Ventura really fucked us over. Imagine how good he would be by now.

Ventura’s death is tragic and changed the course of the franchise quite a bit.

Yes it was and yes it did. That alone makes me feel a little guilty of criticizing this team so harshly. They had no idea that was going to happen and no way to plan a contingency if it were to.

And it could be worse, just look at the Marlins.

I miss that little bastard. Went through the Royals HOF and shed a tear at the Yordano display they had. Losing him the way we did definitely changed everything.

Cain injury in 2016 and Ventura death in 2017. 2 events that caused the Royals to miss the playoffs.

Soria too

I'd argue we could have handled Soria's performance if Davis doesn't get hurt in 2016.

It's completely possible that Wade's heavy workload in the 15 playoffs (including that crazy rain delay-rest in Game 6 against Toronto) caused his dead arm in 16' and if that's the case, it was worth it.

But, if Davis and Cain stay healthy, we likely are in the playoffs in 16. If Yordano's tragedy doesn't happen, there's a great chance we're back and kicking in 17' as well.

Just makes you appreciate the magic of 2015 that much more. Most teams (especially small markets) only get one shot at a run. We lost in Game 7, and came back and kicked ass to take it all the following year.

If Davis would have fallen off a cliff, the trade would be palpable. But he didn't. He might not be the dominating force he was in 13-16 pre injury, but he still was an All-Star last year.

I'd take him right now, weaker arm and all, over Soler. Chicago had many laughs at us over that trade.

The only thing that didn't sit well with me about that trade was that we were trading Davis when his value was significantly lower because of his injury in 2016.

Very true.

With the help of hindsight, we actually should have had the fire sale at the end of '16 when the returns would have been highest for all the major players. Woulda coulda.......

I don't even know. With Cain, Davis, and Moose all getting injured in 16', Hos having a down year, and Esky regressing on D, it's like some karmic force came in and leveled us out for the previous two seasons.

I think, honestly, the end of 15' was when we could have made a big trade. But I don't think any GM outside of Billy Beane would have had the cajones to pull that trigger.

Side note:

18 up, 18 down for 44 year old Bartolo Colon for the Rangers.

Fascinating stuff.

Heckuva pitching duel so far

21 out of 21 now.

Is this real life?

Perfect game gone as he walked a batter, but the other thing is still active.

Welp.

So much for that.

Heck an effort. Especially for a 44 year old who was throwing nothing but fastballs in the 80s for like 4 solid innings now.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Toronto Blue Jays are currently working with CN Tower and Toronto Police Service to assess the conditions around Rogers Centre and the viability of playing tonight’s game against the Kansas City Royals.<br> <br>We will continue to assess the situation and provide an update shortly.</p>&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/985920907637022720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">All afternoon the wind has been blowing heavy snow and ice off the roof of the <a href="https://twitter.com/RogersCentre?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RogersCentre</a> and it comes crashing down loudly. No warning signs and we’ve been nervous every time someone walks underneath. (Listen with sound on.) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/onstorm?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#onstorm</a> <a href="https://t.co/yp1YYfV43O">pic.twitter.com/yp1YYfV43O</a></p>&mdash; Josh McConnell (@joshmcconnell) <a href="https://twitter.com/joshmcconnell/status/985611896064638976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The dome is now equipped with a sun roof supposedly

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Double header tomorrow

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If things weren’t going bad enough, a huge chunk of ice flew off one of the Royals’ team buses and slammed into the windshield of the other last night. The shards hit the bus driver and reliever Blaine Boyer had to grab the wheel. The driver was OK. <a href="https://t.co/b1kdSxqDQG">pic.twitter.com/b1kdSxqDQG</a></p>&mdash; Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) <a href="https://twitter.com/rustindodd/status/985977324196716544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I’m just thankful that when Boyer simultaneously poured gasonline all over the driver, no one burst into flames.

I'm liking this "If the Royals don't play, they can't lose" schedule

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well this is awkward. <br><br>Blue Jays official account tweets that weather wont stop from them playing. A few hours later, ice falls from CN tower on to Rogers Centre roof, snow pours onto field. Blue Jays delete original tweet and post new one: <a href="https://t.co/8HivSSa65U">pic.twitter.com/8HivSSa65U</a></p>&mdash; Yoni (@OriginalYoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/OriginalYoni/status/985945253113925635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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So two losses

It's almost like baseball season starts too early

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ned Yost on the roof situation in Toronto: “If you come to a dome and get banged, something ain’t right.”</p>&mdash; Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) <a href="https://twitter.com/rustindodd/status/985979694725062656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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These cancelled games need to keep happening until Salvy is healthy again.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We won't lose tonight!

