May 03, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy (23) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals haven’t struggled for starting pitching in 2013 as in years past, but they’re still getting closer to getting reinforcements.

Danny Duffy announced on Twitter that he would be moving from extended spring training where he’s been increasing his workload after Tommy John surgery on June 13 last year. His first assignment has him pitching for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in San Antonio.

Im OUT this DUSTBOWL. First rehab start in San Antonio on sunday. God is amazing. Im so lucky to have what I have & do what I do. #ThankYou

— Danny Duffy (@DannyDuffy805) May 24, 2013

Pitcher rehab assignments last for 30 days, so once he makes his rehab start (which Bob Dutton reports will be limited to a 60 pitch count), the clock starts ticking. After that time, the Royals can activate him from the disabled list and add him to the active roster or, because he has options left, could send him to Omaha for some more work. The Royals have 39 players on the 40 man roster including Duffy.

Reports are that Duffy’s velocity is up, and that he’s had command along with it. Last year, before he’d been shut down, his fastball was averaging 96 mph. He told Dutton that he’s back in that range after just under a year. If he has command along with it (and it translates to his starts against better competition), he could be a welcome addition behind James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie, and Ervin Santana. The Royals would have to make a decision on Wade Davis and Luis Mendoza, but too many starters is a good problem to have.

[RELATED: Duffy in February talking about his rehab experience on the Kansas City Baseball Vault.]

Davis has struggled back in a starting role. Last year with the Rays, he was effective as a reliever and the Royals added him to the Wil Myers trade because they felt it would carry over to his starting. That hasn’t been the case, as he’s put up a 5.91 ERA and a Blantonian 13.2 hits per nine innings. Mendoza has been better, but he hasn’t been consistently good, either (5.05 ERA in 41 innings). Due to all of the rainouts and off days in April, he was skipped in the rotation and made a long relief appearance so I’d give him some leeway there. In his last four starts, he’s started to settle down (23 IP and a 3.52 ERA).

If Duffy is reinserted into the rotation, one of those would have to go to the bullpen. Going back to spring training, Davis was locked into the fourth spot in the rotation, and I’d expect that to remain the case despite his performance so far (there haven’t been any indications from the organization to this point, but that’s my hunch).

Of course, this assumes that Duffy has had no setbacks, there haven’t been other injuries to starters, and that Duffy’s able to step in and perform well enough. His having options gives the Royals flexibility so that if he hits the big leagues and struggles (and we have to remember that Duffy has walked 11.6% of batters he’s faced in the big leagues) they can send him to Triple A to keep working.

It’s important to remain realistic. Most pitchers aren’t Stephen Strasburg and come right back to the levels they were at before Tommy John surgery (just look at John Lamb’s struggles two years after his surgery), much less improve right away. Duffy walked 18 batters in 27.2 innings last year, so his 3.90 ERA can be deceiving. He gave up less hits than in 2011 and struck out more (both good signs) but he’ll have to show that his command is truly there. If the Royals aren’t in position to move anybody off of the 25 man roster, Duffy’s 2013 Kansas City debut may be delayed.

The Royals had been mum about his condition at first, but he’s since headed back to Kansas City for an MRI and the early prognosis is that he’ll be ready for a return in 2-to-4 weeks. High ankle sprains can be tricky, and the Royals don’t want Dyson to rush back and re-injure himself. Dyson, at least, is in good spirits:

Thanks everyone for the love, mrzoombiya will be ok and will have a healthy return soon, I want to wish my team the best of luck on the road

— JarrodDyson (@mrzoombiya) May 17, 2013

David Lough filled in fine in his first game back in the big leagues, going 2-4 with the Royals only RBI and he offered an outfield assist on a Brandon Moss double attempt. If the Royals are going to continue to split time between Jeff Francoeur and a left-handed bat, Lough’s first game is at least encouraging.

Jorge Bonifacio with Wilmington in their 2013 home opener (Jen Nevius).

Speaking of right field, key Royals prospect Jorge Bonifacio will be on the shelf for 6-to-8 weeks with a broken bone in his hand. That pauses what was turning into a big season in High A Wilmington, as Bonifacio – ranked sixth among Royals prospects by Baseball America – had a .325/.404/.452 line in 34 games in the Carolina League. With Wil Myers traded and Bubba Starling a level lower and struggling, he’s the next impact outfield prospect the Royals have (or was prior to the injury).

Bonifacio turns 20 years old next month, so the injury doesn’t throw him way off track, but a you still want a top prospect to be on the field rather than recuperating. He’s got an advanced approach for his age and makes good contact. With a few mechanical tweaks, he may turn into a bigger power hitter, as well.

Finally, the only other two Kansas City Royals on the disabled list aside from Dyson are Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino. Both are on the rehab track after Tommy John surgery last summer.

Duffy recently threw a four inning simulated game on May 16th and continues to do other workouts. Paulino threw a three inning game on the 17th and a four inning game is his next step. It also appears that both pitchers are going on a normal rest schedule to get in line with a regular starting schedule. Duffy’s surgery occurred on June 13th. Paulino’s was on July 3rd. Typically, it’s at least 11 months for a pitcher to come back to regular game action after tearing their UCL. Duffy’s velocity was back into the mid-90s earlier this month, so he may not miss a beat when he comes back.

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.

The rankings for the Royals are mostly fair, but before I discuss where I think they are off I want to talk about the win projection.  In the end this system has a projection of 80 wins for the Royals.  This is exactly what I predicted in the Kings of Kauffman prediction article earlier this week.  You would think having projections systems along with some good writers over at Fangraphs agree with me would lead to a greater confidence in my original prediction, but that is not the case.

There are a couple of things that I disagree with a little, but can’t argue too much with, in that I think projections are a little low on Alex Gordon and Billy Butler.  These don’t change my mind though, since I think the optimism on Salvador Perez is probably a little too high.  Where this really affected my thinking was in two spots, right field and starting pitching.  The right field WAR is calculated with Jeff Francoeur receiving 630 plate appearances at a total WAR of 0.4, and that is almost surely not going to happen.  If Francoeur is bad then the platooning being discussed will likely become a reality quickly in some form, either acquisition, David Lough coming up, or Jarrod Dyson playing more in center with Lorenzo Cain moving over to play right.  The only other option is that Frenchy does get a full season of PAs, and that will likely only happen if he is producing at a better clip than 0.4 WAR per season.  It would surprise me a lot of the Royals don’t get better production out of right than is being predicted by Fangraphs, so that should add a win.  Possibly more, but I’ll call it one.

The second part, starting pitching, will likely be an even bigger deal.  Here are their projections:

They have James Shieldsat 4.4 WAR, which is fair and possibly even a little too high sinc

September 20, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson (1) and team mates celebrate with first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) after the game against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won the game 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

e 4.5 is his career high even if his ERA and FIP could end up better than what is shown.  I would be shocked if Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, and Wade Davis all end up in the four and half ERA/FIP range, and that is the first part of my disagreement.  Obviously, since they did this things have changed too.  Luis Mendoza is now the number five starter, and will not be getting 40IP.  He will be an upgrade over Bruce Chen, which is why everyone has been hoping for Mendoza to get the spot and the Royals evidently agree as well.  My guess is that this staff will end up with another 2+ wins worth of value at the least.  Especially when I look at rotations like the Rockies getting a better projection.  Jeff Francis got projected at 2 WAR, and I would rather have anyone in the Royals staff, and Jon Garland got 1.4 WAR in projection in 90 IPs which is just plain crazy.  The only way that rotation is better is if guys like Drew Pomeranz bump Garland out of the rotation.

Just adding Mendoza and making it clear that the Francoeur is not going to be given much leash has made this Royals team better than I, and Fangraphs, originally thought a couple of weeks ago.  That is probably another 3 or 4 wins, which is starting to push the Royals toward an expectation of contention.  If they can move into the mid-80s for wins, then I think we are in for a fun September.  Sure, Detroit was projected as the best team in this same article at 94 wins, but Detroit has failed to live up to their hype a couple of times in the past few years.  Monday cannot get here fast enough.

We’re getting anxious for spring training to start, but we can’t match the anticipation of Danny Duffy. Duffy took time out of his rehabbing to talk with the Kansas City Baseball Vault about the work he’s putting in to get back, his hopeful timetable, and his mindset as he looks to return in the middle of 2013. Last spring, Duffy was the most excited player in Royals camp. This year, he has to hang back while he continues to train after last June’s Tommy John surgery. He talked about that need for patience and dealing with frustration.

He’s also talked about his return to Twitter and interacting with fans. His new Twitter handle is @DannyDuffy805 and he’s looking to regain all of his old followers. And since he’s a California kid, we had to see if he’s rooting for the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Spoiler alert: that’s a yes.

Also, you might stick around for some outtakes at the end of the episode.

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.

Duffy made it to May 13 with surgery coming a month later. Paulino threw his last pitch in Kansas City on June 6 and had surgery on July 3.

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

Going into the 2013 season, both will still be rehabbing. The typical timeframe these days is about a year, though, of course, every arm and injury is different. John Lamb had Tommy John surgery on June 3, 2011 but his return didn’t come until the middle of last August (though the delay turned out to be more related to an ankle injury that popped up than any slow recovery of the arm). A typical schedule could put Duffy in line to return next June and Paulino just before the All-Star break, assuming no setbacks.

But then they also need to have some rehab starts. Figure on at least a month for each, so that pushes it back to July for Duffy and August for Paulino. That limits the amount of impact they may have on a 2013 Royals team (though could still turn into 10 starts for Duffy and six or so from Paulino).

There’s also the question of how effective they may be when they come back. While most pitchers can return to regular duty within a year, they’re not fully effective until a year and a half or so.

A study done by Jeff Zimmerman and Brian Cartwright for the 2013 Hardball Times Annual noted that pitchers generally see a jump in their ERA and HR/9 rates in the first year back from Tommy John surgery. Those combined 16 starts may not be very meaningful aside from getting both pitchers back into the routine of being a part of a big league rotation. By the second season back, performance returns to the normal projected levels. Zimmerman and Cartwright used Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmerman as recent examples of this pattern. So in 2013, it’s a safe bet that in a shortened season, Paulino and Duffy will see worse numbers than they’d left with.

It makes it a bit more difficult to evaluate Duffy in that regard because his overall sample size in the big leagues isn’t very large as he hasn’t quite made the normal full season equivalent number of starts and is still a bit of a question mark. It won’t be entirely certain if he fits a pattern if 2013 is rough and 2014 is much better or if it’s simply his own development. In his six starts last year, his hits and homers per nine innings had both gone down while his strikeout rate had risen. Those are good signs, despite an increase in walks per nine innings. His xFIP of 4.77 would have been an improvement over his 5.64 ERA in 2011 (but not his 4.53 xFIP that year).

Duffy looks like an average major league starter with upside to be much better, so those are the signs to look for in 2013 with an eye toward a solid leap in 2014. Based on the historical data, Duffy’s probably due to be stuck in place a bit in his couple months of time.

May 26, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Felipe Paulino (59) pitches in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Paulino’s not an easy guy to nail down either. He struggled so much in the National League before the Royals took a chance on him and were rewarded. His body of work leans much more towards the bad than the good, though his recent results are favorable, especially his start to 2012. But we still don’t really know. He’s always looked like he should be a better pitcher based on his fielding independent numbers and to watch him, he does have the kind of stuff that would seem to make him a good pitcher.

His 2013 could be right around average in his limited time. After parts of two seasons where he had 177 innings and a 3.86 ERA (combining his Colorado and Kansas City stats), so if he follows the pattern, that would put him in the 4.50 ERA range. Both pitchers could contribute once they return but it’s not safe to assume that their return will push the Royals towards a late-season playoff run.

An aspect where neither pitcher follows the pattern is their velocity. There’s usually a drop in velocity on a fastball from year to year (just based on age and wear) but a larger drop can signal a problem. Neither Paulino nor Duffy had sharp drop. Duffy even gained two MPH on his fastball from 2011 to 2012 (though it could have dropped as the 2012 season wore on if he’d seen 30 starts, nonetheless he was averaging 95 MPH when he was shut down). Paulino’s fastball velocity started increasing from 2007 to 2010 but not in a huge chunks. He went from 95.3 to 95.4 to 95.5. In 2011 and 2012, he averaged 95.1 MPH on the fastball. That’s not a sharp drop at all.

What might be most important to watch is their velocity in 2013. There’s not as strong of a pattern to pitchers coming back from surgery and having it affect their velocity. Some lose speed, some gain. Some stay the same. They’re both hard throwers and I think their secondary pitches would be more effective if they were to remain that way. If that’s the case, 2014 could be a fun year to watch both.

At the end of the year, first round pick Kyle Zimmer had surgery to clean out some bone chips in his elbow (though this was never as threatening as the ligament tears the others suffered).

Obviously none of that is good news.

The good news is that they’re all on their way back.

Soria has recently started throwing again and reports say that he looks good. The Royals have a decision to make on his contract, but the most reasonable idea is to buy out his remaining options for $750,000 rather than pay him $8 million in 2013 (when they don’t know how effective he might be).

Blake Wood is set to start throwing again tomorrow and seems to be ahead of schedule. While Wood isn’t as big of a name as others in the bullpen, he was a serviceable middle relief option in 2011. His presence on the 2012 Royals could have helped soak up a few more innings. He would have been a good option in the first half of the season when the Royals were routinely using five or six relievers to get through games.

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

Duffy and Paulino are the two names that mean the most going into 2013. Both are expected to be a part of a contending Royals rotation (or at least be in the competition for it). Paulino is staying in Kansas City to work his way back. Bob Dutton reported he’s likely two months from starting a throwing program of any kind. He was off to a hot start last season and had he stayed healthy, would look like a great fit in the rotation right now.

While Mike Montgomery and Chris Dwyer languish in the minors, Duffy made it up in 2011, then broke camp in the rotation last year. He started out well, striking out more batters and looked like he was figuring out the level of competition, but after six starts, his elbow gave out. As a lefty, he added that element to the rotation, as the other options as southpaw starters turned out to be Will Smith, Bruce Chen, Ryan Verdugo (once) and Everett Teaford. None of those options are particularly overpowering, and a staff would do well to have a strikeout guy every fifth day, especially throwing from the left side.

