That’s an unfair comparison, of course. Trout and Harper look like generational talents and while Starling has incredible tools and athleticism, he’s lacking in polish and experience. Those were significant questions when he was drafted and they exist still today.

Humberto Arteaga, Elier Hernandez and Bubba Starling wait for their turn in the cage. Photo: Michelle Meade

But the Royals are looking at a potential solution that they hope will improve Starling’s development and performance. Reports are that Starling is heading back to Kansas City to be reevaluated by an ophthalmologist to determine if he’s a candidate for LASIK surgery.

There are some that may think that this is a desperation move by the Royals to make something happen, but given the context of Starling’s weaknesses, it’s a legitimate and appropriate option to explore. Jason Parks, the prospect guru at Baseball Prospectus, has seen Starling multiple times, and wrote an extensive report on his development with the thesis that Starling lacks some of the automatic pitch recognition abilities that athletes who had played baseball exclusively or more regularly earlier in their careers. Starling, a multi-sport superstar in high school, turned down a football scholarship to Nebraska to sign with the Royals and also played basketball at Gardner-Edgerton High School. Baseball wasn’t his only sport (and some may suspect not his best either).

So given that conclusion, LASIK surgery could help Starling immensely. J.J. Picollo mentioned that Starling has had trouble seeing the ball well at night and Parks has observed him having trouble against right-handed pitchers in recognizing pitches.

This isn’t the first time the Royals have gone down this road. In 2009, Eric Hosmer had LASIK surgery while recovering from a finger injury. According to a Dick Kaegel article, he’d already tried glasses and the adjustment wasn’t smooth. In August, he was hurt, so he had the procedure done, came back for two games in September and hit the Arizona Fall League. He had hit .241/.334/.361 in the 2009 season across both A ball levels. In 2010, after the surgery, he hit .354/.429/.545 and had 42 extra base hits in 87 Carolina League games. Do you credit a healthy hand, LASIK or both?

I think it certainly helped, and I think the procedure will help Starling. But there’s no guarantee. There are studies to suggest that in younger patients, due to continuing growth of the cornea, the procedure’s benefits can regress within just a couple of years. One such involved a high school junior who had LASIK surgery but her age required undercorrection and she needed a second procedure after trouble reading at the end of college. Many ophthalmologists want to wait for a patient to be 21 years old and/or with stable eye refraction. Bubba Starling turns 21 in August. Hosmer’s procedure two months before he’d turn 20.

With that in mind, I think it’s reasonable to say that Starling will see some improvement, but it’s possible that he’ll need a second procedure down the line (and perhaps Hosmer is due for one as well, given that he’s struggled for a while now and is a handful of years removed from his surgery). It’s a safe procedure and has a quick recovery time, so there isn’t the threat of missing much time if Starling goes through with the surgery.

And he’s got a good shot of coming back better than ever.

May 15, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson (1) walks off the field after he was injured trying to catch Los Angeles Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo (not pictured) homer in the eighth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals haven’t provided an official update on Dyson’s condition, and with an off day between series, there were no pregame media sessions to talk with Ned Yost. The clues point towards a Dyson DL stint, though.*

First, Dyson’s best asset is his speed. If his ankle is hurt, he can’t utilize that weapon and it limits his ability to contribute. It makes sense to sit him for two weeks and let him fully recover, then come back at full strength than to try to manage the injury and either aggravate it, get subpar results or have him overcompensate and hurt something else.

Second, David Lough wasn’t in the lineup in tonight’s Triple A matchup between Omaha and Las Vegas. Then Minda Haas noted that he wasn’t even in the dugout and Lee Warren heard from Storm Chasers manager Mike Jirschele that Lough was out for a “potential call up“. Bob Dutton all but confirmed all of this later on Twitter.

Dyson was starting to take playing time from Jeff Francoeur and taking advantage of it. Ned Yost says they weren’t heading for a platoon between Dyson and Francoeur, but it was sure starting to look that way. Dyson was hitting .268/.286/.561 (!) in 42 plate appearances in 2013 and has matched Francoeur in extra base hits in a third of the at bats. The defense benefits with Dyson in the game, as Lorenzo Cain is a more favorable option than Francoeur in right, with a strong enough arm for the position but significantly better range.

Lough was hitting .340/.393/.477 in 171 plate appearances for Omaha. He spent all of last September up with the big league club, hitting .237/.292/.305 in 20 games. If he does come up (as expected) it’s not certain if the Royals will still split time as they had been, but Kansas City will face Oakland right-hander Jarrod Parker tomorrow. If Lough (a lefty) is in the lineup, that could be a signal that they’ll keep rolling with the not-platoon-that-is-basically-a-platoon.

*UPDATE: The Royals have now officially made the move, according to Bob Dutton.

White had been broadcasting alongside Hall of Famer Denny Mathews since 1973 when he was let go in 1998 and replaced by Ryan Lefebvre, but Royals fans, fifteen years after his last call for the Royals, still remember him fondly.

The thing about following a team, especially over a long stretch of time, is the familiarity you gain from the day to day attention to games. For countless hours, the same voices are invited into your living room, office, garage, or what have you. The players change, sometimes even the stadium, but when you’re lucky, the same voices remain.

For me, I remember summers where my life was wrapped up in summer rec league baseball, mowing lawns, riding bikes and Denny and Fred calling the Royals. There, after the Guys Snacks and Kansas City Life commercials, White would read the lineups, call the action, and tell the story with Mathews. I’ve never met Fred White, but by all accounts he was a great friend and person. His passing feels similar to that of Paul Splittorff two years ago, even though White was farther removed from the booth than Splittorff had been before he left us.

Numerous Royals fans expressed their appreciation for White after the news came out (many others popped up in a Facebook thread as well), and many of us share the same sentiments and memories:

Fred, The world is a better place because you were in it.

— Steve Physioc (@StevePhysioc) May 15, 2013

Rest In Peace Fred White. Your voice will always remain in my mind, as a part of endless joyful, youthful, summer memories. — Nate Bukaty (@nate_bukaty) May 15, 2013

In the background of some of our old Super 8 reels is Denny and Fred calling #Royals games. Literally the soundtrack of my childhood @royals — Daniel Wesley (@DanielSWesley) May 15, 2013

Sad to hear about Fred White. If you grew up in KC, Denny and Fred were pretty much summer.

— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) May 15, 2013

#RIPFredWhite A generation of the #Royals franchise fading. Will be remembered fondly…

— anonymous bosch (@theshortandlong) May 15, 2013

The way Fred White read the starting lineups was beautiful. My favorite thing about him. — Brian McGannon (@BrianMcGannon) May 15, 2013

RIP Fred White, who passed away from melanoma, same as Paul Splittorff did. I regret never getting the opportunity to meet either man. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) May 15, 2013

I loved listening to Fred call #Royals games on the radio. Losing sucks, but it’s made easier by great broadcasters.

— Kevin Agee (@Kevin_Agee) May 15, 2013

A transistor radio, Fred and Denny calling a Royals game, and summer — the perfect baseball storm.

— Lee Warren (@OmahaBaseball) May 15, 2013

This. “@wudaddy45: @chriskamler @royals On many summer nights with a hidden radio under my pillow, Fred and Denny were my baseball lullaby.”

— Chris Kamler (@ChrisKamler) May 15, 2013

September nights… West coast baseball… Pennant races… Fred White was half my bedtime soundtrack. Thank you, Fred. For everything.

— Craig Brown (@royalsauthority) May 15, 2013

You must listen to White’s call after the Royals had won Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. Starting at the 10:28 mark, Denny talks about destiny and White puts the perfect touch on it at the end (hat tip to Lee Warren for finding this and passing it along on Twitter):

The Royals honored White’s memory the same way they did Splittorff’s two years ago – with a half inning of silence.

#Royals dedicate first half-inning to silence to honor Fred White. Pretty cool.

— Greg Hall (@greghall24) May 16, 2013

March 12, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals coach George Brett before a spring training game against the Oakland Athletics at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

I, like many a Royals fan, grew up with George Brett in mind as the quintessential ballplayer.

I remember reading a quote from before his playing days were over about how he envisioned his last at bat as a big leaguer:

I want to hit a routine grounder to second and run all out to first base, then get thrown out by a half step. I want to leave an example to the young guys that that’s how you play the game: ALL OUT.

July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Major League Baseball legend and former Kansas City Royals player George Brett at bat during the 2012 Legends and Celebrity softball game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Say what you want about grit, moxie, the intangibles. They’re overrated and overemphasized when the player isn’t actually that good. They’re offered as a consolation. “Well he can’t hit but look at him get dirty!” George Brett wasn’t that player. He was down the line on the close plays and looking for a spot to turn a double into a triple on the gappers. That’s a hell of an example to a young kid in the midwest and I always felt kind of okay with my last organized baseball at bat being a grounder to second where I ran all the way through. It fit after years of following Brett’s career.

But c’mon. I’m not alone. There are hundreds of kids named Brett in Kansas City who are graduating high school or college today simply because their parents were caught up in Brett-mania in his heyday. I’m pretty sure he really could have outdrawn Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.

May 15th is George Brett’s birthday – his 60th – and for all the scatalogical references, the weird spring training interviews, and the stories of busted clubhouse sinks, he’s the player I would look to when I needed an example of how to play the game.

So I’ve promised some trivia, and below is a table showing what George Brett’s batting average on his birthday every year as a big leaguer as well as what he had hit on the day of the occasion in each season. In many cases, Brett was injured and thus, did not play on his birthday, so in the 20 possible years, he only played in 12 possible birthday games, and one of those days was a double header (though he did go a combined 4-9 that day).

Happy Birthday #5. Lay off the crab legs…

May 13, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Billy Butler (16) slides beneath the tag of Los Angeles Angels catcher Chris Iannetta (17) to score in the fifth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There have been questions all year about the Royals offense. Where is Eric Hosmer‘s power? What does Mike Moustakas have to fix? And recently – surprisingly – what’s wrong with Billy Butler?

On Monday night, at least, the Butler question was answered. Apparently there’s nothing wrong with Butler.

Before Monday’s game, Ned Yost had told Bob Dutton that he had no worries about Butler, the most consistent bat in the Royals lineup over the past few years.

I come to the park each day expecting Billy to get four hits. He might do it tonight. – Ned Yost on Butler’s struggles

Well Yost was wrong. Butler had five hits (and five RBI) as the Royals pounded out 19 hits en route to an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals scored in six different innings and six batters had more than one hit. The team had five doubles overall and 14 singles. More astonishing, they scored 11 runs without the benefit of a walk or a home run and struck out 13 times.

Early, Joe Blanton was using his changeup well to get strikeouts, but nothing else was working for him and he was just as hittable as he’s been all year. That allowed the Royals to get out ahead early and keep piling on. Moustakas and Chris Getz were the only starters to go hitless.

After a 1-6 stretch of games in which the Royals had scored just 23 runs the old anxiety that comes with being a Royals fan was rekindled. Thoughts of collapse were bouncing around the internet, so a big win like this one can hold off some of those fears. Still, it’d be nice to see the Royals have some more consistent home run power and some walks so that they wouldn’t have to bunch together multiple hits to score runs. The lineup put 33 balls in play. Of those, 19 fell for hits for a BABIP of .576. I don’t have to tell you that that isn’t sustainable.

Luis Mendoza threw six innings, shaking off some rough starts, and got six strikeouts with no walks in the process. Luke Hochevar worked the final three innings for his first career save and he looked great doing it for the most part.

A special treat for some tonight was the different tone presented by the Royals official Twitter account, as they handed the controls over to Danny Duffy.

By now, you know that Duffy is an enthusiastic guy, so while he’s rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, why not let him take the time to talk with fans?

Some highlights:

After a Billy Butler double in the first.

LETS RIDE. BILLY BUTLER. FASTEST MAN ALIVE. -@dannyduffy805

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 14, 2013

Duffy tweets to himself.

@royals whats up me?

— Danny Duffy (@DannyDuffy805) May 14, 2013

After a blast of a double by Salvador Perez, Duffy showed his appreciation.

Salvy! Get em NIÑO!! Love you man! Follow my man @salvadorperez15. -@dannyduffy805 #duffytakeover

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 14, 2013

And he had to show some more love for Billy Butler on his big night.

If Billy hits for the cycle i am going to church tonight. -@dannyduffy805 #duffytakeover

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 14, 2013

#BillyButlerForManOfTheYear2013 -@dannyduffy805 #duffytakeover

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 14, 2013

@billybutlerkc i love you.

— Danny Duffy (@DannyDuffy805) May 14, 2013

Don’t we all, Danny. Don’t we all.

As you may have heard, Northwest Arkansas Naturals General Manager Eric Edelstein has taken a job that will land him in Reno, and he’ll be leaving the Royals organization. But before he left, Troy Olsen caught up with him to talk about the move and to learn a bit more about some Double A prospects.

Then we talked about the latest Royals action, including the kneejerk reactions from social media. We tried to make sense of the noise, take a deep breath, and reflect on the long slog of the baseball season.

We wrapped up by picking a player from each full season minor league level to focus on. We discussed David Lough, Yordano Ventura, Kyle Smith, and Miguel Almonte this week, some of the top performers in the Royals system so far.

The Kansas City Baseball Vault is a weekly podcast that covers the Royals, their minor league affiliates and other aspects of baseball in Kansas City.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

So far, James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie and Ervin Santana have anchored the team, with none of the top three starters having any meltdown starts. Guthrie has been undefeated in every start (and has a team-record streak of starts without a loss). Santana has looked like a completely different pitcher from last year and Shields is as advertised.

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Ervin Santana (54) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The bullpen, despite perception, has performed just as well in 2013 than they did in 2012. The times they’ve blown saves, though, have been traumatic enough to make it seem like everyone’s struggling. As a group, relievers have a 3.16 ERA. Last year’s bullpen had a 3.17 ERA. This year’s group has a 3.41 K/BB ratio compared to last year’s 2.36.

Now, the question is how long they can keep it up. Guthrie was the typical innings eater with the Orioles, got rocked as a Rockie and has been brilliant as a Royal. He’s also striking out a higher percentage of batters while walking a lower percentage. He’s stranded an incredible 93% of baserunners – a number that just can’t be sustained.

Santana’s also out-performing his career norms. His ground ball rate, HR/FB rate, walk rate, strikeout rate, and strand rate are all better than his what he’s done to this point. It’s not as drastic as a 93% strand rate, but at 84% it’s still pretty high.

The big three starters’ ERAs are outpacing their FIPs and xFIPs, and all three measurements are better than their career to this point.

That’s not to discredit what they’ve done to this point. Pitchers can go on great runs and Santana has a couple of very good years on his resume. Shields has been a legit Cy Young candidate in the past and, while not a true Ace in the mold of Justin Verlander, he’s not too far at all from that group. The trio having success shouldn’t be surprising. Having this much success is a surprise, though.

On the other hand, the other two parts of the rotation haven’t had much success. I’m somewhat willing to give Luis Mendoza a break since he’s been skipped due to weather, schedules, manhunts, but he has to be better than he has been. He had a stretch of good starts last year, but this year he’s walking batters more often and not striking out enough to compensate for it. Nearly half of the runners he’s let on base have scored, and he’s not getting grounders as frequently.

Similarly, Wade Davis is struggling to reach his career marks. He’s had some good starts but when he’s been bad, he’s been disastrous.

I’ve thrown all of the Royals pitchers’ 2013 stats (through 32 games) into a table and compared them to their career rates. Things I’d look at when guessing at statistical regression (and remember, regression just means going towards the normal rate, which isn’t necessarily worse – Kelvin Herrera’s home run per fly ball rate is an obvious regression situation) are how many runners are left on base (average LOB% are usually around 70%) and how many homers are surrendered per fly ball allowed (usually around 10%). As those numbers turn towards the norm, ERAs should go up as well – but the favorable walk rates and strikeout rates can prevent large swings. Shields and Guthrie, already owning good walk rates, have been a bit worse than their career rates. (Bold numbers show where a pitcher is outperforming his career stat in that area; italics indicate where they’re performing worse statistically. All stats picked up from FanGraphs.)

At some point, Guthrie will lose a start. Shields will get hit. Santana will have a bad day. Davis will throw a gem and Mendoza will show why he won the fifth starter job in the first place. Herrera will hit a stretch of fly balls that don’t leave the yard (for example: four fly balls that stay in will change his HR/FB% to 15% from his gawdy 37.5%). Luke Hochevar and Aaron Crow won’t strand every runner they allow to reach.

But these guys are better than last year and they’re showing it, even if the stats in the end might not be quite as great as they are now. If the offense picks up at the same time as some of those statistical regressions, the net change may not even be that noticeable and the Royals may not have to rely as much on high strand rates.

So far, so good.

May 9, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas (8) is congratulated by third base coach Eddie Rodriguez (14) after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Royals defeated the Orioles 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Thankfully, the Royals finally got a homer from Eric Hosmer, who has been disappointing from a power standpoint. He’s gotten on base, and his batting average is much better than at any point last year, but he’s showing little slugging potential so far. Nearly everything he hits is to the left side and he seems either unable or unwilling to pull the ball. His homer, while impressive, was to the opposite field(not necessarily a bad thing, but given the context, it’s not helping the narrative).

At this stage, it’s not just a bizarre stretch, it’s a tendency. Hosmer has been criticized in the past for trying to pull too much, and, like Alex Gordon in his early years, would swing over the ball, top it over to second, and ground out.

Mike Moustakas, though, has shown signs of waking up from his early season slump. The Royals said they’d found a problem in his swing and since the adjustment, he’s hit three homers and looked much better at the plate.

