More of less is more…
As May comes to an end the Royals are still in last place with the league’s worst record. Funny, last year’s team ended May in 1st place…although it didn’t last.
Some players are starting to hit better but that’s just not enough.
For example Eric Hosmer is batting .300 but with only five homers thus far. Brandon Moss has nine homers and is showing signs of being a good pick up. Sal Perez has 11 homers and the Moose has 13. Both Moose and Perez have a good shot at breaking the 30 homer mark this season.
However the Royals’ problems include poor relief pitching and allowing too many home runs and walks. And KC’s once scary bullpen has gone flat.
The Royals best starter is Danny Duffy.
Unfortunately, he’s injured and may be out for one to two months. Yikes.
Without Duffy our starting rotation is in trouble.
Frankly it seemed like it was already in trouble.
These just aren’t the same Royals that went to two World Series.
Perez is not throwing out runners and there are too many passed balls behind the plate.
The Royals need a big winning streak – and soon – just to get to .500. And that hasn’t happened in 50 games.
The season’s nearing the one third mark and the Royals continue to lose. The sample size is pretty big now. Is the front office looking to start the trade talks?
There are serious rumors that Boston would like to have 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas.
The three big position players who might be traded before they decide not to resign with KC are Hosmer, Moose and Lorenzo Cain.
And there are others.
The Royals attendance is still decent with an average of 26,000 per game at home – 19th in baseball – not bad for a last place team. We all know the Royals are still benefiting from their World Series win two seasons ago. But if the losing continues the attendance will start falling.
Still parents want their kids to see the former world champs and players like Hosmer and Moose while they’re still with KC.
The team does put it out there, but the results continue to be the same.
Yes, the Royals are now playing .500 ball, but that’s not good enough to contend.
One big losing streak and it’s time for the goodbye tour of the 2014/15 World Series team – what’s left anyway.
So yes, there’s been some improvement. However with core players like Alex Gordon hitting .176 with zero home runs that doesn’t help. The starting pitching was good in April when the Royals couldn’t hit, but now its faded.
Royals fans now wonder:
“Will the 2014/15 seasons be all we will have as the years roll by?”
What’s in store for the immediate future?
It’s very hard to build from the farm system alone.
And Kansas City doesn’t have big money to spend on free agents.
Not only that Kansas City is not a team that big name players are looking to join now that they are not considered a post season unit anymore.
Las Vegas has them at 40-1 – not to win the World Series – but to not win the division. How the mighty have fallen.
Hey, that’s still not a bad bet for say a hundred bucks, huh?
You know, miracles happen.
CG, my threshold is always single digits back at the All-Star break. Personally, I don’t think the boys in blue will clear that hurdle. But, you are correct. They are playing better baseball. If not for the fact that their division just isn’t very strong this year, they could have been 10 or 12 games back at this point.
Most likely, it isn’t going to be their year. I’ll still be watching the bastards every night on my deck, though.
Don’t give up all hope, buddy (Well……not yet)
There is talent on this team, for sure. Young pitchers, some good new players like Whit and Moss, but they just aren’t playing like a team right now. Just not on track. So I don’t see a post season with KC. Likely a fire sale in a month or so…you have to get something for Hosmer, Moose and Cain. I think they will all leave KC if we don’t trade them. Soooo its not a pretty picture right now.
“Royals fans now wonder:”
– as they wander…
“Will the 2014/15 seasons be all we will have as the years roll by?”
– no, fraudroyals will also always have a tainted 1985, or thrice the serendipity in only 3/5 the time as the swiss chiefs aberrations deux 1966 and 1969 (the optimistic slant: swiss will win several more Championships behind their [circa 2017] new future HOF (cough cough) QB, but, that’s another fairy tale for another time/sad ending.)
“attendance is still decent with an average of 26,000 per game at home – 19th in baseball – not bad for a last place team.”
– success like this/$eats in seats, Charlie Finley would rise the ashes return Kansas City (as in ne’er would have not so dearly departed the first place, 50 years ago.)
Of note, the brand spanking new Athletics of 1955 were second to the Yankees AL in attendance, difference a mere some 1,000 per game. Same year, the MLB attendance leader was Milwaukee, leavers their former digs Boston a new ‘home of the Braves’ in 1953. Yet, despite despite never having had a single losing season in Milwaukee – and having won World Championship, abandoned that city less a decade later for Atlanta. In fact, they would’ve left for Atlanta a year earlier had a used car salesman and future MLB Commissioner Bud Selig not sued in court to delay the inevitable, one year.
Why?
http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/01/01/why-milwaukee-lost-the-braves-perspectives-on-law-and-culture-from-a-half-century-later/comment-page-1/
Think it couldn’t happen to you (again), KC?
