So, they did it!

The 70 win season materialized. The Royals have been as hot as anyone since September 10. They have gone 11-3 over their last 14 games. The team did better than I thought they would. I re-read my August post. I'd say I was a little upset. The Royals are improved. They won more than they did last year. They have a solid young line up. Perez has been very good. Gio is slow coming around. Moose is showing signs. Hoz is a stud. The team looks to be in place for a spell. The team will only get to 80 wins next year if they get better pitching. Starters are awful. The pen has a decent enough ERA. They just over exposed because the starters were awful early on. The O was so much better this year. They need to improve the percentage on stolen bases, but they need to run. They need to play better D. They need to up the power numbers some. Good 70 plus win season. Next year will be the Royals and 500.

August 10, I'm finished.

This Royals team is awful. They gave away the game tonight. They think they can throw everyone out so they throw the ball to the wrong base. It cost them the game tonight. Yost is stupid. Have Soria start the inning if you are going to use him anyway. He frustrates me. Let Crow piss all over himself then bring in Soria? Dumb. The team is awful. They are so fundamentally challenged. Oh well. Fuck the Royals. I'm sick and tired of the same old losing attitude. Good for Perez,Moose, Escobar, Gio, and Hoz. They may put together a 70 win season sometime. I highly doubt it. Jump throws and crazy swipes at first base are another "grow up" deal. Hold the ball. Hoz, my friend, the huge sweep to catch the low throws may look good on the ones you catch but it looks awful, because it is, on the plays you can make by keeping your glove back. Fancy bullshit. Sell that to the next guy. I get so pissed at myself for wasting time with this group of losers. They have lost 4 in a row now. They will probably lose 14. Good for them. It is football season as far as I'm concerned.

7 Game road trip---positive signs

Our Royals went on a 7 game road trip to Boston and Cleveland. They won 2 games in each place. Winning two games in Boston is a great thing. The way they went about it was cool. They win 3-1 in 14 innings and 4-3 in the last game. The two games in between, well, Boston racked up big numbers against the worst pitching staff in the majors. Winning the 14 game marathon to start the trip was awesome for the young Royals. Hosmer killed the ball at Fenway. Good! He needs to keep killing the Yankees and Red Sox. Butler was smoking hot. He clubbed the ball against the Sox. He hit blasts, absolute blasts, against the Sox. I have seen the Royals give games away at the wiffle ball park and I was so glad they came out of there with a split. The fact that Butler hit 5 homers in 4 games was cool. I hope he hits them more often but a great streak like that is something to behold. Hos was red hot, too. So you get two wins in Boston and head on off to surprising Cleveland. The Royals played there best overall game of the year against the Tribe. They won 12-0 and Francis was very, very good. Melky blasts a Grand Slam and poses like a goof ball. Then Butler gets buzzed! I don't like the fact that they threw at Butlers head. If Cabrera pisses you off get him next time up. Maybe Melky took it personally when you walked Gordon to load them up for him. It is always bush league to pose at the plate on a homer, always. Butler came back after that and hit another home run. Nice! Best game of the season, by far. I love it when they play well. 12-0 is awesome. The next game at Progressive Field was good too. The double play where Matt Treanor was concussed was cool. I missed the end of the game where Crow and Soria gave it away. Glad I missed it. Crow has been crap since the All Star selection. Man Alex Gordon deserved that. Crow can't handle the spot light. He scares me. The last game was a 5-3 Royals win. Frenchy was good. Gordon hit another homer and the Royals let a 4-2 lead drift away. They entered the top of the 9th only up 4-3. They get two quick outs then Getz lines a single up the middle. He steals second, which was cool. In the meantime Escobar goes 0-2 and looks like a reincarnation of Yuni. Alcides then proceeds to have the best AB I've seen by a Royals player this year. He battled for 14 pitches. He fouled off some tough ones and had the 3-2 count and he would not give in. It was fun to watch. Eventually he lined a single up the middle and gave the Royals a 5-3 lead. Soria needs the insurance. He, Soria, locked the game down and the Royals left the road feeling good about the trip. They played 7 games against competitive teams. They won 4 of those games. They played pretty well. The pitching was the down fall in the games they lost. But 3-1, 4-3, 5-3 wins means they must have had some good pitching too. That doesn't even include the shutout Francis and Wood threw. The team was good on a road trip that I feared would be result in 2 wins or fewer. The dog days are here and the Royals need to play well. I'm hoping that the younger guys can get as hot as the weather and carry the team to 70 wins.
Side bars, Moose is out of his league. He can't hit in the Bigs. His bat is too slow. His call up came too soon. He is a competitive kid but he can't make the adjustments that Hos makes. Hos gets tied up on the high pitch and he adjusts. Moose swings at the first pitch every AB. I like the kid and I hope he can adjust.
The Royals traded Betemit and Aviles at the deadline. The return doesn't really matter. Neither guy traded could catch an STD in Thailand. I'm glad Aviles is gone. The player coming from Boston is younger than him and he can actually play SS. I like what the team did at the deadline. They didn't throw out Melky and Frenchy. Those two have way outplayed their respective deals. Let them finish out the season. Hopefully the Royals will get better. I have big time doubts about the "farm". The prospects aren't that good, guys. Monty is getting shelled. Lamb is getting Tommy John. Odorizzi is in AA. Dwyer can't hit in AA. No real help from the best farm system ever. What a crock. What they do have is they have a 2B that needs a call up. Gio needs a chance. Getz isn't the answer. If he could play short then ok, but he can't. Gio can hit. He is way above 300 and he has a very good second hole hitter style about him. Hos, Gio, Escobar, Moose. That is a good infield that could pair up with a productive outfield and Butler at DH. I want to be optimistic, I really do. I just don't see the cavalry on the "farm" that everyone else sees. No pitching, none. No real hitters. Cain and Gio and Dyson I guess. The Royals need pitching, pitching, pitching and more pitching.
Oh, but the way, Bubba is a fool.7.5 mill is enough to offer. If he wants to play for Big Red, go ahead. No loss. Maybe next draft will have two great pitchers at the 5 spot and 7 spot.
That is enough for now!!!