Both Duffy and Paulino hope to get back around July. Rehab time on Tommy John surgery is usually about 10-14 months, so that may be the optimistic timetable.

Lamb and Zimmer are the two closest to 100%. Lamb’s surgery was long enough ago that it’s just a matter of getting his game conditioning back and used to the pace of the game again. Lamb will start back in Double A after 13 innings at the Rookie level late in 2012. He struck out 14 batters and walked four, though he wasn’t totally sharp. After an offseason of work and more time, his strength and command will return.

Zimmer’s injury was something reported as well-known at the time and bone chips weren’t a short-term worry. It’s still a little scary when your first round pick goes under the knife, especially when it’s a pitcher and the area of concern is the elbow. But everything went fine and he’s in line to start next season at High A Wilmington. In nine starts as a pro, Zimmer worked in 39.2 innings with an ERA of 2.04. He had better than a 5/1 K/BB ratio over that span and most reports pointed to a lot of life on his fastball. Zimmer could be a fast riser in the Royals system, possibly in Double A by the end of next season if he pitches well. Like Lamb, he’s expected to be 100% once spring training rolls around.

These are all good signs. The Royals look to add pitching this offseason, but there’s always a need for good arms on a pitching staff. The Royals could see four pitchers come back and contribute next year at the big league level, which would be a big lift and added depth for the whole organization.

July 8, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Everett Teaford (61) is one of the pitchers who make up the revolving door known as the Royals starting staff. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Apparently, it’s important to strike hitters out without walking that many. Can we check to see if the Royals starters have gotten this memo? MLB.com posted an article yesterday explaining that this year’s strikeout to walk ratio is at its highest since 1884. That’s right 1884, not 1984. Back when Willie Nelson first started owing the IRS a ton of money and Teddy Roosevelt rode a dinosaur during his charge on Hitler’s bunker (I minored in revisionist history).

The SO/BB ratio is super high: 2.42. That means on average pitchers get 2.42 strikeouts for every walk. So, for a game if a pitcher has three walks seven or eight strikeouts. The upturn, seems to reflect a trend in pitching evaluation. Nowadays, with the prominence of statistical analysis, sabermetrics, and an emphasis on peripheral statistics for pitchers, more people are searching for strikeout pitchers, with the hopes of lowering their walk numbers if need be.

I think many people, and I count myself among them, look at the strikeout and the walk as polar opposites (even if they’re really not it’s easiest to understand them as such). A strikeout guarantees the hitter will not get on base (as opposed to a ball in play). A walk guarantees the runner will reach base (again as opposed to a ball in play). What a high SO/BB ratio means is that the pitcher is controlling that game in the positive. What a really low SO/BB ratio means is that the pitcher is also controlling that game in the negative.* If a pitcher has low strikeouts and low walks, they are kind of abdicating control of the game … kind of.

*Please note that I do believe the pitcher controls batted balls to a degree, but let us assume for the moment that he does not.

When I read the article on MLB.com, I wanted to see how the Royals’ pitchers are controlling the game with regards to their SO/BB ratio. As a team, the Royals’ SO-BB ratio is 2.08, which is below league average by a significant amount. A small section of the problem is that the Royals don’t strike that many guys out, 17th in MLB with 808. The big problem is that they walk way to many hitters, fifth most MLB with 388. Part of that was a certain terrible pitcher named Jonathan Sanchez (44 BB in 53 IP), but part of it is the high walk rates of Greg Holland, Tim Collins, Luis Mendoza, and the sometimes starters like Will Smith, Everett Teaford, and Danny Duffy.

Looking at the data, the picture is a little fuzzy but seems to point to the fact that Royals pitchers are not controlling the game in a positive way. Of their current starters, only Bruce Chen and Jeremy Guthrie have a SO-BB ratio better than league average (and they both serve meat balls with high HR/9 and BABIP numbers to prove it). Mendoza, the teams best starter for the last couple months, has a frightening 1.5 SO-BB ratio, but is saved by low HR/9 totals and good ground ball numbers. Smith also has frightening SO-BB numbers at 1.70.

In comparison, the best pitchers in the AL hang out from 3.70-4.00 for their SO-BB ratio: Justin Verlander (4.05), Jered Weaver (3.75), Felix Hernandez (3.70), Chris Sale (3.91). Right now, the Royals have none of these types of pitchers (not even Duffy as he has been so far). Guys like Mendoza, pitchers who keep the ball low and get a lot of weak groundballs, can work as fourth and fifth starters. But to compete at a playoff level, the Royals need pitchers who can be in the 3.70-4.00 range with their SO-BB ration. And those guys can’t be anomalies like Guthrie who are in the zone all the time but only to the hitter’s delight.

Looking down the road, it doesn’t look that much better. Jake Odorizzi’s got a 2.29 SO/BB ratio, which isn’t very good. Again, he strikes out a fair amount but walks too many (gives up too many hits as well). Kyle Smith in Low A has been good at 4.5 SO/BB, but that’s Low A. Yordano Ventura is another pitcher who could use fewer walks; he’s struggled since being called up to AA.

Right now, it looks pretty grim, especially if you believe that the Royals need someone who can serve as an ace, which I do. But we’ll see. Duffy has that potential if he stops walking so many hitters. Kyle’s Smith and Zimmer have that potential I think. But potential can’t play a game. It can’t win a pennant. When it can, the Royals will be set.

*All data from Aug. 11, 2012

The Royals just had a decent road trip but still came away with a loss on Sunday, so the Royalman Report tried to hearken back to better days, then tried to come up with how to bring those good days back.

We talked with our own Kevin Scobee of Kings of Kauffman about the Royals hints about converting some relievers into starters. The conversation led to talking about Luke Hochevar and what’s gone wrong, Kyle Zimmer and what’s going right and what attributes of some relievers work best if they were asked to become starters.

We also talked about Billy Butler‘s power surge in 2012 and marveled at his consistency even in the middle of a breakout. Then we set our sights on Steve Balboni‘s record – and wallowed in the fact that we’re still Royals fans, left behind while other small market teams challenge for playoff spots. Year Six…

Don’t forget the Royalman Report is on every Sunday at 7 and catch our new show, The Kansas City Baseball Vault on ESPN 1510 AM Thursday’s at 6.

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The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

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Hope springs eternal.  In the chest of all long suffering fans beats an optimistic heart, one that yearns for his or her team to succeed and looks forward to the day when they can celebrate the same championship they’ve watched others enjoy for years.  Occasionally, there will be substance behind the hope and evidence that this year could be different, this could be the year we finally break through.

As you know, this season was “Our Time” and many of us believed 2012 would mark a turning point toward respectability.  Many of the talented young players we’ve watched growing up in the best farm system in baseball were finally arriving in the major leagues and Dayton Moore’s plan was coming together.  If you’ll admit it, I bet you were thinking the Royals would play well this year.  Few of us believed they were playoff bound in 2012, but almost all of us were confident other teams would not be looking past KC this season.

Then something happened.  I’m not sure if any of us know exactly what happened, but something happened.  The Royals play in a weak division which allowed them to remain competitive with a mediocre record and this motivated us to hold onto hope.  But now, only the most die-hard fan still believes the Royals have a shot at the playoffs.  Oh yes, we all still root for them and cheer them on and sit on the edge of our seats shouting for another victory…  but we’ve become realists and we know we won’t be watching the boys in blue this October.  Again.

When did this happen?  When exactly did the Royals 2012 season go off the rails?  If could have been at any one of many twists and turns in the road, and each of us might point toward a different event that caused it.  Here are a few candidates for the prime pothole that caused the Royals train to jump the track:

Pick a Date:  Injuries – There have been so many devastating injuries that have impacted the Royals that I can’t select one date.  At the major league level, the Royals lost Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain for approximately the first half of the season.  Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, and Joakim Soria have undergone Tommy John surgery.  Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz have been on-again and off-again with various injuries.  Other Royals have likely played hurt because the team couldn’t afford to lose another player.  Is it possible that one of these injuries could have cut the cord on the Royals’ season?

March 26:  Part of the excitement about 2012 surrounded the youth movement in KC.   The decision to leave Johnny Giavotella in Omaha and play a platoon of Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz probably wasn’t the key factor that derailed the Royals season, but I would say it was a telling sign of things to come and questionable decisions that would be made by the Royals brass.

Jonathan Broxton's April 11 meltdown is one of the candidates when looking for the reason the Royals season has gone off the rails. (Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

April 11:  Broxton’s first meltdown, and it was a classic.  Two walks, two hit-by-pitches, two runs scored, Broxton’s first blown save of the year, and the A’s didn’t even need a hit.  This was the first real splash of cold water I experienced following an off-season and Spring filled with hope and expectation.

April 14:  Chris Perez’s Twitter rant and victory over the Royals following an onfield melee.  I believe Perez’s tweet somehow motivated the Indians and demotivated the Royals.  This was just the 3^rd loss in the 12 consecutive loss streak and we all discovered the Royals were apparently a fragile team.  I work with an Indian fan and wow is it annoying when he defends Chris Perez, aka one of the biggest jerks in professional sports.  Here’s what Perez said on Twitter on April 14:

@chrisperez54 Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it’s not “Our Time”, it’s#TribeTime. P.S. You hit us, we hit you. Period.

April 24:  The 12^th loss of the 12 game losing streak occurred on April 24.  Many fans will point to this streak and complain that the Royals season ended almost before it began.  I have a difficult time arguing against this rather valid point, but still, the Royals fought back to within 4 games by the halfway mark, so I don’t think the streak completely derailed the season, but it certainly threw a gigantic roadblock in the way.

Eric Hosmer's season long slump is another reason the Royals season has gone off the rails. (Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE)

May 16:  Hosmer was under the Mendoza line almost by the time the first week of the season ended.  But most of us thought it was just a rough patch and he would pull out of it by mid-April.  Then we thought he’d be ok by early May, and then we thought for sure by the end of May he’d be swinging the bat well.  We were wrong.  On May 16 in a 4-3 loss to the Orioles, Hosmer walked to the plate 7 times and came away with zero hits, ending the game with a .174 average.  Yost took him out of the lineup the next two days.  By this time, we all knew Hosmer’s slump had become more than just a run of bad luck, and more importantly Ned Yost knew it too.  If any of your players goes through a prolonged slump, it negatively affects the team.  But if the team’s presumed star goes through a slump that so far has lasted for more than half the season, it’s extremely difficult for the team to overcome and could be a cause for that team’s playoff hopes to go off the rails.

June 30:  The Royals had climbed to within 4 games of .500 and were starting to open some eyes across the league.  Then without warning… THUD.  The worst team in baseball, the Minnesota Twins, took both games of a doubleheader from the Royals, and the team hasn’t sniffed .500 ever since.

July 2:  Robinson Cano omits Billy Butler from the home run derby.  I realize that this decision by the liar Cano has nothing to do with the Royals on-field performance, but it says everything about the respect we have across the league – none.  And occasionally, lack of respect can affect your psyche, which impacts your performance, etc., etc.

Which incident do you say was the cause of the Royals season to derail, or do you point to a different event, or a combination of events?  I suppose there are still many games to play during the long baseball season, and as they say, “it’s not over ‘till it’s over.”  But no matter what happens, I know “the Royals will get ‘em next year!”

If you don’t know anything about the automobile market in 1985, there’s a good reason for that.  There was nothing to know.  Nobody collects cars built in the 80’s because they were stodgy, slow, and ugly.  The market was starved for something exciting, a vehicle that could rejuvenate the industry.  We all sat on the edge of our seats waiting for the reveal of the new S-Series, a vehicle that you don’t remember and probably have never heard of – for good reason.  Have you ever seen an S-Series model Saturn?  Yuck.  It turned out to be an uninspiring piece of plastic junk.

The huge un-recouped investment in the Saturn Corporation by General Motors and subsequent lack of creative and groundbreaking design dulled all the luster on this once eagerly awaited car company.  And as you know, Saturn is now long gone, relegated to the dust bin of history.

Eric Hosmer may not be as good as we hoped he would be (Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE)

It hurts me to even say this, but what if Eric Hosmer is the Royals’ Saturn Corporation?  The Royals of the past 20 years make a good comparison to the automotive industry of the 1980’s – underperforming, uninspiring, and underwhelming, with little hope of a turnaround.  The fan base has been desperate for any sign of hope and are willing to fall over themselves (me included) when even one prospect appears to have the slightest chance of becoming the next big thing.

We’ve set ourselves up for a potentially huge disappointment with Eric Hosmer.  When was the last time a prospect was so highly anticipated with an expectation that he could potentially turn the club around?  Zack Greinke might be the closest player, but I don’t think anyone expected Zack to elevate the entire team the way we believed Hosmer would impact the organization.

Hosmer was a #1 draft pick, the 3rd player selected in the 2008 draft.  He tore through minor league pitching like Bo Jackson through an Seattle Seahawk defensive backfield.  He carried himself like a veteran with one of the most magnificent and picturesque follow-through swings Royals fans have ever seen.  He had all the makings of a potential Superstar.  Many of us pinned our greatest hopes on him simply because we have been looking for light at the end of the tunnel for so long, even a spark would send us into a frenzy.

Our good looking young first baseman was ranked as the #8 overall prospect by Baseball America in 2011, batted .439 during his 26 game stint in AAA (that is not a misprint), and he impressed nearly everyone with his talent as he made his way toward the majors.  He debuted last year to oohs and ahhs, just the same as the Saturn S-Class did years ago.  But now that we bought our Hosmer sedan, drove him to work and parked him in our driveway every night for a few months, the bloom is beginning to come off the rose and we’re not quite as excited about him as we were a year ago.  I’m beginning to have just a tiny little bit of buyer’s remorse.

Royals fans have been making excuses for Hos for months now.  “He’s just in a sophomore slump, he’ll come out of it”, “as soon as he starts hitting to the opposite field, things will come together for him”, “he makes good contact, his hits are just finding a lot of gloves”, etc., etc.  We’re making excuses because we don’t want to admit that he may not be as good as we’ve hoped, because giving up on Hosmer is tantamount to giving up on the Royals.  Because we’re loyal true-blue fans, we keep waiting, and watching, and hoping for any sign that Hosmer’s bat will find its way again and reignite our passions the way our expectations of his future performance did a few months ago.  Because we love the Royals, this creates a situation where we CAN’T give up on Hosmer.

