I agree about the apathy. I'm ready for this season to be over and don't really care if the Royals win or lose anymore. I check the box score to see who is worth keeping next season, and what our trading chips will be this offseason. But frankly, I lost faith that Dayton Moore can do anything to help this team and that Hillman could successfully manage a MLB team. I can't stop rooting for the Royals, so I hope that Glass fires Moore and hires a consultant to find the new GM.
No apologies are necessary for the infrequent posts. I more than get my money's worth. Your anger-to-apathy comments seem to be dead-on.
I still look forward to spring training, though, because I like what's happening in AA and below. I guess I kind of trust that the process will at least make it interesting someday.
Yes, Rany, this is at LEAST a ClustF$$k, at most a criminal extortion to all the fans, myself included, who paid good money to watch this drivel. Went to a game against the Mariners in May, we kicked their butts and I believed... Get rid of Hillman NOW, and Dayton is on the Clock!!!!!!!!!!!
even I barely care about the Royals anymore.. i spend all of my baseball waking hours making fun of them and being a fan of the original Kung Fu Panda.. Pablo Sandoval.
August 23, 2009 at 10:24 PM
Anonymous said...
for a guy who's supposed to be apathetic you sure whine a lot
August 24, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Chris said...
Hey, Mr Anonymous, its not whining when it's the truth!
August 24, 2009 at 1:24 AM
Anonymous said...
>Hey, Mr Anonymous, its not >whining when it's the truth!
Of course it is. Why would anyone whine about imaginary stuff?
August 24, 2009 at 4:02 AM
Anonymous said...
It's a tribute to the interesting things you say, Rany, that any of us are here reading. The Royals themselves are certainly uninteresting.
Thanks for blogging but don't worry about frequency. We're all in the apathy boat with you.
August 24, 2009 at 7:59 AM
Anonymous said...
I think the average fan or sportswriter could make better in-game decisions than Hillman. Having Pena bunt with two on and no outs----WTF?
These are the players I would keep for 2010. Butler, DeJesus, Teahen, B. Pena, Calaspo, Grienke, Hocheaver, Soria. The rest of those clowns can hit the road.
August 24, 2009 at 8:02 AM
Roy in Omaha said...
I think there is more boiling, latent anger about the Royals than I have ever seen in the 40 years I've followed them. I am not apathetic, I'm pissed, particularly since any thinking person (like you, for starters) could come up with any number of solutions to the Royals woes with the personnel at-hand at various levels of the organization. The Royals apparently have never heard the old cavalry adage,"if you're backed into a corner and have nowhere else to go, charge, because doing nothing is even worse". I take solace in the fact that this train wreck of a season will usher in some level of change (it has to) and we'll be rid of Dayton Moore and/or Trey Hillman, both of whom need to go, IMHO. My father once told me a life lesson about dealing with, or, having to put up with idiots, "if you're smarter than they are, you'll be around long after they're gone". And that's my attitude about the Royals current situation. I'll still be a fan long after these arrogant clowns are gone. Interestingly, one of the ways that I know the Royals don't get it is by their choices of on-air personnel, save Denny Mathews, who are almost universally bad. Mediocrity knows no bounds and you, yourself have even subtlety pointed out something similar when questioning the competency of the Royals training staff. These issues are really organizationally one and the same and just serve to point out how the Royals are rotten from top to bottom. As the Star opined about this past weekend, in many ways, this will be the most disappointing season in team history for me, but, only because there were very obvious possible solutions at-hand and the Royals, in their infinite wisdom, chose to exercise none of them. For this, the fans and the media, must hold the Royals accountable. After all, we fans are paying the tab, and, in the Royals case, in more ways than one. Words fail me in trying to describe this Royals season in terms that are polite and civil here, but, I will tell you this, I am not apathetic and I believe it's my civic duty to open the window and yell out of it "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more" I urge all fans to speak their minds and with their pocketbooks so that we hasten the day that this nightmare ends.
Rany - Don't sweat not posting all that often. I enjoy reading your work so whether you write every day or once a month, I'll be reading. Thanks to RSS feeds and Google Reader it is easy to keep track of when people have posted new content.
That said, there are a decent number of Royals bloggers, myself included, that still post on a frequent basis. Royals Review, Royals Authority, Royal Reflections, The Pipeline, and (my own site) Kings of Kauffman are still on the Royals beat. There are others and of course Mellinger and Jo-Po are still writing about the Royals as well.
Apathy may have set in amongst fans, but at the heart of things they still remain fans. While many have stopped watching the games, I know from my experience that those people are still reading what others have to say about the team.
For me, I love the Royals, I love baseball and I love to write so I'll be churning content on a near daily basis regardless of how poorly our team is playing.
Bad baseball is still baseball and as such it still merits my attention.
August 24, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Anonymous said...
I've seen Derrick Robinson a few times this year - can't hit a lick.
Hope it clicks for him but he's got a LONG way to go.
David Glass is punking us as residents of Kansas City. If there are not major changes made in the off season, my baseball viewing will take place in St. Louis and Minneapolis next year.