93 games in. Not too many more wins.

The Royals have played 93 games. There isn't too many positive things to report on the team. They started out 10-4, remember that? Yeah, I don't remember that team either. They currently stand at 38-55. OK 28-51 in the last 79 games. The team isn't good. Hosmer has been almost as good as I expected. Moose isn't ready. The Royals were desperate and they brought him up. He is swimming up stream in the bigs. You can see Hos getting it, I don't see the same for Moose. He may catch on, it is very early. If he does become what it expected then the crazy amount of losses now will prove to be worth it. Billy frustrates me. He just can't produce runs. Hos has 1/3 more homers and 3 less RBI's than Billy. Do the math. Big and young and unproductive. Billy needs to produce or disappear. Hos, Moose, the outfield as a whole have been good. The cannons at the K are something to behold. All the assists are cool to watch. Frenchy has a big gun. They have played good D and contributed way more than I expected. I feel I should apologize to Melky and Frenchy. I thought they would be pedestrian at best. They have been good. Frenchy has slipped of late but he is still above water. So, you have good outfield play. Good D and better O from Escobar at short, and the team still sucks. The offense is slap and judy. They get hits but they don't score. Moose at third hasn't been the answer. Getz and whoever else hasn't been the answer at second. Treanor and Pena are trying but Matt is tired, you can see the age. Pena is trying but he just isn't that talented. Catcher, 3b,2b and a productive DH. That's all the offense needs. Maybe we can trade one of the farm boys for all that we need. I didn't buy the farm talk. You can see that it was just that, talk. Hos is the real deal. Moose isn't now, and may never be. Duffy is solid but he seems to be the only pitching "prospect" to even be close to the big leagues. Best farm system my butt. I'd assume the prospects are coming to KC, but nope, they are all at lower levels of the littles kicking tail. Great for them, not great for the big league team.
OK, enough about the offense and the lack of production from the greatest collection of farm hands ever. Lets talk pitching. Sorry it has to be done. Luke, awful. If there was another word that fit I'd use it. He strikes me as a complete mental midget. He folds from the stretch. I say this the night after he pitched well. I don't suspect he will pitch well again. Come on. Give him a 4 run lead and he will give up 6 the following inning. He and Billy are the same level of frustrating. Completely capable but just not producing. After Luke your pitching staff consists of 5 other starters. 6 starters, really? No Davies is complete trash. Francis, Chen, Paulino, and Duffy have been ok in spurts but they simply aren't that good. The Royals can't win 70 games the way the are put together. Mazzaro and OSullivan fizzled. Chen got hurt, but Come on, he is Chen. He is going to have a 4 era and he will battle. 4 runs is asking too much of our outfield to produce guys. Francis is up and down. He shows signs but he doesn't get support on the up nights. Duffy has a glimmer but he got sent down so garbage man Davies can get his starts. Kyle needs to be traded for a pair of cleats and some gum. The pen is overworked and underskilled. Crow gets to be an allstar then he blows a game with a balk. He hasn't pitched well since he found out people were watching, I guess. Wood, Coleman, Holland all have electric stuff. They just seem to be lacking the killer instinct. Soria seems to have gotten it back. I hope so. Teaford and Collins are somewhat solid. Two lefties need to keep it that way. Pitching sucks too bad for this team to win too many close, low scoring games. Offense is missing too many productive spots. 4 empty spots in the line up and poor starting pitching leads to, oh I don't know maybe a 28-51 record over 79 games. Spread that out over 162 and you don't get to 70 wins. Hey, maybe they can draft Bubba Starling again next year!
Another bad Royals season. Hey there is good news the NFL will get the CBA done. Yes, Go Steelers! They have issues.They have problems. I guarantee you they won't embarass themselves as an organization like the Royals do. Best farm system ever? Whatever. Go Royals, I still love them. Go Steelers! That is so much easier to cheer for.

