Will Smith opens the series for the Royals tonight at Camden Yards against the Orioles. Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

When Last We Saw …

These two teams haven’t seen each other since May 25-27 when they met at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. KC was coming off losing two-of-three in New York against the Yankees but after taking the series in Baltimore finished the trip beating the Indians twice in Cleveland on that nine game road trip.

Season Series …

KC trails the season series 3-2 but did win two of the previous three at Baltimore in May. The season series began in May with O’s coming to town taking the series winning both games.

Royals fans won’t forget the 15-inning game with Jonathan Broxton blowing the save and Nate Adcock saving the ‘pen. The next day Kansas City built a 3-0 lead that Luke Hochevar and crew couldn’t hold onto losing 5-3.

In the first game at Baltimore the birds knocked Bruce Chen out with a five run fifth en route to a 8-2 victory. Jason Hammel handcuffed KC in six innings no allowing a run on five hits while striking out seven. DH Chris Davis went 2-for-4 driving in three runs, J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones drove in two runs each.

Game two of the series saw the Orioles again jump out to a lead of 3-0 but the Royals scored the game’s final four runs. Humberto Quintero of all players put KC ahead driving in Eric Hosmer with a double to the left. Hosmer extended the lead in the eighth driving in Mike Moustakas on a single, also to note Greg Holland picked up the win with Broxton the save.

The final game of the series was back and forth with the teams exchanging the lead. Hochevar took the no-decision going 4 2/3 innings striking out six. Jeff Francoeur gave the Royals the lead with a solo homerun and Quintero added an insurance run with another double that scored Alcides Escobar.

5/16 – Orioles 4 @ Royals 3 F/15
5/17 – Orioles 3 @ Royals 5
5/25 – Royals 2 @ Orioles 8
5/26 – Royals 4 @ Orioles 3
5/27 – Royals 4 @ Orioles 2

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):

Thursday, 6:05 pm – Will Smith (2-4, 6.00)  v. Wei-Yin Chen (10-6, 3.46)
- Smith will be seeing Baltimore for the first time in his career on Thursday night in his eighth MLB start.
- While 1-4 in his last five starts he’s gone 5+ four times, the lone win game at the Angels in which might be his best start going seven innings allowing one run on two hits.
- Chen took a no-decision in his May 27^th start against KC after going six innings and allowing two runs. He’s won his last two starts against Oakland and at Tampa Bay.
Friday, 6:05 pm – Luke Hochevar (7-9, 5.04) v. Miguel Gonzalez (3-2, 3.80)
- Hochevar is 0-1 with a ND this season against the O’s this season.
- In the start at Baltimore he threw 109 pitches striking out six, allowing seven hits.
- Gonzalez will be making his first career start against KC and has alternated wins/losses during his last five starts with the last being a win over Tampa Bay which he went seven innings.
Saturday, 6:05 pm – Luis Mendoza (5-8, 4.36) v. Chris Tillman (5-1, 2.38)
- Mendoza comes in as probably the Royals most consistent starter being 2-4 in his last six starts going back to July 4.
- His last two starts saw him go 7.1 innings both starts which he’s 1-1 (beat Cleveland and lost at Chicago).
- Tillman since losing his long game of 2012 has won four straight starts. Wins have come at Cleveland, Tampa Bay, at New York and Seattle, against the Mariners he went seven innings.
Sunday, 12:35 pm – Bruce Chen (8-9, 5.51) v. Tommy Hunter (4-7, 5.55)
- Chen suffered his fifth loss of the season on May 25 in Baltimore when he allowed six runs on seven hits going only four innings.
- In his career he’s 2-2 against the O’s in five career starts but has only thrown 25.2 innings.
- Hunter has losses in three of his last four starts with a no-decision at New York. On May 16 he also got a ND against the Royals at the K which he went seven innings.

Prior to the recent trading deadline, conventional wisdom indicated the Royals were seeking major league ready starting pitching to help their struggling staff.  The Royals possess the trading chips that could have secured a big name such as the Cub’s #1, Matt Garza, but they were unwilling to part with them.  When all you’re offering is Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur, Jonathan Broxton, and/or Jose Mijares, you aren’t going to get much in return.

This lack of movement provides us with a clue that it’s unlikely the Royals plan to open up the prospect vault and trade any of their blue chip minor leaguers anytime soon.  This leaves us with the hope that one of the Royals promising pitchers on the farm will suddenly develop into a superstar, which is not likely anytime soon, or maybe, just maybe David Glass might finally consider writing a check during free agency for a legitimate arm to lead the club.

Based on experience, I realize it’s unlikely the Royals will pursue any truly big names, other than the slight possibility that they might go after Greinke.  However, there will be a few “affordable” pitchers available in the coming free agency period who I think the Royals should consider next off season.  I’ll give you my short list showing the current status of these pitchers, and with the exception of Greinke and possibly Jackson, I don’t think the Glass family can make the excuse that any of these guys are too expensive.  Any one (or better yet – two) of these players could provide a positive impact for the club in 2013.

Zack Greinke                   LAA      28 yrs    $13,000,000     9-4 W/L           3.61 era

Brandon McCarthy         OAK     29 yrs   $4,275,000        6-3 W/L             2.54 era

Anibal Sanchez             DET      28 yrs   $8,000,000        6-8 W/L             3.99 era

Edwin Jackson              WSN     28 yrs   $11,000,000      7-7 W/L            3.57 era

Colby Lewis                  TXR      33 yrs   $3,250,000        6-6 W/L             3.43 era

Shaun Marcum              MIN      30 yrs   $7,725,000        5-3 W/L             3.39 era

Joe Saunders                ARI       31 yrs   $6,000,000        5-7 W/L             3.62 era

Almost every one of these athletes carries some type of baggage.  Greinke has his famous personality disorder, Brandon McCarthy has experienced shoulder problems, Colby Lewis is out for the season, etc., etc.  But I’m still confident any one of these players would represent a significant upgrade for the Royals staff.  (I realize that isn’t saying much.)

Now that the race for the pennant is over, at least for the Royals, we need some new story lines to keep us interested.  The decisions regarding who will play a role in the Royals starting rotation in 2013 is destined to be one of the most interesting story lines and probably the issue that will either make or break the team next year.

While we’d planned to talk to former Royal Joe Randa on the most recent Vault, we had problems getting ahold of him. No matter. We got a chance to evaluate his place in Royals history and questioned whether he should go into the Royals Hall of Fame which led to a discussion of who might end up in the team Hall of Fame after so many lean years. The most interesting case we brought up was David Glass – does the owner go into the Royals Hall of Fame or not?

We talked about the Jonathan Broxton trade and whether there’s such a thing as the “Closer’s Mentality”.

Finally, we talked about Luis Mendoza and just what the heck he’s doing this year to be the best starter on the Royals and dug into what the waiver trade deadline really means. It was a fun discussion.

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

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

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

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

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

On this show, we’ll talk with former Royal “The Joker” Joe Randa about his time with the Royals, being part of an offensive team with crummy pitching, and his standing in the history of the Royals franchise.

We’ll also cover the trade deadline, Luis Mendoza‘s surprisingly solid year and look around the minors.

It all starts at a special time of 6:30 p.m. CST (due to Olympics coverage) 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.

The move did leave the Royals without a designated pitcher to shut the door in the ninth – until later in the day when Ned Yost named Greg Holland the next closer.

July 8, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Greg Holland (56) pitches during the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Holland had a great 2011 but his 2012 has been up and down. Early in the year he dealt with a rib injury that put him on the disabled list. Since returning, he’s worked his ERA down to more palatable levels, though his walk rate is higher than last year’s 2.9 BB/9 at 5.2 BB/9. He’s given up more hits, too, but after last year’s 5.6 H/9, it’s hard for any pitcher to repeat that stellar number.

He’s seemed to be the heir apparent to Broxton’s closers role since it became clear that Broxton was on the trading block. His strikeout ability should allow him to get out of jams with less panic than Broxton’s save attempts, though the peripheral numbers are still scary. What hits he has given up this year may be in part due to his inducing more ground balls (which are more likely to sneak through for hits than a fly ball). His .388 BABIP on the year supports that thought.

If Holland falters, Aaron Crow or Kelvin Herrera are favorites to step in.

Another option – though he’s a long shot – is Jeremy Jeffress, who was recalled from Omaha to fill Broxton’s roster spot. In two appearances at the big league level this year, Jeffress gave up four hits and walked two, though he managed to scatter those runners in such a way that none scored. Those appearances came in the first homestand of the year.

Since, he’s put up 58 innings in Omaha with a 4.97 ERA. He’s struck out 9.5 batters per nine innings in Triple A, which is typical for him, but his ERA is a bit deceiving, as he’s given up far less walks than is the norm. In his minor league career, Jeffress had a walk rate of 5.7 BB/9 before 2012. His current rate is 3.9 BB/9 right now, which is encouraging. He features a fastball that regularly sits in the upper 90s (and regularly hits triple digits) and a curveball that can be really nasty when he has command of it. If he can get it together, he’ll make an already solid-looking return for Zack Greinke in 2010 look that much better.

The deal is still pending a physical.

The Royals had been trying to move Broxton, the most valuable trade chip they had (that they’d made available) and various suitors were talking with them, but the Reds add him to their already strong bullpen.

Broxton saved 23 games in 27 opportunities, though his walk rate and strikeout rate haven’t been stellar, and some predict a regression in his performance. Regardless, his ERA is 2.27 after 35.2 innings. This was a big part of why the Royals signed him this offseason to a one-year deal – to let him rebuild his value after injury-plagued years in Los Angeles and to potentially trade him for value at the deadline.

Early reports suggest that J.C. Sulbaran, a right-handed pitcher at Double A, is the return for Broxton. He was a 30th round pick in 2008 and high school teammate of Eric Hosmer. There may be more in the deal, as well. Here’s a brief scouting report on Sulbaran, who was an All-Star in the Southern League. The Royals also got left-handed reliever Donnie Joseph, who was in Triple A and another high strikeout pitcher.

With his departure, the Royals will likely put Greg Holland in as the closer, though Kelvin Herrera and Aaron Crow could be options. All three were potential fits for the role in spring training when Joakim Soria went on the DL with a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery.

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.

That puts Jonathan Broxton in the crosshairs for some teams.

Jim Bowden reported that the Giants had interest in Broxton and past reports indicated that they may have had scouts in Omaha to look at potential add-ons.

Another team has surfaced as well. The Rangers are looking at Broxton as well, according to Jon Heyman. Broxton would serve as a setup man for Joe Nathan if a trade were finalized.

