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Toma to enter Royals Hall of Fame on Friday
The man is a legend.
Moore expected to catch Odorizzi on Sunday
Royals move Class A affiliate to Lexington
Hosmer's heroics lift Royals past White Sox
KANSAS CITY -- Pitcher Jesse Crain and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson played a game of catch-me-if-you-can. In the end, Dyson won and so did the Royals.
Dyson stole a base, then streaked home on Eric Hosmer's two-out single in the ninth inning for a walk-off, 4-3 victory over the first-place Chicago White Sox on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium.
It was one last lick on the White Sox by the Royals, who dominated the American League Central leaders by winning the season series, 12-6. The Royals took this series, two games to one, to hold the White Sox lead over second-place Detroit at two games.
This was an exciting game to watch.
2013 Top Prospects: #1.
This was well thought out by Rany and I like his ideas here.
Friday Notes
Toma, 83, worked his way to prominence after taking over as head groundskeeper of the Kansas City Athletics in 1957, transforming a poor field at Municipal Stadium into a showcase. When the Royals, who followed the A's into Municipal, moved into Royals (now Kauffman) Stadium in 1973, Toma came with them as head groundskeeper until 1995 and as a consultant until 1997. He was in charge when the stadium's artificial turn was changed to real grass after the 1994 season.
Moore expected to catch Odorizzi on Sunday
"It's as simple as this, and this was actually my thought process: I wanted to give Adam Moore a start when Odorizzi pitched and I wanted to give [Salvador Perez] a day off and Sunday was a good day to do it -- after a night game," Yost said.
KANSAS CITY -- There's a new Class A location for the Royals for the next four years -- Lexington, Ky.
The Royals announced on Thursday that they've signed a player development contract through 2016 with the Lexington Legends of the South Atlantic League. They replace the Kane County (Ill.) Cougars, the Royals' Midwest League affiliate for the last two seasons, who have switched to the Chicago Cubs.
"We're very excited, we've wanted to be in this league for a long time," said Scott Sharp, Royals director of Minor League operations.
The team will play in Whitaker Bank Ballpark with a capacity of 6,006. Lexington has been affiliated with the Houston Astros since the team's inaugural 2001 season.
Lexington has the advantage of warmer weather than the Kane County location in the Chicago area.
"The schedule isn't as fluctuating, you don't play as many early-season day games, it's a more traditional schedule.
You get more field time and the weather is better," Sharp said.
The Royals announced on Thursday that they've signed a player development contract through 2016 with the Lexington Legends of the South Atlantic League. They replace the Kane County (Ill.) Cougars, the Royals' Midwest League affiliate for the last two seasons, who have switched to the Chicago Cubs.
"We're very excited, we've wanted to be in this league for a long time," said Scott Sharp, Royals director of Minor League operations.
The team will play in Whitaker Bank Ballpark with a capacity of 6,006. Lexington has been affiliated with the Houston Astros since the team's inaugural 2001 season.
Lexington has the advantage of warmer weather than the Kane County location in the Chicago area.
"The schedule isn't as fluctuating, you don't play as many early-season day games, it's a more traditional schedule.
You get more field time and the weather is better," Sharp said.
KANSAS CITY -- Pitcher Jesse Crain and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson played a game of catch-me-if-you-can. In the end, Dyson won and so did the Royals.
Dyson stole a base, then streaked home on Eric Hosmer's two-out single in the ninth inning for a walk-off, 4-3 victory over the first-place Chicago White Sox on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium.
It was one last lick on the White Sox by the Royals, who dominated the American League Central leaders by winning the season series, 12-6. The Royals took this series, two games to one, to hold the White Sox lead over second-place Detroit at two games.
2013 Top Prospects: #1.
For the second straight season, the Royals have played well enough in the second half to give us legitimate reason to think that, with an off-season of maturation and a few savvy roster additions, they might be ready to contend next year. Since the All-Star Break, the Royals have scored more runs (285) than they’ve allowed (284).
Unfortunately, last year they also scored more runs than they allowed after the All-Star Break (328-313), and we saw how well that turned out.