50 Games in.

The Royals played a strange game for game 50. They were down 7-6 to the Rangers after the second inning. 6 runs in two innings and they were still behind! The game went sideways after that. The Royals pen held the Rangers scoreless for 12 innings! Paulino, just picked up from the Rockies, pitched well. Hell the whole pen minus Crow pitched great baseball. The game was won with homers by Melky, Hosmer and Pena. 12-7 in 14. Wow what a strange game. The Royals pen has a chance to be their savior. Paulino, Teaford, Collins, Coleman, Wood and Soria. I really like the fact they have two lefties in Teaford and Collins. Coleman will be the closer soon. Crow probably should be but he will probably be the next starter experiment. Collins has had control issues. I don't like to cry but the Royals have been squeezed by the plate umpire this year. That makes these young kids try to be perfect. Just a thought. The Cardinal game really stands out. You know the one with the Little League ump!
Hosmer is the real deal. The kid talks about having to make adjustments. Then he makes the adjustments and gets 4 hits. The Butler extension was good at the time, but it may be money wasted. Billy cannot produce. Hosmer already has more homers than Billy. He has played 19 games! He will pass Billy in RBI's soon. Kid is good, but Billy sucks at producing runs. 23 wins in 50 games. Not too bad. A good pace. 70 wins will be had if the pen and the offense continue to be good. Chen needs to get back. Francis needs to settle in. The big plus in the rotation is Duffy. Duffy and Hosmer are the start of some great things.
Here's hoping that game 50 starts the Royals on a 10-4 run! That would be cool.
Go Royals, get 70!

22-25

22 and 25. We might as well get used to the sub 500 record. The Royals have been 12 and 21 over the last 33. They aren't good. Soria is done. He lost another one tonight. He hasn't been able to get on track. If he isn't hurt then he is done fooling people. The 70 win plateau is within reach, but I don't see this team being tough enough. They lost a 9-8 game they should have won. They have won a quite a few games late, but that was then. They are hitting my disgust nerve. Soria has to be sat. Let Crow end the game. Hosmer has been fine. Butler and Gordon have cooled off. Butler hasn't really gotten untracked, he frustrates me. I've about had it with these guys. Duffy was good. The pen was good until Soria. He is finished Royals fans.
The positives? Not too many. Hosmer, Duffy are up and contributing. Frenchy has been outstanding. Gordon in the lead off spot is interesting.
The negatives? Soria being done. Yes done. Dude needs to DL or get the stuff fixed. He has been awful. This is 11 not last year. You don't get credit for previous years do you? If so when do you reach the credit limit?
Oh well Royals fans. Stay positive if you want. I'm done. 70 wins maybe.

Hosmer up, Kila gone.

