Matt and Wally on the Royals

More ex-Patsies! (Cassel to the Chiefs)

2009-03-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

Continuing the newly laid Pats -> Chiefs pipeline,

Matt Cassel is your new Kansas City Chief signal caller, and for the price of only a 2nd round pick.

Wonder if TonyG will still pimp Thigpen for the starting nod.

Vrabel to the Chiefs

2009-02-27T11:48:00.001-08:00

So begins the Patriots -> Chiefs pipeline?

Tossing relievers for bats

2008-11-19T21:25:00.001-08:00

Recent news on the transaction wire...

Mike Jacobs, 1B, for Leo Nunez

Coco Crisp, CF, for Ramon Ramirez

Missed Opportunity...

2007-07-13T15:37:00.002-07:00

I didn't post beforehand, but I think we missed out on a great opportunity in the supplemental draft. Given we are stockpiling 5th round picks, it would have been nice for us to gamble on one of the top talents here. I can't believe our roster is so stacked that we didn't want to cut anyone.

Boo.

Losing Faith in the Royals

2007-04-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, I dragged SC to all 3 Royals games this weekend when they came to Seattle. Yes, I watched all 3 games between 2 of the worst teams in baseball.

Anyway, I have never watched so many games in a row in person. It really does change your perspective because you get to see trends and what is really going on. Examples are a) it is strange how much David DeJesus's attention wanders during games, b) how bad of an outfielder Emil Brown is, c) how much of a game Teahan is - he hustles all the time.

My evaluation after this weekend of crappy baseball is that the Royals are doing their building effort a disservice by allowing so many subpar fielders to play. It was demoralizing to see our young pitching staff consistently hurt and put in bad situations due to our defense. In the 3 games, I saw poor fielding by Buck, Gordon, Pena, Grudz, Gload, DeJesus, and Brown. I will ignore Brown because he is widely known to suck and it is a management decision to play him. That said, I had no idea the others were so bad. Grudz in particular didn't make several plays that he should have made. Some were ruled errors and some just hits, but he didn't make plays he should have.

I know we can't pay for great hitters like ARod, but can't we scrape together a decent fielding one? Given the number of young starters we have, it is the least we can do to support them.

Given the way our hitters are performing, its not like we can hit worse.

King Carl sucks.

2007-04-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

After watching Texas trade down repeatedly and the Patriots work the draft like geniuses, it is really disheartening to watch King Carl sit around and ignore the fact that we need more picks. There is a ton of activity, and nothing coming out of KC.

If KC is ever going to win a Super Bowl, our GM KC has to go.

The Human Joystick to STL

2007-04-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we traded Dante Hall to St. Louis for a 5th rounder and moving up 2 spots in the 3rd round.

My take is its a good move. Given the retirement of Shields, we are now officially in a rebuilding phase and need as many draft picks as possible. I'm not sold on Carl and Herm's ability to parlay the picks into players, but without picks, we have no shot at all.

Tentatively, I am hoping we trade Green for a 4th or even a 6th and a conditional 4th based upon his play. This may be the best we can do for him. Playing him in the playoff game v. Indy ruined what value he had.

Regarding LJ, if we could trade him for picks equivalent to what Balt gave up for MacGahee, I would be happy. However, if we can't get good value for him, my vote is just let him leave via free agency and get what compensatory picks we can - probably a late 3rd.

Looking forward to the draft - the most exciting and frustrating day in Chiefs football every year.

Grind him, then toss him

2007-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Chiefs management team isn't too stupid.

According to the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs are offering Larry Johnson around in trades. With the way Herm Edwards worked LJ last year, LJ has about half a year of production left. Might as well trade him.

Amazing Hops and other notes

2007-04-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how someone finds out they have such a skill, but check out Joey Gathright's car leaping abilities here:
Car Jumping

So you (all 2 of you + the random wayward blog reader) must be wondering where the title characters of this blog have gone? Well, it's pretty simple actually.

Wally moved off to Seattle and became a Mariners and Seachickens fan (how else do you explain having Jose Lopez on your fantasy team?).

Matt got assimilated into the NYC life and has been bought out by the Evil Empire (just check out all the Yanks on his fantasy team).

Perhaps when Billy Butler makes it to the majors, the two erstwhile buddies might come back and jump on the ol' bandwagon, but for now you'll just have to read snippets from a person whose earliest Royal memory was George Brett charging out of the dugout at Yankee Stadium. Good times. =)

The crazy state of baseball economics

2006-12-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

What is wrong with baseball this winter? Astronomical deals that are just unbelievable. Middle relievers getting multi year contracts for $5 million a year. Ted Lilly earning 4 years for $40 million. I'm so glad the Yankees did not sign him for that amount.

But then, this just in today:
Gil Meche to the Royals @ $55 million for 5 years. $11 million a year? For nothing more than a journeyman? The Royals should have used this money to win the bid on that Japanese pitcher.

At these ridiculous rates, now more than ever, a strong farm system is a must.

Edit: At least a potentially good signing...Octavio Dotel for 1 year @ $5 million. Could be worth it.

There's always next year

2006-09-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

Lost in all the buildup to the NFL season and the MLB pennant races, the Royals were officially eliminated this week.

Another season, another "better luck next year." Except this winter, there's actually something to look forward to. Lots of talent in the minors. A GM that actually has a clue. All that's left is for everyone's Buddy to be axed, and the groundwork back to respectability will be there.

Herm's mark

2006-08-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

While Wally makes like the Royals with all his fantasy teams (I believe he's "fighting" for a record 3 straight last place teams, 1 basketball, and 2 pending baseball) and Matt makes like the Chiefs...solid...contender, I just wanted to chime in about Herm's impact on the Chiefs.

As you've probably already read, GM Carl Peterson has already said that he expects the team to rush 500+ times. Obviously this makes Trent Green and his through-the-air brethren unreliable for fantasy. However, this is going to mean two more BIG things.
1) Larry Johnson will be a monster this year. Forget Willie Roaf's retirement, if you touch the ball 400+ times, you're going to get your yards.
2) With everything good, there's always a bad, and much like Ozzie Guillen's overuse of his pitching staff in 2005 and their subsequent subpar numbers this year, I'll say it right here, LJ is going to breakdown in 2007 under Herm "we play to win the game" Edwards. Just look at Curtis Martin. Huge year in 2004. Broken in 2005. Retirement talks in 2006. Sure LJ is a bit younger, but you can bet Herm Edwards will take some years off those legs.

So for all you Chiefs fans. This is the year. If they don't win it this year, it'll be a few years before they recover from Herm and his conservative ball/poor time management ways.

Wanna be an All Star? Join the Royals!

2006-07-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of playing everyday for 162 games without being recognized? Are you tired of your better teammates getting all the attention and All-Star bonuses? Have you ever wanted to be an All-Star yourself, but never really wanted to take the drugs nor put in the time to get there? Well, the Kansas City Royals would be a perfect match for you! Pretend that you want to play with us and we'll sign you to a big contract to give you some name recognition and come July, you _will_ be an All Star.

That should be the new advertising campaign for the Royals to entice above average talent to their team. Heck, as Mark Redman showed, you don't even have to be above average to qualify.

Another big hire....

2006-06-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

In a parallel, though less publicized announcement, the Royals hired Fred McGriff's mentor!

I think it is a great hire. It is pretty clear from watching Emil Brown especially that the team is direly in need of some fundamentals training.

A ray of hope

2006-06-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

Dayton Moore has signed a 4+ year deal with the Royals to be GM.

Part of his contract calls for complete personnel decisions, which means Dan Glass will no longer be able to actively corrupt the Royals personnel.

Maybe he'll do the whole Royals organization a favor and pick up a new manager.

On the down side, Royals fans will no longer be able to actively use Allan Baird as a crutch.

Moore for GM?

2006-05-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Rumors have been floating around that the Royals are actively looking around for a replacement for Baird. But it wasn't until recently that names started floating around. One such rumor has the job being offered to Dayton Moore, assistant GM of the Braves. While I don't know if he's got the qualifications for the job, it's reassuring to know that he seems to fully understand the situation as it seems the major hurdle to this deal going through is that Moore wants written assurance from Glass that he will have complete control over personnel matters.

Watch out though, if this deal doesn't complete, then Royals fans likely will have another 10 years of frustration as they deal with the next Glass lackey.

Of course, one also has to consider that even though this story was posted on Saturday, who knows when it was actually written. It's possible that yesterday's victory over the Yankees has changed Glass's mind over the Royals' state of affairs. I wouldn't put it past him, anyway.

News that brings a smile

2006-05-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Amidst a 10 game losing streak there is one bit of good news for Royals fans in the baseball world. The seemingly indomitable Yankees have not only signed Terrence Long to a minor league contract, but they called him up yesterday and started him!

Feel free to laugh to your heart's content at this Baird-like maneuver.

My optimism has never before been so tested...

2006-05-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Amazing how we manage to lose games. Mind-boggling.

The most mind-boggling thing I've seen this year though has been Buddy Bell. He is the worst manager in the history of the Royals. Considering we've had Pena and Muser and Bob Boone, that's saying a lot.

How is he not playing Huber more. Because Minky "doesn't deserve that?" What the hell kind of crap is that? Now he's going to be starting Graf regularly at 3B instead of German. Oh, and tonight, Buck is resting so Bako - who turns 217 years old this year - can play.

What the hell kind of youth movement is this? Didn't we hire Bell in large part because he knew how to handle young players? This is ridiculous! If we're not going to play Huber, then send him back down so he can play regularly. Graf is a utility player - let German start at 3B considering he's been our best hitter all year. Buck is young - let him play more. This is absolutely ridiculous. Our team is run by an absolute idiot (have you seen Bell's quotes in the Star? my god...), and Baird needs to be fired ASAP. Though I think it won't really matter in the end since Glass still controls this team, and he has got to be one of the worst owners ever. Oh for the days of Miles Prentice!!

Argh. I still think we have talent on this team and in the minors. But the people running things are just so horrid that they are not only masking that talent, but threatening to ruin it (if they haven't ruined it already).

Boo. My optimism is on its last legs...

Royal optimism?

2006-05-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Could this be a light at the end of the tunnel for Royals fans?

Glass unhappy

I put the over/under for Baird's firing at June 1st.

Draft time....

2006-04-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Why is it that I love the NFL draft so much? I mean, the Royals have the first overall pick and I don't really care what college pitcher they take. The Chiefs have been really crappy at drafting for a while, yet I still read all the scouting reports and dream about the different players we could take and hopefully improve.