Let’s be realistic for a moment and say that other players have pulled out of worse sophomore slumps, although I can’t think of any right now.  Even on our own team, Alex Gordon took a few years to find his way and now he’s a strong contributor, although not a Superstar.  And this is really where the problem lies – Eric Hosmer can eventually be a good player, he might even be an All Star (someday, maybe), but because of our high expectations, he’ll end up as a stunning disappointment if he isn’t a Superstar.  Face it, if Hosmer were a newly premiering Fall Television Series, his ratings would have already forced the networks to pull him from the schedule.

So here’s what I think – the race for the 2012 pennant is over.  The winner hasn’t been decided yet, but there can be little doubt that one of the losers will be the Kansas City Royals.  We’re threatening the Twins for last place; Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, and Joakim Soria will be on the shelf until at least 2013 or later; and the season is more than half over.  Let’s start preparing for next year.  Let’s stop worrying about bruising Hosmer’s psyche and let’s send him to Omaha and let him earn his way back to the majors.  It’s worked for other players, including Alex Gordon, it certainly couldn’t hurt Hosmer.

Let Hosmer spend some quality time with the club’s hitting instructors and see if he can recapture some of the magic he experienced in 2011.  And while they’re at it, maybe they can coach him to stop that stupid swipe-grab he tries to make at first base every time there’s an errant throw.  I’m not sure if he is just putting on a show with this move, or if he honestly thinks it’s a proper way to play a short hop.  It looks very amateurish to me and he’s going to clown-suit himself eventually when one of these throws skips past him and down the right field line.  This technique has burned him at least once this season that I’ve personally witnessed, and will probably come back to bite him and the Royals some day when the game is on the line if he doesn’t stop it.

Eric Hosmer sends a ball over the outfield wall in Spring Training (Credit: Alan Barrington)

I remember sitting in the stands last Spring in Surprise Arizona, eager with anticipation for Eric Hosmer’s at bat.  I even snapped a picture of his flawless swing that resulted in a Cleveland Indian pitch being deposited over the Center Field wall – it was a thing of beauty.  But something happened to Hosmer between that day and the start of the regular season, and the result is that he’s lost his way and he can’t seem to find it again.  Let’s face the facts, and let’s treat him the way we would treat anyone we love – tell him the truth and send him to get help.  It’s either that, or we all need to admit that he may not be as good as we hoped he would be.

Many of the challenges the Royals have faced this year can be attributed to the multitude of injuries that have plagued the team.  The Royals experienced more serious injuries in Spring Training than during all of 2011, and we are only now beginning to see a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel.

The 2012 injury story began with a backup catcher in a noncompetitive situation.  While Manuel Pina wasn’t expected to contribute much to the Royals in 2012 (little did they know they could have used him to open the season after Salvador Perez went down), but on February 22 he torn his meniscus and this injury was the beginning of a long line of devastating setbacks the team has suffered to its roster.

Joakim Soria spoiled Royals fans for several years. (Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE)

On March 13, Salvador Perez twisted his knee resulting in an almost identical injury to Manuel Pina, causing the Royals to lose 2 of their top 3 catchers for the first half of the season.  This roster hole forced the team to pick up Humberto Quintero, Mr. “Catch and Throw,” in a trade with Houston.  “Q” as he was frequently called by teammates was heralded as a great defensive player, although I never personally witnessed any evidence of this, and at bat he performed as you would expect a veteran bench player to perform.  (Lousy.)  So the Royals endured the first half of the season with little to no production from behind the plate.  Fortunately, Salvador returned to the lineup in June, and all is right with the world again.  Well, at least in the catching world.

I was sitting in the stands in Surprise, Arizona on March 18 when Joakim Soria was on the mound and felt a “tug” in his elbow.  He hadn’t pitched well that day and there was an uneasiness in the stands among Royals fans that something was definitely wrong.  We later learned that tug was a warning bell that Soria was going to require Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career, and forced the Royals to use Jonathan “roller coaster” Broxton as their closer.  As many people have accurately said, for the most part Broxton is getting the job done, but few players have caused fans (including me) more angst than he has.  Soria definitely spoiled us.

But Joakim isn’t the only Royals pitcher to go under the knife.  Not that any of us would have been excited to see Blake Wood in Kansas City this year, but he is out for the season with a case of the Tommy John illness.  As is Felipe Paulino – just as he was beginning to prove that possibly all of his potential and “stuff” might translate into solid performances and wins.  It’s sad when your rotation is so weak that you miss Felipe Paulino.  But I miss him, I really really do.

The Royals anxiously await Danny Duffy's recovery from Tommy John surgery (Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

It brings a tear to my eye as I remember Danny Duffy exiting the game after throwing only 13 pitches on Mother’s Day.  I think every educated baseball fan immediately knew this meant another key contributor was lost for this season, and possibly beyond.  If you’re wondering, yes, Tommy John strikes again.  Is it contagious?

Not that I’m thrilled to see Yuniesky Betancourt in the lineup, and I’m not enamored with Chris Getz either, but when the team is thin at a few positions like second base, you don’t want to see anyone on your roster sitting in the trainer’s room.  Escobar has experienced nagging ankle problems, and Getz has been working through a variety of ailments including bruised ribs and a lower leg lateral strain that have sent both of them up and down so many times that it’s been a guessing game about who will play second base each day.

The Royals started the year strong, winning 2 out of 3 from the heavily favored Angels.  Then on April 10, while winning the 3^rd of their first 5 games of the year, Lorenzo Cain bumped into the Centerfield wall while chasing down a fly ball and suffered what was initially called a “slight pull of the left groin.”  This slight pull turned into a torn hip flexor and an on-again, off-again stay on the disabled list that has kept him out of the Royals lineup ever since.

Salvador Perez blocks the plate, and all is right with the world again. (Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

The good news is the Royals appear to be healing up.  As mentioned earlier, Salvador Perez has already made an impact in the short time he’s been back on the team, and most Lorenzo Cain is on the verge of making his first appearance in KC this year.

Unfortunately, the team’s pitching woes won’t be corrected anytime soon, but if Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, Joakim Soria, and John Lamb (a Top 20 prospect who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2011) needed to sit out a year, it’s much better that it happen this year rather than next.  (Although, I suppose we don’t know for certain when any of them will return.)  In 2013 we expect Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi to be in KC, Eric Hosmer’s sophomore slump to be in the rear view mirror, we’ll have Salvador and Lorenzo for the entire season, and the Royals front office will be laser focused on adding a prime arm or two to the rotation through trades or free agency.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the serious injury bug doesn’t visit the Royals again next year.

We were honored to be a part of the Baseball Prospectus event on Sunday afternoon.

The Royalman Report came to you from the historic Gem Theater in the Jazz district at 18th and Vine in a panel format. Included with us was Craig Brown from Royals Review and took questions from attendees related to the ideal pitching staff, David Glass, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and more.

It was a very special moment and we’re appreciative of the Joe Hamrahi and the Baseball Prospectus guys for inviting us to take part and also want to thank Bob Kendrick from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for taking time out of his busy schedule to help us set it up at the Gem, as well.

Don’t forget the Royalman Report is on every Sunday at 7 and catch our new show, The Kansas City Baseball Vault on ESPN 1510 AM Thursday’s at 6.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

You can also subscribe via iTunes: JUST CLICK HERE (and iPad, iPhone, iTouch users can get the Livestream app here to watch live or archived shows).

Follow the Royalman Report on Twitter.  While you’re at it, track down Kings of Kauffman on Twitter as well.

He’s still seeking a second opinion, but commonly, the UCL is the ligament replaced during Tommy John surgery.

We know all of this already because Paulino is the fourth Royals pitcher to require the procedure after Joakim Soria, Blake Wood and Danny Duffy all went under the knife.

Paulino opened the season on the disabled list with a sore right elbow but was strong when he returned, allowing just seven earned runs in 37.2 innings while striking out 9.3 batters per nine innings. He looked like he was ready to assume the role of the rotation’s workhorse.

Then in a start against the Twins, he slipped fielding a grounder and landed awkwardly. He was placed on the disabled list again, this time with a groin strain. He made a rehab start in Double A Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday, working three innings. It was assumed that he was near a return to the big leagues.

Instead, it’s another pitcher on the shelf.

That tempers some of the enthusiasm Royals fans were feeling after a strong 7-2 stretch of games that has the team just five games under .500 and 4.5 back of first in the division.

Going into 2011, the Royals had a slew of high-profile arms in their system. Baseball America placed five pitchers within their top 100 rankings.

Danny Duffy reached the majors and mostly struggled, came out in 2012 and looked impressive. Then a UCL tear ended his season. He just underwent successful Tommy John surgery himself. Mike Montgomery, lauded as the top prospect in the system before 2012 by Baseball America, has had a handful of exciting starts, but mostly has had the same command and control issues that plagued him last season. Jake Odorizzi has made an impression in Triple A and has jumped in front of the group as the best pitching prospect anywhere near the majors. Chris Dwyer has struggled since reaching Double A and is running out of time.

All four, along with Lamb, were top 100 prospects. Lamb, at #18, was considered the best.

There hasn’t been any indication of what level Lamb may end up at to start his rehab pitching, but he’ll probably toil in lower levels to get back to game speed with a shot at a couple of Double A starts at the end of the year. Perhaps if things go well enough, he might see a stop in Triple A, which would set him up nicely to return to that level next spring with an opportunity to make his way to Kansas City in mid-season.

It all depends on his elbow and how he’s able to regain his strength.

Lamb never relied on high velocity to be effective, though he can work in the low-90s with his fastball. His best weapon is hitting spots with his fastball. He’s a tough, smart pitcher who had control of his secondary pitches early in 2011 and looked like he might reach Omaha by season’s end.

So if he arm strength is there and the stuff returns, it’s not out of the question to see him in Triple A. It’s just unlikely.

Often, a pitcher still needs a lot of time to get back to full speed, though rehab programs and recovery times are making that regrouping window smaller and smaller in many cases. Every injury is different, so it’s not fair to hold Lamb to the standard of Stephen Strasburg, who returned to the big leagues just over a year after having Tommy John surgery. The Royals also had enough cause to hold Lamb back since he wasn’t automatic for Triple A and the Royals weren’t looking for him to contribute at the major league level this soon either.

Lamb was a trainee with Jaeger Sports, and I’m sure he’s adopted much of their long toss teachings to get back in shape. The additional arm strength may even add some zip to his fastball and help his endurance as he returns. We’ll have to see as he makes his way back and gets into games.

We have to wait on Duffy. Dwyer may never be more than a reliever, if that. Montgomery will still probably be up this year, but who knows how well he’ll be able to do. Odorizzi is the best of the bunch (thankfully). But Odorizzi alone won’t be enough when the organization ends up sniffing contention again. John Lamb would be a fine complement – so hopefully all goes well starting next month.

Again, it’s been a rough year.

Danny Duffy, Joakim Soria and Blake Wood are done for the year. Tommy John surgery has claimed all three. Felipe Paulino hit the DL after an awkward landing while fielding an infield grounder. Salvador Perez and Manuel Pina both had meniscus surgeries in spring training. Lorenzo Cain hasn’t played two full series after straining his groin, then having the ailment re-diagnosed as a hip flexor and having two rehab stints aborted.

Thankfully, though, the Royals are starting to see some players return.

On Tuesday, Chris Getz returned from a rib injury to join the club in time for their first game against Milwaukee. Everett Teaford had an abdominal strain that had him rehabbing in Omaha until today. He was activated today – and then optioned to Omaha. But hey, he’s healthy.

Jonathan Sanchez ran into bicep tendinitis and has been on the disabled list for a while, but he was announced as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. He’s struggled in 2012, but perhaps some of the problem has been his health (though maybe that’s just wishful thinking).

Cain has had a rocky recovery after a great play in Oakland. What was thought to be a minor injury has now kept Cain off the shelf for almost half the year, and there’s no timetable for his return yet. The Royals have mostly used Jarrod Dyson in center, but he’s been in a big slump over the last month and is only now showing signs of coming out of it. He’s made plays in center, but at times he’ll play more shallow and doesn’t take good routes to the ball and his speed isn’t enough to make up the difference. Mitch Maier is better at defensive routes to the ball, but his speed is nowhere near Dyson’s. Cain (when healthy) can be the best of both with upside at the plate. He just has to be on the field to show it.

The biggest injuries have been behind the plate. Manuel Pina and Salvador Perez have been recovering from meniscus surgery but are close to returning. The impact of the Perez injury has been felt in a few ways within the organization. First, the Royals had to trade for Humberto Quintero to fill the gap, giving up two players to bring he and Jason Bourgeois into the fold. Secondly, they’ve had to play Quintero, who makes an out nearly three of every four plate appearances. A healthy Perez would have left Quintero and Brayan Pena in a backup role, giving their at bats to a player the Royals think has more promise at the plate, and who plays better defense and who pitchers love throwing to.

Defensively, both catchers have held their own, but it will be great to get Perez back. The actual date varies, as the Royals want to see him be able to catch on consecutive days without issue, but Perez will be back anywhere from next week to the end of June. Pina had a setback while running, but could come back before the end of the year.

While in Omaha, Perez has 12 hits in 27 at bats and drove in three runs in each of his last two games. Whenever he’s ready, he’ll be a welcome addition to the Royals lineup.

If Sanchez can return with any effectiveness, Getz returns to his solid April form and Cain can finally get back, adding Perez to that group of the recovered could make the second half of 2012 interesting for the Royals. They won’t be at full strength, since Paulino may need some time to heal fully and Duffy won’t be back until next year at the earliest, but they’ll be closer to where they thought they might be before the season started.

Last year, the Royals were remarkably healthy, with only a handful of players hitting the disabled list all season. Fortune has flipped on them in 2012, and they’re only now starting to recover from it. But they are recovering. That’s the important part.

Tommy Milone kept the Royals off-balanced earlier this season in Oakland can KC return the favor this weekend? Photo Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

These two teams met in early April with the A’s taking two-of-three against KC, Oakland won the first and third games of that series. The Royals were coming off an opening series win in Anaheim lost a 1-0 game, won 3-0 eighth inning game and lost 5-4 in 12-innings.

