Comments on: The Unbeatable Kansas City Royals

By: IdahoMariner

IdahoMariner — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:49:34 +0000

over on lookout landing jeff sullivan was talking about the Ms ten game streak (with lots of crazy home runs – at least one per game!) and looked at the correlation between the Ms success (or lack thereof) in spring training and their success (or more often, lack) in the regular season. he found that, reaching back to 1996, there wasn’t just no correlation, it was actually a negative correlation, or, as he put it:
“Right now, the Mariners are 10-1. If we plug that winning percentage into the equation, we get a projected regular-season winning percentage of .342. At this rate, the Mariners are going to finish 55-107.”
so, as a fan of a similar team that likely will not continue this rate of success into the season, I am just hoping for the best for both teams and their fans – more wins than we have seen in a while, and lots of good baseball to watch.

By: joerymi

joerymi — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 02:31:14 +0000

The past 3 years, the Royals have been someone’s “sleeper.”

Hosmer and Moustakas may have been high end prospects, but they still need to prove a lot in the Majors. Hosmer’s “sophmore slump” was fairly significant. Moustakes’ power numbers improved, but a sub .300 OBP leaves much to be desired.

Their starting rotation is actually a bit better than some are giving it credit for, but after Shields it gets a bit worrisome. Guthrie pitched well in a Royals uniform for half of the season, but hasn’t been “above average” for an entire season since 2010, which might be significant considering he will be 34 at the start of the season. Santana may have had just a bad season in 2012, but power hitters in that division are licking their chops to feel him out.

80-82, for a third place finish.

By: moogro

moogro — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:31:27 +0000

I agree. Might have to do with the kind of people would be drawn to write about football. And that there is nothing to talk about with football anyway.

By: groundruledoublebourbon

groundruledoublebourbon — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:57:56 +0000

I get all of that, believe me. I understand they improved immensely on paper: (1) the rotation–the guys at the top of 2012′s rotation (Hochever/Chen) are battling for the 5-spot (2) The young guys who struggled last year (Moustakas, Hosmer, etc) can only be better (3) Perez and Cain (fingers crossed) won’t miss half the season (4) the bullpen is oustanding (5) Francoeur can’t be worse. Trust me, I see what’s happened.

What I’m telling you, Mr. or Mrs. ptfu, is that they’re the Royals; thus, they are contractually obligated to suck to break my heart and suck to the nth degree in the summer and fall months (the late fall/winter months are reserved for Chiefs heartbreak). It’s a way of life around here.

By: ptfu

ptfu — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:50:10 +0000

The Royals won 72 games last season, and their run differential suggests they “should” have won 74. They need seven more wins to reach .500, and they could get them for all the reasons Joe Posnanski lists above.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:05:38 +0000

I understand that Kate Upton is a Tiger fan.

By: tc4306

tc4306 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:36:09 +0000

About the same chance I have of landing a weekend with Kate Upton.

By: kcrobert10

kcrobert10 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:39:39 +0000

Moose hurt his knee after the all star break. They worry me they try hard now get my hopes up then in April lose 20 in a row.

By: minibull

minibull — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:45:48 +0000

General baseball fan here who follows specific players – one of them being Mike Moustakas. I saw him as a young star on the rise, capable of hitting .300 with 30 homers in a couple of years. But his struggles after last years All Star break put a damper on my enthusiasm. I think this is his sink or swim season, which way do you think he will go? All Star or utility player?

By: heeterjoe

heeterjoe — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:44:14 +0000

I would rather be winning the games that “don’t count”, than losing the games that “don’t count”! Go Royals! JH

By: sportsdrenched

sportsdrenched — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:11:09 +0000

Ehhh. If you’re going to play games. Exhibition or real, it’s always better to win them than lose them. However, I think it was 2006 when the Royals won the Cactus League and then proceeded to have one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

I am jaded, and pessimistic Royals fan, and I’ve learned to never underestimate their ability to set historical precedents for emberassment and futility. So save the “we’re going about our business, business like this camp” talk. After all. I remember Terrance Long saying that in March of 2004.