Other notes:

-The Royals traded third baseman Brandon Wood to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations. Wood had a .264/.304/.396 line in 54 plate appearances for Omaha. Wood was basically a lottery ticket, but it’s possible the Royals might try Johnny Giavotella at third base more now. He’s seen some work at the spot this season, according to Lee Warren.

-Sam Mellinger produced a fine column about the virtue of patience with prospects, citing Alex Gordon as an example. I like the idea, though, let’s face it, we don’t want to wait a couple more years for Hosmer and Moustakas to figure it out before they become stars. For what it’s worth, Gordon homered in all three games in Baltimore and now leads the team in homers with six.

-I do, however, take umbrage with Jeffrey Flanagan’s column on Fox Sports Kansas City’s website. He discussed reactions to James Shields‘s start as a Royal. His thesis is that the world was split into two camps: those who were entirely anti-Shields after the trade, and well, everyone else.

Flanagan cites Shields’s solid start in 2013 and suggests that everyone who railed against the trade in December is now flipping over to praise it. I think that eliminates all subtlety to the issue. Flanagan dismisses Wil Myers as a top prospect – not on the Royals but in all of baseball – and suggests more struggles than were truly present (Myers had a rough 2011 due to a fluke injury and resultant infection in his knee but finished strong and was the 2012 Prospect of the Year. If that’s struggling, sign me up.)

But the main problem I have is that he completely ignores that, while fans, bloggers, and analysts can like James Shields as a pitcher, liking Shields doesn’t have to also be an acceptance of the way he was acquired. In three years, if the Royals are looking to fill a hole in right field and James Shields is a free agent signee elsewhere, the Royals had better have made the playoffs at least once – if not twice – to truly justify the trade.

Bottom line, Flanagan implies that every fan that didn’t like the trade also didn’t like James Shields, which just isn’t the case. You can like James Shields and not like the way the Royals had to go about acquiring him. Here’s what I wrote shortly after the deal last December:

I still think the Royals paid full retail and left a tip in their acquisition of Shields. I like the return. I don’t like the price. But Shields is good – and I’ve always been a fan – and he instantly changes the Royals rotation from a bunch of schlubs last year to a true rotation that can make some noise.

-Jim Callis of Baseball America has put out his first mock draft in preparation of the 2013 draft next month. His projection for the Royals? Right-handed pitcher Ryne Stanek from Arkansas, a Kansas City product who was on the Royals radar out of high school a couple of years ago.

Consider that this time last year, the Royals had already placed these players on the disabled list:

• 3/20/12: Salvador Perez (torn meniscus)
• 4/4/12: Felipe Paulino (sore right elbow)
• 4/4/12: Joakim Soria (Tommy John surgery)
• 4/4/12: Blake Wood (ulnar nerve irritation that ended up as Tommy John surgery)
• 4/12/12: Lorenzo Cain (strained groin that developed into hip flexor)
• 4/21/12: Greg Holland (rib stress reaction)
• 5/3/12: Yuniesky Betancourt (right ankle sprain)
• 5/9/12: Jonathan Sanchez (biceps tendinitis)

April 14, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (13) gets set behind home plate with umpire Marvin Hudson (51) against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

There goes your starting catcher, #4 starter, All-Star closer, average reliever, starting center fielder, setup man, “utility player”, and “#2 starter” all before the season was much more than a month old. Danny Duffy, Chris Getz and Everett Teaford would join that group on the DL before the end of May.

This year, the Royals disabled list consists of Duffy (who was shut down after a May 13 start) and Paulino (who hurt his groin in June, rehabbed, then found a torn UCL). That’s it.

The Royals have made one callup this year, twice bringing up Will Smith, and only bringing him up because of a day/night double header allowing the move. No demotions, no disabled list stints. The same 25 men from day one.

That allows the Royals to keep a regular pitching rotation (when the weather doesn’t intervene) and to keep the bullpen lined up in the roles they prefer. It allows them to get their regulars at bats and means they aren’t stuck playing someone out of position or hoping someone fills in adequately. Then, when the Royals need to shake up the lineup for a night, they have the full arsenal of players at their disposal. They can be flexible with all of the weapons they expected at the start of the year right there waiting to be called upon.

Over the course of the year, that will help a team put their best team out there every night without having to scrape something together. Just think of the rotation last year. Kansas City used 13 different starters over the course of the season. They used 46 total players. In 2011, they used 42 players, but most of those moves involved promoting prospects and sending down (or waiving) players who’d opened the year on the roster. Bruce Chen hit the DL, as did Matt Treanor and otherwise, there were no other significant injuries.

So far, so good for this year’s team as well.

Kevin Appier‘s final line on that night: 9 innings, one hit, one run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. And because the Royals couldn’t score, he took the loss.

That may be the most painful example of a great start – an excellent start – wiped out by no run support. Might be. Except nearly a year before, on July 23, 1992, Appier threw 10 innings of shutout ball, allowed just three baserunners and got to watch as Cleveland won a 1-0 game in 14 innings.

Appier has two starts in his career where he achieved a game score higher than 90, but the Royals never scored a run and eventually lost. That’s brutal.

But what about a full season like that?

The Royals made headlines before the 1993 season when they signed Kansas City product David Cone to a three year deal to come home. It was Ewing Kauffman’s last big move before his death that August. With Appier already in the fold, it looked like a strong 1-2 punch. And it was. Appier won the ERA title (and should have won the Cy Young Award, in my entirely biased opinion) while Cone a 3.33 ERA. Both pitchers combined for 492.2 innings pitched.

Cone finished the year with 14 losses. He spent all year getting hardly any run support at all. The Royals scored five or more runs nine times when Cone was starting and never scored more than seven in a game. Cone enjoyed 3.6 runs scored 2.9 runs per 27 outs in Cone starts, and 2.6 runs per 27 outs when Cone was actually on the mound. Basically, if Cone slipped up and threw even a quality start (three earned runs in six or more innings), he could still run a good chance of being the losing pitcher. That’s a slim margin of error.

May 6, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) delivers a pitch in the fourth inning of the game against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Enter James Shields. His two starts against the Chicago White Sox have him feeling sympathy with Appier and Cone. Shields threw six innings in his opening day start in Chicago, giving up one run, but the Royals mustered none of their own and Shields drew the loss. On Monday, Shields carried a no-hitter deep into the game, but even after losing his shot at history, he had still thrown eight innings of shut out ball. The result, as we know, could become infamous depending on how the rest of the season unfolds.

Shields didn’t come back out for the ninth inning after his dominant start. Ned Yost turned it over to Greg Holland, who fell behind, gave up hits, and, despite Chicago’s best efforts to bail him out, gave up the tying run. Kelvin Herrera gave up a homer in the tenth inning. The Royals lost. Howls of outrage. Gnashing of teeth.

In his seven starts, the Royals are 3-4. In those four losses, he’s given up a combined five runs. In one of those starts, at home against the Toronto Blue Jays, he still went the distance and really made just two mistakes. The Royals have scored a combined six runs in those losses and a combined 22 runs while he’s been on the mound.

Shields is doing his part. If the Royals are able to get a timely hit in the opener, maybe get a second run on Monday, he (and the Royals) could have two more wins.

But alas, sometimes that’s baseball. Shields is the ace of this staff, and he’s been running into his counterpart on nearly every team he’s faced.

*at the start of Tuesday, May 7

With the exception of Cobb (who’s pitched well), Shields has faced either the #1 or #2 starter on the opposing teams. And these aren’t #1′s in name only. These are perennial Cy Young candidates and/or winners. With the exception of the Royals explosion against Hamels, the Royals haven’t done much against the tough competition. But again, Shields has done his part, outdueling his counterpart (at least by the game score) in every game but opening day.

After a game like Monday, when Shields was probably (we don’t know but it’s a safe bet) going to close out the shutout, you could understand how he might be frustrated, even if he’d never say so publicly.

There’s only so much Shields can do. He’ll continue to pitch deep into games, get key outs, and perform like the best pitcher the Royals have seen since Zack Greinke in 2009. But it won’t mean much if the Royals can’t get him some support. For what it’s worth, in 1994, David Cone went 16-5 and the Royals gave him better than five runs a game of support. Cone won the Cy Young Award. If the Royals can score for Shields, he’ll be in that discussion this year.

July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; World pitcher Yordano Ventura throws a pitch during the first inning of the 2012 All Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Obviously, at this point we all know Ventura, the short, wiry fireballer who landed in the Royals top five prospects this offseason. He’s been making a steady ascent through the Royals minor leagues starting with a successful 2010 where he struck out more than a quarter of the batters he faced in Rookie ball as a 19-year-old, then a thoroughly dominant turn at Wilmington to start last year that landed him in Double A by season’s end.

He had an impressive spring training where he struck out seven batters in 11.2 innings, walking just two, and the Royals sang his praises throughout. That success has carried over into 2013′s Double A season where he’s racked up 29.1 innings for Northwest Arkansas with 43 strikeouts (13.2 K/9). Even better, he’s only walked 11 batters. He’s given up one homer in a power-friendly Texas League.

Coming into the season, there were questions about if he could be a starter or if he’d be relegated to the bullpen. The Royals want to keep him lined up as a starter until he shows that he can’t cut it there, which is a good approach. Ventura’s biggest weapon is his fastball, which he can dial up to triple digits deep into games – Baseball Prospectus named it the best fastball in the minors before the season started. He gets tremendous arm speed with his delivery despite his small stature. He’s put on some weight so the 5’11″ 140 pounds he was listed at in 2010 isn’t quite so alarming. He’s not the prototypical starter, but many scouts and analysts are starting to believe he could handle the workload.

His curveball is developing into a huge pitch for him as well. The fastball/curveball combination would be lethal if he were to end up in the back end of a bullpen, but he’s making strides towards average in a recent start, according to a Jason Parks scouting report.

If both secondary pitches develop, he could have a brutal curveball as another out pitch along with a good enough changeup to prevent anyone from sitting on his two primary offerings. To me, a starter really has to have at least three regular pitches, to get through lineups and as an alternative if his best stuff isn’t there with a key pitch.

He will have to prove that he can handle the workload. His career high in innings was last year when he reached 109.1. Obviously, he’ll need to increase that at some point if he were to be taken seriously as a starting candidate. And then he’ll have to continue to maintain a heavy workload to where he’ll be able to make 30 starts on a big league roster. His stuff is so electric that it’s tempting to let him settle into a bullpen role, but if he can still get the same dominance from his pitches with more work, 180 innings is more valuable than 70.

So far, he hasn’t been pushed too hard in the early days of the season. Monday’s start was the highest pitch count he’d reached in 2013 when he hit 98 pitches. To an extent he may always have higher pitch counts. Strikeout pitchers tend to use up more pitches because they’re trying to miss bats and their stuff is good enough to miss bats. But he’ll also give up less fluke hits that happen to find a whole since less balls will end up in play. It’s rare for a batter to score on a strikeout, but they can score after reaching from a seeing eye single on a perfect pitch they happened to get in the right spot.

That being said, Ventura’s averaging 17.18 pitches per inning this year, which is still on the high end, but one or two more efficient starts can settle that number down.

Right now, Ventura is overmatching the Texas League. By the end of the month, he could easily be pushing the Royals to give him a look in Omaha to see if his dominance continues. He’s showing right now that he’s ready for the tryout.

This is why I’m not a meteorologist. I was way off.

Guthrie was excellent on Saturday night. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Guthrie cruised all night, working efficiently and relying on a great performance from his defense to record his first career complete game shutout as a big leaguer. Guthrie regularly worked quick innings, and had just 77 pitches through seven innings. He retired the leadoff batter in all nine innings and retired the side in order in six of nine innings, including a stretch of eleven batters in a row after Paul Konerko‘s fourth inning two-out double.

The Royals scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a Lorenzo Cain triple that scored Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer and those two runs were the only scored in the game. Just enough for Guthrie.

Again, he relied on his defense. He struck out just three batters, so the ball was in play all night. Mike Moustakas made a nice barehand play on a Tyler Flowers grounder, then Alcides Escobar made a barehand play of his own to retire Dewayne Wise. Moose later made a nice play in foul territory, running over to the Chicago dugout, leaning over the railing and catching a popup by Wise in the eighth.

Nobody hit the ball hard against Guthrie, but he did run into some trouble in the eighth. Flowers hit a one out single to right before the Wise popout, which was followed by an Alejandro de Aza single in an eight pitch at bat. Ned Yost had Tim Collins and Kelvin Herrera warming up in the bullpen, walked to the mound and had about a two second conversation with Guthrie before returning to the dugout. Guthrie got Jeff Keppinger on a groundout and finished the inning.

He returned in the ninth to an ovation from the Kauffman Stadium crowd and worked a perfect inning, pointing to Salvador Perez immediately after, then getting a Gatorade bath from Moustakas and George Kottaras.

Guthrie has worked 44.2 innings in his last six starts against the White Sox, allowing just two earned runs. That’s a 0.40 ERA. You’ll remember that Guthrie was 6.2 innings into a no-hitter against the White Sox last year in August before a controversial infield hit by Konerko broke it up (and was overruled as an error later, but not before Dayan Viciedo had singled in the eighth). Guthrie has now made 17 starts with the Royals without taking a loss, which is a club record. He had matched Paul Splittorff‘s team record in his last start.

The trio of James Shields, Ervin Santana and Guthrie have worked 119.1 innings now and have a cumulative ERA of 2.48. The Royals are a combined 12-5 when they’ve started this year.

Personally, I’d have suggested Omaha Storm Troopers, but that may have been too obvious (or there may have been licensing issues). Maybe they just wanted to be the good guys.

Saturday the #StormChasers will become the @omahaforce. @autismactionaap @starwars #StarWars #MayTheFourthBeWithYou twitter.com/OMAStormChaser…

— Omaha Storm Chasers (@OMAStormChasers) May 1, 2013

Other Notes:

-Danny Duffy is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and is reportedly working around 94-97 mph with his fastball in workouts, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.

Why are teams legit scared of 15-10 KC? Danny Duffy, almost a year removed from Tommy John, is sitting 94-97. Could join rotation late June.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 4, 2013

April 22, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy (23) delivers a pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fourth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Duffy mentioned on Twitter that he’s throwing three innings on Monday so things seem to be on track. If he comes back in June, he presents the Royals with options. My guess is that he’ll start out in the minors beyond a rehab assignment just to be sure that he’s got everything back. If the Royals rotation is healthy and pitching well, I don’t think they’d change much up, but the door would be open for trades.

Right now Wade Davis is struggling and Luis Mendoza (when he can get a start) has been roughed up, so we can’t just assume everything will be going well. Duffy would make for a nice boost once he rejoins the rotation, though.

Duffy’s also reaching out on Twitter to an overseas fan. You may have heard of SungWoo Lee. He goes by the handle @KoreanFan_KC on Twitter, lives in South Korea, and often is up early in the morning to watch Royals games. He doesn’t have an American visa, has never been to the states but dozens of Twitter followers have started to root for him to make it to Kauffman Stadium. They’ve sent care packages so that he could have his first Royals jersey (among other things).

Good Morning! My happy Vallentine day gift from Kansas City, I’m smiling all day long! Thnx @thefakened @evulm0nkey twitter.com/Koreanfan_KC/s…

— SungWoo Lee(@Koreanfan_KC) February 14, 2013

Well now Duffy is getting in on the action, offering a deal. If SungWoo can get the time off of work (a difficult task in an always-working Korea), Duffy will cover his flight.

@koreanfan_kc just let me know when bro! DM the dates and we’ll get you out here, get some @oklahomajoesbbq in you and get you to The K.

— Danny Duffy (@DannyDuffy805) May 2, 2013

It’s too easy to be cynical sometimes, and I think it’d be easy to point to this and say it’s an athlete trying to look good or show goodwill for the team. But after talking with Duffy a few times for the Kansas City Baseball Vault there’s nothing but sincerity here. I think that’s cool – it makes it one of those sports stories that go beyond what happens on the field. The community of fans is strong and having a vocal player join in makes it easier to be a fan.

-The Cubs were reportedly scouting the Royals farm system. They’ve been working to rebuild their farm system and the Royals have prospects. There could be a match as the Royals try to add a player that might help them at the big league level. The idea has been tossed out about David DeJesus being acquired as a platoon or full-time option if Jeff Francoeur fizzles out.

Rany Jazayerli talked about the idea back in March, then again on Friday and it’s not a wild idea. The Royals may not have to give much up because, at this point, DeJesus is just a platoon option. Since leaving Kansas City, he’s been miserable against left-handed pitching.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to just dive in without a plan and see what happens, and that’s what we did this week. There was plenty to discuss about the Royals and we tried to get everything in from clubhouse leadership to Jeff Francoeur‘s role. We also talked about the offense’s troubles, focusing on Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer. We brought up questions about sending players down to make adjustments, which lead to talking about Johnny Giavotella versus Chris Getz.

Then we covered the minor leagues, checking in on some of the big name players, marveling that Adalberto Mondesi wants to be called Raul (“Doesn’t that make three Raul Mondesis?”) and wondering about Jason Adam‘s struggles in Double A. We also had to confront Bubba Starling‘s early troubles.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

It’s early, but some of those sentiments are changing.

May 1, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain (6), left fielder Alex Gordon (4) and right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) celebrate at the end of the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

With winning comes celebration and for everything the Royals have done well on the field, a few of the intangible elements have creeped into the story. It’s just the nature or sports that a team doesn’t win without some kind of intangible quality, and while I can accept that to an extent, I don’t think it’s enough to significantly sway performance (but it certainly can’t hurt).

