⚾ KC Royals Royals winning more championships
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Gil Meche retired today (Tuesday). According to the KC Star, he walked away from $12.4 million for the last year of his contract. He said he couldn't see getting surgery just to be able to make a few relief appearances in his last year.
Good for the Royals to get Billy four more years.
2011 is going to be a tough year.
Butler, Royals agree to four-year extension
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
KANSAS CITY -- Billy Butler and the Royals have agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract extension, the first baseman said on Saturday.
The multiyear contract helps the two sides avoid salary arbitration and gives Butler the security of a long-term deal through 2014.
"I just get to worry about playing baseball, and it's what's best for me and my family," Butler said. "That's what it's all about. I didn't want to have to worry about going to arbitration every year, and this is where I want to be. The city's great, and we love it here. I can't express how happy we are right now."
A club spokesman said the deal had not been finalized, but that the Royals were working toward that end and were hopeful of an agreement.
Butler had filed for $4.3 million, and the Royals offered $3.4 million. Now that's all off the table.
The deal was worked out by agent Greg Genske of Legacy Sports with Royals general manager Dayton Moore.
"It worked out for both sides," Butler said. "I've always been happy to be a Royal. We have a lot of young guys coming up, and we plan on doing great things. It just means I'm a big part of it."
Butler, wife Katie and daughter Kenley live in Idaho Falls, where Butler made his pro debut in 2004 with a rousing .373 average. He was in Kansas City for the Royals FanFest.
"It's just what's best for your family," he said. "We're happy to be done with it, and Dayton and the whole organization were great."
Butler on Saturday was to receive the Royals Player of the Year Award for the second straight time after setting career highs in several categories, including average (.318), hits (189), walks (69) and on-base percentage (.388).
In Royals history, he has the distinction of ranking third in average among players with at least 2,000 plate appearances. His .298 average ranks behind George Brett's .305 and Mike Sweeney's .299.
Since the start of the 2009 season, Butler leads all Major Leaguers with 96 doubles, and that's also the most by a Royals player in a two-year span, passing Hal McRae's 93 in 1977-78.
Last year he passed another Royals Hall of Famer, Willie Wilson, by hitting in 103 consecutive series, a streak that is still alive.
In four Major League seasons, he's already passed the 500-hit mark, with 590. In his 533 games, he has 278 RBIs, 141 doubles, 55 homers and even three triples.
Butler, a first-round Draft choice (14th overall) in 2004, roared through four Minor League classifications with high averages and productive numbers and debuted with the Royals on May 1, 2007. He was just 21 years and 13 days old, and played left field that day.
Except for two brief returns to Triple-A that year and in 2008, he's been a force in the Royals' lineup ever since.
2011 is going to be a tough year.
Butler, Royals agree to four-year extension
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
KANSAS CITY -- Billy Butler and the Royals have agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract extension, the first baseman said on Saturday.
The multiyear contract helps the two sides avoid salary arbitration and gives Butler the security of a long-term deal through 2014.
"I just get to worry about playing baseball, and it's what's best for me and my family," Butler said. "That's what it's all about. I didn't want to have to worry about going to arbitration every year, and this is where I want to be. The city's great, and we love it here. I can't express how happy we are right now."
A club spokesman said the deal had not been finalized, but that the Royals were working toward that end and were hopeful of an agreement.
Butler had filed for $4.3 million, and the Royals offered $3.4 million. Now that's all off the table.
The deal was worked out by agent Greg Genske of Legacy Sports with Royals general manager Dayton Moore.
"It worked out for both sides," Butler said. "I've always been happy to be a Royal. We have a lot of young guys coming up, and we plan on doing great things. It just means I'm a big part of it."
Butler, wife Katie and daughter Kenley live in Idaho Falls, where Butler made his pro debut in 2004 with a rousing .373 average. He was in Kansas City for the Royals FanFest.
"It's just what's best for your family," he said. "We're happy to be done with it, and Dayton and the whole organization were great."
Butler on Saturday was to receive the Royals Player of the Year Award for the second straight time after setting career highs in several categories, including average (.318), hits (189), walks (69) and on-base percentage (.388).
In Royals history, he has the distinction of ranking third in average among players with at least 2,000 plate appearances. His .298 average ranks behind George Brett's .305 and Mike Sweeney's .299.
Since the start of the 2009 season, Butler leads all Major Leaguers with 96 doubles, and that's also the most by a Royals player in a two-year span, passing Hal McRae's 93 in 1977-78.
Last year he passed another Royals Hall of Famer, Willie Wilson, by hitting in 103 consecutive series, a streak that is still alive.
In four Major League seasons, he's already passed the 500-hit mark, with 590. In his 533 games, he has 278 RBIs, 141 doubles, 55 homers and even three triples.
Butler, a first-round Draft choice (14th overall) in 2004, roared through four Minor League classifications with high averages and productive numbers and debuted with the Royals on May 1, 2007. He was just 21 years and 13 days old, and played left field that day.
Except for two brief returns to Triple-A that year and in 2008, he's been a force in the Royals' lineup ever since.
Bump to say hope Cardinals fans enjoy their last season with Albert Pujols. Royals be runnin' that state by 2013.
I predict over this next season the Cardinals decide Pujols is worth what he is demanding and give him a contract at the end of the season.
You really think they can afford Pujols at 30 mil a year until he is 41 years old? And that's assuming his birth certificate is accurate.
I think he is closer to 35 honestly but I also think after this season the contract length won't be 10 years. I think he and his agent were going for a 300 mil 10 year contract to see if STL would go for it now.
I can't see any other team going for that size of contract after this season either, so I think he ends up staying.
I should caveat this all with a note that I know very little about MLB. About as much as an avg OU fan knows about OU Football.
Anyone have thoughts on Greinke recently admitting he mailed it in the second half of last season?
While I do appreciate everything he worked through and accomplished as a Royal, it's hard not to be upset with anyone who admits they didnt play as hard as they could yet they get to do what millions dream of for a living.
At the same time, this case is a little bit tricky because of his specific condition and situations. It's no as black and white as if the guy came in, never had issues, and just gave up.
All in all, it is still disappointing to see a guy admit this. It almost will certainly be brought up in the future if he has a down year, especially if the Brewers are having one as well.
Hard issue to call clearly. What do you all think?
While I do appreciate everything he worked through and accomplished as a Royal, it's hard not to be upset with anyone who admits they didnt play as hard as they could yet they get to do what millions dream of for a living.
