Kansas City Royals

Don't look now, but the Kansas City Royals appear to be capable of playing completely mediocre baseball. The team lost 4-3 to the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, their third straight one-run loss at the O.co Coliseum. The Royals have now been swept in two of their last three series, and have gone 3-9 in their last 12 games. The Royals offense didn't look completely inept today, as they managed to score three runs. Alex Gordon led the offense with four hit performance, driving in a run in the third and scoring a run in the fifth. Eric Hosmer, Chris Getz and Billy Butler all had mutli-hit games. The offense continued to show some improvements with plate discipline, drawing four walks to compliment the teams 11 hits. The team stranded 12 runners today, unable to pick up timely hits or hit for enough power to drive in multiple runners when they did hit with runners on. Luis Mendoza had a perfectly acceptable performance for a fifth starter, allowing two runs on eight hits over six innings. Mendoza struck out four, walked none, and left the game with the lead despite some more questionable run support. I'll take that kind of start from Mendoza every time. The Athletics picked up an unearned run in the seventh. Derek Norris hit a single to centerfield, but reached third base when David Lough misplayed the ball. Coco Crisp drove with a sacrifice fly to even the score. Yoenis Cespedes smacked a leadoff homer off Kelvin Herrera at the start of the eighth inning to give the Athletics their fourth and final run of the game. Herrera has now surrendered 8 home runs over 19 1/3 innings. The Royals threatened to score with two outs in the ninth, as Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer hit back-to-back singles off Ryan Cook. Mike Moustakas ended the game with a groundout to second, lowering his triple slash line to .178/.252/.311. The loss pushed the Royals to 20-20 on the season, and are closer in the standings to the last place Chicago White Sox than the first place Cleveland Indians. There is still plenty of time to turn things around, but some things need to change.

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Every now and then I think about my fandom. This isn’t a crisis of confidence, but more of my assessment of where things stand. I started the year trying to be less reactionary to how the Royals performed. Daniel Wesley on Twitter characterized a lot of reactions to Royals games by describing wins as parades and losses as meltdowns. I think that’s apt, as I recall the Royals losing two games in Chicago and many Royals fans reacting as if the sky was falling. Later, the Royals were 17-10 and another group (with some overlap) was ready to put down playoff ticket deposits. May 17, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Billy Butler (16) throws his bat after popping out against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning at O.Co Coliseum. The Oakland Athletics defeated the Kansas City Royals 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports I’ve been able to stay out of those swings for the most part. That doesn’t mean I’m not invested in the games or the results, but I think the teeth-gnashing, end-of-the-world goes too far, and I think the “we won’t lose again” crowd goes too far the other way. Teams lose games. Teams lose games they should have won. This happens every year, to every team, ever. But the last two games are testing my patience. The Royals invested heavily in this season. They added $12 million in payroll in snagging Ervin Santana from the Angels, a move that really shouldn’t have had long-term implications attached to it. The Royals didn’t get him with the idea of extending him (or I don’t think they had). They signed Jeremy Guthrie to a three-year deal, a pretty good move for this year (at just $5 million) but with two extra years. Then they made the big move, trading their top prospect (Wil Myers), a former top prospect (Mike Montgomery), and another darn good prospect (Jake Odorizzi) for James Shields and Wade Davis. All three pitchers have been as advertised or better. Shields has pitched like the Ace Dayton Moore claimed him to be at the time of the trade. Santana has surprised just about everyone. Guthrie has been solid. And over the last two games, Shields and Santana were great with the exception of a couple of batters. And the frustration comes from the fact that they shouldn’t have to fear one or two mistakes making the difference in the game. If fans are this frustrated, I can’t imagine what they feel, even if they’d never say anything. I’ve talked about Shields’s lack of run support before, but Santana has seen his team score 21 runs in his eight starts. Over his last three, he’s taken the loss after the Royals scored just three runs. Then just two runs. And last night just one. This after the Royals had put up only one run in Shields’s start at Oakland. They both lost 2-1. Basically, if Shields or Santana give up three or more runs lately, the Royals are likely to lose (even though, oddly, the Royals have won  a game when he’d given up four runs and three runs). That falls on the offense. Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, and Salvador Perez have been good. Alcides Escobar started out hitting, and hasn’t lately. Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas are lost (and I think I’ve been among the more patient in regards to both of them). Billy Butler is making his way back. Right field and second base are pits. The Royals biggest offensive acquisition was Miguel Tejada, who hadn’t even played in the majors in 2012. They’ve shown some signs. In Baltimore they got some homers. Against the Angels, they showed more patience. But those are exceptions, not trends. They’re last in homers. They’re last in walks. So if they aren’t putting together a bunch of singles, they aren’t scoring. And despite all of that, they’re still 20-19 going into Sunday’s game. It feels strange to be a game above .500 and feel like the bottom is going

