August and the Royals (Free Wil and Gio!)

[SubGod22]

Royals are deal breakers in extras win over Red Sox

Within hours of a trade that involved nine players and millions of dollars, the Red Sox blew a six-run lead over Kansas City and lost to the Royals in 12 innings, 10-9, on Saturday night at Fenway Park.

Tony Abreu, a little-used Royals infielder, delivered the go-ahead single to climax a 12th-inning rally that began against Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa after two outs. Jeff Francoeur drew a walk and Eric Hosmer banged a double into left field, bringing up Abreu.

Abreu missed on two fastballs and was behind 0-2.

"I was trying to make contact but I was kind of late, and I made an adjustment and shortened my swing up a little bit," Abreu said. "I choked up and it happened so I'm very happy."

What happened was a line drive into left field that brought Francoeur home to break the 9-9 tie.

Fielding miscues make KC's climb too steep - Odd to see Escobar struggle like that and cost us a game.

[SubGod22]

Mazzaro recalled; Jeffress sent to Double-A - Mazzaro has been pitching well out of the pen in Omaha. Jeffress will be back up on September 4.

Hochevar unable to duplicate gem vs. Boston

Hochevar threw 114 pitches as his record fell to 7-12.

"Hoch did a great job of getting us through eight innings," said Yost. "Our 'pen had really been worked the last two nights. He gave us a chance; in this park, a four-run lead [can be overcome], so he did a nice job of keeping us in the game."

The Royals' only two successes on the trip were one-run overtime victories -- 1-0 in 10 innings against Tampa Bay and 10-9 in 12 innings vs. Boston.

"You come in here and lose three out of four. I felt we were in every game," Yost said. "We're struggling offensively right now. I think our pitching did a nice job this trip, we just need to get the offense going again."

Electric Feel: Greg Holland

It’s no secret, but Greg Holland is down right filthy. Just so everyone knows, being called filthy is one of the best compliments a pitcher can receive. We all remember his spectacular season last year, where he had a WHIP under 1 and allowed only 37 hits in 60 innings pitched. He also collected 5 wins and 4 saves and was, arguably, one of the best relievers in all of major league baseball. With a slight road bump earlier this season, he is still carrying that same dominance from last year, over to this season.

You can always tell how dominate a guy is by how many batters he strikes out per 9 innings pitched. Take a look at Aroldis Chapman this year, who has 112 strike outs in only 62 innings pitched. That many strike outs in that amount of innings is just unheard of, and is on pace to be record breaking. That fact alone is why Chapman is the most dominating pitcher in baseball right now, even as a reliever. It’s also to show how Holland, who isn’t on Chapman’s level, is still doing his fair share to keep up. Holland strikes out over 11 guys per 9, while Chapman is at an astonishing 16 k’s per 9.

[SubGod22]

Moustakas authors winning chapter against Tigers

Top of the eighth, Jhonny Peralta slammed a home run off Aaron Crow to give the Tigers an 8-8 tie. Bottom half, Billy Butler singled, pinch-runner Lorenzo Cain swiped second and there were two outs.

At this point the Tigers brought in Phil Coke, a tough left-hander, to face the left-handed Moustakas. Sure, Moose had a two-run single off Verlander in the first inning, but he'd been struggling.

"Struggling, yeah," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He got one hit this last whole road trip [1-for-23] but he made some adjustments. He came in early today and worked in the cage on some things."

Moustakas rifled a double down the right-field line to score Cain and the Royals had a one-run lead.

"You want to be up in those situations against a tough lefty with the game on the line, and I got a good slider to hit and was able to stay on it and hook it down the line," Moustakas said.

Money Comes In. Excuses Go Out.

I wish I had a great story for why I haven’t written in over two weeks, and I could make one up, but that would take some time and I’ve been gone for too long already. I was going to try to catch up with a bit of everything, but I sort of got going on topic #1, and figured I’d let this stand on its own.

Earlier today, it was announced that ESPN had signed a new eight-year rights contract with Major League Baseball. The contract gives ESPN the same things they already had – the rights to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball, games on Mondays and Wednesdays and occasional special days – but it gives MLB a lot more of what they were already getting. ESPN will be paying MLB $700 million a year, twice what they paid ($350 million a year) in the current contract, which expires at the end of next season. Do the math, and that’s nearly $12 million per team in extra cash per year.