Obviously, having more than one team interested increases the likelihood that Broxton will be moved at some point before Tuesday’s deadline. Of the main names known as available – Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Mijares and Broxton – the Royals closer is having the most success recently, which sticks in the minds of front offices sometimes.

A deal with the Rangers might – might - be closer, though, as Bob Dutton tweeted that the Royals were interested in Rangers pitching prospect Justin Grimm, a 5th rounder in 2010 who made his major league debut this season at the age of 23. He’s said to have a plus curve and sinker plus is working on a changeup. He was an All-Star in the Texas League this year and earned a promotion to Triple A after 80 innings for Frisco in Double A where he had a 1.80 ERA and a 68/14 K/BB ratio.

The Rangers are loaded with pitching prospects and can use them to go get the pieces they want. Last year, they traded Joe Wieland and Robert Erlin to get Mike Adams as a setup man, so this kind of deal isn’t out of the question. Mutual interest reported and names being named is a good thing if you’re in the Trade Broxton camp.

It’s all speculation for now, though. Talks may heat up or fizzle out on Monday. That’s the intrigue of the trade deadline.

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.

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.

Luke Hochevar will open the series for the Royals against the Twins this weekend at Kauffman Stadium. Hochevar has been pretty good in his last six starts which hopefully continues. Photo Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

When Last We Saw …

The last time the Royals and Twins met was at the end of June up in the Twin Cities, Minnesota took three-of-four to win the series. Kansas City and Luis Mendoza held onto win 5-4 after Mr. Excitement Jonathan Broxton made things interesting. That weekend the Twins hit homerun after homerun to take the next three games by scores of 7-2, 5-1 and 10-8.

Season Series …

This season Minnesota holds a 6-3 advantage against Kansas City in the three meetings so far in 2012. In April the teams met in Minneapolis with the result being a split due to game two getting rained out. The first week of June was the second meeting taking place at the K with Minnesota taking two-of-three. Coming into tonight KC will try to snap a three game losing streak to the division’s last place team.

4/27 Royals 7 @ Twins 6
4/28 Royals @ Twins PPD
4/29 Royals 4 @ Twins 7
6/4 Twins 10 @ Royals 7
6/5 Twins 0 @ Royals 1
6/6 Twins 4 @ Royals 2
6/29 Royals 4 @ Twins 3
6/30 DH Game 1 Royals 2 @ Twins 7
DH Game 2 Royals 1 @ Twins 5
7/1 Royals 8 @ Twins 10

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

Friday, 7:10 pm – Nick Blackburn (4-5, 8.10) v. Luke Hochevar (6-8, 5.26)
- Hochevar comes into this start 3-1 with two no-decision in his last six starts against Milwaukee (ND), @Houston (W), Tampa Bay (W), @Minnesota (L), @Toronto (W) and Chicago White Sox (W)
- During this streak he’s kept his walks down and strikeout totals high but the biggest positive is he’s worked past the sixth inning in four of these six starts.
- Blackburn has only faced the Royals once this season and he got the win on June 6 going just five innings. He was bailed out by his bullpen holding KC scoreless the rest of the game.
Saturday, 6:10 pm – Scott Diamond (8-3, 2.96) v. Luis Mendoza (3-6, 4.32)
- Mendoza was the tough luck loser on last Sunday against the White Sox going 7 1/3 innings in a 2-1 defeat.
- As mentioned his best start was at Target Field on June 29^th when he went eight innings allowing one run on five hits while striking out five.
- Diamond first career start against KC game in the second game of the last series when he threw the first game of the Saturday doubleheader. In the game he threw eight innings allowing two runs on six hits in 101 pitches.
Sunday, 1:10 pm – Sam Deduno (0-0, 5.59) v. Jeremy Guthrie (3-9, 6.35)
- Newly acquired Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeremy Guthrie is being tabbed as Sunday’s starter for the series finale. With Colorado Guthrie was 3-9 with a 6.35 ERA but here is hoping that a change of scenario works out for him and Jonathan Sanchez who part of the deal
- In his career Guthrie is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight career games against the Twin having thrown 46.2 innings. Another positive stat is his strike to walk ratio against Minnesota striking out 28 against six walks.
- Deduno is in his first season with the Twins, having spent the first two seasons of his career in the national league is facing the Royals for the first time. He came with Colorado in 2010 and was with San Diego during the 2011 season.

Usually, teams are looking for another starter for the playoff push or to bolster a bullpen. Enter Jonathan Broxton.

Jonathan Broxton. Photo Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

The Royals signed Broxton in the offseason as speculation. Before arm troubles in Los Angeles, Broxton was one of the best setup relievers and then one of the more dominant closers once he took over the job for the Dodgers. When Joakim Soria succumbed to a torn UCL and Tommy John surgery, it left Broxton as the first choice for Ned Yost when it came time to name a closer. Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera and Aaron Crow also looked like possible fits for the job, but Broxton had closer experience, and managers lover closer experience.

Why the Royals Want to Trade Broxton

By signing Broxton to a one year deal this winter, the Royals were treating him as a reclamation project. They didn’t commit a lot of resources and didn’t saddle themselves with a long-term deal. If he didn’t stay healthy or couldn’t approach his past performance, they’re just out the innings and some salary and move on next year.

If he did perform well, he would be just what he is now – a trade chip.

Additionally, the Royals have plenty of bullpen arms. As mentioned above, Holland, Crow or Herrera could have been tabbed as the closer during spring training and any could step into the role now. The Royals have used Crow in more of a setup/fireman role. Herrera has thrown some long relief appearances but Holland has been great since returning from a DL stint. He’d be the most likely option to close and the Royals would still have strong arms like Louis Coleman or Tim Collins to eat up relief innings while they work towards the ninth.

Why Teams Would Trade for Broxton

Who wouldn’t want bullpen help going down to the wire? Broxton could fit into a contender’s bullpen as a setup man or as a closer on off days or, if the team is struggling for some stability in the ninth, as their closer.

In 33.2 innings, he has a 2.14 ERA and has converted 22 of 26 save opportunities. He’s still a name and finished fourth in the All-Star Final Vote. He has the resume behind him and has had no health issues this year, either. To this point, he’s shown everything he needs to to be a potential asset to a contender.

Why the Royals Might Not Trade Broxton

It would really come down to how much they trust the other bullpen options. He’s succeeded as closer so far, but for a team where the Royals are in 2012, a closer is a luxury.

Still, front offices and managers get lost in the mystique of the closer’s mentality and some reports have suggested they’re interested in signing him to a longer term deal.

They may also end up holding on to him because  they don’t get a deal that fits what they want. They’ve sat on Joakim Soria in the past when there was a strong market for him. Then again, that might compel them to move Broxton now while they can before they’re stuck with nothing in return.

Why Teams May Not Trade for Broxton

The Royals are going to be looking for young pitching that’s going to stay under team control – perhaps the biggest commodity in baseball.

Broxton isn’t without his issues, so teams may shy away from paying a steep price for him. If they have an entrenched closer already, Broxton might not be an upgrade, and they might not trade a legitimate prospect for someone who only marginally improves their bullpen.

At his peak from 2005-2009, Broxton struck out 11.9 batters per nine innings and gave up less than seven hits per nine. In 2012, he’s struck out just over half as many batters per nine innings and his H/9 and BB/9 have increased. He’s often put runners on before finishing the ninth inning, and those kinds of outings are playing with fire. That’s what teams will point to when they say they aren’t interested, or if they aren’t willing to give up a good prospect for him.

The injury history could be scary as well. Broxton hasn’t run into issues this year, but it could be just a matter of time. Pitchers could always be one pitch away from blowing their elbow out.

Who Might Be a Fit

The Mets have supposedly shown interest in Broxton. Frank Francisco and his 4.97 ERA have been closing so far and he’s put up a 1.586 WHIP in the process. Bobby Parnell, Jon Rauch and Ramon Ramirez are options for New York, too, but if they haven’t committed to one yet, they might be fine using more flexible options in the middle innings to keep the lead intact and start Francisco fresh in the ninth. Broxton is filling that same function for the Royals and would upgrade their closer spot.

He could also bolster Boston’s bullpen if they think they can still make a run. Andrew Bailey was acquired in the offseason, but hasn’t gotten healthy after injuring his thumb in spring training. Alfredo Aceves has been closing, but he’s been spotty.

In regards to who the Royals might seek in a deal, well, I’m never good at guessing at who might get included, but Greg Schaum at Pine Tar Press has some scenarios that might work in a deal with the Mets. Those are good names to have in mind as rumors heat up.

For now, it’s just speculation and early buzz. With less than two weeks until the trade deadline, though, Broxton’s name will be tossed around more and more to other teams.

The Royals had a 5-3 lead when Bruce Chen took the mound to start the fifth inning. He gave up a single, got two flyouts and then A.J. Pierzynski hit a line drive up the middle. The Royals sent pitching coach Dave Eiland to talk to Chen but it did no good. On the second pitch, Dayan Viciedo golfed a homer to left-center to give Chicago the lead.

Now, it was a tough pitch to hit and Chen didn’t make a mistake. Viciedo hit one out he could have easily let go, but Chen wasn’t sharp most of the start, either.

Ned Yost said later he could have pulled Chen earlier in the game or, if it were the sixth inning, the second hit would have been his last batter. He admitted that with it being the fifth, he wanted to leave Chen in to get the third out and qualify for the win. In doing so, the Royals fell behind, and, despite some scraping and clawing to tie the game and retake the lead, ultimately lost in the 14th inning.

I get it. Yost wanted to get his veteran the win in his stat column. It’s not the first time a manager has done so, and it won’t be the last.

But it really should be the last, and here’s why:

Pitcher wins don’t tell the whole story. They tell you that a pitcher was in the game when his team took the lead and he was the earliest pitcher to appear with that lead. Usually, it’s a starter. But a pitcher win doesn’t tell you the quality of a pitcher’s appearance. It doesn’t qualify that he may have walked six batters and gave up six runs but because his team scored seven, he’s the winner. It only tells you who was on the mound when that team had the lead.

Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth. Billy Butler hits a chopper that somehow gets him on second base. Jarrod Dyson pinch runs. If Dyson is able to steal third, or the Royals were able to get a base hit, or he finds any way to score, the Royals win in walk-off fashion. The pitcher who would have “earned” the win would have been Jonathan Broxton.

Nevermind that Broxton blew the lead in pursuit of another misleading stat, the save.

Here’s what a save tells you: a pitcher finished the game and held a lead that was one, two or three runs. Of course, baseball has turned the save into something only closers can get. Nobody else pitches with the lead in the ninth but the closer. Unless they fail spectacularly, that role isn’t changed. Often that’s the best reliever on the team, but sometimes it’s just a guy who’s been a closer before and has the “closer’s mentality”.

