Okay, max, I started it. The forum is open to EVERYONE - Royals fans and foes alike who have an opinion to share.

After disappearing into a black abyss for two decades, they came back strong under Tony Pena and made a strong bid for the AL Central crown, before they 1) wore down and 2) lost too many starters due to injury.

This year hopes and expectations are much higher than last year, retaining a nucleus of key players, adding depth, the improved health of Mike Sweeney and several pitchers are primary reasons why.

Here's a list of some of the players who either joined the Royals late last year or were acquired in the offseason:

LHP Brian Anderson
RHP Kevin Appier
RHP Curtis Leskanic
RHP Scott Sullivan (from the White Sox)
C Benito Santiago
C Kelly Stinnett
OF Juan Gonzalez
2B Tony Graffanino (from the White Sox)
OF/1B Matt Stairs

The only real loss was OF Raul Ibanez.

It's not strictly what you do in the offseason. It's what you do in the offseason relative to your primary opposition. They look like they're moving up the charts relative to the rest of their peer group, the American League Central. There is no denying that the two AL Central clubs that finished ahead of them last season, the Twins and the White Sox, have both suffered net personnel losses in the offseason.

Are they one of the best teams in baseball? Probably not. A division winner? Quite possibly. And we all know that once you're in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Get ready for Krispy Kreme heaven at The K!

I've been along time fan of the Royals for as long as I can remember...I learned to be a Yankee hater back in the later 70's early 80's...LOL I grew up idolizing George Brett...I remember cheering for guys like Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas, Freddie Patek, Paul Splitorff, and Dennis Leonard...It's nice to see that they are turning the corner & becoming a serious contender again. Go Royals...I believe they picked up Greg Swindell the other day too?

Yay, a Royals thread! Okay, I'll do my best to temper my posting, at least until the season starts.

I mentioned in another thread that there is a definite buzz in the air in KC surrounding the Royals. Season ticket sales and 21-game package sales are doing so well that they aren't selling individiual tickets for the home opener; you have to buy a package deal to go to that game (which is a sore point for a lot of guys who had a tradition of standing in line to buy opening day tickets for their family). Individual game tickets go on sale this Saturday, and they are anticipating a huge demand.

We are buying tickets to six of the high-demand games on the first day of sales, including the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, and Angels. We'll wait to see what our schedule allows before buying tickets for other games.

As you mentioned, coyoteugly, the offseason acqusitions really bolstered the roster, probably giving us the advantage over the rest of the AL Central. Pitching is still a concern. A biggie. Anderson and Ape should help, but they and the others gotta stay healthy and injury-free. Benito Santiago - love the guy, and he's in great shape, but... a 38-year-old at catcher? I'm hopeful, but geez, I'm 39 and my knees hurt just thinking about being a catcher. And then of course there's... Juan Gone.

Looking forward to the season! I'm reading up about other teams and players to better my knowledge of all things baseball, so I'll enjoy the season all that much more. Maybe I'll be able to contribute more than "Go Royals" this year.

[ February 25, 2004, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

I don't pay much attention to teams other than the Angels until the season, so how did the other teams in the division do in terms of improving their chances?

I don't remember hearing anything from the Sox camp (Colon's with the Angels, and that little Nomar thng fell through)

Pierzynski's gone from the Twins as well as Hawkins and Guardado. So in the R's cas ealmost standing pat was as good as it gets.

If Cleveland's young talent gets it together I think they could be a threat.

As for the ROyals themselves, due to the small market stuff you hear, I've developed a soft spot for em.

