Royals Take First Game Of The Season

What an exciting start to the season! I won't lie, the first thought that went through my head early in the game was "Gil Never receives any run sport." Then Alex Gordon comes to the rescue. Batter by batter, the Royals chipped away timely hits and ended up winning 5-4 in the 11th inning.

Royals Stud of the Game: Leo Nunez (2IP, W, 3K, 1BB, 0.00 ERA)

Royals Bum of the Game: Jose Guillen (0-5, 2K)

Many people will argue that Gordon deserves to be the player of the game (and maybe he does?), but I was very happy the way Nunez was able to shut down the Tigers offense when he the Royals couldn't afford any goof-ups. I always get nervous watching the Royals in extra innings, but Nunez did a great job.

2008 Predictions Are Here!

Well the time has finally come for me to post my pre-season predictions for this 2008 season.

Royals
HR Leader: Alex Gordon (23 HR)
AVG Leader: Billy Butler (.312)
RBI Leader: Billy Butler (97 RBI)
SB Leader: Alex Gordon (17 SB)
Runs Leader: David DeJesus (96 R)

ERA Leader: Zach Greinke (3.94 ERA)
Wins Leader: Zach Greinke (13 W)
Strikeout Leader: Gil Meche (142 K)
Saves Leader: Joakim Soria (31 SV)

Biggest Disapointment: Brian Bannister
Biggest Surprise: Joey Gathright

Best Off-Season Move: Jose Guillen
Worst Off-Season Move: Brett Tomko (is he worth 4 million dollars?)

Team MVP: Alex Gordon
2008 All-Star: Zach Greinke

AL Central Standings
1)Detroit Tigers
2)Cleveland Indians
3)Chicago White Sox
4)Kansas City Royals
5)Minnesota Twins

Royals record: 78-84

Hey I know they aren't the numbers you would like to see, but I'm trying to prevent my love of Royals baseball from influencing my predictions. Even though Guillen isn't listed in any offensive category, I think he will still have solid offensive numbers. Thoughts?

Emil Brown Has Decent Start To Season

As most of you already know, the MLB season started early this morning in Japan. Emil Brown, the former Royal, had an OK debut with the A's. He was 1-for-4 with 1 RBI and a walk. His lone hit was a double. Emil also batted 5th in the lineup.

Over the weekend, the Royals decided that Hochevar was going to start the season in AAA. This kinda surprises me, but according to the KC Star on Monday, he needs a little more "seasoning." While I am not completely surprised by this move, I felt he would have been a better option then the other pitchers trying to make the starting rotation. It now appears Bale will win out the #4 position. I'm not even going to speculate about the #5 spot.

Image Reference: http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2007/09/23/riy8S3LO.jpg

George Brett Impressed With Gathright

If anybody has checked out the KC Star, you would have found an interesting article by Jeffrey Flanagan. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jeffrey_flanagan/story/540511.html Apparently, Out of all the players Brett has seen this spring, he has been most impressed with Joey Gathright. Even Paul Splittorff has noticed a big change this spring. Splittorff claims this is the fastest he has ever seen Joey run. This will only fuel speculation that maybe the Royals should move Teahen to 1st base in order to put Gathright in the lineup daily. George Brett also said that Joey Gathright is the best bunter on the team. I'm sure we'll see lots of Gathright whilte Guillen is serving his suspension.

Next week I'll be posting my predictions for the upcoming season. I'll be gone until Monday, so have a good Easter weekend for those who celebrate it.

What's The Deal With Callaspo?

I just can't seem to figure this guy out. Is he for real, or is he just having a good spring? I took a look at his stats from the past 2 years, and they are not impressive at all (please note that he only played 79 games during that span). But considering he is just 24 years old, maybe he has turned a corner and is ready to take his game to a whole new level? I just don't know? Kansas City already has a decent utililty player in German, so where would Callaspo fit in if he makes the team?

