Kansas City Baseball Vault

The Royals have been unable to develop much starting pitching with Dayton Moore in charge, but that doesn't mean there aren't bright spots. To talk pitching, we brought on Kevin Scobee, former Park University pitcher and former instructor at Regal Athletic, to discuss the evolution of pitcher training and philosophy, specifically focusing on how it relates to the Royals and prospects Kyle Zimmer, Danny Duffy, and others. We also talked about Duffy and Twitter specifically. Duffy's been one of the more active Royals players on Twitter and sometimes it's caused some furor with followers. We got into what his involvement there might mean for expectations from fans and what to expect for him in the future.

While the All-Star Game was starting up, we got to talking about the second half and our frustrations with the way the Royals finished the first half. Most of our time was spent answering some listener questions about the podcast, the Royals, and baseball in general. That led us down the path of talking about the Royals player evaluation approach and the blindspots they run into when looking at players, including Irving Falu, David Lough, Johnny Giavotella and others. We also talked about some roster moves and the Royals use of their minor leagues to keep the bullpen fresh. And we also talked about the promotions of Kyle Zimmer and Lane Adams to Double A. That led us to talk a bit about Bubba Starling as well (who, along with Adams and Jason Adam formed a group called "The Tripod" in spring training before last year).

WE ARE MOVING! Get this feed now at www.soundcloud.com/Royalspodcast ITUNES https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/royalspodcast/id543221056?mt=2 We decided to start recording right as All-Star Game rosters were announced and while Troy thought James Shields or Ervin Santana would be the Royals All-Star representative, I thought it would be Greg Holland. We were both pleasantly surprised to find that we weren't close and two Royals - Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez - would be going to Citi Field for the mid-summer classic. Following that discussion we talked about the rosters in general, including the validity of Yasiel Puig's All-Star case, Miguel Cabrera's run for another Triple Crown and the crazy season of Chris Davis. We turned it back to the Royals by covering the Alex Gordon injury and return, Billy Butler haters, and what might happen the rest of the season. We finished up with a quick look at the minors and brought up Danny Duffy's continuing comeback in Omaha and where he might fit down the line.

There were plenty of ideas tossed around on this week’s Vault. We open by talking about Jeff Francoeur, his legacy, his reputation, and his time with the Royals after the team designated him for assignment. We also talked about his replacement on the roster, Johnny Giavotella, and reacted to Sunday’s game. Then, we discussed the rehab progress of Felipe Paulino and what contributions he might make this year. That also led to a discussion of Danny Duffy‘s potential addition this year. Tommy John surgery rehab is tricky and while some pitchers come back within a year, some don’t get fully comfortable until much later. Paulino’s had some setbacks, so we had to consider that in assessing his potential role this year. Of course, the rotation is full right now, so that’s another question. How to get Paulino or Duffy on the roster if there’s nowhere to put them? One way might be to trade Ervin Santana. What would he return? What about James Shields? We weighed the pros and cons. We continued by discussing June for Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon, as well as what July means for the Royals. Then we finished up by talking about Brooks Pounders‘ no-hitter and a good start from Kyle Zimmer. As always, we’ll take your email questions at kansascitybaseballvault@gmail.com or via Twitter at @KCBaseballVault. I AM STOPPING USING PODOMATIC. LISTEN TO THE EPISODE FOR DETAILS!

May was a tough month. So tough. Grueling. But May is over, and all that was left was to talk about the aftermath and pick up the pieces. We talked about the changes to the coaching staff and what trading Jack Maloof for George Brett means for the team going forward and if it means anything other than window dressing and a PR cover. We also discussed Yordano Ventura's promotion, Danny Duffy's rehab starts, and other moves recently. That led to a discussion about whether fans are setting themselves up for disappointment about Duffy whenever he returns. The concern came from Duffy's activity in social media, his previous work in the big leagues, and the expectation that he's going to be back to form right away. Then we covered the weird rain delay game, delved into the PED controversy, and hoped for better days for the Royals.

As you may have heard, Northwest Arkansas Naturals General Manager Eric Edelstein has taken a job that will land him in Reno, and he'll be leaving the Royals organization. But before he left, Troy Olsen caught up with him to talk about the move and to learn a bit more about some Double A prospects. Then we talked about the latest Royals action, including the kneejerk reactions from social media. We tried to make sense of the noise, take a deep breath, and reflect on the long slog of the baseball season. We wrapped up by picking a player from each full season minor league level to focus on. We discussed David Lough, Yordano Ventura, Kyle Smith, and Miguel Almonte this week, some of the top performers in the Royals system so far.

