas, who was lounging in his chair taking questions. Moustakas suddenly noticed a TV crew had showed up and was pointing the camera at his face, and he said, “oh, sorry,” and immediately stood up so the camera could get a better view.

Now, you could take this as a story that Moustakas was image-conscious and wanted to look as good as possible in front of the camera – but that’s not how it looked to me at all. Maybe Moose is just a fabulous actor, but in that moment before he stood up he looked genuinely apologetic. He was, for lack of a better term, trying to be considerate. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal. But I’m guessing Jose Guillen wouldn’t have done the same thing.

Left Field: Alex Gordon’s leadership is very different than Moustakas’ – much more measured and much less vocal. But when it comes to leadership by example, he might be unmatched. Gordon works his ass off – works out like an animal, adheres to a diet that would make you and I cry – and turned himself into a Gold Glove left fielder in his first full year at the position. If anything, what held Gordon back early in his career was that he tried too hard.

Center Field: When the Royals acquired Lorenzo Cain in the Greinke deal, I heard as many comments from insiders about the Painkiller’s personality as his talents. “He’s a GREAT dude,” I heard. You never heard him pout or complain once when he went back to Triple-A last year and spent the whole season there while Melky Cabrera put up a 200-hit season.

Right Field: Helloooo – it’s Jeff Francoeur.

Designated Hitter: Billy Butler is who he is – a simple man with a freakish ability to hit a baseball. He doesn’t have the clubhouse presence of some of the guys above, and early in his career he was an easy mark in the clubhouse for some of the more malignant personalities on the team. But you won’t find anyone who has anything bad to say about Butler.

And as per usual, it goes on much farther than this. Rany doesn't know how to keep things short.

**SubGod22** · August 15, 2012, 08:57 AM

And there was much rejoicing...Royals officially sever ties with Bettancourt

KANSAS CITY -- Infielder Yuniesky Betancourt's second term with the Royals is officially over.

Betancourt was placed on unconditional release waivers by the Royals on Tuesday. He was designated for assignment on Aug. 5 and the Royals had 10 days in which to trade him or release him.

The action on Betancourt, manager Ned Yost made clear that day, was taken in part because of the infielder's discontent over not getting more playing time. Yost also made an impassioned statement to reporters about the importance of team unity and building a winning culture after years of losing records.

Perez keeps runners at bay on basepaths

KANSAS CITY -- Catcher Salvador Perez is catching a lot of runners trying to steal.

Through Sunday, he'd nailed seven of the last 13 would-be thieves, which made him 8-for-20 or 40 percent, an excellent showing.

"Salvador is only going to throw out runners if the pitchers give him a chance," manager Ned Yost said. "And they've been doing a pretty good job of giving him a chance."

Guthrie settles into groove as Royals blank A's

Guthrie turned in a second straight superb pitching performance for the Royals in a 5-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium. After losing his first three starts for the Royals, he has logged 15 scoreless innings in his last two outings.

"You're not a No. 1 starter for four years and start Opening Day just for nothing," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "I just felt, along with Dayton [Moore, general manager] that three or four starts would get him back on track, and he's definitely on track. You look at it and you see this is not fluky stuff -- it could be extended out, start after start."

I've heard from a friend in KC that there's talk that the organization wants to try Collins as a starter. I love Tiny Tim, but I don't see it happening. Apparently he was quoted saying something to the effect that he doesn't think that his arm could handle it but that he'd do whatever the organization wanted him to do. In my opinion, this would be a horrible mistake. I know he can pitch to lefties and righties and has three pitches, but it'd be a huge risk.

If the Royals let Hoch and Soria go, that frees up 14mil right there to go after a frontline guy. Perhaps Guthrie can be brought back on a one year deal like Chen. Odorizzi should be up soon and could make a nice middle of the rotation guy next year. Then there's Smith and Teaford and I think that's an ok rotation. In '14 it's possible that Zimmer is ready. And you'd have to think at least one of Duffy, Ventura, Marks, Adam, Selman and Rodgers would be ready as well. And Paulino is still a possibility. If they can bring in two guys for the front of the rotation next year, then you can sign Guthrie and move Teaford to the pen, or let Guthrie go and keep Teaford. And I still think I'm missing a few names. Lamb is still a possibility, especially for '14.

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