May 13, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost before the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday was a busy day for Royals fans. Amid a four game losing streak and following a loss against the lowly Houston Astros (you’re contractually obligated to call a bad team “lowly”), the frustrations felt at other points in the season were nothing compared to the resulting meltdowns as the Royals were turning a 17-10 start into a 20-21 record.

Kevin Scobee presented an analysis of Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, outlining what’s wrong, and what might fix their problems. He also took on Ned Yost‘s comments about going to a “third baseman tree” to replace Moustakas. I’d call it a must read even if it weren’t on our site.

And right behind that, Craig Brown at Royals Review offered his opinions on Ned Yost’s claims that fans just have to keep being patient. I’m with Craig here – I’ve been a fan of the Royals since I knew who they were. I’ve been plenty patient. We’re in year seven of the Dayton Moore regime, and while I understand that not everyone figures it out right away, Yost isn’t providing satisfactory answers to the questions.

One such problem the Royals are facing is the relative bustability of their prospects. Jonah Keri and Rany Jazayerli, both of Grantland, looked at that aspect of the franchise. How do you go from dominating the Baseball America top 100 prospects list before 2011 and now having little to show for it?

Hopefully, the Royals figure it out because right now, Yordano Ventura is making a case for himself and is getting close to a promotion to Triple A. Another pitching prospect, Miguel Almonte, is tearing up Low A Lexington. As Bob Dutton notes, he’s given up just three runs in his last 25.1 innings.

While the Royals have gotten good buzz for both Ventura and Almonte, two international signings, they’re still trying to get what they expected out of 2010 first round pick Christian Colon. He’s still in Omaha but has just a .630 OPS and he’s been about a quarter of the time at second base. He talked with Lee Warren about the shift and the different approaches he has to take on either side of the bag. He also talked about adjustments and pressure at the Triple A level.

Finally, the Royals have had success with international signings like Ventura, Almonte, Salvador Perez, Adalberto Mondesi and others. They’re apparently the front-runners for 15-year-old shortstop Marten Gasparini of Italy. Gasparini turns 16 on Friday, and thus becomes eligible for the start of the international signing period on July 2nd. He’s touted as very athletic and some have called him the best European prospect they’ve seen.

December 12, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore speaks during the press conference at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

About a week ago, I wrote a post vilifying the Royals for their flippant use of the term “competition”. I chastised them for using a rhetoric of lies while giving players like Luke Hochevar the chance to continually disappoint. I even had a very witty Ron Mexico joke in there.

The very next day, they pulled Hochevar from the rotation, and my post was DOA.

Go ahead and search the major Royals blogs (especially Kings of Kauffman, which his in my opinion the bestest blog ever!). You’ll find plenty of writing about Hochevar’s move to the bullpen so I’m not going to go there. I’ll just state that moving a guy who can’t pitch with runners on base into a position in which one primary function is to pitch well with guys on base is a little confusing. But here’s hoping he turns into Mariano Rivera.

Instead, I’m thinking about the shift in approach that this move signals … if it does in fact signal one … which I don’t think it does. Those same writings on Hochevar mention this potential shift, but I’m not so optimistic that a shift has necessarily occurred. In fact, I’m not sure that Hochevar being moved could even be evidence of a shift in approach.

Moving Hochevar is not an un-Royals move. It’s actually a very Royals move once viewed as a whole. Because you can’t look at this move in the moment; it must be looked at in its entirety. What have the Royals really done here? They drafted a guy number one overall, moved him quickly threw the minor leagues, pushed him to be their number one starter, and then stuck by him through one of the worst starting pitching careers in history. They stuck with him much, much longer than anyone in their right mind would have, and finally, when they were the last ones left to realize what he was, they made a move to salvage that product.

In what way is that un-Royals like? On different scales (over different periods of time) that’s the story with Jason Kendall and Mike Jacobs and Jose Lima and so many others that if we crowd sourced might fill multiple rosters. Go ahead, name the one’s I’ve left out for the sake of brevity in the comments section.

No, Hochevar is not the measure of a shift in approach or attitude or perspective. The Hochevar move is a team making a big mistake, realizing it way, way, way too late, and trying to salvage. The real test of whether or not a shift in approach has occurred might be in the two other fifth starter candidates: Luis Mendoza and Bruce Chen. Anyone with eyes knows that Mendoza is the better pitcher and deserves that job. Anyone who knows baseball a little, knows that Chen’s best years (the two roughly average years he had with Kansas City) are behind him. Choosing Mendoza over Chen might signal that the Royals have opened up more to bailing on their mistakes when they’re apparent, a small shift in attitude but an important one. It might signify that they no longer get oddly protective of certain players who can’t perform, as if those players are all David Glass’s favorite nephews.

Really, it will take a body of decisions to evaluate whether or not the Royals decision makers have evolved their thinking to fit a team that is seemingly in place to win now. Do they stick with Jeff Francoeur if he struggles mightily in the first month? Do they send Donnie Joseph to AAA even if he is the best option they have as the last member of their bullpen and their best LOOGY option? These are difficult decisions (ok, the first one isn’t) the answer to which changes depending on where a team is at in its progress. If a team is rebuilding, options and service time and protecting large numbers of players is more important. If a might contend, those things should matter less (that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t matter at all; it just means they should matter less).

The next month and a half will give us a clearer indication if the those pulling the strings at Kauffman Stadium have actually wised up or if it’s just business as its often shitty usual.

General Manager Dayton Moore shipped away four blooming prospects, including Minor Leauge Baseball’s top prospect last season and the Royals’ top pitching prospect, for the pitching services of James Shields and Wade Davis.

August 05, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (left) with general manager Dayton Moore (right) before a game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Moore traded away some major pieces to the farm, but for the most part, the farm system is still intact and developing. However, it will be Moore’s and his player evaluation staff to patch the holes left by the departure of Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard (but mainly Myers and Odorizzi).

The Royals will hope to restock the pantry through the draft, starting with a very important pick at No. 8. Now, the Royals can go a few ways with this. There is an abundance of talent in this class, possibly not as deep as recent drafts, but certainly a variety of options.

When you look at the big league roster as a whole, you see lots of young talent. There will be very few needs from an age perspective seeing as the oldest every day player will be Jeff Francoeur at 29 years old. However, the key loss in the Shields-Davis trade was obviously Myers, a young, 22-year-old slugging outfielder with one of the highest ceilings on a prosect from a hitting perspective. This leads me to the first scenario for the Royals.

Sitting at No. 8 gives the Royals the advantage of gaining legit talent ahead of just about everyone else. Some names which continue to cover the boards in connections to the Royals:

        Austin Wilson-Jr.-Stanford-OF

       Wilson is a big strong kid, 6-5, 245 pounds, who some describe as raw but exploding with potential. In 2012, Wilson hit .285, with 10 home runs, all while driving in 54 RBI. This season will dictate whether he’s seen as that top 10 type prospect, or if his stock will plummet. It should be noted that through 11 games this season, Wilson only has three plate appearances with two strikeouts

       Dominic Smith-Sr. (HS)-California HS-1B/OF

       Smith is one of those guys who has still yet to lockdown his premier position. Some say the 6-1. 200-pound lefty, lacks the defensive skills to play outfield,  but has the bat to supply power from either position. He excels at making consistent hard contact and while his defensive skills may need to be refined, scouts say he has a very strong arm to field the position.

        Clint Frazier-Sr. (HS)-Loganville HS-OF

         Frazier may not be catching headlines like some of his classmates, but after watching only a few seconds of his HR Derby tape, you see why his name is legit mention in the first round. The 6-1 righty has lightning quick hands (think Bryce Harper fast) and can really extend his arms for some major pop. He’s young, talented and committed to Georgia, so this pick may come with a bit of a risk factor.

         Trey Ball-Sr. (HS)-New Castle HS-LHP/OF

         Ball definitely benefits from being a left-hander, gaining attention as an outfielder and standout pitcher. His arm speed was clocked at 93 MPH on the hill, but his 6-6 frame and athleticism indicates he could show some flash as an outfielder. His bat is described as smooth and strong, with power and strength to come as he matures. Ball could definitely be groomed to be a major league pitcher, as well.

         Phillip Ervin-Jr.-Samford-OF

         Ervin is my dark horse at No. 8 in the outfield group. The 5-10, 200-pound outfielder collected MVP honors over the summer in the Cape Cod League, hitting .323 with 10 home runs and 11 stolen bases. At Samford, Ervin is on an offensive tear, hitting .340 with six home runs and 12 RBI. Last season, he batted .327 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI.

The Royals can definitely afford to go after a big bat and outfield impact with the pick, but there will be plenty of pitchers for Moore to choose from, if he so chooses. Most of the arms the Royals should be interested in are already at the college level, but a few high school pitchers will certainly catch the eye of the Royals.

           Mark Appel-Sr.-Sanford-RHP

           Appel was selected last year by the Pirates, but chose not to sign and return to Sanford for one more season. The righty is projected to go ahead of the Royals, but still carries a risk to sign, which could turn off some teams ahead of KC. Appel is 2-1 this season for the Cardinals and has a sub-1.20 ERA to start the season. He’s by far the most advanced and big league-ready arm in the draft.

          Jonathan Crawford-Jr.-Florida-RHP

          Crawford has some critics who doubt he will have the ability to make it as a big league starter. Crawford currently only uses two pitches, a mid-90s fastball and sweeping slider, and pitches from a funky delivery which some say uses too much effort and will causes problems later down the road. However, the kid went 6-2, with a 3.13 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 72 innings of work.

          Jordan Sheffield-Sr. (HS)-Tullahoma HS-RHP

          The big knock against Sheffield is his size. At 6-3, 195-pounds, some say his frame is too small for a big time work horse in the pros, but his strong arm and use of secondary and third pitches could make him a steal. He has a standing commitment to Vanderbilt, but being taken in the top 10 would be a hard thing to pass up over a college career. Rumors swirled that Sheffield peaked  out in the upper-90s over summer.

          Robert Kaminsky-Sr. (HS)-St. Joseph Regional HS-LHP

          Kaminsky measures in at 6-foot, 190 pounds, but already has the measures of an advanced arm when it comes to his pitching ability. The lefty sits mid-to-low 90s on his fastball, with a healthy back up of off-speed pitches. Many agree he is legitimate first-round talent, but not sure where he exactly falls. The Royals may want to take a gamble on Kaminsky at No. 8 for his advanced potential.

As you can see, the player scouting and evaluation department for the Royals has a bit of a task on their hands. There’s plenty of talent out in the draft this year, some which may make a late push to the top of the boards as the season progresses.

The hardest part with evaluating baseball talent is the shear amount of talent in the United States. With so many rounds and picks, it can be a gargantuan task finding the talent to fill all the picks. As June approaches, the Royals will make it clear their intentions on who will fill the No. 8 spot on the big board.

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields (33) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

However, what if someone told you that the trade almost turned into a missed opportunity? According to Ken Rosenthalof Fox Sports, the Royals were almost too late with their decision.The Rays were in talks with multiple teams about James Shields. The Royals figured the Detroit Tigers were in on the discussions, but instead, it turned out that the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks were at the negotiating table with Tampa Bay. Moore and the Royals had a choice, and it wouldn’t be a cheap one from a talent perspective.

Working late into the night and early morning, Moore and his assistants crammed into a small conference room at their hotel. Moore went to a white board, listed and ranked the organizations top prospects and finally, laid out the price named by the Rays. Four quick swipes from the eraser in Moore’s hand, and the names of Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard were all removed from the group. Moore looked to his assistants and explained that while the price was high, the return was valuable and essential. The deal was struck and the Royals had beaten the Diamondbacks and Rangers to the punch. The next day Arizona signed Brandon McCarthy to two years and the Rangers moved on in search of help elsewhere. The Royals had landed two extremely important pieces to their future, Shields and Wade Davis, a strong reliever with starting experience.

If that deal wouldn’t have happened, the Royals spring training would have a much different look, feel and buzz surrounding it. Instead of the buzz of Shields and Davis working alongside of Ervin Santana, and Jeremy Guthrie, we’d be seeing of Odorizzi was ready to make the jump into the rotation. There would also be the discussion of where Bruce Chen, Luke Hochevar and Luis Mendoza fit in the rotation. Out in right field, it’d be Wil Myers alongside of Jeff Francoeur shagging fly balls and preparing to make the full-time jump to the big leagues.

Who knows if the Royals would have shopped around for a suitor to take Myers in exchange for a top-of-the-rotation guy ready to turn the Royals’ woes around. Hell, maybe Moore could have found another team willing to take Myers, while leaving Odorizzi intact with the organization. But, with all that aside, Moore stepped up to the table, grabbed the dice and laid down the big money. With as many years that have passed in Kansas City where fans complain about the passiveness GMs have assumed in the area, Moore silenced those critics while feeding ammunition to his personal critics, for now. The man took a risk, but when the Royals are nipping at the heels of the Tigers, the gallery of critics will sound more like the front pew in church.

September 24, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) walks back to dugout after striking out during the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

I’m a card carrying member of the basement brigade, and why yes, I do eat pop tarts for breakfast, lunch and dinner (I prefer blueberry). I tend to focus more on what a player does on the field and less what he does in the clubhouse. Jeff Francoeur may be a great teammate, and have a great smile, but he also posted a .287 on-base percentage last year. In my book that trumps all the off the field positives he brings to the team.

Optimism doesn’t come easy for me anymore. Two decades of incompetence will do that to a person. Many people look at the Royals roster and see a potential playoff team but I see a third place team that might win 80 games this year. For the Royals to play meaningful baseball in September this season a lot has to break right. All the team’s what ifs have to fall in place and that’s something I can’t envision happening.

According to more than a few debates I’ve had this winter this viewpoint somehow makes me less a fan than those who have bought in. This is, of course, absurdly untrue. Since I have the platform, I’d like to address four comments thrown my way over and over again.

“You want players to fail.”

It’s a bit of reach to think that complaining about a player’s lack of production equals cheerleading. Expecting a player to fail is not the same as hoping he’ll fail. I expected Yuniesky Betancourt to under perform, and to get far too many plate appearances, and that’s exactly what happened. Was I hoping he’d embarrass himself every time he came to the plate? Of course not. If someone can find an article or a tweet where I was cheering for failure then I’ll retire from the Royals blogosphere to live a life of quiet solitude.

“Games aren’t played on paper.”

Computer is sometimes substituted for paper but the point remains the same. This seems to be the go-to phrase when statistics are mentioned. I know games aren’t played on paper, and I’m glad, because I really do enjoy watching the Royals play. I also know anything can happen and a team can over perform its expectations, it does happen, but I don’t think you should ignore statistical evidence that suggests it won’t.

“Nobody has ever hired you to be a general manager.”

There’s a bit of hypocrisy involved in this statement. A few of the people who told me this spent the entire NFL season complaining about Scott Pioli. I’ve marveled at the way the Kansas City media highlights failures by the Chiefs front office while at the same time ignoring the same failures that are occurring across the street. To get back on topic though, no, I’ve never been a General Manager candidate. Here’s the thing folks, blogging isn’t just throwing a few hundred words onto the internet, there is hours and hours of research involved, some of which that shows Dayton Moore has made mistakes. Just because I’ve never been a GM doesn’t mean I’m incapable of recognizing those mistakes.

“You hate every move Dayton Moore makes.”

If you follow me on twitter or read my blog posts then you know that I’ve praised many of Moore’s moves. It’s intellectually dishonest to claim otherwise. Sure, I criticize more than praise, but the fact is a Moore team has never sniffed .500 or the postseason. That’s not exactly the track record of a GM who’s above criticism. Moves of Moore’s that I’ve endorsed include, among others, the Zack Greinke trade and extensions to Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar. 

“I’m amazed that it’s happened this quickly,” he said in an interview with 810 WHB’s Soren Petro on Tuesday. Moore reiterated that every source he spoke to before taking the Royals general manager job in 2006 told him that it would take “eight to ten years” to put this team “in a position to start winning consistently”.