This week, the Royals have started to get a little demonstrative. There was Jeff Francoeur‘s greeting of Eddie Rodriguez after a triple in Tuesday’s win. Then there started to be all of this reporting on the hand signals the players do when they reach base. Josh Vernier did some digging:

•  Francoeur and Alex Gordon will share a “you can’t see me” move (mimicking WWE star John Cena).
• Mike Moustakas and James Shields use a “C” to represent California.
• Jarrod Dyson, Lorenzo Cain, and Moustakas make a “wolfpack” sign, as Vernier describes.

Then Billy Butler tried a few things out. He singled on Wednesday, then pointed to his bicep, grinning like a kid in a sandlot.

From Royals.tumblr.com

Later in the same game, he doubled and was motioning on second base as if he was playing air guitar. Apparently, though, as a nod to his Country Breakfast nickname, he was acting as if he was frying bacon, flipping it twice for each base on the hit. Joel Goldberg called it “Air Bacon” on FSKC.

So winning obviously is making the team feel good, and the morale is high. Winning will do that, but James Shields brought along a strong clubhouse presence to Kansas City along with a nasty changeup, and it’s paying dividends (so says the narrative). He’s started a tradition in the clubhouse involving a neon deer. The “King of the Game” gets to turn the light on after every win and everyone celebrates. I’m sure it keeps spirits up and, as Shields says, it allows the team to focus on the win and not someone’s 0-4 day, so there’s no harm in it. That’s not to say that if there was a neon light-up deer in the clubhouse last year that the Royals would have won. It still takes talent.

But they’re winning, so national writers are taking notice. Buster Olney of ESPN acknowledged that judging baseball results after just one month can be pointless, but mentioned that the Royals have played tough teams and won despite struggles from Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.

Jonah Keri discussed Ervin Santana‘s contributions so far in light of the initial reactions to the trade. The slider has been a big weapon early on, but Keri pointed out that Santana has to keep it up and that there are still question marks – but he didn’t go so far as to dismiss the idea of the Royals having something brewing, either.

SI.com’s Jay Jaffe looked at research into hot starts by other teams in baseball over the years and suggest that there’s reason for optimism for the Royals this year. It’s encouraging. Did you know that since 1995 (and the wild card), of the 54 teams to start exactly 15-10, 26 made the playoffs in some form? Jaffe has other nuggets like that in his column.

So it’s easy to see why the clubhouse in treating this season’s start like it’s the feel-good montage of a baseball movie where the underdog succeeds against all odds. They’re trying to be that team this year. Whether they get the happy ending or not remains to be seen, but more people are paying attention the more they win.

May 2, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals grounds crew members remove the tarp from the infield after rain before the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Ervin Santana didn’t strike out seven in four innings and Alex Gordon didn’t have an RBI single to score Elliot Johnson after a non-stolen base. Just forget that you even saw it or heard it happen.

The Royals and Rays tried to get the third game of their series in Kansas City in, but the elements had other ideas, as a freak May snowstorm (preceded by rain) hit the Metro area. But they tried. The Royals took a lead in the bottom of the third and Ervin Santana was getting a lot of swings and misses, but between the top and bottom of the fourth the umpires stopped action and called for the grounds crew to put the tarp on the field.

May 2, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; The Kansas City Royals mascot Sluggerrr holds a snow shovel on the field after the postponement of the game between the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

It was understandable. Conditions were miserable. Denny Mathews called it the worst he’d seen and that if it was outdoor hockey, the game would be canceled. It was cold, wet, and windy. The Royals shut down the upper deck and any fans with tickets up there were invited to the field level. There was standing water on the field and it had an effect on the action. Gordon’s single (or not-single) probably would have been fielded in normal conditions. Ben Zobrist tried to backhand the ball but the ground was so unsteady, he couldn’t get a good effort on it and it slipped through.

The crew put drying agents on the field at one point and it seemed like the Royals would be able to resume action with the idea of getting the game to official status before calling things off, but in the end, the window never opened and they postponed the game.

In most circumstances, I doubt they would have tried to play the game out, but Tampa Bay only makes one trip to Kansas City a year. Now, both teams have to find an off day that they have in common, then would have to get clearance from the MLBPA if the matchup would create more than 20 days in a row of play for either team. The other possibility is to add a game to the Royals trip to Tampa Bay, but that would make a 5/2 split in favor of Tampa home games.

They were stuck going for it – the Rays expressed disappointment about even trying after the postponement, while the Royals were questioning why not just gut it out with only one inning left to go. Of course, Kansas City had a one run lead, so if the score was reversed, perhaps the opinions would be as well. I couldn’t blame the Rays for being upset if the Royals had gotten through five innings, made the game official, and had it called, just as I couldn’t blame the Royals for trying to push through to get the game going.

Instead, though, literally nobody won.

May 2, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) makes the tag on Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Matt Joyce (20) trying to steal second base in the third inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

In the big picture, it’s just one game and perhaps never even gets made up. If it does, though, it’ll put the Royals in a spot where they don’t have a day off for a long stretch. Kind of makes the five scheduled off days in April seem silly, huh?

It hasn’t just been the Royals running into this sort of thing. The Twins have had multiple snow-outs, as have the Rockies. The Rays had a game postponed against the Red Sox last month. That’s why there are more off days in April usually, but five for the Royals seems excessive, especially now that they’re going to have to negotiate a potential makeup date.

The Royals have played four series in a row in which a game was postponed. Starting in Boston, when a manhunt shut the city down, the Royals made up a postponement with a double header, then traveled to Detroit where the opening game of the series was lost to rain. That game hasn’t been made up, but with more trips to Detroit in store, it won’t be as difficult as the Rays game. Then the Royals had to make up a game against the Indians, playing another double header. Then today’s postponement cost another gameday.

Since Opening Day on April 1, the Royals have had games scheduled on 27 of 32 days. They’ve actually played a full, official game on only 23 of them.

Guess what? It doesn’t look very good for tomorrow either. At least that’s a White Sox series which could feasibly be made up relatively easily.

So far this year, though, they haven’t found the stands very often, hitting 15 homers, tied with the Minnesota Twins for last in the American League. Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas have struggled, particularly with extra base hits, Butler has hit three homers, but only hit his third double on Wednesday night so he’s not quite on track power-wise either.

Blame the cold. Blame the off days. Blame nothing. They hit 15 homers.

HitTrackerOnline.com keeps track of velocity off the bat, distance, and height of every home run in the league. It also compares those hits to every stadium and determines if a homer would be a no doubter or a lucky one, and gives a total of how many stadiums would hold the ball in the yard. It’s an interesting site to lose some time on.

Longest Royals homer in April: Alex Gordon’s grand slam off Darin Downs in Detroit. This is 443 feet of goodness.

If you’re curious, that ball was measured at 108.8 mph off the bat.

The shortest homer came off the bat of Alcides Escobar when he took Ryan Dempster over the Green Monster in Fenway Park. It traveled 361 feet.

The most lucky home run, though, was actually Billy Butler’s grand slam off Cole Hamels went 364 feet and left the only stadium it could have (considering the location compared to other stadiums according to HitTrackerOnline).

While lucky (after it was ruled a homer and not a double), that turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead and the Royals would go on to win the game. It was the most valuable homer (in regards to Win Probability Added) of the month for the Royals with .377 WPA. Next closest? The first homer off the bat of Mike Moustakas that gave the Royals a 3-2 lead on Tuesday night (.363 WPA).

Overall, right-handed batters hit nine homers (six off righties, three off lefties) while left-handed batters hit the other six (four off righties, two off lefties).

The most unlikely homer? I give that a tie.

Chris Getz hadn’t hit a homer since July 19, 2009 off Jeremy Guthrie. That streak snapped on April 16 when he pulled a Kris Medlen pitch into the right field seats:

He still hit it 399 feet, though, which is impressive considering he hasn’t really been close to that in the regular season since joining the Royals. The hit itself, though, was a no-doubt homer once it left the bat.

I’d nominate George Kottaras‘s homer in Boston as the least likely. Consider the circumstances. It was his first start of the year, and while he’s shown power before, he’d only had one plate appearance since spring training concluded. Then, when he did make contact, it was only in the air for a couple of seconds before falling over the short fence in right field. The ball reached an apex of 58 feet (the lowest homer of the month).

The Royals have a home run from every position player on the team so far except for Eric Hosmer, Miguel Tejada and Jarrod Dyson (Elliot Johnson homered Wednesday night). They’ve gotten a homer from every spot in the order except the cleanup spot. Go figure.

If the weather is, indeed, going to factor into the Royals ability to hit homers, they should be able to exceed 15 in may and beyond, but the effects of Kauffman Stadium (which suppresses homers) and some struggling hitters may keep Ned Yost from realizing dream of having a lineup loaded with 20-homer guys.

It’s hard to call it a success.

Humberto Arteaga, Elier Hernandez and Bubba Starling wait for their turn in the cage. Photo: Michelle Meade

Starling opened the year by going 2 for his first 26, a stretch that included 11 strikeouts in 28 plate appearances. Both hits were singles and he walked just twice. When you pay a player $7.5 million as a first round selection, you hope for much more than a .077/.143/.077 start to the season.

It confirmed a lot of the opinions about how Starling would have extreme bust potential, but that it was offset by enough upside if things came together. Starling was pitched as the prototypical five-tool player. So far he’s got four of those working fairly well for him.

The problem, though, is that the most important tool hasn’t been working and it’s hampering everything else. Bubba Starling has had trouble simply hitting the ball. If he can’t hit the ball, then it doesn’t matter how much power he has, and he’s not getting on base to utilize his speed. Reports are that his defense and his throwing arm are coming along fine, but he wasn’t signed to be a no-hit all-field center fielder.

After that initial 2-for-26 stretch, Starling has hit better, but he’s still not there. Since April 12, Starling has hit .246/.313/.508. Better, for sure. He has eight extra base hits in that stretch, including four homers.

Even with more power and better contact, he’s still struck out in nearly a third of his plate appearances in this favorable stretch. He’s hit left-handed pitching much better, but in 19 plate appearances he’s struck out six times. He has five hits otherwise against lefties. That gives him a dynamic split: .927 OPS when facing lefties, but just .569 against righties.

Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus has filed a scouting report that discusses Starling’s struggles (it was written during his first seven games, but Starling has had some of the same contact issues at every stage from instructional days to now) in light of his athletic prowess. Parks’s theory is that Starling, as a multi-sport athlete, isn’t recognizing pitches as well as other players his age or younger who focused more on baseball growing up. The slight delay in picking up a pitch is enough to keep him from making good contact (if he makes it at all). Now, when he connects, it can go a long way, but he’s not connecting enough to realize his potential.

It’s still possible that Starling could turn it around. He’s still young and the Royals knew he’d be more of a slow development project when they drafted him. But Parks makes the comparison to young children learning language compared to older people. Young people are able to absorb things differently since connections are still forming and the brain adapts. He referenced Rany Jazayerli’s study on draft age and future performance. Players who were of a younger draft age seem to provide greater return.

Starling was nearly 19 when the Royals drafted him. He’s still going to be a project. He’s hit better as the month has gone on, so perhaps that bodes well for the rest of the year and it’s far too soon to call him a bust. Realistically, though, we can’t quite pencil him into the Royals 2015 lineup just yet.

That’s the idea behind a project cooked up by a group of Royals fans, organized by Brett Parker. If you tour the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, you’ll read (and if you’re lucky, hear) stories about how fans would go straight from church on Sundays to the baseball park, dressed in their Sunday best. It was a time when men wore suits and hats, when women wore dresses, and America turned out to baseball games as if they were events.

Dressed to the Nines. Courtesy of Brett Parker

On Sunday, May 5, the Royals will face the Chicago White Sox at 1 p.m. and a group of fans have dubbed it “Dress to the Nines” day at the K. They’ve gotten Bob Kendrick of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on board, they’ve gotten Royals Hall of Famer Willie Wilson to celebrate the idea.

We can’t recreate everything about the era, but with the release of “42″ in theaters, CGI has recreated Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, and Shibe Park. Fantastic casting of Chadwick Boseman (who looks quite like Jackie Robinson) sells the period even better. It’s clear that the old-time baseball of yesteryear is still of interest to fans all around.

Baseball is surrounded by larger than life personalities. Babe Ruth’s name is spoken with haunting reverence. Ted Williams is ordained as a god of hitting. Name after name – even those none of us have ever seen play in person – is brought up with such a sense of longing, of nostalgia, that the mystique washes over us.

Think of the movie Field of Dreams. While the movie may have had a similar effect if it had been about an Iowa farmer who tears up his crops to build a baseball field that then introduces Joe Schmo – unknown to us in the audience, but presented as a great in the film – the real power comes from its ability to inject the names of days gone by into the conversation. Shoeless Joe Jackson. Mel Ott. Gil Hodges. Names we recall. Names we recognize. Baseball is rooted, perhaps moreso than any major sport, in an appreciation for the greats who have come before the current stars.

Fans at the Polo Grounds in suits and hats. (via Wikimedia Commons)

So it’s only natural for fans to look back to bygone eras and wonder what it might have been like to witness a game. What would it feel like to be in the stands to watch Stan Musial face off against Sandy Koufax? Nevermind the battle on the field – what would the stands feel like? How would the game progress differently? For a few hours, at least, you could take in the sights and sounds of a game in style. A nod to the past.

Men in suits & hats; ladies in their dresses & hats to see the @royals vs White Sox on “Dressed to the Nines” Day at The K on 5/5!

— negroleaguesmuseum (@nlbmprez) April 29, 2013

Royals fans haven’t had a lot to cheer on the field over the years, but when given the opportunity to get behind a fun and interesting idea, they usually rise up. Royals fans are the group that launced Billy Butler’s “Country Breakfast” nickname into the national scene. We were so raucous in backing up our lone All-Star in own ballpark that it inspired multiple national columnists to try to scold us for the gall of booing Robinson Cano. We got Alex Gordon close to an All-Star selection in 2011 through the Final Vote. We can recognize a good idea and latch onto it.

And this is a good idea. It’s not established by the Royals. It’s not put forth by a radio station. It’s put out there by fans who want to put a unique twist on their attendance of the game and tip a cap towards an older era.

For more information, including organization of a group photo and any specific ticket sections, check out the event’s Facebook page.

UPDATE: Fox 4 Kansas City has picked up the idea and had Bob Kendrick on to speak briefly about it.

UPDATE of the UPDATE: Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star wrote a column about Parker’s idea.

Another UPDATE: Parker was on the Ballgame on ESPN 1510 discussing the event. Dane Iorg and some George Brett were also on the show later so it’s maybe worth a listen.

September 14, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals third basemen Mike Moustakas (8) celebrates with teammate Jeff Francoeur (21) after hitting a solo home run against the Los Angeles Angels during the second inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals gave him the day off in the first game of the series against Cleveland, sitting him against lefty Scott Kazmir. Prior to that, Moustakas had doubled and walked in his last two plate appearances in the Royals extra innings win in Detroit. He pinch hit against the Indians on Saturday, grounding out.

He entered Sunday’s double header with a .152/.222/.197 line. Awful for sure.

But he has shown some signs of getting back on track, even if slowly. In Game 1, he walked three times and singled. Two of his walks started two out rallies and the third came with the bases loaded. In Game 2, he went 1-4 with a hard-hit double to left field. That put him on base in five of eight plate appearances and added two hits to his totals.

He leaves Sunday with a .169/.263/.225 line. Still not good, but compared to where he started the day, a lot of improvement. More than just bumping his numbers up, he looked more comfortable at the plate and drove the ball better on his double. The Royals said it may be a couple of days before the adjustments he’d been making started to bear fruit and maybe – maybe – this is the first step towards getting right.

Moustakas is certainly not out of the danger zone yet. He had an error in the nightcap of the double header that could have been a double header but should have been at least a force out. If he turns the double play, the inning is over. Instead, the Indians scored two runs in the first. There’s always the concern that a player takes offensive struggles to the field with them and maybe he’s pressing in the field. On Wednesday he had another big error that led to four runs against the Tigers.

So it’s little by little, step by step. Moustakas gained a bit of statistical traction on Sunday, but it stands out as a bigger day because the Royals are only 22 games into the season and any big day makes up a bigger percentage of the season’s numbers. Got to love the small sample size fluctuations. More doubles, more home runs will start to put minds at ease. There are positives to be found in a day like Sunday, though. Moustakas wasn’t flailing, trying to make something happen (and, in fact, has the second most walks on the team behind Billy Butler).

Maybe it’s just grasping for straws and Moustakas has to end up in Omaha no matter what, but if that turns out to be the case, seeing him get above the Mendoza line before it happens would be a bit more comforting.

Apr 28, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie (11) delivers a pitch against the Cleveland Indians during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Often, in evaluating players, scouts and analysts will throw out comparisons to other players to simplify their report. Wil Myers was drafted as a catcher but, being lanky and an advanced hitter, many compared him to Dale Murphy, an easily recognized name who went from catcher to the outfield. Comps are usually used for prospect evaluation and, while no two players are alike, they provide a quick snapshot of what kind of a player someone might turn out to be.

But these comparisons aren’t seen often beyond the minor league level. A player hits the big leagues and they become their own player and other players become compared to them. Beyond the Box Score has come up with an interesting project recently, though, that examines a combination of Pitch F/X data to compare current pitchers to each other.

There’s a lot of math that is beyond my comprehension, but basically, Stephen Loftus has done the heavy lifting by analyzing pitch type, velocity, movement, location and release point to come up with correlations. There are obvious outliers – R.A. Dickey isn’t similar to anybody, for instance – but it’s an interesting idea. I went through to find who the strongest comps (correlation of .800 or better) were for the Royals pitching staff. Here’s what turned up:

James Shields

Drabek has a career WHIP of 1.671 and has already had two Tommy John surgeries.