Chicago White Sox

Key Losses: RHP Tom Gordon (signed with Yankees); RHP Bartolo Colon (signed with Anaheim); OF Carl Everett (signed with Montreal); 2B Roberto Alomar (signed with Arizona)

Key Additions: RHP Shingo Takatsu (1 year, $1 million); RHP Cliff Politte (1 year, $800,000); INF Juan Uribe (via trade w/Colorado)

Minnesota Twins

Key Losses: RHP Troy Hawkins (signed w/Cubs); LHP Eddie Guardado (signed w/Seattle); INF Denny Hocking (signed w/Colorado); LHP Kenny Rogers (signed w/Texas); C A.J. Pierzynski (traded to San Francisco); LHP Eric Milton (traded to Philadelphia); OF Dustan Mohr (traded to San Francisco)

Key Additions: C Henry Blanco (1 year, terms undisclosed); RHP Joe Nathan (acquired via trade w/San Francisco)


If the Royals, White Sox, and Twins are in it until the end, I am a bit miffed at the schedule maker. While we play the Sox in a couple of series in late September, but the last game with the Twins is September 5th. Would like to see them head to head closer to the end of the season.

Also, ESPN has not scheduled the Royals for any national Sunday Night games this year (although FOX has scheduled them for a couple of regional Saturday telecasts), which is a sign of a lack of respect.

So, assuming Affeldt has solved his blister problem with the partial removal of the fingernail, the top three starters in the rotation are lefties:

Brian Anderson
Darrel May
Jeremy Affeldt

Who fills the final two spots in the rotation, Appier, Asencio, Gobble, or Greinke?

If Gobble wins a spot, that's another lefty. I'm not comfortable having 4 lefty starters. Hopefully Appier and Asencio come back healthy and strong enough to earn spots.

I think Ape and Ascencio are the lead candidates, for the reason you mentioned.

Grienke (damn, what a cutie) is so young. I can't wait to hear some reports on him from spring training; maybe he can pull it off.

And Gobble - If he plays much this year I'm cancelling my subscription to the KC Star. Stop with the stupid headlines already! "Gobble Gobble!", "Jimmy Gobbles up the Tigers", etc.

The best sports headline ever was in the Long Beach Press-Telegram when Michael Irvin walked out of a Cowboys team meeting run by Barry Switzer: BS Talks, Irvin Walks. Beat THAT KC Star!

It is great to see the Royal get some attention! After years of suffering, I am ready to see them make a run for the title! Poeple are actually excited about the Royals again here in KC, and I cant wait to go to as many games as I can and I hope I can get alot of Krispy Kreams! LOL

Our Royals appear to be going into opening day with a 4-man, ALL LEFTY rotation! Is this uncommon? I know the all-lefty approach is unusual, but a 4-man rotation instead of 5? Educate me Outsports guys (seriously); don't most teams always have a 5-man rotation?

From the R's website, looks like it will be Affeldt, Anderson, Gobble and May: "The Royals hope to stick with this quartet through much of April. A fifth starter, when necessary, will be a swingman from the bullpen."

From the bullpen? What about Greinke? Many articles have been published on the website and in the KC Star about the 20-year-old cutie pie int the past few weeks. Publicly, the team is downplaying is performance in Spring Training, and despite his calm, cool, mature approach, it appears he's set to start the season at the Double-A Wichita team, with the excuse that he may not be mentally ready for the majors.

Affeldt appears, at this time, to have overcome his blister problem. On the other hand, one of the local TV stations is reporting that Juan Gonzalez seems to be having recurring problems from last season's calf injury. frown

Hi max,

It's not unusual to start the season with a 4 man rotation due to the high number of off days in April.

When a fifth starter is needed, hopefully Appier is back from his injury.

If Affeldt has solved his blister problems, and late relief in the bullpen is solid, we could be looking at a potential Cy Youing winner. His stuff is that good.

I hopefully will get to another spring game here (in this freakin 90 degree heat) in the next day or two, so I will check out Gonzalez then. We definitely live in baseball heaven here in Phoenix, with games all over the place!

Okay, are there any other Royals fans out there who are concerned about reliever Mike MacDougal?

A stomach virus and he hasn't thrown a pitch in 10 days?

This just seems too fishy to me.

The Royals have lost another young pitcher for the season. Miguel Asencio, a 23-year-old right-hander, is to have season-ending ligament transplant surgery.

