Give me examples.

I'll give you three, Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye. Who else??? Besides, for Beltran, we got our starting right fielder and starting catcher, both of whom are young and are turning into pretty good players.......but please, do tell me about all this "talent" we have lost over the years............

Also..it ain't just everyone in nebraska who thinks he's the second coming....just about every scouting organization/prospect rankings etc. have Gordon as THE top prospect in the game..........

The Royals have upped payroll over the past few years and will continue to do so for at least the next four years............they've been spending money recently and aren't just gonna get rid of all their talent.......perhaps you should do a little research or something if you really want to get into it instead of just looking at the name "Kansas City" and assuming things will never change.....the KC organization is clearly headed in the right direction under our new GM..and everyone in baseball knows it......sorry if you haven't realized it yet.

..also, who have the BoSox taken from us...Kyle Snyder?? Lol...you may be just making stuff up now....

YES YES YES. This is the Koop I know and have missed all year. What took you so long to get back? And as for your retort, it is almost a slap in the face to the Royals organization because they really haven't produced many desirable players in recent years. They did sign Mike Sweeney, and recently DeJesus who was extremely cheap.

I'd also like to point out that although you got Teahen and Buck in exchange for Beltran, you fail to point out that you got Neifi Perez for Jermaine Dye and when you traded away Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis, who has had a nice career thusfar, you got Berroa, AJ Hinch, and Roberto Hernandez. Just for the sake of dishing information, using WARP1 assuming it a pretty fair indicator of the value of the players, Beltran has 26, where Teahen and Buck have 17.6. Really not too bad considering the money the organization saved. But Jermaine Dye has had a WARP1 of 23.7 whereas Neifi Perez had a WARP1 of .4 as a Royal. And Damon has had a WARP1 of 36.1 and Ellis has had a WARP1 of 20.1, 56.2 combined, while the returns of Berroa, Hinch, and Hernandez had a combined WARP1 of 15.6.

I know exactly who we got back for Damon and Dye....I put those as the TWO examples of getting rid of good talent when they became "stars" or whatever his point was. I was asking him to name me more.......because he is telling me it happens all the time and it's gonna keep on happening......but I only count two times we've gotten rid of good players and gotten little back in return. As for Mark Ellis.....uhhhh, he has never even played one game in a KC uniform.....he doesn't count as a good player who was "raided" from our system once he became a proven commodity......

So to your point, yes, we had two bad transactions with Dye and Damon that saw us get rid of good, proven players and gain little in return. Does two bad transactions mean that that happens "all the time" to us now?? I don't think so......we signed Gil Meche to a good contract, we have Sweeney's contract coming off the books, which frees up 11 mil per year, we are upping payroll to the 70-75 million mark next year, we signed DDJ to a good extention a year ago, we have been active in acquiring as much pitching as possible, picking up a 23 year old prospect (Kyle Davies) for a 33 year old, oft-injured, middle reliever who is merely decent.....we have a lot of young arms on the way and a lot already on the team....we have offensive talent everywhere........no, of course we won't be able to keep every single player throughout their entire career...but if that is why you are making fun of the Royals.....please, tell me which team keeps EVERY SINGLE PLAYER for their entire career?

So you want to bet on this? I bet if Gordon is at least a two time all star before his contract is up, he doesn't resign with the royals. Oh wait, I already know your answer about putting yoru money where your mouth is w/r/t the royals.

You want to make like, a seven year bet over the internet with some guy you probably will never hear from again in a few years???? Uhhhhhhhhhhh....yeah, that sounds realistic.

......Gordon is viewed as the face of the franchise for years to come and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE in the organization states that it is their #1 priority to sign him to a long term contract probably in the next year or so....so there is no chance that we're going to wait until he reaches his peak and then sign him to an extension, I bet he signs a long term extension in two years probably........he said he wants to, the owner wants to, the GM wants to.............I'm gonna listen to all of them over some guy who knows very little about our organization/players. (You said yourself you don't even know how good he is/will be at all....so.....)

Well no sht everyone in the organization has him as their number one priority, that doesn't mean it will happen. When the yankees or red sox or angels offer him eight more million per year than the royals, we'll see how committed to being the "face of the franchise" this kid is..

Hey Koop, good to have you back!