At the same time, this case is a little bit tricky because of his specific condition and situations. It's no as black and white as if the guy came in, never had issues, and just gave up.
All in all, it is still disappointing to see a guy admit this. It almost will certainly be brought up in the future if he has a down year, especially if the Brewers are having one as well.
Hard issue to call clearly. What do you all think?
I hadn't heard that, but I'm willing to cut the guy some slack. I have to think when he was on the mound, he gave 100 percent. Now his prep work may not have been 100 percent, but neither would mine if I was 25 games out. But you're right, he'll get second-guessed if the Brewers are stinking it up. Should've just kept his mouth shut.
Yeah, sorry about that, LEC. I should have found an article to link to. Lemmie see what I can find.
Found a mentioning of it on CBS.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/27623175
This post was edited on 2/24 1:23 PM by Church 732
This post was edited on 2/24 1:24 PM by Church 732
Found a mentioning of it on CBS.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/27623175
This post was edited on 2/24 1:23 PM by Church 732
This post was edited on 2/24 1:24 PM by Church 732
Maybe the Royals will become a good team in a couple of years.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 02, 2011
Better days are coming for the Royals
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
GLENDALE, Ariz. | The future is Eric Hosmer hitting a baseball so far and so fast over the outfield wall that it literally gives at least a few scouts goosebumps one day.
The future is Mike Moustakas putting the Royals up a run and then Lorenzo Cain keeping it that way with a sprinting, diving, no-no-no … great catch! for the last out the next day.
The future is Cain getting on base three more times on Wednesday, Alcides Escobar making a play in the hole that no Royals shortstop has made in years, and John Lamb striking out three batters on nine pitches.
The future is knowing that these five guys are 24 at the oldest (Cain), 20 at the youngest (Lamb), and backed by at least twice as many others who are in some cases better and in most cases younger.
The future is knowing that industry-standard Baseball America considers this the best group of prospects in at least two decades, maybe longer, and that this only a sneak peek, like smelling the kitchen hours before the meal.
“I’ve read everything written about all those guys,” says pitcher Jeff Francis, who at 30 qualifies as an old man around here. “And so far, I believe it.”
Spring training is notoriously misleading, and this one is only four games old. Even in the most ambitious expectation, Kansas City won’t see much of these guys for at least three months, and the real impact won’t be for at least another year.
That does nothing to change this:
The future is real, and it’s coming fast.
? ? ?
One rival scout familiar with the Royals’ system sends this text message: “best group ive (sic) ever seen.”
Another returns a phone call to say: “I can’t go more than two conversations now without someone talking about the guys the Royals have coming.”
A third is presumably joking when he says: “I’m telling (Royals general manager) Dayton (Moore) he needs to send those guys to minor-league camp before they force their way onto the team.”
You are free to roll your eyes at any or all of this, free country and all, and the Royals have asked you to this dance before. They put Johnny Damon in a commercial with George Brett, tried to sell you on silliness like Colt Griffin’s fastball, and most recently pushed Alex Gordon and Billy Butler as the heavy lifters out of this struggle.
So if you are done believing on spec, if you cannot and will not buy into another youth movement until you see actual results in actual big-league games, hey, you’ve come by your skepticism honestly.
But when you see these guys up close and get worn out hearing from scouts and executives with other clubs, you start to feel this thing coming together. At least a little bit.
Maybe Moustakas will bust. Or Hosmer. Or Lamb. Or Wil Myers, or Christian Colon, or Mike Montgomery, Cheslor Cuthbert, or any of the other high-end prospects the Royals have that other teams covet. But they won’t all bust.
There’s enough depth here that the Royals surely have a few stars and doesn’t it make sense that it might be easier for them to march together, with nobody burdened by the hero role like Gordon?
Spin the roulette wheel once or twice, and you might go broke. Spin it a dozen times, and even bad luck will get you a few hits.
The trick is that this is still mostly just talk. The Royals are Baseball America’s champion, and maybe that means they’re finally pointed the right way, but it also means virtually nothing for what should be another 90-plus loss big-league season.
Which, come to think of it, is only more reason to pay attention to these kids, right?
“People have been hearing a lot about us,” Hosmer says. “It’s fun for people to start seeing some of the guys out here perform now.”
? ? ?
Of course, this is still just the future. As real as it looks right now, Luke Hochevar has a career 5.60 ERA and might start the season opener.
Kila Ka’aihue has hit .224 over 201 at-bats and may hit cleanup. Jeff Francoeur is one of baseball’s least productive corner outfielders and may hit fifth.
And so on.
If someone promises you a million dollars next year, you’re still broke today, and two months from now, Moustakas will be in Omaha. Hosmer will either be with him or in Arkansas.
Most of the rest of this multimillion group will be in smaller towns around the country, continuing as the obsession of a small niche of the baseball world and the big dreams of Kansas City and mostly ignored everywhere else.
This is a fascinating time to be a Royals fan. Long-term success is more realistic than at any point since the 1994 strike.
It’s just that you’ll have to grind through at least one more losing season to get there. Baseball minds and history say it’ll be worth it.
Do you believe them?
Posted on Wed, Mar. 02, 2011
Better days are coming for the Royals
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
GLENDALE, Ariz. | The future is Eric Hosmer hitting a baseball so far and so fast over the outfield wall that it literally gives at least a few scouts goosebumps one day.
The future is Mike Moustakas putting the Royals up a run and then Lorenzo Cain keeping it that way with a sprinting, diving, no-no-no … great catch! for the last out the next day.
The future is Cain getting on base three more times on Wednesday, Alcides Escobar making a play in the hole that no Royals shortstop has made in years, and John Lamb striking out three batters on nine pitches.
The future is knowing that these five guys are 24 at the oldest (Cain), 20 at the youngest (Lamb), and backed by at least twice as many others who are in some cases better and in most cases younger.
The future is knowing that industry-standard Baseball America considers this the best group of prospects in at least two decades, maybe longer, and that this only a sneak peek, like smelling the kitchen hours before the meal.
“I’ve read everything written about all those guys,” says pitcher Jeff Francis, who at 30 qualifies as an old man around here. “And so far, I believe it.”
Spring training is notoriously misleading, and this one is only four games old. Even in the most ambitious expectation, Kansas City won’t see much of these guys for at least three months, and the real impact won’t be for at least another year.
