Over the past few weeks I've heard a few media members in Kansas City start to perpetuate a myth in regards to Luke Hochevar.  While I don't know whether this idea came from the Royals organization or from their own mind it is one that is easily dispelled. The Myth:  Luke is either great or horribly bad with virtually no in between.  If you eliminate his 8 worst starts he has a 3.75 ERA. The first half of t ...

The Royals made a decent addition with Elliot Johnson yesterday as they finished the trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.  While Johnson's stats won't get you excited as he's shown very little with the bat that in his 200 major league games his ability to play every major league position outside of catcher in the bigs could help the bench. As I've written earlier in the offseason the Royals are very weak at secon ...

  Greg Schaum and Clint Scoles talk with Royals 2b prospect Justin Trapp @Trapp_6reeezy.   The South Carolina native talks about his high school playing days, PED 50 game suspension and the inspiration to his strong finish to 2012. Greg and Clint also discuss the recent comments by David Glass and the Royals possibility of trading Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen. ...

0- 58:42 David and Clint answer emails, discuss the World Series matchup and more @DBLesky @ClintScoles email the show podcast@pinetarpress.com 58:42- 1:32 Bob Dutton of the KC Star talks Royals 2012 disappointment, what to expect this offseason and the bloggers in the press box. "If you give that team (the Royals) a couple legit threes, they can compete." Follow Bob on Twitter @Royals_Report 1:32 to End Re ...

"The Improvements Luke made last year in the second half and what he has done in spring training, I think he's starting to get there." via Ned Yost prior to Hoch's first start at the K this season. In Luke's own words, "it's not how you start but how you finish." Well if this is true then its time the Royals find a new starter after the former #1 overall pick one upped his 7 runs in 4 inning home opening st ...

The 2012 Royals rotation has been a disaster, there is no other way to describe it. Whether through injuries or just guys just plain old sucking, the rotation has easily been the Royals biggest weakness. However, like all things it can be fixed, unfortunately this is the Royals though and therefore nothing is easy. It will mean Dayton Moore will have to truly admit this is a problem and be both aggressive a ...

This is what Luke and the Royals have done. Luke is a smart man.  But sometimes the enemy of an athlete is his brain.  This is especially true in starting pitchers who have 4 days to think about what he did in his last start and what he’s going to do in his next start.  As a former pitcher I’ve been through this many times.  You can’t dwell on what you did and you can’t allow your brain to run full throttle ...

Francoeur’s Defense: In the 8th inning of Sunday’s finale Jeff Francoeur grabbed a single that had been hit towards him, a runner had already scored and the man who had been on first base was rounding second on his way to third. At this point in the game the Royals only trailed 8-6 and still a double play from getting out of it in striking distance. Keeping the double play intact should be the number one pr ...

Another game another poor Luke Hochevar start.  At this point I've gone way past getting angry about a Luke start because it is just evident that he is not very good and no amount of peripherals can prove a case that he is. Hoch started the day by allowing one of the few A's in the lineup, Jemile Weeks, with a pulse to triple to open the game leading to an early run. 1-0 Oakland The Royals would get that ru ...

Royals Re-cap: Royals at Yankees 5.22.2012 (Luke Hochevar vs. Phil Hughes)   Luke Hochevar had the unenviable task of following last night’s pitching masterpiece turned in by Felipe Paulino.  For the most part, Hochevar did an honorable job.  He went 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and striking out eight batters.  Furthermore, he avoided what has been his Achilles heel—the big inning. The Roya ...

Royals Re-cap: Royals at White Sox 5/12/12 (Luke Hochevar vs. Chris Sale)  He’s a reliever, he’s a starter, he’s a closer, and now he’s a starter again.  Nobody seems to know what to do with Chris Sale in Chicago.  The Royals lineup welcomed Sale back to the White Sox rotation by scoring three runs in the first inning.  It wasn’t all the Royals doing, as Sale was victim some self-inflicted damage, and poor ...

  Another day another Luke Hochevar start for Kansas City as the former #1 2006 overall pick got lit up once again. Hochevar could make it just 2.1 innings giving up 7 runs and lowering his already terrible ERA to an abysmal 9.00.         It was the third inning that did in the Y'Know King this time out as he gave up 6 runs on 5 hits including two home runs. Here is a run down of th ...

I'm gonna write a brief recap of every Royals game that I can.  Thanks to the great tweets of 810Am Soren Petro I have decided to title it What's the F-ing point, it will remain titled that until they give us a point to title it something else. At this point I'm able to recognize this is a poor team.  Keith Law wrote it  best  "it hasn't helped that manager Ned Yost can't seem to fill out a lineup card with ...

I would like to preface this post by saying that I do not in any way expect to change anyone’s mind regarding pitching philosophy. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel or anything major here. Many of you will likely finish reading this article with the same feelings as you came into it with -- that I’m an idiot. That’s fine, and I respect everyone’s opinions. Remember this: no two pitching philosophies are ...

Spring is winding down so before we get into predictions on the upcoming season I thought I'd write about what is going on in my Royals mind. From the KC Star's Bob Dutton Speculation suggests that to-be-named player will be a 2011 draft pick — players are prohibited from being traded for a year after being drafted. Signs point to that pick being someone selected between the 10th and 20th round. Taking a qu ...