1983 TOPPS #52 ONIX CONCEPCION - Beckett Value: $.15 Photo: 5/10 How am I supposed to judge the photo when there's two photos!?! Here's how I did it. I gave the action photo a fat ZERO and the mini photo in the bottom left a fat TEN. The action photo really isn't that bad and would probably be given a pretty high score if it was shot with today's cameras, but the low quality brings it way down. We can clearly see Onix's bushy hair sticking out of the helmet and his glistening forearms, but the only people in the crowd look like off-duty extras from Poltergeist. I gave the small portrait a high score for many reasons. First of all, how can you NOT reward that smile? Second of all, it's no coincidence that Return of the Jedi also came out it 1983... Onix Concepcion or Onix Calrissian? You be the judge. Design: 5/10 I like the intent behind this design. We get an action shot plus a portrait with a simple border. It would have been perfectly acceptable if not for the addition of purple. No baseball item should ever involve the color purple, especially when the team has never included it in any logo or uniform. This isn't a hate on any specific team, it's just a stupid color. Card Back: 4/10 Bleh. I doubt you even read the back of the card. I know I barely did. Talk about boring! Don't get me wrong, the design is mostly okay but there's nothing here to catch my attention. Cards were SOOOO mass-produced in the 1980's that Topps, Donruss and Fleer seemed to implement the unwritten rule that if they couldn't throw it together in 15 minutes, then it was overdone. Something caught me off guard here. Onix lived it up in Florida bouncing between Single A Ft. Myers and AA Jacksonville before an odd trip across the country to Bakersfield, California in 1979. Does anyone remember the Royals having an affiliate in Bakersfield? I didn't either so I did some quick research and found out that no one had an affiliate there. The Bakersfield Outlaws were an independent team playing an the otherwise affiliated Single A California League. After reading up on the Outlaws I learned that they were shit. I mean reallllly bad. In 1978 the team allowed 7.84 runs per game. The '79 team wasn't much better. I'm curious to know if Onix was sold to Bakersfield for the season or if the Royals could have somehow assigned him? In other words, did they retain his rights? Does anyone know how a relationship like that would have worked? Overall Score: 4.5/10 Concepcion's 1983 Season: Most Royals fans do remember Concepcion fondly for his fun name and few highlights, not to mention that he played for some damn good teams. A quick look at his numbers shows that he was pretty much terrible. He spent the entire 1983 season with the Royals but failed to make much of an impact over his 240 PA. His triple slash was .242/.282/.320 for a -.4 WAR. Onix's true value came from his versatility in the infield, splitting nearly equal time between 3B, SS and 2B. In true spork fashion, he wasn't very good at any of them. Nonetheless, Onix, we salute you for your badass name and your glorious head of hair. 5/18/19 A New Lough 1983 TOPPS #52 ONIX CONCEPCION - Beckett Value: $.15 Photo: 5/10 How am I supposed to judge the photo when there's two photos!?! Here's how I did it. I gave the action photo a fat ZERO and the mini photo in the bottom left a fat TEN. The action photo really isn't that bad and would probably be given a pretty high score if it was shot with today's cameras, but the low quality brings it way down. We can clearly see Onix's bushy hair sticking out of the helmet and his glistening forearms, but the only people in the crowd look like off-duty extras from Poltergeist. I gave the small portrait a high score for many reasons. First of all, how can you NOT reward that smile? Second of all, it's no coincidence that Return of the Jedi also came out it 1983... Onix Concepcion or Onix Calrissian? You be the judge. Des