True, he was taking on a team that had finished 2005 with a 56-106 record and had, on his first day as GM (5/31/2006), a record of 11-37. He inherited an organization that started 2005 with two prospects in the top 100 of Baseball America’s overall rankings (Billy Butler was 75th, Mark Teahen 85th). The Royals had opened 2006 with one more prospect in the top 100 than the year before. He didn’t inherit an easy job.

Dayton Moore Processing (Photo: Mike Engel)

Now, after six-plus seasons as GM, he’s yet to steer the organization towards a win total higher than 75.

I get it. It’s not an easy job. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to do it. But the “woe is me” kind of stuff just can’t fly anymore. Dayton Moore has done a great job at bringing in new talent to the organization. There’s a level of depth up and down the system that wasn’t there before he’d arrived. If things fall the right way, there could be some very good players on this current group. There’s definitely talent there and Moore should be commended for rebuilding a productive farm out of fallow ground.

Now it’s time for results. No more looking at the minor leagues. Moore said so in the interview. That was part of the inspiration to trade Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Patrick Leonard to the Tampa Bay Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis (and now Elliot Johnson).

“We made that deal to make our team a lot better and to put us on a new course and to do everything we could to continue and support this group of players to win and to start winning now. The window of opportunity closes very quickly.” – Moore, on 810 WHB 2/19/2013

There are immense challenges for the Royals. They’re in one of the smallest markets in the league and years of mismanagement have left them a shell of the franchise they used to be. Yes, it takes time, but it shouldn’t take as much time as Moore’s advisors suggest.

Numerous franchises have been at the bottom of the barrel and turned things around in less time than Moore’s had. If it were just one or two teams making quick turnarounds, you could chalk that up to a bit of luck. Anomalies. But frequently in recent history, teams have made rather quick turnarounds, often with new general managers taking over weak organizations.

Rany Jazayerli pointed out one such example.

When Dave Dombrowski was hired in 2002, DET was in worse shape than the Royals were when Dayton was hired. They won the AL pennant in 2006.

— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) February 19, 2013

Granted, Dombrowski ended up having resources to go after free agents, which Moore hasn’t had. But he also had taken over a team in 2002 that had three top 100 prospects – Nate Cornejo, Omar Infante and Kenny Baugh. In 2003, they only had two, Jeremy Bonderman and Franklin German. And yet, in 2006, there were the Tigers in the World Series.

Cleveland went 68-94 in 2003. In 2005, they were 93-69. Florida (now Miami) tore apart their 1997 World Series team, finished 1998 at 54-108 and made it back to 91-71 in 2003. Oakland has dismantled their team nearly as frequently as the Marlins, yet Billy Beane‘s leanest year (2011) was just one win worse (74) than Dayton Moore’s best (75). Oakland also won 94 games last year.

Washington was 58-104 in 2008. They were the best team in baseball last year with 96 wins. That’s three seasons.

Tampa Bay brought in Andrew Friedman after the 2005 season and finished 61-101 in 2006. In 2008, they made it to the World Series and have been a contender every year since.

Texas finished 75-87 in 2007 and had generally been a team that hung around the lower 70s in wins. In 2010 they won 90 games and are considered among the best organizations in baseball, if not the top dog. Cincinnati went from 74-88 in 2008 to 91-71 in 2010.

May 9, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore watches batting practice before a game against the Boston Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Since Dayton Moore’s hiring, there have been 15 teams who’ve made changes at their GM spot. If you let me include Friedman and Jon Daniels in Texas, who were hired after the 2005 season, that’d be 17. Of those 17 new hires, 10 have led their teams to the playoffs in less time than Moore’s been in Kansas City. Two of those new hires were with new teams in 2012 (Jed Hoyer in Chicago and Jeff Luhnow in Houston), so two-thirds of the general managers hired since Dayton Moore joined Kansas City have made the playoffs.

Of those who didn’t make the playoffs are Alex Anthopoulos, who’s positioned his team to be a favorite in the AL East to some and Jed Hoyer who took over in San Diego in 2009 after their 75-87 record and saw them win 90 in his first year there. Ed Wade was in Houston from September of 2007 and fired at the end of 2011 when the Astros went into a full-on scorched earth rebuild. Jack Zduriencik in Seattle has been held in high regard. Neal Huntington with the Pirates somehow still has his job. Most of the non-playoff GMs saw some success though.

So no, it doesn’t seem like eight to ten years is such an obvious number to right the ship. Craig Brown pointed out that Moore had a different take on the timeframe back in 2009.

The Royals have had some bad luck. Every team has some bad luck. Before 2011, the Royals had nine players on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list. Five of those were in the top 20. But John Lamb tore his UCL. Mike Montgomery and Chris Dwyer forgot how to throw strikes. Christian Colon was slow to develop. Heading into 2013, only two of those nine will start the year with the Royals – Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, and both struggled last season. That’s rotten luck.

That doesn’t excuse giving Yuniesky Betancourt everyday work at second base in the first half of 2012. It doesn’t excuse the Mike Jacobs trade or the Willie Bloomquist signing or sticking with Kyle Davies when it was clear he wasn’t any good. Bad luck and bad moves don’t turn into good results.

Moore went on to mention that he felt the team had done a good job of developing pitching, then discussed the bullpen. And I’ll grant that the bullpen’s very good. Greg Holland and Kelvin Herrera may be two of the nastiest late relievers in baseball in 2013. It’s such a loaded bullpen that a perfectly fine reliever like Louis Coleman is probably going to be in Omaha when the year starts.

But it’s starting pitching that needs to develop. And among the pitchers Moore has drafted, only three have made a start in the big leagues and that’s only if you let me count Luke Hochevar and Everett Teaford who were both taken in the 2006 draft that Moore says he didn’t take part in (after prepping with Atlanta before joining the Royals). Counting Hochevar and Teaford’s starts with Danny Duffy‘s adds up to 161 starts in 972 games since the start of the 2007 season. Omitting Hochevar and Teaford brings that down to 26 starts, all by Duffy.

That’s the primary issue with the Royals stalled development. They’re doing great in developing relievers, and starting pitching prospects are great in the lower minors, but making the jump to the upper levels is difficult, and most haven’t been able to scale that hill. Either that’s a scouting problem (and the player simply isn’t as good as they’d hoped) or a development problem.

I think there’s help on the way. Kyle Zimmer could be very good, and the Royals gush over Yordano Ventura. John Lamb should be fully recovered this year and Duffy, Felipe Paulino, Wade Davis, Jeremy Guthrie and Shields (in 2014) give them some added depth that can be pretty good in the future.

But they aren’t there yet, even though they really ought to be.

Regardless, Dayton Moore is going to get his extra time. He’s under contract through 2014 and barring a complete collapse at every level, he’s likely to be in place this time next year. He may even get an extension if the team’s working towards .500.

That’s the right direction, and I hope Moore’s the man to lead the franchise that way. He may have a blindspot for gritty veterans but he can recognize amateur talent and he’s been creative at bringing it into the system. He deserves that credit.

But he can’t keep trotting out that “eight to ten year” plan line. Even if he backs it up by saying he thinks the Royals are ahead of that schedule.

Thirty-nine pitchers have started 50 or more games for Kansas City and Hochevar has a lower ERA+ than all of them. Among the same group, only Dan Reichert (-0.5) and Glendon Rusch (-0.3) join him on the negative side of bWAR (-0.3). I suppose you know all of this, after all, myself and others have been tracking these numbers for a few years now. Ned Yost believes Hochevar will bounce back in 2013, but his career best ERA+ is just a meager 87, so bounce back may not mean what Yost thinks it means.

I felt after the season that Hochevar may have pitched himself out of Kansas City with his September performance (9.56 ERA, 1.87 WHIP) but that turned out to be wishful thinking on my part. Dayton Moore was apparently fine with him having the worst season of his career, as well as his most expensive. I don’t get it.

July 25, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Luke Hochevar (44) reacts after being ejected for hitting Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) with a pitch in the fourth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

With Ervin Santana in the fold, and Jeremy Guthrie re-signed, the time was perfect to part ways with the right-hander. It’s hard to listen to team officials talk about the financial challenges they face while they are at the same time preparing to flush more than four million dollars down the drain. Hochevar is talented, I get it, but it’s just not going to happen for him in KC. I want to be wrong, I would be thrilled to be wrong. I just don’t think I am.

Moore is insistent on bringing in another pitcher to front the rotation, which is fine (but not at this price), but that just raises more questions as far as I’m concerned. Right now, and not counting Will Smith and Jake Odorizzi, the rotation is full.

Here’s the starting corps as I see it:
Guthrie
Santana
Hochevar
Chen
Mendoza

So then, who is the odd man out if another starter is acquired? The front office spent last winter hyping Luis Mendoza and then Mendoza went out and led the team with a 97 ERA+, a mark Hochevar has never come close to achieving. Are they going bail on him after a semi-successful season? I suppose he’d move to middle relief but it still wouldn’t make sense due to the fact he was a more effective pitcher than Hochevar.  Bruce Chen is on the books for 4.5 million so good luck trying to find a team willing to take that on after the season he just completed. The logical, easy move would have been to non-tender Hochevar.

Five straight seasons Hochevar has pitched 100+ innings and five straight seasons he’s finished with an ERA+ under 90. What the heck, let’s make it six.

There were eleven seasons the past six years that matched the above criteria. That number placed them 25th among the 34 time periods. Only the offensive ineptitude of the 1990′s kept them from being closer to the bottom. And of course, Butler and Gordon. Those two account for the top six seasons under Moore, which is interesting, since they were already in the organization when Moore was hired.

September 24, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) receives congratulations from designated hitter Billy Butler (16) after hitting a home run during the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Criticize the lack of a Moore acquisition or draftee in the top six all you want but Butler and Gordon have been really, really good. Seven of the seasons came in the last two years thanks in large part to the 2011 offensive explosion. The five seasons put up that year tied the 1980 and 1982 teams for the most in Royals history.

The top time period was 1975-1980 with 21 seasons. Butler and Gordon’s 140 OPS+ would have placed 9th on that list which is testament to how talented those teams were offensively (Speaking of really, really good, George Brett occupies 6 of the top 15 spots).

Here’s the complete rundown.

August 05, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (left) with general manager Dayton Moore (right) before a game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Before we get swallowed by #YearSeven I thought I’d start a series comparing player performances under Moore against the thirty-three other six year intervals in team history. Today we’ll start with everybody’s favorite topic, the rotation. I was looking for seasons where a pitcher tossed 162+ innings with an ERA+ of 110 or higher, once a common thing in KC, but now as rare as a Chiefs lead. Since 2007 there have been only four such seasons, and none since Zack Greinke’s Cy Young season in 2009.

Development issues and an improper evaluation of major league talent have left the Royals starved for even league average starting pitching. Place the blame where you like, but facts are facts, Moore’s rotations have been nothing short of disastrous.

Here’s the short rundown of the Moore era:

2009 – Greinke 205 ERA+, 229.1 IP

2008 – Greinke 125 ERA+, 202.1 IP

2007 – Gil Meche 125 ERA+, 216 IP

2007 – Brian Bannister 118 ERA+, 165 IP

The only time period with fewer was 2001-2006 with three. Shocking, I know. The mid to late 1970’s and mid to late 1980’s were the starting pitching golden eras, which I imagine surprises no one. Anyway, I made this nifty little chart which has all the results. Nothing shocking here, if you know your Royals history. The mid 1980′s to the early 1990′s looks to be the golden era while things started turning for the worse in the late 1990′s. The 2000′s have, of course, been a massive disappointment  The only surprise, for me at least, was 1979-1984. Those six years saw two division titles and three second place finishes. I guess you could describe it as a changing of the guard, from one crop of Royals Hall of Famers to another.

And why not? Factoring in playing time (600 minimum plate appearances) you can make a very credible argument he just put up the worst season in team history. Others have put up poorer numbers for sure, Angel Salazar and Tony Pena Jr come quickly to mind, but they weren’t allowed to continue playing every day, and that’s really the difference between a bad year and a historically awful year. For reasons known only to himself, Ned Yost sent Frenchy to the plate 603 times in 2012. And how did Frenchy reward Yost’s misguided loyalty?

By doing this:

…and this:

September 24, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) walks back to dugout after striking out during the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

going to be dealt in the off season for pitching, and hey, somebody had to play right field. I would have preferred one year but I kind of understood Moore’s motivation. Or at least I thought I did. As you know, Myers wasn’t dealt, and was several kinds of awesome this year.

Reasons to keep Myers down ranged from he needed to work on his defense to he needed to cut down on his strikeouts, and my favorite, he wasn’t on the 40 man roster. Whatever. The first two may have been legit but the third one was just noise and wasn’t offered up as an excuse until late in the season.

I found Moore’s comments about not wanting to block young pitchers in 2014 amusing since Frenchy’s contract did exactly that to Myers. If Myers does get traded (Trevor Bauer, anyone?) this winter I think 600 plate appearances for Frenchy next season is an easy prediction to make. Which means with no one to push him for playing time, and his successor no longer in the organization, another contract extension is likely coming.

(That would be a fun game, let’s try: Luke Hochevar, starting pitcher. Nope, see, that doesn’t work.)

So much has been made of the Royals need to “finally commit to winning”, that if money isn’t spent then the owner of a business who is entitled to make money on his business greedy David Glass might just have to rewind himself straight out of town. (Because that’s how it works.) The time is now and the division is ripe for the taking, because it’s really quite terrible after all.

But at what cost comes this pursuit of starting pitching? Is it by any means necessary? Is it overspend for a product that you know isn’t worth the cost? Is it, as some have written, making a “trade that hurts”?

Hopefully, the answer to all of these questions is “no”.

While there was supposed to be a window to complete this “Mission” – a window that keeps getting moved every year or so – opening and going through that window still needs to be done with some semblance of responsibility, just in case the effort to jump through isn’t met with a blue ribbon, but rather a deafening silence.

Payroll is a commodity just like service time for young, cheap players, and in Dayton Moore’s tenure one thing he’s struggled with doing – the thing he’s struggled with the most – is appropriately allocating his available payroll dollars to players that can and will produce. (Say what you will about Glass, he’s spent more. Much more. He’s not been the one choosing the players.)

Because of this track record there’s a concern, a much deserved concern, that the starting pitching targets acquired will either a) not be much better than the arms already on the roster for a higher cost b) be a much higher cost but not be the type of difference makers to matter, saddling the organization with sunk costs in future years or c) be acquired by trade that cripples a preserved strength – offense – that really isn’t a strength to begin with.

There should almost be a “homerun or hope” approach to the arms targeted to better help this team moving forward. Have two or three names that can be acquired at the top of the free agent costs in baseball (Zack Greinke?) and try to get one of them. (One difference maker sets this team up better than two or three middle of the road guys.) And have two or three names that can be acquired by using pieces in the low minors to a rebuilding team (Calixte, Mondesi, Ventura, etc.).

If none of those work, then try and find the “change of scenery” guy with the chance to be more under the Royals system, the same way the scouts saw something in Felipe Paulino. This way the organization isn’t crippled with the contract of a pitcher who’s probably no better than a No.3 with a roster that’s really not quite there yet, and there are pieces still in place from June and July of next year to use as pieces to really make a splash.

The main concern is a panic move at this point. While everyone wants to see a winning team for a change, overpaying for a pitcher just for the sake of making a move and getting someone you don’t truly want, would be a big mistake.

Chris Volstad, your newest Kansas City Royals pitcher. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

The move itself doesn’t bother me. Why not grab a cheap 26-year-old pitcher and see what happens? Most likely he’ll be used as insurance against injury, as he’s yet to show he can be a successful big league pitcher. But it doesn’t hurt anything for KC to take a gamble.

It’s the attitude of our front office that bothers me. In an article  by Bob Dutton, Dayton Moore said:

“We know who we are and how we have to build this team,” general manager Dayton Moore said, “and how we have to build our rotation. We’re going to be as aggressive as we can, but we know who we are and how we need to do it.”

Ummm…what? How are we supposed to interpret that comment? Does he mean that we know we need depth, so we are being smart and grabbing players we can stash in AAA in case of emergency? Or is he saying that the Royals can never hope to compete in free agency, and we can never dream of picking up an established starting pitcher?