I tried for a minute to duplicate your game/series previews, but realized quickly that my attempts were futile. Anyway did you see Gordon's homer against the cardinals where he hit the top of the furthest billboard in the right field fountains? Or the one he hit vs. Minnesota in the 10th inning the other night? Do you remember anyone that could hit the ball further with an easier swing than that?!? I am sure glad the Royals did not give in to the consensus that he should be moved to AAA earlier in the year, because he has figured things out so far.

Anyway, I am really excited to have some enthusiasm in this city for this once-proud team. Keep up the good work KOOP!

LET'S GO ROYALS!

Yeah, you're right, we're just gonna let him get to free agency and then try to outbid others...oh, wait a second.....the GM said they are gonna try and resign him within the next two years...the owner said we were gonna try and sign him in the next two years.....GORDON HIMSELF said he wanted to sign a long term deal within the next couple years............pretty much everyone associated with the organization has said they were going to sign him soon...but besides all that, yeah, we're just gonna sit back and wait until he's a free agent and then try and outbid the Yankees. Yeah..good thinking there boss.

Welcome back Koop.

man, it must really stink having to root for a team that basically almost never has a chance at a World Series anymore I bet.

I wouldn't say they never have another chance at the World Series. The Marlins won 2 of the last 10. If they can bring up a bunch of talent before it hits free agency they definately have a chance.

again, I said" NO **** everyone in the front office wants to sign him" I want a three some with Jessica Alba and Latitia Casta, doesn't mean it's going to happen. If Gordon has an agent that is worth 2 shts, AND he lives up to his hype, there's no way they will sign a long term extension before free agency. you say " we're just going to let him get to free agency" as if he has to get the front office's permission first. I hate to break it to you, Koop, but this isn't the era of George Brett... guys like Rypkien and Gynn are the exceptions, not the rules, and becoming rarer by the day. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe this kid really does want to stay in KC and live closer to his family. But when doing that means that he'll be living 10's of millions of dollars on the table over the course of that contract? Forgive me if I'm skeptical.

Exactly. Yes, you are wrong. Who do you think knows more about the KC organization and its players, you or me??? Since KC baseball is pretty much the most important part of my life, I'm gonna say me. Besides, you act like the Royals aren't willing to pay anybody, even though we have upped payroll each of the past two years and plan on upping payroll into the 80 million dollar mark in the next couple years.....oh what, oh WHAT would be upping payroll for...oh, I know...perhaps the reason the owner wants to do that IS SO THAT WE CAN SIGN THE BEST PLAYER WE WILL HAVE TO AN EXTENSION! THAT IS THE EXACT REASON we are increasing payroll every year for the forseeable future.........we signed Gil Meche to an 11 mil per year contract, Mike Sweeney had that same contract and it is coming off the books after this year.........you think we aren't gonna offer Gordon anything decent...but will offer Gil Meche and Mike Sweeney 11 mil per year??? Lol..okay. I'm not saying we're going to sign every good player we ever have, I know free agency is a big thing now....but Gordon is the ONE guy we aren't going to let go.....other big prospects we have, yeah, probably, there's no way we can sign EVERY player to big contracts....but Gordon isn't going anywhere. Trust me. You are wrong on this one.

You know what. There is NO Easter Bunny. Over there, that's just a guy in a suit.

I have no doubt you know more about KC than me. However, you have a few huge blind spots w/r/t the royals and a complete inability to view them with any form of objectivity. If this kid is really going to be the perennial all-star, hall of fame talent he's alleged to be, there's just no way the royals will be able to pay him like the top 5-6 payroll teams could, so unless he has a abnormal disinterest in money and material possessions, there's just no chance he stays a royal. Now, if he has Gil Meche/ Mike Sweeney talent, then there's a good chance he'll stay a royal.

even as a marlins fan, this statement looks weird. still nice.

Royals owner is a soulless pig. That will prevent them from ever running goot.

Royals Close Up Shop To Avoid Playing Yankees Again

Lol. The stab at Igawa

So, you think if we try and sign Gordon to an extension/new contract next year, that he is going to demand 20 million a year?? Is that what you honestly think?? If so...well, you're wrong. That's exactly why we are gonna sign him much sooner than later....to get him before his value goes way the f**k up.