The Royals were 12-9 when I posted last. That turned into 12-13 and they looked awful in Texas and Cleveland. They have rebounded and the record is now 17-14. 17 out of 70. That is good progress. The team is streaky. I think they play well at home and struggle on the road. You get to play 81 at home, but you have to play 81 out on the road. They need to get that figured out. Chen has been the ace. I'm so glad they signed him. Francis got rocked a couple of times but I see the old Jeff in there. He will be solid. Kila is gone and he should be. I don't know if he was pressing, trying to hard or whatever. He was awful at the plate. He looked lost in the box. He was over matched and he had zero chance against lefties. Kila being gone means we get to see Eric Hosmer. He has been raking in Omaha. He will get a chance against a pretty tough lefty in Gio tonight. I'm glad the Royals called him up. They generally wait to save money by avoiding Super Two status, but they went for it. That is a nice sign. Hopefully Hos will respond. I'm looking forward to it.
Frenchy, Aviles, Gordon, and Melky all have 20 plus RBI's after 31 games. I can't remember that happening too often for the Royals. Frenchy has been a solid, solid addition. His D is good and his bat has been fantastic. Gordon has continued his awesome play. Great D, productive hitting and good base running. The kid has come miles and miles. Melky is a hacker that will go through streaks. Glad he has been hot more often than not. Aviles is the anti Billy Butler. Aviles has way more RBI's than Billy. He also has 5 homers to Billy's 2. Think punch and judy Butler should hit lead off and let Mike bat clean up. It would be so nice to see Billy drive in some runs. He is pathetic. 13 RBI's. What, he doesn't have as many chances with men on base? Come on! Aviles has twice as many homers and almost twice as many RBI's in 40 less AB's. Butler is what he is. Willie Wilson hitter in Greg Luzinski's body. At least Bull hit they way he looked! Come on Billy! 2 out RBI's, not two out nobody on doubles.
Aaron Crow has been perfect, pretty much. They are going to need him in the rotation before the year is out, but he has been special to this point. Jeffress has potential. Adcock has been a pleasant surprise. Blake Wood gives me a rash. Throw strikes, Blake. Collins' arm will fall off by mid June. You MUST have two left handers in your pen. He has been OK, but he will burn out if they don't get him some help. Hopefully Soria isn't going to be cold anymore. He was putrid when they needed him and the temp was down. Seeing his ERA in the 7's was scary.
Overall, I'm excited to see Hos. I wish him luck. Aloha KK. I'm also glad that Jason Kendal will be gone longer. I can't stand that guy as a player. 17 down 53 to go. Go Royals lets get 70 wins!!

Good, or maybe great start!

12 and 9. Beats the heck out of 12 and 23! The start of the season has been fun. Winning in walk off fashion. Hitting AND scoring runs. Bull pen has been up and down. Crow has been fantastic. Chen and Francis have been good. Francis got lit in Texas, but that is a no win place for the Royals. Kila is struggling but Alex has been very, very good. His defense has been great. His hitting is hold your breath good right now. Billy still frustrates me. He needs lessons on clutch hitting. He has been good but he could be so much more productive. Alex, Billy, Frenchy, have been very good. There has been a coming down to earth here in the last few games. This team isn't going to win 100 games. They need these young arms in the bull pen to be consistently good. Collins and Jeffress have been pretty good. This pretty good includes awful outings. The Royals can't afford Collins to be a gas can. He is the only lefty out there. That is a problem by itself, but he was bad and he doesn't have the luxury of being bad. Quite a bit of pressure, but that is how it is. Coleman makes 5 of 7 Rookies in the pen. Wood is just awful. He can't throw strikes. He gets rocked because he grooves the 2-0 and 3-1 pitches. He needs to get ahead of the hitters. I don't chart the pitches but Wood rarely, if ever, throws a first pitch strike. That is a recipe for disaster. Luke goes perfect for 5 innings and then gives up 6 in the 6th. Oh brother. Davies has been pretty good in his last two starts. Pretty good. Chen and Francis have been solid. O'Sullivan was good in his last start. I'd say the starters have done all that you could ask. The pen has to be good.
The hitting is good. They can't score in Texas. I don't get that but they can't. They have been running and scoring. Aviles has been dumped. Maier and Dyson don't get PT. Melky has come back to earth. He was smoking for awhile. Not so much now. Hopefully Gordon will keep it going. He has been amazing. I hope it stays that way. Come on Billy. Pick up the two out RBI's. Two out hits help the average. Two out RBI's help win games. He should be better in clutch situations. He is a good hitter, I just have more expectations. Kila has been just this side of awful. Way below 200. Strikes out and looks bad doing it. He looks to be a guess hitter. He will hit a hot streak, but he needs to adjust not guess. That swing is too long.
Math is easy. The Royals won 65 and 67 in the last few years. They were 12-23 last year. 12-9 is good. Not as good as 10-4, but if they can just avoid the real long losing streaks they may reach the 70 win shelf!!

6 games in. 70 wins?