Image reference: kcroyals.com

Nomore Nomo

Nomo is officially out of the running for making the rotation: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/534283.html

Fight Club

With Spring Training nearing an end, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top for the #4 and #5 spot in the rotation. Let's look at possible candidates:

Nomo: 11 IP, 5.73 ERA, 11K, 2BB, 1 HR

I think Nomo has impressed most fans with his quick start, but his momentum has slowed his last few outings. His strikeout to walk ratio is very good. My prediction: Not making rotation

Tomko: 10.2 IP, 10.13 ERA, 7K, 3BB, 2 HR

I WAS actually excited thinking Tomko WOULD be a good candidate for our last rotation spot...yikes!!! My prediction: Not making rotation

Bale: 9 IP, 4.00 ERA, 7K, 1BB, 1 HR

Has looked very solid this spring. I would consider him to be a finalist, but I still don't see him cracking the starting rotation. My prediction: Close but no cigar (i personally think he deserves a spot, but will be a good long relief pitcher instead).

Davies: 9 IP, 4.00 ERA, 5K, 2 BB, 2 HR

Like Bale, I've been happy with his performance. I still think he was a good pickup last season, and feel he will be in the rotation at some point this season...just not to start. My prediction: Eventually cracking rotation

De La Rosa: 8.1 IP, 7.56 ERA, 5K, 6 BB, 1 HR

I would have expected him to be the #4 starter to start spring training...but not very good numbers. I believe his past experience will give him the edge over other deserving candidates for the #5 spot. My prediction: #5 starter...but not for long

Hochevar: 8.0 IP, 2.25 ERA, 3K, 1BB, 0 HR

Strong spring, good numbers, deserving of spot. My prediction: #4 starter for the season

Well there you have it, just my thoughts on how things would stand as of today.

Image reference: kcroyals.com

Butler Makes Top Headline On CBS Sportsline

Just to give heads up to everybody, there is a very good 3-page article about Billy Butler on the main page of CBS Sportsline's website. Here is the link: http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10709857

Central Division Pre-Season Rankings

In anticipation for March Madness, I decided to create a college-like format for my pre-season player rankings in the Central Divsion. I will have my BOLD predictions for the 2008 season posted in about 2 weeks. You can leave feedback if you would make changes to the list.

1st Team All-Central
C-Victor Martinez (CLE)
1B-Justin Morneau (MIN)
2B-Placido Polanco (DET)
3B-Miguel Cabrera (DET)
SS-Edgar Renteria (DET)
OF-Grady Sizemore (CLE)
OF-Delmon Young (MIN)
OF-Magglio Ordonez (DET)
DH- Travis Hafner (CLE)

2nd Team All-Central
C-Joe Mauer (MIN)
1B-Carlos Guilen (DET)
2B-Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE)
3B-Alex Gordon (KC)
SS-Orlando Cabrera (CHI)
OF-Curtis Granderson (DET)
OF-Jermaine Dye (CHI)
OF-Jose Guillen (KC)
DH-Billy Butler (KC)

I Like Big Butler And I Can Not Lie

Billy Butler is a beast (at the plate)!!! Another monster game in Spring Training going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI's. Big Billy also registered his 2nd HR of March and raised his batting average to .400 (Note: he did have a fielding error). I was reading through Athlon Sports Baseball magazine the other day, and they said the following about Butler: "There is no reason to believe he can't be a right-handed Travis Hafner." Since Hafner is a full-time DH, you can take that as being good or bad. If Butler continues to struggle on the field, hopefully his bat will more than make up for the errors he commits.

Image reference: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=3400415

Poll #1 Results

Thanks to everybody who voted. The final tally after 15 votes was:

40% Gil Meche (6 votes)
40% Zack Greinke (6 votes)
13% Joakim Soria (2 votes)
7% Brian Bannister (1 vote)

Question was "Which pitcher will have the best shot at making the 2008 All-Star team?"

And thanks to all who have visited my blog. I didn't expect more than 20 hits after my first 5 days, and instead ended up with 117. I hope you continue to enjoy reading my blogs throughout the season!

And if you choose "Other" for the new poll, please comment as to what your pick would be.

Average Royals Ticket Price Increases 14.9% for 2008

Yikes!!! $23.76 for a Royals ticket?? That's up 14.9% from last year's average of $20.67. Before you poop a brick, realize that Kansas City ranks as the 27th cheapest place to watch a ballgame. Even parking is below the national average. We should consider ourselves lucky that we're not Red Sox fans living in Boston. Have you checked out their ticket prices lately? Ouch!!!

