It is trendy to talk about "two strike approach" these days, perhaps because of the rise of strikeouts in the Major Leagues. MLB league average with two strikes is .177/.246/.271. The Royals are hitting .199/.246/.287 with two strikes, meaning that they walk a little less, though are hitting for a little bit better average (same OBP), and a touch more power than an average MLB team with two strikes. So the ...

On the surface an exercise like this can look rather easy, grab all the players under 25, rate them dependent on talent and toss in but it isn't in my DNA to not weigh risk along with ceiling to make such a list.  When you toss in a player's current level, possibility of not reaching their ceiling and then add in positional scarcity, in the majors and the org, my list turns out much different than that of J ...

Although the discussion over the last two weeks has revolved around the rotation, if the Royals expect to catch the Tigers next season they are going to have to see as much (if not more) improvement from their lineup. The Royals, as a team, finished 8th in the AL in pitching WAR, due in large part to the strength of their bullpen. A bullpen which, with the exception of one three-hundred pound individual, re ...

I think we can all agree (and have) that the Royals will need to add at least one, probably two, good starting pitchers in the offseason if they want to contend in 2013. The last week or so has shown what this team can do if the starting pitching is good, and I feel reasonably certain the offense will do well enough to win next year. I think we can expect, with varying degrees of certainty, a bounce-back ye ...

Royals Recap: Royals at Blue Jays (Everett Teaford vs. Ricky Romero) After a disappointing series versus the Twins, in which they treated Royals pitching like it was homerun derby, the last thing you’d want the Royals to do is face the team leading all of baseball in homeruns—the Blue Jays.  If you’re looking for the silver-lining, take solace in the fact that the Royals batters will be facing perhaps the o ...

The Royals return home after another successful road trip to face the A's who are heading in the opposite direction. They have lost eight in a row by a combined score of 36-12. To add insult to injury, the last three games have been losses to the lowly Minnesota Twins. Before the A's began this streak, they were actually a game over .500 and hanging in there in the tough American League. Now, not so much. I ...

“I’ve got something good for you,” he says. “Wait and see where we are at the end of May. That’s my quote.”--Jeff Francoeur, to the Kansas City Star's Sam Mellinger, 4/23/2012. Well, Jeff, don't mind if I do. The Royals are now two months and roughly 1/3 of the way through the 2012 campaign. Seems like a perfect time to take a step back and see what we've got. Frenchy's quote above was fairly bold, given th ...

This post is both to take a look back and a look forward. You may recall my post on Tuesday looking at the contenders and the pretenders of the first roughly third of the season. You may also recall that the Royals were nowhere to be found on that list. The Royals, of course, sit at 21-28 and seven games behind the first place White Sox (that's one of the real shockers of the early part of 2012). Looking at ...

Things weren't looking good for Bruce Chen Wednesday after struggling in the opening innings of the series finale with Cleveland. Chen's biggest problem came in the second where the Indians started the inning off with singles allowed to Shelly Duncan and Michael Brantley.  Casey Kotchman who seemingly always runs into a big hit versus the Royals would come through with a soft single into right that got down ...

Royals Recap: Royals at Indians 5.29.12 (Will Smith vs. Justin Masterson) I'm sure there were plenty of eyerolls and here-we-go-agains uttered after the first inning tonight throughout the Royals' fanbase. Just like yesterday, the Royals scored two runs in the first, this time on a Mike Moustakas homer. Unlike yesterday's game, the Royals wasted no time giving up the lead, with Will Smith surrendering two w ...

Royals Re-cap: Royals at Yankees 5.21.2012 (Felipe Paulino vs. Hiroki Kuroda)   On display tonight at Yankee Stadium was approximately $268 million of professional baseball talent, and a combined 28 World Series titles.  Of course the Yankees accounted for about $198 million of that figure, and 27 World Series titles.  Simply put, the only thing that separates the Yankees from the Royals is $137 million in ...

The Royals take their moderately winning ways on the road for their first series of the year against the division rival White Sox. Before the season started, many were picking the White Sox to bring up the rear of the division along with the Twins, but resurgent beginnings to the season from Jake Peavy and Adam Dunn have helped them to sit around a .500 record with a little more hope than expected by the ex ...

Royals Re-Cap: Yankees at Royals 5/3/12 The dreaded Yankees are in town.  I say dreaded because of the obvious drubbings they generally hand out to the Royals, but also because of the droves of faux Yankees fans that litter the seats at Kauffman Stadium.  I’m looking at you Overland Park kids, 15-25 years of age, that rock the Yankees gear because that was the most convenient bandwagon to jump on at the tim ...

Royals Re-Cap: Royals @ Tigers 5/2/12   With the deck stacked firmly against them, the Kansas City Royals bucked the odds and salvaged a series split today with a win over the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander.  It wasn’t pretty.  It wasn’t without drama, and it necessitated the efforts of six Royals pitchers. It couldn’t have looked improbable for the Royals.  First, they had to face arguably the best pi ...

Mike Moustakas/3b Bats: L  Throws: R Height: 5’11”     Weight: 230 lb. Born: 9/11/88 (23), Los Angeles, CA College: N/A. Chatsworth H.S. (CA) Drafted: 2007, 1st round (#2 overall) by the Kansas City Royals.   Want to draft a power hitter?  Who better to take than a kid who set the California high school record for homeruns?  That’s precisely what the Royals did when they selected Mike Moustakas as the ...

General manager Dayton Moore made an intelligent move Monday deciding to lock up what he and Ned Yost see as the Royals franchise behind the plate for the next 8 years. Ken Rosenthal ‏ @Ken_Rosenthal Close Congrats to #Royals on five-year extension for Sal Perez. But they have an interesting definition of "major announcement." #MLB While some fans and media alike didn't see this as a big signing, the press ...

I've been paying attention to the Royals minor leagues and the players in it for so long that I like a few other fans out there forget the ages of these guys sometime.  Mike Montgomery has been in the system since 2008 which by minor league standards can feel like a very long time but in baseball terms is pretty short.  By comparison look at the pitchers ahead of Montgomery in the most recent Top 100 by Bas ...

Kansas City is about to start spring training for the 2012 season.  Their starting 9 is set for the most part with the possible exception of 2nd base meaning deciding who fills the roles on the bench is all that is left.  The three outfield spots are manned with Alex Gordon Lorenzo Cain and Jeff Franceour this season and are under control for at least the next two seasons.  With those spots filled where doe ...

REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE NOT SHARED OR ENDORSED ON BEHALF OF PINE TAR PRESS, ITS OWNERS OR STAFF.  THEY ARE JUST POSSIBLE EXAMPLES OF THE POSSIBLE DOWNSIDE TO THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS 2012 BASEBALL TEAM. No group of players on the 2012 roster present a reflection of The Process like the Royals infield does.  From position labeled 2 to the 6 position in your scorebook the Royals infield is full of ...