In the opener Kansas City met Tommy Milone who three-hit the Royals over eight innings, the stat that sticks out is he didn’t strike out anyone. Luis Mendoza threw 5 2/3 innings on 97 pitches allowing just one-run. Grant Balfour picked up the save coming in the ninth inning stranding Mitch Maier on second base after walking him with one-out.

Danny Duffy made the start in game two on what was a rainy night in Oakland, more on that in a moment and handcuffed the A’s over six innings. Cliff Pennington’s double was the only hit that Duffy allowed during the game. KC struck for two runs in the fourth inning putting up two-runs with Mike Moustakas doubling home Billy Butler and Humbero Quintero getting Jeff Francoeur home on a sac fly.

For much of the night there was a steady mist that fell during the game which picked up late. Maier hit a homerun in the seventh putting KC up 3-0 which was all the run support needed on this night. In the eighth the rain really picked up which after the inning put the contest in a rain delay resulting in the game being called.

Game three started the Jonathan Broxton anxiety which every Royals fan seems to have when Mr. Excitement (my nickname due to this) given how it ended. The game went back and forth with quality starts from Bruce Chen and Brandon McCarthy.

Fast forward to the top of the 12^th inning when KC took a 4-3 lead. Broxton, struck out Daric Barton before walking back-to-back A’s, Alcides Escobar committed an error to start the trouble. Two straight walks were followed by an RBI-groundout tying the game which Broxton then hit two hitters in-a-row ending the game.

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

Friday, 7:10 pm – Bartolo Colon (4-5, 4.52) v. Felipe Paulino (2-1, 2.03)
- Colon is 1-2 in his last three starts against the Angels, Giants and Yankees picking up a win at San Francisco. His lone win he went five innings striking out seven with two walks, in the other two games he lost he pitched six plus with three strikeouts and no walks. In his career against the Royals he’s 15-9 with a 4.92 ERA.
- Paulino’s record doesn’t show just how good he’s been for the Royals with a win at New York sandwiched around two no-decisions against Baltimore. Saturday, Felipe went only 5.2 innings compiling five walks and strikeouts in 109 pitches at Camden Yards. In three career starts against Oakland he’s 0-0 but has a 12.46 ERA going just four innings allowing six-runs.

Saturday, 1:10 pm – TBD v. Luke Hochevar (3-5, 6.19)
- It’s not know who the A’s will start on Saturday against KC, the Athletics list four starters on their roster but we’ll see if they make a roster move.
- Hochevar despite losing two of his last three starts he’s seen his ERA drop from 7.02 to 6.61 to its current 6.19 state. Kansas City won 4-2 on Sunday in Luke’s last start but he couldn’t escape the fifth inning going just 4.2 innings striking out seven, walking one. In seven career games Hoch is 0-6 with a 6.39 ERA against Oakland.

Sunday, 1:10 pm – Tommy Milone (6-4, 3.64) v. TBD
- Milone was mentioned earlier from his mastery of the Royals back in April but coming into this start he’s just 1-2. He’s pitched into the seventh inning in all three starts losing 4-1 at Texas and 2-0 against New York while beating Los Angeles 2-1. After not throwing 100 pitches in his first seven starts, he’s reached the century mark over the last three.
- One would think with Kansas City not announcing a starter that Jonathan Sanchez who pitched Tuesday in Omaha could be called up. Vin Mazzaro could also get a spot start or Mendoza who threw 3.2 innings Monday at Cleveland if the team didn’t make a move.

Our intrepid reporter, Fake Ned, also known as Chris Kamler, spent last weekend in Omaha with the Storm Chasers. We present to you a short show compiled of interviews with members of the Storm Chasers staff. You’ll hear an interview with Martie Cordero, the GM of the Chasers about Werner Park and what a great option it is for a short summer trip.

We also talked to Park Hill South alum Tommy Hottovy about his tour with the Royals earlier this year and some advise he has for Danny Duffy. Finally, we ended with some post-game sound after Jake Odorizzi‘s AAA debut. We talk with Jake and his manager Mike Jirschele.

Don’t forget the Royalman Report is on every Sunday at 7 and catch our new show, The Kansas City Baseball Vault on ESPN 1510 AM Thursday’s at 6.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

You can also subscribe via iTunes: JUST CLICK HERE (and iPad, iPhone, iTouch users can get the Livestream app here to watch live or archived shows).

Follow the Royalman Report on Twitter.  While you’re at it, track down Kings of Kauffman on Twitter as well.

As the Royals finished their homestand, the Royalman Report added another episode of discussion.

This week, we recapped Fake Ned’s trip to Omaha and listened to comments from Storm Chasers General Manager Martie Cordero and pitchers Tommy Hottovy and Jake Odorizzi (who had debuted in Triple A on Friday).

We covered a lot of Omaha and minor league information, including Wil Myers‘s debut, Christian Colon‘s breakout, Mike Montgomery‘s issues and more. We also talked a bit about player development and the Royals and why some teams have figured it out and the Royals are still lagging.

Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas earned praise as well for carrying the team offensively – those guys are raking.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

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That puts him out of action for all of 2012 and most of 2013 (though recovery times are shortening).

It turns out that Blake Wood needs the procedure as well. He was shut down in spring training with irritation in his throwing elbow and the first return date was said to be late April. Now, it’s been determined that  he has a tear as well and will go under the knife as well. While Wood wasn’t as vital a part of the pitching staff as Duffy, he has been an average reliever so far as a big leaguer and was showing signs of improvement.

In the last twelve months, the Royals have had four pitchers from the top of their prospect lists or from the big leagues require Tommy John surgery: Duffy, Wood, John Lamb last June and Joakim Soria at the end of spring training.

The Royals have the bullpen arms to sustain the losses of Wood and Soria, but Lamb and Duffy have been two of the top pitching prospects since they signed their bonuses. Lamb is throwing in Arizona now but no timetable for rehab starts has been set.

Meanwhile, Duffy is staying in good spirits and cheering on his team every night. Really, you should follow him on Twitter (@dduffkc23) to witness it.

We also talked with former Kansas City Athletic Joe Rudi. The three time All Star and Gold Glove winner talked about coming up through the minors, dealing with Charlie Finley, and world championships.

Jeff Logan discussed upcoming events from the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society, including the monthly meeting this May 24 at the Westport Flea Market and the upcoming Kansas City A’s reunion on June 8. We also gave away Kansas City T-Bones tickets to three lucky callers in our weekly trivia contest.

We’ll be back next week with more discussion of Kansas City baseball, past, present and future on ESPN 1510 Thursday at 6 p.m. CST.

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.

Tonight we continue an exciting new venture for Kings of Kauffman and its podcast, the Royalman Report.

Jeff Logan of the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society joins forces with us to form the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Kansas City’s ESPN 1510 AM from 6-7 p.m. every Thursday night. Listeners can tune into traditional radio or streaming live on 1510.com.

On tonight’s show, we’ll talk with Kevin Goldstein of ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus about such topics as the Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi promotions, Eric Hosmer, and other prospects. Kevin’s a great baseball commentator and shared his time with us back in November. Quite a bit has changed since then. You can follow Kevin at @Kevin_Goldstein on Twitter.

We also have former major league catcher Doc Edwards lined up as our second guest. Doc played for the Kansas City A’s from 1963 to 1965 and currently manages the San Angelo Colts in the United Baseball League. He’s supposedly going to call us from the dugout during a game, so maybe we’ll see if we can call a squeeze play during the show.

Just like last week, we plan to have a trivia question and a giveaway, so be sure to listen in. Last week, three listeners won free ticket packages to go see the Kansas City T-Bones. You like winning things, right?

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.

From now until the All-Star selections are announced later this summer, I’ll be subjectively breaking down the five Royals each week who I think have the best shot to make the team, based both on the previous week’s performance as well as what can reasonably expected moving forward.

All cited statistics are valid through Tuesday, May 15th’s ridiculously surprising victory over the Texas Rangers. You know, the one that was won by Vin Mazzaro, secured a series sweep over the best team in the AL, and brought the Royals record to 15-20.

2012 Kansas City Royals All-Star Power Rankings

1. Mike Moustakas – In an article posted a couple of weeks ago, I downplayed Moustakas’ chances of making the All-Star game because of the high-priced talent at his position. But in the time since that sage opinion hit the interwebs, a couple of things have broken in his favor.

One, Evan Longoria suffered a hip injury, taking him out of consideration for a spot if he isn’t voted in by the fans. Considering the fact that

Mike Moustakes may now be the logical choice to represent the Royals in the All Star game. Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Longoria was hitting .329/.433/.561 with four home runs and 19 RBI’s when he last played (on April 30th), it’s safe to say that Moustakas’ candidacy has been bolstered.

Longoria could, however, still be voted in by the fans, and perennial All-Stars Adrian Beltre and Miguel Cabrera are also on the ballot as third basemen. So Moustakas in by no means a shoe-in. But the Royals third baseman is currently putting up a better line, .310/.371/.540, than any other eligible third baseman (sans Longoria) in the American League.

The second benefit for Moustakas is the way he is breaking away from the rest of the Royals offensively. Aside from newly promoted Irving Falu, Billy Butler is the only other Royal with an OPS over .800, and he still lags fifty points behind Moustakas. If he continues to keep his stat line above those of Cabrera, Beltre, and Alex Rodriguez, it will be hard to pick a different Royal for the big game in Kansas City this summer.

2. Alcides Escobar - I’ve stated Escobar’s case here before, and he continues to stake his claim for one the American League shortstop spots in the All-Star game. Escobar has put together several defensive highlights over the past week, including this incredible web gem on a play he made in short left field.

Escobar’s bat has held up admirably as well. Heading into Wednesday, he has compiled a line of .287/.320/.426, good for fourth among AL shortstop qualifiers with a .746 OPS.

So why, might you ask, do I now view Moustakas as a more viable All-Star?

It has to do with the competition each player faces. While the injury to Evan Longoria has opened things up for Moustakas, strong offensive streaks from Texas’ Elvis Andrus and Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera have hurt Escobar’s chance to make the cut. Remember that Derek Jeter is having a resurgent season, and even if he wasn’t, would be an almost certain selection by the fans anyway.

Simply put, there is more firepower for Escobar to compete with at the moment than for Moustakas. That makes a difference.

3. Billy Butler – At this point, Butler is a longshot to be the Royals All-Star representative. Sporting a .288/.340/.489 line heading out of Texas on Tuesday, Butler is pretty firmly entrenched as the fourth best designated hitter in the American League behind David Ortiz, Adam Dunn, and Edwin Encarnacion all currently OPS’ing over .900.

Butler will need a vintage Butler-esque hot streak in order to get back into the mix, and while he is due for an offensive run, he’ll still be hard-pressed to make up the 150+ OPS points he currently needs to surpass Dunn or Ortiz.

One day, Butler will get his due, but he’ll need to show more consistency and/or ride a ridiculous hot stretch before he can be considered among the elite hitters in the American League. For now, he’ll likely have to settle for being one of the elite hitters on the Kansas City Royals.

4. Jonathan Broxton -Based off of his initial performances from early April, Royals fans may be hesitant to anoint Broxton as an All-Star caliber player. But even with that disastrous opening week blown save against Oakland, Broxton has put up a stellar campaign.

Jonathan Broxton is probably the only Royals pitcher with a chance to make the All-Star game. Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Those who watch every game may lament Broxton’s knack for getting himself in (and out of) trouble, but I’m fairly certain that AL manager Ron Washington doesn’t watch the first year Royals closer pitch every day. What Washington might notice, however, is that Broxton currently ranks third among AL closers with a 1.32 ERA and fourth in the league with eight saves.

If Washington is put in a position to take Texas’ Adrian Beltre over Moustakas, Broxton may be the guy he looks at to fill the obligatory Royals spot on the American League Roster.

5. Alex Gordon – To be honest, not too many Royals have distinguished themselves as reasonable candidates for the fifth and final spot on this list. But as I mentioned at the top of this post, one of the factors that will go into these rankings is expected future results.

Gordon has as much room for growth as anyone on the team  besides Eric Hosmer, except he already owns a 150 point lead over Hosmer with his .729 OPS.

Gordon absolutely deserved the All-Star nod in 2011, so it would be poetic justice to see him make a meteoric rise to the top spot of these rankings.

HONORABLE MENTION: Danny Duffy (2012 season R.I.P), Jarrod Dyson (the man just gets on base), Bruce Chen (that would be great to see, no?)

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And those alarms bells proved to be warranted today, as Duffy now appears to be heading for Tommy John surgery per an afternoon tweet from the Royals official Twitter account.

 

 

#Royals head physician Dr. Key diagnoses LHP Danny Duffy with a torn left ulnar collateral ligament. Duffy to get 2nd opinion w/ Dr. Yocum.

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 14, 2012

 

Obviously, there isn’t much more to say here that isn’t part of an extended and expletive-laden tirade. Royals fans everywhere just had their worst fears realized, just saw the club’s most (arguably only) promising pitcher likely sidelined for over a year. And while we’re on the subject of heavy realizations, the following question needs to be considered: Will Duffy ever be the electrifying, high 90′s pumping wunderkind he was this season ever again?

I’m not ready to answer that (quite depressing) question yet, and truthfully am barely ready to comprehend the loss of Duffy on this 2012 Royals team. With fellow lefty Jonathan Sanchez also currently on the DL, the already struggling rotation is sure to be a glaring weakness for the remainder of the season. Unless, of course, you have the utmost faith in injury replacements Vin Mazzaro, Luis Mendoza, and Nate Adcock.

Sigh.

Is there any better way to start a road trip against Josh Hamilton and the white-hot Texas Rangers?

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The early diagnosis is simply inner left elbow tightness, the same condition that caused Duffy to miss a start in late April. He returned for his normal day in the rotation and threw 5.1 effective innings in Detroit on May 3.

Danny Duffy delivers a pitch. Photo: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

With another bout of elbow pain within a month of the first instance the worry is that it’s a more serious injury, perhaps a strain or a full tear. Neither are good, of course, though the hope is that it’d be an injury that wouldn’t require Tommy John surgery. If it’s merely an issue that requires rest, the Royals would be wise to rest him as long as it takes to get back on the mound – and maybe even a bit longer to be on the cautious side.