Image reference:
beyondnessofthings.files.wordpress.com

Article reference: http://mlb.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/kc/y2007/m10/d23/c2279672.jsp

This Joey Can Do More Than Jump

In case you haven't heard, Joey Gathright can flat out jump...and in case you need to see it to believe it, here is the 44 second youtube clip of Joey Gathright jumping over a car: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cySfw8f0beg Amazing! What else is amazing is that Gathright has 6 stolen bases in 13 at bats so far in Spring Training. Granted he mostly got those steals against AAA catchers, it is nice to see the new manager set him loose on the basepaths. Last year wasn't a stellar year for him, getting caught nearly 50% of the time. Hopefully he will be able to live up to his base stealing potential and be a nuisance for pitchers whenever he gets on base. However, it will be difficult for Gathright to see any playing time with Teahen, DeJesus, and Guillen playing in the OF.

Image Reference: 2007 fleer card

2008 Promotions

Anybody else excited about this year's promotions?? I personally am looking forward to the powder blue jerseys. Some others that I'm excited about are: Hot Dog T-shirt night (heck ya), Buck nights, and Bobblehead nights. There are some odd promotions that I'm kind of scratching my head over. Santa hats? I guess they will look good during the winter meetings? What is a rally racket? I think a promotion that requires the Royals to be losing in order to appreciate is an odd promotion, however I'm sure I'll be wishing I had one whenever Gil Meche only recieves 1 run of support heading into the 7th inning. What are some of the promotions you are looking (and not looking) forward to?

Image Reference: kcroyals.com

Oakland Royals??

It struck me this morning that many of our former starting players end up in Oakland. Mike MacFarlane, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Mike Sweeney, Emil Brown, etc. In fact Oakland could potentially have 4 former Royals on their 25 man roster to begin the season (Emil Brown, Mike Sweeney, Donnie Murphy, Mark Ellis). Mike Sweeney is iffy, but the way he is swinging the bat in spring training, it will be hard for the A's to not look past him. Feel free to leave a comment if you feel I am missing some players, and I will be sure to add them to the list.

And for the record, I will have a new poll up every tuesday.

Guillen Worth The Money? (Part 2)

I have received some advice regarding the stats from my first blog. As you may have noticed, Emil Brown did not play the entire season, so his numbers are not proportional to Guillens. Here are the career numbers (for 162 game seasons) for a better comparison. Thanks to STL_Royal and ESPN for the numbers.

Guillen:
Years--G--AB--R--2B--3B--HR--RBI--BB--SO--SB--CS--AVG--OBP
7.83--162-573-76-30--3---21--86---31--107--3-- 3--.274--.325

Brown:
Years--G--AB--R--2B--3B--HR--RBI--BB--SO--SB--CS--AVG--OBP
3.82--162-482-65-26--3---12--70---44--105- 13--3--.262--.329

Guillen Worth The Money?

Is a guy who has only reached the 100 RBI plateau once really worth a 3-year $36,000,000 contract? Especially when that guy is in his 30's? Well lets look at last year's stats and compare them to the player he is replacing:

Stat_______Guillen_____Brown_____Production___
AVG ---------.290 ---------.257---------Guillen +12.8%
AB -----------593---------- 366--------- Guillen +62.0%
R ------------ 84----------- 44---------- Guillen +90.9%
HR----------- 23------------6----------- Guillen +383.3%
RBI---------- 99------------62---------- Guillen +59.7%
SB------------5 ------------ 12----------- Brown +240%

Errors-------- 8-------------6------------Brown +2
Assists--------9-------------8----------- Guillen +12.5%
PCT--------- .972--------- .972----------Even

Considering Emil Brown led the Royals in RBI's last year, Guillen is a HUGE upgrade offensivly. Their defensive stats are nearly identical, but that's not where the Royals were hurting last year. Lets not forget that Emil Brown is also 2 years older than Guillen. Perhaps the biggest benefit of signing Guillen is that it shows other MLB players that the Royals are willing to spend money to try and win. Guillen is probably not worth $12M/year, but I'm excited to see how he performs once his suspension ends.