caulfield12

THUR. Humber vs. Doubront FRI. Sale vs. Bard (two of the most promising young pitchers in baseball, Bard came out of pen Monday night vs. MINN) SAT. Lester vs. Peavy (great test for Jake) SUN. KFC Beckett vs. Floyd No Buchholz. He pitched very well against us last year, but he's been getting rocked in 2012 so far.

RS/RA 1. Rangers 2. Cardinals 3. Yankees/Braves 5. White Sox Dodgers are 13-4 with only a 15 run differential, so clearly playing above their statistical results so far, Pythagorean expectations, etc. WHITE SOX PITCHING RANKS IN AL 1st WHIP 1st BAA 1st K's 2nd ERA (to Rangers)

Then you factor in 20 something games played at Oakland and Seattle (18, and 3 at PetCo), which are definitely pitcher's parks, by any definition. Not sure which deal is crazier, the Pujols or Votto contract. Maybe Albert's, because of his age and the expectations that have been raised out in LA.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/201...ot-for-cubs-sox http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasetti...st-cable-deals/ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/st...lent/53032284/1 http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=155 http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/05/35388...urt-royals.html Greg, don't read this article unless you want to be further depressed, along with all the denizens of KC and Lawrencians 20% owned by Comcast (NBC-Universal), 20% by the Sox, 20% by the Bulls, 20% by the Cubs and 20% by the Blackhawks. According to the Sherman article, all our TV rights are controlled through 2019 by both Comcast and WGN. The Cubs' deal with WGN expires after 2014. Does the ownership group/Board of Directors get any profits back directly from Comcast or is stricly "paper wealth," explained by the franchise jumping in value to #10 on the most recent FORBES list, at $600 million? Are the profits generated by Comcast plugged back directly into the ballclub? With all these MLB teams signing new deals with numbers going into the billions, aren't we in a position of disadvantage moving forward, or is that mitigated somewhat by our ownership stake in Comcast? While the ownership stake in Comcast inflates the franchise value, does it really put us in a better position to generate more revenue for the major league payroll before the year 2019? I know the Tigers are getting $33 million from their cable deal, the Reds $40 million...the Kansas City Star article has the Royals locked in for around $20 million per year. The Indians are part owners of their own broadcasting network/RSN. Are we in a bad position now, because we seem locked out of a new contract or renegotiating for at least 7 more years, or are we actually likely to benefit when rates and deals skyrocket even higher in the future? Are all these t.v./broadcasting/media rights deals another form of a "market bubble" or will the number continue to go into the stratosphere moving forward, where some of the contracts signed by teams like the Dodgers, Angels, Rangers and Astros will seem like bargains? With cable and satellite prices going higher and higher...with the economy still being in a precarious state, how long will these types of billion dollar packages be available? Or are they just the tip of the iceberg, in your opinion? (Yes, these last 3 questions are "teacher-speak" for asking the same question in a different way, lol)