Broxton didn’t have it last night. He’s often not had it. Kevin Youkilis singled on the second pitch to lead off. Broxton has allowed 13 of 32 batters leading off to reach base – that’s a .406 on base percentage. So 40% of the time, the leadoff batter reaches against Broxton.

Last night, the single was the least of his concerns. Adam Dunn and Alex Rios walked on four pitches each. So the bases are loaded. There’s nobody out, Broxton is on the brink of disaster. If it were a remote incident, I don’t mind chalking it up to one night after a long break being an issue, but this is a consistent problem with Broxton – he allows too many baserunners.

Broxton drew some support from fans during the All-Star Final Vote. The idea was that, with 20 saves in (then) 23 opportunities, that he was doing his job. While I can’t refute that he eventually got the saves, can anybody feel confident when he comes into a game? How much is on Broxton and how much is just on getting away with it? Last night, for instance, Broxton should have given up the go-ahead run, but a strong throw from Jeff Francoeur, a great effort by Salvador Perez, and a little helpful umpiring turned a run into an out.

Broxton has had ten appearances where he faced three batters and recorded three outs. In only three of those outings has he done so without putting on a runner.

Would anyone’s feelings have been hurt if Yost had brought in Tim Collins or Louis Coleman after the second walk?

I’d like to think that these are isolated problems. But Broxton hasn’t been sharp most of the year and expecting him to keep putting on so many baserunners and maintaining an ERA anywhere near where it is now (2.20) is foolish. It will catch up to him at some point and Yost needs to be ready to play for the team win rather than keeping Broxton just because he’s the “closer”. Fangraphs has Broxton’s FIP at 3.52 and his xFIP at 4.15. I think that’s a lot closer to where he’ll end up than where his ERA is now. He’s stepped into a tough situation. He’s trying to be the same player he was before injury and he’s following Joakim Soria.

Chen has given up six runs in seven of his 19 starts (and four of his last six). He’s given up two or less runs in seven of his 19 starts as well. He’s hit or miss – and you can usually tell by the third inning which it is. Last night, he gave up two homers and three runs in the first inning. The homer against Viciedo was a tough break (because, again, it wasn’t like Chen threw a pitch right down the pipe – it was down and out of the zone), but putting two on and with Chen’s struggles recently, Yost acknowledged after the fact that he should have pulled Chen. Kelvin Herrera was ready in the bullpen.

For the want of that pitcher win, Chen made one more pitch and the game changed.

Maybe next time, Yost will decide if it’s better to ignore the pitcher’s win column if it means the team’s increases by one.

Billy Butler being congratulated after a homer. More are on the way. Photo Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE

The American League set most of its roster for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game on Sunday and the Royals were hopeful to get multiple players into the game at Kauffman Stadium.

They only got one, but it’s the deserving Billy Butler, who has a .297/.365/.516 line with 16 homers and 48 RBI through Saturday. It’s his first All-Star selection but he’s had multiple solid years since becoming a regular in the Royals lineup. I looked at his power surge this year and its place in first-half Royals lore. There’s a chance that Robinson Cano might select him for the Home Run Derby in front of the hometown fans.

Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar have had solid years in positions with solid competition and missed the cut. Paul looked at their cases to make the All-Star team yesterday. Jonathan Broxton had a chance to be the representative with 20 saves and a 2.05 ERA. Instead, Broxton is part of the Final Vote and could still be voted in.

The Royals bullpen is supposed to be the strength of its pitching staff, and if you review almost any pitching statistic, you’ll find this is true.  And who should be the cream of the crop in this group?  The closer of course.  The closer should dominate opposing batters, intimidating them into submission during the final inning of a game.  While Broxton’s ERA has been solid, by almost every other measurement you’ll discover that he is teetering on the brink and in my opinion his luck may run out soon.

Of the Royals five most often used relief pitchers (including Aaron Crow, Jose Mijares, Kelvin Herrera, and Tim Collins) Broxton possesses the highest WHIP, the lowest strikeout ratio, and the most H/9 (hits per 9 innings.)  This type of performance will eventually impact his luck-induced ERA performance and will result in runs scored, lots of them.  When Broxton waddles to the mound, the only hearts he strikes fear into are in the pounding chests of nervous Royals fans.

I'm just not that into you Jonathan Broxton (Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

Maybe this is a little bit shallow of me to say, but I prefer my team’s players at least have the appearance of athleticism and not wear pants that two teammates can fit inside.  Broxton looks more like a reject from a Tommy Boy casting call than a professional baseball player.  And I know it’s results that count, not appearance, but really…  Broxton’s body is his tool, it’s what allows him to be a major league pitcher.  If he was a serious athlete who truly wanted to excel, he’d drop 100 pounds and get himself in shape.

Broxton’s performance is like a locomotive whose wheels are coming off, but it just hasn’t jumped the track yet.  He’s a train wreck waiting to happen.

I attended one of the recent interleague games in Houston and had a chance to watch Broxton and the other pitchers take a few swings in the batting cage during pregame warmups.  There was a lot of discussion about a few balls that Broxton sent into the left field seats and off the outfield wall.  It was a pretty impressive display – for a pitcher.  But I still don’t think any of the fans who were oohing and aahing at his hitting prowess were excited at the prospect of watching Broxton and his lifetime .000 batting average step into the box.  Can you imagine Jonathan hitting a ground ball to the shortstop and trying to “leg it out.”  The mental image is jarring.

The good news is that there is a solution to this problem.  I recommend the Royals point to Broxton’s stellar ERA, his track record as an All-Star closer, package him with Jeff Francoeur (sorry Frenchy, I love ya, but you have to go – #FreeWil) and try to get something, anything, in return before they both implode and lose all their value.

Dayton Moore should take some time out during the All-Star festivities, visit with his General Manager buddies that attend the game, and find a new home for both of these guys.  Frenchy has value as a clubhouse leader & goodwill ambassador, and Broxton could potentially be a decent 7^th inning guy – that has to be worth something.

The time is now Dayton.  Find a deal, pull the trigger, cut our losses before Broxton and Frenchy lose their value, and let’s move forward to the future with Aaron Crow or Kelvin Herrera as our closer.

Vin Mazzaro gets the start in the opener against the Cardinals as the I-70 Series shifts to Kauffman Stadium this weekend. Photo Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Records: St. Louis Cardinals (35-35) @ Kansas City Royals (31-36)

Season Series: Royals 2-1 (won series in St. Louis June 15-17)
June 15 – Kansas City 3-2               WP: V. Mazzaro                LP: K. Lohse        S: J. Broxton
June 16 – St. Louis 10-7                   WP: M. Boggs                    LP: T. Collins       S: J. Motte
June 17 – Kansas City 5-3 F/15     WP: J. Broxton                 LP: E. Sanchez

Recap of last weekend: In game one the Royals took a 3-0 lead on the Cardinals before St. Louis scored twice in the seventh innings. Jonathan Broxton had an adventurous ninth before Mike Moustakas threw out Tyler Green at home to end the game. On Saturday the Cardinals won 10-7, the home team roughed up Bruce Chen taking a 6-1 lead after two innings. KC stormed by scoring the next six-runs taking a 7-6 lead in the seventh before the Redbirds countered with three in the bottom of the inning. The finale on Father’s Day went 15-innings with the Royals winning 5-3 when Yuniesky Betancourt hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifteenth inning.

Since they last they met: KC went to Houston and took 2-of-3 against the Astros after losing the first game of the series. St. Louis traveled to Detroit in a rematch of the 2006 World Series but lost the series to the Tigers two games to one, winning the middle game.

Central Standings:
AL Central                                                           NL Central
Cleveland Indiana (36-32)                             Cincinnati Reds (38-30)
Chicago White Sox (36-33)           0.5          Pittsburgh Pirates (36-32)             2.0
Detroit Tigers (34-35)                     2.5          St. Louis Cardinals (35-35)             4.0
Kansas City Royals (31-26)            4.5          Milwaukee Brewers (32-37)        6.5
Minnesota Twins (27-41)              9.0          Houston Astros (28-41)                 10.5
Chicago Cubs (24-45)                      14.5

Sal is back!: Tonight Salvador Perez will make his 2012 season debut for the Kansas City Royals. In addition ex-Royal Carlos Beltran is back at the K for the first time but wearing red and white. Beltran in his career is a .299, with 60 homeruns, 268 RBIs and 95 stolen bases at the Kauffman Stadium.

Turning it around at home: Kansas City is 11-20 at home this season but did sweep the Brewers in their quick three-game home stand last week. Since starting 0-10, the Royals have played better winning six of their last nine at home.

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

Friday, 7:10 pm – Joe Kelly (0-0, 2.89) v. Vin Mazzaro (3-1, 2.57)
Saturday, 1:10 pm – Adam Wainwright (5-7, 4.46) v. Luis Mendoza (2-3, 4.69)
Sunday, 1:10 pm – Lance Lynn (10-3, 2.80) v. Jonathan Sanchez (1-3, 5.70)

“It takes a different kind of skillset to play baseball. You don’t have to be a good athlete to be good at baseball.”

Originally this was supposed to be a post about Kyle Zimmer and why I love the pick, and the potential of the athlete, so much. I was going to break down his delivery and his stuff (with some help from some Internet friends) and project his future from my rather limited perception of him. However after overhearing what I was sure was just a father repeating some Neanderthal narrative about how the kind of physical shape baseball players are in, I couldn’t think of anything else.

In that instant amidst, Tweeting something obnoxious and having our grocery list recited to me, my brain called an audible and I couldn’t get the phrase “you don’t have to be a good athlete to be good at baseball” out of my head. I was stuck.

Everything that I had ever fought, every traditional mindset, every head-in-the-sand nonsensical outlook on the training of pitchers and baseball players was summed up in that father’s seemingly insignificant sentence.

Too often people confuse athleticism with strength or the ability to jump high, or run fast. Those traits do play a role in being an athlete for sure, but to mischaracterize baseball players as “non athletes” or “not very athletic” because you don’t see them at an NFL-style combine in their underwear running and jumping does not mean they’re not athletes. They’re some of the best athletes.

Baseball is a stagnant sport. There’s lots of standing around, lots of explosive movements required from a standing start, and lots of hip flexibility and reactionary skills that a “non athlete” couldn’t do. Do not confuse physical shape, or how a player looks with how athletic he is.

As I mentioned on the podcast I was on recently, in my opinion the true definition of athleticism is how well someone controls his or her body.

In order to generate the necessary torque to throw a baseball or swing a bat, the level of body control to fire reflexes and the body sequencing required to turn on a 99 mph fastball to hit it 400 feet is super athletic. The ability to repeat pitching mechanics to generate high velocities with control is super athletic.