I've most commonly seen us associated with defensive backs Tye Hill, Joseph, and Cromartie. I'm not extremely sold on any. That sentiment falls in line with the general consensus that there are only 18-21 players worthy of first round pick. Somewhere I found a list of players by round ratings, not where they would go. There were 45ish players with 2nd round ratings. We are at the 20 spot and have clear needs, so the likelihood of a reach is quite high. Peterson has done it before, and well it could happen again.

It was interesting to see however that Pat Kirwan on nfl.com has us taking Tamba Hali. This seems to coincide with Edwards faith that he can find CB talent outside of the first round. Also of note is that Ty Law is still out there. Granted, he supposedly got beat like a drum last year while collecting his interceptions. JD - our Jet's correspondent, what say you?

I'm sure every team is trying, but I'd love to see us trade down and add some picks if a top CB isn't there. I've given up on believing Carl can draft defensive linemen. Looking at the Patriots, I am jealous at how they always seem to have lots of picks.

Royal improvements....

2006-04-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

So, our winning streak was broken and Hernandez came back 17lbs lighter after 7 weeks and pitched a good game against the Twins. Granted his performance was against the Twins, but we are the Royals. Beggars can't be choosers.

Actually though, the pitching hasn't been the problem. The offense has been quite bad. Sweeney is a dog and our Canadian stars Stairs and Guiel haven't had many opportunities. I'm sad that the losing streak has ended because Baird being fired would actually give me long-term hope. At least Butler and Gordon are playing well. I'm hopeful about Bautista too.

Anyway, for a laugh, here is a link to the article about Kerry Robinson's (omaha) injury due to laughing.

How far have the Royals fallen?

2006-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just read this in the KC Star...

---------------------
The battle is on between the Royals and the Brigade [the KC Arena Football team] in terms of attendance.

Did you happen to notice who outdrew whom on Sunday?

The 1-9 Brigade was playing Los Angeles, while the Royals were playing the World Series champion Chicago White Sox.

But the Brigade drew 15,173 fans to the Royals’ 15,094.

Go figure.

---------------------
Regarding this year's Royals, I generally agree with you Matt, but no way do I think we move Gordon. If he can handle it defensively, his offensive potential makes him a superstar. I say don't move him unless we have to. We have too few stars and need to fully develop the ones we do have.

Does that mean we may have to admit the Beltran trade was a bust or trade Teahan for whatever we can get. Yes, perhaps so.

Heh. I'm thinking we'd stick Billy Butler at 1B. That way we can keep the ageless and brittle Sweeney at DH.

My thoughts on the 2006 Royals

2006-04-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a very long hiatus away from this blog. Thanks to Justin for helping to keep it going.

So here are some random thoughts and observations about this team so far:

- I like Elarton. He looks solid. I don't think he'll be this good all year, but I think he'll give us good Suppan-like dependability. Nothing fantastic, but maybe a hair above average.

- I dislike Joe Mays. I hope he's gone by the quarter-season point. He is the second coming of Albie Lopez.

- Teahen is a damn good fielder over at 3B. Now I see why the front office keeps talking about moving Gordon to a different position.

- Reggie Sanders was a damn good signing.

- DeJesus getting hurt really sucks. I guess it makes sense to keep Costa over Guiel though. I hand't thought of it before (I wanted Guiel), but with DeJesus hurt, we wouldn't have had a CF. I don't think Guiel, Sanders, Brown, or Stairs can play CF. Still, it sucks for Guiel.

- Burgos has filthy stuff when he's on. Of course, that can be said of all of our young pitchers. McDougal, Sisco, Affeldt, Bautista... They're all lights-out when they're on top of their game. And they are all pretty horrible when they're not. Speaking of Affeldt, he looks pretty bad so far in this game (bottom of the 3rd).

- Grudz's uniform is hilarious. His name is so long that the back of his uniform just looks goofy. It starts completely to the left of the number and ends way over on the right.

- Minky's defense is solid, but he has not impressed me with his bat. I wish we were batting him further down in the order.

- Berroa's bat scares me. The fact that I was so amazed that he walked last night is not a good sign. I'm guessing that every player who has more than 200 AB's this season will have more HR's than Berroa has walks. Even Graf and Bako.

I can count to 5

2006-04-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Counting was fun as a child. I loved the Count on Sesame Street. Count Chocula was awesome. But sometimes counting is bad.

Take for instance, Joe Mays' line today:

Pitcher #1
2.2 Innings Pitched
3 Earned Runs
4 Hits
5 Walks

Joe Mays, you rock. Now please, leave our team when Redman gets back and get replaced by Wood.

Speaking of Wood, I sure hope he can hold the fort for the rest of the game b/c our bats just came alive baby! Way to even it up bottom of the order! Yeah!!

Royals vs. the Yankees...

2006-04-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

so, we are about to begin a series against the mighty yankees.
in the spirit of sean's comment, i will channel the glory days of last year.

2005 Royals Sweep of Yankees
May 31 Kansas City 5, N.Y. Yankees 3
June 1 Kansas City 3, N.Y. Yankees 1
June 2 Kansas City 5, N.Y. Yankees 2

What are the odds we do it again?

Why Royals pitchers don't develop ... bad defense behind them.

2006-04-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Yup. Leading the league in errors, worst defensive efficency rating, and fielding percentage.

Would you believe Oakland led the league in DER? Yup. Billy Beane has found his arbitrage opportunity in defense.

Team LEAGUE G INN TC PO A E DP PB SB CS DER FPCT

1. Kansas City Royals
AL 162 1413.1 6011 4240 1646 125 163 5 70 44 .6831 .979

2. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
AL 162 1421.2 5835 4265 1446 124 139 13 68 45 .6984 .979

3. Milwaukee Brewers
NL 162 1438.0 5915 4314 1482 119 139 8 86 34 .7147 .980

4. Colorado Rockies
NL 162 1418.2 6080 4256 1706 118 158 14 102 37 .6862 .981

5. Pittsburgh Pirates
NL 162 1436.0 6228 4308 1803 117 193 16 64 36 .7103 .981

6. Detroit Tigers
AL 162 1435.2 6208 4307 1791 110 171 4 60 49 .7104 .982

7. Boston Red Sox
AL 162 1429.0 6019 4287 1623 109 135 13 87 29 .6970 .982

8. San Diego Padres
NL 162 1455.1 6004 4366 1529 109 136 12 94 25 .7049 .982

9. Texas Rangers
AL 162 1440.0 6106 4320 1678 108 149 11 69 26 .6956 .982

10. Baltimore Orioles
AL 162 1427.2 6069 4283 1679 107 154 13 115 34 .7081 .982

11. Cleveland Indians
AL 162 1452.2 6110 4358 1646 106 156 6 103 33 .7251 .983

12. Los Angeles Dodgers
NL 162 1427.1 6115 4282 1727 106 141 9 130 34 .7149 .983

13. New York Mets
NL 162 1435.2 6070 4307 1657 106 146 5 107 25 .7165 .983

14. Cincinnati Reds
NL 163 1433.0 5990 4299 1587 104 133 9 76 35 .6908 .983

15. Florida Marlins
NL 162 1442.1 6089 4327 1659 103 177 9 118 38 .6925 .983

16. Minnesota Twins
AL 162 1464.1 6259 4393 1764 102 171 9 44 36 .7165 .984

17. Chicago Cubs
NL 162 1440.0 6079 4320 1658 101 136 6 90 40 .7156 .983

18. St. Louis Cardinals
NL 162 1445.2 6388 4337 1951 100 196 12 32 33 .7179 .984

19. New York Yankees
AL 162 1430.2 6075 4292 1688 95 151 11 125 50 .7033 .984

20. Toronto Blue Jays
AL 162 1447.0 6193 4341 1757 95 154 6 100 35 .7140 .985

21. Arizona Diamondbacks
NL 162 1456.1 6257 4369 1794 94 159 11 78 28 .6966 .985

22. Chicago White Sox
AL 162 1475.2 6191 4427 1670 94 166 9 103 25 .7252 .985

23. Washington Nationals
NL 162 1458.0 6014 4374 1548 92 156 7 76 41 .7100 .985

24. Philadelphia Phillies
NL 162 1435.0 6003 4305 1608 90 132 12 82 26 .7175 .985

25. San Francisco Giants
NL 162 1444.1 6053 4333 1630 90 146 5 78 54 .7115 .985

26. Houston Astros
NL 163 1443.0 6118 4329 1700 89 146 6 53 31 .7191 .985

27. Oakland Athletics
AL 162 1450.1 6088 4351 1649 88 166 5 109 25 .7292 .986

28. Los Angeles Angels
AL 162 1464.1 6001 4393 1521 87 139 13 68 42 .7123 .986

29. Atlanta Braves
NL 162 1443.2 6219 4331 1802 86 170 8 89 36 .7057 .986

30. Seattle Mariners
AL 162 1427.2 5944 4283 1575 86 144 14 89 43 .7133 .986

Emil Brown ... butcher in the outfield....

2006-04-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

Heh. Here are fielding stats for Outfielders in 2005.

Yup, we had the leagues most error-prone outfielder too.

Player TEAM POS G GS INN TC PO A E DP PB SB CS RF FPCT

1. E Brown*
KC OF 139 135 1179.2 285 264 9 12 0 --- --- --- 2.08 .958

2. M Alou*
SF OF 117 117 988.2 235 222 5 8 3 --- --- --- 2.07 .966

3. C Blake*
CLE OF 138 133 1188.2 298 287 3 8 0 --- --- --- 2.20 .973

4. J Dye*
CWS OF 140 137 1235.1 276 259 9 8 2 --- --- --- 1.95 .971

5. J Ellison*
SF OF 122 82 781.1 248 235 5 8 1 --- --- --- 2.76 .968

6. P Burrell*
PHI OF 153 153 1296.2 253 236 10 7 2 --- --- --- 1.71 .972

7. J Cruz*
LAD OF 103 99 835.2 210 198 5 7 0 --- --- --- 2.19 .967

8. J Guillen*
WSH OF 142 137 1206.2 318 301 10 7 5 --- --- --- 2.32 .978

9. M Holliday*
COL OF 123 121 1049.2 248 236 5 7 2 --- --- --- 2.07 .972

10. M Ramirez*
BOS OF 149 147 1225.0 267 243 17 7 0 --- --- --- 1.91 .974

11. T Redman*
PIT OF 85 59 569.2 182 170 5 7 0 --- --- --- 2.76 .962

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/historical/player_stats.jsp?statType=3&teamPosCode=O&timeFrame=1&c_id=mlb&sitSplit=&venueID=&Submit=Submit&subScope=pos&timeSubFrame2=1&baseballScope=mlb&timeSubFrame=2005&&sortByStat=E

Angel Berroa ... One of the reasons we suck

2006-04-10T05:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah, we guessed wrong on his development. Yes, he thinks he is a power hitter at times. Yes, he is paid too much.