Baseball hell is a gorgeous night and mostly empty stadium for a team everyone figured would at least be interesting and entertaining and occasionally promising. These Royals are none of those things, of course, at least not yet, and the effect is something like your car breaking down on the way to the party. The sound bite for now is that the Royals just became the first team to lose 10 straight games at home since 1913, the same year a new constitutional amendment allowed the government to collect federal income tax. Building the Greatest Farm System In The History of Upright Man is apparently no cure for historic stink, and the Royals deserve every bit of venom you can muster for a franchise that’s been a ubiquitous letdown for most of the last two decades. Ned Yost says this is “phase two,” when player development makes way for winning, and the marketing folks sure haven’t helped with an #OurTime campaign that’s grown to be embarrassing. This is the team we’ve been waiting on for six years of Dayton Moore’s planning, the one we’ve thought about watching for the next six years, and the one that right now looks a whole lot like 2006. Only worse. The Royals are again the laughingstock of baseball and the sport’s worst team, and for now that hurts more because this year was supposed to be different. It’ll hurt much more later because these last two weeks of failure have consequences far greater than making a push at .500 this summer. The first snapshot of baseball hell is Eric Hosmer — long face, straight glare and no smile — getting ready for a players-only meeting with a group of guys who haven’t won together since a rain-shortened game in Oakland two weeks ago. Hosmer says he quit Twitter because “it’s just not important” and he only wants to play baseball. But a meeting is about to start, one where Jeff Francoeur will do all the talking and tell the guys to just keep playing hard, so Hosmer has to get going. “This is something we’ve talked about in the clubhouse,” he says. “We’re focused just on winning games. All that other stuff, that’s something we can’t control.” Hosmer does his part, actually. He homered down the left-field line — scouts always loved his ability to hit to the opposite field — and beat an infield shift with a bunt single. Mike Moustakas, Hosmer’s brother in Mission 2012 arms, hit a double and a single and made three highlight plays at third base. The future may well be bright, still. But right now, it’s tough to see through a windshield covered in manure. “These last 10 or 11 games have felt like a lifetime, I’m not going to lie to you,” Yost says. “It’s felt like three summers, this home stand alone. But you can’t get caught up in 10 or 11 games over the course of a 162-game season.” The second snapshot of baseball hell is a man you’ve probably never heard of trying to take blame for the marketing campaign that’s gone straight into the sewer. “I’ll own it,” Joe Loverro is saying. He is the producer for the Royals’ television broadcasts, and maybe this is part of the job description. “Our Time” wasn’t his idea. Someone in marketing thought it up before Loverro came to Kansas City, but, as he says, “I definitely took some license and ran with it.” The TV broadcasts have pulled back some on #OurTime, you might’ve noticed. Loverro says he doesn’t want to lose credibility, but the damage is done, especially as the club continues to roll out the videos at the stadium and the commercials on the broadcasts. The whole thing might’ve worked just fine, in an alternative reality where the Royals weren’t playing the role as one of the city’s all-time sports buzzkills. “Our Time” was supposed to be a rallying cry. Now, it’s more like a reason to cry. “The Our Time stuff,” Francoeur says, “if I could go back, I’d try to nip that in the bud.” The third snapshot of baseball hell is a game that might best be summed up by the man sitting in perhaps the stadium’s best seat behind the plate reading a book. Out in the right-field seats, someone dressed up as a character from a video game starts the wave. In the upper deck, a group fills a nearly empty stadium with organized and loud chants about bananas, and can you blame people for finding ways to entertain themselves? On the field, the Royals’ performance is best represented by a failed sacrifice bunt in the third inning, a bad idea executed poorly, and there’s a pretty good metaphor in there somewhere. The Royals went zero for 10 with runners in scoring position. This is a group of winners, we’ve all been told, guys who won’t stand for failure, who’ve won at every level they’ve ever played but must be feeling a bit like adolescents sent to fight grown men. It wasn’t supposed to be relevant that Hosmer and Moustakas have never lost this many games in a row, not even close. “We’re going to figure this out,” Moustakas tells reporters in the same clubhouse where many men have stood before in front of reporters and spoken optimistic words during long losing streaks. The last snapshot of baseball hell is general manager Dayton Moore in a bright white shirt and Royal-blue tie standing in front of the cameras trying to preach optimism. He knows a lot of you have tuned this team out. The Royals are clinging to what is either unshakable faith or outright denial, one of the two, and nothing tells the story quite like the moment Francoeur interrupts my conversation with Moore. The general manager is talking about the benefit of a young team working through adversity, and how he told owner David Glass back in December that the team might get off to a slow start. He’s even saying that if I could talk to Mrs. Moore, she’d tell me her husband is handling this losing streak better than any they’ve had in Kansas City. That’s about when Francoeur walks by. “I’ve got something good for you,” he says. “Wait and see where we are at the end of May. That’s my quote.” These are the kinds of things you hear around this team, faith or denial, either way, and this is how they will try to keep this from being the most disappointing season in the history of a franchise that’s taught its fans to measure such things. We’ll see soon enough if it works, but for now, there’s a bigger point. Because no matter what happens the rest of the summer, the Royals have lost something very real and completely irreplaceable. They had an opportunity here, one for which they’ve spent millions of dollars on amateur players and waited six years of drafting and developing to seize. That opportunity is largely gone now, an April party of anticipation that turned into anger and frustration with shocking speed — even by the Royals’ standards. What we’re left with is more than bad baseball, more than an awkward marketing slogan and more than a mostly empty stadium booing the home team off the field. For a lot of reasons, this franchise relies more heavily on ticket sales than most and with Mission 2012 and the All-Star Game the Royals expected more than 2 million fans for what would be the first time in 1991. Losing the first 10 home games is an awfully good way to keep from doing that, and if the Royals can’t take advantage of a precious chance to generate revenue along with what already feels like old excitement, then they’ve lost much more than a few games. They’ve lost an opportunity that isn’t coming back. “I said that very thing to (a fellow team executive) the other day,” Moore says. “We’ve got to win games. Because we can’t lose our fans for the summer.” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/23/35726...l#storylink=cpy

If there was to be a pick-up, it would be a veteran type of player like Edwin Encarnacion or Rolen (just examples) finishing their contract out this season...and playing for a non-contending team, but we're at least 2 1/2 months away from that discussion. Maybe they're discussing it internally a bit, but surely Ventura and KW will give Morel, Beckham and Viciedo every opportunity to prove themselves the first 3-4 months before any moves are made.