That does nothing to change this:
The future is real, and it’s coming fast.
? ? ?
One rival scout familiar with the Royals’ system sends this text message: “best group ive (sic) ever seen.”
Another returns a phone call to say: “I can’t go more than two conversations now without someone talking about the guys the Royals have coming.”
A third is presumably joking when he says: “I’m telling (Royals general manager) Dayton (Moore) he needs to send those guys to minor-league camp before they force their way onto the team.”
You are free to roll your eyes at any or all of this, free country and all, and the Royals have asked you to this dance before. They put Johnny Damon in a commercial with George Brett, tried to sell you on silliness like Colt Griffin’s fastball, and most recently pushed Alex Gordon and Billy Butler as the heavy lifters out of this struggle.
So if you are done believing on spec, if you cannot and will not buy into another youth movement until you see actual results in actual big-league games, hey, you’ve come by your skepticism honestly.
But when you see these guys up close and get worn out hearing from scouts and executives with other clubs, you start to feel this thing coming together. At least a little bit.
Maybe Moustakas will bust. Or Hosmer. Or Lamb. Or Wil Myers, or Christian Colon, or Mike Montgomery, Cheslor Cuthbert, or any of the other high-end prospects the Royals have that other teams covet. But they won’t all bust.
There’s enough depth here that the Royals surely have a few stars and doesn’t it make sense that it might be easier for them to march together, with nobody burdened by the hero role like Gordon?
Spin the roulette wheel once or twice, and you might go broke. Spin it a dozen times, and even bad luck will get you a few hits.
The trick is that this is still mostly just talk. The Royals are Baseball America’s champion, and maybe that means they’re finally pointed the right way, but it also means virtually nothing for what should be another 90-plus loss big-league season.
Which, come to think of it, is only more reason to pay attention to these kids, right?
“People have been hearing a lot about us,” Hosmer says. “It’s fun for people to start seeing some of the guys out here perform now.”
? ? ?
Of course, this is still just the future. As real as it looks right now, Luke Hochevar has a career 5.60 ERA and might start the season opener.
Kila Ka’aihue has hit .224 over 201 at-bats and may hit cleanup. Jeff Francoeur is one of baseball’s least productive corner outfielders and may hit fifth.
And so on.
If someone promises you a million dollars next year, you’re still broke today, and two months from now, Moustakas will be in Omaha. Hosmer will either be with him or in Arkansas.
Most of the rest of this multimillion group will be in smaller towns around the country, continuing as the obsession of a small niche of the baseball world and the big dreams of Kansas City and mostly ignored everywhere else.
This is a fascinating time to be a Royals fan. Long-term success is more realistic than at any point since the 1994 strike.
It’s just that you’ll have to grind through at least one more losing season to get there. Baseball minds and history say it’ll be worth it.
Do you believe them?
Maybe the Royals will become a good team in a couple of years.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 02, 2011
Better days are coming for the Royals
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
GLENDALE, Ariz. | The future is Eric Hosmer hitting a baseball so far and so fast over the outfield wall that it literally gives at least a few scouts goosebumps one day.
The future is Mike Moustakas putting the Royals up a run and then Lorenzo Cain keeping it that way with a sprinting, diving, no-no-no … great catch! for the last out the next day.
The future is Cain getting on base three more times on Wednesday, Alcides Escobar making a play in the hole that no Royals shortstop has made in years, and John Lamb striking out three batters on nine pitches.
The future is knowing that these five guys are 24 at the oldest (Cain), 20 at the youngest (Lamb), and backed by at least twice as many others who are in some cases better and in most cases younger.
The future is knowing that industry-standard Baseball America considers this the best group of prospects in at least two decades, maybe longer, and that this only a sneak peek, like smelling the kitchen hours before the meal.
“I’ve read everything written about all those guys,” says pitcher Jeff Francis, who at 30 qualifies as an old man around here. “And so far, I believe it.”
Spring training is notoriously misleading, and this one is only four games old. Even in the most ambitious expectation, Kansas City won’t see much of these guys for at least three months, and the real impact won’t be for at least another year.
That does nothing to change this:
The future is real, and it’s coming fast.
? ? ?
One rival scout familiar with the Royals’ system sends this text message: “best group ive (sic) ever seen.”
Another returns a phone call to say: “I can’t go more than two conversations now without someone talking about the guys the Royals have coming.”
A third is presumably joking when he says: “I’m telling (Royals general manager) Dayton (Moore) he needs to send those guys to minor-league camp before they force their way onto the team.”
You are free to roll your eyes at any or all of this, free country and all, and the Royals have asked you to this dance before. They put Johnny Damon in a commercial with George Brett, tried to sell you on silliness like Colt Griffin’s fastball, and most recently pushed Alex Gordon and Billy Butler as the heavy lifters out of this struggle.
So if you are done believing on spec, if you cannot and will not buy into another youth movement until you see actual results in actual big-league games, hey, you’ve come by your skepticism honestly.
But when you see these guys up close and get worn out hearing from scouts and executives with other clubs, you start to feel this thing coming together. At least a little bit.
Maybe Moustakas will bust. Or Hosmer. Or Lamb. Or Wil Myers, or Christian Colon, or Mike Montgomery, Cheslor Cuthbert, or any of the other high-end prospects the Royals have that other teams covet. But they won’t all bust.
There’s enough depth here that the Royals surely have a few stars and doesn’t it make sense that it might be easier for them to march together, with nobody burdened by the hero role like Gordon?
Spin the roulette wheel once or twice, and you might go broke. Spin it a dozen times, and even bad luck will get you a few hits.
The trick is that this is still mostly just talk. The Royals are Baseball America’s champion, and maybe that means they’re finally pointed the right way, but it also means virtually nothing for what should be another 90-plus loss big-league season.
Which, come to think of it, is only more reason to pay attention to these kids, right?
“People have been hearing a lot about us,” Hosmer says. “It’s fun for people to start seeing some of the guys out here perform now.”
? ? ?
Of course, this is still just the future. As real as it looks right now, Luke Hochevar has a career 5.60 ERA and might start the season opener.
Kila Ka’aihue has hit .224 over 201 at-bats and may hit cleanup. Jeff Francoeur is one of baseball’s least productive corner outfielders and may hit fifth.
And so on.
If someone promises you a million dollars next year, you’re still broke today, and two months from now, Moustakas will be in Omaha. Hosmer will either be with him or in Arkansas.
