LOL at all the Eeyore, sad-sap "i can't criticize the Royals" cry-baby posts. Post what you want and then be an adult about it. Just don't expect people to enjoy dead horses getting beat up over and over.

Furthermore would like just ONE example of a small market team that both won the world series and was able to stay competitive and re-stock their system consistently from year to year as well. I would love the Royals to break that code. But until its been done, I have a hard time holding them to a standard I've never actually witnessed. St. Louis might be the only example I can think of...but in fan-base, I would consider them medium to large market, despite their city's size.

And to play off someone else's point above, even if we considered the Cardinals small market, they were truly one of luckiest teams in baseball during their recent runs. Nelson Cruz plays like a semi-capable right fielder and Texas wins that world series...not the Cardinals. Texas was the better team that year.

Chris Owings is batting 5th! LOL

Ned was just missing Chris Getz something terrible, so he went and found the next best thing.

OK, they're just trying too hard...

/Ned

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

That was just awesome base running technique right there

#weareroyally****ingstupid

What a bunch of clowns. Gore and Hamilton just got double played in a run down. First Gore is in a run down between 3rd and home. And then Hamilton's dumbass had ample time to get to his base, yet he still gets picked off right after that run down.

We'll be good at baserunning they said.

So far it would seem that Ned and GMDM have built a team that not very good at anything. Especially the bullpen.

This team is living proof that what you see in the cactus league is 101% not an indicator of how good a team is.

Wow, just wow... That was pretty stupid.

Bunt hit dynasty

8-1 Royals now.

You know, it PROBABLY won't matter, but taking Junis out after 5 and asking this bullpen to get 12 outs ... I'm not 100 percent comfortable with a 7-run lead.

Eh, now it's 9-1.

It's probably safe. Probably.

And this explains it anyway:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jakob Junis has a right hand contusion, the Royals report.</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1121134009805955072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sounds about right...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just want to thank Chris Owings and Brian Goodwin for perfectly illustrating how meaningless spring training stats are. <br><br>Fake games played in the desert:<br>Owings 1.129 OPS<br>Goodwin .443 OPS<br><br>Real, actual baseball games that count:<br>Owings .536 OPS<br>Goodwin 1.060 OPS</p>&mdash; Royals Review (@royalsreview) <a href="https://twitter.com/royalsreview/status/1121066716145037313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Meh. Nicky Lopez has more to do with Goodwin being cut than keeping Owings around IMO.

Tim Hill was sent down to make room for Danny Duffy, who starts Friday.

https://www.royalsreview.com/2019/4/...-april-25-2019

Hill > Boxberder

Man that A team in Wilmington is just stacked! The wave will hit in 2-3 years for sure. Don’t pay any attention to Pratto, Seuly Mattias, and Melendez off to .150 starts and tons of Ks. They are a “wave” I’ve been told. Gasparini (should be released) and Blake Perkins hitting the same, sad.

And people wonder why I don't want to draft high schoolers. Isbel is the only one in Wilmington hitting and he came here out of college. Guys we take out of high school almost universally don't develop. Hell we're lucky Mondesi seems to have developed finally because we haven't found anything in IFA in forever either. They blew their load on Matias and have been hamstrung signing anyone else since then.

Soler leisurely jogs to a pop up that drops fair

Stop me if you've heard this one...

Pujols just hit one into the fountains

Kelvin Gutierrez has a walk and a 2-run single it his first two Major League plate appearances.

$10 says he rides the pine tomorrow so Owings can get back in the lineup.

Ah, Billy Hamilton just left the game with "hamstring tightness." Ned almost managed to give Owings a whole night off, but alas.

Man how good does Dozier look. 2nd triple of the game.

Dozier is on fire

Dozier looks like a good keeper.

Yeah, he's been on fire as of late..

O'Hearn on the other hand...

Attendance is brutal.

Just watched the Omaha Storm Chasers on milb.com TV. They were down 9-0 and came all the way back to win 11-10.

I know Kelvin Gutierrez was brought up because Dozier is recovering back spasms. But, if Gutierrez does well, is it possible O'Hearn is sent to Omaha and Dozier is moved to 1st after he's healed? O'Hearn is not doing well at the plate. Maybe a trip to Omaha would give him a chance to figure it out.