Duffy is an important part of the next few years of possible contention. Entering 2012, he was the best bet for a breakout year and arguable the team’s most talented pitcher. Two strong starts to open the season showed what he could be capable of. To lose him for any amount of time is tough. The more starts he can get and more innings he can work through the better off he is and the better he’ll get at pitching to – and retiring – major league batters. Despite that, he can’t be rushed back. Yes, he needs the innings, but if they’re innings where he’s asked to hold back or told to change his approach just for the sake of chewing through innings, then they’re counter-productive.

It’s been mentioned a few times that Duffy’s fastball was among the fastest in the league among starters. He also drew a lot of whiffs with the pitch and his curveball was strong early as well. That’s a lot of encouraging weapons. Combine those assets with Duffy’s competitiveness (on more than one occasion I’ve found myself saying he’d run through walls to get on the mound), his handedness (good lefties are a hot commodity) and his youth (with plenty of upside), and he’s a centerpiece of a contending Royals team’s rotation.

That’s why, if his elbow shows no damage and just needs rest, Duffy should get a DL stint and maybe get an extra week off. He’s better off missing a month now and coming back with the same approach and full strength than by missing a week and a half and coming back but with the suggestion that he dial it back to prevent injury. He’s not going to be the same pitcher for one, and he’s likely to just get hurt again. That helps nobody.

It seems like that’s the angle the Royals may have taken after his last missed start. Duffy returned, but has thrown his curveball less often. In his first three starts, he threw the curve 21.1% of the time. In his last three (counting Sunday), he threw it 12.2% of the time. Sure, that could be a sample size issue, but in 2011, he threw the curve 20.7% of the time. Even in his last three starts, his curve has stayed up and he’s having it put into play a lot more often (4.5% of curves were in play in his first three starts; 20% in his last three).

Duffy is scheduled for an MRI on Monday. The best news will be that there’s no tear and that he just needs rest. The Royals don’t have the best track record of giving their players proper rest in the face of injury (Coco Crisp and Mike Aviles both had lost 2009 seasons after playing through injuries; Salvador Perez had knee discomfort this spring in warmups but still started the game in the middle of camp). Duffy’s a ballplayer and he’ll want to play through it, but the best course of action (with good news) is to rest him as long as it takes in 2012. It’s to Duffy and the Royals benefit in 2013 and beyond that this happens.

You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.

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There’s been a lot of stuff going on lately with the Royals – Wil Myers is raking, Danny Duffy was hurt today, and who knows what’s going on with Luke Hochevar?

Tonight we’ll talk about all of that as well as get new out of Arkansas where Fake Ned talked with Eric Edelstein as well as Springfield Cardinals manager Mike Shildt who was involved in an ejection incident on Friday night – and Fake Ned caught the video here.

The chat room and livestream broadcast will be below for you to chime in and interact with us in the studio as well as fellow listeners:

The Royalman Report is brought to you by Kelly’s Westport Inn at 500 Westport Road in Kansas City, Missouri.  Tell them the Royalman Report sent you.

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Tonight marks the start of an exciting new venture for Kings of Kauffman and its podcast, the Royalman Report.

Jeff Logan of the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society joins forces with us to form the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Kansas City’s ESPN 1510 AM from 6-7 p.m. every Thursday night. Listeners can tune into traditional radio or streaming live on 1510.com.

On tonight’s show, we’ll talk with Mike Hershberger, a former outfielder for the Kansas City A’s during their final years before leaving KC for Oakland. Hershberger carved out a nice career, playing in 11 major league seasons for three teams as a well-regarded defensive player who patrolled all three outfield positions and had one of the stronger arms in the league.

Our second guest will be Lee Warren of Yahoo Sports. If you’re a regular listener of the Royalman Report, you’ll know that we like any opportunity we can get to talk with Lee as he covers the Omaha Storm Chasers. They’re having a great follow up season in 2012 after winning the Pacific Coast League title in 2011. You can check out past discussions with Lee Warren on the Royalman Report here (from June 26, 2011) and here (August 28, 2011).

Update: The Storm Chasers have promised us the opportunity to talk with one of their players before their game in Sacramento, which  will pre-empt Lee Warren’s appearance. 

Along with that, we’ll talk a look at the Royals of today as they come out of a successful homestand.

We’d love to have you listening, and we plan on a giveaway to kick off the show’s run, so you don’t want to miss that.

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.

The Changing of the Guard: Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

For many years now, whenever the east coast teams have come to town, I have diligently and faithfully attended at least one of the games between the Royals and the “Team Who Must Not Be Named.”  I have seen the line-ups that money can buy and goaded those who dared to enter the K wearing pinstripes.  I have watched the Bronx Bombers live up to their names, inflating ERAs and padding statistics.  And every year, I have this feeling that we’re just not as good as “those guys.”

Last year, I took a friend of mine, Kaleb, to the game.  Kaleb is a huge fan of Mariano Rivera.  At last year’s game, we watched Rivera make short order of the Royals in the ninth inning to secure one more save as he quickly approached Trevor Hoffman’s record.  This year, Kaleb wore his “Rivera—42” shirt to the game hoping to inspire similar results.

Brett and I have talked for weeks about taking Kaleb to tonight’s game.  Brett, who creates art professionally for Urban Outfitters on the Plaza, conspires with me to create art and writing projects.  Some of Brett’s best handiwork (in my opinion) is the cover he did for the Royals’ book I’ve been working on.  Kaleb and I met Brett at Chick-fil-A where we quickly ate and carpooled to watch the first game in the series against the beasts from the east.  As is our norm, we arrived at the stadium as soon as the doors opened and headed straight for the Pepsi Party Porch in right field.  Brett was quickly rewarded with a batting practice home run ball as a cheap souvenir.  We called out to Raul Ibanez and welcomed him home.  Ibanez acknowledged our greeting with a wave and a smile.  And then, appearing out of seemingly thin air, there was Rivera.

A fan of the “Evil Empire” immediately reminded me about River’s pending retirement, and that Rivera had been talking to management about playing at least an inning in the outfield.  It seems Rivera not only stays in shape chasing down fly balls in batting practice, but wants the chance to have his own “outfield experience.”  So, I was told, Rivera used batting practice as a time to “train” in hopes of getting into a game as a reserve outfielder.  We watched Rivera run from foul pole to foul pole, catching flies and throwing them back in to second base.  A contagious smile spread across his face.

And then, on a deep drive to left-center, the unimaginable occurred.  Rivera gave chase and jumped, landed awkwardly, and immediately fell to the ground.  Later reports would confirm what I immediately knew in my heart—torn ACL.

I, too, have experienced the joy and pleasure of tearing an ACL in a “freak” accident years ago and remember the burning pain.  With surgery and therapy, it took me a full year to return to “normal.”  Given that timeline, I fear that Rivera’s career may have ended on the warning track at the K.

The incident created space for conversation between fans of both teams.  It seemed that everyone in the stadium like Rivera, regardless of which team they supported.  No one wanted his career to end this way.  One man said, “I wanted to see him pitch tonight and watch our boys get a chance to beat the best.  I think we could take him this year.”

On this spring evening, change was in the air.  The boys of summer looked old compared to the young boys in blue.  We tried to calculate the average ages of the starting lineups, and had the Royals younger as a team by some six or seven years.  Steve Physioc tweeted, “@Royals 4 starting infielders have 7 years of #MLBexperience.  #Yankees have 50. #KC #ourtime will come.”  And youth led the way for the Royals.

Danny Duffy, whose age matches his uniform number of 23, struck out six and only allowed two runs in his six innings pitched.

Mike Moustakas, also 23, lead the way with a 420-foot home run to dead center in the bottom of the second inning, and plated two more in the fifth, giving the Royals a 4 – 1 lead at that time.

The young infield that Physioc noted turned an around the horn double play in the top of the fourth and out-hustled their opponents all night.  (Alex Rodriguez couldn’t get to a foul pop-up off the bat of Alex Gordon.  I bet money Moose would have made that play.)

“Breaks” and “luck” that money has bought for seasons finally fell in favor of the Royals.

The ninth inning serves as the perfect summary to the night.

The Royals were leading by a run and called for Jonathan Broxton to close the game.  Jeter, Granderson, and Teixeira were the scheduled hitters for “The Others.”  Derek Jeter did his best to spur on his teammates, fouling off three fastballs before getting his fourth hit of the night, a single to right field, boosting his average above the sacred .400 mark.  Curtis Granderson followed with a walk as the umpire appeared to temporarily lose track of the strike zone.

This was the point in the game when every Royals fan began to tremble.  We could read the signs.  We knew that, somehow, “luck” always favored the more expensive team.

Mark Teixeira ripped a ball and—miraculously—Chris Getz, Alcides Escobar, and Eric Hosmer turned one of the most brilliant double plays I have ever witnessed in person.

With the tying run now on third, Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate.  The fan in the navy shirt in front of me said, “It’s time to show these Midwest boys how it’s done.”  A-Rod fouled off the first pitch.  Strike one.  Everyone in the stadium was standing, screaming, clapping, and cheering.

The second pitch was a called strike, and A-Rod turned to argue with the ump.

If any Royals player had dared to do what A-Rod did, they would have been ejected immediately.  In fact, after each of the next six pitches, A-Rod either glanced or glared at the ump.  A-Rod tried to upstage the ump and worked the count full.  On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, A-Rod hit a dribbler of a ball toward third base.  Mike Moustakas charged hard to barehand the ball and throw on the run, beating A-Rod by half a step at first.

The Royals won.

Kaleb shook his head and smiled, “Deep inside of me, there is a Royals fan that is saying, ‘That was incredible.’”

“In order to be the best, you have to beat the best” the old saying goes.  Last night we caught a glimpse that maybe “Our Time” is closer than we think.

Thanks for visiting Kings of Kauffman. You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.  You can also send your questions to our mailbag at KoKMailbag@gmail.com.

Moose and Broxton celebrate the win. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Mike Moustakas was the key at the plate and in the field, as he drove in three of the Royals runs on a home run and a bases loaded single. Then he made the game’s final play to preserve the win. Alex Rodriguez fought back from an 0-2 count to get it full, then hit a slow dribbler in front of third. As Derek Jeter ran home, Moustakas charged the ball, barehanded it and threw it to Eric Hosmer at first to beat Rodriguez.

The play before was even bigger, as Jonathan Broxton started the top of the ninth by giving up a single to Derek Jeter, then surrendered a walk to Curtis Granderson. A typical Royals meltdown seemed imminent, but Chris Getz snagged a hard grounder up the middle and flipped it to Alcides Escobar. On the turn, Escobar’s throw bounced and went to the side of Eric Hosmer, but he scooped it to finish the double play. Then Rodriguez ended the game.

The win helped Danny Duffy to his second win of the year after the lefty threw 90 pitches in 5.1 innings after missing his last turn in the rotation with elbow stiffness. Duffy came back out to face Rodriguez in the top of the fifth, struck him out on three straight pitches, then gave up a single to Robinson Cano and was relieved. In another situation, he may have stayed in, but with a rising pitch count the Royals played it safe.

When he was on the mound, though, Duffy looked strong, hitting his spots in most innings and getting batters to miss his fastball. He worked in the mid-90s a lot of the night, mixing in a changeup a bit more when his curveball was getting away from him. Hopefully that’s just an issue of having a feel for the pitch rather than lingering elbow tightness. He resembled the same pitcher we saw in his first two starts where he shut down Oakland then dueled with Justin Verlander. The top five of the Yankees order went 4-13 against Duffy, but he got five of his six strikeouts against them.

Eric Hosmer drove in the Royals fourth run on a single up the middle. He hadded a hard line drive single two innings later. He’s been hitting the ball hard for a while now, but tonight he wasn’t hitting it right at a fielder. Jarrod Dyson added two singles and worked in a pair of long at bats at the top of the lineup.

The Royals send Bruce Chen out tomorrow with hopes that he rebounds from his poor start in Minnesota. The Yankees counter with C.C. Sabathia.

Thanks for visiting Kings of Kauffman. You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed. 

After breaking down the weekend’s pitching matchups, we also discussed the state of the Royals, the nature of being a fan – regardless of market – and made our predictions for the series.

You can hear the full discussion on their podcast here.

The Royals have a number of pitching prospects, but how likely are they to pan out? Other teams, like the Rangers, Rays and Braves, see a surplus of major league ready arms, but the Royals are still waiting on the likes of Mike Montgomery, Chris Dwyer and Danny Duffy to sort it out.

Jeff Herr led a discussion with Alan Jaeger about the methods the Rangers have used and the programs available to developing pitchers. He covered a lot of the long toss philosophy and outlined its importance to a pitcher’s development. Overall it was very interesting. After talking with Alan, we discussed how the Royals fit into the equation.

Then we made a big announcement. Listeners of the podcast get an early leak of the information. In the meantime, before an official announcement, you can stop by this Facebook page and follow this new Twitter account. (And you can also follow Kings of Kauffman in both places as well for the main site information.)

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

You can also subscribe via iTunes: JUST CLICK HERE (and iPad, iPhone, iTouch users can get the Livestream app here to watch live or archived shows).

Follow the Royalman Report on Twitter.  While you’re at it, track down Kings of Kauffman on Twitter as well.

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Tonight, we’re going to catch up on some of the latest about the Royals and their merciful ending of The Streak. That’s a given.

The focus of tonight’s show, though, is on pitching, specifically on the Royals and their track record of developing pitching. Our guest for this discussion is Alan Jaeger, the founder of Jaeger Sports and whose program has benefited such pitchers as NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and Diamondbacks prospect Trevor Bauer. Jaeger has worked with Mike Montgomery before, as well.

It should be an interesting discussion about pitching and training philosophies. We’re hoping to get an idea of where the Royals stand as far as their approach to taking prospects and turning them into the real deal at the big league level.

The chat room and livestream broadcast will be below for you to chime in and interact with us in the studio as well as fellow listeners:

The Royalman Report is brought to you by Kelly’s Westport Inn at 500 Westport Road in Kansas City, Missouri.  Tell them the Royalman Report sent you.

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Nate Adcock was called up from Omaha on Saturday as Everett Teaford was sent down. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Nate Adcock, who spent all of 2011 in Kansas City after being selected in the rule-5 draft returns to the big league club. So far season for the Storm Chasers his numbers are solid going 3-1 with a 1.37 ERA in four games. In 2011, Adcock’s numbers were 1-1 and a 4.62 ERA in 24 games including three starts.