1983 TOPPS #52 ONIX CONCEPCION - Beckett Value: $.15 Photo: 5/10 How am I supposed to judge the photo when there's two photos!?! Here's how I did it. I gave the action photo a fat ZERO and the mini photo in the bottom left a fat TEN. The action photo really isn't that bad and would probably be given a pretty high score if it was shot with today's cameras, but the low quality brings it way down. We can clearly see Onix's bushy hair sticking out of the helmet and his glistening forearms, but the only people in the crowd look like off-duty extras from Poltergeist. I gave the small portrait a high score for many reasons. First of all, how can you NOT reward that smile? Second of all, it's no coincidence that Return of the Jedi also came out it 1983... Onix Concepcion or Onix Calrissian? You be the judge. Design: 5/10 I like the intent behind this design. We get an action shot plus a portrait with a simple border. It would have been perfectly acceptable if not for the addition of purple. No baseball item should ever involve the color purple, especially when the team has never included it in any logo or uniform. This isn't a hate on any specific team, it's just a stupid color. Card Back: 4/10 Bleh. I doubt you even read the back of the card. I know I barely did. Talk about boring! Don't get me wrong, the design is mostly okay but there's nothing here to catch my attention. Cards were SOOOO mass-produced in the 1980's that Topps, Donruss and Fleer seemed to implement the unwritten rule that if they couldn't throw it together in 15 minutes, then it was overdone. Something caught me off guard here. Onix lived it up in Florida bouncing between Single A Ft. Myers and AA Jacksonville before an odd trip across the country to Bakersfield, California in 1979. Does anyone remember the Royals having an affiliate in Bakersfield? I didn't either so I did some quick research and found out that no one had an affiliate there. The Bakersfield Outlaws were an independent team playing an the otherwise affiliated Single A California League. After reading up on the Outlaws I learned that they were shit. I mean reallllly bad. In 1978 the team allowed 7.84 runs per game. The '79 team wasn't much better. I'm curious to know if Onix was sold to Bakersfield for the season or if the Royals could have somehow assigned him? In other words, did they retain his rights? Does anyone know how a relationship like that would have worked? Overall Score: 4.5/10 Concepcion's 1983 Season: Most Royals fans do remember Concepcion fondly for his fun name and few highlights, not to mention that he played for some damn good teams. A quick look at this numbers shows that he was pretty much terrible. He spent the entire 1983 season with the Royals but failed to make much of an impact over his 240 PA. His triple slash was .242/.282/.320 for a -.4 WAR. Onix's true value came from his versatility in the infield, splitting nearly equal time between 3B, SS and 2B. In true spork fashion, he wasn't very good at any of them. Nonetheless, Onix, we salute you for you badass name and your glorious curly hair. 1983 TOPPS #52 ONIX CONCEPCION - Beckett Value: $.15 Photo: 5/10 How am I supposed to judge the photo when there's two photos!?! Here's how I did it. I gave the action photo a fat ZERO and the mini photo in the bottom left a fat TEN. The action photo really isn't that bad and would probably be given a pretty high score if it was shot with today's cameras, but the low quality brings it way down. We can clearly see Onix's bushy hair sticking out of the helmet and his glistening forearms, but the only people in the crowd look like off-duty extras from Poltergeist. I gave the small portrait a high score for many reasons. First of all, how can you NOT reward that smile? Second of all, it's no coincidence that Return of the Jedi also came out it 1983... Onix Concepcion or Onix Calrissian? You be the judge. Design: 5/10 I li

Tough night for singer.