What's worse, he is lousy in the field too. In the past 2 seasons, Mr. Berroa has committed more errors than any other shortstop. Pretty impressive huh.

Player TEAM POS G GS INN TC PO A E DP PB SB CS RF FPCT

1. A Berroa*
KC SS 292 291 2503.1 1344 461 830 53 202 --- --- --- 4.64 .961

2. J Lugo*
TB SS 299 297 2576.2 1441 546 846 49 185 --- --- --- 4.86 .966

3. M Tejada*
BAL SS 322 322 2816.1 1566 515 1005 46 223 --- --- --- 4.86 .971

4. R Furcal*
ATL SS 283 282 2440.1 1399 445 915 39 220 --- --- --- 5.02 .972

5. M Young*
TEX SS 313 313 2742.2 1350 463 850 37 193 --- --- --- 4.31 .973

6. K Greene*
SD SS 257 254 2218.1 1065 338 693 34 145 --- --- --- 4.18 .968

7. A Gonzalez*
FLA SS 282 279 2439.0 1270 446 792 32 201 --- --- --- 4.57 .975

8. R Adams*
TOR SS 153 140 1259.1 624 220 373 31 77 --- --- --- 4.24 .950

9. J Wilson*
PIT SS 313 310 2715.2 1526 480 1015 31 255 --- --- --- 4.95 .980

10. E Renteria*
BOS SS 153 150 1293.0 655 227 398 30 90 --- --- --- 4.35 .954

11. D Jeter*
NYY SS 311 311 2694.1 1409 535 846 28 192 --- --- --- 4.61 .980

12. B Crosby*
OAK SS 235 235 2099.1 1140 358 756 26 167 --- --- --- 4.78 .977

13. F Lopez*
CIN SS 191 174 1566.1 772 251 495 26 96 --- --- --- 4.29 .966

14. A Everett*
HOU SS 249 244 2133.2 1070 346 700 24 152 --- --- --- 4.41 .978

15. C Guillen*
DET SS 210 207 1776.0 974 304 646 24 134 --- --- --- 4.81 .975

16. K Matsui*
NYM SS 110 108 941.2 520 174 323 23 65 --- --- --- 4.75 .956

17. J Peralta*
CLE SS 148 144 1287.1 666 214 430 22 106 --- --- --- 4.50 .967

18. J Rollins*
PHI SS 311 309 2732.2 1252 421 810 21 168 --- --- --- 4.05 .983

19. A Cintron*
ARI SS 172 156 1370.0 685 184 481 20 80 --- --- --- 4.37 .971

20. J Reyes*
NYM SS 171 166 1471.0 728 254 454 20 110 --- --- --- 4.33 .97

Sad because we all know his hitting isn't making up for it.

Chiefs Schedule

2006-04-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

The schedule was just released and it looks OK. There is definitely a tough stretch in the middle, and having our bye so early doesn't help, but overall it's not bad.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
------------------

SEP. 10 CINCINNATI 1:00
Home opener vs. Cinci. Hopefully, Palmer isn't ready and we get a win.
SEP. 17 at Denver 4:15
We always lose in Denver. 1-1
SEP. 24 Bye
Too early, and we don't need it to prep for SF, but sure.
OCT. 1 SAN FRANCISCO 1:00
We should win to put our record at 2-1.
OCT. 8 at Arizona 4:05
We need to win this one vs. an up and coming AZ team. 3-1
OCT. 15 at Pittsburgh 4:15
We lose on the road vs. the reigning champs. We have a shot, but let's assume. 3-2
OCT. 22 SAN DIEGO 1:00
We throw everything at LT2 and pray Rivers still isn't ready yet. 4-2
OCT. 29 SEATTLE 1:00
At home vs. the Seachickens. It says here we lose. 4-3
NOV. 5 at St Louis 1:00
Rams run w/ SJ and throw it all over the house. 4-4
NOV. 12 at Miami 1:00
vs. Culpepper... we win a close one. 5-4
NOV. 19 OAKLAND 1:00
Aaron Brooks? We win. 6-4
NOV. 23 DENVER 8:00 (Thu.)
Short-week at home vs. Den. Close one, but give it to us. 7-4
DEC. 3 at Cleveland 1:00
Extra prep vs. CLE. We win. 8-4
DEC. 10 BALTIMORE 1:00
Win. Lack of a QB is still killing the Ravens. 9-4
DEC. 17 at San Diego 4:05
Loss. Rivers is ready now. 9-5
DEC. 23 at Oakland 8:00 (Sat.)
Win 10-5
DEC. 31 JACKSONVILLE 1:00
Win 11-5 for a wild card spot.

The 2 must-win games for us:
at AZ
at MIA

Yet more evidence Bell isn't watching...

2006-04-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

Asked about yesterday's whipping, Buddy Bell had this to offer:

“It was just one of those games where we didn’t do anything right,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “We can’t play like that again and it would be almost impossible to play like that again.”

Did he watch last year?

All i got for Xmas was this lousy Walls....

2006-04-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Reinforcing that Carl Peterson only does talent evaluation from his luxury box and only watches the Chiefs-Broncos games, we just signed another Denver castoff. Sigh. Great, Lenny Walls is 6'4".

Dammit. If we were willing to spend any money at all, we should have gotten Rocky Bernard. At least he would outperform Peterson's last few high picks.

Sigh, all this joy, and the voters still decided to renovate the stadiums.

I guess we all are truly gluttons for punishment.

The end has begun....

2006-04-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we were just obliterated by the team roundly predicted to finish .500 and 4th in our division. I don't really have much to say, except that Joe Mays did his best to make us wish for Jose Lima.

The Tigers must love playing us. If they played us every game, they would easily hit 500 home runs this year.

Well, the only hope for this long year is that the team sucks so badly, no one attends or watches games and Baird et al get fired. Here's hoping for the Apocolypse of the Baird Royals.

Lucking into good decisions...

2006-03-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

So, with the "injury" to Grienke, we are going to start Affeldt and Bautista. I'm quite happy about this, Affeldt in particular. I feel he still has a chance to develop and we just need to give him the opportunity. Being rushed to the majors is tough, and I think it is particularly tough on pitchers who get here early and fair poorly. If they lose their confidence, they need the chance to regain it.

Anyway, I've wanted to draft one of them in a fantasy draft, but I can't justify having either on one of my teams. Sad huh.

Regarding the waiver claim for Graffinino, it sucks. We should have kept McEwing and saved the money. Spending an extra million is just a waste here.

Irrational pulls

2006-03-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

Tony Graffanino was just claimed off waivers by the Royals from the Red Sox.

This reminds me of fantasy baseball, and how many owners seem to have an irrational attraction to former players. Ignoring all conventional wisdom and making the play for an over the hill player who once had a good game or two.

Perhaps Baird is a fantasy owner at heart, but one with a bad strategy. (collect mediocre players til the team is saturated with them).

Next thing you know, we'll see Jose Lima again.

Royal Blue Hope....

2006-03-22T03:33:00.000-08:00

Here's an article about having hope that the Royals could win it all.

whatever.

Royal Pain

2006-03-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

First potential Ace, Mark Redman goes down and has to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, and now the incumbent closer (who apparently can put down a mean pie of pizza), Mike MacDougal strains his terres major muscle under his shoulder so he'll miss at least the first month of the season.

Early reports are that Buddy Bell has named Ambiorix (is the x silent?) Burgos the new closer.

Greinke still MIA

2006-03-17T05:20:00.000-08:00

So, props to the Chefs for resigning Will Shields, guaranteeing that he spend his entire career with the Chiefs. However, a big raspberry to them for not signing anyone else, especially Rocky Bernard. Having watched him some up here, I think he would have been a great addition.

Now, down to business. Grienke, the hallmark player development example for the Royals, is still missing. This sucks for the Royals as well as Grienke. Having had the chance to talk to a few people, there is belief that the "personal reasons" are psychological in nature. Hopefully, he can get his issues and be reincorporated back into the clubhouse without too much trouble. I had previously thought he was a punk, but if it really is a more serious problem, I just hope he figures out a treatment.

DeJesus signed long-term....

2006-03-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

So, while watching the feeding frenzy that is NFL free agency after the new CBA (with 7.5M of extra room), I noticed that David DeJesus signed a long-term deal. It is 5 years and 13.5M, buying out his first year of arbitration-eligible years. Not a bad move at all. Even the club option at 6.5M is pretty reasonable.

Allard should still be fired.

Scott Elarton, Opening Day Starter

2006-03-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

The great Royals manager, Buddy Bell, has named Scott Elarton the Opening Day starter

6 years ago, this guy was a frontline pitcher in waiting. Unfortunately, a stint through Colorado derailed his career. A move to Cleveland seems to have cleansed him of the bad habits he picked up in Colorado.

In any case, with Redman hurt, this was probably the right choice.

Chefs in a world of hurt....

2006-03-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

With no eleventh hour CBA in sight, the Chefs are screwed. They are one of the top 3 teams over the salary cap. Carl has stated at least 6 players will have to restructure their contracts to get under the cap. We don't want to just get under the cap. We want to have room to sign all the bargains that should be available. Facing the possibility of an uncapped year, we should really be looking to sign players to 3-4 year contracts and lock in our costs.

But alas, we are way over the cap and thus going to be scraping by to make it.

So, one might wonder why teams like the Eagles and others are successful on the field while being under the cap. Good question. The key is that they draft well. Finding good draft picks or unsigned free agents make a huge difference. And I'm not talking about first round picks. The key is finding mid-round picks that can contribute quickly at bargain rates.

More so than baseball (players take too long to develop) and basketball (only 2 rounds), football finances are driven by the draft. If you suck, you either get really good at signing cheap free agents or you really hurt against the cap.

Herm better be a really good coach or else it will be a long year. (yeah, yeah JD, i know his track record with the Jets.)

Hype time....

2006-02-27T02:31:00.000-08:00

This time of year is boring. There really isn't much besides boring NBA games. March Madness is coming up. Spring training is getting hyped up. The NFL draft is getting in depth coverage. And this year features the World Baseball Classic. Yawn...

My big hope is that the Jayhawks get in the tournament and surprise by doing well. None of the rest really excite me at this point. The Chefs have a crappy draft spot due to a good, but not good enough season. And the World Baseball Classic has the hype of a business initiative by MLB to make more money. Blech.

