Short of selling out what remains of a graduated and conscripted BFSITHOW, the Royals are pretty much what they are going to be from top to bottom. The problem is, the top is actually pretty bad, offensively speaking. "How bad is it?" you ask, the Pop-Tartâ„¢ crumbs tumbling from the corners of your mouth. Well, it is worse than last year. And last year was pretty brutal. In 2012, the Royals hit .265/.317/.40 ...

If anybody has an idea on what to do now, I'm all ears (or eyes, I guess). Last week, the Royals were 23-31, mired in a month-long stretch of absolutely abysmal baseball. They had tumbled all the way out of first place contention, through the moors of middle class and into the slums of the destitute and untouchable. They had won two of their last four games, and it felt like the bells of St. Mary's were rin ...

If there is a pluralist view of Dayton Moore's tenure at One Royal Way, it is that he was hired specifically on the pretense that he was good at player scouting and development. The ad majorum of us would speculate that he hasn't done a very good job at that, which makes the relevant question, then, "What exactly has he succeeded at?" But that's for another time. Taking a look back at the Dayton drafts is a ...

Last week, I wrote about the Royals vexing situation in a manner aptly described as an existential crisis. Over the last week, I decided to travel into the vast wasteland of baseball-lessness, a desert pilgrimage devoid of the Game, specifically of Royal blue. Tonight, that pilgrimage will draw to a close, as I attend the Royals game with a few local chums; a fitting end to a week without. First, the rules: ...

And just like that, it's gone. The Royals lost to the Houston Astros last night. Now I know how every other meandering .500 team felt when they lost to Kansas City from, say, 2004 to 2006. Pardon the single-line paragraphs. But this is all kind of coming in waves. I've been seated in front of my laptop for two hours, twiddling proverbial thumbs, re-reading the hopeful words that passed not two weeks ago. 17 ...

A lot was made about Dayton Moore's qualifications regarding scouting and player development when he was signed away from the Braves. And the situation he was inheriting was, to put it kindly, a mess. In 2007, at the beginning of his first full season, he was inheriting a club that had gone 62-100, closing out a string of three 100-loss seasons (and four in their last five). The farm system was essentially ...

The Royals are, what is generously referred to, as a "contact team", which is meant to imply two things: 1) they put the ball in play, and 2) they don't walk very much. The stats bear it out to a degree: they are currently 4th in the AL in batting average and 7th in on-base pct. Combined with their predilections of putting the ball in play (and much to my surprise), they also happen to be last in the Americ ...

There's a space somewhere, an equilibrium for a frame of mind that treats each instance or occurrence, regardless of its process, within a certain context of justification. When applied to a field, it should result in a Boolean return: true/false, right/wrong, win/loss. But the world doesn't work that way, in that no two instances of any singular event are created equal. It's foolhardy to believe in such in ...

Tonight, the Royals (10-7) travel to Comerica Park to square off against the Detroit Tigers (9-9) in what has shaped up to be the most important series of this young season. Taking two of three from the Tigers would keep the Royals in first place and would set them up very nicely for a ten-game home stand against the Indians, Rays (presumably pre-Myers), and the White Sox. Sweeping the Tigers would put good ...

Last week it was meh. Before the Blue Jays series it was pretty good, but then again winning streaks color our perceptions like lightning breaking across a storm front. Two games into this road trip and the Royals have scored three runs. They managed to split the series 1-1 with the Braves on account of Wade Davis proving that the Wil Myers trade was a good idea (am I right?). There was a conventional belie ...

The Royals managed to pull off a 3-2 victory on Sunday, keeping them above .500 and tied for first place in the AL Central. All of these are good things, particularly in the light of what awaits as they hit the road today for what appears to be a tough eight-game swing. As far as games in April goes, the road trip peering over the horizon is about as important as it gets. Atlanta Braves The East Coast swing ...

The Royals left the Windy City with dark clouds and question marks hanging over the offense, questions that were somewhat assuaged by scoring 25 runs in three games at Philadelphia. New concerns mounted, though, as the Royals bullpen (Greg Holland, specifically) coughed up one victory on Saturday and nearly let another one slip away Sunday after mounting a 9-4 lead. Consistent through the entire week that w ...

"Shut up and take it" sums up Ken Rosenthal's position on Jose Bautista's argumentative personality regarding Major League umpires, and it is that same mentality that coerces individuals to be silent about crimes perpetrated against them. To be fair, the difference between a ball being called a strike and a crime such as the one that occurred in Steubenville is so disparate it isn't even appropriate to cons ...

Opening Day has come and gone, culminating in the inflation and depression of hopes and spirits the nation over. Too much will be made of its importance, its effects lingering well into Wednesday as most teams sandwich in an off-day before heading back out to play tomorrow. Losing on Opening Day is the equivalent of stumbling out of the gate. It sets a bad precedent and fills the atmosphere with a draught o ...

The Royals are a mere six days away from beginning a season that, two weeks ago, seemed like it would never get here. But it has. Or, it will. Whatever. Here's a sneak peek at your projected Opening Day lineup: LF - Alex Gordon - A man among men. Coming off two of the best seasons in Royals history, Gordon looks to lead the charge yet again. The organization rightly decided to keep well enough alone, and as ...

Last Wednesday, The Royals announced that they were shifting Luke Hochevar away from the starting rotation and into a role within an already-crowded bullpen. And although we should consider this move as the organization's recognition that Hochevar will never be what they have hoped upon, the proper move would be to simply cut ties and release him. This winter, the Royals signed Hochevar for $4.56 million, a ...

We (America. Or, south of the 36th, "Amurrica") invented the World Baseball Classic. We host it. But God help us if we don't really want to be there. It's the house party we convinced ourselves would be a good idea, not realizing that we couldn't really goad our friends into pretending they were having fun (kind of like the movie House Party). Part of it has to do with the fact that we aren't exceptional at ...

It's March 5th and, as of this writing, the Royals haven't lost yet. While every single post covering Spring Training should come with the caveat relating the fact that very little of this matters, it is still a nice sight to see. Here's a recap of who's hot (and who's not) so far this spring. The Good Mike Moustakas (.579/.579/.895): Moose is flat-out tearing the cover off the ball right now; 11-for-19 wit ...

Winter is coming. Or, more accurately, it's here. Although there were no major power outages reported, the weather affected every avenue of commerce, industry, and education from Thursday into Sunday. Grocers were short on supply. Schools closed. Businesses closed. And with every passing hour, God's vengeance rained in the form of gentle, white, frozen flakes of wrath. For those of you who were comatose the ...

Kyle Lohse is still a free agent. Granted, he wasn't the best pitcher on the market (though he certainly wants to be paid like one). And he doesn't have the high-end success that most people covet out of their big free agent expenditures. But Lohse is still a good, quality arm that most contending teams would slot in at #3 or #4. Is part of the reason that Lohse is still a free agent concern over his less-t ...