The move might suggest Duffy may miss another start for KC since Adcock is joining the team on full rest. Another name that was probably considered was Vin Mazzaro who’s also in the starting rotation in Omaha, pitched Friday taking the loss at Memphis 5-4.

Fortunately for the Royals, with Saturday’s game being rained out in everyone will get the day off which includes a bullpen that’s worked a lot this season. Unfortunately the team won’t have another day off until May 10 after the Boston Red Sox visit Kauffman Stadium.

Depending on how he is used Adcock should have value for Kansas City but I sense this move is more than adding another longman to the bullpen. I’d expect at least one start giving Duffy more time to rest. It will then be interesting if Adcock becomes goes to long-relief or if he returns to Omaha.

What are your thoughts on this roster move being made for the Royals today? Do you like it? Worried about Duffy? Let us know in the comments below and thanks for reading.

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Felipe Paulino was placed on the DL before the season started and helped Luis Mendoza and Danny Duffy stick in the big league rotation. He had a strained right forearm and is making a rehab start for Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday, according to Bob Dutton.

I’d expect that Paulino will make a start for Omaha as well before the Royals determine when to make a switch. Duffy has pitched well in two starts before some struggles in Sunday’s game, but his ERA overall is 3.63 and his average fastball velocity is rivaled only by Stephen Strasburg so far this year. Mendoza, on the other hand, has had two rough starts, walking nine in 13 innings and giving up 24 hits. He may have two more starts to convince the Royals he’s actually changed and that his 2011 wasn’t a mirage. You know my thoughts on the matter.

Lorenzo Cain early in 2012. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

The more immediate good news is that Lorenzo Cain is close to returning. After a fine running catch in Oakland, Cain strained his groin, landing on the DL. He made his first rehab appearance Sunday for Northwest Arkansas and Dutton reports that he’s tentatively set to return on Friday when the Royals will be in Minnesota.

Cain was hitting .133 through four and a half games when he hurt himself, but after a strong spring, he may be the answer to the Royals problems in the top of the order. So far, Ned Yost has used a mix of Yuniesky Betancourt, Chris Getz, Alcides Escobar and Jeff Francoeur in the top two spots in the order. Cain isn’t a traditional leadoff hitter, but his speed would play well there. He’d also be a good bat between Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer – two lefties – at the top of the order.

His return would also help out by adding offensive potential with great defense. In his absence, the Royals have played a rotation of Jarrod Dyson (who misplayed some balls in two games of the Cleveland series) and Jason Bourgeois while Mitch Maier has gotten the most work. None of the three are seen as consistent regulars, though Maier has filled that role in the past. They’re all better suited to being late inning replacements for defensive or pinch-running purposes.

Blake Wood may be ready to return soon to reinforce a bullpen that has been heavily taxed early on in 2012. His return would help since Greg Holland was placed on the DL after his awful appearance on Friday night. Joakim Soria, of course, is out for the year, while Manuel Pina and Salvador Perez both have a way to go to recover from meniscus surgeries.

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Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

I wasn’t supposed to go to the game.  I had many words to write to meet my deadline and had planned on writing a couple thousand words while toggling back and forth watching the game on Gameday—a free but torturously slow way to watch any game.  However, my friend, Mark, burned up the battery on my cell phone texting me throughout the day, hoping to convince me to join him at the stadium.  Finally, at 4:00, I gave in; I could no longer say no.

I pulled into the stadium shortly after 5:00.  There was a small crowd gathering around Gate A, preparing to partake of the Outfield Experience.  I hoped to join them shortly.  I’m not a big tailgater; I’d rather be inside the gates, walking the hallowed ground, listening to stories and meeting friends who share a love of the game and the boys in blue.  While I waited in line to purchase my seven-dollar Hy-Vee ticket I texted Mark to see when he would arrive.  No response.  So, I started visiting with the man standing behind me.  I learned that he is a construction worker for Kenco, the company who recently remodeled various bars throughout the K.  He told me that he was buying tickets for another time, that his company had seats in a suite.  I replied, “Wish I could join you.  I’ve never been in a suite.”  His wife took down my name and number and said that they would call me if they had an extra ticket.  I laughed and said that I’d see them in a couple of innings as I ran off to Gate A.

The Tigers were taking batting practice when I entered the stadium.  Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder were both hitting towering homeruns, distributing batting practice souvenirs all over the stadium.  On the Party Porch, there were a dozen kids screaming for every ball hit remotely close to the warning track.  I quickly tired of their persistent pleas and strolled towards the Royals bullpen.

I love hanging out by the Royals bullpen before a game.  For the last six years, one man has diligently prepped and maintained the mound and bullpen area.  He and I have talked on numerous occasions, though we’ve never exchanged names.  The mound needed an extra bag of crushed clay due to the recent rains and excessive use over the weekend.  Two batting practice homeruns came incredibly close to hitting him; he didn’t even flinch.  Steve Foster, the bullpen coach, entered the pen as we were talking and asked the mound artist to play catch.  When Foster walked near me I inquired, “You breaking in a new glove?”

“A new glove and a new prescription,” he replied.  “Tough combination.”  The mound artist threw knuckleballs and curveballs and the two grown men laughed and conversed while having a catch.  Foster looked and me and motioned that he intended to throw me their ball.  “Will you see it all the way?”

I looked up.  The sun was unblocked, hitting me full face, full force.  “No worries,” I retorted.

Foster threw the ball the length of the pen, only to have it fall a few feet short and clang off the metal bars.  I got lucky.  I completely lost it in the sun.  Couldn’t see it at all.  I saw sun-spots for the next thirty minutes.  Foster jogged over and tossed the ball a second time, this time successfully, and we talked a few more minutes.  I turned to see Humberto Quintero and Danny Duffy warming up in left-field.  Duffy sprinted out to centerfield at the same time Justin Verlander ran out there.  The two men were less than ten feet apart.  They didn’t even exchange glances.  Just like two boxers before a title match.

After a few minutes of throwing on the field, Duffy and Q entered the pen and immediately set to work.  Duffy was intensely focused, until Eiland cracked a joke and made him laugh.  I’m peeking into his glove looking at how he holds his change-up and curveball when the usher asked me to clear the aisle for the game.  I watched one more pitch and started the long walk towards the upper deck.  I called Mark and left a voicemail, beginning to wonder if he’s still coming to the game.

Walking by the left-field foul pole, I spotted a familiar face.  Last season, my friend and I attempted to move into the left-field foul pole seats in the middle of a game.  The game was the week before Easter and the temperature hovered around freezing.  Even though no one else was seated in the entire section, my friend and I boldly and nonchalantly strolled to the front row, close enough to talk to Gordo.  After one pitch, the usher walked down the aisle and asked to see our tickets.  We were busted.  As we left, we were cheered on by some fans seated near the bullpen, “He let you guys stay the longest!  Way to go!”

So, I shared this story with the usher.  He nodded as if he remembered, “Well, a man’s got a job to do.  Hope there’s no hard feelings.”  We both laughed and shook hands.  No hard feelings here.

I continued strolling towards my seat when the call to stop and honor the national anthem came over the speakers.  I took off my hat and started to sing along when I noticed a man standing a few rows in front of me with a custom-made jersey that said, “Hogan—73.”

Hogan is my mom’s maiden name.  After the anthem, I walked down and introduced myself to see if we had any common kin.  We couldn’t make a real connection.  His family is Chicago-based; mine is in Cape Girardeau.  We laughed and parted ways.

I climbed up to my seat in time for the first pitch and texted Mark again to check in.  Nothing.  While I texted, Duffy surrendered a lead-off homerun to Austin Jackson.  Oh boy.  A single and a walk followed and it was hard to hold on to hope.  Prince Fielder stepped up to the plate.  Prince Fielder who splashed homeruns in batting practice.  Except this Prince Fielder promptly grounded out into a double play.  Deep sigh of relief.     

Alex Gordon was hitting lead-off, the place where his name should be written in Sharpie on line-up cards from now until 2016.  He doubled and tied the game a few minutes later and everything was right with the world.

In the bottom of the second inning my cell phone rang.  I figured it to be Mark and answered without looking.  It was the construction guy from the ticket line.  “You still wanna come to the suite?  I’ll meet you at the upper-deck elevator in a minute.”  I ran.

I’ve only seen the suites from the outside.  Crossing over the threshold was like entering Narnia.  The food was abundant and free.  The seats were plush.  There were two large screens with the game on in case I wanted to sit in a recliner and listen to Hudler.

I grabbed a Dr Pepper and a hot dog and sat down outside.  For a few minutes, I visited with the owner of Kenco, who also owns the Sheridan’s Custard in the outfield.  His daughter informed me that custard would be delivered in a few innings.  As I settled into my seat convinced that I was closer to heaven than I have ever been, my phone alerted me to an incoming text.  It was Mark.  “Dude, I’m here, in 241.  These seats are awesome.”

I texted back, “In a suite.”

The only reason I came to the game was because Mark convinced me to go.  In the fourth inning, I said good-bye to my suite friends, grabbed a Dr Pepper to go, and joined Mark and his Tiger-loving nephew, Jake, in the first-base seats.

As soon as I called out his name Mark responded, “What are you doing here?  Why aren’t you still in that suite?!?!”

“Because ball games are supposed to be shared with friends.”

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

The rest of the evening is a blur as we watched the brilliance of Verlander and Duffy on the mound.  We shouted at the top of our lungs when Gordo displayed his gold-glove brilliance and high-fived strangers when Frenchy recorded an assist at third.  I saw KC Royalman and introduced myself.  He accepted full responsibility for Inge’s homerun as nature called.  L’il Frenchy bounded by me eating a hotdog and gave me a smile and a high five.

Mark, Jake, and I stood for the entirety of the ninth inning, trying to will the Royals to victory through our applause and shouts.  We watched in awe as Verlander threw half a million pitches in the ninth inning to record the complete game victory.

All in all, it was just another night at the K.

Thanks for visiting Kings of Kauffman. You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.  You can also send your questions to our mailbag at KoKMailbag@gmail.com.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Bruce Chen pitches the ball against the Oakland Athletics. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

The losing streak continues.  Make that 7 in a row for the Royals as they lost a close one last night to the Tigers by a final of 4-3.  It’s tough to keep an open mind when things are, seemingly, spiraling out of control.  There are, however, a few things that we can take away as positives even though they are caught in the midst of a 7 game losing streak.

The first and most important positive I have taken away from the streak are the performances by Danny Duffy.  Many have suspected for a while about what Duffy is capable of, but his first two starts this season have been very impressive, to say the least.  He went toe-to-toe with, arguably, the best pitcher in all of baseball and held his own.  Although he was on the losing end, he impressed many as he handled the Tigers lineup with relative ease.  Duffy is certainly showing us he has “Ace” stuff and it shows in his stat line which can be found here.

It’s also been very nice to see how well Bruce Chen is pitching.  He brings consistency to his starts, which can be very helpful for the offense.  Every time Chen takes the hill, we can almost expect 5-6 innings with about 2 or 3 runs allowed, so the offense has a grasp on how many runs they would need when he starts.  He hasn’t been rewarded for his efforts this season, but I’m willing to bet he still piles together 10-11 wins throughout the course of the season.

It might surprise some fans that Chris Getz has made this list of positives, but he has been a pleasant surprise through the first 12 games of the season.  I know I might get some grief for mentioning Getz, but he has not been to blame for this team’s poor start.  He has always brought speed to his game and now it seems he is stinging the ball with some authority, which is a definite positive.  Even some of his outs have been well struck.  Normally we might be blaming Getz, but he has not given us that ammunition at this time and hopefully he will continue to contribute.

While Bruce Chen is the consistent starter for the pitching staff, Billy Butler has been the most consistent hitter in the lineup.  This should come as no surprise, as Butler, for several years, has given the Royals a consistent showing season in and season out.  He is a doubles machine and already has 6 this season.  He is still in the process of turning some of those doubles into homeruns, but it’s a warming feeling when we know Butler will be the anchor in the lineup through thick and thin.

I would have liked to see Mike Moustakas jump out to an amazing start at the plate, but he still has provided us with some moments where he’s shined.  He does have 5 doubles and one homerun through the his first 10 games but has walked zero times while striking out ten.  The positive I see from Moose is his glove at third base.  He has made some dazzling plays while also playing errorless up to this point.  The knock on Moose was his glove, but it could be possible he is transitioning into an above average third baseman.

It’s definitely not easy to be positive when the team started out 3-2 and is now in the middle of a nauseating 7 game losing streak.  With a young team, losing streaks are bound to happen, but at the same time, winning streaks are going to be right around the corner as well.  It’s going to take getting over this hump, but I do believe it will happen especially with some of the positives I’ve just mentioned.

Thanks for visiting Kings of Kauffman. You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.  You can also send your questions to our mailbag at KoKMailbag@gmail.com and follow Jordan McLaughlin on Twitterto be notified each time he posts a story.

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To properly celebrate the return of baseball to Kansas City in for the 2012 season, the Royalman Report packed up and headed to an undisclosed location to broadcast among the many fans hanging out before  the first game at Kauffman Stadium.

Chris Kamler, Michael Engel, Troy Olsen and guest James Geist discuss the Royals.

We discussed the first two series of the year, the bullpen and compared closer possibilities. We had to cover Lorenzo Cain’s DL stint of course, and covered our opening day memories of the past. We also got to talk to a few fans near the broadcast location. It was a blast, however the game after the broadcast wasn’t quite as fun…

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

You can also subscribe via iTunes: JUST CLICK HERE (and iPad, iPhone, iTouch users can get the Livestream app here to watch live or archived shows).

Follow the Royalman Report on Twitter.  While you’re at it, track down Kings of Kauffman on Twitter as well.

Danny Duffy had his second consecutive solid start. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

After a tough start to the homestand, the Royals got to face Justin Verlander.

Nothing like giving up 32 runs in your first three games at home, then facing last year’s Cy Young winner and MVP.

The results aren’t surprising, as Verlander held the Royals to two runs in a complete game win. The Royals scored on him in the first inning to even the score after Austin Jackson had led off with a homer for the Tigers and the Royals didn’t score again until the ninth inning.