And that’s just for ESPN’s current contract, which doesn’t even include any playoff games (though I believe the new contract includes one of the Coin Flip Games between the two wild-card teams). The contracts for Fox and TBS are also up for negotiation, and NBC Sports is desperate to make a splash to add some actual game content to the fledgling network. Add it up, and there’s good reason to think that in 2014, every team in baseball will be earning $30 million a year above and beyond what they’re already making – just from their national TV contract. This is margin-free cash – same product, same expenses, vastly increased revenue.

Which is to say, if anyone claims that the Royals can’t afford a payroll of at least $80 million going forward, you have my permission to clock them in the nose. Sports revenue is rocketing upwards as advertisers realize how precious DVR-proof programming is, and even though the Royals are locked into their local TV contract for years to come (great planning, guys!), they’re going to be raking in the cash in the next 18 months.

I have largely stayed on the sidelines in the whole Is-David-Glass-The-Antichrist? debate that has festered over the last few years, and has metastasized to the point where a grassroots organization of fans spent thousands of dollars on an ad in the Kansas City Star asking Glass to sell the team (and are now raising money to run a banner ad over Arrowhead Stadium at the Chiefs’ home opener). I’ve stayed out of this debate because, whatever sins the Glass family committed early in their tenure, they found religion when Dayton Moore was hired.

I think Rany is spot on here. This new ESPN contract, if he's got all the numbers right, leave no excuse not to be aggressive in the FA market this offseason. They don't have to be stupid, but they can bid for some of the better pitchers out there and not be scared away by prices.

[SubGod22]

Chen zones in on 10 as Royals blank Tigers

KANSAS CITY -- Let's see if we have this straight. The Royals had a surgeon pitching, a guy with winged feet in center field and the Bermuda Triangle working for them.

At least that was manager Ned Yost's take after his Royals and Bruce Chen knocked off the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Chen pitched eight innings and Greg Holland, with a huge assist from Jarrod Dyson, wrapped up the shutout victory -- the Royals' second straight win over the American League Central title aspirants. But the Tigers slipped to three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox.

Despite the inconsistency, the Royals find themselves currently in 3rd place in the Central. There's not enough time left to make a run at anything significant, but I wouldn't mind seeing them finish less than 10 games out if at all possible. They're 14 right now. 8 would make me fairly happy and would be quite encouraging for next year. Especially if they bring in a pitcher or two.
Luke Hochevar - A Riddle, Wrapped In A Mystery, Inside An Enigma

Riddle me this Royals fans – How does the guy who faced 12 batters and gave up 7 embarrassing earned runs in the first inning of the 2012 home opener come back 4 months later on August 21 to one-hit the Rays through 8 innings and surrender zero runs? On June 12, 2009, this same pitcher threw a 3-hit, no run, 80-pitch complete game masterpiece, yet ended the season with a 6.55 era, the highest among American League Starters. How is this possible? The question may never be answered because we’re talking about Luke Hochevar, the human riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

Luke has a somewhat unusual and convoluted baseball history. I’ll spare you most of the sordid details, but he was drafted three times, including twice by the Dodgers, signed with Scott Boras, fired Boras, hired another agent, signed a deal with the Dodgers, reneged on his deal with the Dodgers, fired his other agent, rehired Boras, and spent time playing independent ball before eventually coming to an agreement with the Royals as the first pick of the 2006 draft. Not just the Royals first pick, but THE first pick of the draft.

And yes, 2006 is the same draft when Evan Longoria was selected as the 3^rd pick, Clayton Kershaw with the 7^th pick, Tim Lincecum with the 10^th, Max Scherzer with the 11^th, Ian Kennedy 21^st, … need I go on? Not that I would want him on my team, mostly because he’s a blowhard egotistical lowlife, but Chris Perez was also drafted with the 42^nd pick in 2006.

Peek-A-Boo Baseball

Has anyone seen the Royals today? Nope – because they’re hiding again. Oh – wait…there they are! Taking the first two games from the Tigers as they try to fight their way back into first place.