Maybe Royals fans should start a reverse Minnesota migration, beginning next season and only attend Royals games in Minnesota in order to deny David Glass any more of our money than that he has already parasitically sucked from us already.
This has been THE most disappointing season ever..but lets get a bit real--I know its popular to hate on David Glass...but the past 2 years has not been on Mr Glass. In fact, it would be VERY easy to say Glass is the one who has been duped--the Royals payroll could have been $30M this year and not been any worse--and the Glass family has $40M more in their pockets!!
we have $70M payroll--last year we spent the most on the amateur draft in the history of the draft--this year we might spend more.
David Glass in NOT the problem--at least his money is not.
Dayton Moore is THE man--he is responsible for putting together a $70M payroll with $25m worth of players!
Dayton Moore (I am assuming that trey and his "shoot from the hip" managing style will soon be gone) needs to b e looking at his old office space in Atlants--his tenure, while short, has been a complete disaster! He needs to go!!
August 24, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Wabbitkiller said...
Roy in Omaha, great post. I couldn't agree more.
Bill, You're right. David Glass hasn't been the problem the past two years, Dayton Mooreon has been the problem. However, David Glass will once again become the problem if he doesn't end the abortion that is the Dayton Mooreon era once the season is over.
August 25, 2009 at 7:46 AM
Curtis said...
I think getting rid of Moore now would be premature. He has made very poor decisions at the major league level. He has negotiated some terrible contracts. I can write the litany as well as most every fan.
But the major league team may well be the last thing to change. The Royals drafted spectacularly badly for 10-15 years, for all sorts of reasons. You can be competitive on a $70 million payroll, but not without serious infusions of talent from your organization, and we simply don't have it.
So, as grating as the phrase has become, I do think we have to trust the process. The tenure of Moore is not going to be defined by the Guillen and Farnsworth signings, but by the drafts and whether those players pan out to be productive major leaguers. And it simply too soon to make that determination.
I thought this team would be better, and I have been disappointed as much as everyone else. But canning Moore now would just be panicking and would make it even harder to bring in the kind of GM that we need.
But I tell you this - the disappointing seasons that you have reported are making that clock tick a little faster for me.
August 25, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...
The worst part of it is that the organization itself doesn't seem to give a damn. Show me one sign that they are sick of their situation and want to do whatever it takes to improve the team.
You could maybe point to the money they've spent on the draft, but even there, they tended to select not the best player available, but the best player available that they could afford.
The big trade this season? Yuni? That move alone and GMDM's defense of it was the one thing that sent most Royals fans over the edge.
I'm a life-long fan, season ticket holder, and am addicted to Royals baseball. But this is as bad as it gets.
Roy in Omaha is right. The team sucks. The trainers suck. The broadcasters REALLY, REALLY suck (at least Bob Davis does). The amusement park stadium kinda sucks.
There's nothing about this team that I can get behind right now.
Be careful what you wish for...sometimes you get it.
August 25, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Anonymous said...
When will baseball adopt the promotion and relegation system that European leagues use, so that the Royals can be demoted to Triple-A? I'm sure even this sorry team could play .450 ball in the Pacific Coast League!
August 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Anonymous said...
As much as it pains me to say this, I think Curtis is more right than he's wrong.
I'll preface this by saying that if I wake up tomorrow and the headline says that the Royals had fired Moore and Hillman I would shed no tears. Neither has really done anything at this point to convince me he can be successful at the major league level.
But the reality of the situation is that when Glass hired Moore, he certainly must have bought into his plan. And if the plan was to rebuild the organization from the low minors up, Moore appears to be doing that. Even though the last two first rounders haven't put up good numbers as of yet, the consensus appears to be that the organization is moving in the right direction.
Last night I listened to last week's interview with Moore on WHB. He sounded like a man who knew he had made some mistakes and might have learned from them. It also sounds like some of the moves he made were in anticipation of losing Greinke to free agency and trying to make a run for it while they still had him.
You can't excuse the over $20 million a year in bad contracts. You have to wonder why all the injuries, which includes three guys at AAA who might have spared us some pain: Costa, Shealy, and Lubanski. But one of the reasons the high minors are as thin as they are is the way the Royals drafted during the Baird era (which was surely at Glass's direction) and Moore is the one paying for it.
Trust the process? I'm not quite there yet. But if Moore is shown the door, his successor will inherit a much better situation than Moore found three years ago. I may not make any more financial contributions to the Royals this year, but I remain interested. And I'm sure you'll see me in Surprise in March.
August 25, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Anonymous said...
This Wednesday, the 26th, I just came back from watching the Royals live, or lifeless would be more accurate. I almost took a nap during the 7th. I agree with you that there is little hope this team will improve next year, and with the multi-year contracts, I think we are stuck with this team unless Mr. Glass wants to eat a lot of dough and then see if any of our minor league players can cut the mustard. It's bad when the thought of next year looks like a repeat of this year.