My fear is Moore means the latter. Moore goes on in the same article to say building a team in Kansas City through the free agent market won’t work. Plain and simple. And I don’t disagree…the team doesn’t have the big market dollars to throw around. However, ownership should have enough money to go out and pick up a couple of legit players. If the scouts and front office officials believe in the position players and bullpen, they can afford to spend on a couple of starting pitchers.

If those players aren’t available, the Royals need to look long and hard at whom they are willing to part with in a trade. Moore does say the trade market is a viable option for the Royals, so that’s not out of the question. I also don’t necessarily believe Moore has the stones to pull off a big deal.

The comment from Moore, in my opinion, just reeks of a defeatist attitude. I’ve defended Moore for the most part during his tenure. I think he’s done a lot of great things here with getting David Glass to spend in the draft and raising the team’s presence in the international market, but maybe that’s where Moore belongs. Head of scouting or player development might be more in his wheelhouse.

I guess I shouldn’t fault Moore for setting his sites lower – most people in his position would probably get beaten down after a few years running this team. But the fans deserve better than that.

“We’re going to be as aggressive as we can, but we know who we are…”

Hey…we’re just the Royals… Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Not exactly confidence building words. We’ve gone from Glass saying that we’ll spend money on the rotation and doing what needs to be done…to this. So much for the excitement fans were feeling. The chatter among Royals fans for the last several weeks has been “Who do you think we’re going to bring in? Anibal Sanchez? Dan Haren?”

The talk moving forward will probably sound more like the fans from the first “Major League” movie. “Chris freaking Volstad? Who are these freaking guys?”

(I went ahead and edited that last part for basic cable)

The difference being, of course, this is not a feel good baseball movie where a bunch of loveable losers go to the playoffs. This is real life.  We need a GM who won’t basically go on record and say “Oh well…we’re just the Royals. This how we operate.”

It’s about time for the front office to stop preparing the fans for failure and start figuring out how to win.

Even though the Royals haven’t played for a while, there’s still news trickling in (and more to come once the offseason is upon us). The Royals added two hitting coaches to the staff, so we discussed their experience and what it may mean for the Royals offense next season, including the Royals trend towards internal hires rather than going outside of the organization for coaching positions.

We also covered the claim of RHP Chris Volstad and considered what he might add to the Royals next season – but we had to touch on comments from Dayton Moore about how free agency may not be the option he uses to rebuild the rotation.

Finally, we wrapped up with more discussion of our seasons on Out of the Park Baseball and added a little bit of nonsense before wrapping it up.

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.

“I bet I can get a deal done an hour after the final pitch.” Photo Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Offseason moves are officially underway – which means Dayton Moore must be getting the shakes. He’s shown a pattern the last few years of making a move almost as soon as he could.

In 2008, he traded the pitcher formerly known as Leo Nunez (now Juan Carlos Oviedo) to the Marlins for first baseman Mike Jacobs. That happened on October 30. Less than a month later on November 19, he sent pitcher Ramon Ramirez to Boston for Coco Crisp.

The next offseason, he traded Mark Teahen to Chicago for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. That was November 6, 2009. Only 369 days later, he finished the David DeJesus trade, getting pitchers Justin Marks and Vin Mazzaro back. And last year on November 7, he traded Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez.

While I’m sure there’s no official policy in the Royals front office, it seems that Moore wants to get ahead of everything and finish a trade as soon after the postseason as he can. Maybe he wants to know what he has before free agency gets moving or before having to make decisions about the 40 man roster. This year, the Royals have to have their 40 man roster finalized by November 20 in order to protect players who’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The timing matters.

There could also be an element of jumping the gun here, too. Last year, Moore signed Bruce Chen way before much of the market had been set. Perhaps he could have found a similar player who would have signed for similar money. Less than two weeks after Chen signed for two years and $9 million, Chris Capuano signed a two year deal for $10 million guaranteed with the Dodgers. Chen’s ERA was 5.07 in 191.2 innings. Capuano – more than a year younger – had a 3.72 ERA in 198.1 innings. Aaron Harang signed a two year deal with the Dodgers as well on December 8. For 11 million dollars, they got 179 .2 innings of 3.61 ERA pitching.

I’d rather have either of those Dodgers deals.

Now there’s no guarantee going into 2012 that it would turn out that way, but once the Royals signed Chen, it took them out of the running to sign another pitcher (at least in their minds):

 Once we had those three guys [Chen, Sanchez and Luke Hochevar] we were committed to, to do anything else would block those young guys from getting an opportunity. – Dayton Moore, 2/13/12

This year, there’s a good chance Moore will make some moves early again. The Royals are looking for pitching, and while the free agent starters may not sign until December, a trade could be made to snag a starter from another team. The Royals might also look for an alternative to Lorenzo Cain if he proves to remain injury prone or a replacement for Johnny Giavotella if they don’t think that Christian Colon will be ready soon enough or that Irving Falu could play second full time (and assuming they don’t bring Chris Getz back).

His MO has been to get a deal done soon, though, and this year, it’s a storyline to watch while the 2012 season winds down.

I understand why Kevin Seitzer will no longer be the team’s hitting coach, and really, I’m okay with it. He was unable to help Eric Hosmer battle his way out of a season long slump and he couldn’t right Mike Moustakas when the third baseman started slumping in early June. Their regression, more than anything, is likely what cost Seitzer his job. They are expected to be offensive cornerstones for the next half decade so 4-6 month slumps are simply unacceptable. Whether it’s deserved it or not the hitting coach will almost always shoulder the blame when young stars under perform.

At the same though, there is something that bothers me about his removal.  The Royals finished 12th in the American League in runs scored and that cannot be laid solely at the feet of Seitzer. Ned Yost and Dayton Moore each made contributions that hampered the offense so they deserve an equal share of the blame.

“A walk, a base-hit and boom — there’s three runs. I think that’s the major difference in philosophy.” -Ned Yost

I’m sorry but when has this ever been Ned Yost’s philosophy? I am happy that he decided to channel his inner Earl Weaver mostly because I never suspected he possessed an inner Earl Weaver. And why would I? A single, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt, a

Aug 29, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas (8) is congratulated by hitting coach Kevin Seitzer (left) designated hitter Billy Butler (center) and manager Ned Yost (right) after scoring against the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

sacrifice fly and boom – there’s one run is more to Yost’s tastes than a three run home run. We watched it play out all year. Nearly half of the team’s sacrifice bunts this year occurred in the first three innings. Eager to score first Yost would play for one run and often would do so with a runner already in scoring position. Couple this with an insanely aggressive base running style that led to too many free outs and you start to see why runs were hard to come by.

The quote above is basically an admission that high on-base and slugging percentages will lead to more runs. Except we know those aren’t the stats the organization values. On more than one occasion a member of the coaching staff or front office expressed amazement that the offense was struggling given the team’s high batting average (.265, 4th best in the AL). Basically this is the part that bothers me about Seitzer’s ouster. If batting average is the money stat, and the team has a high average, then why let the hitting coach go?

“We have to understand the importance of on-base percentage.” —Dayton Moore, October 2008.

Four years later we are still waiting on Moore to understand – not only the importance of on-base percentage – but also how it correlates with runs scored. A quick look at some players he acquired via trade or free agency since uttering this quote shows a distinct lack of understanding. Off to the side are their career on-base percentages at the time of acquisition.

Mike Jacobs – .318
Willie Bloomquist – .322
Coco Crisp – .331
Yuniesky Betancourt – .302
Rick Ankiel – .316
Scott Podsednik – .340
Melky Cabrera – .328
Jeff Francoeur – .310
Yuniesky Betancourt – .292
Humberto Quintero – .268

To be fair, a couple of those moves paid off (Podsednik and Cabrera) but the rest were complete failures. How many general managers in the game today would have let Francoeur and his 81 OPS+ block Wil Myers all year? How many would have allowed Betancourt to come to the plate over 200 times? How many would have carried both those players on their roster? The answer to all three questions is, of course, just one. Dayton Moore.

Kevin Seitzer was the fall guy but – and I can’t stress this enough – he shouldn’t have fell alone.

That’s a great statement for Royals fans to see, but it’s easy to be skeptical. For years, fans, writers, and radio hosts have vilified Glass for being stingy. A former chairman and CEO of Walmart, his penny-pinching ways have been criticized often. Some of that is earned. For years with Allard Baird as General Manager, Glass wouldn’t invest in the minor leagues, taking draft picks who were signable rather than talented and skimping on scouting. Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran were traded away when the team couldn’t afford a contract extension with them.

September 21, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals owner David Glass watches batting practice before a game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

The perception is that Glass won’t spend money on free agents or established Royals.

It’s reached the point that campaigns have been built up to compel Glass to sell the team, including banners over Arrowhead Stadium and an advertisement in the Kansas City Star.

So yeah, I can get it when a lot of fans say “I’ll believe it when I see it.” It’s easy to say that you’ll spend the money. It’s another to actually do it.

The encouraging thing to note is that Glass addressed the question at all. He’s not one for these sorts of statements and often doesn’t do a lot of interviews unless it’s an event like the All-Star Game.

“Our bullpen,” he said, “I’ll stack it up against anybody in our division. Our position players, too. We just need some additional help in starting pitching. We get that, and were competitive.” – Glass to Dutton in the Star.

While the Royals watch other small market teams like the Nationals and Orioles fight for playoff spots (or clinch them in Washington’s case), Kansas City still fights to surpass 70 wins every year. This year, the weakness was known to be starting pitching, but the Royals said they were comfortable where they were and didn’t want to block any prospects. Then injuries happened and none of the prospects came up. Any free agent pitching they could have had was on other teams and the Royals were left scraping together a rotation.

This year, the feeling is that they’ll have to go out and get two starters to get on track towards a playoff spot. Free agent pitching isn’t cheap. It’s reasonable to wonder if Glass is aware of what he’s committing himself to here. Will he balk at the cost when it’s apparent that he’ll have to commit $30, $40, $50 million to a free agent? Will he only allow Moore to offer a certain amount to get pitching? Could that lead to lowball offers that are easily dismissed? These are my concerns.

“I have no idea yet of who will be on the market or what it will cost at this point in time. We’re going to have to figure all of that out.”

Perhaps just as concerning is the reputation of Dayton Moore. He’s been very good at finding players who were left at the side of the road and turning them into something. Ask Felipe Paulino, Jeremy Guthrie or Melky Cabrera about that. He’s struggled when the big acquisitions of big league talent come into play. He can afford to hit on the misfits because they’re easy to discard if they fail, but when he has a big check to hand out, Jose Guillen ends up on the team. Gil Meche gets more money than the market warrants. Jeff Francoeur ends up signed to an albatross of an extension. Yuniesky Betancourt is signed at four times the cost of a capable utility player like Tony Abreu or Irving Falu.

Step one is getting Glass prepared to hand out the cash. Step two is using it wisely. Since Moore has taken over, he’s brought the payroll over $60 million in a season four times. Glass has given him the money. Moore just hasn’t used it very well in many cases.

The test will be this offseason. The Royals have been profitable and they’re coming off of a season where the baseball world was focused on Kauffman Stadium for the All-Star Game. Additionally, a deal for TV rights between baseball and ESPN will give the Royals more money as well (though Rany Jazayerli keenly points out that other teams will have money too, so while the Royals can spend more, other teams can too, so there may not be a net advantage here). Bottom line is that the Royals will have the cash to go after players. Glass says he’s willing to spend it. Saying and doing are two different things, however.

My personal opinion is that Glass is the boogeyman. It’s always easy to blame the boss. The idea that he hasn’t put money towards the team is a misguided one. It could be suggested that he hasn’t put enough money towards the team, though. That’s the scenario he’s saying he’ll correct this offseason.

As Royals fans, we’re conditioned to sneer at promises to increase payroll and roll our eyes at the idea that “we’re ready to compete this year”. Patience has worn thin. There’s a great amount of cynicism about Glass’s statement coming on the same day that season ticket renewal forms went out to many holders. Coincidence or calculation?

If what Glass says turns out to be true, though, I don’t think anyone will care. Fans want a winner. We recognize that starting pitching is the big deficiency on the roster. Glass has now stated that he’ll address it.

If he does, Sam Mellinger says he can turn the narrative around. If he doesn’t, he’s going to need to install a moat around Kauffman Stadium and take out insurance against angry mobs, torches and pitchforks. He has an opportunity not only to infuse new talent into the team, but also to win some games and win some good favor with Kansas City. All of those are beneficial to the Royals and to Glass.

Now he just has to make good. But will he?

He better. RT @royals_report: #Royals owner David Glass is willing to spend this winter to improve rotation. bit.ly/ShkEUz

— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) September 24, 2012

You may have seen a man in the seats during the Royals series against the Orioles who came dressed in tights, a cape, no shirt and a Mexican luchador mask. This man, Neal Moorhouse, has been dubbed the LuchadOriole, and is one of a growing group of superfans.

This, of course, elated our own intrepid co-host, Troy “Royalman” Olsen and we invited Nea- I mean The LuchadOriole to talk to us on the show (via video Skype, no less). It was really quite something.

Troy and Chris also reviewed Dayton Moore’s recent trades and tried to grade his performance so far. They also talked about Jeremy Guthrie‘s solid performance lately, including his flirtation with a no-hitter on Sunday.

We also made the announcement that the podcast is making some changes – rather than being known as the Royalman Report, we’ll be adopting the name of the show we’d launched on ESPN 1510 AM, the Kansas City Baseball Vault. The same ideas, insight, occasional nonsense and guests that you’re accustomed to from the Royalman Report will be included the same as always. There’s just a different name, and more of a nod to the past at times. We’ll also be temporarily moving the timeslot to noon on Saturdays for the remainder of baseball season.

This Thursday, though, marks our final episode of the Kansas City Baseball Vault on ESPN 1510 AM – so it’ll live on in podcast form, rather than terrestrial radio. That final show will be at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN 1510 AM this Thursday.

You can listen to this week’s show 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.

Tonight, superfans collide, as the Baltimore Orioles version of a superfan will be a guest via Skype on the Royalman Report. Tune in to see what happens when Carne Cabeza aka the LuchadOriole (aka Neal Moorhouse) joins the show as a guest. Will he be friend or foe? Will team alliances create conflict or will the two find common costumed ground? Tune in to the Royalman Report – same Royalman time, same Royalman channel!

Also, the Royals managed to win a few games, going 5-1 on the homestand and Jeremy Guthrie flirted with a no-hitter. It’s been a pretty good August, so maybe there’s some good feeling still to be had.

Finally, we’ll have an announcement about the future status of the podcast.

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.

(more…)

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.

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.

On today’s episode, I talked with host John Ackeren about the Royals, their recent moves, who’s on the hot seat, as well as some of the minor league talent still making its way up the pipeline. Also on the show are Michael Castillo of our USC site Reign of Troy and Josh Lobdell of Detroit Jock City.

FanSided Radio is geared towards you, the sports fanatic. We bring you the shows and content you are looking for in sports podcasts. FanSided Radio is your way to listen to great sports talk, whenever you want to listen!

Jul 4, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (3) looks on from the dugout against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

I use to have this football coach who was a little bit kooky, a little bit nutty in a down-home-Midwest-drill sergeant kind of way.  He had a flattop haircut decades after that was something people were still doing. He use to pad up and play scout team quarterback with us, which felt odd even at the time. He also had these incredible sayings that kind of made no sense. The one that’s sticking in my mind at this moment is “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

It seems true enough even if it’s completely false. Sometimes, you can in fact just keep doing what you’ve always done with differing results because the circumstances surrounding that action change. For example, a large group of people in New York continued to back mortgage futures into the mid 2000s, at first making billions of dollars and then losing billions of dollars when the housing bubble burst. Same doings, differing results.

That said, I think it might help Ned Yost to learn my old, zany coach’s lesson a little bit. Recently, he made a statement to Bob Dutton, my favorite beat writer of all time, that Dutton put in an article about Yost’s “steady as she goes” approach to losing many baseball games: “You don’t do crazy stuff that you wouldn’t do if you were winning ballgames. You try to stay as even-keeled as you can. You stay positive. You keep working. We don’t change anything.”