Stop it with the idea that baseball players aren’t athletes. And if you’re having this opinion, please don’t repeat it out loud, there might be someone the next table over who just wants to enjoy a quiet night with his wife.

The Good

Well, winning is a lot more fun than losing. After the horrific start culminating in a 12 game losing streak, the Royals have been one of the better teams in baseball (at least record wise) and have pulled themselves to within 5 games of the division lead. How’s about that?

In the Rant a couple weeks ago I said that June (admittedly an idea stolen from someone else) would be a huge month for the Royals because the schedule turned in their favor, and the offense couldn’t be that bad for very long. Well, the offense still isn’t great, but with Alex Gordon going all on-base machine since returning to the leadoff spot, the offense has turned things around to help the bullpen win some games.

Yes, the bullpen.

Because, this is going to be the theme of the entire season, the bullpen continues to be amazing. Simply. Amazing.

Led by Tim Collins (imagine that visual) the revolving door of the final three-to-four spots in the bullpen haven’t been as big a detriment as one would normally associate with the taxi squad. Stability in Collins, Aaron Crow, Jonathan Broxton, Jose Mijares, and now Greg Holland, has allowed the Royals to not only stay in games to come back to win late, but have logged multiple innings to protect leads.

For all the negative things I’ve said about Dayton Moore’s roster construction over the last year-and-a-half on this site, one big positive has been his ability to put together a bullpen. And this year, he’s done one helluva job.

The Bad

For all the talk about Billy Butler not being “clutch”, and for all the talk about how Billy Butler doesn’t drive in runs, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot being said about how Jeff Francoeur only has 18 RBI, and we’re more than two months into the season.

Sure there are some things to like about Francoeur’s game like his arm or his occasional hot streaks, but his negative points get overshadowed by the media perception of him being such a great guy/baseball player, for what really only amounts to him having a recognizable name.

While I don’t pay much attention to stats with runners in scoring position they’re still fun to look at, especially when they can be manipulated to prove the point I’m trying to make.

During his career Francoeur has hit .270/.325/.419 with runners in scoring position. For Butler, during his career, he has hit .309/.392/.471 with runners in scoring position.

You know what’s great about those numbers? With runners in scoring position Butler’s stats are actually better than his career numbers (.297/.360/.462), contrary to what the narrative would have you to believe because of some arbitrary RBI total.

I only bring this up because the highly esteemed, and incredibly readable Jeff Parker brought up yesterday how during the broadcast, the Royals announcers went completely out of their way to talk about how Butler went a stretch of eight games without registering an RBI. Meanwhile, as Jeff pointed out, nothing is ever said of Francoeur for what he doesn’t do well.

This isn’t yet another way to sneak a Butler post into a post about something else (or maybe it is), and this is probably much to do about nothing. The reason Butler gets so much scrutiny from fans and the Royals might be because he has the potential to be one of the very best hitters in baseball (he already is), and the reason Francoeur skates by with nary a word of his deficiencies is because he has the potential to be merely one of the very average players in baseball (he already is).

Francoeur shouldn’t be given the pass that he seemingly is, and he shouldn’t have his spot in the lineup granted to him without competition, also like he seemingly is.

Jeff Francoeur is what he’s always been: a player that should probably be platoon-only as a lefty-masher that plays some decent defense. And if he’s the reason for either a) keeping Wil Myers in Triple-A or b) forcing Wil Myers to a position he mostly can’t handle everyday at the major league level, then the Royals need to find a different reason.

The Upcoming

It would be foolish not to mention the weekend home series against the Cardinals, but I’m sure we’ll have enough of that here over the course of the week to more than fill the readers’ appetite.

What has to be mentioned though is how the Royals are this close to playing really meaningful games again, and despite the depletion of the bullpen and the lack of production from the rotation, six more against NL opponents and three of those being against a team that on paper they’re better than (Houston), leaves even me optimistic.

And for me, that’s saying something. This is starting to get really fun.

The team experienced a slump that extended over half the season and they lost more than 75% of their games during this stretch.  For all their talent, it seemed that one major piece was missing for most of the year.  By the end of a long and frustrating season, the team was finally coming together and it was only due to injuries to a key player that they didn’t finish on a winning streak.

Pitcher Luke Hochevar and catcher Humberto Quintero - representing two positions where a potential missing piece could emerge. (Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE)

Could the description above fit the 2012 Kansas City Royals?  It’s close.  Over the past few years the Royals have experienced a changing of the guard at all levels from the field to the front office.  They’ve transitioned from a team that plugged holes with washed up veterans with nowhere else to play, to a team of young upstarts low on experience but high on potential.  The young players have shown flashes of their talent and gave us a glimpse of what they could accomplish in 2011, but have been mired in several slumps caused by injuries and growing pains, and a lack of a strong starting pitching rotation in 2012.  The first paragraph might be referring to the 2012 Kansas City Royals, but it’s a more accurate description of the 1990 Dallas Cowboys.

In 1990, the Dallas Cowboys introduced the sports world to a trio of extremely talented players who became commonly referred to as “The Triplets.”  Michael Irvin, a wide receiver, was drafted in the first round of 1988.  Troy Aikman, quarterback (you remember him – the guy who hawks buffalo wings for a living now), was drafted in the first round of 1989.  Both players started the season and were featured throughout by the Dallas Cowboys.  But it wasn’t until 1990 first round draft pick Emmitt Smith, running back (and the NFL’s future all-time leading rusher), took the field in October following a long holdout with a 121 yard rushing performance that the team finally began to fulfill its promise.

Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer - two of the "found" pieces. (Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE)

In my opinion, the Dallas Cowboys of 1990 make a good comparison to the 2012 Kansas City Royals.  Both teams changed coaches, executives and philosophies from previous seasons.  Both teams had introduced a few of it’s young studs the previous year.  The Cowboys had Irvin and Aikman, the Royals have Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas (I’d like to put Salvador Perez in this group too, but I’ll hold off until I see his performance when he returns from his knee injury.)  Both teams slumped out of the gate – the Cowboys lost 75% of their games between September 16 and November 11.  The Royals notoriously lost 12 in a row in April.

Then came Emmitt Smith, the missing piece of the puzzle for the Cowboys.  By November 18, 1990, Emmitt had firmly established himself and the Cowboys rattled off four consecutive wins and were within one victory in their final two games (or a single loss by the Saints) of making the playoffs.  Then Troy Aikman separated his shoulder and everything went down the toilet – at least for 1990.  But good things, actually VERY good things were to come for the Cowboys over the next few seasons.

It’s difficult to say exactly what the missing piece might be for the Royals.  The easiest answer is that the Royals are missing a couple of quality starting pitchers.  But what if having Salvador Perez behind the plate to call different pitches on the night of April 11 in Oakland would have prevented Jonathan Broxton’s nightmare-inducing 12^th inning meltdown (that still haunts my dreams to this day) and could have changed the course of this season?  What if this painful loss hadn’t kick-started an avalanche of bad luck and lost confidence that took a month to overcome?  What if Salvador Perez is the missing piece?

I had a chance to watch Lorenzo Cain play in Surprise this Spring before he was injured and he was quite impressive.  I think he could have made an impact for us if he had been on the field this year, and if you think Jarrod Dyson is the answer in Center, you’re kidding yourself.  Maybe Cain is the missing piece, but probably not.

Could Wil Myers be the missing piece? (Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE)

And what about the looming presence of Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi in Omaha?  Could they make an appearance this year, establish themselves, and then help take the Royals to the playoff promised land next year and beyond?  What if Mike Montgomery figures it out?  (I have my doubts.  Serious doubts.)  What if the Royals packaged Cheslor Cuthbert and Yordano Ventura in a trade and picked up a #1 pitcher?  (I don’t want to trade these guys, I’m just speculating on what could happen.)  You never know what might transpire to supply the final piece of the puzzle and ultimately push the Royals over the top.

In 1989, the Cowboys record was 1-15.  The next year, when all three Triplets appeared on the field at the same time they were 7-9 and probably only missed the playoffs due to an injury to Aikman.  In 1991 they were 11-5 and reached the playoffs.   In 1992 they were 13-3 and began their Super Bowl run with victories in 1992, 1993, and 1995.

Is it really that much of a stretch to see the Royals add a missing piece or two and playing competitive baseball in the second half of this year?  Am I dreaming to think the Royals can make the playoffs in 2013?  Would you commit me to a mental hospital if I said the Royals could be World Series bound in 2014?

Yogi Berra, "It's deja vu all over again."

Picture yourself in 1990, reading a Cowboy’s website (if there had been such a thing) and ask yourself the same questions.  Would it have been realistic to expect a 1-15 team to be competitive the next season, to reach the playoffs the following year, and to begin an unprecedented Super Bowl run after that?  You probably would have called the writer crazy and delusional.  In hindsight we know this was the beginning of one of the greatest football dynasties ever.  (It’s difficult for me to type these words considering my all consuming hatred of the Cowboys.)  But few, if any, could have realized this in 1990.

I don’t know exactly what the future holds for the Royals, but I believe they may be just a couple of missing pieces away from becoming the team we’ve all dreamed about.  The Cowboys proved it can be done, it’s not just a pipe dream, and I know it can happen again.  I believe it’s possible because as I learned in school – history has a way of repeating itself.  And as Yogi Berra once famously said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

Bruce Chen was solid all night. Photo: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Chen was great, throwing 62 of his 88 pitches for strikes and hitting his spots while walking none. The Twins didn’t hit the ball hard all night and he passed the game off to Greg Holland.

Facing three right-handed hitters, he struck out Brian Dozier and Drew Butera, then induced a grounder from Jamey Carroll. Alcides Escobar rushed the throw and Eric Hosmer couldn’t scoop it, but Holland struck Denard Span out looking on a slider to end the inning. Jonathan Broxton worked another stressful inning to get the save, stranding Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau on base in the process.

After a miserable loss last night, this was a solid way to bounce back. The overworked Royals bullpen needed a rest, and seven solid innings from Chen helps that. He could have work an eighth, but Ned Yost said after the game that he didn’t want to do that with just a one run lead and righties coming up.

Francisco Liriano‘s slider could have been registered as a weapon in the middle innings. During the fourth inning, Liriano struck out four batters, with Jeff Francoeur reaching on a slider in the dirt. All four strikeouts were swinging, including two bad at bats by Mike Moustakas and Hosmer.

The lone run of the game came after Eric Hosmer reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and scored on a Brayan Pena single that found a hole on the left side. The Royals could have added an insurance run in the eighth when Alex Gordon doubled with one out, but he was caught between second and third on a comebacker by Johnny Giavotella. Billy Butler singled on a looping line drive to center that surely could have scored Gordon with two outs (assuming Giavotella would have been thrown out at first rather than Gordon being caught trying to advance). It didn’t factor into the game, but it could have been a costly mistake. Gordon was picked off of first earlier in the game when he went on the first move by Liriano.