4-2. Sounds good to me. The Royals racked up 4 nice late game wins after the poor opening game. They suffered a loss today when Sorarmia gave up the lead in the 9th. These games have been so exciting. I love it when Royals win in walk off fashion. Kila goes deep. Treanor goes deep. Melky drives Getz home. Nice, very nice. The game today was the opposite. The stone of the bull pen gets rocked and they lose. The bull pen has been fantastic. Crow is making a believer out of me. Collins is a competitor. Tejeda looks sore. O'Sullivan isn't good, folks. He doesn't have good enough location on his fastball and it isn't good enough to miss bats. He needs to go.
Gordon has been very good. Butler has two long ones. Overall it has been an excellent start. Time for a trip to Motown. Verlander will rub them out. The Tigers pitching after him is average. Bull pen won't hold up if they play 12-13 innings every game. The hitting has been much better. They are scoring runs. Keep playing well boys. Hopefully Soria will get back. He looked like Sorearmia today.
GO Royals. 66 more wins!!

20-10 whats not to like?

7.2 runs per game. 54 stolen bases. Tons of home runs. Kila has 7. Gordon has 6. I think all the Royals should stay for extended spring training. I last posted when the Royals were 14-6. They were playing well then. Very well. They hit a bit of a hard time right after that post. They righted the ship and came in with a 20-10 record. Yeah, I know spring training records don't matter. YES they do. Now will the great play and a 300 team batting average transfer over to when the games count. I'm betting against that. It is spring. The team played awesome throughout the spring schedule. Good for them. I hope it lasts.
Treanor is signed and he will start opening day. Wow, I'm not against the signing at all. I'm kind of excited because the fact that he will catch the righties and Pena will catch the lefties. Makes sense. Pena caught Chen's shutout last year. Maybe he has a better feel for those guys. Treanor or Pena I don't care. I just don't want Kendall back there. I can't stand that guy and I hope his rehab takes, oh I don't know, forever! Bad signing.
Gordon had a great spring. He started to hit and hit with power. The light isn't all the way gone. I stated that he was padding the numbers against the lower level pitchers. Well, his run extended to the point where those guys were gone. Maybe, just maybe, Seitzer and Alex have figured it out. I see that Yost has moved him to the 3 hole. Here we go. Gordon and Butler as the 3-4 hitters. Good luck Alex. We need you.
The bullpen is going to get taxed. I'm not sure who is going to make it. Tejeda, Soria, O'Sullivan?. O'Sullivan gives me a rash. He is a finesse pitcher and I don't see too many of them having success out of the pen. Texiera has been pretty good. Jeffress has sucked. Collins has been pretty good. I sure hope they put together a semblance of a bull pen. The team won't average 7 runs a game but they will give up 5 plus with a week bullpen.
Getz? Weak bat. Good base runner but a weak hitter. Betemit has been raking here coming down the stretch. If that continues what do they do? Aviles is really bad at second. I'd rather him be in the lineup, though. Betemit is a wildcard in this scenario. He was really good last year for most of last year. Need to second and third set. Not a Frenchy fan, but he has been better, too. Melky has been very outstanding all spring.
Starters will be relied on. Davies had a nice last start. The optimism I have is limited because of this group of starters. They may surprise. If they do pitch well then I truly think the Royals will eclipse 70 wins, easily.
Go Royals.

20 Games into the Spring. What will Spring out?

The Royals continue to roll in the spring. 14-6, don't say the record doesn't matter. It does when you are a Royals fan. Last night was a game that I was hoping to see. Francis goes 5 solid innings. He gives up one run over the 5 innings. The Royals super sonic spring O goes after King Felix and drills him around. I can get excited when Billy owns the King. He has and hopefully he will. Good win. Now the young studs have been sent off to the farm. You know the one, the one with ALL the great young players. The Big League team now will stretch out the starters and the position players get more AB's. Oh I'm excited to watch Frenchy struggle even more. At least he isn't Guillen. You remember that clown. One thing about Jose, he had stretches where he was very productive. I won't hold my breath waiting on that from Francouer. Gordon has started to "hit" again. He went on a long hitting streak. He got his average up. Then he wailed away and struck out three times against Felix. AG is a AAAA player. I have optimism but I'm getting kind of tired. Getz got a few hits. The offense has been better than any other in the Bigs. I would love to see them average about 6 runs per game. Won't happen. That's why this spring is so frustrating. The team is winning, but these wins won't really transfer to the regular season. Davies pitched again today. He wasn't as bad as last time. How many more years of NOT THAT bad pitching can this team take? Chen got bombed, Davies, and Francis did too. Jeff rebounded nicely. Who knows? I'm hoping to see 70 wins. Message board posters are calling for 97-112 losses. That sounds awful. I hope that isn't what springs from this spring.
Go Royals. Great 20 game stretch. Finish the spring strong, then spring into the regular season. 70 wins!