I read this, and immediately, the voice of my old coach popped into my head, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” Yes! Of course! When you experience sustained losing, you must change something or you will continue to lose. That seems like the most basic sports principle of all time, and yet, it alludes Yost. The principle behind Yost’s philosophy, I’m guessing, is to not be overly swayed by small sample sizes. Statisticians know the perils of this. But the Royals are 41-60. They’ve lost 21 of their last 27. That’s not a small sample size. It’s in fact a very healthy sample size when the question is should something be changed? Abso-freaking-lutely something should be changed!

There is a point when patience becomes impotence, when faith in the ability of your guys is clearly misplaced. As Royals fans, we know where that faith is misplaced: Jeff Francoeur and Yuniesky Betancourt. Are the Royals a winning team, even with an optimal lineup of the organization’s best players (yes I used “organization” intentionally as our best second baseman and right fielder are currently in AAA)? Maybe, maybe not. But to consistently repeat an action, like playing two players who are not effective, and expecting changing results when the circumstances surrounding that action never really change is willful ignorance (Some call it insanity; too me, that’s a slight on the truly insane like myself and Donald Trump).

Is Yost stupid? I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it. I’m guessing he’s a decently smart baseball guy. He’s just not wise. He’s clearly not a big picture guy, and that’s just crazy when the biggest picture he should be concerned with is doing whatever it takes to win baseball games. It feels like he’s more concerned with getting players to play well. It would seem like these two things are connected, but they really aren’t. He needs to get the team to play well. Sometimes, that means changing the team so it doesn’t include dead weight. And yes, he needs Dayton Moore’s help to do this.

Moore showed some signs that he might be a little wiser than Yost. He made a change today, trading Jonathan Broxton for a couple of solid minor league arms. Kudos for Moore for taking a player who had some value to other teams but not really to the Royals and turning it into some value for the Royals. Now, he and Yost need to figure out how to do that with players inside their own organizations or both of them may learn what the brutal winds of change their so hesitant to bring about feel like when they’re sweeping them away.

To get an update on the Tribe, I exchanged some questions with Lewie Pollis, the editor of Wahoo’s On First, FanSided’s Cleveland Indians site:

The Indians are in that awkward spot where they’re close enough to make a move and try to hang in the race, but could also read the writing on the wall and start selling. What do you want them to do?

The best trade the Indians could make right now would be one that improves their chances of winning now but is also focused on 2013 and 2014. Just based on the state of the roster and the high demand for premium closers, it would make a lot of sense to trade Chris Perez for a young, cost-controlled outfielder or first baseman (my first choice is Peter Bourjos).

We don’t have any desirable spare parts whose losses wouldn’t haunt us next year and we’re not really in a position to make a big upgrade. So really it’s more a matter of finding a team whose strengths and weaknesses match up with ours than of “buying” or “selling.”

There had been rumors of Justin Masterson being on the block as well as Chris Perez and even Shin Soo-Choo. What return would the Indians be after to reload the system’s talent pool?

For Perez, it would be a young, cost-controlled hitter who we can plug into our lineup right now. I don’t have a specific deal in mind for Choo or Masterson, but I would demand a package of high-ceiling MLB-ready impact talent. Even if we’re punting 2012, we’re still supposed to contend in 2013; it’s hard to imagine us making a serious run at the playoffs without our ace, and even if Choo wasn’t a star (which he is) we have no one else who can play right field every day.

Perez? If you can find a good deal, go ahead and pull the trigger. Vinnie Pestano can step in for the ninth inning. But selling off guys like Choo and Masterson doesn’t make sense. Unless we’re totally blowing it up and starting another rebuilding cycle, they’re probably worth more to us than they would be to another team.

What’s the organization saying about the path of Francisco Lindor and are fans hoping to see him rise quickly or to demonstrate he’s mastered each level before being bumped up?

They’re in no hurry. Asdrubal Cabrera is signed through 2014 so there’s no immediate need for a shortstop, and Lindor is only 18 years old. I’m not exactly sure how they’ll handle things as he rises through the minors—a lot can happen between Single-A and The Show, and that will probably become clearer in the next year or two. Most Tribe fans seem happy just salivating over his potential and aren’t too worried about rushing him through the system.

The Royals have been able to score some runs in their three series against Cleveland this year. Who do you want the staff to pitch around most?

Billy Butler. You guys have a lot of promising young bats, but none of them scare me like Butler. Any chance he can come down with a completely benign and painless injury that will keep him out of action until the end of the series?

On that note, who’s taking the mound this series, and what do you think they’ll do this time around?

First up is Derek Lowe (5.09 ERA, 4.69 SIERA), and I don’t think many Tribe fans are looking forward to that one. He doesn’t strike anyone out (seriously, he has a 3.1 K/9 rate) so he depends on inducing weak grounders with his sinker. It worked out great for the first month or so, but he’s been rocked to the tune of an 8.07 ERA in his last 11 starts (you read that right—this is a long slump). Much as I hate to say it, he hasn’t given us any reason to expect an improvement this time out.

Next is Zach McAllister (3.18 ERA, 3.62 SIERA), who (with apologies to Masterson) has been the Tribe’s best pitcher this year. After taking more of a pitch-to-contact approach in the minors he’s suddenly remembered how to strike batters out. He tends to be fairly homer prone (he gives up a lot of fly balls) and for what it’s worth he’s already allowed 10 unearned runs in 62.1 innings, but he’s the closest thing we have to a stopper right now. Pencil the Tribe in for a win when he pitches.

In the series finale you’ll draw Josh Tomlin (5.87 ERA, 4.59 SIERA). He’s what I like to call inherently inconsistent: he’s a soft-tossing pitch-to-contact hurler who gives up a ton of fly balls. Sometimes he makes it work, but since his success is based on so many things going right it’s very easy for his outings to end poorly. Get ready to swing because you’re not going to walk (he’s given up only one free pass in July), but the plus side for Kansas City is that you can swing for the fences. A bunch of good young hitters like the Royals will probably be able to tee off.

My responses to Lewie’s questions are posted at Wahoo’s On First.

And as the Royals fade into oblivion yet again, there are rumors (aren’t there always?) that Dayton Moore is in talks with just about every team, about every player, as the trade deadline approaches. Of course, with those rumors always comes the caveat that the Royals need to be compelled to trade any of their players.

Yeah, because as this roster is currently constructed, contention is imminent, and trading players would negatively affect the future.

Aside from the obvious reasons to not hang on to a mostly untalented roster, there’s a stiff breeze blowing from the south from a franchise that’s wide-open for trading business, and looks intent on sending everything packing that’s not bolted firmly to the floor.

Jeff Luhnow took over the Houston Astros’ GM position in December – leaving the Cardinals organization and being a major player in their rising success over the past few years – and immediately became the (new) jewel of the saber-community eye. He interviewed Keith Law. He hired Mike Fast.* He immediately started unloading his over-valued, over-priced players nearing the end of their contracts.

*An admitted Royals fan. Poor guy.

And as this season’s trade deadline is nearing, the Astros have traded their closer (ahem), their first baseman, their third baseman, and their best starting pitcher. What each deal brought in return doesn’t matter as much as the reasons for doing so.

The Astros are a bad team, and holding on to players who a) can easily be replaced by a minor leaguer (Chris Johnson) b) serve little purpose on a losing ball club (Brett Myers) or c) just aren’t that good anymore past their recognizable name, would be a huge mistake (Carlos Lee). Huge.

Granted, where the Astros are in their process of rebuilding is (presumably, at least in narrative) different than where the Royals currently are in theirs. But the correlation between each of those causes for trades with Houston and Luhnow serves as a stark reminder of the missteps so far with Dayton Moore during his regime, and ones that hopefully he’s not repeating as the clock ends the deadline tomorrow.

A)   Jeff Francoeur, Yuniesky Betancourt: two players currently on the roster that can, and most assuredly would, be more than adequately replaced by younger, cheaper players currently in Triple-A. Of course, at this point, another team would have to want either of these players, and there’s little reason to think any objective mind would care to have Francoeur wounded-giraffing his way around their outfield and swinging at everything that moves at the plate, or Betancourt Betancourting everywhere.

B)   Jonathan Broxton, or, Joakim Soria redux: the “closer” is a largely overrated role on a pitching staff anyway, but especially one on a regime that has yet to finish a season less than 10 games under .500. There’s no place for Broxton on this team anymore, given how bad that been over the past month-plus, and now would be the ideal time to find out if Aaron Crow, Greg Holland, Tim Collins, or Kelvin Herrera can step in to fill the role in order to prepare for next season.

C)   Jeff Francoeur, again: this one is just too easy.  Francoeur at this point in his career is quite possibly the worst everyday player in baseball. His negative 1.7 fWAR is the lowest in the major leagues, and there’s no amount of contrived leadership or naked batting practice that can make up for that. The contract offered to Francoeur was a mistake then, and remains a beacon for the reason teams should never pay for a player coming off a career year, before his positional market establishes. Dayton Moore beat the market to the punch when he signed Francoeur to his 2 year, $13MM deal, and the market punched back with a right-hook from hell.

If the Royals really wanted to be daring they would take this opportunity of over-valued relievers, and float the idea of a Broxton-plus package that consisted of both he and one of the other very cheap, and very young, bullpen arms.

Losing Holland, Collins, Herrera, or Crow could be a tough pill to swallow simply from a salary stand point, but there’s few other players currently on the roster that the Royals could flip in exchange for actual talent, and not have it be a major setback to the overall goal.

No matter the case, whether the Royals choose to be daring or practical as the final hours of the deadline approach, they cannot afford to stand-pat. Patience in The Process has been preached each year at this time, and because of that, moves that could have made a dramatic impact on the roster haven’t been done.

For this season, one in which more questions were raised than answers given, it would be nice if the Royals took a page out of the Houston playbook and made a concerted effort to trade everyone that doesn’t look to figure into the 2013 roster plans.

The Good

Well, um, there’s…well there’s…and there’s…

Billy Butler was named AL Player of the Week? Yeah, I guess that works. In his last 21 games Butler has been – well he’s been Billy Butler.

If it weren’t for Butler (.378/.440/.561 in his last 21 games) and Alex Gordon (.352/.406/.473 in his last 21 games) there would be little reason to watch the Royals on a nightly basis. Heck, probably even a weekly basis.

The Bad

Where’s a good place to start? The Royals have lost 21 of their last 27 games and the optimizing that was brewing at the start of June, has quickly faded back to the normal KC-fan despondence. The Twins, whom all Royals fans got pleasure in (finally) being able to mock to start the season, have climbed ahead of the Royals in the standings by slugging their way to victories despite missing Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe for a handful of games.

Yes, Buddy Bell was right.

Is there anything to look forward to? Heck, who knows? The quick answer would be “yes” because with each passing day the Royals are that much closer to calling up Wil Myers, but because that roster move has been inexplicably put-off for over a month now, it’s more likely that it won’t happen until September.

The Royals keep using the argument that a spot needs to be created for Myers before he can make his trek to Kansas City, but when the player he’s replacing is Jeff Francoeur, that would be like a TV network saying they just can’t find a place for the new Louis C.K. pilot because they already have ‘Whitney’ in that time slot. A change is a necessity, not a burden.

The Upcoming

The Royals next six games are against a Cleveland team that’s looking to unload some of its veteran, high-cost players, and a Texas team that’s likely to come into Kauffman Stadium and hit 27 homeruns in their three-game set.

So, a mid-summer home stand watching an (again) basement dwelling team on a massive losing stretch? That sounds super fun.

After a sweep by the Seattle Mariners and a “crap for crap” trade, the Dog Days of the Royals season are definitely here.

Making no attempt to put lipstick on this pig, Troy and Chris talked about the doldrums the team is in and then during the second segment, were pleased to talk to a future Royal (we hope) Jason Adam of the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

Jason talked to us about being the subject of trade rumors, his development as a pitcher (and velocity), his favorite parks to play in and even gave us a little impression of his favorite vendor at Blue Rocks stadium.

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.

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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).

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The Royalman Report - logo by @AHairOffSquare

The goal of this week’s Royalman Report is to figure it all out.

Why do the Royals stink right now? How do we fix it? What to do?

It’s free of charge to you, and if Dayton Moore is out there listening, it’s free for you too. We just want to help.

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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They’ve made it apparent that Jeff Francoeur, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jose Mijares and Jonathan Broxton are the key names available.

Now it’s a matter of turning those names into something of value. That’s the goal, right? Trade the veterans for other players, usually younger, and continue loading up during this rebuilding stretch.

But here’s where I’m worried. The Royals as an organization have shown that they can scout players and identify solid draft picks. They’ve loaded the farm system with talent and potential. They aren’t always good at evaluating the problems with players they currently have on the roster and I think it’s going to cloud their minds during the deadline.

Francoeur in a good moment. Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

Jeff Francoeur is a great guy. He’s active within the community, takes rookies out to dinner, shows them how to conduct themselves after the game and he’s almost always got a smile on his face. Unfortunately, those kinds of things aren’t so important that they add anything to the score during the game. Leadership only goes so far until it has to be supported by performance. Last year, he might have hacked at some bad pitches but he was hitting the ball. Sometimes they were choppers but often, those hits turned into doubles. Bad habits can be overlooked when a player is going good. And in 2011, Francoeur was going good.

But players don’t change their ways usually and performance leaks catch up. In Francoeur’s case, he looks lost at the plate, swinging at bad pitches, taking good ones, and hasn’t produced much of anything.

That hurts his trade value severely. He already carries a stigma that his leadership can’t overcome and his contract is a burden as well.

Now the Royals have to try to get something for him.

Betancourt has the same kind of issues. The Royals will talk about how he has right-handed pop, but even in the last two years when he’s reached double digit homers, his slugging percentage was barely around .400. Combine that with a reputation for bad defense and the same poor pitch selection as Francoeur and there’s a player who’s tough to trade off for a prospect.

The Royals say both are on the trade block, but both could just as easily be on the waiver wire this time next month with their lack of performance. What teams are going to give up value for that? There’s little point to trading anything of significance for players who could end up on the scrap heap in a few weeks. Either they’ll be essentially free or they won’t be of use to a contending team.

Where the Royals are most deluding themselves, though, is with their pursuit of a return for Jonathan Broxton.

Yes, he has 23 saves in 26 attempts this year, but teams aren’t blind.

While Broxton used to be the behemoth setup man and closer for the Dodgers, regular overuse by Joe Torre led to injury and he hasn’t been good since 2009. Now and then he can hit the upper 90s with his fastball, but he’s not the dominant force he used to be. His strikeout rate is nearly half of his career rate and it wasn’t much better last season. He’s always walked around 3.5 batters per nine innings, but he’s also much more hittable since his struggles in LA.

The Royals tell teams they want a young starting pitcher who’s ready to be in the big leagues for him.

Newsflash: Every team wants that player. Dayton Moore knows of this principle. In January 2011, bloggers at the Digital Digest asked him how he can claim to look for on base percentage players but how he doesn’t end up signing players who have that scouting profile. His answer was that the market created that challenge – that other teams wanted those kinds of players and you had to “take what you can get“.

Now, nobody can blame Moore for trying to see if a team will give up a pitcher who’s close to becoming a mainstay in the rotation, so if it’s a calculated approach to snag a bit more value, great. If they can pull it off. At a point, though, they’ll have to take what they can get, and if that’s a diamond in the rough, so be it.

It smacks of the same kind of tunnel vision Allard Baird had when trying to trade Carlos Beltran. He made it clear to everyone that he wanted a third baseman and a catcher. Nevermind if there might have been a solid outfielder who could have turned into a star. It didn’t fit the positions he was fixated on. There are rumors that Robinson Cano could have been had for Beltran, but he wasn’t a third baseman, so no dice.

In this case, Moore has to approach it as if it’s a draft. In the draft, you don’t draft for need unless you know the player is going to produce immediately. That’s a rare occurrence. Draft the best talent and you’re better off. In this case, if there’s any talent and it’s not the stated requirement of “MLB-ready young starter” then the Royals need to jump on it.