Just found your blog. Nice to know there are other suffering Royals fans to share the misery with. I recorded a parody of "Friends in Low Places" about the Royals. It's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYLqqVczfc It's called "Royals Lament - Low Places." New lyrics to sing at The K when Garth comes on. I hope you'll check it out.
Days like yesterday (August 26... day game) are now a blessing to me. I have to get up at 4:30 every morning, but I still watch every Royals game that's on FS Kansas City. Earlier in the season, I would curse the days that the Royals had a day game as I would only be able to watch via MLB.com Gameday. But these days, I am happy if there's a day game (or better yet... no game at all). I can get some sleep and I don't have to suffer for 3 hours every night.
Tonight, however, is the beginning of a dreaded west coast series. I will be up until at least midnight! Also going to an Omaha game tonight, so I will double my torture.
Discomania is going big time! Joe Po said on his blog that he's doing a column on Disco for Sunday's paper. If this doesn't break your apathy, nothign will.
Ray, I may not agree that the play-by-play guys stink, but your point couldn't be more valid. The little things are important, and when an organization mismanages those things, it reflects their overall ineptitude and lack of attention to detail. Case in point, the parking situation at the stadium. It took us a good 20-30 minutes to get into a parking spot at the stadium, only to see a much more practical route that, had we been directed that way, would have taken us maybe 5 minutes.
On an unrelated note, has anyone seen how well Frenchy is hitting with a change of scenery? Seems I remember someone suggesting the Royals take a flyer...
I would have committed Seppuku before I would have accepted a trade to the Royals!
August 28, 2009 at 7:19 AM
Anonymous said...
When you really get to the bottom of what is making the Royals fans turn on Dayton Moore, it has to be this thought : What does it mean if he is not good at drafting talent and/or building an organization from the ground up ?
What does that mean ? It would mean two or three more years of losing (100 loss?) season before he would be relived of his job duties. Blow up the roster as the contracts of Butler, Greinke, and Soria begin to expire and start all over again. The Royals would be no further along as an organization then they are today. Then there would be an additional 3-5 years of losing seasons as fans painfully, passionately wait to see if this next guy is a savior or more of the same. How many losing seasons in a row would that mean ? 20 ?
This is why Royals fans are turning on Dayton Moore in 2009. It's been long enough. At this point a .500 team would get the fan base excited.
I think the Royals made a mistake when Theo Epstein hit the market. They should have outbid to get a guy who has already been in the position and has a track record of sucess. Instead we bet the farm on an assistant in a successful organization. I'd rather have a guy from a team that has already been in the position and has been successful. I think I read on Yahoo two such canidates will be testing their own free agent waters this summer. Unfortunately I don't think the owners are ready to part with Dayton yet. And whenever they ever do, talented canidates with experience might not be available.
Kenneth Shaw, Shawnee, KS
August 28, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Anonymous said...
Apparently we're the only one's with a problem here.
Dayton to get an extension.
I'm never surprised by how dissappointed I am in choosing the Royals as my team.
Greinke with a 1-hit shutout. Anxious to hear comments about his last 2 games.
August 30, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Mac B. said...
I was there for the shutout. Good view up close down 1st base side. Very few sick pitches until the end. He just moved it all around, mid 60's then mid 90's, lots of high and tight brushbacks (made Sweeney toss his bat backwards on one). He even made 3 stellar fielding plays on his own. Just quick efficient dominance in a 2hr5min game. He took only one batter to a full count, looking like he was just toying with him, then blew him away for the K.
As much as I want to hate the Royals for making me watch the last 24 years of unwatchable baseball, Greinke's enough to keep me interested. Which of course means that they'll trade him away for a career minor leaguer any day now. They've got me trained to expect failure and futility.
At least Allard Baird failed with a thousand pounds of monkeys strapped to his back; Dayton Moore is failing with an open checkbook. Ownership's decision in re: the 2014 extension means it's not necessary to genuflect their way. This is still a crime scene.
