Kings of Kauffman » Mark Gubicza http://kingsofkauffman.com A Kansas City Royals Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Sun, 26 May 2013 03:45:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 The Cautionary Tale of the 1990 Royals http://kingsofkauffman.com/2011/12/17/the-cautionary-tale-of-the-1990-royals/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2011/12/17/the-cautionary-tale-of-the-1990-royals/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:13:16 +0000 Michael Engel http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=11314 If you were a Royals fan in 1989, things looked good.

George Brett, even at 36 years old and still injury-prone as ever, put up a 123 OPS+ (though, of course, nobody really knew what OPS+ was back in those dark ages). Bret Saberhagen was winning his second Cy Young Award before his 26th birthday. And they had a not-so-secret weapon in Bo Jackson.

The Royals finished 92-70, their third-best record in franchise history. They also finished second behind eventual World Series champions, the Oakland Athletics.

The 1989 Royals record would have won the AL East and only the Chicago Cubs (and the A’s) had a better record in the majors than Kansas City that year. With Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza (who had finished third in Cy Young voting in 1988 and was an All-Star two years in a row) and youngster Tom Gordon, fresh off of a second place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting, the Royals felt like they were a few pieces short of making a serious run to dethrone Oakland. They also had the underrated Danny Tartabull, a promising closer of the future in Jeff Montgomery, and a catcher with some pop in Mike Macfarlane.

They entered that winter feeling like they needed to make a big move and that doing so would put them over the top.

Enter: Mark Davis.

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]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2011/12/17/the-cautionary-tale-of-the-1990-royals/feed/ 10 Five People That I Would Like to See Replace Frank White http://kingsofkauffman.com/2011/12/10/five-people-that-i-would-like-to-see-replace-frank-white/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2011/12/10/five-people-that-i-would-like-to-see-replace-frank-white/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:33:48 +0000 http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=11575

I'll Take the Guy on the Left Please (Fox Sports Net)


With the recent news of Frank White being let go by the Royals and Fox Sports, I was trying to think about who might make a fitting replacement. Ryan Lefevbre’s last two broadcast partners have been Royal favorites. While the job of play-by-pay analyst is typically for the trained professional, the color commentator is best suited as a former player. This is an important hire, because there are a lot of people in Kansas City who are unhappy about Frank’s departure.

The Royals have made a couple of good offseason moves this year. This one won’t affect the win-loss record, but will be an important decision for the fans who watch the games. Here are my candidates:

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