Felipe Paulino takes on Nick Blackburn tomorrow. Paulino has been solid in 2012 and we’ll hope he keeps it up in the last game of the series.

Oakland entered the game as losers of eight straight and the Royals opened up doing everything they could to make sure they lost the ninth. Alex Gordon walked and a newly-activated Yuniesky Betancourt doubled to right-center to drive him in. After a fly ball moved him to third and a bloop by Mike Moustakas drove him in, the Royals had given Paulino two runs to work with. The Royals recorded eight hits, with every batter except Jarrod Dyson contributing one.

That’s all it took.

Felipe Paulino rolled on Friday night. Photo: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

Despite some shakiness in the middle innings, Paulino was strong, striking out five and inducing eight ground outs. He also picked off two runners, catching Jemile Weeks taking off for third too soon and catching him with a throw to Moustakas and later picked off Yeonis Cespedes at first. The A’s only got three hits, including one on a comebacker to the mound that Paulino lost after it deflected off his glove.

Over 29,000 fans saw the Royals win their first game after an off day and just their sixth game at home.

The Royals bullpen took over for the final three innings, continuing a stretch of scoreless innings. The last run surrendered by a Royals reliever came off of Jose Mijares on May 28, a string of 11.2 scoreless from the bullpen. Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland and Jonathan Broxton finished things off, with each recording at least one strikeout. Holland allowed the only baserunner, walking Kurt Suzuki to lead off the eighth.

Broxton fought back from a 3-1 count to start the ninth against Josh Reddick, but came back to strike him out looking on a slider. He overmatched Cespedes, striking him out on on three straight swings on fastballs after starting him off with a ball. Kila Ka’aihue grounded out to short to end the game.

Paulino has a 1.70 ERA after 37 innings over six starts in 2012 with a 1.14 WHIP and 39 strikeouts. He’s given up runs in just two starts since coming off the disabled list and looks every bit like an ace of this pitching staff. He threw 94 pitches tonight and could have thrown more, but Ned Yost opted for the bullpen instead of sending him out again.

Tomorrow’s game starts at 1:10 p.m. with the Royals only a game behind Detroit and could end up in third place by the end of Saturday. Brandon McCarthy should be activated tomorrow to start for Oakland and Luke Hochevar will try to keep Oakland’s offense from waking up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

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

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

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

Butler raised his season OPS to over .900, but what’s better is the 11 homeruns and we’re not through the month of May just yet. The power, which fans have always (wrongfully) used against Butler to tear down his offensive credibility, is starting to show. His season pace of 39 homeruns is probably unlikely, but it’s still nonetheless encouraging that the “professional hitter” is professionally slugging as well.

Not to be outdone in the victory was the outstanding work of the Kansas City bullpen after Luke Hochevar failed to make it through the fifth inning.

The Royals bullpen has been abused all year. Called upon to throw the most innings in baseball so far (and 12 more innings than the next closest team) it’s a wonder how the group can be as consistent as it has been.

Despite a worrisome 3.69 BB/9, the bullpen’s 3.28 ERA is tenth best in the Major Leagues, and when you consider how many innings they’ve thrown without ever having the benefit of a night off, that’s pretty impressive.

The star of the group? Tim Collins.

After battling control issues last year Collins has rebounded to start 2012 with 34 strikeouts in his first 22 1/3 innings, and he hasn’t allowed a run in his last 7 outings.

Jonathan Broxton earned save number 10, improving his trade value just a little bit more.

With the win the Royals improve to 19-27 on the season and pull within 6 ½ games of first place Cleveland, who just happens to be next on the schedule. It’s a dangerous dream to dream, but a good showing against Cleveland and then struggling Minnesota, and the Royals can start to make some noise in the standings.

Bruce Chen will look to snap the Royals two-game losing streak in the series opener at Baltimore. Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

When these teams met last Wednesday and Thursday at Kauffman Stadium, it was KC who was the hotter team having gone 4-1 on a roadtrip on the southside of Chicago and Arlington. Baltimore has been one of the early surprises of the season leading the AL East.

In the quick two-game series, Kansas City jumped out to the lead with the end result being Baltimore coming back late to earn the sweep. Game one went 15-innings which was highlighted in many Royals fans minds of Jonathan Broxton blowing his second save of the season and Nate Adcock surrendering a 15^th inning bomb to Adam Jones in the 4-3 Orioles win.

Game two again KC built an early lead with Humberto Quintero and Johnny Giavotella driving in the runs putting the Royals up 3-0 in the third. The O’s got two back in the next inning with Jones again hitting a homer this time of the two-run variety. Luke Hochevar who pitched well ran into trouble in the seventh inning after back-to-back singles (highlighted by Jarrod Dyson misplaying what should’ve been only a single).

J.J. Hardy who tied the game for Balitmore in game one, again came up with the big hit putting the birds in front for good. Aaron Crow who has been good in relief was unable to help Hochevar out walking Lois Esposito and Xavier Avery back-to-back loading the bases which culminated with Hardy’s hit.

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

Friday, 6:05 pm – Bruce Chen (3-4, 4.17) v. Jason Hammel (5-1, 3.12)
- Chen, enters this start having won his last three starts beating the Red Sox, at Rangers and Diamondbacks. He’s reached the seventh inning in each of these starts and averaging five strikeouts and 1.3 walks in these starts. Another thing helping is KC is giving Bruce run support scoring 4.6 runs compared to just an average of two runs in his first six starts.
- Hammel, Has been great so far this season for the AL East leaders starting 5-1 with two no-decisions. He’s 2-0 with a ND in his last three starts beating Boston and Washington while not figuring into the loss against the Yankees. In his last two starts he went five and 5 1/3 innings allowing 6.5 hits in his last two starts and 4.5 runs.
Saturday, 3:05 pm – Felipe Paulino (2-1, 1.42) v. Wei-Yin Chen (4-1, 3.35)
- Paulino, So far in three of his four starts in 2012 he’s not allowed a run, the game he did at Chicago he did suffer his lone loss. Felipe went seven innings last week against Baltimore but the Royals bullpen was unable to hold onto the lead. In four starts Paulino is averaging seven strikeouts which includes nine against the O’s last Wednesday and eight in the Bronx on Monday.
- Chen, Suffered his first defeat at Washington 9-3 in his last start for the rookie out of Taiwan. The six-runs he allowed were a season high and nearly a third of the 22 runs allowed this season. He’s been getting 4.6 runs of support in each start.
Sunday, 12:35 pm – Luke Hochevar (3-5, 6.61) v. TBD
- Hochevar, Sure I and Royals fans have had fun at the former number one pick expense but let’s give him credit as of late. In Luke’s last three starts he’s made it into the seventh inning and seen his ERA go from an even nine to its current 6.61 form. Also encouraging has been his strikeout numbers in the last three starts increasing with 5, 6 and 8 in those games.
- TBD, For now we’ll have to wait and see who Buck Showalter goes to if that is activating someone from the DL or calling up someone from the minors.

Broxton has gotten the job done. (Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE)

When the Royals signed Jonathan Broxton this offseason, it was a point of both debate and indifference, as hard as that is to believe. They’re paying Broxton $4 million dollars for the season, and it initially seemed that they’d be handing over that money for Broxton to fill in as a setup man for Joakim Soria. Of course, we all know what happened next, and Broxton ended up in the closer role when Soria went out for Tommy John surgery. I don’t remember the general reaction to Broxton filling that role at the time, but I know I was concerned.

That concern was based on two things. The first is that Broxton had an injury-shortened 2011, and we didn’t know if he’d be ready to pitch well or, if he was ready, if he would pitch well anyway. He had a 5.68 ERA (4.67 xFIP) in 2011 and a 4.04 ERA (3.20 xFIP) in 2010, so I wasn’t sure how things would go. His ground ball percentage dropped in both those seasons , as did his strikeout rate, while his walk rate jumped up. It sure didn’t look positive from the outside.

Well, my questions weren’t answered off the bat in 2012. Broxton gave up a run in his first outing against the Angels, but still held on to the lead. In the game the following day, he struck out all three batters he faced. Things looked good and I started to feel a little better.

Then Broxton faced the Athletics on April 11.

In this game, the Royals went into extra innings with the A’s at three runs apiece. Not much happened for a couple innings, but the Royals managed to strike for a run in the top of the 12th inning when Eric Hosmer singled and Billy Butler doubled him in. So, Broxton came in to finish off the game, even though he’d been warming up in the bullpen for a few innings. Broxton struck out the first batter, the next reached on an error by Alcides Escobar, and Broxton came back by walking the next two batters to load the bases. After a groundout that scored the tying run (blowing the save), Broxton hit the next batter to reload the bases and ended the game by hitting Yoenis Cespedes to bring in the winning run. Talk about a painful ending.

I thought for sure we’d just witnessed a Kyle Farnsworth-like expression of Broxton’s contributions for the season. Suffice it to say I was a bit concerned. Since that game, however, Broxton has a 0.82 ERA, only having allowed one earned run. He’s still not striking out many, as he’s seen his strikeout rate drop to the lowest in his career. But for the season, Broxton’s walk rate is his lowest since 2007. He’s stranded baserunners at his highest rate since 2006. And his groundball percentage is on par with his stellar 2009 campaign. All of this has happened with a roughly average and reasonable BABIP of .275 on the season, or 2.81 since that April 11 game.

Some of this, however, seems to be with an assist from the Royals defense. Broxton has a xFIP of 3.98 to this point in the season. He relies on a fastball, slider, and changeup, with all three maintaining almost the same rates this year as previous seasons, though he does seem to use his slider a bit more lately than he did in previous seasons. And all of his pitches have roughly the same velocity that they have had, though PITCHF/X seems to suggest his changeup is flying at about 91 mph, which seems odd. Anyway, things seem to be on pace for his career.

So, why the success so far? Well, part of it is the fielding, as Broxton’s xFIP demonstrates. Another thing to note is that the contact percentage on Broxton’s pitches is up to about 90%, which is well above his career average and is, you guessed it, not a good thing. We hear about the pitching to contact mentality that some teams, pitchers, and pitching coaches claim to like, but at some point that contact will lead to hits and runs. Broxton’s just been able to drive the ball down or otherwise induce enough groundballs to keep runners off the basepaths. As long as that continues, he should be in a good place for the team in the future.