September 5, 2009 at 11:53 AM
I probably should apologize for posting as infrequently as I have; it’s been a struggle to find the motivation to write even once a week. But I won’t. This is what happens when you cover the most disappointing team in the history of the Royals, a bold statement for a franchise that has averaged over 94 losses a season over the past 12 years. The Royals are 47-76 after today’s debacle, which puts them on pace to lose exactly 100 games this season. Less famously but perhaps more tellingly, if the Royals lose 100 games, they will tie an American League record for the most losses by a single franchise over the span of an intact decade. The Royals have lost 927 games and counting during the 2000s*. They have blown past the Pirates (903 losses) and the Rays (901) as the losingest franchise of the decade. In the history of baseball, only six teams have lost more than 927 games in a decade, and the Royals are almost certain to pass at least three of them by the end of the year. Here they are: Philadelphia Phillies, 1920s: 962 St. Louis Browns, 1930s: 951 Philadelphia Phillies, 1940s: 951 Philadelphia Phillies, 1930s: 943 San Diego Padres, 1970s: 942 Boston Red Sox, 1920s: 938 Kansas City Royals, 2000s: 927 and counting (*: Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the 2000s is this: the decade is now about 96% complete, and there is still no consensus as to what call it. A hundred years ago they called the 1900s the “aughts”, but that’s not going to fly in the 21st century. I call it the “2Ks”, personally, but that’s hardly a consensus term. I would have thought we’d have a word in place by 2002 or 2003.) When it comes to major league futility, no team can hold a candle to the Phillies, who from 1918 to 1948 had one winning season – 1932, when they went 78-76. The Royals would need to suck for another 16 or 17 years to match that. But within the confines of the American League, the Royals have a chance to stand alone. If the Royals lose 100 games exactly, they will finish the decade with 951 losses, tying the 1930s Browns as the losingest team of a decade; if they lose 101 games, they will have the AL record all their own. Trust the Process. (The all-time record for losses over any 10-year stretch is safe; the Phillies lost 1016 games between 1936 and 1945. But the Royals can go for the AL record (the then-Devil Rays lost 972 games from 1998 to 2007) next year.) This season, the Royals have designed a roster that not only is hurtling towards 100 losses, but a roster with few players that can be expected to improve in the future. The Royals have employed 37 different players on their roster this season. Not only have none of them made their major league debut this season, but just one – Bam Bam Butler – is under the age of 25. Trust the Process. And to top it off, we have a front office that’s so fearful of the stigma of another 100-loss season that they’re afraid to promote deserving minor leaguers, because God forbid that the Royals should have to endure the inevitable struggles of young players to adjust. Playing poorly for the Royals, evidently, is a prerogative reserved for veterans only. Kila Ka’aihue’s .400 OBP might not adjust well to major league pitching, so best to stick with Mike Jacobs and his .304 OBP, whose bat is so dangerous that Trey Hillman elected not to use him against a right-handed pitcher in the ninth inning on Saturday night with the tying run on base. The Royals are not only carrying eight relievers – maybe three of whom belong on a major league roster – they’re carrying three catchers. This means that on a night when Jacobs is the DH, the Royals have exactly one – ONE! – bench player who isn’t a catcher. One. On Saturday night, Brayan Pena was the DH – apparently Hillman is going to evaluate Pena’s catching skills from the batters’ box – so the Royals were blessed to have both Jacobs and Willie Bloomquist on the bench. And despite losing in the ninth inning, and despite having Bloomquist to take over at shortstop or right field in case the game went to extra innings, Hillman still elected to keep Jacobs on the bench while Yuniesky Betancourt and Josh Anderson made outs. So pardon me for being a little apathetic. Judging from the lack of traffic at virtually every Royals website out there, I’m not the only one. A month ago, at least, Royals fans cared enough to write about the Royals, even if everything they wrote was critical. I warned after the Yuniesky Betancourt trade that anger would turn into apathy, and that’s exactly what happened. I doubt the Royals have gotten the message yet, not when 33,811 came out to see the team play on Saturday night. Never mind that half of them were Twins fans, and that most of the other half were there to see the new ballpark. If the front office thinks that their fan base is willing to start over again next year like 2009 never happened, well, they’re going to be in for a rude shock when season ticket renewals go out this winter. We don’t Trust the Process, Dayton. And we don’t appreciate being talked down to by a GM and a manager who are the architects of the biggest clusterf**k this franchise has ever assembled. And on that cheerful note…let’s go back to the minor leagues. You know, the place where the Royals can spend $6 million sign Eric Hosmer, but then can’t spend money to have a new pair of prescription glasses delivered overnight. Allard Baird had two really good excuses for the Mickey Mouse operation he was the nominal head of: he had no money to spend, and he had to contend with ownership that liked to meddle in baseball operations. Dayton Moore has neither excuse. Not that it will stop him from coming up with one. A quick note on Wil Myers and Chris Dwyer first. The one saving grace of this administration has been the willingness to spend big-market dollars on amateur talent (and, equally impressive, getting ownership to share in that willingness.) After a very promising draft in 2008, the Royals have a chance at the same this year, grabbing three potential Top-40 picks despite not having a second-round pick. I’m a little skeptical of Dwyer; while he was a good grab in the fourth round, he was considered more of a supplemental first round or even second round talent than a true first-rounder, and the money he got ($1.45 million) is a Top 25 bonus. I’m also a little concerned that he’s already 21, partly because there’s not much projection left, and partly because you have to be a little concerned about the teachability of a 21-year-old college freshman. Myers, though, looks like the real deal. The rumor is that if Aaron Crow had not been available with their first pick, the Royals would have taken Myers then. He’s