Also...good to see Kyle Davies look so impressive today...oh, but the Royals have no talent whatsoever and will always suck so I guess it doesn't matter....even though our team ERA THIS YEAR is better than the Detroit Tigers.........doesn't matter, they have a lot of pitching and we have none......

I'm just gonna go out and say, that shutting down the Twins is nothing right now. The Twins are by far, by far the worst offense in the league in the last month. So congrats. Kyle Davies shut down a horrible offense.

No, I think he's not going to resign and waits to sign a contract untill he's a free agent.

They scored 11 in the previous game...so I'll take it.

Well.....he said that he is going to want to sign soon, is NOT after a huge contract, and would rather play in KC (since he was a Royals fan) rather than play elsewhere for a little more money...AND we have been upping payroll the past couple years and will continue to do so for the next few years..up to the 80 million dollar range supposedly........and we are planning on giving him a lot of money to stay around.....I'll take all those factors that say he is going to stay in KC for a while rather than you making some blanket statment that "KC never signs anybody good...they never spend money..always suck always suck."

Huh...another great pitching performance from a young pitcher in today's win.....making our ERA that much better than the Detroit Tigers.....even though we have no chance to ever, ever in the future get out of last place or possibly be better than the Tigers.........huh, go figure.


Except for Odalis Perez (who won't be here next year), we have four pretty good potential arms in our rotation already....Gil Meche (28 years old, 3.95 ERA), Brian Bannister (26, 3.32 ERA), Kyle Davies (23 years old, looked awesome in his last start..inconsistent though..lots of potential), and Leo Nunez (23 years old...2-0, 1.80 ERA this year....)....add in either Joakim Soria (23 years old, 2.18 ERA, 56 K in 46 innings...) or Zack Greinke (23 years old....sub-4 ERA as a 20 year old his rookie year as a starter....awesome in the bullpen this year) to the mix....plus good pitching prospects in AAA.............plus super prospects in Alex Gordon and Billy Butler...John Buck becoming a decent power threat this year.......Tony Pena Jr. getting better with the bat and great defensively......Joey Gathright getting on base at way above a .400 clip.....lots of stolen bases and highlight reel defense.........Mark Teahen hitting for a solid average...and ALLLLLLLL of those players pretty young and only going to get better.....

Man, we will suck forever because the team is from Kansas City.

How about this statement "I'll believe it when I see it" Given the combination of A) The greed of the modern player and KC's past history... I'm just a wee bit skeptical, is all. Maybe he will, but I'm skeptical. On the plus side, he's from Nebraska, and this state has alot of sentimental suckers, so maybe.

[quote name='BigDMcGe

That "history" is about three players. Dye, Damon, and Beltran. Other than that, I don't know who all these "great players" are that we simply let walk away....even though that's the rep we have.

On a different tangent. Van Halen is getting back to gether.. that's VAN HALEN not VAN HAGGAR... thoughts?

I'll believe it when it actually happens. It would be awesome to see though...even if they are getting up there in age.






Only one game behind the ChiSox to get out of last place.......fourth place...here we come.

So your fanboy blinders only apply to your sports teams, not your favorite bands, got it.


Tour has been announced. Eddie's kid, wolfgang, is playing bass. I mean, there's plenty of time for it to fall through and all. I think watching DVR trying to recapture that old glory will be hilarious, and EVH is always good for a shread, I'm sure. I'm cautiously optimistic.

A complete game for Bannister as KC pulls into a tie for fourth place with the ChiSox.........Bannister leads all AL rookies with a 3.31 ERA now...improves record to 9-7. He is a horrible, horrible pitcher, KC will never have good pitching, ever.

nice!

Fourth place all on our own now....only seven behind Minny for third. Movin' on up.......

Another solid outing tonight by one of Kansas City's fantastic young starting pitchers. I only bring this up because I am a Kyle Davies hater, not a Royal hater. Your faith in Davies is misguided I think.

Lol..."faith" in Davies?? Lol...I think he has potential, but no one is counting on him as some lock to be a great pitcher or anything...........

As for our pitching though....7th in the AL, 15th in all of baseball..with a ton of young talent in both the offense and the rotation........Brian Bannister leading all rookies with a 3.20 ERA........Butler with a bomb, Gordon coming along........make your last few jokes while you can...