Halfway and hold it!

Title refers to the leg lifts in PE class. I meant Perez for catcher and Escobar as a SS! Spring training for me, too. The Royals off to a great hitting start in ST. Every game they seem to score, score, score. Melky keeps hitting. Maier is hitting like crazy. Zawad looks to be the newest version of Bloomquist. Infield version at least. The Royals like the utility guys. Jeltz comes to mind. Seems getting a good team first, then the utility would be the way to go. Pitching is scary. 10-9, 11-10, and other scores of that ilk aren't a good sign. Rumored that the Royals are searching for a catcher. I'd like to see Perez work with the younger guys and come up with them. Pena, Pina, May will have to do. I keep thinking Kendall will be out for an extended period. I just don't like that move. I shall move on. Trading for a catcher is something I wouldn't be opposed to, but the terms would need to be favorable. I don't think Pena will kill them defensively. I just want the Royals to have the same catcher working with the young pitchers so the transition to the Big Leagues won't require getting used to a new catcher. Don't blow a bunch more money on a catcher. Let Perez grow with the throwers. You see the difference Varitek and other catchers that have been with the pitchers for a long time can make. Start that process now. Build around the battery. Second base? Getz is a good on D. Great. You can't give up a line up spot to D when your pitching isn't all that good. I'm not confident Getz will play much. I envision Aviles at third. He has been hitting great in spring. He was stiff at second so maybe third will be better. Aviles, Escobar, ?, Butler. They really need to fill that spot. 3 positions are solid as far as offense goes. Outfield is a crazy crowded story. Gordon is struggling like always. Maier is killing the ball like he does when he gets consistent AB's. Francouer is juiced in. Melky is killing the ball. Cain, Blanco, Dyson would be an interesting, if powerless OF. The search for Willie Wilson continues. Willie was a football player, not a track guy. I wish Dayton would look at film. He wasn't Dyson. The bat wasn't getting knocked out his hands. Cain reminds me most of the elusive Wilson. Melky doesn't remind me of Willie. He reminds me of the awful blooper reel where the throw he had went sideways. Unfair assessment? Yes, but a gold glove isn't in the cards for the Melkman. If they start Gordon, Melky, Francouer that is a questionable OF. Gordon is an enigma. Probably a AAAA player. Melky and Francouer are gambles. Yikes,guys. An interesting thing would be to give the starting spots to the guys who earned them in the spring. Maier over Gordon. I don't care about options or payroll. I care about trying to win. Alex's time is coming. A trade now might be beneficial.
Halfway through. Good record. Catching, 2b, and outfield issues. Pitching is scary. Halfway and hold it? Naw, lets finish this and put together a 70 win team.
Go Royals.

Spring is springing!

The Royals are off to their customary good start in spring training. I've mentioned before that I can't help but be optimistic at this time of year. Why am I optimistic about a year when only the "farm" will be talked about? I want to be excited. I want to be surprised. I have all of June,July,August,and September to have reality slug me around. I want to be excited now. A weeks worth of games that don't count can't shed too much light on what to expect this season, but here are some out of the box predictions/feelings. I hope/expect Escobar to make the Zack trade more palatable. Again I think Zack quit on the team and I'm glad he is Milwaukee. A hard working, good defensive catcher will be nice to see. Cain and Jeffress will be wait and see deals. Odorizzi will be good but he is a "farm" boy. Francis and Chen have to be good. Mazzaro and Hochevar and O'Sullivan have to surprise and exceed career highs for the team to compete for 70 wins. Starting pitching is a big ?. The bullpen has a chance to be formidable. Collins and now Smith looking for a lefty role. Too early to earmark anyone but the basis seems to be there or at least coming
Escobar, bullpen, optimism. Remember 70 wins is what I'm hoping for. I'll take more but 70 is the goal. Melky, Frenchy, Cain? Gordon hasn't flamed completely out but the light is fading very fast. George Brett comparisons didn't quite work out for him. Too bad for Alex and the Royals. Too bad Kendal has to come back. Unnecessarily mean but catcher and CF need better than Leche and Kendall. Hell Jason is jumping into interviews that Moose is giving. Bad signing, very bad. Guillen bad. Only 2 years but 3 times the cost any team was willing to give the over the hill Kendall. Give Pena/Pina/Martinez the competition and the chance to catch every day.
My optimism is up. The "farm" boys are padding the spring record. I find it strangely satisfying when the Royals win 6 of 8 games, spring or not. See I can't help myself.
Go Royals.