Most of the rest of this multimillion group will be in smaller towns around the country, continuing as the obsession of a small niche of the baseball world and the big dreams of Kansas City and mostly ignored everywhere else.
This is a fascinating time to be a Royals fan. Long-term success is more realistic than at any point since the 1994 strike.
It’s just that you’ll have to grind through at least one more losing season to get there. Baseball minds and history say it’ll be worth it.
Do you believe them?
Posted on Wed, Mar. 02, 2011
Better days are coming for the Royals
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
GLENDALE, Ariz. | The future is Eric Hosmer hitting a baseball so far and so fast over the outfield wall that it literally gives at least a few scouts goosebumps one day.
The future is Mike Moustakas putting the Royals up a run and then Lorenzo Cain keeping it that way with a sprinting, diving, no-no-no … great catch! for the last out the next day.
The future is Cain getting on base three more times on Wednesday, Alcides Escobar making a play in the hole that no Royals shortstop has made in years, and John Lamb striking out three batters on nine pitches.
The future is knowing that these five guys are 24 at the oldest (Cain), 20 at the youngest (Lamb), and backed by at least twice as many others who are in some cases better and in most cases younger.
The future is knowing that industry-standard Baseball America considers this the best group of prospects in at least two decades, maybe longer, and that this only a sneak peek, like smelling the kitchen hours before the meal.
“I’ve read everything written about all those guys,” says pitcher Jeff Francis, who at 30 qualifies as an old man around here. “And so far, I believe it.”
Spring training is notoriously misleading, and this one is only four games old. Even in the most ambitious expectation, Kansas City won’t see much of these guys for at least three months, and the real impact won’t be for at least another year.
That does nothing to change this:
The future is real, and it’s coming fast.
? ? ?
One rival scout familiar with the Royals’ system sends this text message: “best group ive (sic) ever seen.”
Another returns a phone call to say: “I can’t go more than two conversations now without someone talking about the guys the Royals have coming.”
A third is presumably joking when he says: “I’m telling (Royals general manager) Dayton (Moore) he needs to send those guys to minor-league camp before they force their way onto the team.”
You are free to roll your eyes at any or all of this, free country and all, and the Royals have asked you to this dance before. They put Johnny Damon in a commercial with George Brett, tried to sell you on silliness like Colt Griffin’s fastball, and most recently pushed Alex Gordon and Billy Butler as the heavy lifters out of this struggle.
So if you are done believing on spec, if you cannot and will not buy into another youth movement until you see actual results in actual big-league games, hey, you’ve come by your skepticism honestly.
But when you see these guys up close and get worn out hearing from scouts and executives with other clubs, you start to feel this thing coming together. At least a little bit.
Maybe Moustakas will bust. Or Hosmer. Or Lamb. Or Wil Myers, or Christian Colon, or Mike Montgomery, Cheslor Cuthbert, or any of the other high-end prospects the Royals have that other teams covet. But they won’t all bust.
There’s enough depth here that the Royals surely have a few stars and doesn’t it make sense that it might be easier for them to march together, with nobody burdened by the hero role like Gordon?
Spin the roulette wheel once or twice, and you might go broke. Spin it a dozen times, and even bad luck will get you a few hits.
The trick is that this is still mostly just talk. The Royals are Baseball America’s champion, and maybe that means they’re finally pointed the right way, but it also means virtually nothing for what should be another 90-plus loss big-league season.
Which, come to think of it, is only more reason to pay attention to these kids, right?
“People have been hearing a lot about us,” Hosmer says. “It’s fun for people to start seeing some of the guys out here perform now.”
? ? ?
Of course, this is still just the future. As real as it looks right now, Luke Hochevar has a career 5.60 ERA and might start the season opener.
Kila Ka’aihue has hit .224 over 201 at-bats and may hit cleanup. Jeff Francoeur is one of baseball’s least productive corner outfielders and may hit fifth.
And so on.
If someone promises you a million dollars next year, you’re still broke today, and two months from now, Moustakas will be in Omaha. Hosmer will either be with him or in Arkansas.
Most of the rest of this multimillion group will be in smaller towns around the country, continuing as the obsession of a small niche of the baseball world and the big dreams of Kansas City and mostly ignored everywhere else.
This is a fascinating time to be a Royals fan. Long-term success is more realistic than at any point since the 1994 strike.
It’s just that you’ll have to grind through at least one more losing season to get there. Baseball minds and history say it’ll be worth it.
Do you believe them?
Hadn't seen that. Kendall must've gotten turned down by a groupie at the bar the night before to act like a turd. It was a legit question.
I actually went out and watched a high school game on Friday, Sapulpa v Bixby. Hoping to get out and see Bradley pitch for BA. Kid's a lock for the first-round, possibly a top-10 pick this summer.
Grienke broke a couple of ribs playing pick up basketball (prohibited in his contract). He will probably miss all of April.
There goes the Brewers playing .500 the first month. Five bucks says he's done in less than five years. He'll just wake up one morning and walk away. Probably go hang with Jake Plummer in Idaho and join the pro handball circuit.
This post was edited on 3/9 9:07 AM by Li'l Eric Coley
This post was edited on 3/9 9:07 AM by Li'l Eric Coley
Hard to tell if Zack just likes kickin' back with a Corona or enjoys a big giant bonghit of the Ahman Green. One thing's for sure ... there goes Greinke Drinky Night at all the Milwaukee bars for a while.
It's Opening Day. There is always hope for success some year.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 30, 2011
Waiting is the hardest part in Royals’ youth movement
SAM MELLINGER COMMENTARY
SURPRISE, Ariz. | You have every reason to roll your eyes. The Royals are talking prospects, again, about an arrival date that always seems just beyond the horizon.
You have been invited to this party before. Mike Moustakas is a stud? So was Alex Gordon. Eric Hosmer’s going to wow Kansas City? So was Justin Huber. Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy and John Lamb are going to be aces? Heard that before with Chris George, Jeff Austin and Colt Griffin.
Please, you say. Save it for a sucker.
Except this time is different.
Scouts and executives all over baseball are gushing about the Royals’ future like never before. Really, it’s hard to remember the baseball industry buzzing over any team’s prospects like this. The joke among scouts during spring training is that the best team in the Cactus League is the 2013 Royals. “Never seen anything like it,” a rival executive says.
This isn’t fail-proof, and it’s certainly not fail-proof for the Royals, but here’s the rub: The most likely way for it to fail is to lose patience.