I'm all on board with losing as many as possible. Bring on a top 5 draft pick!

You know it's not going to be your year when the following happens:

- Your star catcher gets injured while picking up his luggage and is out for 4-6 weeks
- Your record for the first 10 games that were played, is a abysmal 3-10 with a run differential of -20
- Other than Moustakas and Duda, every offensive player OPS is below .700
- Team OPS is 27th out of 30 in the MLB with a sad .623
- Your 2nd team bus nearly gets impaled from a chunk of ice

Yeah, burn it down.

No, the balls aren't juiced. Why would you say that?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Unbelievable! ��<br><br>Bryce Harper crushes a broken bat home run over 400 feet! (via <a href="https://twitter.com/Nationals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nationals</a>) <a href="https://t.co/OCcvYeEKQW">pic.twitter.com/OCcvYeEKQW</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports (@FOXSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXSports/status/986032119624318977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Like we're rebuilding our team, they're going to need to rebuild that bat (and put it in the HoF)!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clay Buchholz has been assigned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Royals have been very impressed with his progress. He has a May 1 opt-out, FYI.</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/986257000081346562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Good bye Boyer and Grimm. Hello Nate Karns and Clay Buchholz. The bullpen is much better real quick.

Skoglund imploding already

Second inning, bases loaded, nobody out. Orlando at the plate.

First pitch swinging at an inside pitch, promptly grounds into double play. :facepalm:


This team is so bad . . . . .

That HR in the 1st sucked. But, Skoglund has only thrown 27 pitches to get through three innings. At this rate, he should go deep into the game.

It's the Top of 3rd, he's only gone 2 innings.

oops............

Moose Dong

Duda dong

Moose and Duda hammering mistakes . . . .

Royals wasting opportunities left and right

Yup. 1st and 3rd, nobody out, and come away with nothing.

This offense might be worse than the bullpen . . . . . .


Gonna be a long year.

Remember that one game that Skogland was really good?

And now the offensive no shows in the top of the 2nd and 5th with runners on comes back to bite them in the ass . . . .

And now Skoglund gonna Skoglund. At least he looked good in innings 2-4. That may make this the second-best start of his career.

Can we send Blaine Boyer to whatever hole in the ground we hid Brandon Maurer in?

Looks like Comcast mercy killed my MLB Extra Innings feed.

Blaine Boyer's a helluva bus driver in a pinch, but as a relief pitcher he always winds up in the ditch.

You should thank Comcast, they're doing you a favor.

It's now 11-3 Toronto lead . . . .

Yep, finally a well timed service failure.

Apparently only 2 of those Boyer runs were earned, so his ERA only goes to 25.20.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">blaine boyer has gotten 15 outs this year and given up 18 runs</p>&mdash; Ryan Landreth (@ryan_landreth) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryan_landreth/status/986354996928065536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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He's driving the bus alright . . . . .





















straight off the cliff.

I hope Boyer will be gone when Karns is activated.

For that last game, our 5-9 lineup's individual batting averages looked like this:

5: .231
6: .190
7: .118
8: .173
9: .188

In the American League, this is in-****ing excusable. Not to mention this is your lineup WITHOUT everyday starter and arguably the worst hitting outfielder in baseball Alex Gordon. The 5 through 9 batters in our lineup are basically providing NL pitcher's bats for each at-bat. Not only are you not going to win games with this type of shit, you're not going to score runs period. Even if you replace Almonte with Soler, you're still getting steaming dog shit.

If you're going to give us remedial AA level baseball, at least do it like the 2005 Royals did it. Go all in and suck. Trade everything except Salvy and let him be our Mike Sweeney so you can at least sell a few Hyvee seats. I'm looking forward to ESPN highlights at Kauffman Stadium where somebody hits a 440 foot homerun off of one of our pitiful relievers and it cuts to an opposing fan chasing the ball from 7 rows up due to no other seats being occupied.

This is going to be a loooooooooong rebuild. Buckle your seatbelts, Royals fans!

We made it through the 90’s and 2000’s with some of the worst baseball eyes have ever seen. 2014-2015 was the reward. I’m good for another 5-7.

Tank, get top 3 picks the next 3 years. Between that and our talent in the low minors now, we’ll be ready to roll come 2022.