With all of that in mind, this isn’t really the rejuvenation of Jonathan Broxton. It’s his reformation. This isn’t classic Broxton, who was a power pitcher that aimed to strikeout guys rather than induce grounders. He still has the same arsenal, but perhaps isn’t spotting the ball like he used to. If he can continue to keep a groundball-to-flyball ratio of about two or its current 2.50, then the Royals should be able to get good results out of Broxton for the season. If that starts to head south, well, it could get interesting. I’ll just say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my slow increase in trust in Broxton’s ability to pitch well. Let’s hope it keeps up this way.

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 follow Gage on Twitter.

The Royalman Report - logo by @AHairOffSquare

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

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

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

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

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

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

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Jonathan Broxton has big shoes to fill. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-US PRESSWIRE

Broxton’s signing this winter was first seen as a way to build a dynamic bullpen with the former All Star in the mix. Perhaps he could return to form as a successful reliever after a year and a half of injury and ineffectiveness. Now, he’s thrown right back into the key spot in the back of a bullpen.

It’s been said a few times, but the bullpen was one area where the Royals were deeper than many teams, so many other players could have stepped into Soria’s role.

Yost said that Broxton’s previous experience is what won him the role. As a Dodger, Broxton had 32 holds in 2008 before taking over as closer. In 2009, he saved 36 of 42 games and struck out 12.5 batters per nine innings in the two years. In 2010, he started the year with a 0.83 ERA through 32.2 innings and had a 48/5 K/BB ratio. On June 27, he threw 48 pitches in an appearance, giving up four runs in one inning. Over the next 29.2 innings pitched including that outing, he had a 7.58 ERA with five blown saves in 11 chances and a 25/23 K/BB ratio. Many blamed Dodgers manager Joe Torre for overuse and he missed most of 2011 with a sore elbow.

Yost says he’s healthy enough to close on consecutive days, though.

Greg Holland is probably going to see some closing opportunities if Broxton can’t go on a given day.

There are a few things at work here, including a reliance to stick with someone who has “closer experience”. Broxton also isn’t likely to see a lot of outings that take him beyond one inning, so that makes it easier for Yost to put him at the back of the bullpen. Holland is also free to come in for appearances to get the last out or two in an inning and stay in for the next one, which should get him more innings, which is favorable since he’s the best reliever on the team now.

Broxton struck out 11 in eight innings of work during spring games, giving up one earned run. On a few occasions he was hitting the upper 90s with his fastball. If he falters, Holland is right there to step in and Kelvin Herrera, who made the cut, or Aaron Crow could get a look as well.

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Luke Hochevar was a force on Friday. Can he keep the trend going? Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-US PRESSWIRE

The Dodgers drafted Luke Hochevar twice and showings like Friday’s six shutout innings can tell you why. Hochevar struck out eight batters, walked none and gave up just three hits while the bullpen held a two run lead.

The trio of Jonathan Broxton, Louis Coleman and Kelvin Herrera kept the Dodgers split squad off the board in the last three innings. Altogether, the Royals pitchers struck out eleven and allowed five baserunners. Herrera pitched the ninth for a save. Broxton had two strikeouts in a 12 pitch inning. Both Broxton and Herrera are in the mix for the closer’s spot after Joakim Soria is opting for Tommy John surgery, and more outings like today’s should make Broxton a heavy favorite.

The Royals scored first in the second inning after a Mike Moustakas double was followed by newcomer Jason Bourgeois‘s single up the middle. That run held up but they added another run in the seventh after Eric Hosmer stretched a single into a double, moved to third and scored on a sacrifice fly. He also played in right field, an experiment by Ned Yost to get him some innings in the outfield in case they want to get Billy Butler in an interleague lineup at first while still getting Hosmer in the order. He had one play in right, a foul out down the line.

Of all the players on the field, though, Luke Hochevar stood out. After a solid 2011 second half, he’s so far carried it over to his spring performance. Through 14 innings, he has 15 strikeouts and only one walk. Granted, it’s only spring training, but he’s performing. He induced six ground outs as well. Trey Hillman, acting as manager for Don Mattingly (who was with the other squad), told Joel Goldberg that he had “really impressive command and control” noting that his slider has become more effective.

Hochevar’s slider can be among the best pitches in the league – yes, the league – if he can get it working. But he’s shown flashes of greatness before. He’s shown stretches of consistency before. It’s time for him to do so without falling apart in one start. He’s in line to make his second consecutive opening day start. While the rest of the potential starters waver, he’s the most stable. Will it hold up?

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. 

Joakim Soria has been the key member of the Royals bullpen since Octavio Dotel was traded away back in 2007. Since, he’s been an All-Star twice and looked like the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera as the never-wavering elite closer in the game.

His elbow, of course, has other ideas.

Before the worst news was reported, Robert Ford discussed the impact of a Soria injury and how it relates to the construction of the Royals bullpen:

Modern-day bullpens are built backward, from the closer on out, and having instability at the closer’s spot can be a recipe for disaster. If Soria has to miss significant time, the Royals may be able to weather the absence of their closer better than most.

Following the now-standard model of bullpen construction, the Royals need to determine who their closer is going to be to open the season.

Closer Candidates (unscientific estimated likelihood, or, a guess if you will)

Jonathan Broxton (50%): Broxton was, at one point, an elite set up man who inherited the closer’s role with the Dodgers, then had an All-Star 2009 where he struck out better than 13 batters per nine innings and limited teams to less than one baserunner per inning. In 2010, he ran into arm troubles and his performance suffered into last year. His velocity and strikeouts dropped while batters hit him harder, walked more and put up a 5.68 ERA against him. He looked sharp in one spring outing, but in Tuesday’s game, he gave up a few hits and committed an error. My guess is that Ned Yost will cite his “experience as a closer” as a means to setting him up in that role.

Aaron Crow (20%): The Royals officially announced what most everyone knew was going to happen anyway, that Aaron Crow would move back to the bullpen after a half-hearted look at him as a rotation candidate. That’s not so much Crow’s fault, as most of his seven innings have been strong and he’s been striking people out. On Tuesday, he used six pitches to strike out the first two Angels he faced. When Soria struggled last year as the closer, Crow took over the role (technically) though he never ran into a save opportunity while Soria settled down. When called into tight spots in other contexts, though, Crow usually showed the ability to come in and get the out.

He has the typical fastball/slider combination that many late-inning relievers have and both pitches can be strong when he has them going well. He’s prone to a little inconsistency and had bad platoon splits. Right-handers put up a .537 OPS against him. Lefties? .919.

Greg Holland has the stuff, but does he get the opportunity to close? Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Greg Holland (20%): There’s a great bit of research over at ESPN about Holland’s slider and his potential as a closer. Unlike Crow, the pitch gives him the opportunity to manhandle left-handed batters who mustered only a .522 OPS against him. Righties were at .519.

He definitely has the stuff to close. At times, it’s downright filthy (hence my continued efforts to call the North Carolina native “Dirty South”). Holland strikes batters out, he was more efficient with his pitches in 2011 than after his 2010 debut, and reaching less three ball counts allowed him to avoid  walks.

The best stat to make his case as the closer is this one: Holland inherited 33 runners last year. Two scored.

So far this spring, he has seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings and no walks. He’s a favorite of the Twitter crowd to snag the closer’s role and with good reason. If the Royals take a progressive approach though, they may use him more like an old school fireman to relieve whenever a threat pops up. If he’s truly the Royals best reliever, his value is best realized in those moments that matter, and not a three run game that most other Royals relievers could close out.

Kelvin Herrera (9%): Herrera is often cited as having “closer stuff”, which is a simple way to say that he has an upper-90s fastball and strong secondary pitches. Against the Dodgers this spring, he struck out four in two innings, using his fastball, a curveball and his changeup to put batters away. With Soria’s injury, he’s more likely to make the team, whereas before he might have ended up in Omaha and been the first pitcher recalled. With many other options, Herrera isn’t likely to be put into the role, but if he pitches well and others struggle, he has his chance to succeed in the role.

The Field (1%): I suppose it’s possible that Louis Coleman or Blake Wood (assuming his elbow soreness isn’t an issue) could get a look if there are concerns or other issues that press them into service. Jeremy Jeffress has shown better control and still has the heat that made him one of the Brewers top prospects. These are longshots to close, but they’ll have a role in Kansas City’s bullpen throughout the year.

The Royals were fortunate to have the depth to handle the potential loss of Soria, so they don’t have to scramble to find someone to close. The arms are there and they can be utilized almost at will. Since most of the bullpen is so young, they have options and can be shuttled to and from Omaha if someone starts to slow from fatigue. Say Jeffress is pitching well in Omaha and Coleman has thrown more innings than were planned. The Royals can swap them out and get a less taxed arm up from the minors for a short stretch then swap them back out if they want to.

Lefties Everett Teaford, Tim Collins, Jose Mijares and Tommy Hottovy can eat up innings as well, depending on which ones make the team (Collins, at 1.50, has the worst ERA of the four, which is a great place to be if spring training stats translate to regular season performance somehow). One of Felipe Paulino or Luis Mendoza will probably be in the bullpen as a long reliever as well while the other is in the rotation.

Losing Soria isn’t the way the Royals would want to go, but they aren’t without options to fill his shoes. I would bet that Broxton will get the first look but if there are any struggles, Holland is the most likely long-term option to finish off games.

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can listen below or download the mp3 directly.

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

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It's going to take more than a good headshot for Aaron Crow to land a starting role in 2012. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Aaron Crow is one of many vying for a spot in the Royals rotation and Wednesday night he got a tryout. Starting against Kevin Millwood, Crow had a good first two innings but lost his control in the third and fourth innings, being replaced by Brandon Sisk in the fourth inning after a leadoff single by Ichiro Suzuki and a walk to Justin Smoak. Crow threw 48 pitches, half for strikes. Both Suzuki and Smoak scored after Crow left the game.

Jonathan Broxton worked a strong inning after Sisk, throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and hit 96 on his first of two strikeouts. He also induced a ground out from Ichiro where he barely beat him to the bag on a soft grounder to first.

Felipe Paulino came in trying to follow up on a strong spring debut but got hit hard and didn’t locate his pitches at all. He gave up four runs and benefited from an out on the base paths when Stefen Romero tried to stretch a double into a triple. He calmed down in the second inning and had an easy third inning of work, but he’s still got work to do to cement his spot  in the rotation. Paulino was grooving his fastball in at 94-96 mph and hit 97 on a few.

The Royals didn’t make a lot of noise with the bats as they only managed five hits, though two hard hit balls were ruled errors. The only two Kansas City runs came in the seventh inning after a Jeff Francoeur bloop double down the right field line and  a shot by Irving Falu into right. Falu advanced to second on a chopper by Jarrod Dyson and scored on a Max Ramirez single up the middle.