Pitchers and Catchers coming!

I've been a Royals fan for a long time. I'm 45 years old and I have loved baseball my whole life. I've been a Royals fan since 1974. Every year, including some of the recent ones, I am optimistic when it comes time for the pitchers and catchers to report. I feel the same optimism this year. The name of this blog is Royals and 70 wins. That would be a good season, IF, some things happen. I'll outline a few now: The "old" lefties have to be as good as they have ever been. Francis and Chen have to eat innings, but not just eat them. They have to be effective in the innings they eat. Butler has to continue to hit. He MUST improve his GIDP. That is a problem but he deserves to be the highest paid player of this bunch. He needs to hit 300 with 20 homers and 45 doubles. Those are great numbers and we all know he is capable. I'll cross my fingers and hope for 25 homers. If Billy is Billy that is good enough. Frenchy has to rekindle the fire he had early in Atlanta. If he can provide punch, 20 homers, then that will help get the team 70. The defense all around must be better. Escobar/Aviles/Getz/?, CF? Pena, May? The up the middle D is a huge ?. This needs to be GOOD. Not just OK, but good. Cain needs to beat out Melky. Cabrera isn't the answer. Gordon. That's all I'm writing about that topic. It is time. Every fan of this team knows that its make or break for Alex. He makes, the team wins 70. Bullpen needs at least one of the vaunted "farm" boys to be an integral part, from April. Jeffress, Crowe, Mongomery, I don't care which one/ones but I'm not buying the farm. They need to be up. I see Crowe as an end of the bullpen guy. He has great stuff. Jeffress does too. I just hope the only smoke leaving his hand is heading toward the plate. Need Young guys. I fully expect Collins to break camp with the big club. That is a great start, but Chavez, Texiera, are gas cans that can and should be replaced.
OK sounds good right? Get better than career years from everyone and the team MAY win 70 games. Maybe. They also need Moose to be everyday 3b as soon as he is ready. If he is ready April 1, then play him then. If you play the BS wait to start the clock game then you aren't a franchise dedicated to its dedicated fans. I need a reason to watch this team. Zack is gone. Gordon has struggled. Billy keeps me coming back, but Moose and Hosmer and Myer will be formidable in the future, hopefully.
OK Royals fans. The team is coming to camp. They won 65 and 67 games the last few years. 70 isn't too much to ask. 70 wins with at least 4 of the "farm" boys in the lineup on the last day of the season.
Go Royals!

Butler extended.

Billy Butler signed a 4 year extension for 30 million. The Royals are rewarding his two previous good years and they are expecting him to continue to hit. I like the deal, I guess. Billy frustrates me. I see he can hit,we all can see that. He just isn't productive. He needs to drive in more runs. I realize he needs guys on to drive in but Yuni demonstrated last year that you need to be clutch. Yuni hitting down at the bottom of the lineup had more RBI's? Come on. That's the problem. Double Play Billy doesn't drive in the runs. How about a two run double instead of a two out double? He is a good player and a good contract for the team and the player. I just wish he would it more in the clutch. I wouldn't mind seeing him hit for more power. A 290 average with 25 homers and 100 RBI's is better than 320 with 15 and 75. Let the bat go.
It has been a productive and creative past week for the Royals. May have to change the name of the blog to 70 wins or bust!!

Chen, too!

I am very glad the Royals signed Bruce Chen today. He was their best pitcher last year and I believed he deserved a chance to come back. He out pitched Zack last year. Go ahead and defend Greinke, but he quit. Chen was throwing his baseball in September. That was the time Zack decided his slider and his attitude would improve in Milwaukee. The Royals will win more games next year than this past year. I'm not ready to say they will win too many more, just more!
Good day. Chen, Francis, Hochevar, Mazzaro, O'Sullivan, Davies? Looks like Kyle may get a chance to work construction full time. Not the Phillies staff, but not as bad as it was a week ago.

Francis added to the mix.

