The Royals finished the week with a 3-2-1 record.
Zack Greinke pitched Tuesday against Oakland and Sunday against Seattle.  His start against the Athletics was a solid outing.  In 5.0 IP he allowed 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB and recorded 8 SO.  His start against the Mariners was another disaster.  In 2.0 IP he allowed 10 H, 8 ER, 1 BB and recorded 1 SO. His spring ERA is now up to 9.64.
Gil Meche pitched Friday against Los Angeles and had an excellent start.  In 7.0 IP he allowed 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and recorded 6 [...]

Are you freaking kidding me?
The Royals have elected to keep Sidney Ponson, Brian Bannister and Horacio Ramirez over Luke Hochevar who has today been optioned to AAA.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Hochevar is now 25.  In 2008, he threw 129.0 innings for the Royals with an ERA of 5.21, struck out 72, and had a 1.59 WHIP.  In 16.1 IP this spring, his ERA stands at 3.86 with a 1.29 WHIP.
Bannister is now 28.  In 2008, he threw 182.2 innings with an ERA of 5.76, struck out 113, and had a WHIP of 1.49.  In 12.2 IP, his spring ERA stands [...]

Yes, the Royals reassigned a SS to minor league camp yesterday.  The bad news is that it was the wrong SS.  It was Luis Hernandez and not Tony Pena Jr. who was reassigned.  That is not to say that Hernandez should make the ML roster, because he shouldn’t.
Luis Hernandez (24) signed as a minor league free agent with the Royals this offseason.  In 148 ML at bats with the Baltimore Orioles, Hernandez has hit .264/.297/.304.  In 39 at bats this spring, he hit .231/.231/.286 to have a respectable showing.
Hernandez’s stat line is significantly better than the immortal Tony Pena Jr. [...]

It took him over a month, but Gil Meche finally had a good spring training start.  Pitching against the Dodgers today, Meche threw 7.0 innings allowing only 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6.  Even more encouraging is the fact that he was facing LA’s projected opening day lineup.  And yes, Manny was being Manny accounting for 3 of the Dodgers 5 hits on the day.
Whether spring training stats mean anything or not, Meche’s start makes me feel a lot better about things.  After the Royals starting rotation put up a 10.57 ERA and a 2.43 WHIP in [...]

Royals reassigned non-roster invitees LHP-Lenny DiNardo, RHP-Victor Marte, RHP-Anthony Larew and C-Matt Tupman to their minor league camp.  None of these moves are a surprise.  The three pitchers combined to pitch 8.2 innning, while Tupman played in only 5 games and got 3 at bats.
Sir Sidney Ponson started for the Royals today and had the expected result.  His line was a not so stellar 5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR.  Even if he had thrown a no hitter I wouldn’t change my opinion that he does not belong on the Royals ML [...]

From Dick Kaegel’s article on MLB.com:
Manager Trey Hillman confirmed that Meche will start on April 6, Opening Day at Chicago. Greinke will go in the second game against the White Sox on April 8.
They way they have it now, Meche will pitch April 6th on the road, and then Saturday April 11th at home against the Yankees.  This means that Greinke, after pitching on the 8th, will not get a start in the opening weekend series against the Yankees.  His 2nd start will come Monday April 13th at home against the Indians.  I’m sure the Royals are banking on all [...]

The Royals finished the week with a 3-2-1 record. If there is a trend for the Royals thus far in spring training, it is that they like tie ball games.
Zack Greinke pitched Wednesday against the Mariners and again got lit up like a Christmas tree.  In 5.0 innings he gave up 11 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk, 2 home runs and struck out 4.  The game was on FSN so I got to witness the shellacking first hand.  He now has an 8.27 ERA for the spring, but that looks good compared to Meche, Ramirez, and Bannister.
Gil Meche pitched Saturday [...]

Today the Royals reassigned RHP-Yasuhiko Yabuta, OF- Chris Lubanski, C-J.R. House, and RHP-Oscar Villarreal to minor league camp.
Yasuhiko Yabuta (6/9/73)
I will sleep a little better tonight knowing that Yabuta will not break camp with the major league team.  In 6.33 IP this spring, Yabuta has an 8.53 ERA and a 2.69 WHIP.  He is on the 2nd year of his 2 year $6 million contract.  Now if only the news would come out that Tony Pena Jr & Ross Gload were cut or reassigned …
Chris Lubanski (3/24/85)
There is little shine to the prospect star that Lubanski once possessed.  In 561 [...]

Today the Royals announced that they have released LHP Jimmy Gobble. 
In 423.7 career innings pitched Gobble had an ERA of 5.23, a 22-23 record, and a WHIP of 1.487.  Only once in his 6 year career did he post an ERA+ of significantly over 100 which is major league average.  That one year was 2007 when he had an ERA+ of 156.  Last year his ERA+ was a dreadful 48, while his career ERA+ was 90.  Gobble with the Royals was a below average pitcher with a poor SO/BB ratio, and an inability to miss bats consistently.
Gobble, being a lefty and [...]

Henry Barrera and Julio Pimentel were optioned to AA Northwest Arkansas, while Matt Wright was assigned to minor league camp.  Pimentel was a no brainer since he is out at least 6 weeks, and if he needs surgery will likely be done for the season.  Henry Barrera, the Royals #13 prospect according to Baseball America, pitched only 2 innings this spring allowing 1 hit, 1 walk and struck out 1.  He took a step forward in 2008 when he was moved up to Hi-A Wilmington where he had a 2.81 ERA, 78 SO and 24 BB in 58 innings pitched.   Matt [...]

The Royals finished their third week with a 5-2 record including going 1-1 in their split squad games on Friday.
Zack Greinke pitched Friday against the Brewers. In 3.0 innings of work he allowed 8 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk and 2 home runs while striking out 2. Two out of his last three starts have been clunkers, but as I said last week, I’m going to trust that Zack knows what he’s doing.
Gil Meche pitched Wednesday against the Mariners and Monday against the White Sox. In his two starts he pitched 5.2 innings allowing 9 hits, 6 runs and 4 walks [...]

Welcome to the 3rd installment of Royals Seasons!
 
Over 40 seasons, 17 different players have held the title of starting 1B for the Royals.  The longest tenured starter at the position was John Mayberry 1972-1977.  Four players are tied for second in terms of tenure with 4 seasons each.  Those players are; Willie Aikens, George Brett, Wally Joyner, and Mike Sweeney.
 
Their 1st three seasons of existence saw three different players as the starting 1B. 
1969:  Mike Fiore had a solid OPS+ 138 season as a 24 year old.  The Royals took him in the expansion draft from the Baltimore Orioles organization.  [...]