As spring training games go, it was an uneventful night. Wil Myers struck out twice and didn’t look comfortable at the plate, but made two good plays in right field, first starting a relay to nail Romero at third, then snagging a tailing line drive by Vinnie Catricala.

If I’m to take anything away from this game it’s that Crow seemed to tire after three innings and didn’t do a lot to work himself out of trouble in the fourth. While he still has an outside chance at some starting work, he’s best suited for the bullpen where he can run through two innings with his fastball and slider. Once Paulino settled in, he didn’t get hit that hard, but he’d been hit enough in the sixth to put the team behind it. Jonathan Broxton looked strong and looked to trust his stuff and the Mariners couldn’t touch it.

Mike Moustakas missed his second game after getting hit in the knee against the Giants. He’s a good bet to get back in there tomorrow.

The Royals will face the Los Angeles Dodgers tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 CST.

Scorecard for 3/14/12:

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July 18, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Louis Coleman (46) delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the seventh inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

These numbers just aren’t working out. It’s frustrating me because no matter how bad some of the Royals pitching staff has been, I’d like to keep the ones who have potential. So many of them have potential, but there’s simply not enough room.

Ned Yost has indicated that he would like to carry 12 pitchers and four bench players into the season. That means five starters and seven relievers, but however I slice it, a potentially valuable commodity gets left out. Actually, more than one.

It’s an unusual feeling for Royals fans, to feel like we have too much talent for one roster. I made a comment the other day on Twitter that the 2012 Omaha Storm Chaser bullpen might be the second best bullpen in baseball.

Here’s how it breaks down. I believe the five holdovers from last year’s starting rotation will win their jobs back; that leaves seven spots in the bullpen. Joakim Soria, Jonathan Broxton, Greg Holland, and Jose Mijares are all pretty much locked in. That leaves three spots for Aaron Crow (who Yost has indicated will stay in the bullpen if he can’t make the rotation), Tim Collins, Louis Coleman, Luis Mendoza, Blake Wood, and Kelvin Herrera. The other candidates seemingly have no shot—and frankly, I don’t think Wood’s got much of a shot either.

Aaron Crow. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE

Six guys for three spots. Each guy brings something a little different to the table. Collins is another lefty. Crow has great strike out potential. Coleman’s a steady hand with good deception. Mendoza’s got versatility to throw multiple innings and start occasionally. Wood has the power sinker to get ground balls. And Herrera might have the best stuff of all of them. So, who gets left out? And more importantly, what are the ramifications of those decisions.

We have to assume at this point that Crow will get one of the remaining spots. Yost has essentially said as much. He was an All Star in the bullpen, and I think Yost doesn’t want to play with Crow’s confidence by sending him to AAA to work as a starter, which is what I think they should do. At some point, they will have to decide what they have in Crow and give him a chance to be that, whatever it is. If it’s a starter, they have to let him try to be a starter instead of shuffling him back and forth between roles.

Anyway, despite what one lowly, rotund blogger thinks, it looks like the Royals will give one of those bullpen spots to Crow. That leaves two. I’m pretty certain that Yost will want to carry more than one lefty in the pen. That means that as long as Collins isn’t terrible in the spring, he’ll get one of the spots. He was supposedly very effective in the intrasquad matchup, and people are raving about a mechanical adjustment that helped improved his command. We’ll see.

That leaves one spot for three talented pitchers … and Blake Wood (ZING!). Some are not as high on Mendoza as I am (if thinking a guy can excel in a swingman role is being “high” on him). I find value in a pitcher who can move between bullpen and rotation, throw some strikes, keep a team in a game, and who the team doesn’t have to worry about in terms of his future. The Royals can use Mendoza however they want. And he’s out of options, which along with his versatility, is the greatest point in his favor.

I have no answer for who gets the last spot. I don’t think it will be Wood or Herrera because Wood isn’t good enough and both have options. It comes down to Coleman or Mendoza. Coleman pitched very well last year. I like him a lot as a pitcher. But he can’t make a start if the Royals need him to, and he probably can’t take over in the third inning and bridge the gap to the rest of the bullpen with three or four innings of work.

On the flip side, Mendoza isn’t as proven as Coleman. Michael Engel wrote a very scathing critique of Mendoza that pointed out his greatest flaw: he doesn’t strike out many hitters. Consequently, his numbers from AAA look a little deceiving. Coleman, on the other hand does strike guys out.

Ultimately, performance in the spring might decide this conundrum. But if all considered pitch well enough, the Royals have to ask themselves some tough questions. If they choose Coleman over Mendoza, who fills the long relief role? It could be no one, but that might wear out the bullpen quickly. It could be Crow. But he’s never filled that role before, and they have his future to consider.  Also, he spent the last half-season being pretty ineffective. If they choose Coleman over Mendoza, they probably lose Mendoza to the waiver wire.

If they choose Mendoza, they will gamble that he can sustain his performance from last season without the benefit of high strike out numbers.* It’s a pretty risky gamble, made slightly better by the Royals’ good defense. Note please that one of the criticisms of Mendoza is that he won’t be able to maintain his low BABIP from 2011, .268. By contrast, Coleman’s was .246. In fact, looking a little closer at the numbers makes Coleman’s season from last year look a little less shiny (4.30 FIP, 3.92 BB/9, 1.36 HR/9), just like Mendoza.

*I wrote this before Sunday’s game in which Mendoza and Herrera pitched very well.

I’m so torn about this decision, and I don’t even have to make it. Luckily, spring performance should help decide. But I’m going to do the ballsy thing and give my thoughts right now, before seeing a pitch.* If I had the choice to make, and I had to make it right now, I’m taking Mendoza. I think having someone to fill the swingman role is important with such a suspect rotation, and keeping Mendoza gives the Royals the chance to have both pitchers if they need them moving forward—say if Broxton gets traded midseason or someone gets hurt. If Mendoza is ineffective, they can cut him and bring Coleman up without too much damage being done.

*Again, I wrote this before Sunday’s game. Though it wasn’t on television so technically I still haven’t seen a pitch.

Feel free to openly criticize that decision and let me know who you would keep and why.

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.

Or follow me on Twitter @MarcusMeade

I’m sure I speak for all Kansas City Royals fans when I ask that you consider this young and upcoming team this year. I respect that you currently do not like the offers that you have received by other clubs at this time and will sit out until something to your liking comes your way.

Roy Oswalt announced he'll wait on signing with a team on Thursday hopefully this helps KC's chances Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

 At this stage of your career it’s hard to fault you for wanting to chase a championship having fallen short in previous attempts with the Houston Astros and most recently the Philadelphia Phillies. Sure the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals are built to win now with their current rosters, but anything can happen in the game of baseball as you well know.

The Red Sox, Rangers and Cardinals are solid options for someone in your current position, but why not the Royals? I don’t need to remind you that since 1985 the club has had minimal success, however, have you seen the parts of this roster?  Your spot in the pitching rotation is assured and you could have any of the first three spots that you desire.

I think you’d fit in well with Luke Hochevar, Bruce Chen, Jonathan Sanchez and Felipe Paulino who currently project to be the team’s first four starters. You’re known for working deep into ballgames, but should the need arise, how about this bullpen bridge that can get you the win with Greg Holland, Jonathan Broxton and all-star closer Joakim Soria to nail it down?

Since you’re coming from the National League I’m sure you’ve got some concerns about run support and how the Royals lineup could help you out in that regard. Let me introduce you to the team’s starting lineup: Alex Gordon in left, Johnny Giavotella at second, Billy Butler at DH, Eric Hosmer at first, Jeff Francoeur in right, Mike Moustakas at third, Salvador Perez behind the plate, Lorenzo Cain in center, and Alcides Escobar at short.  That’ll be up to Ned Yost and not myself, but it gives you an idea of what to expect.

Sure you may think that fans aren’t passionate in the Kansas City market with all the losing that takes place, but after last season we cannot wait to kick off 2012. Also we’ve got a little event coming in July know as the All-Star Game, which hasn’t been in town since the 1973 season. So, these are a handful of considerations for you and for a one or two-year contract that you might be seeking.

Let me also point out that Kauffman Stadium is very pitcher-friendly with its dimensions. In addition, road trips to Comerica Park in Detroit and Target Field in Minneapolis are on the schedule multiple times within the division. We also feel that with you on board it would counter the Tigers lineup and help KC contend in the division or the wildcard.

I hope that you have all the necessary information that you may need in considering Kansas City for your 2012 pitching destination. The fan base would really enjoy having you on this staff as the team tries to change the culture.

Sincerely,

Royals fans

Expect to keep seeing this quite a bit in 2012. (Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

I’m going to repeat this once more (and for the last time), so if you’ve seen it before, skip ahead. Dayton Moore and the Royals have been busy this offseason. Not busy looking for starting pitchers and not busy looking for new bats. They’ve been busy finding the pieces to finish up their killer bullpen.

But really, there weren’t a lot of moves to be made. The Royals bullpen only increased by two members, as Jonathan Broxton became the new, well, whatever role he’ll supposedly fill and Jose Mijares became lefty insurance. There were lots of rumors about using the Broxton addition to move Joakim Soria and leave Greg Holland to closing, but that’s all in the past. Right now, we’re barely different than last year’s team. Let’s just get a quick recap of where that team stood in several categories with regards to the rest of the American League:

Runs Allowed Per Game: 11th (4.70)
Wins in Relief: 3rd (26)
Losses in Relief: 13th (26)
Save Percentage: 10th (63%)
Holds: 10th (58)
Inherited Runners Scored Percentage: 2nd (25%)
Games Pitched on Zero Days Rest: 2nd lowest (56)
Average Outs Recorded Per Outing: 1st (3.6)

If you have any questions about those rankings, throw them out in the comments. All I know is this paints a very muddled picture. Was the bullpen good or bad? Was it good or bad as a result of how rough the rotation was? Can we really blame the bullpen when they had quite a bit of work over the course of the year due to that rotation?

What it seems like to me is that they did a respectable job with the hand they were dealt. Manager Ned Yost didn’t overwork them too badly, though the consecutive days stat could be biased a bit toward one or two pitchers. I had no idea that they had done so well with inherited runners, but the fact that they allowed that many runs, compiled that many losses, and blew that many saves makes me reconsider my acclaim at their success. Of course, as the season wore on, young arms got tired and handing the ball to the bullpen became less of a sure thing. Nonetheless, how can we think about this bullpen going into 2012? Are they truly killers?

Well, I pulled out three projection systems for 10 pitchers that could (or should) be a part of the 2012 bullpen. I’ll use ZiPS, Bill James, and RotoChamp to get three different perspectives. And I’ll try to show them in a way that’s not totally confusing, using their 2010 and 2011 lines alongside their projections to get an idea of what we’re seeing.