Ervin Santana

Nicasio is a high risk, high upside guy for the Rockies. The Guthrie similarity is interesting but not surprising (more on that in a moment) and Bud Norris was a popular trade target for many teams.

Jeremy Guthrie

Jeremy Guthrie, it turns out, compares to a great number of pitchers. Some are big time names. Cy Young candidates like Justin Verlander (hence the title of this column), Zack Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann, CC Sabathia and others. Given the way that Loftuss approached his study, it tends towards the prototypical pitcher. Dickey is far from anyone comparatively, because nobody else throws a knuckleball, nor would most throw it as hard as Dickey if they did. Similarly, Joe Smith of the Indians is a sidearm/submariner, so his unique release point would skew results.

Guthrie is a typical pitcher, though, and since he throws hard, has a typical assortment of pitches, and mixes locations, he gets very similar scores to the rest of the group. My favorite comp here? Jason Hammel, who was traded for Guthrie prior to the 2012 season, gets the top correlation.

Wade Davis

These comparisons come from 2012 data, so finding to late-inning relievers as comps for Davis isn’t too surprising since Davis spent the whole season in Tampa’s bullpen.

Luis Mendoza

Luke Hochevar

That’s a nice list of names. That backs up the feeling of many that Hochevar has strong stuff, but it never comes together.

Bruce Chen

Wolf is a soft-tossing lefty. I included Dickey because Chen has the highest similarity score of anyone on the team, mostly because his velocity will be most similar to Dickey’s.

Last year’s relief pitchers are a bit more difficult to correlate. Part of that is probably sample size as well as the idea that they’ll use their top two or three pitches, but won’t have to dip into their fourth or fifth pitch often if at all, so they’ll have less to connect with other pitchers.

I included Halladay in Holland’s similarity scores because it’s the least similar (by these measurements) score of any Royals pitcher to another.

Obviously, since the data is just based on Pitch F/X, the actual performance of the pitcher in question isn’t accounted for, so that allows for Luke Hochevar to be compared to Zack Greinke, but it’s an illustration of how approach and an arsenal of pitches can be similar, but other factors come in to play. There’s no distinction between high leverage or low leverage situations. They don’t factor in pitch sequencing or the batters faced. There are also intangibles in play. Justin Verlander may reach back and go for the 99 mph fastball in a count with a batter while Jeremy Guthrie may go with an entirely different pitch (mostly because he doesn’t hit 99, but he can touch 96) or location in the exact same situation.

So it’s tempting to make these similarities more than they are. It’s an idea that might be incorporated down the line for other rookies or minor leaguers though. It’s one thing to see it on the field, but to also apply the data could make those “This guy is the next Verlander” comparisons even stronger. Does it mean the Royals have Verlander-light in Guthrie? Of course not. But it’s an interesting application of data and mathematics to player analysis.

But let us pause and remember those Royals who left the organization over the winter with a little “Where are they now?” examination.

The Trade

Myers at the plate. (Photo: Minda Haas)

One of the biggest moves of the MLB offseason was the Royals trade of Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Patrick Leonard for James Shields, Wade Davis and (eventually) Elliot Johnson. It’s natural to look wistfully at Durham to see how the Royals prospects are faring.

Wil Myers

I’m sure there’s a little part of every Royals fan who was hoping that Myers would flop outside of the Royals organization. Just a little. So far, however, that’s not the case. The Rays are playing service time games and stashing him in Triple A, where Myers is, understandably, raking.

He’ll probably make it to the big leagues in June.

Of course he wasn’t the only part of the trade. The Royals also sent Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery (as well as Patrick Leonard) to Tampa.

Mike Montgomery

Montgomery gave up four runs in three innings during spring training and, so far, hasn’t been able to tap back into the talent that made him a top pitching prospect as recently as 2011. He was placed on the seven day disabled list on April 21 after making just one start for Durham.

Jake Odorizzi

Odorizzi is still able to strike batters out, but he’s still averaging less than six innings a start due to more pitch count questions. He’s striking out 12.3 batters per nine innings so far, which bodes well for some success. If he becomes a bit more efficient he’ll be leaning more towards the #2/#3 starter ceiling rather than his #4 safe zone.

Patrick Leonard

Things haven’t gone as well for Leonard since the trade. He showed good power and on base ability with the Burlington Royals in the Appalachian League last year, but in Low A Bowling Green, he’s striking out a quarter of the time but with no power to show for it. He’s still just 20 years old and there’s time to grow, so if I’m a Tampa fan, I’m not worried, but from a Royals fan perspective, I’m not sweating losing his bat.

April 25, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) hits a single in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

There was a lot of concern about how the Royals would handle a tough road trip. So they went out and won four out of seven games. Take away one misplaced Kelvin Herrera pitch to Daniel Nava and a 5-2 trip could have been the result. They ended a 10 game winning streak when they beat Atlanta in the second game of the series and ended Boston’s seven game winning streak by sweeping the Sunday double header.

They’re playing well and a homestand with a four game series against Cleveland is a good chance to pad their lead in the AL Central.

The big win before leaving Detroit on Thursday washed the bad taste out of their mouths after a miserable first game of the series and there’s a chance at building some momentum.

Other thoughts:

-Billy Butler is starting to heat up. I don’t think there was much concern about him, but with Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas already scuffling, Butler starting out cold wasn’t helping the offense at all. He’s currently working on a four game hitting streak and reached base all four times on Thursday. He’s walking a ton, so despite a .256 average right now, he’s still second on the team in on base percentage and third in OPS. He’ll be fine.

-Moustakas had a key walk in the tenth inning on Thursday after doubling down the line earlier in the game. He’s still having a tough start to the year and has just 4 hits in his last 37 at bats. His infield popups are out of control – he’s hit eight infield popups already this year and hasn’t seen many line drives. His Wednesday performance was awful, as his error in the fourth inning led to four runs scoring while he left six runners on base.

Generally, I think the “Send him down!” camp can be reactionary when it comes to early struggles, but in this case, he’s having problems with his swing and it’s getting to him in the field. Frustration is understandable, but when it starts to interfere in the field, the problems just compound. There’s a point where he needs the mental break as well as a chance to rebuild his swing and he’s very close to it.

The Royals aren’t likely to send him to Omaha yet, but if he struggles on the homestand, he could end up being optioned so he can focus on getting things right as well as rebuilding some confidence. The team says they’ve found the problem, but also hinted that they’re giving him more games before they start making harder decisions. Miguel Tejada and Elliot Johnson would probably fill in for him if he was sent down, and while neither are attractive as full time options, Moustakas isn’t hitting, so it’s not like they’d be any worse over a month.

-I hesitate to say it, because I don’t want to jinx it, but I think that Eric Hosmer may be finding his way out of the woods. Hosmer, like Butler, is working on a four game hitting streak in which he’s gotten seven hits in 15 at bats while also working two walks. Even better? He drilled a double on Wednesday night and then had another in his first at bat against Justin Verlander on Thursday. He’s seeing a lot of pitches and he’s chasing a lot less than over the last two years, so if he starts to get some power going, there may be a collective sigh of relief in the Kansas City area.

I was surprised, given the early struggles, that Hosmer was third on the team in on base percentage with a solid .377 mark (nine points better than Alex Gordon, even). Last April he had 16 hits in 85 at bats. This April, he has 15 in 52. Oh, and he’s also in line to be eligible for Super Two status this offseason, which earns him a fourth year of salary arbitration.

April 25, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) congratulated by teammates after hitting a grand slam home run in the tenth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals are in first place after a tough road trip filled with off days, postponements, and difficult opponents. And they came out of it 4-3 and stay in first place.

While Thursday afternoon’s game was decided by a bases loaded walk by George Kottaras, the punctuation mark on the win was delivered by Alex Gordon:

After Lorenzo Cain doubled, Mike Moustakas walked. A wild pitch to Jeff Francoeur sent both up one base and, to get a force out, the Tigers had Phil Coke intentionally walk Francoeur. Kottaras worked a five pitch walk to bring in the lead run, then Darin Downs took over for Coke. Chris Getz reached on a fielder’s choice that retired Moustakas at the plate and Gordon came up with two outs.

And destroyed a 2-0 fastball.

The Internet lit up (or at least, the Royals fan side of the Internet did):

I’m not sure how far Alex Gordon just hit the first grand slam of his career. But I feel sorry for the baseball.

— robneyer (@robneyer) April 25, 2013

ALLLLEEXXXAANNNDDSEEERRRRRTTHHWEESGFREWATTTESSTTTTJNNKKaAHHHHHHHHGHHHGGGGGHHH — Danny Duffy (@DannyDuffy805) April 25, 2013

Gordon’s slam has to be one of the longest home runs hit this season. That was amazing. #Royals — Kevin Agee (@Kevin_Agee) April 25, 2013

In fact, Alex Gordon ended up being a trending topic on Twitter:

Alex Gordon and #Royals at the top of the trends. Love to see that. twitter.com/matt_yogi_haye…

— Matt Hayes (@matt_yogi_hayes) April 25, 2013

Just as impressive as hitting a home run was the context in which he did it. Comerica Park is a big stadium, especially out to center. Downs was brought in because he was a lefty and Jim Leyland wanted to get the platoon advantage.

Some advantage.

I mean … off a lefty … in extras … dead center … in THAT park? Jeez.

— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) April 25, 2013

Got busy at work. Just watched Alex Gordon hit a grand slam off a lefty to dead center at Comerica in the rain. Nice!#Royals #A1 — Doug Howard (@IowaRoyal) April 25, 2013

R. Lefebvre: “Been watching games here in this park for 14 years. I’ve NEVER seen anyone hit a home run to dead center into 3rd row!” #Gordo — Greg Hall (@greghall24) April 25, 2013

Immediately after, the thought turned to Gordon’s place on the team and a reminder of his story. Like Jeff Herr, I recall questioning Gordon’s role on the Royals back in 2010 when he was sent down.

So awesome that Gordon has become just about every bit of what we hoped for when he was drafted. #BetterLateThanNever

— Jeff Herr (@TheJeffReport) April 25, 2013

I’ll admit, I was saying to trade Gordon went he went down to AAA in 2010. I was wrong. Glad he’s still here.

— Jeff Herr (@TheJeffReport) April 25, 2013

That provides some hope. The early-season stories have centered around the struggles of Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, two highly-touted prospects at every step, who have struggled this year (Moose much more so than Hosmer). Gordon had similar struggles, facing a disappointing rookie year, a nice sophomore effort, then a series of injuries during 2009 (torn labrum) and 2010 (broken thumb) that kept him from getting any kind of groove going. He should have been an All-Star in 2011, probably 2012 as well, and this year, well, you can vote here to help him get there this time around.

Alex Gordon is an All Star. Booked. Sign, sealed, delivered. No question.

— Brian McGannon (@BrianMcGannon) April 25, 2013

Gordon is the best player on this team. And 1 of the top 5 players in the AL. This point cannot be debated. #Complete #Royals

— Craig Brown (@royalsauthority) April 25, 2013

I have to agree with those sentiments. Alex Gordon is the man.

Apr 4, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera (40) pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-1. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

A significant weapon the Royals have at their disposal this year is their bullpen. Stocked with live, young arms, they have four players who could (ideally or not) close regularly in the big leagues.

That allows the Royals to feel comfortable if they can get a lead in the first six innings. The recipe is two parts strong starts (or six innings) and one part lockdown bullpen (three innings). The Royals have starters now who can get deeper into games and limit the other team’s offense. That gives the offense a chance to come back if they need to or it gives the bullpen a chance to shorten the game and hold a lead late.

The revamped rotation has worked as planned so far, which maximizes the bullpen’s abilities. There’s the shortened game for one, but also a more judicious use of the bullpen. Compared to last year at this point (through 17 games) the Royals have used the relievers they want to in situations that work best for them and not out of necessity to get a new arm in.

As you can see, the Royals had to go to the bullpen frequently, and they had to call in reserves to do it. On April 15, to get another arm in, the Royals optioned Jarrod Dyson to Omaha and called up Louis Coleman. Greg Holland went on the disabled list on April 21 and that brought Jeremy Jeffress to the big league club. Four days later, after two appearances, the Royals brought up Tommy Hottovy. It was a merry-go-round that just kept spinning all year as the team had to keep new arms fresh, sending pitchers up and down I-29 to Omaha with regularity.

This year, however, they’re able to hide a pitcher like J.C. Gutierrez in favor of other pitchers. Gutierrez has finished off a 5-2 loss to the White Sox, then got work in the Royals 13-4 blowout in Philadelphia. Two days later, he came in to finish off a 9-4 game but gave up three runs before giving way to Greg Holland. His last appearance came in the last inning in the sloppy 8-4 loss to the Blue Jays (11 days ago). The Royals are better off using him in a role like that, and he hasn’t had to pitch in a situation where the game was on the line (until he put the game in that position). The more the Royals can limit his appearances, the better they are.*

*This brings up the obvious question about why to have a pitcher on the team who needs such treatment. That’s a whole other discussion.

Apr 5, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Luke Hochevar (44) pitches during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Opening Day at Citizens bank Park. The Royals defeated the Phillies, 13-4. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Luke Hochevar can also be employed in more strategic ways. Rather than having no choice to use him due to other arms being unavailable, they’ve used Hochevar in similar situations as Gutierrez. In fact, Hochevar preceded Gutierrez in two appearances and followed him in a third. His fourth appearance came in Boston on Sunday in the second game of a double header. While they keep him in the bullpen and see how he does, they’re also going to use him in spots where he can be most successful.

Conversely, that allows the Royals to use a rested bullpen to use the best pitchers when they most want to use them. It’s not a coincidence that Kelvin Herrera has made the most appearances.

Last year, through 17 games, Royals starters threw 88 innings, giving up 47 earned runs (4.80 ERA). Relievers threw 64 innings and gave up 31 earned runs (4.36 ERA). This year? Starters have 109.1 innings pitched, giving up 40 earned runs (3.29) which has allowed the bullpen to carry a 3.34 ERA in 40.1 innings pitched. Better starters allow for the right relievers to get into the game when they’re needed for a specific purpose and not just to soak up innings.

No, the bullpen hasn’t been perfect. Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland have had notable late-inning problems, but they seem to have gotten themselves back in gear. As long as the starters stay strong, the bullpen will stay stable. There shouldn’t be a need for an eight man bullpen or quick switches with Omaha. They can set up roles, get the right pitchers in the right situations, and try to turn nine inning games into six or seven inning games.

That the Royals even got the lead took some doing – Jeremy Guthrie had a rough start, struggling with his command and giving four runs on eight hits and four walks in six innings. He benefited from some key defensive plays and a little luck to hold Boston to only four runs. He walked Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the game, then threw a wild pitch to send him to second. Daniel Nava lined out to Eric Hosmer and Ellsbury had broken for third too soon and got doubled up.

Two innings later, Ellsbury doubled leading off the third and scored on a one-out Dustin Pedroia single. Pedroia then got thrown out trying to steal second by George Kottaras (in his first start of the year). That was key, as Mike Napoli (who had homered earlier off Guthrie) launched a shot to deep center that went off the wall. Pedroia would have scored easily. Instead, it was a two-out shot. Napoli was then thrown out in a rundown trying to advance after a hard grounder from Jarrod Saltalamacchia ricocheted off Eric Hosmer and landed in the glove of Elliot Johnson. Napoli was caught in the middle of third and home as Johnson threw to the plate and Napoli was tagged out in a 3-4-2-5-2-6 putout.

Guthrie settled down, though, and managed to get through six innings.

Meanwhile, the Royals were struggling against Allen Webster in his major league debut. Webster mixed his pitches well and demonstrated great stuff. Royals hitters were off balance for much of the night, but he had given up a double off the Green Monster to Alex Gordon on his first pitch, then saw him score when Pedro Ciriaco turned an infield single from Alcides Escobar into a throwing error as his throw went into the front row behind the Boston dugout.

Webster gave up two homers in the fifth when Kottaras put one over the right field wall and Alex Gordon put one over the Monster after a Johnson strikeout. That tied the score at 3-3. Boston regained the lead in the fifth after Daniel Nava walked and scored after Pedroia and Napoli singles.

It took a homer from Billy Butler in the eighth off Koji Uehara to tie the score. Butler got a high fastball over the plate to work with and deposited it deep in left-center over the Monster. Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect eighth inning after, then got out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth to keep it tied. Ellsbury hit a one-out single, then stole second base. Ned Yost chose to intentionally walk Dustin Pedroia after a Nava strikeout put two outs on the board. The move worked, as Mike Napoli flew out to deep center. Yost was gambling on Napoli (career batting average of .259) making an out over Pedroia (.303 career average). A single would have scored Ellsbury, so it was an odd move (since Napoli had crushed everything all game) but strategically fine.

Andrew Miller opened the top of the tenth by striking out pinch-hitter Miguel Tejada, but gave up a single to Gordon, then walked Escobar. After Butler struck out, Hosmer went the other way and singled into shallow left on a grounder (which was stopped by a diving Ciriaco) to load the bases. Lorenzo Cain came up and laid off Miller’s offerings for a 3-0 count, then faked a bunt as Miller wound up on the fourth pitch. Miller wasn’t sharp anyway but the extra move may have threw him off even more and the ball went wide outside, sending Cain to first and Gordon home with the go ahead run.

Greg Holland came on for his second appearance of the day after closing out the afternoon game. Holland had thrown just 11 pitches in the first game so Yost didn’t hesitate to put him back in, though there would have been second guessing had Holland given up the lead after warming up, pitching, sitting for a few hours, warming up, then pitching again. (To be fair, there would have been second guessing had Yost went to Tim Collins and he’d have blown the game, as his closer wouldn’t have been in.) Holland made the whole idea moot, however, as he overwhelmed the three Red Sox he faced, striking out Saltalamacchia, Will Middlebrooks, and Mike Carp. After his struggles in the first week of the year, today was a very encouraging day. Holland threw 18 of 25 pitches for strikes and looked dominant in the process.