Dang, such a young guy to be going through his second elbow surgery. I'm not too worried about injuries. Yet. Meanwhile, things are looking better for MacDougal after his weird stomach ailment, but I wouldn't be surprised by flair-up of this recurring problem sometime during the season. The season will open with Leskanic as closer. Below are excerpts from the KC Star (I like Leskanic's "butty" comment below)...

**************

More and more, it appears Leskanic will be that last guy when the Royals open the regular season. All-Star closer Mike MacDougal threw off a mound for the first time in 12 days before Thursday's game against Anaheim at Surprise Stadium. But it was only for five minutes. It was an encouraging step in MacDougal's battle to regain his strength after a rough bout earlier this month with a stomach virus, but he still remains several days away from returning to game action.

...But while the Royals are armed with their deepest bullpen in years, Leskanic is the obvious replacement since he once filled that role for the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies...

“There will be other guys down there, too,” Leskanic said. “There are definitely a lot of guys we can use... “A bullpen works best when guys know their roles,” he said. “So, yeah, it's going to be iffy and butty for a while, but I think we have guys down there who can make adjustments.

...“My arm now feels pretty good,” said MacDougal, whose weight is finally back to his pre-virus 185 pounds. “It's not game-ready yet, but it's getting there.”

As maxallen pointed out, Santiago for big money for 2 years (at his age) is a bad move... he can't throw anymore. Get a young catcher who'll still be there when they're able to win the division (ie, 2006 or so).

The Royals just scored 6 in the 9th inning to beat the White Sox, 9-7, on a 2-run homer by Carlos Beltran!!!

Wow, I was listening on the radio at work, and the game ended at 5:00 on the button. I think that means it's time for a celebratory beer.

The Royals are the first team in major league history to start the season with FIVE lefties in their starting rotation -- Brian Anderson, Darrell May, Jeremy Affeldt (who I believe will be their true ace if he can just figure out a way to solve those recurring blister problems he had last season), Jimmy Gobble and Dennis Reyes....while this anomaly is likely to change once righties Kevin Appier and Runelvys Hernandez (and possibly Miguel Ascencio as well) get healthy and come off the DL it is still amazing to me that this has NEVER happened before (even with a FOUR man rotation) in the 100+ year history of the game.

I expect to see the Royals and Twins battle it out for the A.L. Central crown this year with the White Sox bullpen woes leading to their ultimate downfall -- as was the case yesterday when BOTH Billy Koch and Damaso Marte looked more like "arsonists" than closers by surrendering six 9th inning runs to spoil Ozzie Guillen's managerial debut.

It's absolutely insane how giddy this city is over the opening day win. You'd think it was the 7th game of the World Series! Yeah, it was an exhilerating, fun, exciting finish to the home opener, but it's ONE GAME, people! And if the first eight innings were an indication of how the season will go, I'm frightened.

I was really bothered last night by an interview with lefty Darrel May on the news last night. He actually thinks the pressure is off of the pitchers now that the team has shown (in one game, mind you) that they can slug the ball and score some runs. He said, "I used to think we had to hold the other team to 3 or 4 runs to have a chance at winning, but now I know that's not the case." Idiot.

Now the media has dubbed today's game "Home Opener 2", as if that will spark another exciting win. I'm all for it, and I hope they win win win, but it almost seems like they need a drubbing today to be brought back to reality.

[ April 07, 2004, 07:41 AM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

Well, the Royals won't start the season 9-0 this year. White Sox 4, Royals 3. All of the Chicago's runs were on HRs. I recall a game or two like that last year against Sox. Listening on the radio, it sounds like the R's made a couple of big defensive plays in the 8th and 9th, getting runners out at second on presumed doubles.

Here's a pic of my hubby Aaron Guile, with his big blonde hairy forearms, hitting a homerun in the 7th inning.