All year long, this team has been playing Peek-a-Boo baseball. Plain & simple – when the stakes are low and all is lost, the Royals play their best. When people start paying attention, they coil up and run for the hills.

You know the trend. The team gets off to a promising start, then craps out quickly, struggles to find an identity, struggles with a youth movement, falls miles out of first place, then rallies in September to give you hope for next year. I know it’s not in the same exact order every season, but in general, this is the fate we are dealt on a yearly basis.

I’m tired of it. And I say that as I watch it all happen again.

This year seems to be even more harsh than usual. I’m sure it has something to do with the way we all bought into the youth movement, thinking that these guys had accumulated enough major league experience over the second half of last year to show up in 2012 and dominate the AL Central. I admit, I was on board. Like everyone else, I want SO BADLY to see a winner in this city.

The Proof Is In The (Lack Of) Pitching

Could the Royals be one big-time pitcher away from a winning record? Possibly, but in this case addition should start with subtraction.

I wrote an article last week about Jeremy Guthrie, and how he is not the solution to the Royals pitching woes. I also took a parting shot at Luke Hochevar, and how he once again has turned it on (at least for the time being) which will most likely result in him being a part of the rotation again in 2013.

This can’t happen. The Royals ever changing date to become competitive now sits at 2014, unless…it hasn’t changed again, has it? I see no reason they can’t get a lot better than that a little bit sooner, as in next year, if the team is ready to end the Luke Hochevar era.

I can't argue with this. Maybe a change of scenery will do something for him, but we really can't afford to pay him what he's going to get in arbitration for what he's going to give us. I think we should go into next year with New Ace, Guthrie, Odorizzi, Smith and maybe Mendoza. Hope Odorizzi comes along. Hope that Guthrie can be solid enough to eat innings and give us chances. Hope that Smith has learned a lot and continues to pitch effectively. And hope that Mendoza has a little something left to give us some chances. This staff has a target date of '14 for making a run. Because in '14 you'd be looking at New Ace, Odorizzi, Duffy, Paulino, Smith, Ventura, Zimmer, Selman, Adam as possibilities in the rotation. If you want to take a run at next year, you go get two pitchers and then push Guthrie to the back of the rotation or let him go and go with Odorizzi, Smith and Mendoza. Or you keep Guthrie and drop Mendoza.
What's Next For Eric Hosmer And The Royals?

If prior to the season, I had asked a question about who you were most concerned about on the Royals, the answers would have ranged from Jeff Francoeur to Bruce Chen to maybe even Luis Mendoza. A few people were probably worried about Alex Gordon repeating and a bunch were probably also worried about a full season of Mike Moustakas. Some were a bit concerned about Eric Hosmer, but even the most negative of people about his future had all but abandoned the one time talk of him becoming the next Casey Kotchman. His spring training was elite, and he started the year off against the Angels hitting a couple of homers and making the optimism about not only his future but this season go sky high.

Then, a funny thing happened and he couldn’t buy a hit. For a long time, he was hitting into about the worst luck I could remember any player hitting into. His BABIP was below .200 while he was still hitting line drives about 20% of the time. He even hit into a triple play on a ball that he absolutely blistered to the first baseman and the runners got caught napping a little bit. I can’t pinpoint the moment it went from him hitting into terrible luck to just him hitting terribly, but it was right around the triple play. I had the opportunity to go on 610 Sports and talk on The Danny Parkins Show about Hosmer, and it was roughly a week or so after he started really sliding and not even hitting the ball hard. I remember at the time mentioning that it was bad luck originally, but he altered his approach so much to get out of a slump he would have gotten out of naturally that he was now out of whack.

[SubGod22]

Guthrie leads way as Royals sweep past Tigers

KANSAS CITY -- Who would've seen this coming?

The Royals came into this series with a 1-7 record against Detroit this season and the Tigers were a hungry second-place team eager to close ground on Chicago in the American League Central.
Yet the Royals, behind the pitching of Jeremy Guthrie, completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with a 2-1 victory on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. The three one-run victories gave the Royals their first series sweep of Detroit since Sept. 8-10, 2009.

