Archive for January, 2011

The Royals were able to avoid going to arbitration with Alex Gordon and Luke Hochevar this week. They were not, however, able to come to an agreement on 2011 salaries with Billy Butler, Robinson  Tejeda and Kyle Davies.  If there isn’t a deal reached with any of the three players by Monday, the team and player will exchange salary figures.  Arbitration hearings start February first and run through the 18th.  At any time before the arbitration figures are judged by a panel, the team and player can come to an agreement. There’s a strong chance that the Royals can get [...]

The Royals avoided going to arbitration with Alex Gordon by reaching an agreement with the former second overall pick on a one year deal for 2011.  According to the Kansas City Star, the deal is worth$1.4 million. After putting together a deal with Luke Hochevar on Wednesday, the Royals are left with Billy Butler, Robinson  Tejeda and Kyle Davies as their only unsigned players on the major league roster.

Well, it’s that time again. In the final installment, I want to just briefly touch on the major competitors for bullpen spots in Kansas City this year and who to watch for in Spring Training. The new signing of Jeff Francis has cleared up the starting corps picture a bit, so it’s easier to get a look at potential relievers with the rotation filled out. As you might guess, there are a ton of reliever candidates that will make appearances in the Royals’ Spring Training camp. Just from a passing glance, here’s the total list: Joakim Soria Robinson Tejeda Blake [...]

The report just came through the wire that the Royals have signed former Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis. Francis ranked as the top non-Cliff-Lee pitcher when I looked at the best free agent signing possibilities for the Royals a while back. Mike recently profiled Francis as a likely target for the Royals. It’s clear that Francis has been a potential target for a while. Needless to say, I like this signing. The contract value isn’t clear yet* and Francis has to pass his physical before the signing is official. Still, I see very few issues with this signing. I’ll lay those [...]

Hopefully you got a chance to tune into 610 radio tonight to listen to Ryan Lefebvre and Denny Matthews on the Royals Hot Stove Show.  If not, you missed not only a chance to hear the voices of the Royals (and it’s been way too long since I heard these guys), but you also missed a discussion with General Manager Dayton Moore. Between the typical platitudes you’re going to hear from a public address by a GM, there were a few nuggets of information if you were looking for them.

In what will become a weekly show, Dayton Moore will speak with 610 Radio about the upcoming season.  Tonight’s show starts at 6:00 pm CST.  (Considering it was eight degrees below when I woke up this morning, a hot stove sounds just perfect right now.) The show is available for your listening pleasure on MLB.com.  It’s something any Royals fan should be interested in. There are many questions about the Royals roster going into 2011 that need answered, from their infield starters to the makeup of the outfield and the everyday lineup. That’s to say nothing of the starting rotation [...]

I was cruising around and I guess I hadn’t really realized that we traded our ERA leader AND home run leader to the Brewers. Clipped from: kansascity.royals.mlb.com (share this clip) Now in most contexts, I’d say that’s rather unprecedented, but considering our home run leader did so with an unexpected career high and tied a player on the team who was DFA’d on August 5th, it’s not really a momentous loss.  And while we know what Greinke’s ceiling can be (and have covered that he was a bit unlucky in 2010), his ERA was right at the league average. Still. [...]

I’ve looked at a few options for the Royals fifth starter so far this month, but I’ve yet to discuss one that we already know to be an option. He’s an option because, well, he’s been an option in each of the last two seasons for the Royals. So while perhaps Jeff Francis or Freddy Garcia may be viable options to take the hill once or twice a week, they’ve had their share of injuries and that makes it difficult to trust them for a full season, especially when the 2011 season is one in which the Royals really need to [...]

Luke Hochevar is the early frontrunner for the opening day start in 2011.  With Zack Greinke gone and nobody else really close, the former first overall pick looks pretty secure as the de facto ace of the rotation. The Royals and Hochevar agreed to a $1.76 million deal for 2011 that avoids a salary arbitration hearing. Hochevar has a career 19-32 record with a 5.60 ERA as a major leaguer over 387.2 innings pitched.  He was 6-6 with a 4.81 ERA in 2010, but missed 83 days with a strained right elbow. Contracts still need to come to terms with [...]

Since I live outside of the Kansas City area, I recently signed up for my 2011 MLB.tv package so I could catch every one of Jeff Francoeur’s glorious starts. That’s all well and good, but it also allows users to watch 2010 games, at least until the 2011 season starts. So, I fired it up yesterday and watched two games and just started another this morning. Other than realizing just how happy I am to be rid of Jose Guillen, Rick Ankiel, and Yuni “Plus Hands” Betancourt, I noticed that in each of the games I watched the Royals used [...]

Dayton Moore confirmed what we already knew earlier this week: the starting rotation is the last remaining offseason priority. The Royals will march out Luke Hochevar, Vin Mazzaro, Kyle Davies and Sean O’Sullivan, but that fifth starter hasn’t been determined yet.  Rumors have linked Kansas City to Kevin Millwood, Jeff Francis and Carl Pavano in the offseason, and while they seem to have moved on from their previous interest in Millwood, Francis could still be an option.  Pavano is likely to resign with the Twins. There’s another pitching reclamation project out there that the Royals could look into.  He has [...]

Last year, as you’ve probably heard by now, the Royals were second over-all in the Majors in team batting average, but ranked twentieth in runs scored. At the same time, the team dominated the basement of all pitching statistics (28th in quality starts, 29th in ERA, WHIP, and BAA). In short, the Royals could hit the ball, they just couldn’t score, protect a lead, or defend very well. The addition of defenders who can actually make plays like Alcides Escobar, and (I know, I know) Jeff Francoeur should help out a team that has had to suffer through the woeful [...]