Kansas City Royals

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Chris Fry

Chris Fry created this group on SportProjections.com.

2008 Kansas City Royals Preview and Prediction

Contributor: Clark Fosler, mvn.com/mlb-royals

2007 Record: 69-93

2007 Summary: The Royals actually improved by seven games over their 2006 campaign and might have done even better had they not suffered through a dismal September.

Widely disparaged by many for the signing of pitcher Gil Meche, the Royals were rewarded by Meche setting career highs in every category but wins and emerging as one of the top 10 or 15 starting pitchers in the American League. Kansas City also struck gold in the Rule 5 draft, landing Joakim Soria who finished the year with 17 saves and a 2.48 ERA.

Offensively, the team got the future started by bringing Alex Gordon to the majors on Opening Day and calling up Billy Butler for good in June. After an awful first two months, Gordon settled down to hit .275/.320/.461 from June 1st on. Butler, widely regarded as a better pure hitting prospect than Gordon, compiled a very nice rookie line of .292/.347/.447.

While the Royals were a long way from being considered a good baseball team in 2007, they were also a long way from being viewed as a laughingstock. That's progress.

2008 Key Additions: GM Dayton Moore tried to get in on both Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter, but ended up signing Jose Guillen to a 3 year/$36 million deal. Also inked were free agent relievers Ron Mahay and Yashuhiko Yabuta, along with backup catcher Miguel Olivo.

2008 Key Losses: No attempt was made to resign Mike Sweeney during the off-season and Emil Brown was sent packing (although considering this a 'loss' is up for debate).

2008 Royals Starting Lineup:
1. David DeJesus CF
2. Mark Grudzielanek 2B
3. Mark Teahen LF
4. Jose Guillen RF
5. Billy Butler DH
6. Ross Gload 1B
7. Alex Gordon 3B
8. John Buck C
9. Tony Pena Jr. SS

2008 Royals Starting Rotation: Gil Meche, Brian Bannister, Zack Greinke, Brett Tomko, John Bale

2008 Royals Closer: Joakim Soria

2008 MVP: Billy Butler - Look for the 22 year old Butler to establish himself as one of the more feared hitters in the league.

The Royals will be successful if: Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are the real deal. You can talk about the back of the rotation or finding setup guys to get to Soria, but the truth is that the organization's foundation for future success is riding almost totally on Gordon and Butler becoming perennial All-Stars. Those two have the ability to turn an anemic offensive attack into a potent force.

2008 Season Prediction: The Royals are not ready to stand in against the likes of Detroit and Cleveland, but they should continue to improve. They are young team, but not necessarily an inexperienced one and may well make a nine or ten game improvement to something on the order of 78-84.

Standings Prediction:
1. Cleveland Indians
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City Royals

kansascity.com

Royals set winter 40-man roster

The Royals finalized their winter 40-man roster on Friday, adding infielder Jeff Bianchi, outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Jordan Parraz, catcher Manuel Pina and pitcher Blake Wood.

The one about Bret Saberhagen's fake job on the Dennis Miller show

My cell phone buzzes and the two-time Cy Young winner's number lights up on caller ID."Hey," he says, "it's Bret with one 'T'."There's a pause."But I'm Saberhagen, not that other guy."He laughs, a minor mystery solved. A few months ago, a friend of mine passed along this link and it seemed like a great story.One of the best pitchers in Royals history is now the technical director for a nationally syndicated radio show? Sweet!So I called Saberhagen, and after asking him a few questions about Zack Greinke, I mentioned that I'd like to write something about his work on Dennis Miller's radio show.Silence."I don't work on that show," he says, "but you're like the fifth person who's asked me that."I considered the possibility that Sabes just didn't want to talk about it, which would be fine. But logically, the bio does seem a little strange, and doesn't have a picture, and besides, if he didn't want people to know then why he want his name on the website at all?So I dropped an e-mail to the producer of the show, who explained that a guy who works there is named Bret, one 'T,' so they started calling him Sabes, it caught on, and they just ran with it."If you get the sense that the real Sabes was upset about it, just let me know," the producer wrote back.He's not."I don't need them to take it down," the real Sabes says. "I guess it's flattering if people remember you, right?"For sure.Because if the technical director's name was "Jose," and they called him "Lima-Time," it wouldn't be a compliment.

KU Basketball: That's more like it!

66.4% Effective FG%After the Memphis game, I complained that KU didn’t shoot the trey often enough and that they didn’t press. Believe it or not, I actually saw a full court press against Central Arkansas. Ok, it was only once or twice, but that’s still infinitely more than normal. Maybe… just maybe… Self will employ it in the future. And, instead of only five three-pointers against Memphis, the Hawks shot 19 Thursday night, hitting 11. Obviously, my opinion had nothing to do with it, but it’s always good when I don’t have to complain.read more

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mlb.com

Bianchi, Wood join 40-man roster

Bianchi among additions to KC roster

Royals ink Campillo to Minors deal

KC a contender for '12 All-Star Game

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mvn.com/mlb-royals

Simming With The Royals - Part 2

OK, after last Friday’s exercise, it’s time to turn to the pitchers. Going in, I’m thinking it’s going to be easier to assemble a rotation and bullpen than it was for a lineup. There are going to be some monster lineups in this sim, so we need to make sure our pitchers are up to [...]

Seitzer Named Hitting Coach

Isn’t this the hire everyone was asking for? From the release: The Kansas City Royals today announced Major League coaching staff assignments for the 2009 season. The Royals today named John Gibbons as bench coach and former Royal Kevin Seitzer as the hitting coach, to join the returning staff of Bob McClure (pitching coach), Rusty Kuntz (first [...]

Impact Arrivals

Heading into this off-season with Dayton Moore’s promise of ‘big changes’, we can all expect a lot of talk about free agent signings and blockbuster trades. With the Royals desperate for a potent outfield bat and with the outfield bat market predominately populated by players deep into their thirties almost every visitor to [...]