Buddy Baumann (LHP-25): Activated from the DL and assigned to NWA from Omaha on 5/12. Then promoted to Omaha on 5/18. He's pitched 6 innings of scoreless ball between two. David Lough (OF-27): Promoted from Omaha to Kansas City on 5/17. He was hitting .340/.393/.477 at Omaha. Blaine Boyer (RHP-31): Exercised an out clause in his contract on 5/17 so he could go play in Japan. In 13 games in Omaha he was 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA Atahualpa Severino (LHP-Omaha-26): Activated from the 7-day DL on 5/17. In 4 games this seasons he is 0-0 with a 4.26 ERA Alex Llanos (OF-22): Demoted from NWA to Wilmington on 5/16. In 9 games at NWA he was hitting .194/.219/.226. Brett Eibner (OF-NWA-24): Activated from the DL on 5/16. In 23 games this year at NWA he is hitting .233/.323/.372. Carlo Testa (OF-NWA-26): Activated from the DL on 5/18. Last year in his 113 games at NWA he hit .245/.320/.434 Murray Watts (1B-Wilmington-25): Released on 5/12. In 4 seasons (272 games) in the organization between Rookie, A and High A he hit .229/.336/.420 with 44 HRs. Watts was drafted by the Royals in the 28th round of the 2010 Amateur Draft. He was immediately signed by the Independent League Long Island Ducks. Chris Elder (OF-Wilmington-24): Activated from the 7-day DL on 5/12. In 10 games this he is hitting .176/.222/.265 with 0 HR. Tyler Chism (OF-24): Assigned to Wilmington from Idaho Falls. Chism hasn't played since 2011 in Idaho Falls where he hit .265/.355/.415 with 8 HR and 8 SB in 65 games. Buddy Baumann (LHP-25): Activated from the DL and assigned to NWA from Omaha on 5/12. Then promoted to Omaha on 5/18. He's pitched 6 innings of scoreless ball between two. David Lough (OF-27): Promoted from Omaha to Kansas City on 5/17. He was hitting .340/.393/.477 at Omaha. Blaine Boyer (RHP-31): Exercised an out clause in his contract on 5/17 so he could go play in Japan. In 13 games in Omaha he was 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA Atahualpa Severino (LHP-Omaha-26): Activated from the 7-day DL on 5/17. In 4 games this seasons he is 0-0 with a 4.26 ERA Alex Llanos (OF-22): Demoted from NWA to Wilmington on 5/16. In 9 games at NWA he was hitting .194/.219/.226. Brett Eibner (OF-NWA-24): Activated from the DL on 5/16. In 23 games this year at NWA he is hitting .233/.323/.372. Carlo Testa (OF-NWA-26): Activated from the DL on 5/18. Last year in his 113 games at NWA he hit .245/.320/.434 Murray Watts (1B-Wilmington-25): Released on 5/12. In 4 seasons (272 games) in the organization between Rookie, A and High A he hit .229/.336/.420 with 44 HRs. Watts was drafted by the Royals in the 28th round of the 2010 Amateur Draft. He was immediately signed by the Independent League Long Island Ducks. Chris Elder (OF-Wilmington-24): Activated from the 7-day DL on 5/12. In 10 games this he is hitting .176/.222/.265 with 0 HR. Tyler Chism (OF-24): Assigned to Wilmington from Idaho Falls. Chism hasn't played since 2011 in Idaho Falls where he hit .265/.355/.415 with 8 HR and 8 SB in 65 games.

The Kansas City Royals hope to avoid being swept by the Oakland Athletics today, as a loss would push the team to .500 at the 40 game mark of the season. Luis Mendoza, who is probably not your definition of a slumpbutser, takes the mound for the Royals this afternoon. Mendoza's 6.00 ERA after five starts this season isn't nearly as beautiful as the right-hander's hair, but his peripherals suggest that Mendoza is the same pitcher as last season. Mendoza is striking out a few more hitters, but also waking a few more, making his K/BB ratio essentially the same as his 2012 K/BB. He' still forcing groundouts at an above average rate. Mendoza posted a 4.36 xFIP last season, and has a 4.07 xFIP this season. He's still pitching at an acceptable level for a team's fifth starter. The 29-year-old has struggled/been the victim of bad luck with runners on base, as his LOB% is 51%; Mendoza is stranding 21% less runners this season than last season, which leads to the higher number of runs allowed. Expect Mendoza's LOB% to start increasing back towards league average, which should cause his ERA to decrease. A.J. Griffin has a fairly spectacularly 3.22 ERA through his first 134 innings pitched in the major leagues, but there is reason to suspect that Sunday's starting pitcher for the Athletics is a back of the rotation starter. The right-hander throws a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. He is not a power pitcher, as the average velocity on his fastball is 89 mph. Griffin does get good movement on his offspeed pitches and changes speeds quite well, especially on his curveball. The average velocity on his curveball is 68 mph, making it his best strikeout pitch. Griffin's strikeout and walk numbers are essentially average; he strikes out 2% less hitters than a league average pitcher, but also issues 2% less walks. Griffin, like Tommy Milone, is a flyball pitcher who has done a good job keeping his HR/FB rate in check. The 25-year-old owns a career xFIP of 4.11, perfectly acceptable for a back of the rotation starter. Griffin has managed to post an ERA almost a full run lower than his xFIP by stranding 79.4% of runners in his career, and allowing a BABIP of .262. Even if Griffin is pitching a bit over his head, he's still a useful arm for the A's. Given the the Royals offensive performance of late, he seems like a good candidate continue his success.

Boom. Pow.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Tommy Milone threw more than 50 pitches before recording the first out of the second inning, and Oakland manager Bob Melvin wasn’t sure how much longer his starter would last. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Kansas City Royals News