Betancourt and Broxton are on one-year deals. The Royals get nothing if they ride them out for the rest of the year. Betancourt isn’t going to return much at all but he’ll get something, some fringe minor leaguer who might turn into something. That’s enough. Francoeur’s contract would have to be absorbed to move him and again he might not get much, but they have to do it. Broxton’s most likely to move, but not if the Royals hold out for that pitcher. They’ll either end up with something subpar, like a Vin Mazzaro, or they’ll end up with nothing.

They’re treating Broxton as if his 23/26 saves mean something. It’s not often that pitchers with a 1.402 WHIP are treated as hot commodities. Teams know the numbers. They’ve seen how often he puts a runner on to lead off the inning (40% of the time). They know he’s put the tying or lead run on base 16 different games in 31 games where he’d entered with the lead. Would any other GM want that for their closer? Nevermind that most of the contending teams have a closer already or options who are in the same class as Broxton.

Sooner or later, Broxton’s tendency to let runners on will catch up to him and teams don’t want it to be during a meaningful game. If they have to settle on some A-ball prospect, they have to make the trade.

Moving Francoeur and Betancourt have the added benefit that whatever you get for them almost doesn’t match the benefit of simply taking their combined .277 on base percentage out of the lineup (which is just the same as saying they make an out in 72.3% of their plate appearances) and injecting Wil Myers and Irving Falu or Johnny Giavotella (who’s hitting .402 this month and has a 21 game hitting streak for Omaha) into the lineup.

It’s time to recognize that some dead weight needs to be cut and some pieces need to be moved for whatever’s out there. The Royals have the bullpen reinforcements to absorb Mijares or Broxton leaving and Myers can’t be much worse than Francoeur at this point. I’d take the opportunity to go with a full youth movement and bring up Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery just to get what you can out of them. See what they can do. Let them learn at this level and see who rises to the challenge. Heck, start them in the bullpen even. Manage their appearances as best you can to build them up slowly the rest of the year. Try something a bit different – the current way isn’t working.

But that won’t happen. Dayton will sit on Broxton and say later that the right match didn’t materialize, when he was focused on what he had to have and not what he could have. Frenchy’s leadership will be valued over his performance and Betancourt – well I really don’t understand Moore’s obsession with Betancourt. Moore has acquired him twice – on purpose – and nobody’s going to confuse Betancourt for a good baseball player. There’s still time for Falu or Giavotella to learn to become one.

It’s a tough game, and only one team is happy at the end of the year, but the Royals have to position themselves better just to avoid being the most miserable. It’s time to make some moves. Maybe it’s just being impatient, maybe it’s frustration. Yeah, the pitching is a problem and the Royals have to address it this offseason (and get something at the deadline if they can), but that doesn’t mean they can’t fix the other problems on the roster and in their approach to building it.

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.

Tonight’s guest is Bill Fischer, a former Kansas City Athletic (1961-1963) as a pitcher. He currently serves as the Royals special pitching assistant.

We’ll also go over what we’re watching for the rest of the season as the Royals spiral towards another 90-loss year.

It all starts at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN 1510 AM in Kansas City or 1510.com if you’re out of the area.

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.

They say “never say it can’t get any worse”. We’ve already tried to get through the tough 12 game losing streak but a good stretch of play just got everyone’s hopes up. The Royals aren’t very good right now, and in this episode we tried to figure out why and what can be done.

With that in mind, we talked about pitching development (and you can see KoK Alumni Jeff Herr’s in depth article about it here), the next wave coming and what kind of things might go down as the trade deadline approaches.

(Also, technology was a bit down in the dumps too during recording, as we almost lost the first half of the show. We blame Frenchy.)

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.

We’ve discussed the likelihood of the Royals trading closer Jonathan Broxton or right fielder Jeff Francoeur.

Broxton’s stock is higher of the two, as Francoeur has been ineffective most of the year and has a bad contract anchoring him in Kansas City. The Giants had reportedly sent scouts to Triple A to check out Storm Chasers and they’ve been linked recently to Broxton (but have also expressed interest in Chris Perez of the Indians). The Royals are asking for a lot and most teams may not be seeking him to fill their closer’s role, but rather for additional depth and setup roles. The Mets were rumored to be interested as well as the Angels and as long as Broxton’s save percentage is high, he’ll draw some interest, whether the peripherals match up or not.

The Royals want to move Francoeur to free up a spot for Wil Myers. Jim Bowden suggested they’re trying to convince teams to take him, but a .661 OPS is tough to unload, especially when there’s a 2013 salary of $7.5 million to consider.

Some other rumors involve bigger names, but less substantial chance of putting something together.

Alex Gordon was rumored to be a player of interest for the Yankees as recently as yesterday though the Ichiro trade probably puts that possibility to rest. Other teams could pop up if they’re looking for outfield help, though, and Gordon might be a player who’d fetch a big return.

If there’s heat on Gordon now, it may not cool off until after the deadline. There just hasn’t been as much reported on other teams being interested – but there could be negotiations nobody is letting leak. I’d guess there’s a very low likelihood he’ll be traded, though. The Royals seem content to stick to their asking price on their players.

In particular, Dick Kaegel reported yesterday that the Pirates had inquired about Billy Butler. Their offer was Justin Wilson of Pittsburgh’s Triple A team, but Jayson Stark said that they’re in “buy-low” mode so that’s a low-ball offer for the Royals lone All-Star.

Other Royals that are known to be available are Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Mijares. I’m sure the Royals would listen on Chris Getz if a team were to come calling.

The Royals have somewhat been involved in looking for pitching to trade for. There are reports that they’ve inquired on Matt Garza and Paul Maholm, while they also were said to be looking at Mariner Justin Vargas and were said to be scouting Wandy Rodriguez for at least one start. The goal is to get a starter who has some years of team control available. Their acquisition of Jeremy Guthrie might hold them for now.

Rany Jazayerli pointed out a distinction the Royals would do well to recognize. The Cubs are pricing pitchers like Garza as potentially helping two pennant races, this year’s and next year’s. The Royals are out of it now basically and would be foolish to pay the asking price for him to get just one year of significance out of him. I agree with that, though there are enough examples that some trade deadline deals are better in terms of the prospect value given up than offseason deals.

Dayton Moore isn’t afraid to deal this time of year – in 2010, he put three trades together to move Alberto Callaspo, Scott Podsednik, Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel. He has just over a week before the non-waiver trade deadline to put something together.

This was an interesting opportunity to talk to two men who’ve spent a lot of time inside the front offices of Major League Baseball clubs.

After catching up on the news of the week, we had Tyrone Brooks, director of player personnel for the Pirates, on to talk about contending as a small market team, the strategies for building a team to get to that point and what you do as an organization to maintain that success. Pittsburgh is in contention now, and the Royals are made up in a similar way. Brooks’s insight gives us a direction to look at for what this team needs to be doing.

We also talked with Sal Bando. Bando was the GM in Milwaukee in the 90′s after a solid playing career for the Kansas City and Oakland A’s. He talked about using statistics in player evaluations, clashing with ownership as a player, leadership and his time as a player.

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.

Tonight, we get to talk with Sal Bando, former A’s all-star third baseman and Brewers GM about his time in Kansas City with the A’s and his experience as a general manager in a small market.

We’ll continue on that theme as we talk with Tyrone Brooks, the director of player personnel for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They’ve made strides this year, as they’re currently tied with the Cardinals for first in the NL Central. We’ll see if any lessons from their growth could be applied to Kansas City.

It all starts at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN 1510 AM in Kansas City or 1510.com if you’re out of the area.

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.

Will Mike Moustakas overtake Billy Butler in HR's and RBIs in the second half?. Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Kansas City will get to .500 at the K

I really feel that the Royals will play better at home and my faith comes from what I was a part of during the All-Star break at the K. The city and fan base wants a winner and I think they’ll come out to support the team which will translate to the team feeling the love which will turn to wins.

Mike Moustakas leads the team in HR’s and RBIs

Get ready for more MOOOOOOOOSE! Chants in the second half of the season because I feel the Royals sophomore third baseman will continue to improve. He’s not far behind Country Breakfast in homeruns and runs batted in which I think he’ll overtake him in the second half.

Wil Myers won’t appear until August of September

Driving back from KC on Wednesday I decided to listen to both 610 (the Royals flagship) and 810 (the former rights holder) on the drive back. Flipping between both got me to thinking that Wil Myers might not be in Kansas City as soon as hoped. Dayton Moore was on 810 and he mentioned that Jake Odorizzi might be in triple-A the whole year and depending on how Lorenzo Cain and Jeff Francoeur do (or get moved) he’ll be a Storm Chaser longer.

Royals won’t make a move at the deadline

I’m gun-shy about what GMDM will do at the deadline, I’ve got fears that nothing will happen. Obviously many fans want Frenchy gone for the purpose of letting Myers play. With 2013 being now dubbed the year it seems prospects might not be moved to get pitching at this deadline which is the biggest need right now. I really want to be wrong on this prediction in the worse way. In the offseason probably will be a different story when the team will need to acquire pitching.

Kansas City finishes the season around .500

Not only will the team get to .500 at home which helps the overall record is why I make this prediction. The team might’ve finished the first half with a whimper but I feel this group will make strides like they did last year and will be a thorn in the side of those competing. I’m also of the belief that the starters will help the bullpen which also helps the W/L record. Better starting pitching will lead to a less taxing of the ‘pen which makes the entire staff better.

Any time Jonathan Sanchez has taken the mound this year it has been a guaranteed frustrating outing, and today was no different.

Sanchez walked six batters in just 4 1/3 innings of work while allowing 10 hits and 6 runs today, all earned. In a month that set up prime for the Royals to make a run at the AL Central lead, Sanchez has thrown 21 innings and given up 27 hits, 18 walks, 16 earned runs, and struck out just 14. Ouch.

A stretch of stats that’s normally reserved for the Mac Suzuki’s or, gulp, Luke Hochevar’s* of the world, Sanchez’s lack of production and perceived lack of desire or care has turned him into public enemy No. 1. With good reason. Each passing day that Melky Cabrera continues to perform above expectations, the once-justifiable trade turns more and more into a disappointing laugher. A laugher, in which the only real “win” for the Royals at this point, would appear to be a release of the left-hander.

*I know, he’s pitched better of late. His career numbers are still pretty ugly.

But that can’t quite happen, really.

One glaring weakness of the Royals roster is the starting rotation, and while a replacement in Everett Teaford, Nate Adcock, Vin Mazzaro, or others, might seem to be a viable alternative to the struggling Sanchez at this point, all of those arms will be needed to help out a struggling bullpen that’s being asked to take on a load that no other bullpen in baseball is being asked to do. For the time being, the best option for the Royals may be to wait and hope that Sanchez can turn things around.

Of course, that sentence changes, if they announce a move of Sanchez sometime soon.

Tomorrow the Royals send Bruce Chen to the mound in hopes of splitting the series against the Twins. The bright side after the doubleheader loss is that the Royals have still guaranteed themselves a winning month of at least no worse that 14-12. Rad flags still surround this team, like being outscored this month despite a favorable win-loss record, but back-to-back winning months is something to be proud of.

Also tomorrow the All Star Game rosters will be announced. Alcides Escobar, Billy Butler, and Mike Moustakas all have the numbers to justify their selection at their positions, so it’ll be fun to see if more than the requisite bullpen arm, charity selection, is taken from the Royals.

Now, Francoeur has a .263/.300/.402 line with seven homers and 24 RBI. He’s been streaky, with a rough April, a very good May and a June where he’s only recently started to drive the ball again. He’s struggled with small ailments that haven’t been problem enough to keep him out of the lineup, but they’ve limited his range in the outfield.

His name is coming up in trade speculation these days, as his veteran leadership could be attractive to a few teams looking for corner outfield help.

Why Teams Want Jeff Francoeur

Frenchy touches them all. Photo Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

The qualities that most use to describe Francoeur are often tied to his intangibles. He’s a former phenom who’s flamed out and has worked his way back, playing with the Rangers in their first World Series and having an great 2011. His work ethic is lauded, and he’s credited as being the very model of a “clubhouse guy”. He’s a fan favorite and often goes out of his way to show appreciation of his fans, as evidenced by his Bacon Tuesday antics in Oakland and his penchant for tossing baseballs into the stands with $100 bills wrapped around them.

What that has to do with winning ball games isn’t clear. I’m usually one to lean on the numbers, and since you can’t put a number on “leadership” it’s impossible to quantify. I do think it has an effect, though. With a group of young players around, he’s the guy who shows them how to be a big leaguer in the day to day grind. He’s noted as being a great teammate. To front offices, that stuff matters.

He also has stretches of power, reasonable enough speed and one of the best outfield arms in the game.

He hustles and wants to make the big play.

Why Teams Might Shy Away

Let’s face it, Francoeur’s reputation is one of a hacker. He’s never seen a pitch he didn’t want to swing at. One of his offseason hobbies is golf. The guy just loves to swing.

When he connects, he can be a 20 homer guy and last year reached that mark while also adding 47 doubles.

The flipside is that he doesn’t draw a lot of walks, strikes out a lot and doesn’t have the surplus of power to overcome either shortcoming. He’s the last guy you want up if you need to work a long count, as he’s often going after the first pitch in the at bat (he’s done so 35 times in 2012 and has a cool seven hits to show for it for a .200 average).

The second year on his contract might keep teams away, too. If he had just a one year deal, the investment wouldn’t be so great that a team would feel saddled with his contract if he doesn’t perform.

Why the Royals Would Want to Trade Him

With Alex Gordon‘s contract extension, he’s clearly the guy in left field long term. The Royals still have years of team control on both Jarrod Dyson and Lorenzo Cain if they feel either can be the full time center fielder or if they choose to platoon the two. They have David Lough in Omaha who could possibly handle a role as well if pressed into action.

But who am I kidding? Trading Francoeur opens up right field for Wil Myers.

That’s the main reason the Royals would trade him. Myers may be able to play center field, but most agree that he’d be out of position there. He may be called up while Francoeur is still on the team in 2012 and play there while the Royals shop Frenchy, but he’s a short term option in center.

To the right team, Francoeur would have value that could return a young arm that could contribute or a high-risk, high-reward kind of prospect.

Other Potential Road Blocks

I mentioned his contract, which isn’t so big that it’s a burden, especially to a big market team, but being on the hook for the second year could discourage teams.

There’s also the issue that to trade Francoeur, the perceived value the Royals may have of him may not match the actual value he has on the trade market. Dayton Moore signed Francoeur when he was working his way up the Braves ladder and the running joke on the internet is that Moore has an unhealthy obsession with Francoeur.

Basically, you’d have to find a GM who likes Francoeur MORE than Dayton Moore. Does one exist?

The Royals might also see themselves as still in the race and won’t want to part with a veteran in favor of a rookie.

Teams Who May Have Interest

On Wednesday afternoon, the big buzz was that the Dodgers may have interest. Jon Morosi suggested that they might be a fit especially in light of an injury to Andre Ethier. With Matt Kemp already on the shelf and not set to return until after the All Star break, Ethier suffered an oblique strain, which could take a while to heal. He’s had battles with injuries at other points in his career too, so his recovery may not be quick or without setbacks.

The Dodgers started out hot, carrying the best record in the majors for a while but have faded and now are tied with the Giants for the division lead in the NL West. Without Kemp and Ethier, they’ll be hurting and a veteran bat would be on the top of their list.

The Nationals could be a fit as well. Big money outfielder Jayson Werth has been out since early may with a broken wrist and may not be ready for a rehab assignment until late July. The Nats are in first in the NL East right now but Atlanta and New York have been playing well. A mix of Rick Ankiel (.680 OPS), Steve Lobardozzi (.655 OPS) and Roger Bernandina (.688 OPS) have been patrolling the outfield with Bryce Harper. Mike Morse can play out there too, but he’s only just returned from his own injury battle this month.

Right nearby, the Orioles might look to add someone. Nick Markakis has been hurt for a while and Endy Chavez, Ryan Flaherty and others have tried to fill in around Adam Jones. The Orioles could use another bat to stay in the running in the AL East.