Owings .163/.230/.283 slash. 34 wRC+. Plays every day. He’s just the new Alcodes. If he’s so much as on the roster after the ASB then Dayton has given up.


I’m ready for a GM and manager change. The system sucks too. Nothing is work g out for them now.

But they just had to keep him when Brian Goodwin could be playing here.

O'Hearn's exit velocity and % hard hit is actually quite good. He's got an unbelievable number of line outs. Even though his OPS is not much different from Chris Owings, his at bats are.

I like O'Hearn. But, he's 0 - 15 against LHP. He's batting .215 against RHP. Since Pratto is the 1st baseman of the future, I wouldn't let O'Hearn bat against LHP. Get his stats up so he can be dealt when Pratto is ready.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Royals’ attendance is down 13 percent compared to this point last year, but even during a 9-19 start, local television ratings are up 20 percent: <a href="https://t.co/2yafji0MS7">https://t.co/2yafji0MS7</a></p>&mdash; Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) <a href="https://twitter.com/rustindodd/status/1122970719808315392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pratto, Melendez, and Matias are all hitting around .170 in A ball an striking out 1-2 times a game. It's hard to call any of them the future at any position.

Nick Pratto has a .488 ops so far in 78 abs. Zero home runs. 3 XBH.

Better hope for a nice close like he had to end last year.

The start at Wilmington for those guys is disappointing, but try to avoid reading a lot into Wilmington statistics. The Carolina league is an extremely pitcher-favoring league and Wilmington is one of the most extreme environments.

Eric Hosmer went .206/.280/.299 in his first taste of it. Moustakas was .250/.297/.421.

Wil Myers is really the only Royals position player who has put up great numbers there in his first go at it.

Khalil Lee’s initially not impressive 270/.402/.406 last year takes on a different light in comparison...

Attendance was up this weekend. 23k Friday, 18k Saturday, 21k Sunday.

Doesn't Michael Chavis's uncle or cousin post here? Guy is tearing it up.

When the bullpen isn't blowing leads, they're doing a good job of taking a close game late and making it a not close game.

11k tonite on dog day

11 out of last 12 to that poopy small market team


DM needs to start answering questions.

When Dozier is healthy, I'd release Duda, send O'Hearn to Omaha, and add Nicky Lopez to the 40 / 25 man roster. Move Merrifield to RF, Nicky to 2nd, Soler to DH, and Dozier to 1st. Owings would only play to pinch run or if someone is hurt. My lineup would be

Merrifield RF
Mondesi SS
Gordon LF
Dozier 1st
Lopez 2nd
Gutierrez 3rd
Soler DH
Maldonaldo C
Hamilton CF

11k sold, probably 7k in house by the way it looked on TV. I personally will always avoid going to the ballpark on dog day.

It’s May in KC and the baseball season is over. Things appear to be back to normal......

So ****ing depressing.

But hey, at least our guys don't watch porn. That makes up for years of shitty drafting and talent acquisition and development, right?

OPS of top hitting prospects in Royals Farm

Nick Pratto- .466 with a 33.3% k-rate
Khalil Lee- .699
MJ Melendez- .521 with a 42.3% k-rate LMAO
Seuly Matias- .733 with a 40.4% k-rate

ROFL

Brady Singer is striking out less than 8 guys per 9 in A ball as a 22 year old

10 year rebuild ROFL. Great drafting. Go Stros!

https://twitter.com/Shauncore/status...084834817?s=19

This has got to be a low for Wilmington and their offense. Being no hit through 8 innings.

Matias 0-3 3K
Melendez 0-2 2K
Hicklen 0-2 2K

Frederick pitchers have 13Ks this game

https://twitter.com/Shauncore/status...206727168?s=19

I half joked the other day about demoting players back to A-Ball if only to not kill them mentally having to hit <.200 for months at a time but man...

Melendez 42% K%
Matias 39% K%
Pratto 33% K%
Aracena 25% K%
Perkins 25% K%

9 players on that team who have 20+ PA have a K% >25%

The strikeout rates for the important guys at Wilmington are concerning. Key for those players’ development is becoming better at controlling the strike zone and cutting down Ks.

