Royals vs. Angels - ALDS

[kcshocker11]

Born and raised in KC and so proud, go Royals love ya guys!

[WuShock16]

I'm struggling this morning after being at The K last night. I stayed in KC and had an early alarm clock to get back on the road to get to work at a decent time. I kinda feel like I did after the midnight game last basketball season.

Oh, but how sweet that was to experience! Since the Royals had it in hand, I really didn't go nuts at the end...just had a wide smile and watched the team dogpile on the field. I'm glad it was exciting and dominating without any real need for stressing out.

This almost feels like Shocker Basketball. The last 29 years for the Royals was pretty much what the 90s and early 2000s were for Shocker Basketball. You rooted for them but knew they might not ever be hugely relevant like they were in the past...and you have heard PLENTY of stories about the past. Just like it was joyfully odd to see Wu Shock on the side of the Georgia Dome, the thought that four more wins separate the words ROYALS and WORLD SERIES is just unreal.

[1972Shocker]

Also, Detroit embarrassed themselves getting swept out of the postseason. Can we just retroactively crown the Royals division champs?

At this point the Royals have their sights set a lot higher than that. Besides Detroit deserved the Division title considering how they handled the Royals in head-to-head competition. But that's all in the past. All the Royals really needed out of the the regular season was to get their foot in the door. They accomplished that. Now they are seemingly getting hot at the right time and Big Game James is only pitching so-so at this point. Looking forward to seeing if Ventura can duplicate his last outing.

Should be very entertaining series vs Baltimore who BTW I believe led MLB in home runs hit this year. Seems like a very similar match-up to the Angels.

[1972Shocker]

That's a bad dude in Center Field

And this is a guy that usually get's replaced by Dyson late in the game and moves over to right from defensive purposes. Yikes.

[1972Shocker]

Anyone else rooting for a rematch of 1985.

[1972Shocker]

Kind of an interesting factoid from Bob Lutz' column on the Royals ALDS sweep.

The Los Angeles Angels are paying C.J. Wilson, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton $477.5 million in multi-year deals

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/spt-col...#storylink=cpy

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

And this is a guy that usually get's replaced by Dyson late in the game and moves over to right from defensive purposes. Yikes.

Even though Nori has turned it on the last 2 months I would still love to see them go with Gordon/Dyson/Cain. Specifically because Cain is injury prone. Will interesting to see whathappens with Nori in the offseason.

[1972Shocker]

Even though Nori has turned it on the last 2 months I would still love to see them go with Gordon/Dyson/Cain. Specifically because Cain is injury prone. Will interesting to see whathappens with Nori in the offseason.

Yost would probably be crucified if he started tinkering with his lineup now.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Yost would probably be crucified if he started tinkering with his lineup now.

Im talking about next year. Nori is a free agent after the season ends.
I think I speak for all Royals fans though when I say that we would pleased if we saw 8. Colon - 4 in the lineup card on Friday.

[1972Shocker]

Im talking about next year. Nori is a free agent after the season ends.
I think I speak for all Royals fans though when I say that we would pleased if we saw 8. Colon - 4 in the lineup card on Friday.

With the way players move around in MLB anymore projecting a lineup for the next year is pretty speculative since the rosters are in such a continual state of flux.

I assume their is very little chance that James Shields will be a Royal next year. Is Aoki a free agent at the end of this year? Who are the Royals free agents and who, if anyone, that is not a free agent trade bait? I don't really follow MLB are the Royals close enough to know.

[RoyalShock]

Im talking about next year. Nori is a free agent after the season ends.
I think I speak for all Royals fans though when I say that we would pleased if we saw 8. Colon - 4 in the lineup card on Friday.

You speak for this Royals fan. And not just Friday, but next year, too. Colon also has value as a utility guy for KC. There's a 95% likelihood that Infante is going to be KC's 2nd-baseman as long as he's under contract (two more years, I think?). Colon could platoon with Moose at 3rd, and give Infante a day off each week.

[RoyalShock]

With the way players move around in MLB anymore projecting a lineup for the next year is pretty speculative since the rosters are in such a continual state of flux.

I assume their is very little chance that James Shields will be a Royal next year. Is Aoki a free agent at the end of this year? Who are the Royals free agents and who, if anyone, that is not a free agent trade bait? I don't really follow MLB are the Royals close enough to know.

My understanding is that Shields and Aoki are free-agents after this season. Butler has a club option next year for $12+ million, which they should decline and explore re-signing him for half that, or less. Hochevar is also a free-agent and another guy I would like to see them try to re-sign. But only if they trade Holland or Davis.

Other guys are going to get more expensive either due to contract or arbitration. Guthrie, Gordon, Davis, Hosmer, Holland and Cain are the guys I expect to be more expensive next year. I don't know how quickly the contracts of Vargas, Perez or Escobar escalate.

Ultimately, once arbitration is done, I don't think Moore has a lot of room to work. I know he structured Guthrie's contract to jump after this season, and I thought Vargas was the same.

[1972Shocker]

Brandon Finnegan certainly looks like he may be ready for prime time which might GMDM some trade fodder among the pitching staff. Not sure who they might dangle or what they could get. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Just about anyone on the Royals staff would improve the Tigers' bullpen.

One thing I would like to see next year from the Royals to reduce Salvie's work load and rest him more often. Maybe cut him back to 130 games behind the plate. Not sure if they have the backups to make that possible or not.

[RoyalShock]

I agree about Salvy. Eric Kratz or Francisco Pena should have been able to give him more day-game-after-a-night-game breaks.

Escobar could use a few days rest, too. He started all 162 games this year. Maybe he'll turn out to be the next Cal Ripken, Jr., but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Hochevar is also a free agent but I would fully expect him to do a 1 year deal to build value up. If Hochevar doesnt get hurt then Wade Davis doesnt happen. I just cant grasp my mind around the fact we're paying a RP that much money. Its not my money but still. Being the Royals are a small market they should capitalize off Davis for sure. One of the best seasons a RP has ever had and there are teams dumb enough to trade prospects for that. (IM LOOKING AT YOU DETROIT) You could work a trade with Holland even though he wont be near as expensive as Davis. But his value is super high right now.

Also like @RoyalShock: said, Billy is playing his ass off right now in hopes of staying with the Royals. he'll have his player option declined and a new deal brought to the table. probably heavily laced with incentives.

Im not naive enough to think we have a chance at resigning Shields. Its a nice thought. I'm not sure about Aoki but I dont know if he is even worth it for the amount of money he would want. id rather him walk and try and give shields as much as possible on a 4 year deal.

Finnegan will be a start and a damn good one in the bigs. If Im Dayton I have him start in AA as a starter then move him up to AAA mid season. Limit his innings in the case we need relief help next year in the Pennant Race (I JUST TYPED THAT!) and look for him to be in the bigs the year after next full time.