Been a fan since 82 and a die hard since 87, so this will be a piece of cake.

I fully expect this team to contend ...































with the club's 19 game losing streak record.

The Royals added Scott Barlow to the roster for the double header ( 26th man ). They must now remove someone from the active roster. I hope they keep Barlow and get rid of Boyer. If they get rid of Boyer that would also open up a spot on the 40 man roster.

Here's an article from when the Royals signed Barlow;
https://www.royalsreview.com/2017/12...r-scott-barlow

I'd rather have Kurt Barlow than most of these guys.

I've never heard of half these guys, and the ones I do know are way past their prime.

Most of these guys never had a prime.

This guy here is dead.

I'm fine with getting top 3 picks, but "The draft is a crapshoot" excuse can't be accepted anymore. A lot of it is bad luck, but taking bums like Starling, Zimmer, Russell, Colon, etc. can't happen anymore. We HAVE to start hitting on picks or we're going to be stuck with shit teams for a long time. I'd argue that Moore has still never drafted a single true superstar talent in his tenure here. Moustakas and Hosmer have been good players, but neither is a top 20 type player. I'm happy with the success that we've had, but that was mostly a flash in the pan and not nearly the amount of sustainable success I would have liked. I think the current regime should be on the hot seat going forward.

Drafting good players is hard.

It's been exceptionally hard for us.......

You could say its been impossible.

I remember everyone, EVERYONE, hating the Colon pick. You don't have to be a good GM to know that pick was bizarre. Starling was toolsy, but that one had bust written all over it from day 1.

Bahahhahah

I agree. Need to hit on those Top 3 picks (at least 2 of them), like they did with Moose and Hoz. No, they never became ‘superstars’, but they became solid Top 50 players that were exactly what the Royals needed come playoff time.
They performed in the clutch. That’s what you need to win championships.

If they can hit on at least 2 Top 5 picks in the next 3 years, I feel like they’ll be in pretty good shape to be potentially contending come 2022, when you look at the talent that is in the low minors right now.

We’ll see, I guess . . . .

The worst part about that is, reportedly, they were going to pick Chris Sale instead, but some Royals people worried about him holding up as a starter Long term.

The current regime should absolutely face some pressure because of its draft record. Being about average in hitting on first round picks makes succeeding in Kansas City a tough proposition.

I think the 2010-2012 years were especially rough. Not much depth from those years.

Colon is a painful, painful miss considering Sale was their rumored preferred pick until about 15 min before the pick.

I think they’ve done much better in the past 2-3 drafts. 2013, they did a good job leveraging their draft position.

They have the most draft pool to spend this year, which should put KC in that more comfortable territory of pre-slotting... where they could give Wil Myers top 15 money in Round 3, or give Jake Junis second-round money in round 27.

They’ve done a great job in those types of setups in the past. Hopefully that continues.

They’ll have a top 10 pick next year almost certainly, which should mean another large pool.

And they have a nice complement of players at A and A+ in the minors. Add to that group with good drafts in 18 and 19, and you’re right back to where KC needs to be.

As far as drafting a superstar, that’s usually a matter of:

1) good draft position (its easy to get a superstar when you have 1 in a draft that has a legit superstar prospect or two or three).

Had the Royals lost one more game in 2008, they would have picked third and taken Manny Machado.

2) Luck (that prospect stays healthy and on track). Kyle Zimmer looked like an absolute superstar smash success ... until his body failed him.

3) good evaluation AND luck (identifying someone you can tweak slightly or project slightly and have them turn into a monster)

Bubba Starling and Mike Trout has nearly identical profiles coming into their drafts,
Though Starling was more highly regarded and had been a big success with the USA u18 team.

Getting Mike Trout in the middle of the First was luck. Knowing he has superstar tools was a matter of evaluation.

Rumor mill is swirling that expansion is on the horizon for MLB. Portland and Montreal are the lead cities for that. I've also heard that the A's are looking into moving to Nashville.

Couple of expansion franchises would have another influx of cash into the payroll.

But why though? The divisions are perfect as they are.

They really aren't perfect. 15 is a pain the ass to schedule. 16 in a league and you would have almost perfect scheduling. And for the Royals no more Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, Cleveland division either, hello California or Texas.

Expansion would further dilute the talent pool, of which, is already lacking.

That isn't true. The talent pool in baseball isn't lacking. The sport is very strong right now.

Would Montreal play in that shithole stadium again? It's kinda cool watching games played at that dump on tv