The disappointing 3-2 loss was punctuated by a called third strike with the bases loaded and Alex Gordon at the plate. After Billy Butler ripped a single to left to lead off the inning, Jason Bourgeois pinch ran and moved to third after two groundouts. He scored on a shot to right by Humberto Quintero, then Verlander walked Mitch Maier and hit Alcides Escobar to load the bases for Gordon.

The strikeout was Gordon’s third of the game and second looking. Verlander struck out nine Royals. It took 131 pitches for him to get past the Royals.

The loss spoiled a good start from Danny Duffy, who went 6.2 innings on 105 pitches. For the second straight start, he struck out more batters than innings pitched. Against Oakland, he struck out eight in six innings and struck out seven tonight. Even better, he walked just one, though he made a couple of mistakes, getting the ball up on Jackson on his leadoff homer and later to Brandon Inge who homered to center. Jhonny Peralta had three solid hits against him too, but the rest of the lineup didn’t hit him very well. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder went a combined 0-5 against Duffy.

One of Duffy’s goals this year was to get deeper into games. He made it through six innings on 103 pitches in his first start and through 6.2 in 106 pitches tonight. The Tigers fouled off numerous pitches against him, prolonging counts and adding to his pitch counts. Duffy had strong stuff late into the start, and his fastball was missing bats, while his curveball improved as the game went on.

Fun fact: by my count, the Royals fouled off five pitches with two strikes off of Verlander. The Tigers, by comparison, fouled off 12 pitches with two strikes against Duffy. My gut suggests that that is a testament to Verlander’s dominance (and he was the best pitcher in the game last year, so it’s not really embarrassing) and the Tigers patience.

Interestingly enough, the only Tiger to reach base after fouling off those pitches was Jhonny Peralta who doubled twice with two strikes after fighting off pitches. Alex Avila was the only other batter to get a hit with two strikes off of Duffy and that was the last batter he faced.

Yeah, this loss is disappointing, but Duffy did what he needed to do. He came out and gave the team quality innings and left the bullpen mostly untouched. After a series where the Royals had to bring Mitch Maier in and call up Louis Coleman to be their eighth reliever, that day off for most of the staff could get the team balanced out. He went pitch for pitch with Verlander and if not for a couple of mistakes could have had a shot at a win.

That, if nothing else, is encouraging.

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Danny Duffy looked great in shutting down the A's on Tuesday. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Danny Duffy struck out eight in six shutout innings and allowed just one hit to lead the Royals over the A’s on Tuesday night in a 3-0 game cut short by rain.

The game was delayed to start off and rain fell all night. In the top of the eighth, Eric Hosmer swung and missed at strike three and lost the grip on his bat. After that, umpire Jim Joyce stopped the game and the tarp came onto the field. Just over an hour later, the game was called.

The Royals put up three runs, breaking a 25 inning scoreless streak in Oakland going back to last season and including last night’s mystification at the hands of Tom Milone. Mike Moustakas drove a double deep to center that fell to the ground after Yeonis Cespedes barely got to it and Billy Butler scored. Jeff Francoeur scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Humberto Quintero. Mitch Maier added a solo homerun in the seventh after coming into the game for Lorenzo Cain.

Cain had made a long run to catch up to a Daric Barton fly ball at the warning track and turned it into a double play when Collin Cowgill took off and couldn’t get back to first. He hit the wall and came off the field gingerly and after stepping into the on deck circle for his next at bat, came out of the game. With the wet field it may have just been a precaution but more details will come later.

Alex Gordon continued to go hitless after walking in his first at bat. He hit a few balls hard but they were right at people. He’s just not getting the luck right now.

The star of the night, though, was Duffy. After a 21 pitch first inning, it looked like a typical Duffy start. He opened up with an eight pitch at bat against Jemile Weeks before striking out Coco Crisp and Jonny Gomes (with a Cespedes walk sandwiched between). He walked Cowgill in the second and benefitted from the Cain catch and double play to get out of the inning quickly and erased the only base hit of the game against him – a double by Cliff Pennington – by picking him off of second base.

Then he went to work, retiring ten of his next twelve with five strikeouts.

He was working his fastball on both sides of the plate and his curve ball was breaking hard. Duffy got 16 swinging strikes out of his 103 pitches. Oakland just couldn’t hang with him. He had some issues with control (walking four overall) and seemed to struggle with a wet pitching mound in the fifth inning in walking two batters. It drove up his pitch count, but he also put up the six scoreless, which is encouraging. His start counted for a 74 Game Score, making it his best start as a big leaguer. Aaron Crow worked the bottom of the seventh and worked through the A’s quickly, striking out two. By being the final pitcher, he’s credited with his first major league save.

Duffy’s solid start caps off an unexpected first trip through the Royals starting rotation. Billed as the key weakness during the offseason, through five starts, the Royals starters have amassed 29 innings and given up just five runs. It’s only one trip through, so we can’t start planning the parade yet, but all five starters have handled their assignments so far. Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza suffered from a lack of run support (and one rough inning by the bullpen after Chen), but Luke Hochevar and Jonathan Sanchez earned wins in their starts.

The A’s and Royals are going to try to get the last game of the series in tomorrow afternoon, but rain is still in the area so there may be delays or postponements. With the win – even if it’s a short game – the Royals will return to Kansas City with at least a .5o0 record before Friday’s home opener.

Bruce Chen will take on Brandon McCarthy tomorrow.

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The Royalman Report - logo by @AHairOffSquare

We were pleased to feature a trio of local sports commentators on the latest Royalman Report.

Curtis Kitchen covers a bit of everything at CurtisKitchen.com but primarily focuses on the Big XII and Kansas State sports. He also works with 610 sports. He joined us to discuss the Frank Martin escape from Manhattan and the state of KSU basketball.

We then jumped into Royals baseball with Nate Bukaty, who you’ll recognize from his reporting during the Royals pregame and postgame shows. We covered a bit of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game beforehand but then got to talking about the starting rotation, particularly Luis Mendoza‘s potential to continue the success he had last season in Omaha.

Finally we were joined by Robert Ford, who handles the pregame and postgame shows for 610 sports. A key topic was the Yuniesky Betancourt/Chris Getz/Johnny Giavotella second base drama.

We finished up with the usual crew talking about the Alex Gordon contract extension.

It was great to have the trio on the show.

A programming note: We don’t have a show scheduled for Sunday night as usual but will be out at Kelly’s Westport Inn on opening day April 6 for a tweet up among Royals fans, Kings of Kauffman readers and Royalman Report listeners. Anyone (21+) in the KC area can hang out and talk some Royals baseball before the Royals take on the Angels, then stay and watch as the season finally gets underway.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

You can also subscribe via iTunes: JUST CLICK HERE (and iPad, iPhone, iTouch users can get the Livestream app here to watch live or archived shows).

Follow the Royalman Report on Twitter.  While you’re at it, track down Kings of Kauffman on Twitter as well.

Felipe Paulino hits the DL. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

The Royals announced that Felipe Paulino would begin the year on the 15-day disabled list. The right-hander had been part of a six man battle for a five man pitching rotation.

This news comes a day after Ned Yost announced that Bruce Chen would be the opening day starter in Anaheim against the Angels. Luke Hochevar and Jonathan Sanchez  will slot in behind him and after the injury, Luis Mendoza and Danny Duffy fill in the last two spots.

Paulino worked 11.2 innings in spring, allowing 10 runs and 16 hits. The Royals have the option to backdate his DL stint to Monday. The injury itself is called a “right forearm flexor pronator strain” and Paulino said he felt some tightness.

Of course, this could be an easy fix to stash a pitcher in Omaha to get some rehab starts. I’m sure there is some tightness there, but with Chen, Hochevar and Sanchez locks to make the rotation and Duffy showing some success (and Mendoza’s solid spring numbers), Paulino was looking like a pitcher headed to the bullpen for a long relief role which really doesn’t suit him, as he’s struggled in the bullpen in the past (9.15 ERA in 39.1 innings). Buying time with Paulino on the DL and in Omaha for rehab gives the Royals a chance to evaluate a few turns through the pitching staff and move forward based on how everyone is performing.

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August 8, 2011; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Luke Hochevar (44) throws a pitch during the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

As we are nearing opening day, a few things should start to clear up.  There are some pieces to the puzzle the Royals still have to figure out, and it’s becoming a guessing game for their fans to try and solve as well.  One thing that is certain, is Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz will be platooning at second base to start the season.  This makes me question so many things, and the move has left a sour taste in the mouths of Royals diehards on Twitter .  In no way can this work in the Royals favor.  But I digress, there’s still many other questions to answer.  Who will be the lefty out of the bullpen?  Who will be the number four and five to fill out the rotation?  Also, who will be the next Royals closer in the wake of Joakim Soria needing his second Tommy John surgery?

Jose Mijares, Tim Collins, Everett Teaford, and Tommy Hottovy are all in the race to be the left-handed reliever out of the pen.  Three out of four of these pitchers have spotless ERAs and Collins has still managed a miniscule 1.08 ERA, at this time.  I think Mijares is the lead dog of the pack simply because he was brought in to be the go-to lefty.  Although, the other three guys are making their cases to start the year on the opening day roster as well.  It does seem possible to me, that two of these four could make the team but I would definitely say no more than that.

I don’t know about all of you, but I have been less than impressed by what I’ve seen out of the starters so far this spring.  I want to clarify that I’m aware the Royals aren’t anywhere near the Phillies or Angels in terms of starting pitching, but I was hoping they would be above adequate this spring.  Luke Hochevar and Luis Mendoza are the only two guys who have pitched extremely well and there is no guarantee Mendoza even makes the team as a starter.  Bruce Chen, Jonathan Sanchez, Danny Duffy, and Felipe Paulino have all underperformed this spring and aren’t doing much to claim their spots in the rotation.  I know not much weight should be put into spring training stats, but the fact that Chen has given up 27 hits in 12 innings is very disheartening.  It would be nice if a few of these guys pitched like they wanted the job.  That being said, Paulino is pitching his way out and Mendoza is pitching his way into the rotation.  I believe Duffy will start out in the rotation and am looking for Sanchez and Chen to bounce back after very rough springs.  I do not think there is room for Paulino, Duffy, or Mendoza out of the bullpen, if that question comes up, as there is an abundance of arms already out there now.

The starting pitching has been a question mark all off season, but one thing we thought was certain, was the closer’s role.  With the news that Joakim Soria will undergo his second Tommy John surgery, the question remains, who will fill his shoes?  I say  Greg Holland, Aaron Crow, and Jonathan Broxton, in that order.  Holland has the dominating stuff and one of the best sliders in the game, so I feel extremely confident with him in the 9th.  Crow was bestowed upon as the closer for a short amount of time last season and Broxton is coming off some elbow issues but is still capable of returning to his former All-Star self.  I would be okay with any of these relievers, but I’m personally pulling for Holland.

We only have a few more weeks, if not sooner, before we get some of the answers to these questions.  Whatever happens though, I’m sure it will make for some great conversations and playful banter.  Either way, Opening Day is less than two weeks away!

Thanks for visiting Kings of Kauffman. You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.  You can also send your questions to our mailbag at KoKMailbag@gmail.com and follow Jordan McLaughlin on Twitter to be notified each time he posts a story.

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The Royalmen celebrated the First “podiversary” of the Royalman Report. What once started as two Royals fans trying to organize their thoughts has now turned into this… The best podcast in Kansas City.

To celebrate, we recorded live from Kelly’s Westport Inn (so the crowd is a bit raucous – use headphones when listening) and were joined by dozens of our closest friends in our biggest tweetup yet. During this episode, you’ll hear about tattoos, the burning of Peyton Manning, the Royals closer situation as well as Fat Billy Joel. You’ll hear young Zachary, a Royals fan since 1990 talk about the 5 years he spent in the womb (you really just have to hear how he explains it). You’ll hear from young Michelle, flip cup “dominator”. We also talked to some more knowledgable people in the form of Curtis Kitchen and Dave Darby. And then we balanced that with talking with Jenny and Lance Otto and Laurie “Moose Knuckle” Kunkle. It was a tremendous afternoon and helped accent a great year. Thank you for continuing to listen and help make us the number 1 podcast in Kansas City.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

Subscribe via the RSS feed and get updates when new episodes are uploaded.

Stuck in a cubicle, on a road trip, or using your smartphone?  Stitcher is a multi-platform radio app that’s available on Apple products, Droid, Blackberry and other phones.  Find us here on Stitcher.

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March 22, 2012; Tempe, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher

The optimism is looking a little less enthusiastic right about now. Soria’s out for the year. Salvador Perez is out for half the year. The starting rotation has looked pretty bad in spring training, even everyone’s golden boy Felipe Paulino—wanted to see him shine, felt like he might not, hate being right.

The shine has come off the apple a touch, and the Royals are starting to look a lot like the same team that finished last season—pretty good offense, terrible pitching. Even fan-favorite and potential-filled Danny Duffy was roughed up in his last spring start, no doubt brining on worries that all the talks of mechanical tweaks improving his command were just talk.

But I’ve decided to help boost morale a little. Why? Because I was a little stunned by Duffy. I wasn’t sure how a guy could look as good as he does and still put up bad numbers. I know Luke Hochevar has that problem, but his brain is as fragile as Rush Limbaugh’s grip on reality. Duffy though seems mentally tough. So, I re-watched his last start and saw some things that make me think that Duffy should be ok. I focused on his terrible second inning in which he gave up four runs. Here they are:

• Against the first hitter of the second inning, Duffy dominated. He threw a great 0-1 changeup for a swing-and-miss strike and went right after the hitter 0-2 to get a pop-out in foul territory. Easy and efficient.
• Alex Gordon lost a ball in the sun and essentially gave the Angels an out. It happens in baseball, but it doesn’t make it any easier to hold offenses down. That hitter, Bobby Abreu, eventually doubled to left field on a 3-2 fastball on the outside edge.
• With runners at second and third with one out, Duffy struck out Alberto Callaspo on three pitches. He started four of the first five hitters of the inning out in 0-2 counts. (if Gordon hadn’t lost the ball in the sun this inning would be over)
• Fifth batter of the inning hits a weak looking fly ball to left-center. I was shocked that Gordon didn’t get to it. He reached for it—without diving for some reason—and barely missed it. Two runs came in to score. From there, it falls apart.