Let’s start with Joakim Soria because, well, who else do you start with when you think of the Royals’ bullpen?

For the most part, projections show a return to form from 2011 and more of what we expect from Soria. And I see no reason to debate that, as he’s shown us he can stick in there when healthy, so let’s leave it at that. Soria is a stable player for the bullpen.

We’ll turn to Jonathan Broxton next.

Broxton’s going to be an interesting one to watch. After being nails for the Dodgers earlier in his career, he started to falter the last couple, including a bruised elbow that sidelined him for most of 2011. Between that and the move to the AL, it’s hard to get a read on how he’ll perform. All signs point to him being healthy for 2012 and ready to pitch for the Royals, however. And all three projection systems show that in their analysis. While they’re more bullish on Broxton than I am (or than I expected them to be), I think we can expect solid numbers from Broxton. And if he can pitch consistently throughout the season, he could be a crucial piece for close games in late innings.

Greg Holland

Everyone expects a little regression from Holland’s ridiculously good 2011 campaign. His BABIP last season was .250, which is plenty low and offsets the 3.77 he found himself with in 2010. Settling at a midpoint seems like a good idea, and that’s what the projections have done. I expect Holland to sit closer to the RotoChamp projection than the others, however, even though their hits/9 is a little low. Holland will still be a crucial piece of the bullpen, but maybe not quite as amazing as he was last season. The battle between him, Coleman, and Broxton for the “set-up role” will be one that could go all season if Holland doesn’t end up replacing Soria as the closer should Soria get injured.*

*Knock on wood. Every piece of wood. Even Blake Wood.

Blake Wood

I’ll be honest and say that I have no idea what to expect from Wood. He was extremely frustrating to see pitch at times, but surprisingly productive at other times. And I guess that just means we should expect something similar to last year. Every projection system shows some amount of regression, but I’d expect Wood to sit around an ERA of 4 and to be neither great nor horrible, providing solid relief when you least expect it and poor relief when you need outs. This all leans on him making the roster, of course, but he should be a likely candidate unless he spoils it for himself in Spring Training.

Louis Coleman

Coleman was the guy that always made me think he was right there the whole time, just about ready to break free, but restrained by his high home run numbers. He still had an amazing season considering he missed almost a month of the season and will be another important piece of the bullpen in 2012. I would guess he can take a step forward on those home runs numbers while staying roughly constant in every other way. Bill James’ projection seems to be the closest for me, showing exactly that. With a step forward in the home run area for Coleman, the back four righties of the bullpen (Soria, Broxton, Holland, and Coleman) should be a formidable set for opposing lineups to face as they try to rally.

Aaron Crow

For whatever reason, Bill James didn’t project Crow, but it doesn’t matter. I see Crow regressing a bit, sticking closer to his late-season numbers than his initial ones, but he can still be an important part of the bullpen. We have some projection issues here, as RotoChamp saw Crow as a starter, but the numbers are similar nonetheless. I think the ZiPS projection is a bit bearish, but Crow should maintain his strikeouts and potentially his walks as well, staying roughly in the same point as he was last year. Like Coleman, if Crow can cut his home run numbers a bit, he’ll make it into that upper tier of relievers. But he’ll still be a useful arm nonetheless. And if they’re thinking about trying him as a starter, he could become a middle relief sort of guy, as Wood might be the only other useful righty candidate for such a role. The prognosis? Still useful, but maybe less of the early Crow and more of the later Crow.

Kelvin Herrera

I’m really intrigued by Herrera’s chances, as he could either go the Jeremy Jeffress route or he could stick as another strong righty reliever. If you’re counting at home, that would mean the Royals would have seven average-to-great righty relievers in their bullpen, so I don’t know if we can count on them all making it. But Herrera has shown strong numbers in the minors, flashing a 1.60 ERA in 2011 across high-A, AA, and AAA before getting a September call-up to Kansas City. He usually strikes out about 9/9 IP, and while that should continue this year, I expect closer to 8/9 IP. Like Wood, Herrera’s case probably hinges on his Spring Training performance, but his existence alone exhibits why the Royals have a good reason to rely on their deep, deep bullpen.

And on to the lefties.

Tim Collins

Collins will be another interesting one, as he seemed to be fatigued by the time the season ended. He pitched in 68 games, eight more than Soria and 11 more than Crow, which likely contributed to that fatigue. And Yost seemed to be content with (over)using Collins no matter his fatigue. Collins has some legitimate competition in Jose Mijares this Spring Training, with Everett Teaford also available, so the team won’t have to rely on him quite as much. Still, more competition is better than less, and Collins will at least have to perform or be sent down, hopefully keeping the bullpen stocked with a capable left-handed reliever.

Jose Mijares

Mijares is a guy that I vouched for when the Royals signed him. It’s definitely good to try many options, and, as I said above, it gives a bit of insurance and competition for Collins. Mijares was a great reliever for the Twins a few years back, but his weight and other issues led to less use and less productivity as the seasons wore on until Minnesota dropped him this offseason. It’s a good flyer to take on a guy that could be a huge boost should he return to form. And if he doesn’t do that, no harm, no foul. Collins and Teaford, plus Mike Montgomery or other lefty prospects, could fill that role.

Everett Teaford

Teaford’s another guy that got some partial projections as a starter, but he should only exist as a spot starter and mostly as a lefty reliever option. He’ll also have to fight his way onto the roster, and he’s probably less likely to make the roster than Collins and maybe Mijares. I think Teaford was a bit lucky last season, but he’s got the ability to put in about what Bill James’ projection shows when the Royals need him. It’s just another sign of the depth this season.

What we can really take from this, as I’ve said before, is that the Royals have considerably more depth and insurance in their bullpen for 2012 than they did going into 2011. There are more players than can ably contribute when needed, and that should make it easier to keep the bullpen performing all year. As some prospects move forward, there should only be more options, allowing for extreme selectivity going forward. Even though Broxton’s contract is only a year, this all points to the team being prepared for a great bullpen for many, many years as they approach the start of their window of competition.

So, while the bullpen was a great point of strength in 2011, it should be as strong or stronger in 2012 given the number of options and the players’ performance in previous seasons. The projection systems are understandably mixed, but even with some of their lower projections, the bullpen will be solid for this season. Considering how they ranked in some categories last season, there’s room for improvement. And there should be improvement.

Of course, the wild card in all of this is new pitching coach Dave Eiland. He may change the pitching strategies of some younger players, and we’ll have to keep track of any changes in performance or style from 2011 to 2012. Just another thing to keep in mind.

Has Moore built a “killer bullpen” for 2012? Well, yes and no. He didn’t add much to build that bullpen. But it also didn’t need a ton of additions to become a killer. Broxton and Mijares should only add depth in two areas where competition and number of options will only help the team to stay in it throughout 2012. And with a rotation that’s questionable and difficult to project, having a strong bullpen with many potential members can only be a good thing.

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 follow Gage on Twitter.

The Royals had a much quieter week.

They weren’t completely uninvolved. On Wednesday night, they traded Yamaico Navarro for a pair of minor leaguers. Thursday morning they selected Cesar Cabral – then traded him to the Yankees for cash.

Now, they have an open spot on their 40 man roster, a little bit of cash and the same roster they had on Saturday night
before everybody in baseball converged on Dallas.
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While the Royals might not be very active, given that they’re not interested in spending in free agency and have a lot of the lineup set, there aren’t quite the rumors flying like last year’s meetings. Nonetheless, there is interest in Joakim Soria and Greg Holland, particularly from Toronto.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that the Royals are “downplaying” but would likely move Soria for a starting pitcher and would listen on Holland. The acquisition of Jonathan Broxton and collection of young arms in the bullpen make it easier for the Royals to trade either or both and have little lost in the effectiveness of the bullpen overall.

Rany Jazayerli feels a big trade brewing – he calls it Dayton Radar, or “Daydar”.

Greg Schaum of Pinetar Press thinks that David Lough and Clint Robinson will be traded this week and given an opportunity to play elsewhere. Can’t say that I disagree with that. Both are blocked by better players in the starting lineup or overshadowed by progressing prospects on their way up. He also thinks Jed Lowrie might be a fit, since the Red Sox seem to be shopping him.

Bob Dutton from the KC Star is in Dallas and will have a live chat today at 1 p.m., according to his Twitter feed.

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.

Joel Goldberg interviews Michael Engel on May 17, 2011 during a Royals broadcast. Chris Kamler (@fakenedyost) looks on during Blog to the K.

With the winter meetings approaching, Jonathan Broxton signing and the Frank , White situation, it’s been a wild week for the Royals.

We’ll cover all of that plus we’re pleased to have Fox Sports Kansas City’s Joel Goldberg in studio to talk about everything with us. Goldberg is the host of the Royals Live pregame and postgame shows on FSKC as well as the in-game reporter during Royals broadcasts. You can follow him on Twitter at @goldbergkc.

As always, we’ll have our chat room up during the broadcast for any questions and comments and whatever discussion arises. You can also call 1-816-394-9578 and leave a voicemail or join in during the broadcast

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.

Live video feed is after the jump:

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Drafted with the intent of someday being the shortstop of the future for the organization, Bianchi’s career could never fully get started as numerous injuries derailed any progress he was making, and took away his one real chance of making the majors two years ago.

In 2009 Bianchi batted .315 with a .356 on-base percentage over Single-A and Double-A, putting him in line for a possible spot on the big league roster entering the 2010 season, or at the very least a promotion to Triple-A and being the next in line to play shortstop. All of that was cut short when it was announced he would undergo Tommy John surgery, and miss the entire season (more…)

Let’s check out a few reactions first, then let’s join the crowds as we speculate on what comes next.

First, FanSided’s Joe Soriano at Call to the Pen wrote a piece about the move:

Clipped from: calltothepen.com (share this clip)

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Photo by Chris Williams/Icon SMI

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

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Then, the Soria we all have come to know seemed to come back.  The fastball was back into the 90s.  After a complete implosion against the White Sox and six walks to five strikeouts in April, though, his 4.63 ERA gave pause to really believing he had returned to form.

May started with little incident.  Sure there was a blown save in New York, but to that point, Soria had put together six straight appearances without an earned run.  Then two outings later, he blew another save.  Then, in the last week of May, he gave up a two-out walkoff homer to Adam Jones in Baltimore, then suffered painful loss at Texas that could have been avoided with the aid of a Brayan Pena tag – but the save would have still been blown.  The problems reached their peak after another walkoff blown save, this time at the hands of Royal-killer Torii Hunter.

Soria was shuffled out of the closer’s role with a 6.55 ERA.

In the three weeks since, he hasn’t given up a run.  Can we finally believe?

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