a legitimate first-round talent, and if he can stay behind the plate, he fills a desperate need for up-the-middle talent in the organization. A lot is riding on Myers; he was the only position player the Royals drafted in the first eight rounds. He may not prove to be worth the gamble, but he’s exactly the kind of gamble the Royals need to be making. Oh, and regarding Aaron Crow…I expect him to sign by the end of September. We’ve heard word at the radio station that Crow and his agents (the Hendricks brothers) are not on the best of terms. Frankly, Crow should be pissed off at his agents. They turned down $3.5 million last year, and after a year in purgatory, he’ll be lucky to get the same bonus he turned down from the Nationals. The rumor is that the Royals are offering him $3 million, and sticking to it. They absolutely should, and more than that: they should publicly issue a deadline after which the offer gets taken off the table. Crow and his agents need to realize that the draft game is a game of leverage, and he doesn’t have any. If a high school player doesn’t sign, he can go to college in three years and continue to develop his baseball skills. Even the best high school players will benefit from college competition. But the best college players are almost major league-ready, so for them, the alternative to signing – playing independent ball – does nothing to develop their skills. Crow turns 23 in a few months, and aside from a few starts with the Fort Worth Cats, he hasn’t thrown a pitch in anger in fourteen months. At some point he’s going to realize that the $3.5 million he turned down is gone for good, and he’ll sign. If his agents don’t realize it, well, they might not be his agents for much longer. 13) Henry Barrera, RHP, 23. Barrera is a hard-throwing reliever who was a last-minute addition the Royals’ 40-man roster last winter; after Barrera struck out 78 batters in 58 innings for Wilmington last year, the Royals were worried he might get picked in the Rule 5 draft. This year, Barrera didn’t debut until June 2nd because of arm problems, made four appearances for Burlington over the span of 10 days…and hasn’t pitched since. You do the math. Grade: D-. 14) Tyler Sample, RHP, 20. Sample was a third-round pick out of a Colorado high school last summer; he had some of the best pure stuff of any prep pitcher, including an excellent knuckle-curve, but was also very raw, which showed when he walked 29 batters in 27 innings in rookie ball. This year, he’s moved up to short-season Burlington (not the same as low-A Burlington), and has held his own; for the season he has 20 walks and 42 Ks in 42 innings, with a 4.10 ERA and just two homers allowed. He’s not that young – he turned 19 just three weeks after he was drafted – so while his performance is nothing to be ashamed of, neither is it something to be all that excited about yet. Grade: C+. 15) David Lough, OF, 23. Finally, an unqualified success story. Lough was an 11th-round pick out of a tiny college in Pennsylvania in 2007, where he was a multi-sport athlete. He showed a wide array of talents for Burlington last season – 16 homers, 11 triples, 12 steals – but his overall numbers (.268/.329/.455) weren’t that impressive for a 22-year-old in low-A ball. This year, his athleticism has helped him to a breakout season; he hit .320/.370/.473 in 65 games for Wilmington, then after a promotion to Double-A has hit even better (which isn’t unusual, remember): .337/.380/.541. For the season he’s hitting .327 with 13 homers, 24 doubles, and is 17-for-25 on the basepaths. A lack of walks – just 21 – is a big black mark against him, but it’s worth noting that he’s been a lot more patient since he was moved to the leadoff spot a month ago; he’s drawn 7 walks in 67 at-bats in August. He’s not going to be a star, but he strikes me as someone who can be a decent everyday outfielder, particularly if he can handle centerfield. Comparisons to David DeJesus are in order; like DeJesus, Lough stands just 6’0”, and can handle centerfield but is a plus defender in a corner. The Royals are going to go into the winter looking for a centerfielder again, but rather than overpaying for a short-term solution they really ought to consider giving Lough a shot. Grade: A. 16) Derrick Robinson, CF, 21. Dubbed the team’s centerfielder of the future ever since the Royals gave him $1 million as a fourth-round draft pick in 2006, Robinson is one of the fastest players in organized baseball, which doesn’t change the fact that he’s never learned how to hit. Last season, Robinson hit .245/.316/.322 for Wilmington, which wasn’t good but was something to build on for a 20-year-old in high-A ball, particularly given that he didn’t start switch-hitting until after he signed. The thinking of scouts was that if things started to click for Robinson, they could click fast. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any clicking this year, as Robinson is hitting .237/.288/.313 in a repeat engagement at Wilmington. He’s still fast as the wind – after stealing 62 bases last year, he already has 65 this year – but you can’t steal first base. Well, you sort of can if you’re willing to take four pitches outside the strike zone, but after doing so 51 times last season, Robinson only has 35 walks this year. Robinson’s grade gets boosted a half point because while it’s woefully premature to say so, it’s possible something clicked for him this month. Robinson didn’t hit a single home run in 2008, and had none in 2009 either – until August, as he’s gone deep four times and is slugging .488 this month. It’s probably just random variation, but if you’re the Royals you have to hold onto optimism wherever you can find it. Grade: D+. 17) Jason Taylor, 3B/1B, 21. Taylor was the Royals’ second pick after Luke Hochevar in the 2006 draft, and was suspended for the entire 2007 season by the Royals for undisclosed reasons. He returned last year and while hit just .242 for Burlington, he showed a rare combination of power (17 homers), plate discipline (81 walks) and speed (40 steals). Expected to take a big step forward this season, he instead confirmed the rumors regarding his suspension in 2007 when MLB issued a 50-game suspension to Taylor for violating the substance abuse policy (read: marijuana). Since coming back Taylor has shown only flashes of last year’s promise; he’s hitting .253/.339/.380 in a repeat engagement at Burlington. Even if avoids pot in the future, he’s got a lot of catching up to do to regain even a glimmer of prospect status. Grade: D. 18) Julio Pimentel, RHP, 23. Tore his ulnar collateral ligament during spring training; out until 2010 following Tommy John surgery. This one’s easy. Grade: F.