That goes for you. That goes for me. And it especially goes for the Royals’ prospects and decision-makers.
“I think there are times you can accelerate the process,” owner David Glass says, “but you can’t do it artificially. The kids have to be ready to play.”
This year’s big-league team figures to lose about 95 games.
So how much more patience do you have?
? ? ?
The Bible says that “patience is better than pride.” In Buddhism, it is said that patience can keep you from succumbing to doubt and discouragement. Judaism teaches that a patient man is better than a warrior.
You can connect the dots from those definitions to what the Royals are doing. Patience is a multimillion-dollar industry, even without the Royals needing it to navigate Major League Baseball. Patience is a commodity, at least according to a mess of self-help books and the teachings of everyone from priests to professors to the Dalai Lama.
This is one place where spirit and science agree. Scientific studies have linked impatience with hypertension and high blood pressure. Research shows that a lack of patience is literally embedded in our DNA: We are constantly inclined to devalue the future in favor of the present.
This has been revealed in everything from studies involving monkeys to analysis of sports teams trading future draft picks. The authors of Scorecasting found teams and fans to be sensationally impatient. Their research showed NFL teams discount future picks by 174 percent, meaning teams valued the same pick for this year’s draft at nearly three times the same in next year’s draft.
Advertisers seem to know how our brains work, which explains why commercials scream at us to Act Now! and promise special bonuses if we call in the next 15 minutes.
In many ways, this is the common experience in modern America. We want it now, and more than ever before, the world is giving it to us. Airline rewards programs let us skip security lines, DVRs let us skip commercials and cell phones give us virtually any bit of information anytime we want it.
We don’t wait because we no longer have to, which is a wonderful way to live, except building a winning baseball team in the second-smallest market of today’s Major League Baseball reality requires something else entirely.
If you’ve been a Royals fan for any length of time, you’ve already been asked too often for patience. You’ve been misled at times, neglected at others, and let down almost always.
Now, your patience is being tested again.
? ? ?
Ned Yost is in his office. He is about to say something that you will remember, the kind of quote that will stick on him for years, good or bad, like when general manager Dayton Moore said the championship parade will go through the Plaza.
But first, a little background. You might know that Yost is here as the Royals’ manager because of what he helped build in Atlanta and Milwaukee. There are nuances to each of those success stories, but essentially both franchises went from pathetic to playoffs because of prospects.
Yost is talking freely ? there are no cameras or microphones around ? but he does not know the thrust of this column. This is good to remember when he answers a question about the most critical part of those prior experiences.
“Had patience,” he says. “Most important thing we did. Had patience.”
This is real. In Milwaukee, Rickie Weeks was atrocious for most of his first two seasons. Struck out twice as often as he walked, batted .259 and made 43 errors in fewer than 200 games. Advanced statistics said he was worse than a commonly available minor leaguer. Two years later, he was a key part of a playoff team.
J.J. Hardy was batting .187 at the All-Star break his rookie year, a start so bad that Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio started asking Yost how long he’d stick with this guy. As long as I’m here, was Yost’s answer, and two years later Hardy hit 26 home runs and made the All-Star team.
“If I bailed on those kids, what do you have?” Yost says now. “Nothing.”
Baseball history is full of promising careers cut short in part because of impatience. David Clyde might be the most famous example. He debuted at 18 and was out of baseball by 24.
More locally, baseball people with the Royals and other clubs sometimes bring up Alex Gordon as a warning of pushing too soon. There is at least some revisionist history here, because Gordon was the college and minor-league player of the year in the two seasons before he debuted in the big leagues. But hindsight says Gordon wasn’t quite ready for the majors.
He got a standing ovation before his first big-league game, another before his first at-bat, and then promptly popped up with the bases loaded and two outs. Now, he is damaged baseball goods, scouts whispering that he bulked up too much and lost his fast-twitch muscles.
Injuries have contributed as well, but his development has been slow enough that he’s now being pushed by a new wave of prospects. His early career path is what the Royals don’t want to happen to their current prospects.
Their jobs and the remaining trust of fans depend on it, and after one more mention about the importance of patience, Yost is ready to drop that bomb and spit in the face of uncertainty.
“All I can tell you is just watch,” he says. “There’s no way around it. There’s no way that it can’t happen.”
? ? ?
People like to point to Tampa Bay as proof that baseball turnarounds can happen quickly, but it’s easy to miss that the building plan that eventually put the Rays in the 2008 World Series can be traced back at least eight years.
Same with the Twins. They lost for six straight seasons in general manager Terry Ryan’s building plan before competing.
Here’s an imperfect but telling way to do it: Look at the careers of the players who finished in the top 10 in Cy Young or MVP voting in either league last year.
There are some instant stars like Evan Longoria and Albert Pujols, but there are also longer paths like with Jayson Werth and Delmon Young. On average, this group had what you might subjectively call breakout seasons a little more than five years after signing and a little less than three years after debuting in the big leagues.
Taken in that context, Mike Moustakas ? technically Moore’s first draft pick ? would be expected to debut next season and break out in 2015.
As a group, the Royals’ prospects are generally moving faster than most. But there is still some waiting and hoping to do before knowing if this thing will work.
? ? ?
The Royals know what you think, and they understand why you think it. This franchise has lost for too long, the misery going further and deeper than can be justified by baseball’s economics.
Fans have been told about “prospects” and “youth movements” before, and here we are, 2011 and prepping for what will almost certainly be a 16th losing season in 17 years. Moore’s catchword ? Process ? is now an established joke among some fans, you know, like, the Royals are processing themselves into last place again.
“There is no doubt,” Moore says, “that it’s easier to be patient when you’re winning at the major-league level.”
There is an element of Moore paying for the sins of how the Royals operated in the past, but to talk too much about that would be to give Moore cover for his own significant mistakes.
Most notably, he’s been atrocious at building any kind of traction with the big-league roster.
Other than Joakim Soria and perhaps Gil Meche ? before then-manager Trey Hillman pitched him to the disabled list, anyway ? most every move at the big-league level has turned rotten.
The Royals lost 93 games in Moore’s first full season and 95 more last year, so in some ways, it is counterintuitive to believe a leadership group so incapable of noticeable progress in the majors can make all this wretchedness go away with college-aged kids now playing in Arkansas or Omaha.