If you’re not catching the theme so far, it’s that Duffy had some bad breaks in his last outing. That game could have looked very different if one or two things go his way. I know it’s a pitcher’s job to limit damage when things don’t go his way, but at the same time, a pitcher is going to have a tough luck outing from time to time. Duffy wasn’t wildly inaccurate. He didn’t walk a ton of hitters. He didn’t get hit really hard. He just had some tough breaks.

Actually, I’d say it was a pretty encouraging start. He pitched ahead of many hitters. He used an effective changeup from time to time. He didn’t nibble the way he did last season. It looked like he isn’t afraid of contact so much now. These are the things we want to see from Duffy.

I think he’s headed in the right direction and still expect him to have a much-improved season. Does it mean the Royals rotation problems are solved? No. Paulino hasn’t looked great. Bruce Chen has looked abysmal. Luis Mendoza has looked good, but who knows with him really. But I think Duffy still looks terrific despite some ugly looking numbers. When the season hits, don’t be surprised if he’s looking like the Royals best starting pitcher at times.

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Dayton hasn't had a good week. It's getting to me. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Eight days ago, Salvador Perez was diagnosed with a torn meniscus.

Joakim Soria found ligament damage in his elbow and is likely headed for Tommy John surgery.

In response to the hole at catcher, the Royals traded what some consider a top-20 prospect in Kevin Chapman for a catcher who wasn’t even going to make the Astros and a 30-year-old outfielder who didn’t get any kind of full-time action until last year. And Chapman might not be the only prospect the Royals give up.

It’s a move that has many fans scratching their heads and others in baseball questioning the wisdom of the deal, too.

More AL Exec: “Quintero’s going to get squeezed out, makes 7 figures, and you give up a real prospect for him?”

— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) March 22, 2012

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said that the player to be named later would be a key to the Quintero deal. The implications behind that amaze me. Quintero, among the worst players in the game at getting on base, being a piece of the trade is fine. The Royals needed a catcher that wouldn’t be a liability behind the plate until Perez could return. No problem. I’m not even too sore about losing Kevin Chapman, who has real skills but has to harness them to be productive. He’ll probably have a career as a lefty middle relief guy with Matt Thornton upside for a couple of years. It’s not a crime to give him up.

But this player to be named later business is increasingly worrying. Usually, a PTBNL isn’t much. They’re just someone to plug into the lineup somewhere in the minors most of the time. But because recently signed players aren’t eligible to be traded. Recently signed players such as 2011 draft picks. Just the thought of some speculation concerns me.

But the week gets worse still.

The Royals most important pitching prospect, Mike Montgomery, has already been jettisoned back to minor league camp with no further shot to make the team out of spring training and no signs of improvement from last year’s dismal year.

To top it off, Bruce Chen got destroyed against the White Sox today and hasn’t had a decent outing yet. And he’s signed for two seasons. Oh, Danny Duffy got hammered as well.

Not Dayton Moore’s best week.

It’s a bit frustrating, especially considering the optimism entering spring training. Perhaps the optimism even makes it more disappointing to see certain aspects of the team continue to flounder. At least before nobody really thought there was progress in the near future. Royals fans could focus on the koan of “one of these years” while accepting their suffering.

My biggest fear is that there’s a solid chance that the Royals open this season with Johnny Giavotella and Danny Duffy in Omaha. I’ve railed against Luis Mendoza before but he’s performing. The Royals are pretty much stuck with Chen though, unless he’s just so awful that they can’t avoid dumping him (not that they would because of that second year on his contract and all).

Moore signed Yuniesky Betancourt, and while I accept the premise that if his name was Jeff Betancourt or Yuniesky Smith and had the exact same attributes, I’d be less offended, it’s still Yuniesky Betancourt, and everybody knows who he is as a player. And he might end up being the opening day second baseman. Or it might be Chris Getz, who has changed his batting stance and is hitting this spring. My issue is that players rarely change who they are after a certain point and Getz is past that point. Maybe he’s figured something out, but odds are he hasn’t. Giavotella won’t improve defensively beyond what experience in the big leagues can give him. It’s clear who he’ll be with the glove. That makes it all the more important that he works out how to hit major league pitching because that’s where his value lies.

But Giavotella, with sporadic playing time, hasn’t hit that well. He drove in a run today against the Angels with a single. He’s still hitting just .220, so he’s not doing himself any favors. If he hits for the next two weeks of spring, he’s a cinch to open up in Los Angeles on April 6, but if he’s only made slight progress, I wouldn’t put it past the Royals to keep Getz and Betancourt platooning at second. Giavotella can go back to crushing Triple A pitching and staying stagnant.

March 22, 2012; Tempe, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy (23) throws against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

The same goes with Duffy. Though now that Soria is out, the Royals may be able to keep all six of the potential five starters (be sending one of Felipe Paulino or Mendoza to the bullpen), if that’s not an option, Duffy, with options, will go back to Omaha. I still don’t see Mendoza keeping this up into the season, but to this point, he’s managed to keep building on last year’s numbers and if it’s between he or Duffy, Mendoza’s winning.

That’s not to say that Duffy’s been as bad as the 7.56 ERA he sports now. He’s had two bad innings out of 8.1 pitched this spring, he’s striking batters out and hasn’t had bad control. Today’s second inning is a great example of how numbers can sometimes deceive when not viewed in the proper context.

Duffy opened up the second inning by getting Vernon Wells to pop out for the first out. Kendrys Morales came up for his first at bat of spring and didn’t make solid contact on a pitch, but it was placed well enough to get into right field for a single. Bobby Abreu got to two strikes then fouled a pitch off towards the left field foul line. Alex Gordon went over and had plenty of time but lost it in the sun. It fell foul, but prolonged the at bat. Abreu doubled. After a strikeout by Alberto Callaspo for the second out, Chris Iannetta doubled in both Morales and Abreu, then scored himself after an Erick Aybar single and Howie Kendrick triple.

If Gordon catches the foul ball, though, Callaspo’s strikeout ends the inning and Duffy doesn’t give up a run. It wasn’t ruled an error – plays in the sun rarely are, especially on foul balls – but if it were, reconstructing the inning would compel the official scorer to deem all runs unearned. Duffy had another unearned run in the first after a passed ball allowed Kendrick to advance from second to third. He scored on a ground out to short that would have kept him on second.

No, those circumstances don’t excuse Duffy from giving up the runs. He still gave up the hits after Callaspo’s strike out (though he also had a two strike pitch to Iannetta called a ball that looked like a strike as well and would have avoided all the trouble he ran into on the next pitch and beyond).

Despite that, and despite his being the most talented pitcher the Royals have in the rotation mix, it’s probably going to chase him to the minors where he has nothing else to learn.

I guess right now I’m having a crisis of confidence in Dayton Moore to make the decisions necessary to put developing, talented players in a position to continue to develop and exhibit their talent. His wonky moves aren’t helping. Nevermind the redundancy that is Jason Bourgeois (who is faster than Mitch Maier but not as fast as Jarrod Dyson, and who hits better than Dyson but not Maier). While I also liked the Jonathan Broxton signing, it’s an odd use of $4 million when the Royals have an overflowing bullpen as it is.

Can anyone talk me off the ledge?

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Mar 16, 2012; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher

Some people don’t believe there is such a thing as a “good problem,” and seeing as how the Royals had only seemed to have the bad kind until recently, many of these people might have been residents in our very own fan base. I’m here to tell you that the Royals have a good problem…several in fact. (more…)

The Royalman Report - logo by @AHairOffSquare

We weren’t in the Man Cave, but we still got it together to have a full discussion on the Royalman Report.

It was a busy week for the Royals and we covered the Salvador Perez injury and his potential replacements after surgery. Alcides Escobar signed an extension and we covered the importance and the symbolic gesture behind it. We dug into the pitching staff, particularly the final two starting spots, the enigma that is Luis Mendoza and the overstocked bullpen.

We even tossed in a bit of Chiefs free agency talk.

Along with the discussion there are two interviews within this episode. First we talked with Jeff Montgomery about the coming season and other aspects of Royals broadcast team. After that, Michael Engel interviewed John Dewan, the author of The Fielding Bible and owner of Baseball Info Solutions. He offered insight into the methodology and significance of detailed defensive statistics.

Join us on March 24th as we have a full day of events scheduled at Kelly’s Westport Inn. From 2-6 pm we’ll hold a fantasy draft with a group of listeners. After that we’ll have a remote broadcast and from there we’ll help host the @TweetupKC crowd. More details about the event can be found here.

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

The Royalman Report is hosted by Troy “Royalman” Olsen with co-host Michael Engel and features Chris “Fake Ned Yost” Kamler and 610 Sports blogger Jeff Herr and airs  live Sundays at 7 p.m. central time at RoyalmanReport.com as well as on Livestream.com/RoyalmanReport.

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The 2011 Omaha Storm Chasers received their PCL championship rings this week, photo courtesy of Ethan Bryan

Several current Kansas City Royals played in Omaha and received their PCL championship rings earlier this week from general manager Dayton Moore and Storm Chasers GM Marty Cordaro. Nine players from Omaha’s roster made the big leagues last year, but that didn’t stop the team from bringing home the title.

Celebrating minor league success during spring training has become a common thing since 2008.  Last spring they honored Northwest Arkansas’s title and of course the triple-A squad from last year. The Naturals have been in the postseason three times in the last six seasons (2006, ’09, ’10). Idaho Falls won divisional titles in back-to-back seasons of 2006 and ’07 and Burlington in 2008.

Six players played on all three of those championship teams: Ryan Eigsti, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Moustakas, Clint Robinson, Danny Duffy and Brandon Sisk. Ex-Royal Jeff Suppan wasn’t at the ceremony due to him starting for the San Diego Padres.

For long-time manager Mike Jirschele, it was the first time of tasting postseason success after two first round losses in 1995 and ‘96 for the then Omaha Royals.

Hopefully the next step for Kansas City is the success that the current nucleus of the team translates to success in the major leagues. Other franchises have seen rewards once highly rated talent reached the parent club such as the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins to name a few. Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Charles Nagy helped the mid-90′s were part of the Indians young that meshed with the teams veterans. After the 2002 season the tribe again aquired young talent such as Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner.

Minnesota who was had a great run of success got things going with a roster which included home grown talent such as Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, A.J. Pierzynski, Doug Mientkiewicz and Johan Santana to name a few.

For myself and I’m sure many of you who bleed blue, you’re glad to see the importance Moore has put in bringing players up level-by-level since he took the job. The confidence that this group has by winning together without a doubt has fans believing that this coming season might actually be “Our Time”.

Elliott, Moose, and Hosmer

Spring Training baseball is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

My friend Mark and I traveled to Surprise,Arizona in hopes of watching a couple of games and maybe getting a couple of autographs.  We were completely unprepared for the amazing experience that awaited us.

For two days, we watched batting practice, situational drills, and throwing games.  We saw Kevin Seitzer pitching extra batting practice and making a game of it—Eric Hosmer and Jarrod Dyson beat Mitch Maier and Clint Robinson by one point.  We saw the outfielders practicing their throws to every base—Alex Gordon beat Jeff Francoeur in that game.  Frenchy demanded a one-throw rematch.  Danny Duffy threw a bullpen session and looked phenomenal.  Johnny Giavotella and Billy Butler spent hours fielding rocket shot ground balls.  But one of my favorite memories from Spring Training 2012 is Elliott.

Wherever Elliott went, he was surrounded by ballplayers.  The six-year-old blonde-haired kindergartner from St. Joseph knew the names and numbers of everyone and wasn’t afraid to ask the hard questions.  When introduced to Bubba Starling, Elliott asked, “Bubba, when will you be in the majors?”

Bubba smiled and laughed, “I don’t know yet, Elliott, I just don’t know.”

On Monday, before warm-ups, the players gathered around Elliott and started quizzing him on who wore what number.  Elliott answered every one correctly.  One of the players even responded, “I didn’t know he wore that number.”  (Elliott has always been a numbers guy.  His dad used to let Elliott stay up late watching the games on TV while using various scenarios to teach him math skills—a brilliant parenting strategy.)

Elliott got the opportunity to step on the field during batting practice, watching Seitzer help the players make their adjustments.  Moustakas and Hosmer and Gordon all spent some time with him in between swings.  Jason Kendall gave Elliott a fungo bat to practice his own swings.  Gordo watched Elliott swinging and commented, “The kid’s a natural.”

I spent a few minutes visiting with Scott, Elliott’s dad, and learned a little more.  Elliott has loved baseball from the age of 2.  Most evenings after dinner, Scott and Elliott would watch the Royals on TV and play ball on a makeshift diamond in their living room.  Elliott was a couple of months shy of turning three when he attended his first game.  At the game, he knew all the names and the numbers of the entire roster.  However, the numbers were too large for his vocabulary.  Instead of saying, “Twenty-five,” Elliott would say, “Two and five.”

Since that day, it’s been nothing but Royals baseball for Elliott.  He has participated in a couple of summer baseball camps sponsored by the Royals in 2010 and 2011.  He practiced his throwing and hitting while making friends with Bruce Chen, Chris Getz, Tim Collins, and Nate Adcock.  He amazed all of them by quoting their statistics from the week and quickly won their admiration.

One of Elliott’s highlights from Spring Training was visiting the locker room.  He was the center of attention.  From the players to the front office staff, everyone overwhelmed Elliott and his family with kindness and compassion (and pictures and autographs, too).

Elliott, you see, has spina bifida.  On March 1, he underwent his twelfth surgery, a VP shunt revision.  Elliott focused on the important things going into the surgery, telling anyone who would listen, “I’m feeling brave today.  My cousins are gonna come visit and I’m going to Spring Training next week.”

Elliott stayed for the duration of Monday’s game which the Royals lost 2 – 1.  On the way out of the stadium, Elliott spotted his favorite player, Alex Gordon.  Gordo high-fived Elliott and spent a few quality minutes with him.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect Spring Training experience.

Two days after returning home from Arizona, Elliott is playing baseball on the Wii and waiting for the start of the regular season.  He’s already making plans to head back to Surprise next year.

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