Anyway, i'm headed to Phoenix next week to hang out with my brother and take in a few games. If you are interested in coming, let me know.

Lima time!

2006-02-15T02:23:00.000-08:00

The best negative fantasy pitcher in baseball has just signed a minor league deal with the NY Mets. Royals fans, it's time to rejoice as it makes it that much harder for Baird to resign Jose. Though, considering Baird and his penchant for mediocre "veteran" pitchers, you never know.

Chiefs Recap

2006-02-13T05:18:00.000-08:00

Following in the tradition of being very late in posting, here are my thoughts on this past year and next year for the Chiefs.

This past year:
Sigh. This is the team i really follow and they have been pretty disappointing. All the excitement of DJ and the free agent signings dissipated with the loss at Philly and the backbreaker was the loss at Buffalo. Knowing we had a hellish stretch to close out the year, the loss at Buffalo sucked. The only bright point to end the year was Larry Johnson. And sadly, he doesn't even want to play for the Chiefs.

Biggest Disappointment: Kendrell Bell.
Runner Up: Priest Holmes.

Biggest Revelation: Without Willie Roaf, we are toast. We haven't developed any young lineman and are in big trouble when the Willies retire.

Biggest Waste of Space on the team: Tie. Junior Siavii and Ryan Sims.

Do I think Herm Edwards is the answer? No.

Pitchers and Catchers report

2006-02-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, apologies, I've been lax in my Royals related posts.

First, Rob Neyer on Rob and Rany posted again. They don't cover this upcoming year really, they just lament how pathetic the Royals organization is. Sigh. It is true.

Let's just think a moment about this organization. Last year, Emil Brown led the team in runs, rbis, and stolen bases. Are you ready to cry yet? Well, onto this offseason's activity:

Signings: Pitcher Scott Elarton, Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, outfielder Reggie Sanders, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, and catcher Paul Bako.

New faces by way of trade: Esteban German and Mark Redman.

Are you excited yet? What do we have? At best a bunch of league average veterans that we are paying commensurate salaries to. Can we afford to do that? No. Sigh. There we go.

The Good News Comes from... the Royals????

2005-09-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

So this week, the good news comes not from the Chiefs camp, but the other half of the Truman Sports Complex. That's right, after our Chiefs got summarily embarassed in every way possible on national television this week, our Boys in Blue have saved us.

"But we just lost our 104th game last night?" you ask? True. But today, we signed Alex Gordon, our first round draft pick, and second pick overall. After long, protracted discussions that seemed to be going nowhere, we finally got him to autograph the papers.

I was seriously in doubt as to whether he'd sign with us. He could have held out and re-entered the draft next year. We had refused to budge from 3.8 million, and I thought we had wasted a pick. But lo and behold, somehow we moved just a little bit up, and he came a long ways down.

His signing gets me excited. I'm curious to see what he can do. Everyone said he was the most major-league ready of all the first rounders available, and some people are saying he'll shoot through the minors in only one year. If he lives up to the hype, that'd be awesome. Granted, one piece to the puzzle won't save our ship full-o-holes, but it's a little sliver of shiny light in a bleak, dark and storm-ridden season (let's face it - decade and a half) of Royals baseball.

Here's to Billy Butler and Alex Gordon in 2007!

Chiefs!!!

2005-09-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I gotta say, I like what I've seen so far. Not from the offense - dammit Green, would you throw a touchdown please?? I have you on my fantasy team!!! But from the defense. Who would've thought we'd be 2-0 and not scored over 30 in either game? That'd be unheard of last year.

Our linebackers look fast, and Sammy Knight is everywhere in the backfield. The biggest difference I notice from last year is that even when the other teams makes a completion, there's a Chiefs player there to stop him. And even if he misses him, there's one or two more right there to finish the job. Last year, there were so many times where they got the ball and went a good five yards before there was even a Chiefs jersey on the screen. And that was usually the only tackler until the endzone.

I will be happy when Warfield gets back though. McCleon just looks outgunned. He got so lucky against Randy Moss last week - I'm not really sure where the ref saw a push-off. But I'll take it. I'm more impressed with Benny Sapp though. He seems like he's playing decent coverage, and I've definitely seen him in the quarterback's face a number of times already.

Anyways, it was good to see the Raiders lose to the Chiefs again. It makes me feel that all is right in the world again. And Kerry Collins - I have never seen a man make such bad throws when there's the tiniest bit of pressure on him. Seriously, all we had to do was blow on him and he'd throw the ball three feet off the mark. Gotta love it.

Chiefs vs. the Rrraiders.

2005-09-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Too bad I'm not back in the bay to watch this one. I have a bad feeling about it, but I'm sure it will be a good game to watch. There should be lots of scoring and the game will, as always, come down to the last possession. I'm thinking Oakland may win this one 38-34 or something. Blech.

Going in, the biggest concern for us are the injuries. Number one with a bullet is the lack of Willie Roaf. He seems to anchor our whole offensive line. Hopefully, we'll be able to manage against Oakland.

Surtain should play, but I doubt he can cover Randy anyway.

Our biggest hope is that we get a couple turnovers and/or a big play on special teams. That and a steady but unspectacular offense could net us a 27-24 victory.

Wow.

2005-09-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, everyone was picking the jets to win, and we beat them pretty handily. Sadly, the game wasn't broadcast over here, so I couldn't see it. Had to rely upon the internet.

Having both LJ and Priest, I am at a loss regarding what to do. LJ outgained Priest on just 9 carries! Do I play both of them?!

And major props to the D. Just looking at the stats, lots of forced fumbles and almost pitching a shutout. Pretty sweet.

One hour till game time!

2005-09-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Time to see if our offense still has one more year left in them and if our defense can finally get their asses in gear and pick up the slack. One hour till kickoff.

Let's go Chiefs!!!

Trent the Stent Green

2005-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, does this scare anyone? Collins is hurt, Huard sucks, and Green has a stent put in?
Jason Whitlock is back suggesting we bring Jeff George in. Quinn is our savior? Ugh.

It makes me so upset, I just want to go loot something.

Forget about the WRs, what about Corey Simon?!

2005-08-31T05:15:00.000-07:00

Man, I know we would love a #1 WR, but what about Corey Simon. He is an unrestricted free agent, and a great defensive lineman. Last I saw we had a bunch of decent ones. Definitely no one that required a double team. If we could figure out a way to sign him, all the other lineman would perform better too.

Couple options at WR

2005-08-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

So I just read on espn that Atlanta released Peerless Price and Cincinatti released Peter Warrick. I wonder if we'll bring either of them for a look? Both have performed well below expectations and there have been some questions about the work habits of both. But both of those apply to Freddy Mitchell, and we didn't seem to have hesitations bringing him in. While we have some depth at WR, I don't think there's a whole lot of talent amidst that depth. I wouldn't mind seeing Price brought in as a 3rd receiver with the possibility of working up to 2nd.

Any thoughts?

Long hiatus over

2005-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Whose long hiatus? The Royals from the win column? No no no. I could only dream. My hiatus is over though. It's been almost three months since I posted. The last time was after we spent the Yankees. Only fitting, then, that I resume after we get swept by the Yankees.

In between, what have we missed. Oh let's see. How about some horrible play by 95% of our team, some backwards steps by some of our youngsters, and oh, just for kicks, let's throw in a 19 game losing streak. Yuck.

Despite it all, though, I was set to go to two games this weekend when the Royals came to the Bronx. Friday night, I went with a friend and her coworkers. Wood looked real solid for about 5 innings, before serving up a BP pitch to Old Man Bernie Williams, who summoned his waning strength and launched it out of the park. Then it was downhill from there. 5-1 in the end. The lowlight was perhaps Wood falling off the mound and being heckled and laughed at by the entire stadium. Adding insult to injury.

Saturday, we were up 7-3 in the 9th. I was thinking, "Oh, sure. We win the one game that I'm not attending." And of course, this would turn out to be untrue. 5 runs later (after Affeldt slipped on the rosin bag and misthrew a double play ball that would have ended the game), we're 8-7 losers.

Sunday, it was all overcast and supposed to thunderstorm all afternoon, so we cancelled our plans to go. Instead I watched on TV and was thankful I wasn't there to see Giambi go off for two homeruns and seven RBI. I *HATE* Giambi, that lousy steroid-using, son-of-a-bitch cheater.

"At least he admitted what he did!" ... Bullshit. He never admitted it because his lawyers wouldn't let him. And if he hadn't cheated in the first place, he'd have nothing to be teary-eyed about.

"It's nice to see him turn his season around." ... Since when should I start feeling sorry for a guy who only got famous in the first place because he was a cheater? I don't want to see him do well. I want to see him completely tank and get the shitty ending he deserves.

... but I digress. I think I may have gotten off topic there for a second. Ahem.

Anyways, Wally has started posting again so I'm following his lead. I think I'm done talking about the Royals for the rest of this season. There are some silver linings to the year (DeJesus looks solid again; MacDougal has been good; Huber, Butler, and Lubanski all had solid years in the minors), but overall, what a crappy season. Time to move on to the Chiefs. I think our offense will be unstoppable again, but this time we've got a solid defense to go with it. They looked punishing in the Arizona game (which I got to see on TV back home). I'm psyched. LET'S GO CHIEFS!

Oh, and to piggy-back off of Walt's posts, I think we all know the clear favorite for SM East this year is the Manwhores =)

SMEast: Western Division Review

2005-08-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so i'm tired of cleaning my room and justin has asked me for a division prediction. The Western Division is clearly the toughest and it may be hard for the 2nd place team to win the wild card. Let's start there. The 4 teams are Empire, Philly 40 Killers, Manwhore United, and DC Tarbabies.

Let's look at the 4 teams by position:
QB: With Mark Bulger, the Philly 40 Killers are the class of the division. Too close to call between Trent Green and the KC Offense vs. Kerry Collins who gets to play the KC Defense. I always underestimate Trent. The Tarbabies with Jake Delhomme and David Carr bring up the rear.

RB: Everyone has stud RB's so I'll be splitting hairs here. First, I have to go with Empire. Deuce and Davis are two proven stud running backs. My biggest concern here is depth. Behind these two, Empire has 2 rookies. Next, I'll take the Manwhores with LT2 and S.Jackson. The only reason I put them second is the unsettled St Louis line. If I had more faith there, they'd be first. Finally, it is too close for me to call between the All-Rehab team of McGahee/Taylor vs. the juju of Julius and Jordan.