“It’s tempting for us, too,” Royals minor-league director J.J. Picollo says. “There’s times you think, ‘This guy (in the minors) is better than that guy (in the majors), let’s take him up.’ But we’ve come so far in 4 1/2 years, you want to keep your focus.”
These are good talking points, and it all makes sense, but it is being done in the calm and hope of spring training. The metaphorical bullets start flying later this week, and you wonder what might happen if the Royals start out 11-28 or something.
Will you send emails demanding that the Northwest Arkansas pitching staff be promoted?
Will you call talk radio shows saying this is all just Glass’s latest con?
More important, with what virtually everyone in baseball sees as a ready-made contender with the proper care, will the men in charge unwittingly torpedo the whole thing by moving it along too quickly?
The fun part will come later, when Hosmer and Wil Myers are hitting home runs into fountains.
But maybe the more important part comes now, when the Royals decide how long they can wait to make them try.
Posted on Wed, Mar. 30, 2011
Waiting is the hardest part in Royals’ youth movement
SAM MELLINGER COMMENTARY
SURPRISE, Ariz. | You have every reason to roll your eyes. The Royals are talking prospects, again, about an arrival date that always seems just beyond the horizon.
You have been invited to this party before. Mike Moustakas is a stud? So was Alex Gordon. Eric Hosmer’s going to wow Kansas City? So was Justin Huber. Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy and John Lamb are going to be aces? Heard that before with Chris George, Jeff Austin and Colt Griffin.
Please, you say. Save it for a sucker.
Except this time is different.
Scouts and executives all over baseball are gushing about the Royals’ future like never before. Really, it’s hard to remember the baseball industry buzzing over any team’s prospects like this. The joke among scouts during spring training is that the best team in the Cactus League is the 2013 Royals. “Never seen anything like it,” a rival executive says.
This isn’t fail-proof, and it’s certainly not fail-proof for the Royals, but here’s the rub: The most likely way for it to fail is to lose patience.
That goes for you. That goes for me. And it especially goes for the Royals’ prospects and decision-makers.
“I think there are times you can accelerate the process,” owner David Glass says, “but you can’t do it artificially. The kids have to be ready to play.”
This year’s big-league team figures to lose about 95 games.
So how much more patience do you have?
? ? ?
The Bible says that “patience is better than pride.” In Buddhism, it is said that patience can keep you from succumbing to doubt and discouragement. Judaism teaches that a patient man is better than a warrior.
You can connect the dots from those definitions to what the Royals are doing. Patience is a multimillion-dollar industry, even without the Royals needing it to navigate Major League Baseball. Patience is a commodity, at least according to a mess of self-help books and the teachings of everyone from priests to professors to the Dalai Lama.
This is one place where spirit and science agree. Scientific studies have linked impatience with hypertension and high blood pressure. Research shows that a lack of patience is literally embedded in our DNA: We are constantly inclined to devalue the future in favor of the present.
This has been revealed in everything from studies involving monkeys to analysis of sports teams trading future draft picks. The authors of Scorecasting found teams and fans to be sensationally impatient. Their research showed NFL teams discount future picks by 174 percent, meaning teams valued the same pick for this year’s draft at nearly three times the same in next year’s draft.
Advertisers seem to know how our brains work, which explains why commercials scream at us to Act Now! and promise special bonuses if we call in the next 15 minutes.
In many ways, this is the common experience in modern America. We want it now, and more than ever before, the world is giving it to us. Airline rewards programs let us skip security lines, DVRs let us skip commercials and cell phones give us virtually any bit of information anytime we want it.
We don’t wait because we no longer have to, which is a wonderful way to live, except building a winning baseball team in the second-smallest market of today’s Major League Baseball reality requires something else entirely.
If you’ve been a Royals fan for any length of time, you’ve already been asked too often for patience. You’ve been misled at times, neglected at others, and let down almost always.
Now, your patience is being tested again.
? ? ?
Ned Yost is in his office. He is about to say something that you will remember, the kind of quote that will stick on him for years, good or bad, like when general manager Dayton Moore said the championship parade will go through the Plaza.
But first, a little background. You might know that Yost is here as the Royals’ manager because of what he helped build in Atlanta and Milwaukee. There are nuances to each of those success stories, but essentially both franchises went from pathetic to playoffs because of prospects.
Yost is talking freely ? there are no cameras or microphones around ? but he does not know the thrust of this column. This is good to remember when he answers a question about the most critical part of those prior experiences.
“Had patience,” he says. “Most important thing we did. Had patience.”
This is real. In Milwaukee, Rickie Weeks was atrocious for most of his first two seasons. Struck out twice as often as he walked, batted .259 and made 43 errors in fewer than 200 games. Advanced statistics said he was worse than a commonly available minor leaguer. Two years later, he was a key part of a playoff team.
J.J. Hardy was batting .187 at the All-Star break his rookie year, a start so bad that Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio started asking Yost how long he’d stick with this guy. As long as I’m here, was Yost’s answer, and two years later Hardy hit 26 home runs and made the All-Star team.
“If I bailed on those kids, what do you have?” Yost says now. “Nothing.”
Baseball history is full of promising careers cut short in part because of impatience. David Clyde might be the most famous example. He debuted at 18 and was out of baseball by 24.
More locally, baseball people with the Royals and other clubs sometimes bring up Alex Gordon as a warning of pushing too soon. There is at least some revisionist history here, because Gordon was the college and minor-league player of the year in the two seasons before he debuted in the big leagues. But hindsight says Gordon wasn’t quite ready for the majors.
He got a standing ovation before his first big-league game, another before his first at-bat, and then promptly popped up with the bases loaded and two outs. Now, he is damaged baseball goods, scouts whispering that he bulked up too much and lost his fast-twitch muscles.
Injuries have contributed as well, but his development has been slow enough that he’s now being pushed by a new wave of prospects. His early career path is what the Royals don’t want to happen to their current prospects.
Their jobs and the remaining trust of fans depend on it, and after one more mention about the importance of patience, Yost is ready to drop that bomb and spit in the face of uncertainty.
“All I can tell you is just watch,” he says. “There’s no way around it. There’s no way that it can’t happen.”
? ? ?
People like to point to Tampa Bay as proof that baseball turnarounds can happen quickly, but it’s easy to miss that the building plan that eventually put the Rays in the 2008 World Series can be traced back at least eight years.
Same with the Twins. They lost for six straight seasons in general manager Terry Ryan’s building plan before competing.