Potential Return 

This is the part of trade discussions that I’m awful at. The Dodgers have made odd trades in the past (they traded Carlos Santana for Casey Blake), so who knows who they might want to give up. In 2010, they traded one of their top catching prospects at the time, Lucas May, and a wild card pitcher in Elisaul Pimental to the Royals for Scott Podsednik. It wasn’t a steal but it was a decent return for a one year outfielder with average production at best.

I think the Royals would look to bring in a young arm. There wouldn’t be a high-profile prospect involved unless Francoeur heated up dramatically in the next couple of weeks and other teams got desperate, but they could get someone from a Double A team with some promise and maybe a throw-in with him.

The Royals were five games under and a few good breaks and a big streak away from maybe, perhaps, possibly being in contention for a playoff spot or the division crown. Discussion online in forums and on Twitter turned to what pitchers might be available to make a run today. Salvador Perez was set to return to the lineup, finally uniting the team’s pitching staff with its franchise catcher after surgery stole half the year from him.

But as Royals fans, we just can’t have nice things. Maybe there’s some kind of curse where we sold our souls for a break in the form of a Don Denkinger miscall in 1985 and now must suffer with losing seasons and an embarrassing team home run record.

The weekend was hot. The Cardinals left the series even hotter after no pitcher was safe from their bats. Roman Colon was a standout performer in his long relief outing after Vin Mazzaro left on Friday. He’s now back in Triple A after clearing waivers.

Some bats warmed up. Jeff Francoeur hit his second extra base hit of the month – a homer to left – and Mike Moustakas homered twice (and he kind of homered three times as his first homer came after a blast that just went foul).

It just wasn’t enough. Their eight runs on Sunday would have been good enough to tie the Cardinals low mark during the series and after seeing 30 runs go up in three games, fans were ready to storm the castle with familiar calls pleading for David Glass to sell the team and for Dayton Moore to leave town.

It’s that quick. Fans are hungry for a winner, yet won’t go out to the stadium to watch their team while they’re starting to win so the opposing team’s fans get what amounts to three more home games. Add in the heat in the area and people get grouchy. It’s a situation that tests patience. Year after year, we hope and year after year we wait. I get the frustration because I feel it myself. It makes it difficult to keep a level head and prevent myself from calling to blow it all up and start over. Small things get embellished (like one bad inning being a judgment of Aaron Crow‘s ability to be a star reliever) and circumstances get overlooked (like the Royals being anywhere in the discussion despite having absolutely terrible starting pitching – and also fighting injuries).

I try not to be an apologist too often. I think there is a spot where you can be critical of your team, but the line is very thin until you’ve crossed over into outright negativity. It’s fine to be the boy in the crowd saying that the Emperor is wearing no clothes; it’s another thing to bludgeon the Emperor to death just to show you can.

So it’s been a bit of a weekend and there wasn’t much in the way of positive moments to talk about aside from Moose, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler.

It’s just funny to see so many fans ready to jump on and sell the farm to get some pieces and three days later be ready to give it all up and say it’s the “same old Royals”. I get it if you’re talking about a tough loss in a football season where there are only so many games and a bad loss or two can sink your season but in baseball, the schedule is laid out over so many games that these swings still surprise me. I wonder what the reactions will be after small moments that don’t go right during a pennant race and not when the team is fighting to just to get out of fourth place.

I guess it’s part of what comes with an engaged and passionate fan base, and to be a Royals fan, after all these years, you’d have to be dedicated in that way. There aren’t a lot of bandwagon Royals fans.

There will be other good stretches for the Royals and other bad stretches. The low point, of course, was the 12 game losing streak, but this Cardinals series was just as miserable, if not more, as the Indians series to open the home schedule because of the Cardinal contingent in the city.

When the stakes are high, the good is very good, the bad is very bad. Maybe as the wins start to increase and we expect to see wins and thus each victory isn’t a dire necessity, lest a collapse follow.

I don’t know the answer to these questions and there may not be any to be found, either. It’s the nature of fandom. It’s why we follow along.

We were fortunate to talk with Royals catcher Brayan Pena on the Vault this week and he explained how he stays positive all the time, the dynamics of the clubhouse in Kansas City, the impending return of Salvador Perez and the understanding that he might be the odd man out. Brayan’s a fan favorite already, and it’s easy to see why.

Also on the show, we talked with Greg Pryor from the 1985 World Championship team and he discussed the feeling in the clubhouse during the series and the factors that drove them to victory. Pryor was in the lineup for two strange baseball games in his career and shared his recollection of Disco Demolition Night in 1979 and the Pine Tar Game of 1983.

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.

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In a move that wasn’t well-received then and still doesn’t look like a good trade, the Royals brought in Humberto Quintero and Jason Bourgeois from the Astros for left-handed pitcher Kevin Chapman, a 2010 fourth round pick, and a player to be named later. That player was named as outfielder D’Andre Toney this afternoon.

At the time, the PTBNL was noted as a big key to the deal.

Part of the rules of baseball transactions are that a player who was drafted last June can’t be traded right away, but has to be added later as the PTBNL.  That’s just one of the quirks of the system.

The fear was that some big bonus prospect might be involved – someone like Jack Lopez, Kyle Smith or Bryan Brickhouse.

In that sense, Toney – a 14th rounder – isn’t a huge loss for the organization in a vacuum. He rocked the Arizona Rookie League to the tune of a 1.018 OPS with 22 extra base hits in 43 games. He’s got talent and tools, but not everyone thinks he’s much of an impact guy. At 5’10″  and 170 pounds, he might not add much power and he’s only played at the rookie level.

While neither Chapman nor Toney will break he Royals organization, their loss wasn’t in a vacuum – it was for two other players, neither of whom have done all that much. Quintero has had some doubles and has kept the catcher spot warm while Salvador Perez recovers from knee surgery, but that’s really it. Bourgeois is struggling at Triple A and was a career minor leaguer before last year anyway. Many feel that the Royals could have had either or both of Quintero and Bourgeois off the waiver wire at the end of spring training (and might not have been worth the time even then). Instead, they traded two prospects with some level of room to develop for two players who were borderline acquisitions. As Rany Jazayerli said today “a bad trade got worse”.Hopefully, Dayton Moore doesn’t get in the habit of making those sorts of transactions going forward.

Myers ripped a line drive over the left field fence.

Wil Myers - looking to the future. Photo: Minda Haas

In 22 games and 89 plate appearances in Omaha, Myers has convinced many (including myself) that he’s ready for the big leagues. He has eight homers, 15 extra base hits. He’s carrying a .325/.371/.723 line in Omaha and .336/.398/.728 when you combine that with his time in Northwest Arkansas. He’s hit 40 extra base hits – and it’s June 9th.

After a stellar offseason that included a standout performance in the Arizona Fall League, the struggles of 2011 are behind him. He’s not fighting fluke injuries like last year, he’s a year older and he’s displaying power that scouts felt he was capable of, but weren’t sure when it would manifest.

Wil Myers is ready for the Kansas City Royals, but the Kansas City Royals may not be ready for him. Yet.

It’s frustrating to see a player roll over competition like Myers has done while the big league team struggles to get more than three runs many nights. Fans clamor for a call up of the new big name on the scene and get upset when it doesn’t happen. I get the frustration, but in the big picture, here are two factors in play that are keeping Myers in Omaha:

1. Where to play him?

While Myers has dabbled in center field a bit at both levels this year, he’s only been a professional outfielder for about 18 months after being drafted as a catcher. He’s by no means a budding everyday center fielder. He could hold his own I’m sure, but he’s much more suited for right field, which is currently patrolled by Jeff Francoeur and his offseason contract extension.

Francoeur is a Royal through next season unless they happen to trade him, which would be an option that likely won’t materialize until closer to the trade deadline in July. The Royals seem intent to keep trotting Jarrod Dyson out nearly every day, Alex Gordon isn’t going to sit and Francoeur’s not going to be a part-time player. When Myers gets up, it’ll be to play everyday. They could put him in center, but it might be an adventure. This isn’t as big an issue as:

2. Myers’s potential Super Two status:

Baseball’s arbitration system is part of the Royals considerations. Typically, a player becomes eligible for arbitration after three seasons. Until that point, they make around the league minimum, which is handy for teams who have solid young players but who don’t have to commit much of their payroll to them right away.

If a player plays 172 days in the big leagues, it’s considered a year of service time. There are usually around 183-186 days within a baseball season, so often, a team will keep a player in the minors before purchasing their contract and promoting them to the big leagues. That allows the team to have full control of their rights for a full six years plus the time they accrue in that first year. For instance, Eric Hosmer debuted on May 6 last season. He built up 146 days of service time, so the Royals have his rights for the rest of this year and for five more full years after.

That kind of clever timing really benefits a team, so to keep ownership from manipulating things too far in their advantage, baseball recognizes some players as Super Two players which is defined in the CBA as a player with between 2 years, 86 days of service time and three years of service time. The top 22% of players in service time within that group qualify for arbitration, meaning they have two years around the league minimum, but they usually get a good raise in their third year. Essentially, it gives that player four years of arbitration rather than three.

For a small market team, that could mean a lot. In the Royals case, they’ll have Eric Hosmer almost certainly as a Super Two player after next season and Mike Moustakas may be in there as well. If Wil Myers fell into that category, contracts start adding up quickly. Consider players like Hunter Pence, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder. All three were Super Two players and Pence’s salary jump from $439K in his second season to $3.5 million was the smallest jump of the trio. Howard and Fielder saw their first year of arbitration pay out at $7 million and $10 million respectively. Once that first arbitration number is set, it usually doesn’t go down, so the Royals could be on the hook for millions more than if they’d waited.

For what it’s worth, Myers could be called up today and might sneak outside the top 22% and not qualify for Super Two status, but the only period that feels safe would be mid-to-late July to keep Myers under the two years, 86 days threshold. There’s never a firm date, since Super Two status is relative to other players within that class, so it’s a bit of guessing. July should be safe, though.

Fans are going to blame David Glass and hurl the typical vitriol at him as being cheap or doing things the Wal-Mart way, but it’s prudent for a team that simply won’t allow their payroll to balloon to the point where they have no flexibility. Would Wil Myers be enough to propel the Royals to the playoffs in 2012? It’s pretty likely that that wouldn’t be the case, so for the sake of perhaps five more wins this season, the Royals would sacrifice millions down the road – millions that could go towards signing a starting pitcher during free agency or which could be applied to a contract extension. That’s just not worth it in the big picture.

In that same game in which Myers hit the grand slam off Oswalt, Everett Teaford made two innings of a rehab start. That’s usually not big news, but on this night, the player who relieved him stood out.

Jake Odorizzi stepped in and threw 6.2 innings, allowing five hits and one run. He struck out ten.

Jake Odorizzi. Photo: Minda Haas

In 28.1 innings in Triple A, Odorizzi has great numbers. His ERA sits at a sparkling 2.22, his strikeout (8.6 K/9) and walkrate (2.9 BB/9) look good, and while he’s given up some base hits, they haven’t translated into runs. In 66.1 innings in the minors across Double and Triple A, Odorizzi has a 2.85 ERA and nearly a 4/1 K/BB ratio.

He’s vaulted ahead of Mike Montgomery as the team’s top pitching prospect, and just 22, he’s close to being ready for his debut.

The same Super Two considerations apply to Odorizzi as to Myers and pitchers can get pricey in a hurry as well. Last year, he rolled through Wilmington and was promoted mid-season to Northwest Arkansas and struggled. There were concerns he’d run into similar issues this year with another mid-season promotion, but that hasn’t happened yet (and hopefully won’t), but another jump to the big leagues may be getting too quick with him. The Royals are a franchise that has said they’d rather be too late on a prospect than too early, so they’ll exercise caution with Odorizzi.

That’s not to say that Odorizzi won’t see Kansas City this year. If nothing else, he’s a great candidate for a September callup if he’s not up sooner. It’s also possible that Odorizzi could be the next pitcher to get called up. The Royals weren’t shy about bringing Danny Duffy to the majors last year when he looked ready.

Now, with all of that in consideration, my hunch is that the Royals feel alright about their odds in the Super Two gamble. I tweeted a few days ago that I think Myers makes it up after this round of interleague play. At a certain point, they just can’t fight it. Only Josh Hamilton has more home runs in professional baseball than Myers right now.

Odorizzi is a different story. I think Kansas City wants to see a couple more starts from him before moving him to the big leagues. Jonathan Sanchez is close to returning, which clogs up the rotation and Teaford will be back soon. Maybe Teaford is optioned back to Omaha right after being activated, but if Felipe Paulino ends up on the DL, the Royals may want both arms up. It’s just more complicated, and the Royals won’t help themselves by calling up Odorizzi for one start then shuttling him back down. When he’s up, he should be here to stay.

At the top of the list is Kyle Zimmer, their first round pick out of San Francisco. The 20-year-old is said to be fairly close to coming to a deal with the Royals on a signing bonus and could be assigned to a minor league affiliate soon, according to Bob Dutton.

The Royals have already signed a few picks from day two: Colin Rodgers, Fred Ford, Alfredo Escalana-Maldonado, Parker Morin and Dylan Sons. Three of those came out of the Royals top ten picks so their bonus amounts will count towards the draft pool allotment established by Major League Baseball.

Here’s the breakdown of the Royals 40 selections:

• Left-handed pitchers: 10
• Right-handed pitchers: 14
• Catchers: 3
• First basemen: 2
• Second basemen: 1
• Shortstops: 1 (though Kenny Diekroeger is likely to move to second base rather than stay at shortstop)
• Third basemen: 0
• Outfielders: 9
• High school players: 17
• College/Junior College: 23
• College seniors: 2

I specify the college seniors because a trend started to develop yesterday where many teams were taking college seniors (who don’t have as much leverage in bonus negotiations) earlier than some prospects who were projected to go higher as a way to manipulate some of the bonuses handed out. The Royals didn’t get on that train, it seems, though they did lean college-heavy overall.

One particular selection is interesting in what it symbolizes. Austin Fairchild was the 16th round pick by the Royals. He’s a left-hander out of St. Thomas High School in Texas and stands six feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds. What’s so special about that? Fairchild is a long-toss pitcher, meaning a large part of his training in the offseason and between starts involves playing catch at distances up to 300 feet. Many training programs established by teams limit that distance to 120 feet or so. In the past, the Royals have been resistant to these types of programs despite drafting adherents like Mike Montgomery and John Lamb.

With the hiring of Rick Knapp as their minor league pitching coordinator and the drafting of Fairchild, it seems that the Royals are opening up to the idea of utilizing long-toss as part of their development or at the very least, embracing the idea that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to pitching development. (You can hear more about such long-toss programs in our interview with Alan Jaeger of Jaeger Sports on the Royalman Report.)

Now that the draft is over, it’s time to sign the picks. The Royals have five out of the way now, and with an earlier deadline than in years past, they’re working quickly on locking up Zimmer and the rest. The sooner they get a signature, the sooner these players can be assigned to minor league teams or start work in Surprise at the Royals training facility.

All picks from the 2012 draft are tracked on MLB.com and can be filtered by team.

The Royals also picked Hayden Edwards, a 6’7″ right-handed pitcher out of Blue Valley High School in Stillwell, Kansas (31st round) and Ashton Goudeau a 6’6″ righty from Maple Woods Community College (27th round).

There were probably a lot of Royals fans clamoring for Appel but it seemed unlikely that the Royals would be able to negotiate a contract with him given his agent is Scott Boras.  Therefore, the Royals took the guy they had been wanting, in Kyle Zimmer.  Zimmer was in the list of three of the top collegiate pitchers available in this draft also including Appel and LSU right hander Kevin Gausman.

My first reaction to the selection is praise.  I think the Royals did the right thing in selecting Zimmer and it seems most Royals fans have been in favor of the move as well, or at least those on Twitter.  Zimmer had a fantastic season for the Dons this past year posting a 2.85 ERA and serving as the club’s ace.  I’m more fascinated by his ability to limit his walks and rack up strikeouts.  He recorded 104 strikeouts to only 17 walks in 2012.