Only 8 games behind Minnesota.....maybe we'll be making a run at third if they slack off.

WWWWWWWWHite sox> Royals by the end of the year hopefully.... sad isn't it?


(ps don't give me the "royals are improving stuff". Yeah they are but the Sox blow this year, no excuses

Question. Is Brian Bannister worthy of the ROY? Or should it be Pedroia, or Okijima, or Guthrie, or Neshek?

Looks like Bannister is the man

Since you listed Okajima, I guess you have no qualms with a Japanese player winning the ROY. That said, Matsuzaka should be in the discussion. He's got the whole AL rookie field out-WARPed and out-VORPed.

Lot of good choices in the AL though. Neshek, Guthrie, and Bannister aren't getting the attention they deserve. Every graphic I've seen recently (either FOX or ESPN) list Willits and Delmon Young while ignoring those guys who are having better seasons.

yeah, I intentionally left off Dice-K. I don't think he's worthy. Guthrie and Bannister have done better in their starting roles.

I think they've been better on a rate basis, but not by so much that it overtakes the innings differential between Matsuzaka and the others. WARP1 reflects this:

Matsuzaka: 6.7 wins (WARP1) in 176 innings.
Bannister: 5.9 wins in 140 innings.
Guthrie: 4.7 wins in 153 innings.

I'm not saying this in any way proves that Matsuzaka should get the award, but I don't think it reasonable to cast him off without debate.

Anyway, that's probably a debate for another thread. On topic: Bannister's had a kick-ass year.

You do realize that the Royals are going to be MUCH better next year....as they are young and clearly getting pretty decent..and will have a lot of money to spend in the next few offseasons.....and the ChiSox are simply getting old and will not be good next year at all. The ChiSox pitching is bad...and their bullpen is a flat-out joke..guess that's what happens when you try and depend on Royal castoffs....lol. Their offense also sucks..........they have a couple young guys who look decent..but the rest of them are old and injured and huge question marks.......ChiSox are going down...it won't even be close next year as to who is the better team.


On the Bannister topic, I think he's most likely over-achieving a little bit this year..I think he's most likely a solid 4.00 ERA type guy.....definitely not a top-tier starter like he's pitching like now. As for ROY....I think Bannister should get some serious consideration...........I think Matsuzaka will win without a doubt b/c half the people who vote probably won't even know who Brian Bannister is.

*YAWN*

Another great showing from another young arm for KC...Greinke with four dominant innings.....too bad he was on a pitch count........more dominance from our bullpen....team ERA drops to 4.44 for the year.........7th in the AL........going for the sweep over Detroit tomorrow afternoon...than off to Minnesota to try and catch them for 3rd place.

no love for Josh Fields R.O.Y.?

Agreed. And so sad.

Yeah as for Bannister's future, it's going to be hard to be very valuable with a 4.5 K/9 rate. Improve to 5, and decrease that BB/9 rate to 2, then we'll talk.

No.

His OBP is under 300.

Yup...he simply doesn't strike out enough guys to be a dominant starter...his control is really good...but he'll regress a little bit...but if he ends up being a 4.00 ERA guy..which I think is very possible.....I'd take that all day. He'll be a pretty decent pitcher, he knows what he's doing...he just won't be our "ace."

wow. Am I seeing this? Objective thoughts by Koop on the Royals?

Always. What, have I been picking them to make the playoffs all this time?? Lol...I said they were getting better as an organization, and this year, they are a much improved team. Is this not true???? We are on pace to win like, 12-13 more games than last year, we are out of last place, our pitching has improved to the UPPER HALF in the American League and we have a lot of young talent that is already there and will be getting better..and even more on the way. Is any of this false???

Another great outing for Bannister.....12th win.....ERA around 3.15 or so.................Gordon with two bombs, Buck with a bomb......split the road series at Minnesotta.......

More of the same....five shutout innings from 23 year old Zack Greinke..lowers ERA to just below 4.00...........Gordon with 4 RBI........16 hits for the offense.........Royals win 8-1. Now a full 4 games ahead of the ChiSox and 6.5 back of Minnesota for third place..


Another good pitching prospect Billy Buckner gets his first MLB start tomorrow......looked good in his few appearances out of the 'pen....we'll see how this goes.

The official royals thread has 800+ replies? now ive seen everything. gooo royals.