Here’s an imperfect but telling way to do it: Look at the careers of the players who finished in the top 10 in Cy Young or MVP voting in either league last year.
There are some instant stars like Evan Longoria and Albert Pujols, but there are also longer paths like with Jayson Werth and Delmon Young. On average, this group had what you might subjectively call breakout seasons a little more than five years after signing and a little less than three years after debuting in the big leagues.
Taken in that context, Mike Moustakas ? technically Moore’s first draft pick ? would be expected to debut next season and break out in 2015.
As a group, the Royals’ prospects are generally moving faster than most. But there is still some waiting and hoping to do before knowing if this thing will work.
? ? ?
The Royals know what you think, and they understand why you think it. This franchise has lost for too long, the misery going further and deeper than can be justified by baseball’s economics.
Fans have been told about “prospects” and “youth movements” before, and here we are, 2011 and prepping for what will almost certainly be a 16th losing season in 17 years. Moore’s catchword ? Process ? is now an established joke among some fans, you know, like, the Royals are processing themselves into last place again.
“There is no doubt,” Moore says, “that it’s easier to be patient when you’re winning at the major-league level.”
There is an element of Moore paying for the sins of how the Royals operated in the past, but to talk too much about that would be to give Moore cover for his own significant mistakes.
Most notably, he’s been atrocious at building any kind of traction with the big-league roster.
Other than Joakim Soria and perhaps Gil Meche ? before then-manager Trey Hillman pitched him to the disabled list, anyway ? most every move at the big-league level has turned rotten.
The Royals lost 93 games in Moore’s first full season and 95 more last year, so in some ways, it is counterintuitive to believe a leadership group so incapable of noticeable progress in the majors can make all this wretchedness go away with college-aged kids now playing in Arkansas or Omaha.
“It’s tempting for us, too,” Royals minor-league director J.J. Picollo says. “There’s times you think, ‘This guy (in the minors) is better than that guy (in the majors), let’s take him up.’ But we’ve come so far in 4 1/2 years, you want to keep your focus.”
These are good talking points, and it all makes sense, but it is being done in the calm and hope of spring training. The metaphorical bullets start flying later this week, and you wonder what might happen if the Royals start out 11-28 or something.
Will you send emails demanding that the Northwest Arkansas pitching staff be promoted?
Will you call talk radio shows saying this is all just Glass’s latest con?
More important, with what virtually everyone in baseball sees as a ready-made contender with the proper care, will the men in charge unwittingly torpedo the whole thing by moving it along too quickly?
The fun part will come later, when Hosmer and Wil Myers are hitting home runs into fountains.
But maybe the more important part comes now, when the Royals decide how long they can wait to make them try.
I still can't believe Soria blew that save the other day. That's one of those 40 games in between the 60 wins and 60 losses we won't get back. Here's to hoping the first roadie of the season today is a winner!
Even with a six-game losing streak, I'll take two games over .500 for the first month. If they can do the same thing for May, I'd be pretty damn happy. Granted, we've only played one good team (Texas) and got swept.
Cleveland is getting ready to come back to earth with its west coast swing. I'll bet by the all-star break, the division is pretty tight across the board. I'll say all five teams within six games of one another.
Cleveland is getting ready to come back to earth with its west coast swing. I'll bet by the all-star break, the division is pretty tight across the board. I'll say all five teams within six games of one another.
Lot's of potential in the minor leages. More to be in KC soon.
Posted on Thu, May. 05, 2011
Here comes Hosmer ? and that's just the start
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Eric Hosmer is here now in Kansas City, bringing the future with him, and you think you’re excited? Hosmer told a friend he was so fired up he felt like crying.
The biggest news of the Royals season so far means the next five months will be judged and dissected much differently. Mission 2012 is real now, it’s legitimate, and if you don’t believe it, you can come out to Kauffman Stadium tonight to see for yourself.
Hosmer will be the big guy starting at first base and probably hitting fifth or sixth, 6 feet 4 and 230 pounds with the kind of swing that literally gives baseball people goosebumps.
“This guy will hit and he’ll play great defense and he’s getting his feet wet at the same time,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore says. “And, he doesn’t have to be the guy.”
The Royals beat the Orioles 9-1 on Thursday, and even on a team that’s first in the American League in runs and batting, a 21-year-old hitting phenom makes things better.
There is so much going on here, so much above and below the surface. The Royals are sending a clear message about what they think can be accomplished this season, about what is expected and about what they think of maneuvering around baseball’s complicated salary structure.
The Royals have holes that Hosmer cannot fill unless he dusts off that 95-mph fastball from his high school days, but this move means the Royals are at least open to the idea of opening their overstuffed drawer of high-end pitchers in the minor leagues with visions of making a run in the weak American League Central.
Hosmer is done with the minor leagues, nothing left to prove after graduating with an absurd .439 batting average, .525 on-base percentage and .582 slugging percentage in 26 games at Class AAA.
All around baseball, there are folks in the industry nodding. Hosmer was in some scouts’ conversations about the Cactus League’s best player. They throw around comparisons like Joey Votto and Jason Heyward and even Adrian Gonzalez.
Just the other day, a longtime scout was telling the story about a former big-league pitcher who faced Hosmer recently and said he’d never pitched against a more intimidating presence.
This is all true, and yet baseball is constructed in a way that this still wasn’t a no-brainer. Kila Ka’aihue is the organization’s longest tenured player, and it turns out he had about a month of regular duty to prove himself before being demoted. That’s at least rough, and probably a bit unfair.
There are financial consequences, too. This move probably will cost the Royals money, one more crack in the outdated view that David Glass still runs the franchise like a Wal-Mart store. Assuming the Royals keep him until his free-agency after the 2017 season, this could cost them an extra $10 million-$15 million if the sport’s salary arbitration rules stay the same in the next collective-bargaining agreement.
But that’s all minutiae at the moment, because the baseball world is getting acquainted with a far different type of Royals franchise than the one Jay Leno used to reference in his monologues.
The same franchise that once promoted a pitcher nobody in the clubhouse had ever heard of for a start at Yankee Stadium to save a few hundred grand is now potentially costing itself a fortune by not waiting five more weeks to promote Hosmer.
One of the frustrations of Royals decision-makers has always been the lack of options. You don’t become the losingest franchise in the last decade without some guys who should be replaced, but too often the Royals didn’t have better choices.