Zimmer stands at 6’4″ and weighs in at 220 pounds.  He is a young 20 year old with plenty of time to grow and develop as he hits the professional ranks.  I believe he has a few mechanical issues to work on but nothing major.  It appears he has a lean towards home and breaks his hands a tad too early, but once again it’s not a major issue.

He has three good offerings including a curveball, changeup, and a fastball that sits in the mid 90s and has touched 99.  He is very polished for someone who picked up pitching his freshman season at USF after transitioning from 3rd base.  He has a fresh arm and could be on the fast track for the big leagues.  I believe we could see Zimmer as early as the 2014 season.  My first projection has him as a solid number 2 with the possibility of advancing into an ace, but of course, that would depend on his development and the Royals ability to develop him as a starter.

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The Royals had a great start to the homestand, taking 2 out or 3 from the Athletics and we were joined by KCTV 5′s Brad Fanning to break down the series. Brad also talked to us about his story on the Royals Baseball Academy that graduated players such as Frank White and Texas Manager Ron Washington to the big leagues. His full ten minute story can be found on KCTV5′s website.

Then we were joined by Wilmington Blue Rocks starting pitcher Jason Adam who talked to us about needing run support and life on Twitter.

We got into a discussion about the Royals ability to develop prospects and their philosophies entering the draft tonight.

We finished the show with Royalman’s Rant and what may or may not be a picture of Fake Ned underneath a Kansas flag.

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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In year’s past, the Royals have stocked their farm system with talent near the top of the first round. Their 2009 pick of Aaron Crow with the twelfth overall pick is the lowest they’ve picked since 2004 when Billy Butler was the 14th overall pick. This year, they hold the fifth overall selection, the sixth year in the last seven that they’ve had a top five pick.

Unlike the last few years, there’s no clear cut number one overall pick and the first round is considered thinner than most. While that’s a bit murky for the team and fans to predict who will fall where, for a team at the top like the Royals, the drop isn’t that sharp. There should be quality players available no matter what direction they go.

The new collective bargaining agreement does change things this year. In previous drafts, the Royals could select players who had fallen because other teams weren’t willing to pay out signing bonuses that exceeded the league’s slot recommendations. Players like Wil Myers and Jason Adam had scholarship offers but, when the Royals offered more than slot to them, signed with Kansas City. Now they’re two of the top prospects in the system. This year, the Royals have $6.1 million to cover their first ten rounds of picks. For perspective, last year, they signed first round pick Bubba Starling to a team-record $7.5 million bonus.

Starling was a special talent and his commitment to Nebraska football factored into the size of the bonus, but most other first round picks were near slot levels. That would have been $2.52 million last year, and their slot budget for the pick this year is $3.5 million. It may mean they miss out on a high school player in the seventh or eighth round when it comes time to sign them, but the top rounds obviously take priority.

That leads to another consideration – should the Royals pick a high school player or college player? Financially, that may lead them to a college junior (like Kyle Zimmer) over a sophomore (like Kevin Gausman) because the sophomore has more leverage to go back to school*. It may not make a difference, though. The bigger difference is between a high school player who has a commitment to a college and it may take more to sign them out of it.

*I’m assuming that Stanford junior Mark Appel will be taken first overall by Houston, as is suspected.

Ultimately, the decision should be to select whoever the best player available is. Ideally, that will also match up with a position of need. In the Royals case, starting pitching is the obvious weakness to the Process. While Danny Duffy and John Lamb recover from Tommy John surgery and Mike Montgomery and Chris Dwyer fall below expectations, Jake Odorizzi, with just a handful of Triple A starts, sits as the top pitching prospect who’s within a year of the big leagues. If the Royals feel they’re close to contention, a college arm is the way to go. Both Gausman and Zimmer are considered two of the best in the draft and could be the pick if they make it through the first four selections. In the past, other teams have taken college pitchers and seen them make the majors quickly, with Chris Sale of the White Sox, Drew Pomeranz of the Rockies (drafted by the Indians) and Mike Leake of the Reds being examples. All three made their big league debuts within 13 months of signing.

If the Royals see that as a priority, a college arm is most likely their decision, as they could be up with the club in early 2013, or even sooner (though the Royals aren’t typically the team to push a prospect that  quickly).

If they don’t see a player out of college who fits the bill, they can choose a high school pitcher, though the development time would be increased and the risk that they bust increases. There may be more upside if it’s a pitcher like Lucas Giolito, who could be a top five pick, but he’d take a while to climb up the ranks.

Dayton Moore. Photo: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

The best move would be to go with the best player available, regardless of need. If that turns out to be a college pitcher and they have options available, great. That’s on the mind of Dayton Moore according to recent comments. If that means they pass on a player like 17-year-old Carlos Correa, it could be a mistake. Correa is a high school shortstop who has been compared to Orioles prospect Manny Machado before, and as Rany Jazayerli has determined, a player’s age at the time of the draft can have an impact to how quickly they develop and jump through a minor league system.

Even if the Royals have Alcides Escobar at shortstop now, within a few years, he may suffer injury that hampers his defensive range and ability or his hitting may regress to Jose Lind-levels. If Correa (or any other player that may be the top player available) is there and were to rise through the Royals system, the opportunity of trading the older player would always be present.

There are a multitude of options for the Royals on Monday. My guess is that if a college pitcher is available, that’s the direction they’ll go, and that also likely means that a couple of high-ranked high school players may have been selected, so the question of “best available vs. college arm” may be irrelevant. Of course, by the end of the night Monday, we’ll also have the answer to that question.

But now the circumstances have changed; the Royals have faced injury, ineffectiveness, and an insufferable losing streak. They are toeing that “disappointed” line in a dangerous way.

As we move into June, the players listed below have only a few more weeks to prove that they deserve to be the Royals single, obligatory All-Star selection. I’ve now come to the realization that it would take a run of epic proportions to catapult a second Royal onto the American League roster*. But we’ll see over these next weeks if any of these players (or the team as a whole) can take the league by storm.

*anti-jinx alert. Come on boys.

OFFICIAL ROYALS ALL-STAR POWER RANKINGS, Vol. 3

Billy Butler has displayed excellent power in 2012. Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

1.Billy Butler – Season: .289/.352/.521 with 11 home runs, 11 doubles, and 35 RBI. Last Week: .217/.308/.478 with 2 home runs.

Butler takes the top spot this week mostly by default, after a week in which most of his competition stalled. But Butler’s .478 slugging percentage does incite optimism. As Mike Moustakas encountered a mini-slump, Butler has emerged as the lineup’s best hitter.

The main reason that Butler has elevated to the top spot is an obvious one: He’s been the best hitter on the team. Butler has also put in his dues by being the team’s best hitter over the past several seasons. He’s one of the longest tenured Royals, which means that, for better or worse, Butler is practically synonymous with Kansas City baseball. As long as he is producing at his current clip, I’m not sure it matters what position he plays.  While the designated hitter position continues to boast a wealth of worthy All- Star candidates, it remains plausible that Butler would be an enticing bat to stash in the American League line-up for a pinch-hitting opportunity.

2. Mike Moustakas – Season: .272/.335/.485 with 8 HR, 12 doubles, and 24 RBI. Last Week: .227/.346/.409 with  5 RBI, 4 walks.

Moustakas has spent the better part of the past two weeks in a certifiable free fall. On May 27th, his slash numbers had fallen down to .264/.320/.465 from his season-high of .313/.370/.545 on May 7th. It looked like the Royals third baseman may have reverted to his  form of those dark days immediately following his call-up in 2011.

Mike Moustakas slips from the top spot in the rankings for the first time. Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

But Moustakas has recorded hits in each of the past three games, including a 4 RBI game on Tuesday in which he hit his 8th home run of the season. So the potential crisis may have been averted.

The bad news for Moustakas is that Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera has been raking in recent weeks, and has raised his OPS to a robust .882. Mark  Trumbo of the Angels presents another potential dilemma now that he has been moved to third base. Although Trumbo is not on the All-Star ballot as a third baseman, he is certainly in line for a coach’s pick with his 1.029 OPS.

Moustakas’ drop in rank is more of a product of what’s happening around him than of a short slump. A strong week (or a Butler slump) could bring him back to the top of these rankings.

3. Tim Collins – Season: 2.42 ERA in 26 IP, 38 strikeouts, 7 walks, 18 hits. Last Week: 4.1 IP, 2 hits, o ER, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts.

Now here’ s a guy who has done nothing to diminish his chances of representing the Royals at Kauffman Stadium this summer. Collins has been electric this season, and last week was no different.

Tim Tim Collins has reached new heights this season. Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

In fact, Collins has not given up a run since May 7th. In that time, he has pitch 9.2 innings, allowed 4 hits, walked 3, and struck out 16 batters. He’s been the best reliever on the team, and it hasn’t been particularly close. Before you mention Jonathan Broxton, keep in mind that in his 19.2 innings of work, he’s struck out only 12 batters while allowing 18 hits.

Collins, for his part, has struck out 26 more batters in just 6.1 more innings of work. The cherry on top of this argument, if it’s necessary, is that Collins has allowed the same number of hits and walks as Broxton despite those 6.1 extra innings.

Am I getting too excited about two months worth of dominant relieving from Collins? Maybe.

But keep this in mind: through this season’s first two months, Collins has a K/9 ratio of 13.2. Retired 7-time All-Star closer Billy Wagner, who at the (listed) height of just 5 feet, 10 inches is a popular comp for Collins, recorded a career K/9 ratio of 11.9.

Obviously, it’s unfair to compare an entire career of one player to two months from another player. But Collins has the potential to turn that comp into a legitimate one.

Just some food for thought.

4. Alcides Escobar – Season: .303/.344/.404 with 13 doubles and 8 stolen bases. Last Week: .292/.346/.292 with 4 runs.

Escobar has jumped a level offensively this season, but it might not be enough to make him an All-Star. David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Despite maintaining a relatively high batting average throughout the season, Escobar has had difficulty hitting for power. Last week was a perfect example of that trend, as Escobar hit .292, but did so without the benefit of an extra base hit. As such, he finished the week with an identical .292 slugging percentage.

All that being said, Escobar has still put together a fantastic season. And of course, his defense certainly helps erase any offensive deficiencies he may possess. But defense is not easily quantifiable in terms of All-Star worthiness, especially since Escobar doesn’t (yet) own an entire shelf of Gold Gloves, as does direct competitor Derek Jeter.

Unless he can put together a ridiculous offensive stretch, Escobar will likely be overlooked at the shortstop position.

5. Felipe Paulino – Season: 2.03 ERA in 31 innings, 34 strikeouts, 12 walks. Last Week: 5.2 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts.

Paulino struggled a bit with command in his last start, although he pulled himself together for long enough to put up a reasonably effective outing. He dropped a spot this week, however, because he showed his first chinks in the armor by walking five batters.

Felipe Paulino is probably a longshot to make the All-Star game. Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

The walks are an area of concern, although I can excuse them if the trend doesn’t continue into Friday’s planned start against the historically lowly A’s offense. Seriously, go look at their lineup on Friday, I’ll wait*.

*If you are one of those who believe that Jeff Francouer was overpaid by Dayton Moore last season, just be thankful that the Royals don’t owe Coco Crisp and his .440 OPS $14 million over the next two seasons. 

I’m of the opinion that the walks were a result of Paulino’s awareness that he didn’t have his best stuff that night. If he felt that his stuff was hittable, I can at least understand the control issues. Who wants to voluntarily serve up meatballs?

He’s essentially become the ace of the Royals pitching staff, and as such carries with him the expectation of recording a quality start every time out. He couldn’t afford a quick hook. I expect him to get back on track Friday and continue to pitch effectively leading into the All-Star break.

HONORABLE MENTION: Jonathan Broxton (3 saves in past week), Jeff Francouer (1.306 OPS last week!!!), Bruce Chen (just pulled career win percentage over .500)

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.

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May 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals outfielders

I have an office mate; it’s like a roommate only if we’re hanging socks on the door we’re probably getting fired. He’s a smart guy. He’s a former college baseball player, and he’s a big Royals fan. We were recently wrapping up the end of the spring semester by talking about a Royals game from a while ago. He hadn’t seen it due to a night class he teaches, and I informed him that he missed a hell-of-a game.

It’s the one the Royals almost blew in the ninth in the first Yankees series. Jonathan Broxton was shaking like a 300-pound leaf, and consequently I was shaking like a slightly smaller leaf. He allowed two runners immediately and Mike Moustakas and Chris Getz had to make incredible plays to get the Royals out of Broxton’s jam. It was weird to look at a closer and immediately think that he looked nervous. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe I was projecting my nerves onto him.

But either way, I was relaying all this to my office mate, and he brought up an interesting point. He started talking about a winning culture—one of those ambiguous phrases that analysts love to talk about alongside things like “grit” and “heart.” Of course he has a heart. They all have hearts or they wouldn’t be living … duh.

I thought back to the game and remembered seeing guys like Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. In the moments during which Broxton looked very much like a young pitcher, these guys looked like they might be taking cuts in the corporate challenge—as pressure packed as that is. It never looked forced with them, as if the outcome of the game wasn’t even in their hands, like fate was in control. They were going to take their swings and something was going to happen, but at the end of the day they were multi-millionaires and get laid whenever they want. So, no big whup.

Since that conversation with my friend, I’ve been thinking about that game and a winning culture because so much of what people mark as a deficiency of the Royals is the lack of a “winning culture.” I think a winning culture does exist, but I can’t exactly define it. I think if you asked most ball players, they would agree, but I’m guessing they’d have trouble coming up with a solid definition as well. What is a winning culture? What does it look like? What does it take to get one? Why don’t the Royals have one? Or do they and it’s just not resulting in actual wins?

I don’t necessarily have answers to these questions. In fact, I’d like you to answer them in the comments section so I can learn something. I do believe though that teams with a winning culture look like the Yankees looked that night. They didn’t win, but I think teams with a winning culture present an ethos that says We’re going to win, and I’m more concerned with this blonde in the second row than my potential inability to come through in this clutch moment. It doesn’t enter the mind of winners that they may fail. They know that they may fail, on some level, but it doesn’t register at that moment. It doesn’t drive their play in any way.

As I stated above, I definitely don’t have all the answers. I do think that the Royals don’t quite have what I would consider a winning culture. Part of that is their youth. I watched Johnny Giavotella hitting with a man on second and the other day and on a 3-2 fastball WAY out of the strike zone he whiffed completely. I remember thinking He’s trying to do too much to impress Ned and GMDM. That’s understandable. He wants to stay in the majors and get playing time. Right now, too many Royals are concerned with avoiding failure—Giavotella, Jarrod Dyson, many starting pitchers—for the group to have the type of winning culture that a team like the Yankees has. Time and some increased confidence from success should remedy that.

This isn’t really an article to provide answers but ask questions. So, let’s hear what you think about a winning culture in baseball. That’s what I really want. This is my call for answers. How does a team—say a young, nearly rebuilt team, from the Midwest—build a winning culture? What distinguishes a team with a winning culture from a team with a losing culture? Let me know in comments AND e-mail Dayton Moore and Ned Yost. They’d probably like to know.

In the inaugural episode of the Kansas City Baseball Vault, we talked with former Kansas City Athletic Mike Hershberger about his time in Kansas City, his experiences with Charlie Finley, Reggie Jackson and the infamous goat. Back in his day, he was a defensive specialist and he talked about the skills he brought to the field.

We also got to talk to Clint Robinson before Omaha’s game in Sacramento. We wanted to know about Clint’s approach with Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler ahead of him in Kansas City, as well as his thoughts on the promotions of Irving Falu and Johnny Giavotella. He also talked about a certain prank they’ve pulled a few times, but wouldn’t divulge who the key conspirator was. Clint is hitting well again in the minors as he waits for a spot in Kansas City.

We wrapped up by talking about the middle infield situation and the logjam of second basemen in Kansas City, as well as what might happen with Luke Hochevar and Jonathan Sanchez.

Also congratulations to our trivia winners – we gave away three packages to a Kansas City T-Bones game. Listen in next week at 6 p.m. on Thursday on ESPN 1510 AM for a chance to win.