The overall offensive performances don’t concern me as much. That’s an extreme pitchers park in an extreme pitchers league.

Which makes what Isabel is doing there all the more impressive.

Even elite hitting prospects - Yordan Alvarez is one example if you want a non-Royals example - run into challenges in the Carolina League. Not all... but many.

Re: Singer, he has good overall numbers and is right at a K/IP. No real warning signs there. KC also has traditionally asked pitchers to deemphasize their best secondary pitch at A+ because of the jump in competition and the way the park favors pitchers. Not sure if they’re doing that with this crew or not yet.

But where do you draw the line? If Melendez was hitting .200 I'd excuse it to a bad league. But hitting .134 or whatever is current BA is just seems inexcusable.

And if you want to stop and discuss bright spots for a minute, Mondesi’s current pace is roughly:

.285/./315/.500
With 78 XBH and 40 SB
And 225 combined R + RBI

That’s basically right in line with what Lindor did at the same age. Slightly less OBP, + 25 SB.

That still concerns me, though Ive seen via twitter several comments about bad batted-ball luck for him and Matias (none of that chatter for Prato, though).

65 AB is not much of a sample.

It is if you're a mouth-breathing moron.

Multiply it by 4, since we are talking about 4 players here. 260 is surely a decent sample. He’s also discussing Ks which aren’t weather related, so if the moaning was over power or something it could be dismissed. But not Ks

Do you really expect a doubleheader scheduled less than 12 hours ago on the middle of the week to have anybody show up?

ROFL

You said that KC cared more about baseball than the Chiefs a few years ago....

apparently not.

You gotta admit, no matter the circumstances, that pic is pretty funny.

Hays KS wouldn’t do any worse than that. Also:




Jeff Passan

Twitter › JeffPassan
I know that it's a Wednesday afternoon during the school year in a city that doesn't draw well against a team that doesn't attract a road crowd. But I've never seen so few people at a major league game as the one just starting now between Kansas City and Tampa Bay

If you include the yellow coats, I think I can count about 100 people in that pic.

A twatter peanut gallery said “instead of doing starting lineups, the Royals announced the fans”

ROFL

“Annnnd in Sec 329, a retired janitor from GRRRRRANDVIEWW Missouri, Jake Smith” (golf claps)

Gore has officially become a liability on the base paths now (too)...

I-A-N

Man I hope Chris Owings plays the rest of the year. Ned and Dayton are legit ****ing reeruns.

#AlwaysRoyal

DFA Gore Duda Hamilton Owings

It was never going to be a big crowd but this is all a bit disingenuous. Today's game was supposed to be at 7 PM. They switched it to a doubleheader at noon with less than 24 hours notice. It's not like a bunch of people can take off work with that kind of notice, or would they for this team.

The K rates are concerning. Not sure who the 4th guy you’re including in there is but it doesn’t matter.

Like I said: the K rate is worrisome. Much more so than just stat-scouting the numbers.

Royals sweep the doubleheader. Rubber match for the season series tomorrow.

ESPN just had an amazing stat during the game they're showing tonight. Apparently AAA started using MLB baseballs this season. In April, all of AAA combined hit 400 more home runs than they did in April of last year. In case you needed any more evidence the ball is juiced.

:eek:

Gore
.400/429/.550

Stolen bases - 4
Caught stealing - 4
:facepalm:

I'm sure we all do this from time to time but just went back tonight and watched game 5 of the 2015 World Series and just got a rush of old feelings back. I still, to this day, can't believe I was able to witness the Royals win it all. Even watched the highlights of the 2014 Wild Card game and the 2015 Astros Game 4. So random but my God am in a good mood going to bed.

edit: I still miss the hell out of Yordano :(

I agree. I attended the Jax Shrimp game last Saturday night. They are the AA affiliate of the Marlins. My two girls each got a ball from he opposing team. One was an MLB ball and the other one was the MiLB ball. I thought that was odd.

Watching those highlights will never get old.

You plug Salvy into that lineup and it's fairly impressive. Too damn bad the pitching is horrendous.