The Not So Hot Corner

A stat popped up on the video board at the games the last two nights that I found really intriguing. The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t surprise me at all. Mike Moustakas is the first Royals 3rd baseman since 1998 to hit 19 home runs or more. Let that sink in for a second. In a position that usually requires some pop, the Royals haven’t had a player in 14 years to hit even 20 home runs.

In 1998, at the age of 29, Dean Palmer smashed 34 round trippers. Palmer had a brief 2 year stint in Kansas City, but made the most of his time by winning a Silver Slugger and being elected to the All-Star team. In 1999, Joe Randa began his 6 year tenure with the Royals. Randa was a crowd favorite during his time here, but he was never going to be a serious power threat. He provided great defense and did nothing to hinder the offense, but there was a lack of power production when discussing home runs. In his 6 seasons his home run totals look like this: 16, 15, 13, 11, 16, and 8. I’m not knocking Randa at all, as I’ve always liked him. I’m simply stating the facts that he was a great player but wasn’t a middle of the order threat.

The Royals, Extensions And Cautionary Tales Of Big Contracts

A key tenet of Dayton Moore’s Process is developing homegrown players. Since taking over, he’s rebuilt the Royals farm system back from a fallow period after Allard Baird either neglected or couldn’t push ownership to invest in the minor leagues. It’s considered the right way to build a team.

Once a player hits the big leagues, the team retains their rights for six – or, with some manipulation, seven – seasons. Beyond that, though, they become a free agent and can go anywhere. That is, unless the team works out an extension beforehand.

Under Moore, the Royals have been aggressive when seeking deals with their young players. When they recognize someone they see as a part of their core, they’ve tried to wrap them up. Joakim Soria, Zack Greinke, Billy Butler, Salvador Perez, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon were all signed to extensions that bought out (or will buy) seasons where they’d have otherwise been free agents.

All of the deals, with the exception of Gordon’s and Greinke’s, were considered club-friendly, while the exceptions are considered market value. For a small market team like the Royals, that’s as good as you can do. They locked up key players without breaking the bank.

Other teams aren’t as lucky.

Thursday Thoughts - He brings up 6 intersting thoughts and most that I agree with. I'm just a day late with it as it wasn't up yesterday when I stopped by.
Friday Notes

Can you believe it’s almost September? After a summer spent melting in the ridiculous heat, we’re at home stretch of what’s been just a terribly difficult to swallow season, but there are some bright spots emerging over the last few weeks that will hopefully shine brighter in the last five weeks of the season. It’s funny because every year around June or July I find myself terribly pessimistic about the next season and I always say that there’s very little that can get me optimistic. Well, around now, I start to think about what the team needs in order to compete. This year, for the first time, there’s a pretty obvious fix for what ails this team. Well two of them, but one is the usual hope. The other is starting pitching. I said it on the podcast this week. If the Royals get two quality starting pitchers this offseason, they’re worth getting optimistic over. Will it happen? Nobody knows for sure.

Neither Jake or Wil are going to get the reps they should to prepare them for next season. I can almost buy what they're doing for Wil sometimes as he doesn't have to be protected, but Jake HAS to be added anyway so why not bring him up now and get experience?

[SubGod22]

Decision Day Is Looming For The Royals

The season isn’t yet over with 28 games remaining, but the Royals are going to face some decisions regarding arbitration eligible players during the 2012/2013 off-season. These decisions could have an impact on a pretty crowded 40 man roster that Clint wrote about here. You hear all the time about general managers of small market teams like the Royals talk about zero to three players. What that means is players who are within their first three years in the big leagues. The reason that’s important is because in those first three years, the player is generally cost controlled meaning the team can determine their salary without any negotiation at all.

Even the greatest superstars in the game spent at least a season or two making near the league minimum. So it stands to reason that if a player is pretty average but is making the league minimum, he’s probably a pretty good value. Of course, if he continues to be just average but gets into arbitration and is making more than whatever number you deem as the baseline, then he’s just not worth it. Super two plays a role here, but that’s not what we’re talking about, so we’ll save that for another day. According to Cot’s Contracts, the Royals have six players currently on the 40 man roster eligible for arbitration this winter. They all have their question marks, which makes decisions that much more difficult. There isn’t a slam dunk great player in the mix that you’d just assume the Royals will tender a contract to.

Let’s break them down one-by-one: