Archive for November, 2011

The Royals, to the surprise of many, signed reliever Jonathan Broxton today to a one-year deal. On its own, it’s a bit out of nowhere, but powered by Twitter and messageboard discussion, the signing has taken on a life of its own. Let’s check out a few reactions first, then let’s join the crowds as we speculate on what comes next. First, FanSided’s Joe Soriano at Call to the Pen wrote a piece about the move: Clipped from: calltothepen.com (share this clip)  

It was announced today by baseball media types that the Royals have signed right-handed reliever Jonathan Broxton to a one-year, $4 million deal with an extra $1 million in incentives based on games pitched. Broxton, a 6’4″, 300-pound 27-year old and former Los Angeles Dodger, just ended a two-year contract that paid him $4 million in 2010 and $7 million in 2011. It was reported that more than ten teams were likely in on Broxton before he signed with Kansas City, so the Royals must have offered something significant – money, a guaranteed spot on the Opening Day roster, or [...]

The MLB offseason always seems to drag on forever. It seems that way to me because I don’t have enough people to talk baseball with. I have several theories for why this is: 1) Sadly enough, baseball is no longer America’s pastime. The NFL is a powerhouse and football has passed baseball as the most popular sport in America. This makes it easy for people to forget about baseball and focus on the football season. Don’t get me wrong, I love football and I also love college basketball* which falls right in alongside the season of the football juggernaut,** but [...]

A report from Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun has a hidden tidbit about the Royals: The Kansas City Royals will start with Lorenzo Cain in centre, but with concerns about whether the 25-year-old (42 career starts) will hit has the Royals looking at Colby Rasmus of the Jays. After 2010, Lorenzo Cain had just finished a half of baseball at the major league level where he’d hit .306/.348/.415 for the Brewers and looked set to be their opening day center fielder in 2011. Then Zack Greinke put the Royals in a position to trade him last winter and Cain [...]

As the Royals 2011 All-Star representative and a product of Topeka, KS as well as the University of Missouri, it seems that for right now, Aaron Crow is the local boy done good for the Royals. Last week, he joined other Royals officials at the City Union Mission in Kansas City to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless. The Royals are also sending him out into the community again this Saturday, December 3rd when he’ll make an appearance at U.S. Toy Store in Leawood from 2-3 p.m. I mention this because Fake Ned Yost (Chris Kamler) from Kings of Kauffman’s podcast, the [...]

Now that we’re in the midst of the baseball offseason and the Winter Meetings are still a week away, pure baseball news will be a little harder to come by for a while. With that, I thought it would be a good time to do something that I’ve been asked to do by fellow bloggers and readers for a while now, but have been reluctant to do so. My post a couple weeks ago in response to the Bob McClure Q&A posted at FanGraphs generated a fair amount of positive attention, but also some criticism. Which is to be expected. [...]

As Royals fans, we keep up with the latest transactions, rumors and news about our team. Anymore a lot of fans know who’s in the farm system and who’s coming up. I don’t pay as close attention to other teams so my opinion is based on brief looks and how they look when the Royals play them. Because of that, I like to see how other teams’ fans see the Royals in relation to what they know about their team. In short, I like to know that they’re scared. I hope fans in Detroit and Cleveland look at the schedule [...]

Christian Colon is a polarizing prospect. Fans and writers tend to agree on the potential of success for players like Wil Myers or Mike Montgomery and usually there isn’t much disparity of opinion about other first round picks like Aaron Crow or Mike Moustakas. There are differences in the degree of success expected, sure, but Colon, 2009′s first round pick and fourth overall, has supporters who think he’ll be a good major leaguer and those who think that he isn’t anything special.   Clipped from: kingsofkauffman.com (share this clip)

The Mind of Bill James How a Complete Outsider Changed Baseball By Scott Gray   OK, I have to admit that I like to read books. Most of the time, the books are not about baseball. However, when I spotted this book, I felt like I needed to broaden my horizons and give Sabermetrics a chance.  

Brett Eibner‘s professional career started out like “A Tale of Two Cities” – the best of times and the worst of times. He homered in his first game for Kane County – his first at bat, no less. In his second game, he dove for a fly ball and broke his thumb. The injury kept him out until June. Once he was able to get back onto the field, Eibner’s numbers resembled those of a Three True Outcomes kind of hitter (think Jack Cust, Adam Dunn or Mark Reynolds). He walked a lot, struck out a lot and showed good power. [...]

There’s been a lot of discussion of the Royals need for starting pitching, and

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus was generous enough to spend an hour with us discussing the Royals farm system, the impact of the new CBA, Jeff Francoeur and the development of prospects and how to judge them. We also covered Mike Montgomery‘s chances of success, why Joakim Soria won’t be a starter, Clint Robinson‘s ominous fate, Cheslor Cuthbert, Yeonis Cespedes, Latin American scouting – basically, we cover a lot in the hour. It’s a different format than usual, as we tried out a new studio and cut out the breaks. What you get is an hour of uninterrupted discussion with [...]