That gives the Royals a one game lead over the Minnesota Twins as Monday offers another Kansas City off day while they move on to an intriguing series in Detroit. There were concerns about how this road trip would turn out for the Royals and what it may say about the team. So far, they’re 3-2 on it after a split in a two-game series in Atlanta and a series win in Boston. One win in Detroit assures a .500 road trip, which is fine for the competition they’re facing. If they can sneak an extra win (or two) in there, that’s an encouraging trip.

But Santana cruised after, throwing 32 pitches total in the third, fourth and fifth innings, then worked around a David Ortiz double to get through the sixth having thrown 96 pitches. He gave up two runs in the first inning after a series of singles, but held the Boston Red Sox scoreless after, leaving the game in the hands of the bullpen after seven solid innings.

The Royals gained the lead in the fourth when Billy Butler led off with a hard, loud single off the Green Monster. Eric Hosmer sent a soft liner to left for a hit and Lorenzo Cain doubled into the left field corner to bring Butler around. After strikeouts by Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur, Salvador Perez singled to left to score two and give the Royals a 4-2 lead.

From there, it was up to the bullpen. Bruce Chen came in for the eighth and got Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out. Saturday’s hero, Daniel Nava, singled to left before Dustin Pedroia flew out to left-center. Chen got David Ortiz to a 1-2 count on two ugly swings, but he lined a shot up the middle through a shift. Aaron Crow relieved Chen and walked Mike Napoli on four pitches. After starting 2-0 on Jarod Saltalamacchia with the bases loaded, there wasn’t much room for error. Saltalamacchia chased the next pitch and sent a soft tapper back to Crow, who threw to first and retired the side.

Greg Holland came in to shut the door and he’s starting to shake off whatever issues he was having earlier this month. Holland started 2-0 on Will Middlebrooks, then powered three fastballs past him. He struck out Stephen Drew on three pitches, then got Johnny Gomes to fly out to Lorenzo Cain to end the game.

The Royals got a little of everything to win this game – some hits with runners on to get runs in, an Alcides Escobar homer, solid starting pitching, and some good defensive plays. Everyone reached base other than Chris Getz, but he contributed a nice diving stop in the first to retire Napoli. And all of the relievers could still be available in the second game tonight with an off day on Monday.

The assumption was that the offense would improve from last year. Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas needed to improve on disappointing 2012 seasons. Neither have to this point, as they’ve gotten a combined 16 hits in 86 at bats. There have been a lot of off days and some interleague play took Hosmer out of the lineup, so maybe it’s a timing issue for the young players. It’s still concerning.

Already there are calls for demotions, to send either or both to Omaha to have them work out their problems. I should qualify that both are young and I don’t know that anyone believes that either will be complete busts, but the lofty ceilings that were in mind prior to 2011 have lowered. The scary part is that the Royals are all-in on them, so any struggles will inspire nervousness. There’s a lot invested in these two, and there aren’t really backup options if they fail – or at least none close.

The Royals Triple A team is mostly filled with minor league free agents and veterans trying to make their way back.

Mar 8, 2013; Melbourne, FL, USA; Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon (6) against the St. Louis Cardinals during a spring training game at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

I can’t help but feel jealous when looking towards Washington. Let’s revisit the 2011 draft for a moment. The Royals selected Bubba Starling after Trevor Bauer and Dylan Bundy were both taken just ahead of their fifth pick. The selection of a local kid with big tools was a popular one, but there was significant risk in the pick. So far, those worst fears are being realized, as Starling is hitting .136/.203/.237 in Low A through 17 games in 2013. He’s hit better as of late after a terrible start, but there’s still significant concern (as Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus discussed on a recent episode of the Kansas City Baseball Vault).

So it makes me ask the question: How much better off would the Royals be if they’d selected Anthony Rendon instead?

Rendon was drafted out of Rice University as a third baseman, and recently, with the move of Ryan Zimmerman to the disabled list, he was called up from Double A to fill that spot for the Nationals. In 225 plate appearances in the minors, Rendon has an OPS of .883. Not super-prospect worthy, but he’s skilled enough to be a top 30 overall prospect. He’s a former college freshman of the year and a Golden Spikes Award winner.

In 2011, he was drafted sixth overall despite recovering from a shoulder injury at the time (and already seemed injury-prone after ankle ligament problems and a broken ankle in his past). It was widely suspected that the Seattle Mariners would take him with the second overall pick and it surprised most when they chose left-handed pitcher Danny Hultzen instead.

I don’t think the Royals had put much thought into drafting Rendon, mostly being connected to a pitcher or Starling. They’d had heavy discussions with Bundy, but he was selected one pick ahead of them by the Baltimore Orioles. That left it to Starling versus Rendon and they chose Starling.

At this point, given Starling’s struggles, Rendon’s success, and his flexibility, it looks like a miss. Of course, if the Royals were leading the league in scoring and Hosmer and Moustakas had five homers each, the context would shift and letting a young hitter develop on a long-term plan looks a lot better. If they’re hitting, there’s no question of looking for alternatives (or even letting the idea come to mind). Rendon has played a bit of second base as well, so he could have been a backup option for Johnny Giavotella.

So while Rendon celebrates his major league debut, Starling is in the South Atlantic League. As questions arise about the Royals top hitting prospects, Rendon is showing enough to let the Nationals give him a look. Maybe he’ll never pan out to be the player many expect him to be, or maybe he’ll be an All-Star, but having the option – even if just in case – would be a nice luxury right now.

Did the Royals miss an opportunity in the 2011 draft? Perhaps so. They’d at least have a bat that has more polish than Starling’s, even if the extreme upside isn’t the same. And they’d have an option in case Moustakas never figures it out (though I think it’s well too soon to panic). And if everything else was fine, he’d be a potential All-Star at second base.

September 16, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Will Smith (53) delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Under the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, teams are allowed to carry a 26th man for a day/night double header. Earlier on Saturday, it was announced that the Royals would face the Red Sox at their scheduled time of 12:35 p.m. CST on Sunday and then again that evening at 6:00 p.m. to make up Friday’s game, which was postponed due to the unusual circumstances in Boston and the hunt for a suspected terrorist.

Smith has been pitching well in Omaha, covering 16 innings in three starts for the Storm Chasers. He’s allowed five earned runs, good for a 2.81 ERA and has struck out 23 batters, walking just six. His last start was on April 16, so this lines up with his next scheduled day. Ned Yost has already hinted that he’ll likely be pitching Ervin Santana in the early game and Jeremy Guthrie in the late game. Luis Mendoza‘s last start was scheduled to be skipped after a scheduled off day on Thursday, so the Royals find themselves loaded with long relief options if either starter falters early. Bruce Chen would also be available.

The Royals starters have mostly been successful through the first three weeks of the year, but Smith was one of the better performers during spring training before being optioned down to Triple A. Smith struck out ten in 11 innings in Surprise, allowing two earned runs. Last year, Smith made 16 starts in the big leagues, with a 5.32 ERA in 89.2 innings.

That’s the most important part to stress at the front. It’s just a game.

So while a manhunt for the suspected Boston Marathon bomber captured the nation’s attention, a little baseball game wasn’t anyone’s priority. Nor should it have been. The Royals series opener at Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox was postponed early in the afternoon, to little surprise. I doubt anyone was all that upset while Boston was in the midst of a city-wide lockdown following early Friday morning’s bizarre shootout in Watertown. Security was diverted to the hunt for a terrorist; there was little need to have them watching stadium turnstyles if it wasn’t necessary to do so.

All day, Boston residents noted how surreal it was to have the streets be mostly empty while many businesses were closed and much public transportation was stuck.

Yawkey Way at 545. Deserted. twitter.com/JeremySchaap/s…

— Jeremy Schaap (@JeremySchaap) April 19, 2013

To this point, there hasn’t been an announced makeup date for Friday’s game. Saturday’s game will go as planned and perhaps Sunday will involve a double header. Before the game was officially postponed, there were questions about when – or if – the series would be played. Ideas were floated for potential solutions – an empty Fenway (to keep the public from having to gather while a suspect was still at large), moving the series to Kansas City.

There wasn’t knowledge that the suspect would be brought into custody when the decision would be made. Thankfully, Boston police have brought him in. That’s the important part. So no alternatives will need to be explored.

Can’t say I’ve seen this in the AP baseball glance before twitter.com/jayminwang/sta…

— Jay Wang (@jayminwang) April 19, 2013

The Royals just happened to be the team in Boston at the time of all of this, hanging out in a hotel while police and first responders did the excellent job that they do. Tim Collins (Worcester, MA native) just wanted it all to be over. Elliot Johnson had the proper perspective. Bob Dutton, dropped into the situation, did what he does, reporting from around the hotel with whatever information he could gather while police encouraged him to stay in the building.

But again, the important part of this story isn’t that the Royals and Red Sox will play Saturday. It’s that the city is no longer on watch, waiting to see if the suspect turns up. He’s caught and the first steps towards healing begin.

This time of year, baseball is a part of everyday life. Some have said things like “if they cancel a game, then the terrorists have won” and I suppose I understand the sentiment, but there are times to exercise caution. It was the right decision. Now that the search is over, it’s time to get back to everyday life and that starts with Fenway Park and a baseball game. There will likely be some with some apprehension remaining, but for most, the distraction that three hours and an acre of grass provides will be a welcome sight after a week of questions without answers.

The Royals will run into an emotional environment. Maybe the Red Sox will ride the emotion to great performances and overwhelm the Royals. Maybe they’ll be too charged up and make mistakes. Returning to the field – to normalcy – is the victory.

How about a bonus Kansas City Baseball Vault episode?

Bob Gibson speaks while Joe Torre, Bill White and Tim McCarver look on. (Photo: Mike Vamosi)

While most of our time is focused on the Royals, we’re not limited to the big league team and its affiliates. We’re still baseball fans overall. So when we were contacted about an event in Omaha to unveil a statue of Bob Gibson (Omaha native), we wanted to check in.

So to help us cover the event at the Storm Chasers Werner Park, we sent Kings of Kauffman’s Mike Vamosi and Hunter Samuels to check out the festivities.

Included in this episode, you’ll hear from Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Joe Torre, and Bill White during a press conference/banquet and then there’s more from the statue unveiling ceremony itself the following day.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

One question that didn’t seem to be on anybody’s mind was “how will the bullpen do?”

It was assumed that the bullpen would keep rolling along. With big arms in Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Aaron Crow and Tim Collins as the primary options, it seemed like they’d continue their successes. Crow and Collins have both been solid in the early going, but Holland blew his second save chance of the year, then gave up a run on the next night and was pulled for Herrera. Even his next appearance required a Joe Mauer strikeout in the rain to strand three runners (that he’d put on) and preserve a lead.

Apr 4, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera (40) pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-1. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Panic. Uproar. Hand-wringing.

Then, Herrera entered Tuesday night’s game in Atlanta as the owner of a sparkling 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in 5.1 scoreless innings.

On April 21, 2012, Herrera gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, Edwin Encarnacion. After a ground out, he gave up a homer to  Colby Rasmus. Then he gave up zero homers in May. And in June. And July. August. September. He went nearly a full year between giving up homers, then gave up three in four batters against the Braves.

The Royals and Herrera thought he was tipping his pitches, and perhaps he was. But, as Craig Brown pointed out, tipping or not, he was laying in some fat pitches to some good hitters. Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Dan Uggla combined to hit 63 homers last season with Upton and Uggla in down years. In 2011, the trio combined for 81. If you put a fastball down the middle to these guys, they’ll hit it out.

And that’s what happened to Herrera.

So on Wednesday, Ned Yost had to protect a one run lead after a fantastic Wade Davis start in Atlanta. And while many were worrying about the bullpen, Yost instead went right back to Herrera, who rewarded his faith by striking out Andrelton Simmons to start the eighth inning, then induced a pop up from B.J. Upton after a Ramiro Pena pinch hit single. Heyward grounded into a force out.

Then, Holland came in to close the game out. A combination of off days and no save situations (or, after a complete game from Shields and eight innings from Santana, no innings really) meant that Holland hadn’t pitched since the rainy game against the Twins. In many situations, a reliever can be shaky after a long layoff, and Holland had went a week without getting into a game. After his previous struggles, there was enough reason to remain concerned. Facing Upton, Evan Gattis and Uggla didn’t make it any more comforting.

So of course Holland steps up and strikes out the side on 14 pitches. He threw nine strikes, five of which were on whiffs. None of the three Braves hitters made contact.

April 17, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Greg Holland (56) pitches in the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. The Royals won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

It makes you wonder what anyone was worried about in the first place.

They say that a relief pitcher has to have a short memory. Less than 24 hours after giving up three bombs, Herrera cruised through an inning to hold a one-run lead. Holland, after struggling for most of his 2013, came in and looked dominant.

Now maybe Holland and Herrera go back out tomorrow and get shelled again. Maybe they go through the rest of the year struggling and Wednesday is just a nice reminder of how easy it is to close out the last two innings. Herrera’s 2013 won’t be defined by one night in Atlanta. Holland’s 2012 saw him finish with a 2.96 ERA (and 2.29 FIP) despite an April where he gave up eight runs in 6.1 innings (but only 14 from May until the end).

Holland’s control issues early can’t be ignored, but he also can’t be condemned by four appearances. Likewise, one bad night for Herrera is probably an anomaly considering his solid 2012 and dominant start to 2013. If there’s a pitch-tipping issue, address it, monitor it over the course of the year, and catch it before it’s another issue. Wednesday’s games should do a lot to ease concerns about the back-end of the Royals bullpen. They won’t be perfect the rest of the way. Nobody can be. But there’s going to be more good than bad.

Exhale. Deep breaths.

Apr 9, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) talks to media before the game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals seem to be feeding off of Shields, starting out 7-5 while Ned Yost has said that they’ve shown more confidence in each other than in the past. Some of that could likely be attributed to Shields as well as the efforts to improve the starting rotation. I don’t usually dig into the “team chemistry” idea as a significant element of success, but I think it adds something. I know I’ve worked at jobs where I liked my co-workers and a job where I did not and was much more happy – and felt more productive – in the more enjoyable situation. If nothing else, Shields is pitching well and filling the role he was acquired to fill.

Jenna West at Rays Colored Glasses offered a Tampa Bay Rays point of view, noting that the quick transition Shields has made in Kansas City reinforces the “Rays Way” of doing business. Joe Maddon‘s a unique manager and Andrew Friedman’s a unique executive, so seeing a case study of a player who was a key player in their organization for so long change teams and start to impact them in similarly positive ways could show Tampa’s way as an effective model. Some of it is likely due to a young team that’s receptive to Shields’s personality while still forming their own. On an older team, you may not hear as much about that side of Shields because other names would be there fulfilling similar leadership roles. He’d simply be a very good starting pitcher who can step into that role when necessary (but isn’t relied upon to do so). In both instances, he’s solid. It just depends on which narrative you want to subscribe to.

Other notes:

-Aaron Stilley gave a talk on Saturday April 13 about Jackie Robinson‘s time with the Kansas City Monarchs at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. With all of the ceremony over the past week – the premiere of “42″ as well as Monday’s Jackie Robinson Day across the Majors – it was a fitting (and not coincidental) presentation.

Stilley’s extensive research is linked here and it’s an interesting snapshot of a brief and overlooked year in an historic player’s life. We talked to Stilley on the Kansas City Baseball Vault about the project, as well as with Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick.

-Royals Review has some good input from Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland about his battles to come back from Tommy John surgery and the path that Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino have ahead of them as they rehab their way back from their respective arm injuries of 2012.

-The Royals will be in Atlanta over the next two games, and something fun to pay attention is what might come from the stadium organ when the Royals come up to bat. Matthew Kaminski (@bravesorganist) on Twitter likes to combine word play and player names to figure out the best song to play as they come up. Some of his choices so far:

#Braves vs. #Royals – Rock You Like a Hurricane for Cane

— Matthew Kaminski (@bravesorganist) April 15, 2013

#Braves vs. #Royals – This Land is Your Land for Guthrie

— Matthew Kaminski (@bravesorganist) April 15, 2013

#Braves vs. #Royals – Beauty School Dropout for Frenchy

— Matthew Kaminski (@bravesorganist) April 15, 2013

I like the choice for Jeff Francoeur, though I’d have preferred “La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf because it lends itself to an organ more than something from Grease.

I’d give Kaminski a follow over the next couple days to see what else he comes up with.

This week on the Kansas City Baseball Vault, we discussed the young season and the Royals early success in 2013 and shared the elements that stood out to us in the first place start.

Then we cycled in some great guests, starting with Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Kendrick’s spirits were high following a successful Red Carpet premiere of “42″, which saw a packed AMC Theater show the Jackie Robinson biopic. The event featured an collectibles auction and many Royals made appearances, as did the stars of the film, Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford. We spoke about the movie, the event, and the lasting impact of sharing a story like Robinson’s through film.

We could talk to Bob for hours to hear all the stories, but we had to move on. We then talked with Brad Cook from OOTP Developments about the newest edition of Out of the Park Baseball and the new features of the highly-addicting baseball simulation game.

We finished up by talking with Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus. He wrote an article detailing concerns about Bubba Starling and we brought him on to ask him a bit more. He had an interesting take on some of the circumstances that may hold Starling back and while it’s not uplifting, it’s also important information to think about in evaluating the local prospect.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

A gruff voice whispered me a few details that I jotted down on a notepad and stuffed into my shirt pocket. The voice hung up before I could ask a follow up question. I tipped the glass and pulled the crumpled note back out, processing the scrawled instructions. My task was boiled down to two words.

