The Royals

[_33]

This is just a young talented team still learning how to win. With that farm system and those draft picks, the pennants are gonna come.

I know the Royals have a good farm system, but given their track record over the last 2 decades, to say that the "pennants are gonna come" is, well . . . 

Big things are always "a year or two away" with the Royals.

Dax, think of a clever nickname for the Royals like you do with the Chiefs. Like how you call them the Cheaps or the Griefs. Royals might be harder though.

[felix rex]

The Foibles?

[bigwillie20]

This is just a young talented team still learning how to win. With that farm system and those draft picks, the pennants are gonna come.

I know the Royals have a good farm system, but given their track record over the last 2 decades, to say that the "pennants are gonna come" is, well . . . 

Big things are always "a year or two away" with the Royals.

Dax, think of a clever nickname for the Royals like you do with the Chiefs. Like how you call them the Cheaps or the Griefs. Royals might be harder though.

Turd Sandwiches comes to mind 

And I'm never gonna buy into this "we have good prospects just give it time" crap.  Been hearing that for 20 years 

[felix rex]

Guys. It's for real this time. It was in two magazines. 

[kso_FAN]

Guys. It's for real this time. It was in two magazines. 

ESPN and SI!

[jtksu]

It was also in USA Today and Baseball America.  There's no real doubt that the Royals have a ton of young talent.  The question is will they pony up to pay those guys down the road or will they trade them away like so many other talented players they farmed up recently.

[WillieWatanabe]

feel better about Soria after reading this...

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13719#84471

[AppleJack]

Hosmer is now batting .422

[WillieWatanabe]

Hosmer is now batting .422

just was looking at this. Crazy. It's gonna be impossible to keep him down there.

[jtksu]

Who's the kid (pitcher) that is absolutely dominating single A?  Think he's had 10+ Ks for like 3 games in a row?  Pretty sure he was part of the Great Greinke trade of '10?

[AppleJack]

Who's the kid (pitcher) that is absolutely dominating single A?  Think he's had 10+ Ks for like 3 games in a row?  Pretty sure he was part of the Great Greinke trade of '10?

Odorizzi. He is very legit. Duffy in Omaha  is lights out also.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Does anybody else think it's pretty strange to only be a half game back in the wildcard race at 15-13? I know it's pretty early in the season, but jfc. Usually the wildcard team has a better record than at least one division leader.

[WillieWatanabe]

Who's the kid (pitcher) that is absolutely dominating single A?  Think he's had 10+ Ks for like 3 games in a row?  Pretty sure he was part of the Great Greinke trade of '10?

Odorizzi. He is very legit. Duffy in Omaha  is lights out also.

Noel Arguelles is down there dominating too i think.

[WillieWatanabe]

Hosmer called up. 

[AppleJack]

Hosmer called up. 

 

eff yes.

[Dirty Sanchez]

 <---only Royals.




 

It's peanut butter jelly time!

[WillieWatanabe]

for the record, i'm not sure this is the best move. But whatevs...it's entertaining.

Also, both Eric Hosmer and Kila are trending. wow.

[AppleJack]

for the record, i'm not sure this is the best move. But whatevs...it's entertaining.

Also, both Eric Hosmer and Kila are trending. wow.

You hate Hosmer, just come out and say it.

[j-von]

for the record, i'm not sure this is the best move. But whatevs...it's entertaining.

Also, both Eric Hosmer and Kila are trending. wow.

You hate Hosmer, just come out and say it.

It's a good move if you only look at the talent upgrade over Kila, but unless he gets sent down for a while before the end of the season (unlikely) he will be eligible for arbitration a year sooner by not waiting until mid-June to bring him up.  I'm hoping they are planning to hand him a long term contract before arbitration starts (at the end of 2013) and maybe this good deed can save them some money later by keeping him happy.

I'm sure it was getting hard to find reasons to keep him down and I think he was really pushing to come up.

Either way I'm excited to watch tomorrow, might even make a trip up there.

[WillieWatanabe]

for the record, i'm not sure this is the best move. But whatevs...it's entertaining.

Also, both Eric Hosmer and Kila are trending. wow.

You hate Hosmer, just come out and say it.

nahh, i'm more of a Kila apologist. imo, I don't think the Royals can contend this year, and we haven't given Kila enough PA's. I hope they prove me wrong though.

I'm really excited about Hosmer though..

[jtksu]

I'm a big Kila guy.   Dude hasn't produced and Hosmer had.  That's baseball.  And yes, the Royals can contend this year.  Cleveland owns them but Cleveland isn't all that good. Hosmer is the future and dude deserves a shot.  Kila was the future like 4 yrs ago.

[Dirty Sanchez]

for the record, i'm not sure this is the best move. But whatevs...it's entertaining.

Also, both Eric Hosmer and Kila are trending. wow.

You hate Hosmer, just come out and say it.

nahh, i'm more of a Kila apologist. imo, I don't think the Royals can contend this year, and we haven't given Kila enough PA's. I hope they prove me wrong though.

I'm really excited about Hosmer though..

Pitchers have figured out you just don't throw Kila fastballs.  He swings away at breaking balls out of the zone.  He was really never a huge batting average guy in the minors.  Walked a lot and hit home runs was his game, which is a rare combo, but in the minors you can get away with doing things against pitchers that pitchers don't do at the major league level in terms of deception, pitch mixing, and control.

Hosmer pretty much forced their hand. A .439 hitter with some pop just can't be kept down on the farm.  I think they wouldn't have minded bringing him north out of spring training, but he wasn't on the 40-man and they didn't want him to be anything more than a super 2.

As it stands, the offense is improved.  The defense is improved. And the fans are getting excited.  I'm sure its no coincidence that they call him up today so they can play him tomorrow night on Buck Night/Fireworks Friday when you can expect to get a larger than average crowd.  There will be a huge walkup.  I know I'm considering heading over.

[WillieWatanabe]

I've been reading too much Royals Review. The writers there are pretty pessimistic...i'm afraid it's rubbed off on me. They made some good points about Kila. Hosmer definitely forced their hand.

[jtksu]

I have a buddy playing for the nats now.  Dude is making like 12 right now.  He's better at first than Kila is but now all that much.  Baseball is weird like that.

[nicname]

Does anybody else think it's pretty strange to only be a half game back in the wildcard race at 15-13? I know it's pretty early in the season, but jfc. Usually the wildcard team has a better record than at least one division leader.

It's early in the season and teams haven't had a chance to really seperate yet.  Still, and this is a couple days after your post, KC is tied for the wild-card lead with a .548 winning percentage.  That is 89-73 over 162 games which is pretty good.   If the season ended with the current percentages.

East: New York, 95-67
Cent: Cleveland, 113-49
West: Los Angeles, 91-71

Wildcard KC and Tampa Bay 89-73

Obviously Cleveland's current percentage is pretty much unattainable by even the best of teams.  I think the thing to think about is that often there is one weak division, and often times (usually in the east) there are two great teams stuck in the same division.  That isn't really the case yet this year, in fact the east may be so tough as to prevent any team from having a really gaudy record.   As far as weak divisions are concerned you could argue that the Central is weak, but that would only be because the traditional favorites are at the other end of the standings.  I also think that Minnesota will get it turned around and make a real push for the wildcard if not the division.