A raft of stories to grab onto as we near ever closer to the start of Spring Training. Positives and negatives included below. It's hard not to feel the enthusiasm.
Beyond our Royals, there's talk of the Cubs playing at the Cell, a look at the young Tribe, and a strange move by Billy Beane.
Royals:
Baseball:
Grab Bag:
0 recs | 56 comments
i demand you read all these stories
Freneau - February 20, 2012
this is why i wish i was british
Freneau - February 20, 2012
That is all kinds of cool.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
I wonder what sort of response he got from the audience
Hot, cold or just right.
thelaundry - February 20, 2012
Well done.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
A green for you, sir
sterlingice - February 20, 2012
Is there a reason why the UK still clings to these areas that don't seem to want to be part of the British empire anymore?
RoyalsRetro - February 20, 2012
Strategic commodities like porridge
And North Sea oil.
maguro - February 20, 2012 via mobile
Apart from Northand Ireland
mostly economic
labbadabba - February 21, 2012
Awesome!
sterlingice - February 20, 2012
Good interviews with Danny Duffy and Luke Hochevar.
http://www.610sports.com/Audio—Royals-Spring-Training/12323388
Danny Duffy is optimistic. Luke Hochevar says “Y’know” a lot.
Jack Marsh - February 20, 2012
Ya knoow
tiquanunderwear - February 20, 2012
It's literally unbelievable that he says it that much.
I don’t get it.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
It makes it hard to listen to
tiquanunderwear - February 20, 2012
Duffy has some good things to say.
It seems like he’s getting it. He isn’t afraid to say he has good stuff, but understands his control issues. The mental part of the game is talked about too often, but I am glad that Duffy understands his strengths and weakness, and that he has done something in the offseason to get better. We’ll see if it works.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
I am bullish on a good season from him
Like 4.30 ERA or so in 120 IP.
RoyalsRetro - February 20, 2012
The Problems I
Saw Duffy have should be corrigible, especially for a pitcher his age, I hop we get 150+ innings from him.
philofthenorth - February 20, 2012
OT - but I figured this thread wouldn't be a bad spot.
From a chat with ESPN Fantasy writer AJ Mass on Feb. 16:
I think he may have missed something.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
By the way...
Does anybody else read ESPN fantasy columns on occasion? I think I’m going to stop. Their fantasy staff doesn’t seem competent sometimes. Like the example from the AJ Mass chat I just posted: Is it really that difficult to understand how a bad defense could bloat a pitcher’s ERA? The official scorer isn’t giving Miggy Cabrera an error when he doesn’t get within 5 feet of the ball. Another example is their rankings. If you sort their rankings by position, and click on DH, you’ll find that they include Michael Young. Okay. Except they rank Michael Young higher (better) than Billy Butler. What?! Then you look at the fantasy stats from 2011. Then you look at their projected stats for 2012 – and Billy is better in almost every one. wtf
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
I don't
but I dont play fantasy and am even worse
Freneau - February 20, 2012
What do you mean?
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
young 338 11 106 88 6
butler 291 19 95 74 2
now, which fantasy categories was butler better than young in again? 1 out of 5?
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
and the projections slightly favor MY
8 more runs, 4 more steals, 4 less homers and 2 less RBIs
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
fucking espn big market bias
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
Projections are in favor of Billy.
Not sure how you reach the opposite conclusion.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
4 more homers and 2 more rbis
versus 8 more runs and steals….those are in no way in favor of billy….they’re essentially the same but if not, they’re in favor of MY
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
I think they are considering the home runs are more important
I’ll admit I probably looked at the projections and also thought about how stupid they were. Billy’s batting average is projected to be higher also, and probably with more at-bats.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
im learning so much 298>298
argue that the projections arent good all you want…but arguing that their projections favor billy is absurd
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
Was the BA the same?
I thought Billy was projected higher with more at-bats. Oh well – in that case, the projections suck. Although Young’s ADP is 71 while Billy’s is 120. I guess everyone else is wrong, and I’m right. Not uncommon.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
Doesn’t position eligibility play into a fantasy player’s value? Young is more flexible and can play some positions where good numbers are more scarce.
Scott McKinney - February 20, 2012
Young should compared to hitters in the the scarest position he is qualified at (positional adjustment).
He will probably compare decently to 2B or 3B. If you need more details, I can go into it.
Jeff Zimmerman - February 20, 2012
I steer clear of the baseball stuff because I get what I need elsewhere...
but for football Tristan Cockcroft & Matt Berry & Nat Ravich are fine for me…even though Matt Berry must be taken in small doses
PhattStairs - February 20, 2012
I feel like I have to read it because my competition is reading it...
then I go to the third party sites and do the real research
PhattStairs - February 20, 2012
OT - Funniest person on Twitter
Go.
RoyalsRetro - February 20, 2012
@KellyOxford
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
HLMenckenBot
Nighthawk at the Diner - February 20, 2012
Don't see it.
hawkinscm87 - February 20, 2012
it's subtle
Nighthawk at the Diner - February 20, 2012
@meganamram
Or @borkowitzreport
RoyalsRetro - February 20, 2012
gselevator
billybeingbilly - February 20, 2012
Summer Camp Mitch
Needs to start tweeting.
Tracer Bullet 82 - February 20, 2012 via mobile
Alec Sulkin
@TheSulk
JKWard - February 20, 2012
@jasonmustian & @Headkutter
PhattStairs - February 20, 2012
forgot about...
@MarylandMudflap
PhattStairs - February 21, 2012
robdelany
and it’s not even close
Old Man Duggan - February 21, 2012
Do enjoy him as well
RoyalsRetro - February 21, 2012
He's the only person I know of who's getting a pilot based almost entirely upon how funny he is on Twitter.
Old Man Duggan - February 22, 2012
Shit My Dad Says?
Warden11 - February 23, 2012
I said "how funny he is"
Shit My Dad Says is about someone else being old and crazy, not about the Tweeter actually being funny himself.
Old Man Duggan - February 24, 2012
Ah, gotcha.
Warden11 - February 24, 2012
Depressing Baseball Stat of the Day?
Top 10 in Wins By Royals Draftee Since 1990
131 Lieber
76 Greinke
67 Rusch
57 Bankhead
38 Durbin
37 Rosado
35 Affeldt
30 Hochevar
26 Simontacchi
24 Rupe
sterlingice - February 20, 2012
Some Thoughts on It
-Put together by someone on a message board I frequent, so not my work
-Zack will be at the top of this list in the next few years, hopefully. He’s a legit KC Royal and prospect and will one day be in the Royals HOF, I suspect.
-0 of Jon Lieber’s wins came with the Royals
-I wish Joe Pink (Jose Rosado) had a more healthy arm
-I wish Jeremy Affeldt would have solved the blister problems sooner
-Who is Jason Simontacchi?
-Ryan Rupe and Scott Bankhead were Royals draftees?
-Wow, what a depressing list :(
WAIT: I botched this. Bankhead was drafted in 1984 (I was pulling off a list from 1980 forward):
That means #10 is 23 Matt Guerrier (minors)
sterlingice - February 20, 2012
Rupe was a DRays draftee
Scott McKinney - February 20, 2012
I thought so
But I wonder if it was one of those where the Royals drafted him one year and he chose to stay in school or something like that.
Could also just be a typo…
sterlingice - February 20, 2012
Rupe and Simontacci
Both drafted by the Royals, but I don’t think either signed.
RoyalsRetro - February 20, 2012
Yeah, the same way Hochevar was a Dodgers draftee.
Scott McKinney - February 20, 2012
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