"Minor League Update, Part 3."
37 Comments -
I agree about the apathy. I'm ready for this season to be over and don't really care if the Royals win or lose anymore. I check the box score to see who is worth keeping next season, and what our trading chips will be this offseason. But frankly, I lost faith that Dayton Moore can do anything to help this team and that Hillman could successfully manage a MLB team. I can't stop rooting for the Royals, so I hope that Glass fires Moore and hires a consultant to find the new GM.
August 23, 2009 at 8:00 PM
No apologies are necessary for the infrequent posts. I more than get my money's worth. Your anger-to-apathy comments seem to be dead-on.
I still look forward to spring training, though, because I like what's happening in AA and below. I guess I kind of trust that the process will at least make it interesting someday.
Thanks for all your work here.
August 23, 2009 at 8:25 PM
Yes, Rany, this is at LEAST a ClustF$$k, at most a criminal extortion to all the fans, myself included, who paid good money to watch this drivel.
Went to a game against the Mariners in May, we kicked their butts and I believed... Get rid of Hillman NOW, and Dayton is on the Clock!!!!!!!!!!!
August 23, 2009 at 9:11 PM
even I barely care about the Royals anymore.. i spend all of my baseball waking hours making fun of them and being a fan of the original Kung Fu Panda.. Pablo Sandoval.
August 23, 2009 at 10:24 PM
for a guy who's supposed to be apathetic you sure whine a lot
August 24, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Hey, Mr Anonymous, its not whining when it's the truth!
August 24, 2009 at 1:24 AM
>Hey, Mr Anonymous, its not >whining when it's the truth!
Of course it is. Why would anyone whine about imaginary stuff?
August 24, 2009 at 4:02 AM
It's a tribute to the interesting things you say, Rany, that any of us are here reading. The Royals themselves are certainly uninteresting.
Thanks for blogging but don't worry about frequency. We're all in the apathy boat with you.
August 24, 2009 at 7:59 AM
I think the average fan or sportswriter could make better in-game decisions than Hillman. Having Pena bunt with two on and no outs----WTF?
These are the players I would keep for 2010. Butler, DeJesus, Teahen, B. Pena, Calaspo, Grienke, Hocheaver, Soria. The rest of those clowns can hit the road.
August 24, 2009 at 8:02 AM
I think there is more boiling, latent anger about the Royals than I have ever seen in the 40 years I've followed them. I am not apathetic, I'm pissed, particularly since any thinking person (like you, for starters) could come up with any number of solutions to the Royals woes with the personnel at-hand at various levels of the organization. The Royals apparently have never heard the old cavalry adage,"if you're backed into a corner and have nowhere else to go, charge, because doing nothing is even worse". I take solace in the fact that this train wreck of a season will usher in some level of change (it has to) and we'll be rid of Dayton Moore and/or Trey Hillman, both of whom need to go, IMHO. My father once told me a life lesson about dealing with, or, having to put up with idiots, "if you're smarter than they are, you'll be around long after they're gone". And that's my attitude about the Royals current situation. I'll still be a fan long after these arrogant clowns are gone. Interestingly, one of the ways that I know the Royals don't get it is by their choices of on-air personnel, save Denny Mathews, who are almost universally bad. Mediocrity knows no bounds and you, yourself have even subtlety pointed out something similar when questioning the competency of the Royals training staff. These issues are really organizationally one and the same and just serve to point out how the Royals are rotten from top to bottom. As the Star opined about this past weekend, in many ways, this will be the most disappointing season in team history for me, but, only because there were very obvious possible solutions at-hand and the Royals, in their infinite wisdom, chose to exercise none of them. For this, the fans and the media, must hold the Royals accountable. After all, we fans are paying the tab, and, in the Royals case, in more ways than one. Words fail me in trying to describe this Royals season in terms that are polite and civil here, but, I will tell you this, I am not apathetic and I believe it's my civic duty to open the window and yell out of it "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more" I urge all fans to speak their minds and with their pocketbooks so that we hasten the day that this nightmare ends.
August 24, 2009 at 9:31 AM
Looking forward to the review on Jeff Bianchi. He seems to be a prospect again.
August 24, 2009 at 9:37 AM
maybe that kid should hit the ganja again.
August 24, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Rany -
Don't sweat not posting all that often. I enjoy reading your work so whether you write every day or once a month, I'll be reading. Thanks to RSS feeds and Google Reader it is easy to keep track of when people have posted new content.
That said, there are a decent number of Royals bloggers, myself included, that still post on a frequent basis. Royals Review, Royals Authority, Royal Reflections, The Pipeline, and (my own site) Kings of Kauffman are still on the Royals beat. There are others and of course Mellinger and Jo-Po are still writing about the Royals as well.