Of Braves (formerly Milwaukee’s and before theirs Boston’s), Chiefs (formerly Dallas’) and Royals (formerly Athletics by way Philadelphia). Upshot: fraudroyals/swiss chiefs lease ends some 14 years hence, don’t say prescience form Kerouac didn’t warn you.
Just once before they go, would love to see either the football or baseball businesses KC named Chiefs and Royals win a Championship that wasn’t a fluke and fraud, but, an clear case their being ‘superior’ to the rest the competition, like the NFL Packers, MLB Yankees, NBA Celtics & NHL Canadians were, course their peerless dynasties.
Nod Tom Bodett, ‘we’ll leave the lights on for you’ (till they burn out for good.)
🙂
TL/DR
Well, they are 15-13 since their horrible 9 game losing streak so there’s at least that. I hate to see Alex Gordon come up to bat anymore, you just know he’s not going to get a hit or an RBI. KC signed him to that big contract and now he’s just phoning it in. Who would have thought that Alex Gordon would be the one player that brought the Royals down?
Yep another Royals loss last night in a game they led 3-0 early. Our pitching is just getting jacked…too many homers and walks. We lost 6-4. Royals have never come back this season when down late in games. Not good.
Yeah but Yost sat both Moose and Perez for this game which is most of KC’s run production/power..stupid move on his part.
So, KC ends May with a 15-14 record instead of 16-13. Doesn’t sound like much unless you’re a big Royals fan like me.
The unbearable lightness of being… fraudroyals. This may be an historic season for our hapless pro sports teams, Kansas City.
The swiss chiefs are always big disappointments of course, now closing in on half a century of of ‘wait till next year’. 2017, their equally inept baseball cousins could challenging them for paper-bag head rights supremacy.
The 1967 Kansas City Athletics, lame ducks in their final season Kansas City before leaving for the superior confines of Oakland, California/Alameda County Coliseum, were 24-28 aft 52 games.
The 2017 fraudroyals are 22-30 through 52. The 1967 A’s (who played only 161 games due being in a hurry to get out cowtown), went 38-71 rest the way for a 62-99 finish including 30 losses in their final 40 games. As of today, June 2, 2107, fraudroyals will have to finish with an mark of 41-68 or better to not end worse than their baseball forefathers.
It’s gonna be close.
🙂
It’s hard to tell what Dayton and Glass are going to do with KC’s core players Cain, Hosmer, Moose, and Escobar. I guess Escobar is the easy decision first, his BA is under .200 so it’s easy to let him go. I guess with the other 3 you gotta consider letting them go via free agency because all three might do a “Gordon” and become the worst active baseball players in the league.
Can you believe that? Alex freaking Gordon is statistically the worst baseball player in the major leagues!
1. Escobar – Do not re-sign
2. Hosmer – His agent is asking for huge bucks. Do not re-sign
3. Cain – Loveable speedy player who’s skills are declining due to his age(31). Re-sign only if he’s cheap, which is possible.
4. Moose – Awesome defense and above average power. Can’t hit vs. leftys AT ALL. It would be nice to get 3 more years out of him. Re-sign only if he’s cheap, which is unlikely.
KC seems to have a steady pipeline of young pitchers. Replacing these 4 guys is hard but not impossible. If Mondesi and Bubba Starling can prove to be major leaguers or if we can get 2-3 more Whitfields we might be able to compete again in 2-3 years. Everything is not gloom and doom, especially since we did win a World Series 2 years ago and the KC fanbase is back to being pretty strong for the first time in 25 years.
the royals lasted 3 solid years. Moore has to rebuild based on theos theory.
trump will last maybe 6 months. Mueller has trump set up for the big crash
and putin has given up on any help from his little friend and will dump
everything on trump in the end.
The moral of the story….. in baseball 3 years is an eternity. In politics…3 months
is an eternity.
LOCK HIM UP!
Royals now have starting pitching issues to boot. Only Jason Vargas has a nice winning record but he too has been slipping a bit, 7-3 record, nice. Kennedy is 0-6 and Jason Hammel is 2-6 both with poor ERA’S…the Royals are now playing .500 ball and can stay there most of the season. They just don’t have the line up to go deep anymore. Hosmer is most of the excitement on offense, he bats over .300 but has only 5 homers and often in game situations ‘doesn’t’ come through. Sal,Moose,Moss all have some nice power…so does Whit now…but its not enough to balance an overall just average offense.
It’ll be interesting to see how we do in this 4 game home-stand vs. the super hot Astros. Even if we lose all 4 it could make us a better team, who knows?
Ned Yost finally sent a couple of messages last night. He had Merrifield take over LF, moved Cuthbert to 3rd, and had Moose fill in as DH. Fortunately KC got lucky and Kuechel had to sit this one out and we got a bunch of runs early and held on to the V at the end.
The messages? 1. Gordon, you and your 74 million dollars need to start hitting..and 2. We ain’t done yet, don’t count us out..you get the drift lol.