“Find Kottaras.”

——–

He’d gone missing a couple weeks before. They’d just finished up drawing rosters together and I’m sure he was excited to make the team. He earned his job, but now, he’d gone missing apparently. It’s a mad world when a man can’t earn himself a job and then never be seen again, even as an understudy. Did he have enemies? Was it jealousy?

I rolled the suspects around in my head but nothing came together. Like I was trying to play billiards, but on a carom table. Nothing would drop into place – it just kept bouncing around.

I threw a coat over my shoulders and trudged out into the cooling April air. Nature teased me day after day with her 60 degree taunts, only to pay off with 40 degree kisses. It was a cruel game and one that I was losing through the first two weeks. At least there was no rain. Yet.

My search had to start in the most likely place to find the man. Kauffman Stadium. The site boasted a regal past, but lately, it was just a bunch of jesters entertaining the masses. Still, missing persons cases don’t sit well with me and this group seemed to have some more promise than usual. If something was amiss, I didn’t want to be negligent and let it spoil the fun.

I pulled up and a parking attendant waved me through. I was early yet, and they weren’t being watched as closely by the Man. I got through free and clear, but the next step was to get inside and start peeling back the layers. I happened to know the right guy, but his calm demeanor wasn’t so on this day. He saw me coming and tried to look away. It was like he didn’t want to see me. Or didn’t want to be seen with me.

“Nothin’ doin’ today, Mickey,” he said. “They’ve got an eye on me this year.”

That explained the jitters.

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher George Kottaras (26) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

“That’s okay, bud. Tell me. Have you seen this guy today?”

I pulled up a photo on my phone and there was Kottaras, a patient look on his face, fitting, considering his longtime patience at the plate. In the photo, he was waiting for his pitch. In my head, he was waiting for me.

“Kottaras? Nah, man. I haven’t seen no Kottaras.”

“You here when they checked the bags in last week?”

“I was here one of the days, but not all of ‘em. I didn’t see his,” he said. He’d relaxed a bit, but jerked his head to look over his shoulder. “But I didn’t not see his, you know? I mean, I don’t see a reason why he wouldn’t be around with the team after Surprise. Doesn’t fit, you know?”

I eyed him for a second but I didn’t think he was holding anything back. I couldn’t waste my time out here on the lot anymore. I needed answers.

“Say, you think I can sneak in and poke around a bit? I’m not trying to be a spectator here,” I said. He closed his eyes, as if he was fighting off a migraine headache. I braced myself for his refusal.

“They got me on a pretty tight watch. I hear some whispers. They don’t want no snoopin’.”

“Alright, guy. I hear ya. It’s just not my day, huh?”

——–

Undeterred, I wandered the perimeter, knowing there’d be a gap I could slide through. Sure enough, I found one in a fence that hadn’t closed all the way and I was inside.

I guided my way to the stairwells, first dodging a couple of elevator attendants. I was working my way down the steps, seeing the tunnel just ahead, when I heard footsteps climbing towards me. I paused, stuck. Too far down to head back up, not far enough to surprise whoever it was and dart past them. The hairs on my neck stood at attention.

I laughed at myself when I noticed it was just a beer vendor, a fellow a couple years older than me and a few dozen pounds heavier, picking up his equipment. He was built like Billy Butler but with none of the fitness. It took some doing in the stairwell, but I squeezed past him.

Then the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I heard his footsteps stop. I turned to face him just in time to take a Boulevard cup dispenser to the jaw and it all went black.

———–

I woke up and I was in the clubhouse, seated at a table. My hands and feet were tied to the chair with leather strings and I winced looking into the light. My right temple throbbed. I saw stars and felt nauseous, like I needed to be placed on the seven day disabled list.

The chubby guy who put me down was standing up behind a man seated across from me. He wore a corduroy jacket over a button down and sweater vest. His dark hair had some gray in the temples and he had a prize fighter’s jaw. I was looking at Ned Yost.

“Nice to see you’re going to join us. We figured you could take a shot a bit better than that.”

Ned and the fat guy shared a laugh at my expense. My hands felt as if they were being stung by a thousand bees and I tried to adjust to get a little more circulation. I peered around the room. Unattended lockers, jerseys awaiting their respective player. A case of balls against a pillar. A clubbie stringing a glove back into shape. Must be the guy who tied me up.

“So you have to know why I’m here, then,” I asked. Ned nodded, leaned back in his chair. He wasn’t offering answers.

“Well we figured it would be a matter of time before somebody started digging around. Stop squirming.”

I held still, my wrists no more free than they were before. Maybe worse.

“I wouldn’t figure you to be the type to be worried about someone looking around,” I said. “You seem to have this place locked down pretty well. What with your little princess there behind you and all.” I blew the fat man a kiss, just to see his reaction. His nostrils flared and he took a step towards me. Ned held up a hand and he stepped back.

“Say, it wouldn’t be possible to loosen me up a bit, now would it? It’s not like I can run away,” I said. “Just the hands at least.”

Ned nodded to the clubbie in the corner and I got a closer look at him. Short, but sturdy. He’d been whipped into shape by logging bat bags and carrying 40 dirty uniforms a night down to the laundry.

He untied my hands and I massaged the feeling back into them. I started to reach into my coat pocket and Fatty stepped my way again. I went on the defensive and put up one empty hand and pulled out a pack of smokes with from my coat. The clubbie grunted and pointed to a sign on the pillar that said “No Smoking”. Since he looked like he’d survived a few Jeff Francoeur celebratory pileups in the last couple of years, I decided to heed his unspoken warning.

“Look, Ned. I can’t turn you in. I just need the answers. Where’s George Kottaras?”

He scoffed.

“Are you going to tell me? Anything? Give me something.”

He looked at me with incredulity. “No! Are you kidding? What kind of a question is that?”

Now I knew how Nate Bukaty felt.

“Kottaras is just a part of the Process here,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “That’s all. I can’t tell you any more than that. We have him just where we want him.”

“That is, nowhere, right?” He squinted at me. “Nowhere. You’re just going to ride Salvador Perez into the ground now? Snuff out his career before it ever gets started?”

Ned stood up. Pointed a finger at me.

“Look bud,” he said. If we were in the funny papers, there’d be daggers shooting out of his eyes. “This is my clubhouse and I call those shots. I’ve put in my time in the trenches. I’ve carried the water. I’ve earned the right.”

I looked up, let him speak his mind.

“So what? You just left him back in Surprise? Did you forget you had him on the team? Did you have a secret hope that it’d be Brett Hayes? I know it’s not all your call. You run this clubhouse,” I said, looking around the room once more. “But you don’t rule the whole kingdom.”

He slammed his hands down on the table.

“You have a lot of nerve to start throwing accusations at me in my house. I have half a mind to toss you into that shower and see how long it takes to clean up this whole mess, if you know what I mean.”

Ned lifted his arms and put them on his hips. I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t get a lot of leverage on it, but my hands were free and I shoved the table as hard as I could. It caught Ned in the gut and sent him tumbling back. He bumped the fat guy and his their legs got caught together and both crashed into a locker. The fat man was out. Ned was gathering himself on the ground.

I hopped backwards and rammed the chair against the pillar. One of the legs bent a bit and I could get my right leg free, but the clubbie in the corner was coming at me, and he had Eric Hosmer‘s bat in his hands. He took a swing at me, but I ducked and he hit the concrete pillar, knocking a Royals clock off the wall and to the ground. I was still hampered by the chair on my left leg, but I could move out of the way of his swings as he came after me. Rage and devotion filled his eyes. I was by a locker and snagged a helmet out of it and landed a blow on the clubbie’s wrist and he dropped the bat. He ran at me, but I sidestepped him to my right and he tripped over the chair, flying facefirst into the locker.

Ned was stirring so I untied my left leg and ran over to him, holding him by his jacket. He was grinning up at me, blood in his mouth.

“Dadgum, you just don’t get it, do you?” he said. He was breathing heavily. “Kottaras was the best man, sure, but he kept asking and asking about what we’d do with him, and you know what? Sometimes that’s just too much to hear. So yeah, we hid him away somewhere. Salvy wanted it that way.”

I recoiled and let his jacket go.

“I don’t –”

A big, booming voice echoed behind me in the clubhouse.

“Off days. I hate off days.”

I turned and looked up at a mountain of a man. Sal Perez stood with his arms folded across his chest. He was wearing a black suit and gold aviator sunglasses.

“Do you know what it’s like to spend three months on the sidelines? That’s time you can’t ever get back. Last year, when I hurt my knee, I had a lot of time to think and I came to a realization.”

I stood up, turned my head to the side. I didn’t know where he was going with this.

“I don’t want to sit any more.”

“But you need to get time off,” I said. “Not every day, but once in a while. You don’t want to get hurt again do you?”

Sal smiled, shook his head dismissively.

“Won’t happen. Now, you’re getting on my nerves. You ask too many questions.”

For a guy of his size, he’s a lot faster than you’d expect, and he was on me faster than I could get away. He grabbed me by the coat and hoisted me in the air. Ned cackled as he started to get back up. I was in pretty deep. Surrounded by a lot of unfriendly faces and all of them wanting me to disappear.

“This place is locked down. Nothing gets out unless we want it to get out,” Ned said. “C’mon Salvy, let’s take care of this punk.”

I started saying my goodbyes in the back of my head. Ma and Pa back home, the sisters. Ned wasn’t calling for a bunt on this one.

“Salvy,” a voice called out from the doorway. “Enough. Put him down. This has gone on long enough.”

Sal didn’t listen, but the three of us – Ned, Sal and myself (in the grasp) – looked over and saw Alex Gordon in the doorway. He motioned  to someone outside to come in and there was Kottaras. He was in need of a shave and out of sorts, but he wasn’t hurt and even better, he was alive.

“I can’t let you keep doing this. I thought your story about Kottaras hanging back in Surprise was crazy, but I never thought it was going to be a cover-up,” he said. He motioned out again and Dayton Moore came into the clubhouse. “And when I learned the truth, I wasn’t going to stand for it.”

“What, but – how?”

Sal put me down and I scrambled away.

“I heard there was someone poking around,” he turned to me. “That must have been you, huh? And so I thought I’d go look around. I’m always after a new spot to work out anyway, so I go looking around for any weights I can find and I come to this closet. I heard scuffling. Open it up and – bam – there he is. I went and found Dayton.”

A security guard had come along with them and he didn’t look like the type to let me hang around and get autographs, so he helped me find my way out of the stadium and onto the concrete of the parking lot. I thought of asking if he’d take a tip for the service but I figured he wouldn’t appreciate the joke.

Dusting myself off I checked my phone to see if the lid had been lifted on the whole operation.

I got my confirmation looking at the night’s lineup. Right there the “Perez 2″ told me all I needed to know.

I punched some numbers into the phone and got the voice on the line with me.

“Well, I found him. But it seems they’re going to move along, business as usual.” I waited a moment, heard the breathing on the other line, so I knew he was still there. The voice coughed. Cleared his throat.

“Next time, don’t get yourself caught. I may have you do some digging in Omaha for me.”

The click told me that he was done. I hopped in the car, zipped down the interstate, and flipped on the radio. Royals were down a run, but they were coming up to bat.

This was a work of fiction, so no, Sal Perez didn’t kidnap George Kottaras. But I did find it interesting that after ten games, there hasn’t been a sniff of the backup catcher. He’s the only active player on a roster yet to make it into a game, according to Bob Dutton. It’s due to so many off days in April, but still, I’d think he’d pinch hit or something at least. I hadn’t written a fictional story in a long time and felt a little noir about the whole deal. 

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pinch runner Jarrod Dyson (1) reacts after getting tagged out attempting to steal second base by Minnesota Twins short stop Pedro Florimon (25) during the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

It’s never too soon to watch the scoreboard though, and every week, we’re going to try to keep up with the AL Central across the FanSided Network by going right to the guys who know the most about each team. In this week’s installment, we’ll collectively wrap up the first week-plus of the season. For the Royals, that included two matchups with division opponents, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.

A lot of things have gone right in the early going. The starting pitching has been solid, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler have been very good, and even Jeff Francoeur hit a ball out on Wednesday. The end result is a 6-3 record through Thursday’s off day.

But how about the competition?

Second place Detroit, as discussed by Motor City Bengals editor Matt Snyder:

The Detroit Tigers’ bullpen has been awful early on this season; through nine games (26.2 innings) they’ve accumulated a 6.41 ERA (second worst ERA in baseball). A lot has been made of the Tigers’ troublesome closer situation (mostly being that they don’t have one), but the current relief issues aren’t necessarily directly tied to that — they’ve had trouble even getting the ball to the ninth inning in a save situation. They’ll continue to have trouble in the middle and late innings unless they can get their starters to go deeper into games.

The tied-for-third-place Chicago White Sox, brought to you by Matt Adams of Southside Showdown:

The White Sox started off the season looking decent, albeit against teams without proven track records, and watched it catch up to them once they faced a reigning division champ in the Nationals. Their inability to hit with runners in scoring position has left them relying on solo home runs to carry the scoring load, which needless to say isn’t always enough.  The pitching staff has been faring well despite the spotty run support even with John Danks beginning the season on the DL.  The Sox will enter the next week with two infielders that were recently thought of as utility players manning full time positions in Conor Gillaspie and Jeff Keppinger due to an injury to starting second baseman Gordon Beckham.

 The also-tied-for-third-place Minnesota Twins, reeling from a sweep at the hands of the Royals, as evaluated by Ben Noble of Puckett’s Pond:

The Twins sit at 4-5 after a week and a half of play, taking series from the Tigers and Orioles to begin the season before being swept by the Royals in three games. Aaron Hicks has struggled mightily after coming up from AA to begin the season as the Twins starting CF following the off-season trades of Denard Span and Ben Revere. He has two hits in 35 at bats, has struck out 16 times, and has walked just twice. The Twins boast one of the top minor league systems in all of baseball, however, and prospects have been raking.

And, in last, the Cleveland Indians, who can’t seem to keep teams off the board in the early season. Lewie Pollis from Wahoo’s On First has more:

The Indians had a great first couple games of the season, beating the revamped Blue Jays 4-1 and 3-2 in a pair of good, close games. Then came trouble: they lost five of their six subsequent games to the Blue Jays, Rays, and Yankees before a pair of storms washed out the second half of the home opening series. In each of those losses the Indians gave up 10 or more runs and/or scored one or fewer runs, but on the plus side the one win was a 13-0 rout of reigning AL Cy Young winner David Price and the Rays. So while it’s way too soon to panic, it hasn’t exactly been a fun week in Cleveland.

It’s been a pretty fun week in Kansas City though, despite crummy weather (other than the home opener). By this time next week, will that fun feeling stand?

And again, it’s still early, so the Royals could rattle off an eight game losing streak at any moment.

Apr 9, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4), center fielder Lorenzo Cain (6) and right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) celebrate at the end of the game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 7-4. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

But right now they’re winning.

A year after losing their first ten games at home, the Royals have opened up their home schedule by sweeping the division rival Minnesota Twins. No, this isn’t the same Twins team that won the division so often in the 2000′s, but to an extent, if the Royals are going to make noise this year, they’ll have to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat.

They used a combination of late-inning hits, early-game rallies, and solid pitching when it mattered most to win each game. In the opener, Ervin Santana cruised, setting the stage for an electric go-ahead rally and finish. On Tuesday, they scored five runs in the first inning and chased Mike Pelfrey after two innings, building up a lead early like they had all spring and holding off the Twins bats just enough, even when Jeremy Guthrie didn’t have his best stuff.

And on Wednesday night, Wade Davis got the swings and misses when he needed them, striking out six in five innings, despite building up a high pitch count after two innings. Bruce Chen relieved him and pitched as well as he’s ever done in recent years, even throwing a few past Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier and working around some Royals errors and misplays. The Twins stranded 12 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position tonight, a big reason why they left Kauffman Stadium reeling from a shutout in the series finale. Kelvin Herrera closed things out with pitches fast and slow at the knees to slam the door shut.

The Royals held the Twins to just five runs scored in the three games, and starting pitchers gave up just five runs in 19.2 innings. The bullpen threw 7.1 scoreless. The Twins stranded 26 runners.

It’s a far cry from the 0-2 start that sent fans into a premature panic. They’ll have an off day on Thursday, then Luis Mendoza finishes up the Royals second turn through the revamped rotation. Of the nine starts so far, Wade Davis was the only starter to pitch less than six innings in a start, and he still got through five tonight. Last season through the first nine games, the Royals had a starter get through six innings or more just three times. That’s a good way to kick off the year.

I’m not one for cliches (or I try not to be), but good pitching, timely hitting. That’ll work a lot of the time (though it also helps to play a team marked for last place).

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view as members of the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins line the baselines before the Royals home opener at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Monday afternoon marked my fifth ever Royals home opener. In the past, school, work, or finances got in the way of my attending, but starting in 2009, I’ve been to each opener.

Obviously, then, I’ve witnessed some pretty bad moments. Sidney Ponson starting against the Yankees in 2009. Alex Gordon just missing a game-winner, then striking out against the Angels in 2011. Luke Hochevar‘s implosion last year. And the Royals haven’t won a single one.

The lineups have featured a myriad of players, like Mike Jacobs, Jamey Wright, Willie Bloomquist, Jason Kendall, Rick Ankiel, Kila Ka’aihue and Humberto Quintero. This year, though, featured a group that doesn’t feel like a bunch of replacement players and stopgaps.