We went to the Royals game against Texas last night, and came away with at least one interesting story:

Bottom of the 5th, tied 1-1, 2 outs, R's have runners on 1st & 2nd when Ken Harvey comes up to bat. It was very windy, with strong gusts. Harvey takes his first pitch and slams a homerun to left field, near the foul pole. It was clearly on track to be a fair hit, but as the ball descended a wind gust blew it very close to the foul pole. 3rd base ump calls it fair, the crowd goes wild as the runners trot around the bases, and the Royals are up 4-1.

Then Buck Showalter comes out of the Rangers' dugout to lodge a protest, saying it was a foul ball. The other three umps agree, and the call is changed to a foul ball. The crowd goes crazy with boos, and Tony Pena goes berserk for a few minutes, flailing his arms and kicking at the grass.

The runners take their bases again, and Ken Harvey comes up to bat again. After a little conference on the pitchers mound, the next pitch is thrown. Harvey hacks away... and hits a homerun to left field! The crowd goes absolutely insane, and starts chanting "Harvey, Harvey..."

Two pitches, two homeruns, one at-bat! Wow, what a fun night. The Royals went on to win, 5-3.

I remain (possibly naively and stupidly) optimistic about the Royals this season. They are s. l. o. w. l. y. hitting their stride as a team. Most games it seems one major element of the team collapses -- either starting pitching, relief pitching, or offense -- but the other two are on. With each game though, things are finally starting to come together, and when all three elements are clicking, they will be moving up in the standings.

Hotties of the game from last night:
Rangers -- Micheal Young and Hank Blalock. Both young and buff.
Royals -- Mendy Lopez and Benito Santiago. Both have butts of steel that look awesome when they're at bat and you're sitting on the third base side close to the field.

[ April 29, 2004, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: maxallen ]

Is SS Angel Berroa going to be activated and in the lineup today? He's been on the DL due to migraine headaches :confused:

I've been keeping him in Reserve on my fantasy baseball team and am itching to get him back in action!

Well, I answered my own question by tuning in to the game! He was the leadoff hitter for the Royals today and got to 1st on a blooper that the Yankee infielders screwed up on. He scored the first run of the game. My fantasy game on CBS Sportsline didn't count it as a hit. But, I can't activate him until Monday since we do weekly lineups.

[ May 01, 2004, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: billsf ]

Hubby just scored 4 tickets for Sat night's game against Boston -- great seats, 3rd row behind the home dugout! I'll have to bring the camera for some close-ups. We're also going to the Sun afternoon game. The weather forecast is calling for rain Saturday evening, so it could end up being a Sunday double header.

I've been to three games so far this season, and against all odds the Royals have won each of them. Maybe I should go to more games. wink

Well, the poor Royals have done nothing worthy of keeping this thread afloat this year. There is still an air of optimism that the team will start hitting on all cylinders and salvage the season. They've got the talent to do it everywhere except on the mound. The biggest news in KC has been the emergence of new starting pitcher Zack Greinke, whose cute young face graces the front page of the sports section at every opportunity. Also thoughts of an impending fire sale at mid-season are on everyone's mind. Beltran, Randa and Guiel could be on the list. I read a rumor somewhere -- that if Boston makes a play for Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon could end up back in KC in the trade. I would like that, but he probably wouldn't be here for long, before being traded away again.

You folks up there in Mass watching the game on Saturday night look for me! 3rd row right behind the center of the Royals dugout. I'll be the one taking pictures.

You'd better! How did he get the tickets--directly through the Royals ticket office or other means?

They're season tickets from a company in the office building where he works. But darn it, this evening I found out they're not the seats I thought they were. Last time he got tickets from this company they were the third row seats, but this set of tics is on the "club level," the mid section of the stadium. So don't look for me on TV. But they're still good seats, and they're free.

At 4:00 pm today at work someone offered me free tickets to tonight's game, but I had to turn them down because of a prior commitment. It was perfect weather for a game tonight, and the Royals beat the Red Sox!

Kansas City 24, Detroit 3

I thought only the Patriots and Colts were playing today.... :confused:

Bottom of the 7th.... eek! oh nevermind!