Downtown Ballbark

Oh what dreams are made of. Kansas City's offer for a downtown stadium has finally been made official (the website does need some work though).

Hmmm... fix Kauffman for $200+ million or build a new stadium, help urban development, make the Royals competitive again and possibly bring the All-Star Game to KC and fix up Arrowhead with $350+ million and keep the teams here for atleast another 20 years...

I thought this would be quite obvious. But then again, Glass is who he is. I haven't bought into the whole 'Glass is a devil' thing yet which many Royals fans are starting to roll off their tongue quite easily as of late, but he may be part of the problem.

Would it be possible that Glass wants the Royals to stay at Kauffman so he can move the team later on? Or possibly sell the team to another man who might want to move it to another place, meaning more money for a sale? It may just be possible.

Please Glass, prove me wrong. This is one of the only times in my life that I have ever wanted to be wrong. Glass, approve the downtown stadium. If you want money... take it. Ticket sales will be way up, you can bring a better team in year after year and keep the fans happy along with helping the economy in this area. And if you don't want to do this for those reasons, do it anyways. There's no reason to stay at the K. No reason at all.

Greinke Pitches Better

Zack Greinke pitched much better against the Detroit Tigers going 5 2/3 innings allowing just one earned-run, five hits and no walks in just 67 pitches.

Matt Diaz started off the bench again today while Long, Brown and Guiel manned the outfield.

Diaz Cools Off On Bench

The Kansas City Royals and Buddy Bell are at it again. Diaz sits and continues to cool off while getting just one at bat last night and still out of the lineup again today.

The future of the Royals is really coming together as of late. Ewing playing second, T. Long in LF... couldn't get any more futuristic than that.

The Royals Might Just Do It

The Kansas City Royals are just 32.5 games back in the wild card race with 26 games left. "There is still a chance" one hopeful fan states.

Although the season has long been over for the boys in blue, there is still hope from many of the hometown faithful.

Although there has been just one winning season over the past 10 years, there are still many fans who come to the ballpark everyday just to get a glimps of what might come. With any hope, there is still a chance for the future, but for many of us this season has not yet ended and there's still a chance.

"That's what we're here for, we aren't going to jump ship just because of one bad game, we love the Royals and will be fans until we die." said a man wearing a crown. Little does he know that his is what Baird and Glass hope for.

The organization will not change unless the fans change and with any ignorance at all from the front office, the franchise give up instead of making a change.

Actually, this season has did everything but ended since April. With the decline of many prospects, the second overall pick still not signed in September, and the non-trade issues running about, the Royals have little hope for next year outside of the Royals faithful. Without them the franchise is nothing.

Lima Receives Additional $200,000

Jose Lima triggered an additional $200,000 by making his 28th start of the season. His total 2005 salary topped $3.5 million with still a chance to receive another $250,000 if he makes two more starts.

Jose Lima is scheduled to make four more starts before the 2005 season ends.

Lima's base salary for 2005 was $2.5 million with the chance of bosuses once he reached 20 starts.

This might sound crazy, but paying $3.75 million for someone who has an ERA above 6.00 is a little much. How can we not spend an addition $2 million on someone who has an ERA below 4? I don't get it.

As well, how can we be thinking about resigning someone like this and not be wanting to spend $10 million on a 25-30 homerun type guy? We have the cash. We saved around $30 million this year and will have more next year. Now I could be wrong, but wouldn't $30 million pay for three seasons worth of that guy?

Three New Roster Additions

The Royals added Blanco, 21, to their roster before Tuesday’s series opener against the White Sox, along with pitchers Kyle Snyder and Chris Demaria. Catcher Matt Tupman joined the traveling party but wasn’t activated.

So the boys in blue finally got Blanco back up. He's a great kid and works hard defensively. His last stay with the Royals landed him on Sportcenter highlights several times defensively, his only problem is his offense. He fairs OK in avg. but lacks power, perhaps we could make him a base stealer, but that will never happen.