After maneuvering through a packed crowd at the gate, I made it to my seat to see a mass of royal and powder blue, a welcome sight. I only saw, to my surprise, a handful of Twins fans. Typically, they’ll travel well and often, I’ll see a fan in Twins garb even when the Royals aren’t even playing Minnesota. Maybe it was because it was a Monday. Maybe it’s dampened expectations of the Twins this year, but there seemed to be significantly fewer Twins fans around. Always a good thing – it’s always frustrating to see your team’s stadium half-filled with your opponent’s fans. Especially for the first game of the year.

I missed the first inning, having headed to the gate late, so I didn’t see the Twins score their lone run of the day, and the majority of the game was a sequence of quick innings and solid pitching. Not bad to watch from a baseball perspective, but when you’re after a win to start the homestand, the Royals piling up zeroes at the plate was discouraging.

But Kevin Correia wasn’t overwhelming them and it felt like there was something still in the tank. Hitters were getting on, hitting the ball hard, but a couple of double plays shut down rallies. The Royals hung out until the eighth. Lorenzo Cain drilled a leadoff double to right center and represented the tying run. Chris Getz bunted him over to bring up the top of the order. With Alex Gordon up, the crowd started to buzz. He singled over a drawn in infield to tie the score and the crowd grew louder.

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) singles in the tying run against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

When Correia started to deliver the first pitch to Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon took off and the fans started to murmur. When Escobar put the ball down the line, they started to stand. As Alex Gordon rounded second, they yelled, and as Eddie Rodriguez waved him home, they were frenzied just before the gave the Royals the lead with a headfirst slide at home. Everyone celebrated.

I’ve seen a lot of losing baseball as a Royals fan. The closest situation I could compare the moment to was an August 11, 2003 game when the Royals battled back and forth with the Yankees. In front of over 40,000 fans, they traded blows with New York, going down 5-1, then storming back to score four and tie it. Then the Yankees regained the lead. Only the Royals three more in the sixth and, with the crowd worked into a frenzy, scored four in the bottom of the eighth. We jeered Yankees fans in the stands, high-fived the guys across the aisle and the Royals put them away, ending the day still in first place.

Aaron Crow stepped in to close out Monday’s opener and the fans were ready to celebrate. He overpowered Trevor Plouffe for a strikeout and and with two strikes on Chris Parmelee, applause built up, hoping for another strikeout. Even after a walk, the energy didn’t dissipate. When Brian Dozier chopped an 0-2 pitch to Mike Moustakas, the crowd started to rise. As Chris Getz took the throw and started the pivot at second, a the anticipation increased, and when the Royals finished the double play and ended the game, it all barreled over into a standing, yelling celebration. Just watch the highlights and see the team’s reaction to the game-ending play. Listen to the crowd on the Escobar double.

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first basemen Eric Hosmer (35) reacts after beating the Minnesota Twins 3-1 at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

I remarked after the game that things felt different. I’m fully willing to admit I was caught up in the excitement. It was the first home opener where I’d seen a win, and after last year’s mess of a winless opening homestand, it was a sigh of relief, especially after the Royals had blown one lead previously and had done their best to blow another.

As we walked back down the ramp, a group started a “Let’s Go Royals” chant. Soon, most of the rest of the fans filing out were joining in the chant.

It’s been a wild offseason, with lots of moves to build up a rotation that can get the team through the sixth inning most nights. The Royals have traded their top prospect away, crushed the Cactus League, and promptly lost their first two games, inspiring panic among many. And yet, after Monday, they were 4-3 (and 5-3 after Tuesday night’s win).

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just the eternal optimist and I’m letting hope get in the way of reason. It’s only eight games in, and anything can happen. As a Royals fan, I’ve bought into the mirage before. There’s always another shoe ready to drop. And still, it feels a little different this time. Wishful thinking? Probably.

But I’m not alone. The Royals are one Kevin Frandsen double away from being in the middle of a six game winning streak. As it is, they’ve won three in a row with a good chance at a fourth. Fox Sports Kansas City put out a press release today noting that the home opener was their highest rated home opener since they’ve broadcast Royals games and their sixth highest rated game ever. Kansas City wants to believe. Who cares if it’s early? Let’s have some fun with it.

For all the scouting reports, statistics, and strategy, sometimes there’s something else at work.

And I think I broke the Royals bullpen.

Here’s my confession: Since the Royals have played mostly afternoon games, I’ve missed out on seeing them live due to the day job and all. I can still listen through the radio, and it’s fine. Plenty of accounts from Twitter and other sources give me an idea of what’s going on. But getting the chance to see the game, start to finish, is also quite important for me as a fan and as someone who offers his opinion of the team for others to read.

Apr 07, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Greg Holland (56) delivers to the plate during the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Royals defeated the Phillies 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

So on Saturday night, I was glad to have the opportunity to watch the team play in real time. They had a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth, and I felt comfortable with Greg Holland protecting the lead and turned off the TV to head to a bonfire held at a friend’s house where I could see some other friends I haven’t seen in a while. Seemed a worthy trade off since I was already running late to the event.

And they blew the lead. Pretty spectacularly, at that.

Then this afternoon, the Royals game was cruising along, featuring a franchise-record-tying seven RBIs from Billy Butler, including his first career grand slam. James Shields battled back from a four run first and looked fantastic otherwise. Tim Collins was solid, Jarrod Dyson added on an extra run and they took a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth. No problem.

I help coach a little league team, and we had a scheduled scrimmage at 4 p.m. but with warmups starting at 3:30. With a five run lead, I, again, turned off the TV and headed out the door. Between innings of the scrimmage, the head coach asked me if the Royals had won. Well I’d been in the same spot he was – coaching – so I’d just assumed they had finished off the 9-4 lead. Here’s the exchange:

Coach: “Did the Royals end up winning?”

Me: “I haven’t checked. I assume so. They were up 9-4.”

Coach: “9-8.”

Me: “No, it was 9-4.”

Coach: “Yeah, and they gave up four more.”

Me: “Did they put in Hochevar?”

Coach: “No, I think they had Holland in.”

Me: “Ohhh crap*.”

*I may not have said “crap”.

So those two are on me. Some kind of magic must be at work and it’s cursed the Royals bullpen in the first week of the season. I promise not to make the same mistake any more this season. I apologize to Greg Holland for wrecking his record early in the year and to Luis Mendoza for ruining a great start that should have been a win on Saturday. Maybe I’m being silly, but the Universe is swift in its punishment and clearly, it’s telling me not to turn the TV off, or I’ll have to suffer the agony of learning of Royals leads turning to dust.

I take no responsibility, however, for J.C. Gutierrez surrendering a homer to Jimmy Rollins. That one’s all his. I wanted Louis Coleman or Donnie Joseph.

You’re on your own with this one J.C. Gutierrez. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Is that sinking feeling coming back? The ominous, anxious knot in your stomach that everything’s going to fall apart before it’s even put together?

April 11, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Jonny Gomes (31) is hit by pitch during the twelfth inning with bases loaded for the walk in run to defeat the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum. The Oakland Athletics defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Remember last year? The Royals open up on the road, they’re looking to carry a winning record into the home opener and have a lead in Oakland. Jonathan Broxton got the first out, then Seth Smith reached on an error, Broxton walked the next two batters and a groundout tied the game. Then, with two outs, Broxton hit Yeonis Cespedes and Johnny Gomes in consecutive at bats and brought in the winning run.

The Royals came back to Kansas City, gave up seven runs in the first inning and lost every single home game on their way to a crippling 12-game losing streak and the season was effectively toast from that point on.

Last year’s catalyst for a meltdown could have been prevented – Alcides Escobar committed the error, and if he gets that out, the groundout that scored the tying run would have ended the game. On Saturday night, the Royals made an error – but on the basepaths – that could have gotten them an insurance run. Miguel Tejada doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice by Elliot Johnson, then got caught too far off third and picked off. Even after Chris Getz‘s fly out, if Tejada’s still there, Alex Gordon would have had a shot to bring him in.

It’s easy and expected and justified to be disappointed after a loss like that. I understand the worry, as well, since sudden a drastic swing can conjure the feeling of impending doom, and with last year’s early collapse in the back of everyone’s heads – including the players – maybe there’s a slight cause for worry.

However.

The big difference between this season and last season is that the game after Broxton’s implosion was started by Luke Hochevar. Sunday’s game will see James Shields take the mound, a significant upgrade. His job at the top of the rotation is to take the ball in situation’s like this and be the stopper. He’s the reason most feel that another 12-game losing streak can’t happen again.

It’s fair to worry. It’s fair to be disappointed. But it’s not 2012 anymore and the Royals hope James Shields makes that point emphatically on Sunday and calms a fanbase’s nerves.

After a long winter, baseball is finally back, and after a week off, we’re back talking about the Royals. We gave our first impressions about the first four games of the season and discussed any performances we’re worried about yet (stressing that it’s only four games so far).

We talked about the reactions on social media, both positive and negative, and everyone agreed that there was a lot of overreaction to the Royals first two losses of the year. There’s a lot more baseball to go, and it’s satisfying to project how things will go, and even more so to be right about it, but there’s a point where it cuts into the enjoyment of the game.

Then we brought on Aaron Stilley (@Royal_Heritage) who talked about an upcoming talk he’s giving at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum about Jackie Robinson and the Kansas City Monarchs. The event is April 13 at 10:30 am. Aaron can also be found at his blog: http://kcbbh.blogspot.com.

We finished off with a wraparound of the Royals minor league affiliates, with some games in progress. In the process, we talked about Bubba Starling and how likely it is that he’ll pan out or if he’ll start looking at other avenues if he struggles this year or down the line.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura (73) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

MiLB.com pointed out two of the Royals full-season affiliates as they picked out the minor leagues’ best starting rotations. They picked Northwest Arkansas in the Texas League as one:

• Yordano Ventura
• Jason Adam
• J.C. Sulbaran
• Noel Arguelles

Wilmington in the Carolina League was the other rotation:

• Kyle Zimmer
• John Lamb
• Sam Selman
• Kyle Smith

Side note: Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery were a part of the Durham Bulls’ International League-best rotation.

Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus did a final wrap up of what he saw on the backfields in Arizona while scouting out prospects. He had high praise for the usual suspects. On Zimmer, he stated he had #2 starter stuff and raved about his curveball. He also heaped praise upon Adalberto Mondesi calling him a “monster prospect in the making”. It wasn’t all big names, though. He made a point to mention Lexington’s Michael Antonio as a prospect with some tools but more development to do and brought up Aroni Nina as a big arm in Low A. There are more prospects mentioned, as well.

Royals Review’s Jeff Zimmerman shot some video in Surprise of Bubba Starling, Mondesi, Elier Hernandez and Cameron Gallagher. I won’t repost all of Jeff’s videos, but here’s a teaser of Elier Hernandez:

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Christian Colon (72) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Lee Warren’s covering the Omaha Storm Chasers again for Yahoo Sports and one of his recent pieces shed some light on Christian Colon‘s approach after suffering a fluke injury to his eye last year. Colon rebounded, playing well in the Puerto Rican Winter League and showing no ill effects of the injury. The key quote gives us an idea of what the Royals may do with him, position-wise. He told Warren that he anticipates playing 60 percent shortstop in Triple A and 40 percent at second. With Colon, Johnny Giavotella, Irving Falu, and Anthony Seratelli, Omaha isn’t hurting for middle infielders.

If you’re looking for a particular prospect during full season play, we’ve got the full opening rosters lined up here and Jen Nevius will be providing nightly updates on how the Royals affiliates are performing.

Apr 4, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie (11) pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning at U.S. Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Jeremy Guthrie cruised through six innings against the Chicago White Sox, racking up nine strikeouts against just five hits and one walk surrendered in the 3-1 win.  Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo found him particularly tough, as Dunn struck out twice against him and Viciedo struck out three times against Guthrie. Both added one more strikeout before their day was done.

After Guthrie retired the first seven batters, offensive monster Tyler Flowers walked and Gordon Beckham singled, but Guthrie was able to induce a double play to get out of the inning. His only other problem inning came in the fifth when he got two quick outs, then hit Flowers with a pitch and Beckham again singled (both players would reach base everytime they went up to bat today). Alejandro de Aza singled to right to get Flowers home, but Guthrie struck out Jeff Keppinger to end the inning and strand two runners.

The Royals did their damage in the fifth as well. Eric Hosmer worked a seven pitch, one out walk and moved to third on a hit and run single by Jeff Francoeur. Jarrod Dyson hit a chopper to first for an out but it allowed Hosmer to score and Francoeur to reach second base. Chris Getz singled to center and went to second on an error by de Aza (which also allowed Francoeur to score). Alex Gordon doubled to right and brought Getz in and the three runs were all the Royals would need.

Guthrie exited after six innings, but the bullpen held the lead, as Aaron Crow, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland worked an inning each to keep the White Sox off the board. Holland had to work himself out of a two out, two on jam but finished the job.

The Royals offense is still a little slow to get in gear after three games, mustering only five hits against Gavin Floyd and Hector Santiago.  In the series, they scored a total of five runs, and two of those went unearned due to errors. The White Sox outfield committed three errors in the series to help the Royals out.

After two early losses, there was a lot of frustration among many Royals fans. The offense left runners on in the first two games, and with a couple of breaks, could have won all three games. Say Billy Butler gets a hit in the third inning on Monday, maybe two runs score and the Royals get the win. Maybe Alex Gordon is one foot more to his left while scaling the left field wall to try for what would become a Viciedo homer and it’s an out instead – that makes it a 3-2 game and now it’s not as comfortable for Chicago.

But the Royals didn’t get those breaks and two early losses (even against Cy Young caliber pitchers) caused much teeth-gnashing. Ideally, a win calms the masses down a bit from a collective panic. The Royals won’t win every game. There are plenty who don’t think they’ll win half of their games. There are holes on this team, but not as many as in the past. If the team’s still dropping two out of three every series into May, then doom and gloom is warranted. Not now.

We’ll see if the win inspires the Royals to National League success, as they head to Philadelphia for a three game series. Wade Davis makes his Royals debut against Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies in the first game.

Apr 3, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) climbs the wall to try and catch a ball hit for a home run by Chicago White Sox left fielder Dayan Viciedo (not pictured) in the fourth inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The Chicago White Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-2. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Ervin Santana brought two concerns with him to Kansas City. First, would he stay healthy? Second, would he again approach 40 home runs allowed? On Wednesday, he didn’t do much to allay the fears presented by the second question. Santana surrendered first-pitch leadoff homers to Adam Dunn in the second inning and later to game one hero Tyler Flowers in the third inning. In the fourth, Dayan Viciedo went deep with Dunn on base after Santana’s only walk (though Alex Gordon tried his best to keep it in the yard).

After another leadoff solo homer off Luke Hochevar, the White Sox had put up five runs, enough to carry the 5-2 victory.

Despite the homers (if you’re one to look for the bright side), Santana struck out eight batters and only walked one. He was working with a 90-91 mph fastball, but, though both leadoff homers were on 89 mph fastballs. Otherwise he gave up only two other base hits. That’s probably no consolation to Santana and the Royals, though.

Chris Getz scored the first run of the Royals season in the top of the third by reaching on an error by Alexei Ramirez, then scored after Viciedo bobbled a ball in left field following an Alcides Escobar single. They scored again after an Alex Gordon ground rule double and ground outs from Escobar and Billy Butler than got him home.

The Royals worked White Sox starter Jake Peavy, driving up his pitch count early, but he struck out six and walked nobody, so he wasn’t taxed with many baserunners and had a fairly comfortable day. The White Sox bullpen held the Royals in check but not before escaping a jam.

Leading off the seventh, Eric Hosmer reached on an error in left field and moved to third on a Lorenzo Cain single. After a Jeff Francoeur strike out, the White Sox brought in left-handed Donnie Veal to face Getz and Gordon, only to see Miguel Tejada instead, pinch-hitting for Getz. Tejada walked in his first Royals plate appearance, but flyouts from Gordon and Escobar squandered the bases loaded situation.

The Royals never threatened again, going down in order in the top of the eighth and ninth.

A few things I take away from the game: Eric Hosmer saw 23 pitches in four plate appearances to lead the team, including a nine pitch at bat in the second inning against Peavy. Through two games (small sample size alert), he’s at least fouling off pitches and keeping at bats alive and he’s staying patient. Ideally, that signifies that he feels comfortable, but we’ll have to keep an eye on his progress.

Jeff Francoeur saw 11 pitches, grounding out on one pitch in the third inning, then on two pitches in the ninth to end the game. In the seventh inning, he saw three pitches, but the snarky response is to note that it was only because he struck out swinging at all three.

Hochevar’s inning included the following outcomes, in order: home run, single, walk, sacrifice bunt, runner out at home after wild pitch and line out. He could have had better bullpen debuts.

Tomorrow, the Royals try to avoid a sweep, sending Jeremy Guthrie against Gavin Floyd.

Dyson’s speed is unquestionably an asset. He’s stolen 50 bases in 57 opportunities, and he’s made plays most players can’t simply by being the fastest guy in the stadium. The play where he scored from third on a pop up to shortstop in 2011 comes to mind. After that play, he told Joel Goldberg “That’s what speed do”, a catchphrase that always resurfaces when he does something on the basepaths.

June 26, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson (1) scores as Tampa Bay Rays catcher Jose Lobaton (21) can

Having a player like that can be valuable as a pinch runner because he can be employed once at will. The phrase “you can’t steal first base” has been used before for speedy players who might be great once they’re on base, but have trouble getting that small detail of reaching in the first place. As a pinch runner, the Royals can guarantee that they can have Dyson on the basepaths if they want him to be. Having Tejada available for any infield spot and Johnson available to play the outfield does give them the opportunity to use Dyson more liberally as a pinch runner.