Dreaded bases loaded situation for the White Sox. Just pray that Paulie doesn't hit into a double-play, would like to break this one wide open here.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) I'd rather have him leave on a positive note. Why risk it? I really don't care what Jake wants. It's also a pretty cold night there, although I'm sure Jake has already worked himself up into a full lather (Hermie reference). But you don't want him sitting on the bench for 20-30 minutes and going ou there again, either.

Love it when those former Twins make fundamental mistakes in their infield play. Bases loaded, heart of the order due up. Blevins entering the game.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 10:11 PM) ADA doesnt seem to really care about bunting You don't bunt or walk your way out of the Dominican...scouts only notice bat speed/power and the ball jumping off the bat.

Peavy at 96 pitches, only 7 last inning. Only has faced 27 total batters. Another very good game out of DeAza...get Viciedo going, and it's a nice combination of speed and power out there.

YAY, at least all three batters at the bottom of the order have hits now. Broken bat single from Gordon, 2nd RBI.

Brent turned on one and nailed it to left. Nice to see. We need him this year. First swing like that of the season according to DJ.

.367 for Rios. What Farmer said was that KW loved the aggressive and way the ball jumped off Viciedo's bat, but he's lost some of that aggressive because of 1) the steady diet of offspeed/breaking pitches and 2) the encouragement to be more patient and take more walks. So he's lost some of his initial aggressiveness you saw in 2010 with the Sox and become a bit more tentative instead of instinctual, which is causing him to be inbetween a lot (see Morel and Beckham) and seem like he has more of a slider-speed bat. Before, he always locked onto the fastball and was ready to swing whenever he came up to the plate. As Hawk's always saying, you have to have a plan up there...eliminate one of the pitcher's best pitches and make him beat you with his 2nd or 3rd pitch if he can do it, you tip your cap.

Nice looking lefty reliever....good stuff.

Fastball pitcher, meet Paul Konerko's bat.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 09:47 PM) Danny Manning was a 2-time all star in the NBA and was nothing to write home about. it happens. So was Bill Self in high school. How about the Royals actually win a game at home before a Lawrence reference, lol? Peavy now at 2.02 ERA for the season, 89 pitches. Jake will at least start the 8th, but a baserunner reaches and he's probably gone....although I'm sure Robin would love to get him a complete game shutout if possible.

"Too low, too low." Peavy got lucky that ball wasn't elevated.

He's been pitching well for them. Last time, I think he had a complete game shut-out or close to it. That ball DeAza just hit in about 90% of MLB stadiums (outside of Fenway) is another homer...but it's April, nightgame in Oakland. But IMPRESSIVE pop to the opposite field there.

Mitchell with another BB. Saladino 1 for 4 (single) but has 3 RBI's. Loman with a very good game.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:27 PM) Or that guy from Batman, you know, the back breaker. Ooops, thinking of Batman and wrote Spidey, lol. There's been so many posts in the Dark Knight Rises thread, it's probably the only movie-related thread I've never read much of there...

LOL at Alex Rios, now at .354 Viciedo jammed himself a bit there....that's been his tendency the first couple of weeks.

The Twins have a runner on 3rd with no outs last inning (Mauer up) and they somehow managed not to score, could have had the lead but now the Red Sox are gone ahead 6-5 in the top of the 9th. Still will be yet another test of the Red Sox bullpen. They brought in Bard to face Mauer, so clearly that experiment with him as a starter is already over.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 05:48 PM) Next time I'll use a "Gee" in front of "wonder why", with an eyeroll emoticon. Sorry, wasn't even paying attention to who posted. 50% of the time, it's a real or honest question...you never know. Lincecum got a ROUGH win today, but he really was laboring with his control against the Mets. He had a ton of K's, but his pitch count got well over 100 in the fifth inning. It was to the point where Bochy was going to have to pull him out of a 6-1 lead (bases loaded though) and take away a win because of his control issues and the pitch count. Most of the game, his fastball was 90-91 but he was routinely in the 88-90 MPH range in the last couple of innings. He probably didn't quiet all the concerns and quiet whispers around baseball about his health....did seem to have his offspeed stuff working a B+ level at least.

But we have no other impact bats within sight in AA/AAA (please, don't mention McPherson, Dan Johnson or Conor Jackson)...so we go with Viciedo and see what he can do. We're certainly not going to trade him after ONE bad week. He was around .300 with 2 homers in the first ten games...well over a 30 homer pace for the entire season. Let's relax a little bit, we've always acknowledged the Cuban players starting off slowly, although the weather hasn't been exceptionally cool compared to years past.