Apathy may have set in amongst fans, but at the heart of things they still remain fans. While many have stopped watching the games, I know from my experience that those people are still reading what others have to say about the team.
For me, I love the Royals, I love baseball and I love to write so I'll be churning content on a near daily basis regardless of how poorly our team is playing.
Bad baseball is still baseball and as such it still merits my attention.
August 24, 2009 at 10:09 AM
I've seen Derrick Robinson a few times this year - can't hit a lick.
Hope it clicks for him but he's got a LONG way to go.
Fast as hell but can't hit.
August 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM
David Glass is punking us as residents of Kansas City. If there are not major changes made in the off season, my baseball viewing will take place in St. Louis and Minneapolis next year.
Maybe Royals fans should start a reverse Minnesota migration, beginning next season and only attend Royals games in Minnesota in order to deny David Glass any more of our money than that he has already parasitically sucked from us already.
August 24, 2009 at 2:28 PM
This has been THE most disappointing season ever..but lets get a bit real--I know its popular to hate on David Glass...but the past 2 years has not been on Mr Glass. In fact, it would be VERY easy to say Glass is the one who has been duped--the Royals payroll could have been $30M this year and not been any worse--and the Glass family has $40M more in their pockets!!
we have $70M payroll--last year we spent the most on the amateur draft in the history of the draft--this year we might spend more.
David Glass in NOT the problem--at least his money is not.
Dayton Moore is THE man--he is responsible for putting together a $70M payroll with $25m worth of players!
Dayton Moore (I am assuming that trey and his "shoot from the hip" managing style will soon be gone) needs to b e looking at his old office space in Atlants--his tenure, while short, has been a complete disaster! He needs to go!!
August 24, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Roy in Omaha, great post. I couldn't agree more.
Bill, You're right. David Glass hasn't been the problem the past two years, Dayton Mooreon has been the problem. However, David Glass will once again become the problem if he doesn't end the abortion that is the Dayton Mooreon era once the season is over.
August 25, 2009 at 7:46 AM
I think getting rid of Moore now would be premature. He has made very poor decisions at the major league level. He has negotiated some terrible contracts. I can write the litany as well as most every fan.
But the major league team may well be the last thing to change. The Royals drafted spectacularly badly for 10-15 years, for all sorts of reasons. You can be competitive on a $70 million payroll, but not without serious infusions of talent from your organization, and we simply don't have it.
So, as grating as the phrase has become, I do think we have to trust the process. The tenure of Moore is not going to be defined by the Guillen and Farnsworth signings, but by the drafts and whether those players pan out to be productive major leaguers. And it simply too soon to make that determination.
I thought this team would be better, and I have been disappointed as much as everyone else. But canning Moore now would just be panicking and would make it even harder to bring in the kind of GM that we need.
But I tell you this - the disappointing seasons that you have reported are making that clock tick a little faster for me.
August 25, 2009 at 8:27 AM
The worst part of it is that the organization itself doesn't seem to give a damn. Show me one sign that they are sick of their situation and want to do whatever it takes to improve the team.
You could maybe point to the money they've spent on the draft, but even there, they tended to select not the best player available, but the best player available that they could afford.
The big trade this season? Yuni? That move alone and GMDM's defense of it was the one thing that sent most Royals fans over the edge.
I'm a life-long fan, season ticket holder, and am addicted to Royals baseball. But this is as bad as it gets.
Roy in Omaha is right. The team sucks. The trainers suck. The broadcasters REALLY, REALLY suck (at least Bob Davis does). The amusement park stadium kinda sucks.
There's nothing about this team that I can get behind right now.
August 25, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Be careful what you wish for...sometimes you get it.
August 25, 2009 at 2:35 PM
When will baseball adopt the promotion and relegation system that European leagues use, so that the Royals can be demoted to Triple-A? I'm sure even this sorry team could play .450 ball in the Pacific Coast League!
August 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM
As much as it pains me to say this, I think Curtis is more right than he's wrong.
I'll preface this by saying that if I wake up tomorrow and the headline says that the Royals had fired Moore and Hillman I would shed no tears. Neither has really done anything at this point to convince me he can be successful at the major league level.
But the reality of the situation is that when Glass hired Moore, he certainly must have bought into his plan. And if the plan was to rebuild the organization from the low minors up, Moore appears to be doing that. Even though the last two first rounders haven't put up good numbers as of yet, the consensus appears to be that the organization is moving in the right direction.
Last night I listened to last week's interview with Moore on WHB. He sounded like a man who knew he had made some mistakes and might have learned from them. It also sounds like some of the moves he made were in anticipation of losing Greinke to free agency and trying to make a run for it while they still had him.
You can't excuse the over $20 million a year in bad contracts. You have to wonder why all the injuries, which includes three guys at AAA who might have spared us some pain: Costa, Shealy, and Lubanski. But one of the reasons the high minors are as thin as they are is the way the Royals drafted during the Baird era (which was surely at Glass's direction) and Moore is the one paying for it.