Now, Ka’aihue is hitting .195 and playing mediocre defense while Hosmer is hitting better than .400 and playing great defense, so a change is made.
“We’ve said that all along,” Moore says. “You want to have as much competition as possible, and you’ve got to have guys pushing. You want to get to that point.”
The joke during spring training was that the Cactus League’s best team was the 2013 Royals, but this is now the look of a franchise that thinks it can win much sooner than that, and you know what?
If you believe the team the Royals need to beat is currently below them in the standings ? first-place Cleveland’s chances are directly tied to pitchers Josh Tomlin and Justin Masterson continuing their overwhelming success ? then they’re in a good position.
Because even if you think this 17-14 start is above the Royals’ talent level, you also must recognize that today’s lineup with Hosmer in it will be more talented than the one yesterday without him, and the roster in two months will be more talented than the one today.
There’s plenty more on the way. Mike Montgomery will probably be up soon, followed by Danny Duffy, strengthening a rotation that happens to be this team’s biggest current need.
Everett Teaford or Jesse Chavez (who is showing good signs after lowering his arm slot) are among a handful of pitchers who could be called up if any of the current relievers get hurt or struggle.
Mike Moustakas will be promoted, too, and Johnny Giavotella gives the Royals options if Mike Aviles or Chris Getz falters.
In other words, this is a complicated decision that can and will be taken as a celebration of the Royals’ potential. The most important takeaway is what it means about the Royals’ future:
It’s coming a little faster than expected, and there’s a lot more on the way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSIDE
Hosmer’s promotion signals to players that front office believes that Royals are able to contend now. | B4
Posted on Thu, May. 05, 2011
Here comes Hosmer ? and that's just the start
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Eric Hosmer is here now in Kansas City, bringing the future with him, and you think you’re excited? Hosmer told a friend he was so fired up he felt like crying.
The biggest news of the Royals season so far means the next five months will be judged and dissected much differently. Mission 2012 is real now, it’s legitimate, and if you don’t believe it, you can come out to Kauffman Stadium tonight to see for yourself.
Hosmer will be the big guy starting at first base and probably hitting fifth or sixth, 6 feet 4 and 230 pounds with the kind of swing that literally gives baseball people goosebumps.
“This guy will hit and he’ll play great defense and he’s getting his feet wet at the same time,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore says. “And, he doesn’t have to be the guy.”
The Royals beat the Orioles 9-1 on Thursday, and even on a team that’s first in the American League in runs and batting, a 21-year-old hitting phenom makes things better.
There is so much going on here, so much above and below the surface. The Royals are sending a clear message about what they think can be accomplished this season, about what is expected and about what they think of maneuvering around baseball’s complicated salary structure.
The Royals have holes that Hosmer cannot fill unless he dusts off that 95-mph fastball from his high school days, but this move means the Royals are at least open to the idea of opening their overstuffed drawer of high-end pitchers in the minor leagues with visions of making a run in the weak American League Central.
Hosmer is done with the minor leagues, nothing left to prove after graduating with an absurd .439 batting average, .525 on-base percentage and .582 slugging percentage in 26 games at Class AAA.
All around baseball, there are folks in the industry nodding. Hosmer was in some scouts’ conversations about the Cactus League’s best player. They throw around comparisons like Joey Votto and Jason Heyward and even Adrian Gonzalez.
Just the other day, a longtime scout was telling the story about a former big-league pitcher who faced Hosmer recently and said he’d never pitched against a more intimidating presence.
This is all true, and yet baseball is constructed in a way that this still wasn’t a no-brainer. Kila Ka’aihue is the organization’s longest tenured player, and it turns out he had about a month of regular duty to prove himself before being demoted. That’s at least rough, and probably a bit unfair.
There are financial consequences, too. This move probably will cost the Royals money, one more crack in the outdated view that David Glass still runs the franchise like a Wal-Mart store. Assuming the Royals keep him until his free-agency after the 2017 season, this could cost them an extra $10 million-$15 million if the sport’s salary arbitration rules stay the same in the next collective-bargaining agreement.
But that’s all minutiae at the moment, because the baseball world is getting acquainted with a far different type of Royals franchise than the one Jay Leno used to reference in his monologues.
The same franchise that once promoted a pitcher nobody in the clubhouse had ever heard of for a start at Yankee Stadium to save a few hundred grand is now potentially costing itself a fortune by not waiting five more weeks to promote Hosmer.
One of the frustrations of Royals decision-makers has always been the lack of options. You don’t become the losingest franchise in the last decade without some guys who should be replaced, but too often the Royals didn’t have better choices.
Now, Ka’aihue is hitting .195 and playing mediocre defense while Hosmer is hitting better than .400 and playing great defense, so a change is made.
“We’ve said that all along,” Moore says. “You want to have as much competition as possible, and you’ve got to have guys pushing. You want to get to that point.”
The joke during spring training was that the Cactus League’s best team was the 2013 Royals, but this is now the look of a franchise that thinks it can win much sooner than that, and you know what?
If you believe the team the Royals need to beat is currently below them in the standings ? first-place Cleveland’s chances are directly tied to pitchers Josh Tomlin and Justin Masterson continuing their overwhelming success ? then they’re in a good position.
Because even if you think this 17-14 start is above the Royals’ talent level, you also must recognize that today’s lineup with Hosmer in it will be more talented than the one yesterday without him, and the roster in two months will be more talented than the one today.
There’s plenty more on the way. Mike Montgomery will probably be up soon, followed by Danny Duffy, strengthening a rotation that happens to be this team’s biggest current need.
Everett Teaford or Jesse Chavez (who is showing good signs after lowering his arm slot) are among a handful of pitchers who could be called up if any of the current relievers get hurt or struggle.
Mike Moustakas will be promoted, too, and Johnny Giavotella gives the Royals options if Mike Aviles or Chris Getz falters.
In other words, this is a complicated decision that can and will be taken as a celebration of the Royals’ potential. The most important takeaway is what it means about the Royals’ future:
It’s coming a little faster than expected, and there’s a lot more on the way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSIDE
Hosmer’s promotion signals to players that front office believes that Royals are able to contend now. | B4
I had a feeling. Every day I look at the box score and just get frustrated with Kila's performance. Inserting Hosmer is a no-brainer at this point.
Hosmer 3-for-9 with three walks in his first series. Nice start, Eric!
Must avoid sweep in New York this week.
Must avoid sweep in New York this week.