WR: This is the easiest call. With two of the top 5 WR's, the Tarbabies have the best WR's in the league. Plus, with Owens and Chad Johnson, the owner may not even need to talk shit. His WR's may do that for him too. In second, the Manwhores again with D.Jackson and N.Burleson. Has DJack had a catch in the pre-season? Maybe tonight against Surtain. The Empire is third with the injured Porter and Reggie Wayne. Philly comes in last with a mixed collection including the bizarre pick of the draft: Antonio Bryant.

TE: This one is also easy. Tarbabies can catch passes, because Gates their TE rounds out the best receiver corp in the league. Too bad he'll miss week 1. Empire comes in second with McMichael and Franks. Two legit TE's.

K: who knows. it's quite the crapshoot. If I had to pick, I'd take Wilkins just because he has won me a championship before.

Def: Monte has cornered the market on NY defenses. But, no one has ever claimed NYC has good air defense. Matt's the pick here with the Steeler's D.

Final Standings:
The week 1 game of Manwhores vs. Tarbabies decides it between the two. With Gates out, the Tarbabies are vunerable, but Matt's team faces tough defenses up and down the lineup. Stephen Jackson goes off for a big game, but that is it. Philly 40 Killers do their best, but they can't drink a 40 in 17 seconds, so no go. However, if he trades some of his running back riches for a WR, watch out. Otherwise, Tarbabies win the division.

SM East Fantasy Football: It's asstastic...

2005-08-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

So, yet another year of our fantasy football league begins. From Sandbox (individual defensive players) to ESPN (keepers) and now to NFL.com (authenticity - crappy, but authentic) Last night was the draft, and there isn't a clear winner this year. With so few starting positions, everyone has a decent team. Last year, I thought the Pimp Daddies would run away with it.

Team by Team recap:
Cocky Asians: Iffy picks across the board, starting with Priest at #2. Suspect QB's with Harrington and Vick. If Vick breaks out and LJ takes over, the team could challenge. Draft fell apart at the end.

DC Pimp Daddies: A solid team. I like James.

DC Tarbabies: Dominant WR's, but can his QB and RB2 hold up? RB2- Yes. QB - ???

KC Lynch Mob: If GB plays well, he will win it.

Lawrence Holdouts: A middle of the pack team.

Manwhore United: I'm not sold at QB and WR2, but LT2 could carry him.

Norwegian Snowpimps: Iffy at RB and WR. Middle of the pack team.

Nut Butter: Wren the autodrafter. If he could nab a RB2, he could be ok.

Philly 40 Killer: I like the team except for the Bryant pick.

PO Linebackers: I want to like this team b/c of Peyton, but don't like the RB's.

PM Snarfs: If his QB's pan out, will contend.

The Empire: Deuce/Porter/Wayne are good. No love for the rookie RB's.

Pre-Season Favorite: LynchMob because Favre goes off.

Ahahaha!!

2005-06-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

We sweep the Yankees!! Sweep the Yankees!!

First time in 11 years. Ah, now THAT makes the season worth it so far. Who knows, perhaps Bell will turn us around. And if he doesn't? Oh well. The season isn't a complete loss. After all, we just swept the Yankees!! Muhahahaha!!

Hiring a manager for our sinking ship...

2005-05-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

Wow. The Royals suck. The excitement of the youth movement is gone, and the losing culture is taking hold. Having just read the recent articles in the KC Star, I'm actually ashamed of being a Royals fan.

I don't agree with firing Pentland and I am not sure about the hiring of Bell. What we really need is the firing of Baird and hiring of a legitimate baseball GM. Collecting bargain role-players means nothing, if you don't find some stars to pair with them.

Sigh. Maybe they will move to Portland and Rob Neyer and I can watch them suck from up here.

We played tough

2005-05-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a conference in Michigan so I've been away from the sports world for a bit. But from what I've read, it seems like we played the Cardinals pretty darn close. Two one-run losses and a blowout win today. It seems like our young guys are starting to come around. Buck and Gotay homered today and have been starting to play a bit better. Teahan has been hitting and fielding much better since he came back from the DL. Berroa, the king of the first-pitch swing, is even looking like a legitimate lead off hitter.

All this improvement seems to have started with Pena's resignation. I read today that the Royals are officially looking at three candidates so far - Terry Collins, Art Howe, and Schaefer. So far from what I've seen, Schaefer is doing a pretty darn good job. If we continue to improve like we have, I might be OK with keeping him around next year. Though I'm still a bit partial to Howe.

The draft is coming up too. Sounds like we're going to pick the best player available, regardless of signability. The two probable choices - Upton and Gordon - have been compared to Bo Jackson and George Brett, respectively. Those are some pretty lofty comparisons! I think I'd prefer Gordon, just b/c he's proven himself at the college level. I think he'd accelerate through the minors a lot faster, and I'd love to have his bat in our lineup when our current youngsters are finally getting it (and before we trade them off as they get too good for our wallet... sigh...).

Royals win a series...

2005-05-16T04:19:00.000-07:00

Apologies, between Matt's finals and my Bezos meetings, we haven't posted in a while.

In the last 6 days, the Royals have played .500 ball and taken 3 out of 4 from Tampa Bay. An encouraging sign after going 1-6 the previous week.

However, the road ahead doesn't look very good. Our young staff faces formidable offenses at every turn for the rest of the month. Balt, STL, Tex, LAA, NYY.

Oh, and revisiting an earlier thread. We are on pace to get caught stealing 79 times. We have 14 steals to 18 times caught stealing. Our 18 CS are second in the league to the White Sox. Unfortunately, the White Sox have 46 stolen bases to go with their 19 CS. Ugh. DeJesus has stolen 1 base in 6 attempts!! Perhaps blind aggression is not such a good idea.

Pena Resigns

2005-05-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Wow. So tonight after our 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays, Pena resigned. I gotta say, I'm happy to see this. He has shown no ability to manage a pitching staff or make smart tactical decisions during the game. And while we're not a good bunch of hitters or fielders, we are better than how we've been performing.

An interesting thing, though, is that there's some rumblings that this might not be completely about baseball. Apparently, Pena was subpoena'd for something this week. The Royals refuse to talk about it, saying it's a personal matter. I'm very curious to see what exactly is going on, and if it had any impact on his decision.

But regardless, we've got a manager search to start! I've heard people asking about Art Howe and Larry Dierker in particular. I don't know much about Dierker, but I've heard players liked him. I personally am a big fan of Art Howe. He did a great job of getting a lot out of those low budget, young A's teams in the late 90's. I think he's shown an ability to work well with quality pitchers and young players.

Any thoughts?

Yet another 1 run loss...

2005-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Sigh. It continues. And by it, I don't just mean our slew of 1-run losses (we lost this afternoon 2-1). By it, I mean Tony Pena Zoolander-ing our team again (he is a really, really, really, really bad manager).

Today, Greinke is holding them to 2 hits and no runs going into the 7th inning. He gets an out. Then walks a guy. Then hits a guy. This is the first sign of trouble he's shown all game. Now, yeah, if he's tiring b/c he's thrown 100+ pitches, OK. Go for it. But Greinke's pitch count? 85. And Pena pulls him.

In comes Sisco, of course. Now I'm a huge fan of Sisco. But honestly, he has pitched in every single game I can remember. At this rate, he will have more innings than some of our starters by the end of the year! Sisco is the second coming of Jason Grimsely, who Pena wore out by the All-star break the last two years. And what's worse is that Sisco is like 22 or something (?) and has never pitched above A ball. So Sisco, after getting shelled last night, comes out and gets a ground out. Then walks a man. Then walks in a run. So in comes Burgos. Who walks in another run. We lose 2-1. Game over.

Why not leave Greinke in? Pena has one job essentially. He's an AL manager, so he pretty much has one job - manage your pitching staff. And he's miserable at it. And he's a former catcher!

Argh. Anyways, yeah, I heard about Glass' comments, but I didn't read the interview. Pretty sad, especially the part where he said the payroll would never go over 50 million in the future. That's pathetic. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Glass, but comments like that don't help. At least give us false hope for the future! Cause let's face it, there's not a lot of hope in the present.

One thing I find interesting about ownership is the rules regarding sale of the club that were written in Ewing Kauffman's will. If the new owner (Glass) were ever to sell the team, he is not allowed to keep the profits. He has to give any profits to Kansas City charities. This is interesting. I mean, it'll keep someone from swooping in, investing some money and selling it a la the Florida Marlins early years. But I wonder if that drove away some of the more free-wheeling cash tycoons from buying us in the first place.

Kearns for Affeldt... no brainer.

2005-05-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yes. This is a great trade that makes sense for both teams. Willie Mo Pena keeps hitting 450ft bombs for the Reds to make Kearns expendable.

Yes, the both have durability issues. It is somewhat of a wash. However, the trade addresses needs for both teams. This trade makes so much sense, it hurts my brain to imagine it not happening.

Sigh. Oh for a young promising power hitter. As far as Billy Butler, all reports that he isn't really cutting it as a third baseman. Heh. Potentially another corner outfielder?

Say, did you read the article interviewing Glass about turning a profit last year and then reducing payroll?? It isn't that flattering of an article. Basically, Glass wants the Royals to break even operationally while he earns huge returns on his $90+ M investment in the team. Let's hope he is willing to spend some of that to keep any mature talent we grow. The world doesn't need another Carl Pohlad.

Affeldt for Kearns?

2005-05-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

A quick post before I get back to the books.

Over the offseason, we tried to acquire Austin Kearns from the Reds. With Ken Griffey, Adam Dunn, and Willy Mo Pena, he was the odd man out. They asked for Affeldt and we scoffed at them and said no.

I've read rumors lately that the deal might be on the table. With the amazing pitching of Sisco, and the potential for Burgos - not to mention that Affeldt can't seem to stay off the DL - it seems like we might be rethinking it. I've read some people say that once Affeldt gets off the DL, we'll showcase him and hope he pitches well, then move him for Kearns.

As far as contract, they're essentially identical. Kearns makes about $20K less, and they both have the same number of years till they're free agent eligible.

So, do we do it? For the first time in a long time (ever?), it seems like we have a wealth of quality arms. Now granted, Affeldt, when healthy, has one of the better ones. But his problem has been staying healthy. If Burgos is the real deal and takes over as closer, then Affeldt becomes a middle reliever. Granted, he is a force at middle reliever, but we are in sore need of a young OF.

Kearns two years ago put up 15 homeruns and 58 RBI in only 292 AB's. I believe that he's had his fair share of injury problems as well though. But he's got definite power potential, and shows more promise as a young power-hitting OF than anyone else I can imagine coming from the Royals farm system.

I say do it.

What do you think, Walt?

2 wins in a row, baby!