Royals Fantasy Lineup

I have given Bell some crap about his starting lineups throughout the season, so I decided that it's about time for me to show what my ideal lineup would be, this is against any pitcher (after Dejesus and Sweeney return [Sweeny should be back tonight]), both righty and lefty:

1. DeJesus CF
2. Ambres RF
3. Diaz LF
4. Sweeney DH
5. Huber 1B
6. Teahan 3B
7. Buck C
8. Berroa SS
9. Gotay 2B (Call him up to give him another shot)

Next years team
For next year we should be looking at trading Sweeney, getting rid of Long and sitting Stairs for the most part. We should also have the possibilty of bringing up Butler sometime in June after he's sent back down after spring training to get some time in AAA. The rest of the team should look about the same, however, there is the possibility of Gordon lighting it up in AA and brought up quickly to take over Ambres job in right. As for the Sweeney trade we should take whatever is available to help dump some salary and pick up some free agents, sign our draft picks. With the guys coming in they could take over some needed rolls, SP, corner outfield, 2B, SS.

As for the rotation, I disagree with many people about putting Sisco back into the lineup. We have screwed over many pitchers the past few years and I don't wish Sisco to be one of them. We should start using him more as a setup man (for McDougal) and as a shut-em-out type guy to bring in with the bases loaded. Those type of guys are almost as valuable as starting pitchers in a penant run (which we hope to be in soon).

The same goes for Burgos, start using him in situtational pitching, once McDougal goes down try to move him to the closer role. He has stated before he does not wish to be in the rotation so leave him be.

Guys who should be at least given a shot in the rotation next year
Z. Grienke
R. Hernández
D. Bautista
D.J. Carrasco
J. Gobble

And of course once Howell, Buckner, Cota (doubtful next year), Affeldt (once he's sent down to the minors and gains his control back and gets some games under his belt) are ready give them a shot, but not until they are truly ready and not until one of these guys go down.

Pen should include
M. Wood (long relief)
J. Bayliss (middle/situational)
L. Núnez (setup/situational)
A. Sisco (setup/situational)
A. Burgos (setup/situational/possible closer when McDougals hurt or tired)
M. McDougal (closer)

The teams not perfect, but is better than what we have now.

Royals Win - Gordon Not Signed

Kansas City avoided a four-game sweep by the Texas Rangers today by matching a season-high run total winning 17-8.

Angel Berroa recorded his first extra-base hit in over 23 games with a homerun in the second inning. Berroa ended with 5 RBIs and 2 hits.

Aaron Guiel also had a homerun on the day with his first since '04.

Other Notables:
Emil Brown hit his 12th HR of the season.
Shawn Camp gave up 2 more earned runs in the 9th raising his ERA to 7.67.
Jeremy Affeldt gave up 3 earned runs in one inning pitched giving him a 5.75 ERA.

News:
Alex Gordon, the 2nd overall pick in the amateur draft in 2005, remains unsigned after spending the weekend in KC.

Here we Go

What an impressive lineup we have today. Huh... What a youth movement.

A. Guiel CF
D. Hocking 2B
T. Long LF
M. Stairs DH
E. Brown RF
M. Teahen 3B
A. Berroa SS
J. Huber 1B
J. Buck C

Hocking, Long and Stairs must really be getting a good look for next year. They are only in their 30s so who knows... maybe they are the future of our organization. They can give us a good 2-3 more years of playing. I'm glad guys like Diaz get called up to play one game every week instead of sitting in AAA and playing everyday.

Fire Baird... and Bell too

With only a few weeks left in the season, the Royals have the worst record in baseball at 43-91 and with 28 games left, we can all but hand the record for most losses in a season to the boys of '05.

Baird has consistantly made bad decisions in scouting, trades and manager selections. His incompetence have led the Royals to play with the likes of Lima and Perez and see our future stars struggle, Grienke, all while watching his managers throw each and every game away of the '05 season with bad pitching assignments, horrible batting orders and stunting the growth of his own "youth movement."

Bell's in-game decision making has costed the Royals numberous wins and slowed the development of many players: Ambress, Diaz, Nunez, Affeldt. All while playing old-timers who more than likely won't be around next season (then again.. with Baird you never know). The "youth movement" is in crisis... if there ever was a "youth movement."

Kansas City does not need someone who will "continue" Bairds "youth movement", but needs someone who will put one in place. This movement is a disgrace to all movements. Fire Biard.