Trust the process? I'm not quite there yet. But if Moore is shown the door, his successor will inherit a much better situation than Moore found three years ago. I may not make any more financial contributions to the Royals this year, but I remain interested. And I'm sure you'll see me in Surprise in March.
August 25, 2009 at 7:25 PM
This Wednesday, the 26th, I just came back from watching the Royals live, or lifeless would be more accurate. I almost took a nap during the 7th. I agree with you that there is little hope this team will improve next year, and with the multi-year contracts, I think we are stuck with this team unless Mr. Glass wants to eat a lot of dough and then see if any of our minor league players can cut the mustard. It's bad when the thought of next year looks like a repeat of this year.
August 26, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Some words about Greinke's game would be nice.
August 26, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Just found your blog. Nice to know there are other suffering Royals fans to share the misery with. I recorded a parody of "Friends in Low Places" about the Royals. It's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYLqqVczfc
It's called "Royals Lament - Low Places."
New lyrics to sing at The K when Garth comes on. I hope you'll check it out.
August 26, 2009 at 11:02 PM
Days like yesterday (August 26... day game) are now a blessing to me. I have to get up at 4:30 every morning, but I still watch every Royals game that's on FS Kansas City. Earlier in the season, I would curse the days that the Royals had a day game as I would only be able to watch via MLB.com Gameday. But these days, I am happy if there's a day game (or better yet... no game at all). I can get some sleep and I don't have to suffer for 3 hours every night.
Tonight, however, is the beginning of a dreaded west coast series. I will be up until at least midnight! Also going to an Omaha game tonight, so I will double my torture.
August 27, 2009 at 7:23 AM
...but I would like to say that it was worth staying up to see Greinke's game the other night!
August 27, 2009 at 7:27 AM
Discomania is going big time! Joe Po said on his blog that he's doing a column on Disco for Sunday's paper. If this doesn't break your apathy, nothign will.
August 27, 2009 at 1:14 PM
Ray, I may not agree that the play-by-play guys stink, but your point couldn't be more valid. The little things are important, and when an organization mismanages those things, it reflects their overall ineptitude and lack of attention to detail. Case in point, the parking situation at the stadium. It took us a good 20-30 minutes to get into a parking spot at the stadium, only to see a much more practical route that, had we been directed that way, would have taken us maybe 5 minutes.
On an unrelated note, has anyone seen how well Frenchy is hitting with a change of scenery? Seems I remember someone suggesting the Royals take a flyer...
August 27, 2009 at 2:10 PM
I would have committed Seppuku before I would have accepted a trade to the Royals!
August 28, 2009 at 7:19 AM
When you really get to the bottom of what is making the Royals fans turn on Dayton Moore, it has to be this thought : What does it mean if he is not good at drafting talent and/or building an organization from the ground up ?
What does that mean ? It would mean two or three more years of losing (100 loss?) season before he would be relived of his job duties. Blow up the roster as the contracts of Butler, Greinke, and Soria begin to expire and start all over again. The Royals would be no further along as an organization then they are today. Then there would be an additional 3-5 years of losing seasons as fans painfully, passionately wait to see if this next guy is a savior or more of the same. How many losing seasons in a row would that mean ? 20 ?
This is why Royals fans are turning on Dayton Moore in 2009. It's been long enough. At this point a .500 team would get the fan base excited.
I think the Royals made a mistake when Theo Epstein hit the market. They should have outbid to get a guy who has already been in the position and has a track record of sucess. Instead we bet the farm on an assistant in a successful organization. I'd rather have a guy from a team that has already been in the position and has been successful. I think I read on Yahoo two such canidates will be testing their own free agent waters this summer. Unfortunately I don't think the owners are ready to part with Dayton yet. And whenever they ever do, talented canidates with experience might not be available.
Kenneth Shaw, Shawnee, KS
August 28, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Apparently we're the only one's with a problem here.
Dayton to get an extension.
I'm never surprised by how dissappointed I am in choosing the Royals as my team.
August 28, 2009 at 8:40 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
August 29, 2009 at 2:45 PM
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/putkcroyalsdown
August 29, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Greinke with a 1-hit shutout. Anxious to hear comments about his last 2 games.
August 30, 2009 at 5:33 PM
I was there for the shutout. Good view up close down 1st base side. Very few sick pitches until the end. He just moved it all around, mid 60's then mid 90's, lots of high and tight brushbacks (made Sweeney toss his bat backwards on one). He even made 3 stellar fielding plays on his own. Just quick efficient dominance in a 2hr5min game. He took only one batter to a full count, looking like he was just toying with him, then blew him away for the K.
As much as I want to hate the Royals for making me watch the last 24 years of unwatchable baseball, Greinke's enough to keep me interested. Which of course means that they'll trade him away for a career minor leaguer any day now. They've got me trained to expect failure and futility.
August 30, 2009 at 10:51 PM
At least Allard Baird failed with a thousand pounds of monkeys strapped to his back; Dayton Moore is failing with an open checkbook. Ownership's decision in re: the 2014 extension means it's not necessary to genuflect their way. This is still a crime scene.
September 5, 2009 at 11:53 AM