2005-05-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Our first winning "streak" of the year. And we even won a 1-run game today (after losing 6 of them during our streak... or perhaps 7 actually). The most amazing part is the power output. Three homers yesterday - a grand slam by Grimace and 2 homeruns by Marrero. Then today, four more: 2 by Sweeney, one by TLong, and one by Buck. That's right - our sluggin' Royals.

Oh, before I forget, there's an interesting little article about JR Giddens on ESPN. Basically about the ridiculously high expectations everyone has of him, and how they affected him. I admit to being very critical of Giddens this year - since he sucked - so I'd love to see him bounce back next year and have a consistent season. He's going to have a ton of freshmen playing around him, so let's see him step up and be a leader.

An interesting article in the Star too about how Gunther got all of the guys he wanted on defense. If it's true, I'm pretty impressed by Carl. Gun said he had listed his top guys as Surtain, Bell, Knight and Carlos Hall and we went out and got all four. So now that we know these four were hand-picked by Gun, I'd like to see how much he can get out of them. Cuz if we still can't get anything out of our D...

Jason White

2005-04-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I saw that we are working him out. Note importantly though we haven't signed him to a contract. What I read was that everyone is scared off by his knees - "an injury settlement waiting to happen".

I think he's definitely worth a shot and am glad we invited him. I'll be eager to hear how the rookie minicamp went today and this weekend.

Hopefully some of the new free agents show too. I'd like to hear how Kendell Bell is moving.

8 in a row

2005-04-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Now it's 8 in a row the Royals have lost. Went a big O-fer on our six game homestand. And we lost six of those eight games by 1 run. I can't decide whether that's good or bad. I mean, we're not getting blown out and we're staying in each game till the very end (and a lot of times it's our bullpen giving up that one run in the late innings), but at the same time it makes it so frustrating!!

Anyways. Things to note: DeJesus is good. Granted, that's not saying much when lined up in our rag-tag AAAA bunch of hitters. But he's legit. Harvey finally got called back up. I'm not a big fan of Grimace - large hulking first baseman who spray singles everywhere aren't exactly something to jump up and down about. But at this point, if he can hit singles, he deserves to be in our lineup. Plus he was hitting .375 in Omaha. And of course, Grimace did what Grimace does best - went 2-5 with two singles in his first game back. Thank god they sent down Camp to make room for him. That man. I think two games ago summed up his season so far. He comes in and throws three pitches. He hits the first batter. Throws a wild pitch next. And then gives up a triple... and gets sent down to Omaha the next night. Berroa responded nicely to being dropped to ninth in the batting order last night though. I think he went 2-3 with a single, double, and got hit by two pitches. Nice. As good a way to get on base as any. Maybe he'll reverse the trend that Justin pointed out and start climbing back up in the order.

And Wally, did you see the Chiefs are working out Jason White? That seems interesting to me. I know there was concern in the NFL about his knee surgeries and his lack of arm strength, but he threw like 80 TD passes in the last two seasons, won the Heisman once, and finished 3rd last year in the voting!! And not a single team even used their last pick on him??? I would love for him to impress the Chiefs enough for us to sign him. I can see it now - the future QB of the Chiefs, an undrafted Heisman winner who was spurned by the rest of the NFL (cue dramatic pre-game CBS music now)...

While I'm not a big fan of Pena...

2005-04-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

... at least he's a cut above Ozzie Guillen, the Chi Sox's second-year manager. Not as a tactician or a motivator or a baseball genius. But as a professional. I've heard managers express displeasure with former players before, but this is ridiculous. Here's what Ozzie Guillen had to say about Magglio Ordonez, who had accused Guillen earlier in the week of adversely affecting his contract negotiations with the Sox last winter:

"He's a piece of [bleep]," Guillen told reporters late last week. "He's another Venezuelan [bleep]. [Bleep] him. He thinks he's got an enemy? No, he's got a big one. He knows I can [bleep] him over in a lot of different ways. He better shut the [bleep] up and just play for the Detroit Tigers."

Wow. Blame Pena for whatever you like (and I do), but at least I think he's professional enough to not do that. That's just classless.

Defensive-minded...

2005-04-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Chiefs have made a firm statement that they are defensive minded. And the Royals have just given indications of being absent-minded. Jose would fit right in with our OF crew.

Matt, I definitely agree the Chiefs have had a great off-season. Perhaps the best one since signing Priest as a free agent. I am eager to see how all the pieces for the Chiefs fit together, but I'll withhold judgement until then. You're also correct that this is our last shot for a while too.

One thing I am sure of though, is that Carl Peterson must go. This year should be his last too. His comment: “I haven't had any letters from outside of that — if you want to say — sphere of what I consider real Kansas City Chiefs fans,” Peterson said Wednesday, “because they step up each year and put their money down and say, ‘I'm here to see the Chiefs.' ” basically sums up that as long as Arrowhead stays full and the Chiefs make money, he considers himself to be doing a good job. He has gotten comfortable and arrogant in his power. He is content with packing the stands full of rabid fans. We need a young talent evaluator and administrator who bears none of the arrogance and complacency that Carl exhibits. Someone who views success as picking out stones in a Super Bowl ring.

My vote? Get someone from Baltimore or Arizona. Phil Savage has already been stolen from Baltimore, but maybe there is still someone worth hiring there. Balt always kicks butt in the draft. If not for TO's whining, Balt may have been a super bowl team last year. As for Arizona, Denny Green has had a couple great drafts, did wonders at Minn, and his team is up and coming. I'd love to pick off someone from this org.

Rising Chiefs, Sinking Royals

2005-04-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm a happy Chiefs fan. This off-season has been better than I had hoped for. I thought Carl might make one, possibly two good moves. But we picked up three defensive stud veterans, grabbed a decent-but-possibly-good end from the Titans, and had what I consider to be a damn good draft. Not bad, Mr. Peterson. Not bad at all.

I thought Surtain was worth a 2nd round draft pick way back when we first started talking about the deal. Then when Buchanan went for a 2nd and 3rd round pick, I was worried b/c I thought Miami might ask for more. So when we pulled the trigger on the deal, I was thrilled. Then after watching the top three corners in the draft go in the top 10, I was even more thrilled. There's no way we could have gotten a corner who could contribute this year in the draft. Even if we had gotten one of those three, there' s no way they'd be at Surtain's level this year. And let's make no mistake, this year is it; our last chance for a little while, I think.

Luckily Shields is coming back this year, but I have a feeling this might be his last. Roaf too. Priest possibly. Green only has a few years left in him. Vermeil is probably retiring after this year too. Our team clearly revolves around our offense, and with all those key pieces leaving soon, we needed guys who could step up our defense this year. Even with Knight in at safety, a CB tandem of Warfield and Bartee/McCleon conjured up pictures of long bombs and 41-38 losses. But a tandem of Surtain and Warfield - now that sounds much, much better. In fact, that sounds - and I never thought I'd use this word to describe the Chiefs defense - but that sounds darn near good. With Johnson in at linebacker now too, we've got the makings to be a legit defense for quite a few years to come. That's an exciting thought.

I don't know much about the rest of our picks, except for the fact that our second pick was a punter. I did a double-take when I saw "PT" listed as his position. But I guess it's a glaring hole in our special teams, and he's the best punter out there. So hey, if he can help us out immediately, then more power to him. It just feels weird to use your second highest pick on a punter.

Speaking of people who drop the ball for a living (that's right, step aside Joe Posnanski! there's a new journalist in town!), let's look at those Royals. For every spot of brilliant potential we show, we make up for it with at least there bone-headed moves every game. Seriously - we have got to have the worst fundamentals of any team in the majors. Possibly of any AAA team. I couldn't find the stats on ESPN, but I'm quite sure we lead the league in errors. I'm not sure if we have a single player without an error. It's brutal. Our bullpen has also continued its amazing run to futility. Affeldt gets hurt so we replace him with MacDougal. Who immediately goes on to blow his first save opportunity against Minnesota by walking Torii Hunter (who happens to be leading the league in stolen bases) on 4 straight pitches. I think every Royals fan knew what was coming next. The next night (or was it two nights?), he immediately blew another game where we had just come back in the 8th. So our management responds by calling up Ambiorix Burgos, a starter-turned-closer with a 99mph fastball who has now been closing for a total of 7 games in AAA. He pitched a scoreless inning in his first game up, but I'm not sure he's ready to be here yet, let alone as the closer. He's had a history of control problems and while I love him and think he's going to be great, I'm not sure if his time is now. I'd hate to see him pull a Rick Ankiel and flame out on us.

Oh, I'm also happy to see Matt Diaz up with us now. Though I'm not sure how much playing time he'll get in our crowded-yet-crappy outfield (I'd rate our outfield as the worst in the American League). But he has some serious numbers in the minors and was ripping the ball apart so far this season. The only downside is that Pick got sent down. Granted, he looked absolutely horrible so far this season, but he only had about 30 at-bats. Hard to judge a guy on just 30 at-bats. But I guess Baird and Pena saw something in his approach they didn't like.

Oh right, and Pena... I love his motivation and spirit. But good god, this guy does not know how to manage a baseball team. He has made some of the worst calls I've ever seen - bunting when you shouldn't bunt, letting guys steal when you clearly should not steal (2 outs, Berroa on second, 8th inning), and letting pitchers throw 110+ pitches when they've just come back from arm surgery and are throwing hanging curves because they're tired. Yeah, it's a rebuilding year and no one said it'd be pretty. But man, it's getting rough...

Derrick Johnson articles...

2005-04-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm still not sure who I wanted more, Thomas Davis (faster, big-time hitter) or Derrick Johnson, but I guess it doesn't matter.

Derrick Johnson (profile from nfl.com)

AGILITY
4.55 in the 40-yard dash … 345-pound bench press … 495-pound squat … 315-pound power clean … 32½-inch vertical jump … 9-foot-10 broad jump … 32-inch arms … 9½-inch hands.

ANALYSIS

Johnson is a natural leader with exceptional quickness and is regarded as one of the finest pass defenders to ever play linebacker in the collegiate ranks. He has good size, but needs to dedicate more hours to the weight room; he lacks strength on his lanky frame. This is Johnson's major weakness; he does not show enough power to shed blocks and gets washed out on plays when working in-line. He also needs to use his hands better; he leaves himself too exposed, resulting in the blockers getting into his chest to lock on and sustain. Johnson did add bulk before the 2004 season, but the added weight did not affect his exceptional quickness.