The Royals addressed the rotation. They added Jeff Francis today. One year deal. He is left handed. He is coming off TJ surgery. I think it was a good move. I know they needed another arm and Francis is a safe gamble. I hope he can put together 150 quality innings. That may be too big a number but it is a good goal. The Royals also avoided arbitration with Gordon. That process amazes me. Alex struggled last year and gets a good raise. I wish I could suck at my job and get a nice raise for the next year. I know its baseball and all that noise, I'm just saying it doesn't make sense to give raises to people that didn't earn them. Butler, Tejeda, and Davies to go. I've seen Kyle Davies pitch quite a few innings in the past couple years. He isn't real good. He gives up a big inning and its over. He does eat innings. The Royals need to replace the 220 innings Zack pitched for them. Francis will pick up some. O'Sullivan/Mazzaro, Hochevar, and ? Maybe they need another starter. I won't hold my breath. I will instead focus on creating optimism for the coming season. I wonder how many times the Cubs, Red Sox, Indians, and other teams had "great" farm teams in the last century or so. I can't wait 86 years for another title. I'll be long dead. We need the big league team to be viable and we need it now!!
Go Royals.

Not much shaking in KC.

The Royals are quiet. They can afford to be, I guess. They signed Luke today. Low number. They still need another arm, or two for the so-called rotation. As January trudges toward the less bleak light of February I hope the Royals can see in that light. I hope they solidify the staff. I refuse to buy the farm, folks. The farm system is all giggles and laughs, but it doesn't mean a thing until the KC is on the front of the hat. Come on Royals. Sign Francis, or Chen. I'm trying hard to muster that optimism for the season. All we need is better than career best numbers from everyone. Then this team may win 75 games. Oh brother. I'm glad I'm a Steeler fan! Don't try to figure it out. Just realize I became a Steeler fan in 1972 at the age of 7. The Royals were pretty good then, too. Bandwagon boy, maybe. I just won't get off either one. I'll ride the World Championships every so often from football, but I remember 1985 better than any of the 4 Super Bowls of the 70's. Come on Royals. Lets get back to the top.

Why not Chen, Come on!

The Royals don't seem to care about the 2011 season. The "farm" the "farm" the "farm" that is all you hear. They trade away Zack and DDJ. OK, I get it. They get Mazzaro in return for DDJ and he is slated for the rotation. They have O'Sullivan in the rotation already. The guys are the same pitcher, so I guess the Royals found what they like twice. Whatever. These guys are control guys that don't miss too many bats. They are going to tax the bull pen and, again, they are the same guy. Right now you have Luke, Davies, and the same guys. That is 4. Actually 3 but you get the idea. The Royals signed Zack Miner to a minor league deal. Wrong Zack, or Zach. Coming off TJ surgery Miner is a grasp in the dark. Cheap but probably worthless. They need another pitcher. Kevin Millwood has been rumored. Good God no! He is too expensive and he is just an old, worn out version of Mazzaro/O'Sullivan. Actually, Millwood probably has better stuff than the "2". Please Millwood is too old, worn out, and right handed to help the 2011 Royals any. Jeff Francis is another rumor. Better. He is young. He is left handed. He is also coming off surgery. He may make it back. He is a grasp in a room a little bit lighter than the Miner room. He may actually payoff, but the price tag will be a little higher.
Here is my question: Why not Bruce Chen? He was the Royals best starter at the end of the year. Zack was too busy being busy to pitch, while Chen was throwing innings. He even had a shutout at the end of the year. He is older,he did have surgery,but he was in the building last year. He pitched well. He competed. Zack Greinke didn't. He quit. Chen played until the end. He doesn't have amazing stuff. The only guy that had that was traded to Milwaukee. Maybe he can throw the slider now that he has left town. Chen isn't Greinke. He sure as hell isn't Millwood. He is a great option for a team that doesn't really care about the season anyway. Give Bruce a 2 year deal. He will compete. He is a major league pitcher. The next person that tells me how good the "farm" is will be reminded that Gordon and Butler were supposed to be the 3*4 hitters for a long time. Yeah, OK. Projections are for teams that don't care. I suppose Moose and Hosmer are way better than Butler and Gordon. If you believe that you just bought the "farm".
I'm a Kansas City Royal fan. Not an Omaha Royals (forget it Storm Chaser guys), NWA, wilmington,Burlington fan. The farm is the farm. The kids may be all right but until they are in KC and producing they don't count that much.
Why not Chen? Come on.