Our guest next week will be Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus (you can hear him talk with us from last November in the meantime) and Howard Rodney “Doc” Edwards, a Kansas City A from 1963 to 1965. He now coaches for the San Angelo Colts in United League Baseball, an indepedent league in Texas.

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

Speculation spread throughout the Royals online fanbase. Was Giavotella being traded? Was Chris Getz? Would there be a package deal in place?

Johnny Giavotella has returned to Kansas City. Photo: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

The craze is understandable. Usually a player isn’t pulled just to get promoted. When a trade is agreed upon, they come out because they aren’t that team’s player anymore. The Royals, as is typical, weren’t saying anything and nothing was leaking out.

This morning, the speculation continued until Dayton Moore went on 610 Sports to talk with Bob Fescoe. He said that “we hope to make a move to get [Giavotella] on the club.” It was just a matter of crossing some T’s and dotting some I’s he said. Again, that suggested a trade may be brewing, as they finalized a deal. More speculation popped up as various prospect packages were brought up.

As it turns out all the speculation was for nothing, as the Royals still have Chris Getz, they now have Johnny Giavotella and Jonathan Sanchez is on the 15 day disabled list to make room. Sanchez has what is being called “bicep tendinitis” though it could just as easily be an excuse to get him a break and figure out how to get him to at least approach improvement.

The day continued with comments that Giavotella would give the Royals another right-handed bat. In the pregame comments, Ned Yost said that Getz will play against right-handed pitching and Giavotella would hit against “some lefties“.

From the sounds of it, it seems that Giavotella may be struggling to find playing time in a platoon situation.

I’ll gladly eat some crow about Chris Getz. I’m not a fan. I don’t think he can sustain the .288/.338/.424 line he’s got right now. He’s played well beyond my expectations and I can’t say anything bad about his hitting to this point in the season. Players have a way of migrating back to what their standard level of production is but for now, I’ll enjoy a productive Getz. By no means will I say that Getz doesn’t deserve to play right now, but the potential usage of Giavotella speaks volumes about how the organization views him.

This afternoon on What’s Wright with Nick Wright, Mark Carman suggested that if the Royals saw Giavotella as a blue chipper in the mold of Eric Hosmer, wouldn’t they have him sort it out in the majors?

To me, that’s a good question.

I think Giavotella can be an everyday second baseman. He’s hit at every level in the minors and has more offensive upside than Getz. He entered spring training as the likely second baseman but struggled and lost the job. I don’t think the Royals view him that way anymore, or if they do, their confidence is shaken. The problem with the potential arrangement is that they learn little about if he can turn into that kind of player. What happens when Yuniesky Betancourt comes off the DL? Irving Falu probably goes back to Omaha, but what about Giavotella? He’ll have to fend off both Yuni and Getz for playing time. I could see a cycle develop where the Royals say they’ll play Giavotella when they think he can hit everyday, but he still doesn’t get into the lineup more than two or three times a week to show that he can hit.

I’m of the school of thought that a player can’t learn much more once they’ve hit their peak at a level. With a .331/.408/.504 line in Omaha in 2012 after a .338/.390/.481 line in 2011, Giavotella has nothing else to prove in Triple A other than his defense, which is said to have improved. Even if his fielding has stayed at the same proficiency, if he can hit, his bat will even out his defensive lapses. One month in Omaha isn’t going to be enough to improve him to the point where he’s a Gold Glover, but it can show that he could be good enough to get by.

The Royals don’t learn anything about him by only hitting him eight times a week. They don’t learn anything by giving him a cameo for another week and a half while Betancourt recovers from his ankle injury.

It’s a difficult spot because Getz is playing well and if you can get good offensive performance from him, you should ride it as long as it lasts before he turns back into a 67 OPS+ player. But Giavotella should see more time than just against “some lefties”. The Royals need to know what they have in him, or they’ll be in a spot where they wait too long and find they have to rely on someone who they discover can’t do the job. Call it the Kila Ka’aihue Conundrum.

But Gio is back and he’ll play tonight, at least. Perhaps the Royals will have one of those good problems going and find themselves with two hot-hitting second basemen.

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.

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.

Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Aaron Crow (43) against the Oakland Athletics Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

There isn’t much else we can say about our beloved Royals.  They lost 12 straight games and completed a winless season opening home stand.  Their lack of timely hitting and an inconsistent bullpen have combined for a disastrous start to the 2012 season.  I’ve had enough of discussing what’s going wrong and who’s to blame.  That’s why I’d like to focus my attention on a few bright spots in recent years.  I’m talking about the MLB draft and the solid job the Royals have done in drafting their talent.  With the MLB first-year player draft looming merely a month away, I’d like to recap the past 5 first round picks and evaluate them now as well as what their future might hold.

2007

First, let’s look at 2007 first rounder Mike Moustakas.  A highly-touted high school kid out of Chatsworth, CA, Moustakas was drafted 2nd overall and signed on the deadline of August 15 for $4 million dollars.  Moustakas garnered some accolades in the minor leagues, including being named the 2010 Texas League Player of the Year.  Moose has been a top prospect entering every season in his professional career.  He has started off this season very well and has produced at the plate and on defense.  He will always have a tremendous amount of power and there was a question about his glove.  Thus far, he has shown vast improvement in the field and I like the way he has adjusted to major league pitching.  He’s not getting himself out nearly as much as he was last year.  Moose should put together a few 40+ homerun seasons when all is said and done and earn  himself a few All-Star bids as well.  It has always seemed it’s taken him a little while to adjust to each level, and it’s finally looking like he is coming around at the major league level on a consistent basis.

2008

In 2008, the Royals took American Heritage High School star, Eric Hosmer.  We all know how good this kid is, but there was a time he struggled early in his professional career.  It wasn’t until he had vision correction surgery that his career took off at the plate.  He hit so well in early 2011, the Royals were practically forced to call him up to Kansas City.  He finished 3rd in the American League Rookie of the Year voting and is well on his way to a phenomenal career.  He should have a similar career path as Cincinnati Reds first baseman, Joey Votto.  Hosmer will most likely play in multiple All-Star games and find himself in the top 10 in MVP voting in the prime of his career.  The Royals did a great job of drafting the corner of their infield for several years to come in back-to-back drafts.

*Also in the supplemental first round, the Royals selected left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery.

2009

Aaron Crow was selected 12th overall by the Royals in the summer of 2009.  He had been previously drafted by the Washington Nationals in the first round of the 2008 draft but elected not to sign.  Crow had a rocky road to the majors, but has found a calling in a bullpen role.  He was named an All-Star last year as a reliever, but it’s yet to be determined if Crow could find a home in the starting rotation anytime during his career.  While it certainly is a possibility, I think the closer role is a likely landing spot for the former Mizzou standout.  I have faith that he could be a dominant closer for several years as we hope the Royals find themselves in contention for a playoff spot.

2010

Christian Colon was the least impressive pick of the past 5 years.  I’m not sold on the fact that Colon is a first round talent.  I don’t think he will ever be much more than a Carlos Febles type at second base.  He is certainly not going to translate to a shortstop at the major league level, which is what he was at Cal-State Fullerton.  Currently, Colon is batting .271 with 1 homerun and 7 RBI for Double-A Northwest Arkansas.  He could find his own and be a quality major league player, but I think it’s more reasonable to expect him to be a utility guy at best for several seasons.

2011

The most recent pick was Bubba Starling.  Starling was chosen 5th overall out of Gardner Edgerton High School in 2011.  At the time of the pick, many people were in favor of the selection.  I for one, was all in favor of drafting Bubba.  I think he is loaded with immense amounts of raw talent.  It will take some seasoning for him to fully tap into his potential, which means his path to the show could be 4 or more years before he is finally called up.  Once he is up, his ability will be limitless.  He very well could be an MVP candidate for several seasons with Kansas City.  I think at the very least, he will be a mainstay in centerfield and a top contributor for what we hope is a contending team.  I will be anxiously awaiting the day that Bubba is in the middle of the order with Hosmer and Moose.

I find the MLB draft very entertaining and am anxiously awaiting this year’s draft.  The Royals have had their fair share of busts, but lately they have been selecting top notch talent and forking out the money to get these players signed.  When the draft creeps a little closer I will have a preview of who the Royals could end up taking and examine some of those players.  Let’s just hope they select a Hosmer and not another Chris Lubanski.

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.

Better duck your head when Jonathan Broxton is pitching. He might hit you to force in the winning run. Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

It may surprise you to learn what I am most aggravated about after the first few series of this young season.  It’s not the losses, although that is beginning to wear on me somewhat.  Not the new broadcast team.  Not the smug looks on the Indians’ faces after they stole three straight wins in Kansas City and beat us again in Cleveland last night.  Not Broxton’s 12th inning meltdown consisting of 2 walks and 2 HBPs in 2/3 of an inning in Oakland that started the whole death spiral, not the mighty Hosmer reduced to weakly flailing at pitches two feet out of the strike zone, not the injuries that have robbed us of our talented young starting players, not the “first time in 30 years triple play,” and not even the site of the Yunibomber jogging out to second base night after night.  (Although I have to admit, seeing Yuni in a Royals’ uniform does push me perilously close to the edge.)  The way the team has played, the poor coaching, the epic baserunning blunders and defensive lapses are all causes of our seething frustration and anger.  But none of these things are what have me most perturbed.  The thing that aggravates me most right now, is the fans.

Now I realize it’s Royals fans who keep this web site up and running, so I need to watch my words carefully.  And please note that I am one of you – as hard core and blue blooded as they come.  I also realize that the serious fans who read this site probably haven’t fallen prey to the issues I want to discuss, so there is no reason for anyone here to take my comments personally.   But for the rest of the Royals’ fans that jumped on the bandwagon this Spring because it was a trendy thing to do the past few months – I have a few issues I’d like to get off my chest about you.

Rex Hudler has taken the brunt of Royal fan angst this year. Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

First of all, I really don’t get all the vitriol over Rex Hudler.  (Yes, vitriol is a real word – look it up.)  And I don’t understand why so many people want to connect Rex to the loss of Frank White from the booth, who let’s face it, is not the greatest broadcaster ever.  (Yes, I said it, because it’s true.)  Now don’t misunderstand me – If I was picking an all-time MLB team, Frank is my second baseman, no doubt.  I’d take him before Joe Morgan, before Ryne Sandberg, and certainly before Roberto Alomar and all of his excess spit.  Meeting Frank in a hotel lobby when I was 17-years-old and speaking one-on-one with him for 15 minutes is possibly the sports highlight of my life next to watching Darryl Motley squeeze the final out of Game 7 in 1985.

But really folks, whining about losing Frank from the broadcast team is the same as saying you’re upset that Denny Matthews, possibly the greatest radio man in the history of sports, is not permitted to pitch for the Royals.  Yes Frank “tells it like it is”, yes he is a beloved and treasured Kansas City icon, but he’s about as uncomfortable behind a microphone as Jeff Montgomery.  (Oops!  Did I just say that?)  Playing baseball and broadcasting – it’s two completely different skill sets.  Doing one of them well shouldn’t give you an automatic license to do the other.

And all the grumbling about Rex Hudler is really just complaining for complaining sake in my opinion.  I think everyone is just piling on because they’re frustrated and they need someplace to point their rage.  I’m absolutely certain that the majority of people who are griping about Rex are only doing so because they’ve heard everyone else do it and they’re jumping on the “We hate Hudler” bandwagon because all the cool kids are doing it.

And what is the main complaint about Hudler anyway?  “He’s too positive.”  Sheesh.  Is that really something to complain about?  Change is always difficult and listening to a different voice on TV after all these years is no different, it’s something we all need to get accustomed to.  I think it’s only fair to give Hudler a chance to find his voice rather than bust his chops before the man even has an opportunity to get his feet on the ground and learn the players and Royals’ history.   I’m not necessarily saying he’s a great broadcaster either.  But, I am saying we need to back off and give the man a break.

I also have a beef with the Royals fans who’ve already given up.  They’re complaining about “Our Time”, blaming Dayton Moore for fooling us into thinking the Royals were going to win this year, announcing they aren’t going to watch another game or spend another dollar on tickets until we field a winner, etc., etc.  Bunch of spoiled rotten babies.  Do you know how long the Cubs fans have waited to field a winner?  About a thousand years.  And how many Cubs fans are there in the world?  About a million jillion – more than all the BBQ ribs eaten in Kansas City since the dawn of time.   How many of these fans have given up and forsaken their team?  Almost none of them.  I’ve never ever heard of a Cubs fan giving up.  Take a lesson from the Northsiders of Chicago and those who proudly wear their old school “C” caps all around the world, put on your big boy pants and suck it up.

Baseball is a business that requires millions upon millions of dollars, and a substantial amount of luck and good timing to be successful.  (The less money you have, the more luck and good timing you need.)  The small market Royals must be smarter, more efficient, more strategic than almost any other team in order to have even a speck of a chance at winning.  Even the slightest mistake in drafting, or a bad contract, or injuries, etc., could set the team back for years.

Count your blessings that little ole Kansas City even has a major league team and that it wasn’t contracted a few years ago.  It almost happened, right before our eyes.  Just imagine Kauffman stadium sitting empty, covered with dust and cobwebs, every night this Summer.  How would you like that?  I know about the severe blow your pride has suffered while rooting for a loser.  My pride has suffered too.  But wouldn’t it be much much worse if you didn’t have a team to root for at all?  It would stink, times infinity, beyond your imagination.

And I don’t want to hear about people switching their allegiance to Sporting KC.   To even consider that your allegiance can just be switched on an off is one of the top five stupidest things I’ve ever heard.  Oh the Missouri Tigers didn’t make the final four?  That’s OK, you should just root for the Jawhawks now.  Stupid, stupid, STUPID!  Never going to happen!  Stop asking me not to root for the Royals.

Yuniesky Betancourt demonstrating his cat-like moves at second base. Credit: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

And yes, I do have several bones to pick with the Royals too, such as how in the world they reached the brainless decision that it would be better to have Yuniesky Betancourt playing second base than Johnny Giavotella?  It boggles my mind, boils my blood, and makes my head want to explode – so don’t even get me started on that.   I could fill an entire book with my opinion of the stupid, dim-witted, and virtually unforgivable moves I’ve watched the Royals make over the years, but I won’t waste your time with that right now.  (I list a few of these moves here, including the one they made on December 11, 1991, in my opinion the darkest day in the history of Royals baseball.)   Call me a Homer at your own risk.

I’ve been a Royals fan since June 13, 1969 when I attended my first game with my father and uncle sitting behind the first base dugout in old Municipal Stadium.  And wouldn’t you know it, the Royals lost 6-0 to the Tigers.  I fell in love with the Boys in Blue on a night when they not only lost the game but were shut out, only had 4 hits, and were knocked 9 games below .500 into next to last place – and no other team has ever since occupied the same cherished and beloved space in my heart.  I don’t follow this team year after year after year after year because they are winners (obviously not), I follow them, and root for them, and cheer them on because they are MY team, and nothing is ever, ever going to change that.

I’ve followed the Royals faithfully for 42 years and I’ve only seen one lonely championship.  There is quite literally no one anywhere who has endured more as a Royals fan than I have.  My hopes and dreams have been raised time and time again, only to be dashed on the rocks of quarter-billion dollar opposing team payrolls.  It isn’t fair, we don’t deserve it, and for all I know the stress has shaved a few years off my life.  If anyone anywhere has earned the right to complain about this team or desert them, after four decades of futility and frustration, it’s me.   But in my wildest dreams I can’t imagine myself ever rooting for any team other than the Royals.

I like the direction we’re heading, I believe the plan is sound, and I have great respect for the talent, attitude, and integrity of our budding young stars.  And after all these many years, I’m willing to be patient a little longer.  I’d like to encourage you to stand with me and be patient just a little bit longer too.  And when the Royals eventually win it all  (and they will win it all in the not terribly distant future, trust me), we can say that we were here from the beginning, with our heads held high, long before people in Florida and Utah, and yes even New York decided it was cool to wear a KC cap.

Now you know exactly how I feel.  #BuryMeARoyal.

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