He is best when making plays on the move, but can get a little bit out of control, resulting in over-running plays. Still, he is a natural playmaker who can make plays anywhere on the field. Johnson has excellent instincts in pass coverage, coming out of his backpedal quickly to stay on the hip of the receiver. He gets excellent depth in his pass drops and sees the play develop quickly. Johnson has excellent hands for the interception and shows an explosive burst to elude. He has a very strong work ethic and a motor that never quits. Johnson excels at making proper reads and has that sudden burst to get to the play almost instantly. Johnson's ability to take proper angles to the ball cuts down on the route he must take to disrupt the play.

Johnson is more of a drag-down tackler than one who will collide on impact. He is very effective rerouting the tight ends in the short area and shows excellent avoidance skills when penetrating the backfield off the edge. Johnson has good hip snap and change-of-direction agility to pursue the action on the outside. He closes with a sudden burst and is very effective to wrap and drag down the ball carrier. He gets a good jump on the ball, easily recognizing formations and blocking schemes.

Despite his lack of ideal strength, Johnson is a good outside run defender who plays with leverage and speed to cut off the ball carrier. His lateral pursuit is evident; he consistently avoids trash and the cut block to make the tackle in space. His zone drops are excellent; he shows more than enough flexibility to gain position. While he will play the receiver mostly, Johnson also does well at reacting to the ball in flight. He has the foot speed to stay with most backs and receivers in long-passing situations and is very effective using his hands to reroute and control tight ends in the short area.

He shows a strong desire to get the sack and very good explosion shooting the gaps. Whether working in-line or outside the box, he shows above-average ability to break down and wrap, and a superb burst of speed coming off the edge as a pass rusher. Johnson will struggle with plays run directly at him; he lacks the lower-body power to face up, stack and control the bigger blockers. He loses leverage at the point of attack vs. the offensive guards working in-line, but has good rip, swim and club moves to get an edge on the shoulder of the offensive tackles coming from the outside.

Once he gets heavily involved in a good weight-training program, he will be a steady playmaker at the next level. With his instincts, pass-defense skills and quickness, he will be perfectly suited to roam the field as a weak-side outside linebacker. His ability to drop back and settle into the zone soon will see him rival Miami's Zach Thomas for the right to be called the best pass defender among linebackers at the NFL level.

Here are a couple articles about him from nfl.com.

Little background story
http://www.nfl.com/draft/story/8379026

Interview after UT Pro Day
http://www.nfl.com/draft/story/8320534

Note, at the combines in 2000, Urlacher measured out at: At 6-3 3/4, 258 pounds, he ran about a 4.62 40-time. (4.48 at other locations.)

Oh yeah. In the 3rd round, I had hoped Blackstock would fall to us.

Thomas Davis...

2005-04-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah. What do people think about taking Davis and moving him to linebacker? He did play some at Georgia.

Check out his bio: (from nfl.com)
1. Thomas Davis, Georgia (6-1, 230)
Played running back, quarterback, wide receiver, defensive end and returned kicks in high school, while also playing baseball and running track. Qualified for the state meet in the 100 meters. Redshirted in 2001 at Georgia and started four games in 2002 at both free safety and strongside linebacker. Started 14 games in 2003 at free safety. He worked as a linebacker in spring practice before returning to safety for the 2004 season and started 11 games, missing one with an injury. Led the team in tackles that year. He is a player that will punish people when making a tackle. Plays hard on every play no matter what the score is. A very good blitzer, very good against the run and can surprise people when covering tight ends. May lack great range for the safety position, which could make Davis a possible linebacker candidate for the NFL. He will be a very good player.

Pro Day results: Davis (6-0¾, 227) ran his 40s in 4.43 and 4.44. He had a 9-foot-10 long jump and 12 reps. Scouts worked him at safety and at linebacker, and the consensus is that he will remain at safety in the NFL.

Certain about Surtain?

2005-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so apologies as I've been trying firefight at work. I have quite a queue of comments, but the recent announcement of the Surtain trade was too hot not to comment on. I hate giving up our 2nd round pick, but after reviewing past Chiefs drafts with Monte and Matt, I am a fan of the deal. Carl has many flaws and has outstayed his welcome, but this is a good deal.

Surtain is certainly better than Phillip Buchanon (pbuck for you black hole residents) and I guess the price had been set. Now with him in the fold, the rest of the cornerback corp seems acceptable. I chomped at the bit when we didn't sign herndon, lucas or some of the other free agents, but holding out for a #1 corner rather than a #2 is the right move.

Heh. I guess I'll have to scrap my post about how I am hating being in Seattle and hearing how they keep signing guys as the Chiefs move slowly. I mean, with the Raiders and Broncos both making bold and smart moves, we were losing ground by standing still. (Carl, why weren't you calling Gibbs and Snyder?!!! The redskins 1st Rd pick for next year! That is very likely to be a high pick. Sigh.)

Anyway, at this point, I'm not sure what I want to see. If Johnson is there, we take him. I'm w/ Matt. A stud LB would be fantastic. But if not, I wouldn't mind trading back and picking up a 3rd or 4th rd pick. Given Carl's miss rate in the draft, especially first round picks, I'd rather give him a few more lottery tickets. The best option would to be trading one of our safeties for first-day picks.

Royals sidenote: WTF is up w/ Brian Anderson? I thought he was going to have a better year. He is killing his trade value. At least Sisco is pitching well. Note, he is definitely out-performing the guy AZ selected before him in the Rule 5 Draft.

Great little snippet from ESPN Page 2

2005-04-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this from his rankings of MLB teams:

"21. Seattle Mariners: Jamie Moyer met the Devil at the crossroads. "What do you desire?" The Angel of Darkness inquired. "One more inexplicably effective season for a man my age," Moyer answered. "Then you shall have it," Satan said. "What will it cost me?" Moyer asked. "Just the bats of every player in your lineup ... except that limber one from Japan; I already have a standing deal with him," the Devil replied."

Amazingly, our Royals did not finish last in his ratings. Behind us were Colorado, the Marlins Team B (the team that shows up when one of their stud pitchers is on the mound and only averages 1.5 runs), and the Angels, who he has relegated to last until they change their name back.

What the Royals and I have in common

2005-04-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

What we have in common is that we're both a couple years away from being competitive. Unfortunately, my finals are only two weeks away so I'm in the worse situation - which is why my posts have been so few and far between (i'm assuming Walt has been crazy busy as he usually is).

Anyways, a short study break for a quick post. Our starting pitching still impresses me (even though Greinke got hosed today). I think we're one or two years off from having a very, very good rotation. Our bullpen has been ugly though. I believe the number is something like 30 runs in 34 innings. Yikes. That's like Chan Ho level there (post-LA). It should be interesting to see what happens now that MacDougal has been moved back to closer since Affeldt has gone on the DL (again... that man gets as injured as often as I do). Glad to see we called up Kyle Snyder too. He had a phenomenal spring and continued to mow down hitters at Omaha. Hopefully, he'll give us some stability in that bullpen.

Our hitters, on the other hand. Wow. We are going to be hard-pressed to average three runs per game I think. Aside from Sweeney, we don't have anyone who I would characterize as a good hitter. DeJesus is still impressing me, and Berroa might be back to form, but they're still a bit off from being a good hitter in my opinion. Opposing pitchers must lick their lips everytime they see us on their schedule. We might single-handedly give the AL Central the best ERA of any division this year.

The Chiefs received their schedule last week too. I haven't had a chance to really look over it, but from what I remember from my quick glance, it looks like it's as bad as last year's was (and last year's was brutal). We better land a cornerback soon or it might be another long year. I'm still hoping we can swing that trade with Miami for Surtain, but it seems like they're not budging off that 2nd round draft pick demand. I'd love to see us put him with Warfield in the backfield, and then draft a stud linebacker in the first round. A defense with Surtain, Warfield at corner; Knight and Wesley/Woods at safety; Bell, Barber (if healthy)/Fujita (if healthy), Maslowski (if healthy)/stud 1st round pick; and Allen, Hall, Sims, Browning and whoever else we have on the line... that defense would be much, much improved. If we can't get Surtain though, perhaps Ty Law will have healed up in time. Either way - we need to get a Corner and a LB this year or it might be a three-peat for the worst defense in the NFL.

Random thought - Wesley is a hard hitter (or at least used to be till last year) and has some decent speed... I wonder if we could move him to LB. He'd be a bit undersized, and I have no idea how different the two positions are, but that would make things interesting if he could since we have so many safeties (Harts, who started for us two years ago when Woods broke his leg and did a decent job, is our 2nd backup now).

Royals have the same record as Yankees...

2005-04-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

Who would have guessed.

We got some damn good pitchers

2005-04-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll get to the Chiefs in a second, but first things first. WOW. Denny Bautista. Did you see his performance last night? The kid went out and put up 8 innings, gave up 1 earned run, struck out 8 and walked none. Unbelievable. And this wasn't some pushover team he was pitching against, either. It was the Angels, who host one of the better lineups in the American League.

I like Bautista (as evidenced by my picking him up in our Fantasy League last week!). He had a great spring training, and has always been big on potential since we got him, but had never quite put it together (by the way - this has to rank up there as possibly Allard Baird's best move as GM of the Royals; he gave up an aging, past-his-prime pitcher in Jason Grimsley to the Orioles and got Bautista). I was expecting to come home last night and see that he pitched maybe 6 innings, gave up 4 runs, walked 3 guys or so and struck out 5. But as much as I like him, I never imagined he'd pitch like he did yesterday.

My main concern with him, though, is that his problem has always been with control. He seems to have figured it out, but he might just be on a roll right now. Young power pitchers often take a long time to harness that control on a consistent basis. While we'll get performances like last night, I'm sure we'll get a bunch of starts where he chalks up more walks and runs than innings pitched. Between him and MacDougal, it might not be safe to sit behind home plate at a Royals game! Regardless though, last night was a monster of a start.

So now that means we've got Greinke, our one bona fide budding superstar who luckily was not seriously hurt by that line drive off the forearm a couple days ago. Runelvys (which is actually pronounced run-elvis for you non-Royals fans) Hernandez, who was the best pitcher in the American League two years ago for the first six weeks before he blew out his elbow, seems like he might be on his way back to form after a year and a half off. And now Denny Bautista. That's three pitchers who could potentially be dominating in years to come, and most importantly for a small market club like the Royals (second lowest payroll in the Major Leagues), we have all three locked up until 2008! I know we haven' t even had one week of the season go by, but I'm thinking Kansas City might be taking on the mantle of The Big Three now that Oakland broke their's up.