By: 2077james

2077james — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:52:14 +0000

Probably under doctors orders to avoid the stress.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:48:42 +0000

But of course.

By: jkcalhoun

jkcalhoun — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:48:00 +0000

No equal time for the other team in the Cactus League that also currently has a 10-game winning streak?

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:35:50 +0000

Especially since he is playing for the Phillies and he could have easily snuck in some snark about the Phillies. But again…he’s new. Give him some time.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:28:36 +0000

I hope they are still playing well for my visit in September!

By: nategearhart

nategearhart — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:28:02 +0000

I have a lot of hope for this season. But as a long-suffering Royals fan, I’ve set my standards to hope for an exciting, competitive team, rather than a championship-caliber (that, hopefully, comes within a few years). I just want the embarrassment to go away. My NL team is the Giants, so I can get my championship jollies through them .
I’m just nervous about Shields and Santana; I don’t think they’re the “missing pieces” that a lot of people I talk to seem to think they are.
Oh, and thanks for mentioning Jimmy Gobble, Joe! It’s always fun to see a familiar old name.

By: Caught Looking

Caught Looking — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:25:46 +0000

The Royals are peaking in March.

By: randall351

randall351 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:14:20 +0000

Even with all the hype surrounding the Royals this year after mortgaging their future to get a pitcher who might make a 4-5 win difference, only still a little bitter, the only thing you really hear them talking about on local sports radio is all the off season crap the Chiefs are doing.
I do hope they are at least less than 5 games out of a playoff spot come September, but I still don’t think they’ll crack .500, b/c it would be refreshing to have some baseball centered talk during the football season, and not just Chiefs talk at nauseum.
Having Joe Pos on this site as really made me a happy panda, & I look forward to more posts in the future whether they are Kansas City centric or not.

By: andreweac

andreweac — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:04:09 +0000

Remarkable how much better the writing at HardballTalk is than ProFootballTalk. HardballTalk is my #1 news source for MLB. Despite being an NFL fan I don’t even use their feed on my iPhone as the writing is simply atrocious, repetitive and clearly SEO focused to get to the magical 300 words.

By: oldpaddy

oldpaddy — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:59:18 +0000

The Royals?
:yawn:

By: groundruledoublebourbon

groundruledoublebourbon — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:58:44 +0000

Fun read, but I’ve been taken by the Royals too many times. Living as a (healthy & sane) Royals fan means I’m not allowed to expect my team to ever give anything back to me except disappointment and the occasional laugh. But hey, it’s March–I’m allowing myself to dream a little. By “dream,” I mean I hope they’ll sniff .500.

By: spork04

spork04 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:57:42 +0000

Never thought I’d see the day where Joe writes about the Royals and doesn’t mention Yuni Betancourt.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:55:45 +0000

Are you implying that the Royals have no chance to finish ahead of Detroit?

By: tc4306

tc4306 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:47:27 +0000

They won’t be one of the five best teams. There are three very good teams in the West and they all get to play the Astros about 19 times. One wild card will come from there. If the East turns out to be as balanced as people seem to think, those five could beat each other up and leave the 2nd wild card open to the 2nd best team in the Central or the 3rd best team in the West. My money is on one wild card from the East and another from the West; but one from the Central is not impossible.

By: chacochicken

chacochicken — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:35:20 +0000

If everyone give 110%, remembers there is no “i” in team and carries the momentum of spring training success into the regular season and sticks to generating runs through gritty hard-nosed sacrifice bunting and eating innings while pitching to the score this team can defy the odds get into the playoffs where everyone knows anything can happen.

But seriously, the Royals look promising.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:28:46 +0000

It’s pretty sad that in this day of parity in MLB that the KC Royals have not sniffed the playoffs in 28 years. With 5 teams making it now, here’s hoping they finally make it in 2013.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:28:17 +0000

If Joe says it is so then it is so. Go Royals Go!