Still, the Royals have basically been a .500 team on paper since the Break, which not coincidentally is around the time they got Salvador Perez (and Lorenzo Cain) healthy and jettisoned the likes of Jonathan Sanchez and Yuniesky Betancourt. In the AL Central, where 89 wins will probably take the division this year, there is absolutely no excuse for a .500 team to go into the off-season without a firm expectation that they will contend next year. Particularly a team with the youngest offense in the majors for the second straight year, and a team that won’t lose a single meaningful player off its roster to free agency (with the exception of Jeremy Guthrie, I suppose.)
All this talk about 2014 is, frankly, a cop-out. The Royals can win in 2013 if they make the right moves. It is therefore incumbent that they make the right moves.
So in the limited time that I have to devote to this blog, I plan to focus on a few big things. The “For Want of a Pitcher” series is scheduled to return soon, looking at the many, many options the Royals have to upgrade their rotation between now and spring training. I’ll be grading out the current roster once the season ends, figuring out who should stay and who should go. And I’ll be breaking down the Royals’ top prospects as time allows. Aside from being an endeavor I particularly enjoy – dreaming about the future is always more fun than lamenting the present – if the Royals are going to acquire quality starting pitchers, they’re probably going to trade prospects at some point. If they’re going to trade prospects, then it’s a good idea to know which prospects are disposable and which ones are untouchable.
Writing about prospects also makes it easier for me to artificially raise my article count – rather than writing about them 10 or 15 at a time, I might write about them 2 or 3 at a time and get my evaluations in your hands that much faster. Or, like today, I might write about just one of them.
Unfortunately, last year they also scored more runs than they allowed after the All-Star Break (328-313), and we saw how well that turned out.
Still, the Royals have basically been a .500 team on paper since the Break, which not coincidentally is around the time they got Salvador Perez (and Lorenzo Cain) healthy and jettisoned the likes of Jonathan Sanchez and Yuniesky Betancourt. In the AL Central, where 89 wins will probably take the division this year, there is absolutely no excuse for a .500 team to go into the off-season without a firm expectation that they will contend next year. Particularly a team with the youngest offense in the majors for the second straight year, and a team that won’t lose a single meaningful player off its roster to free agency (with the exception of Jeremy Guthrie, I suppose.)
All this talk about 2014 is, frankly, a cop-out. The Royals can win in 2013 if they make the right moves. It is therefore incumbent that they make the right moves.
So in the limited time that I have to devote to this blog, I plan to focus on a few big things. The “For Want of a Pitcher” series is scheduled to return soon, looking at the many, many options the Royals have to upgrade their rotation between now and spring training. I’ll be grading out the current roster once the season ends, figuring out who should stay and who should go. And I’ll be breaking down the Royals’ top prospects as time allows. Aside from being an endeavor I particularly enjoy – dreaming about the future is always more fun than lamenting the present – if the Royals are going to acquire quality starting pitchers, they’re probably going to trade prospects at some point. If they’re going to trade prospects, then it’s a good idea to know which prospects are disposable and which ones are untouchable.
Writing about prospects also makes it easier for me to artificially raise my article count – rather than writing about them 10 or 15 at a time, I might write about them 2 or 3 at a time and get my evaluations in your hands that much faster. Or, like today, I might write about just one of them.
Friday Notes
It’s funny how this works, but as the season winds down, I find myself looking a little more fondly back at the season. I’m not sure why that happens, but it seems to be a yearly occurrence with me. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re playing a lot better over the past few weeks, or maybe it’s the kid fan in me, but I’m finding myself accentuating the positives in my mind a little bit more. Sometimes it’s nice to be positive even if in the back of your mind you know that a lot of what’s going on with this team is not necessarily sustainable. There I go with the negative thoughts again…
- A point in last night’s game was worth mentioning here. It came in the pivotal ninth inning. With Jarrod Dyson stealing second, the White Sox elected to walk Jeff Francoeur intentionally. Ignoring what Robin Ventura has done with Jeff Francoeur this season (3 intentional walks prior to last night), it was a poor decision. Right-hander Jesse Crain was in the game and Francoeur was 4 for 9 against him previously, but he’s also clearly having a rough season. I can see the rationale for walking him to get to Hosmer (and to face him with lefty Matt Thornton), but I just don’t agree with it. Don’t get me wrong here; I loved the fact that the decision blew up in Ventura’s face, but it just got me thinking about the state of managers in baseball today. I don’t think Yost is good, but he certainly isn’t alone.
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