And on a few other Royals notes, DeJesus continues to impress me with his plate discipline. He's patient at the plate and seems to have a good at bat every time up. Plus, just to answer Wally's criticism, he stole a base last night! After last year's horrible performance on the basepaths, that's a pleasant surprise. I think we'll still end up near the bottom of the league in base stealing again, but it just makes each success that much sweeter. Like you, I'm also impressed by Emil Brown. He looks like he's taking his great plate approach from spring training into the regular season too. Oh, and one last thing, in case you didn't notice, Pickering wasn't in the lineup the other day b/c he was with his pregnant wife. It was funny - there's a Royals' bulletin board I look at a lot, and everyone was screaming for Tony Pena's head b/c he didn't know how to platoon players correctly. Then when they found out the real reason why Pick wasn't in, they were all posting apologies. Ah, the view seems so simple from the cheap seats...

As for the Chiefs' recent acquisitions, I agree with your assessment for the most part. I'm particularly excited to see what Hall can do. Though you said he wasn't very productive with the Titans, he was actually a stud his rookie year, ringing up 8.5 sacks. They had high hopes for him, but for whatever reason, his performance dropped off since then. I'd like to see what Gunther can do with him.

Hill, I agree. Not too thrilled about this one. I'd rather us see what Samie Parker can do in a bigger role. Or of Boeritger can stay healthy. Looks like we're meeting with Kevin Johnson too. If we sign him, I guess Hill will be limited to special teams. Not sure if I like Johnson though. He's definitely had some solid (though not spectacular) years, but he's also had some off years, and for some reason, I seem to recall that he doesn't have a good reputation as a hard-worker or team-player.

Holcombe, same thing. Not so exciting. We've got plenty of runningbacks as it is. Harry had a good point in his comment, though. If he can fill the role of two players, then he does free up one more spot.

One last thing - I'm starting to wonder if Gunther Cunningham (Chiefs Defensive Coordinator) and Guy Hansen (Royals pitching coach) are actually the same person. Both have a definite flair for the dramatic when assessing their players. I remember Gun used to give these great descriptions of our players, replete with "best" this and "fastest" that. By the end of his quote, you'd be so excited to see them on the field even though it was only June. And Hansen is no stranger to hyperbole either - he called Mike Wood the second coming of Greg Maddux and has said that our pitching staff is the best collection of young arms he's ever been around (and that's a big claim seeing as he came from the Braves organization last year). It's entertaining to read, but I'm just not sure I trust their assessments now b/c it seems like everyone is the best player they've ever seen. Next, they'll be saying things like Greinke/Hernandez/Bautista are the next Big Three... oh wait a second...

Cynicism from the Northwest

2005-04-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

So much to talk about, so little hope. ;)

There is much to talk about regarding the Royals, but let's take a brief moment to discuss Kansas City's favorite team, the Chiefs. It looks like Gunther is drawing upon his brief hiatus away from the red and gold to pull in some talent. Like Denver raiding the Browns, we appear to be raiding the cap-strapped Titans. The three signings are Carlos Hall, Darren Hill, and just today Robert Holcombe. It remains to be seen how these moves will work out, but let's make some early evaluations.

Carlos Hall: This is the most exciting of the three signings. We also gave up the most. For one of our 5th round picks, we got a young defensive lineman with 3 years of starting experience. However, he doesn't appear to have been very productive as a Titan. Given that the Broncos had to ante up Droughns, a proven running back in a depressed running back market, to get 1.5 youngish defensive linemen, i'm ok with this trade. We need to win now, and hopefully Hall is ready to break out. I'll trust that Gunther knows what he is getting. -- This is a solid move for the Titans. Parlaying a 2002 7th round pick into into a starting lineman for a few years and then getting a 5th round pick as the rookie's deal expires.

Darren Hill: Another '02 7th round pick by Tennessee, he appears to be a special teamer. Given that we have quite a few low round draft picks (2 5th, 2 6th, and 2 7th), I'm not sure about this signing. Unless he is a modern day equivalent to Steve Tasker, I am afraid that he may keep one of draft picks from making the team. Ideally, I'd like to see us pick wisely and turn these late round picks into higher round picks. Net, if he is slightly better than someone we draft and we have to cut them, bad signing. Otherwise, I'm ok but not thrilled.

Robert Holcombe: I have watched Holcombe since he was drafted by the Rams. Not much exciting here, as he's just a backup to TRich.

More on the Chiefs draft later, now back to the Royals.
After our terrible pasting by Detroit on Opening Day, we won yesterday and then came back to lose the series today. Notably, we didn't have Pickering in today. Unsurprisingly, our lineup of Sweeney and the 8 dwarfs lost handily. What was both surprising and alarming is that Greinke took a line drive off his forearm. Hopefully, he is ok.

What's more, TLong got caught stealing today. Yes, that means in 3 games, we have been caught stealing 3 times vs. 0 successes. Ouch. That's right, we aren't even good at small ball.

Yes Matt, we may be young. But that may be all we have going for us.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised to see Emil Brown had hit a home run. He was my favorite player in Spring Training this year. Like Pickering and Richie Thompson last year, I irrationally started liking him. In Emil's case, it was his stubborn approach that resulted in consistently good at bats and a home run vs. the Mariners. All the numbers state that he won't be much, but who knows, maybe he could surprise. We deserve some karma after gambling on Gonzo last year.

As Rob and Rany try and guess our win total for the end of the year (pythagorean method be damned), lets extrapolate out the number of times we are caught stealing. Currently on pace for 162 times caught stealing, we are leading the majors. Last year, we were caught stealing 48 times, 4th worst in the league. Notably however, our success rate for stealing (58.2%) was 2nd worst in the league. This was with Beltran and his amazing steal percentage. Given Colorado, the last place team, only got caught 33 times, and most teams had a success rate of over 70%, we were the worst running team last year, and look to be even worse this year. My prediction for this year: 68.
Stats from 2004.

Team	SB	CS	%
Colorado Rockies	44	33	57.14%
Kansas City Royals	67	48	58.26%
Chicago White Sox	78	51	60.47%
Pittsburgh Pirates	63	40	61.17%
Arizona Diamondbacks	53	32	62.35%
Cleveland Indians	94	55	63.09%
Detroit Tigers	86	50	63.24%
San Francisco Giants	43	23	65.15%
Toronto Blue Jays	58	31	65.17%
Texas Rangers	69	36	65.71%
San Diego Padres	52	25	67.53%
Oakland Athletics	47	22	68.12%
Florida Marlins	96	43	69.06%
Boston Red Sox	68	30	69.39%
Chicago Cubs	66	28	70.21%
St. Louis Cardinals	111	47	70.25%
Los Angeles Dodgers	102	41	71.33%
Minnesota Twins	116	46	71.60%
New York Yankees	84	33	71.79%
Seattle Mariners	110	42	72.37%
Atlanta Braves	86	32	72.88%
Montreal Expos	109	>38	74.15%
Houston Astros	89	30	74.79%
Cincinnati Reds	77	25	75.49%
Los Angeles Angels	143	46	75.66%
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	132	42	75.86%
Milwaukee Brewers	138	40	77.53%
Philadelphia Phillies	100	27	78.74%
New York Mets	107	23	82.31%

Opening Day and Roy

2005-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, let's get this badboy started, shall we?

Yesterday was a brutal day. Opening Day for our 2005 Kansas City Royals, picked by many pundits and experts to be the worst team in the majors. Amazingly enough, ESPN2 decided to broadcast the season opener against Detroit to a national audience. The result? A brutal 11-2 shellacking, the worst opening day loss in franchise history. Dmitri Young, the Detroit DH and one scary, scary dude, had the line of the night - 5 AB's, 3 HR's, 1 HBP, 1 single, 4 R, and 5 RBI.

Overall, very few good signs from this game. Lima lasted 3 long innings, and every one of our pitchers gave up at least 1 run. Our infield defense looked shoddy - Teahen looked sloppy in the field, though I'm chalking that up to nerves (what 23 year old wouldn't be nervous making his major league debut in front of 42,000 fans cheering against you?). TLong and Gotay both looked horrible at the plate. In fact, the only consistently good at-bats I saw were from Stairs and DeJesus.

But I can't help but talk about the few good signs. Pickering had a homerun, his third in a row counting the last two spring training games. (On a side note, he is one *massive* man. I think his thighs are thicker than my waste - and I'm actually being serious. I'd be willing to put money on his thighs being more than 30" around.) DeJesus, as I mentioned before, worked the count like a leadoff man should in the first inning. Buck, though he'll strike out more than his fair share, has a good-looking swing. Sisco, while not looking great, did look decent, especially for a kid making the jump from A ball. TLong had a nice sliding defensive stop in left that kept a double from being a triple.

But most importantly, the best sign from yesterday was the fact that our kids are playing. Seven or eight years ago, we were supposed to be in a youth movement with Damon, Dos Carlos (yeah, remember when Febles was a prospect?), Sweeney, Randa, Rosado, Orber Moreno, Glendon Rusch, Hamelin, and all those 1st round draft pick pitchers (Pittsley, Grainger...). Of course, we both know how well we stuck to that - enter Jeff King, Jay Bell, Chili Davis, Terry Pendleton, Dean Palmer, etc.

But finally - FINALLY - it looks like we're actually doing it. Our opening lineup had two players over 30 (Stairs and Sweeney), and off the top of my head, I think the only pitchers we have over 30 are Lima, Anderson, and Sullivan (on the DL) and all of those guys might be gone by the trade deadline. This year might - ok, will - be a brutal year, and we're sure to have more games like yesterday. But I'm still excited when I think about where this team might go. Whew, looks like the optimism is back!

And on a different note, the day got worse yesterday when North Carolina beat Illinois in the finals. Don't get me wrong, I love Roy Williams as much as any red-blooded male from Kansas. In fact, the only thing he could have done wrong in my head was leave us, which is of course exactly what he did. After a year of anger, spite and sadness, I'm finally able to be happy for him, and I am happy that he finally got that elusive title. He finally shed that "compliment" - the winningest coach in the NCAA to never win a championship. But I don't know... it's bittersweet. I mean, he had 15 years to do it in Kansas and couldn't get it done. To do it in just two years at UNC... couldn't you have waited just a little longer, Roy? For us?

Well, there it is. Let the witty banter begin!!

The two sides of Cedar Lane unite

2005-04-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

I love it. Matt and Wally on the Royals. Though I have to say, even my eternal optimism has been taking a beating this year. I'm not sure how it'll handle this Royals season. But I guess we - and all of our ginormous readership - will see it rot away or stay true over the next 161 games. Go Royals!

Inaugural post

2005-04-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is the inaugural post of Matt and Wally on the Royals. General venting about Kansas City athletics.