Done deal, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

I’ve been guilty of underrating Dyson’s offensive abilities before. To look at him, he looks like the typical speedster who gets the bat knocked out of his hands and otherwise tries to slap everything the other way. In some ways that’s true – he’s not going to have much power. The extra bases he gets will be due to his legs turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples. He doesn’t put the ball in the air often enough to get a lot of random home runs. He has one in his career during his September callup in 2011. Most of the time, though, he puts the ball on the ground (nearly 60% of the time as a big leaguer according to FanGraphs). Remember that scene in Major League where manager Lou Brown is admonishing Willie Mays Hayes for popping the ball up?

It’s just like that. Dyson should be hitting line drives and grounders that he can leg out. But he can also walk and reach base. In 448 big league plate appearances, Dyson has walked 9.6% of the time. Last year, Alex Gordon led the Royals by walking in 10.1% of his plate appearances.

This is why many call for Dyson to work within a platoon (or partial one) with Jeff Francoeur. He won’t provide much as far as driving in runs, but he can create them on his own. Marcus Meade was beating that drum late last December, noting that bunt hits could be an opportunity for Dyson to get more playing time. It’s surprising to say it (or maybe just to me), but Dyson’s value may be underestimated him on this team.

I doubt he’d be a strong everyday player – he still hasn’t hit lefties – but Dyson could do enough at the plate to be more than a second coming of Herb Washington. The Royals want to use him more, but perhaps they’re taking the wrong angle.

Apr 1, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

A 2-2 changeup to catcher Tyler Flowers stayed up in the zone and he drilled it to left field for a homer and the game’s only run in the fifth inning. Other than the mistake, Shields was as advertised, scattering eight hits over six innings and striking out six. The White Sox only had a few hard hit balls – the Flowers homer, of course, and an Alex Rios single later in the inning – getting a few bloops to fall in after fighting off inside pitches.

He mixed his pitches well and had good movement on his two seam fastball all day. Shields could have been more efficienct, but gave the Royals what they were looking for from the leader of their pitching staff. He threw 102 pitches with 66 going for strikes.

His counterpart, Chris Sale, was excellent and kept the Royals from making solid contact most of the day while striking out seven and walking just one. The hardest hit ball came off the bat of Salvador Perez in the second inning on a first pitch fastball, driving it to the wall for a long single. Sale used his changeup and breaking pitches to dominate the Royals and in key moments.

The Royals had the bases loaded in the third inning after Jeff Francoeur singled, Alex Gordon walked and Alcides Escobar reached on an infield single. Sale started Butler off with a slider for a swing and miss, got a changeup over for a called strike, then after a slider missed, went with another and got the swinging strike out. Mike Moustakas popped out to the second baseman in shallow right field to end the threat.

Apr 1, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at US Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Another blown opportunity came in the seventh when Eric Hosmer led off with a single off Sale and Lorenzo Cain shot a line drive up the middle. Gordon Beckham made a great diving play on the ball, though, and what should have been a single was an out. Francoeur grounded into a double play three pitches later. In the following inning, Escobar got a hit into shallow left center with two outs and chased Sale out of the game. Nate Jones came in and gave up a walk to Butler, allowing Escobar to steal second and go to third on a wild pitch in the process. With Moustakas up, the White Sox went with lefty Matt Thornton and he overwhelmed Moose on three strikes, getting him swinging on a high fastball to end the inning.

The last chance Kansas City had came against Addison Reed. Hosmer walked after Perez grounded out leading off, then stole a base as Cain struck out, but was left standing on second as Francoeur offered at the first pitch slider from Reed and grounded out to shortstop.

Reed threw 15 pitches, six of which were sliders. Perez grounded out chasing one that was going to be low, Hosmer and Cain took two each as balls and the final slider was looking like a borderline strike. He probably could have waited on a better pitch since Reed had yet to locate a slider in the zone.

Aaron Crow and Kelvin Herrera both threw a scoreless inning each. Crow was erratic, but kept his pitches in control enough to retire all three batters. Herrera walked Rios on four pitches, but sandwiched a Paul Konerko flyout between Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo strikeouts to get through the inning.

Escobar and Francoeur had two hits each. Butler and Hosmer both had a single and a walk. The Royals stranded seven baserunners. they ran into a very good pitcher and the conditions were as different from the Cactus League as you could find, with a gametime temperature of 44 degrees with wind. Add in some shadows (though Sale would have been good, shadows or not) and it was a low-scoring environment.

After the annoying day off after opening day, the Royals will send Ervin Santana to the mound on Wednesday against Jake Peavy at 1:10 p.m. CST.

December 12, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore (left), newly acquired pitcher James Shields (center), and manager Ned Yoast display Shield

The Royals open the 2013 season against the Chicago White Sox this afternoon, sending their biggest acquisition, James Shields, to the mound. After focusing primilarly on building up the starting rotation in the offseason (each of the previous two seasons’ Opening Day starters, Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen, have been relegated to the bullpen after a complete overhaul of the pitching staff), the message being sent out is that this Royals team is no longer stuck in the rebuilding process they’ve been trapped in since about 1995.

With that, there’s hope. So much so that Jon Morosi is picking the Royals to win the AL Central and Scott Miller of CBS Sports has Kansas City in the playoffs. Most at least think that they’ll be much improved and push the rest of the American League, even if they don’t end up in the postseason.

If that’s to happen, the Royals – even if improved – will have to catch some breaks. They’re talented, but so are the Detroit Tigers. The Cleveland Indians made improvements and the Royals still haven’t finished higher than the White Sox in the standings since the Clinton Administration (1995).

So what must go right?

STARTING PITCHING

When you trade your top prospect, you better see improvement with the player you receive. The Royals committed to rebuilding the rotation and they’ve gotten to the point where they have depth in place and in reserve.

They hope that Ervin Santana remembers who he was in 2010 and 2011 and that Jeremy Guthrie is the same player from last summer. Luis Mendoza won the fifth starter spot, so he has to show that his success last year wasn’t a mirage. Shields has to show that he can survive outside of Tampa Bay and that the perceived weaker AL Central helps him out.

HEALTH

This time last year, the Royals had already lost Joakim Soria to Tommy John surgery and Salvador Perez to meniscus surgery. Lorenzo Cain was hurt before the Royals had even made it back to Kansas City to start the year and Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino would hit the DL before the All-Star break.

In 2013, the Royals need to get the same kind of luck they had in 2011. Other than a Bruce Chen DL stint and a wicked collision that put Matt Treanor on the shelf, the Royals had no other significant injuries. They have depth to cover some injury problems,  but not a lot, and especially not if it’s an injury to Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Shields, Perez or other key figures. They need to get more than 30 starts from Shields. Period.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Jul 31, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) is congratulated by designated hitter Billy Butler (16) after scoring in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

So much has been discussed this offseason about Hosmer and Mike Moustakas and their importance to the lineup that Butler and Gordon have been overlooked. Butler’s been a consistent producer so it’s easy to take his bat for granted. Players run into slumps, even the great ones.

Hosmer and Moustakas are obviously important, but the production from Butler and Gordon has been assumed to remain the same. Butler’s track record suggests he’ll continue to hit well and Gordon’s past two years of success should make any fears of regression to what he was pre-2011 vanish, but what if there are nagging injuries? Or if they’re late to make adjustments over the course of a few weeks? It’s probably safe to pencil in a baseline of performance for both Gordon and Butler, but it’s not guaranteed. Their performance needs to be near their typical line for the Royals to be successful.

ON THE REBOUND

August 17, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first basemen Eric Hosmer (35) celebrates with third basemen Mike Moustakas (8) after beating the Chicago White Sox 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, along with Gordon and Butler, Moustakas and Hosmer do need to bounce back from their 2012 levels. The numbers suggest that a minor (but nagging) knee injury held Moustakas back last year, something he doesn’t have to fend off at the start of the year.

It’s also a fresh start for Hosmer, who hit into terrible luck in the first six weeks of the year last season, then started to turn his bat into sawdust. The hope is that he pulls a Jason Heyward and moves past his struggles of his sophomore season and gets back on track to being the player that fans and the organization thinks he can be. Early projected lineups have him batting sixth, so Ned Yost is taking some pressure off of him. Perhaps that will help. If he has another season like 2012, the 2013 team will suffer, but the Royals will have to be more openly concerned.

SPELLING RELIEF

On the subject of assumptions, it’s assumed that the Royals bullpen will continue to be strong. Greg Holland is set as the closer. Kelvin Herrera will set him up and Tim Collins and Aaron Crow will be the other late-inning options. They were part of one of the best bullpens in baseball last year.

Remember, though, that Holland had problems early in 2012 before hitting the disabled list. After he’d returned from injury, he went back to being effective, but closers have short shelf lives generally and it demonstrated how quickly the switch can turn off.  Crow is picking up the reputation of being a one-inning pitcher only, which can be worked around , but limits flexibility. Collins struggled this spring. Herrera is a lot of fun to watch, but he’s also been plagued by injuries in his minor league days. Any one or more could get hurt, fall back, or collapse.

The Royals have depth for any problems, though. Louis Coleman and Donnie Joseph pitched well enough to win a spot on the roster, but their having options and the drive for inventory resulted in their being stashed in Omaha. That also allows the Royals to give short leashes to their relievers. With other pitchers in Omaha with experience in the big leagues, the Royals have some knowledge of what their guys can do at this level. The wild cards will be how Bruce Chen pitches as the long reliever (which he’s done before) and how Luke Hochevar adjusts to a new role. He threw well in a few spring appearances out of the bullpen, but his last appearance looked like any other Hochevar meltdown we’ve seen.

If everyone’s healthy, though, the bullpen shouldn’t be a worry. Additionally, if the starting rotation does what the Royals want, there won’t be a need for as many innings in relief as last season, when the Royals bullpen led the American League in innings pitched.

SURPRISES

Often, when a team makes a jump like the Royals hope for, there’s an unexpected performance or two. Last year, the Orioles were unstoppable in extra innings and nearly so in one-run games. Oakland got solid pitching and great offensive production late in the year.

For the Royals, that could be Wade Davis translating his strikeout gains in the bullpen last year to a rotation spot or Jeremy Guthrie continuing the success he discovered after joining the Royals last summer. Maybe Lorenzo Cain breaks out (and stays healthy) or Alcides Escobar can keep the batting average gains from last season and add some more walks and power. Combining some breakouts with any fumbles by Detroit (or injuries) and there may be an opening.

Along with that, they’ve set preliminary rosters for their four full-season affiliates.

This isn’t my ideal roster. Swap out Irving Falu for Miguel Tejada, Donnie Joseph or Louis Coleman for J.C. Gutierrez and Johnny Giavotella at second over Chris Getz* and given the players that were available for selection, that would work better in my mind.

*Of course Getz won the job. My approach is, as I’ve always stated, to go for the upside of Giavotella over the safe choice of Getz. Getz celebrated winning the job by going 6-for-6 in a spring training game, akin to spiking the ball and doing the worm in the endzone after a touchdown. So he showed me. 

 Omaha Storm Chasers – Triple A

Donnie Joseph should see action in 2013. (Photo: Minda Haas)

That’s a lot of left-handed pitching. There’s plenty of depth here in case the Royals suffer a rash of injuries. Smith would be the first starter up if necessary, and Coleman, Joseph and Bueno could be easy callups if J.C. Gutierrez falter

 Northwest Arkansas Naturals – Double A 

July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; World pitcher Yordano Ventura throws a pitch during the first inning of the 2012 All Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Some of the speculation didn’t pan out for the Naturals. What could have been a dynamite rotation of John Lamb, Yordano Ventura, Jason Adam and Kyle Zimmer will instead be Ventura, Adam and others. Lamb will continue to get comfortable after Tommy John surgery recovery and Zimmer, while on a fast track, isn’t being pushed too far too fast yet. I’m interested to see if Brett Eibner (34% strikeout rate last year) can make enough contact to take advantage of a much better hitting environment.

Orlando Calixte is also intruiging.

Wilmington Blue Rocks – High A

Cheslor Cuthbert via Jen Nevius

There’s the good stuff. Zimmer and Lamb are the big names in the rotation, but Selman was great last year and skips Low A. Kyle Smith should be a very good High A #4 starter. Wilmington has interesting position players as well with Bonifacio and Cuthbert being the big names but Lopez was a big bonus draft signing, Mateo has had some success, and Watts has been a power/on base combo.

Lexington Legends – Low A

Mark Peterson, Mark Threlkeld and Bubba Starling on the field in Surprise during spring training. Photo: Michelle Meade

The Royals newest affiliate gets the privilege of seeing three of their top ten prospects in Starling, Almonte and Mondesi. The outfield in particular is full of names. Ford had the second most homers in Burlington last year, Chapman has promise, and Gore is the fastest guy in the organization. Arteaga is no slouch either and Gallagher is their top catching prospect. Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus dubbed Lexington as his “must-see” affiliate in the Royals organization and pegged Almonte and Mondesi as breakout candidates.

The rosters were originally listed on milb.com’s official page for each affiliate. In entering them into tables, I’ve taken the occasion to reorder them from how they’re listed on each individual team page in some cases to place the more interesting players higher in the order. There was no rhyme or reason to it, other than I wanted Zimmer, Adam, etc listed towards the top. 

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals second baseman Irving Falu (19) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Infielder Irving Falu and left-handed relievers Donnie Joseph and Francisley Bueno were all optioned to Omaha and lefty Atahualpa Severino was assigned to minor league camp. With Bruce Chen newly sent to the bullpen and Tim Collins‘s position secure, the Royals will opt for another righty for the final bullpen spot. The most likely choice is J.C. Gutierrez, then Louis Coleman and Dan Wheeler. Gutierrez has never been very successful in the big leagues, but he’s coming off of a good winter ball season and in the two innings I’ve seen of him (which is obviously a small sample), he’s thrown hard and demonstrated a good breaking ball.

Whoever gets the last spot probably won’t be relied upon in high leverage situations most games with other solid options in the back of the bullpen, but Gutierrez, who is out of options, has probably done enough to make the team.

-The Royals also acquired minor leaguer Desmond Henry from the Rangers as the player to be named later in the Tommy Hottovy trade. Henry was a fourth round pick in 2011 and has only played at the rookie ball level so far. He’ll turn 20 in July.

Henry is the typical speedy, athletic center fielder type, and the Royals are taking a chance that he develops into something in a couple of years. He has 29 strikeouts in 73 plate appearances, so there’s work to do.

-Keith Law scouted some Royals prospects recently and shared his notes on ESPN (requires Insider). He discussed Kyle Zimmer, John Lamb and Miguel Almonte. He noted that Zimmer was showing good secondary stuff but his fastball was getting hit. Lamb’s velocity was still discouraging, according to Law, but Almonte seemed to impress him.

[RELATED: Royals Assistant GM J.J. Picollo discusses Zimmer, Lamb and Almonte, and other prospects on the Kansas City Baseball Vault]

I don’t sense much concern about Zimmer who might just need to adjust something on his fastball to get more movement, and Almonte is flying up the rankings, but concern would be appropriate for Lamb. He’s far enough removed from Tommy John surgery that his velocity should be getting back, and Law suggested he may have been holding back. You’ll hear often enough about athletes who get hurt, and it’s not always reinjury or complication that gets in the way of their full recovery but the mental block of going back to 100% for fear of blowing something out again. Lamb’s always been reported to have tough disposition – he came back from an elbow fracture before his senior season of high school to be a top 20 overall prospect – but it can’t be an easy road back.

- Apparently, Lorenzo Cain has been working with sprinting trainers and that his legs feel better than ever. He’s already fast, but according to the article, he’s working on shortening his running stride. Dutton also reported that the Royals will try Eric Hosmer in the outfield on Thursday as a possible preparation for their early interleague games at Philadelphia and Atlanta in April. That experiment didn’t go very well last season when the Royals tried it in Pittsburgh, but they seem willing to give it another try.

- Speaking of the Pirates, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that former Royals Clint Robinson was designated for assignment on Wednesday to make room for Jonathan Sanchez. Robinson hit .200/.227/.250 in 12 spring training games with the Pirates. Robinson turned 28 last month and has always had some questions about his ability to be an everyday player.

Prior to his big league debut last year (which occurred in Pittsburgh, coincidentally enough), Robinson was a prolific minor league hitter, but he may be destined to be a AAAA player.

- Sam Mellinger of the KC Star tweeted that Forbes has valued the Royals at $457 million. That’s second lowest in the majors behind Tampa Bay. Glass bought the team for $96 million in April 2000.

- Finally, the Royals reached out and took care of a fan today with a Random Act of Opening Day. When Twitter user Paul Prather was wishing he was watching a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals responded by randomly setting him up with tickets to the last game of the home opening series against the Minnesota Twins.

Makes me wish I’d mentioned something first…

The Royals have two more spring training games before the season opens next Monday. It can’t come soon enough.

The regular season can’t get here soon enough. While the Royals cruise through spring training, we covered a few of the remaining battles while also discussing the final second base decision to keep Chris Getz over Johnny Giavotella. We also talked a bit goings-on in Omaha and brought up the idea of a platoon (or replacement) for Jeff Francoeur and tossed out an idea of trading for David DeJesus.

Most of our time this week, however, was spent talking with Curt Nelson, director of the Royals Hall of Fame. We talked about his vision for the exhibits and artifacts within the Hall of Fame and what he tries to present to those who visit the stadium and want to dive into the history of the franchise. Of course, we also had to bring up the question of “How does Emil Brown end up eligible for the Royals Hall of Fame?”

Curt walked us through the process of nomination and how they’ve revamped the voting to include fan votes and we looked at a few specific cases on the current eligible ballot as well as other names from the past that may be revisited. It’s interesting stuff to think about, especially as other players like Mike Sweeney, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran are nearing eligibility for the team honor.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

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