Things are not going well for the Royals. They're stuck in a 4-16 nosedive that has fans angry, players pressing, and seats heating up. So what better way to get the anger out than to talk about it!? Troy and Michael fired up the podcast machine to talk about what's gone wrong, what's potentially going to happen next, and what we'd do. We discussed potential demotions and other moves, potential firings, and considered alternatives to current front office personnel. More specifically, we talked about Chris Getz at leadoff, Alex Gordon batting third, Johnny Giavotella taking balls at third base, Danny Duffy getting rehab innings and wondered just what the heck the Royals have to do to get a win around here. Turns out, the Royals went 4-14 since our last podcast recording. Maybe this show was just what the team needed. You should check it out.

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How about a bonus Kansas City Baseball Vault episode? While most of our time is focused on the Royals, we're not limited to the big league team and its affiliates. We're still baseball fans overall. So when we were contacted about an event in Omaha to unveil a statue of Bob Gibson (Omaha native), we wanted to check in. So to help us cover the event at the Storm Chasers Werner Park, we sent Kings of Kauffman's Mike Vamosi and Hunter Samuels to check out the festivities. Included in this episode, you'll hear from Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Joe Torre, and Bill White during a press conference/banquet and then there's more from the statue unveiling ceremony itself the following day.

This week on the Kansas City Baseball Vault, we discussed the young season and the Royals early success in 2013 and shared the elements that stood out to us in the first place start. Then we cycled in some great guests, starting with Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Kendrick's spirits were high following a successful Red Carpet premiere of "42", which saw a packed AMC Theater show the Jackie Robinson biopic. The event featured an collectibles auction and many Royals made appearances, as did the stars of the film, Chadwick Bozeman and Harrison Ford. We spoke about the movie, the event, and the lasting impact of sharing a story like Robinson's through film. We could talk to Bob for hours to hear all the stories, but we had to move on. We then talked with Brad Cook from OOTP Developments about the newest edition of Out of the Park Baseball and the new features of the highly-addicting baseball simulation game. We finished up by talking with Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus. He wrote an article detailing concerns about Bubba Starling and we brought him on to ask him a bit more. He had an interesting take on some of the circumstances that may hold Starling back and while it's not uplifting, it's also important information to think about in evaluating the local prospect.

After a long winter, baseball is finally back, and after a week off, we're back talking about the Royals. We gave our first impressions about the first four games of the season and discussed any performances we're worried about yet (stressing that it's only four games so far). We talked about the reactions on social media, both positive and negative, and everyone agreed that there was a lot of overreaction to the Royals first two losses of the year. There's a lot more baseball to go, and it's satisfying to project how things will go, and even more so to be right about it, but there's a point where it cuts into the enjoyment of the game. Then we brought on Aaron Stilley (@Royal_Heritage) who talked about an upcoming talk he's giving at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum about Jackie Robinson and the Kansas City Monarchs. The event is April 13 at 10:30 am. Aaron can also be found at his blog: http://kcbbh.blogspot.com. We finished off with a wraparound of the Royals minor league affiliates, with some games in progress. Add this after the first sentence of the last paragraph: In the process, we talked about Bubba Starling and how likely it is that he'll pan out or if he'll start looking at other avenues if he struggles this year or down the line. That will be a regular feature of the show from here on.

The regular season can't get here soon enough. While the Royals cruise through spring training, we covered a few of the remaining battles while also discussing the final second base decision to keep Chris Getz over Johnny Giavotella. We also talked a bit goings-on in Omaha and brought up the idea of a platoon (or replacement) for Jeff Francoeur and tossed out an idea of trading for David DeJesus. Most of our time this week, however, was spent talking with Curt Nelson, director of the Royals Hall of Fame. We talked about his vision for the exhibits and artifacts within the Hall of Fame and what he tries to present to those who visit the stadium and want to dive into the history of the franchise. Of course, we also had to bring up the question of "How does Emil Brown end up eligible for the Royals Hall of Fame?" Curt walked us through the process of nomination and how they've revamped the voting to include fan votes and we looked at a few specific cases on the current eligible ballot as well as other names from the past that may be revisited. It's interesting stuff to think about, especially as other players like Mike Sweeney, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran are nearing eligibility for the team honor.

The Royals were busy trimming the roster and the latest Kansas City Baseball Vault discussed any surprises or disappointments in the cuts as well as what it means for the roster and any position battles going on. Along with that, we talked about the demotion of Luke Hochevar to the bullpen and its impact on the fifth starter race. Eric Hosmer came up and inspired a discussion about concern, worry, and panic. His early spring numbers were strong, but his World Baseball Classic performance was not. He's still the biggest question mark for the 2013 season. Also, look for a friendly wager should Donnie Joseph make the opening day roster. While both Michael and Troy like his potential, Troy likes it a bit more. Don't be a surprised to see a Kelvin Herrera vs. Donnie Joseph board bet...

Dayton Moore has talked about "the Process" of building a contender. It's taken a rebuild of the farm system but now it's time to get results. After trading Wil Myers for James Shields, the Royals are closer than they've been in a long time, but what's the actual window for contention? With most of their lineup made up of young players, what can we expect for the franchise in 2013 and ahead? To answer those questions, we talked with Jason Martinez of MLB Depth Charts, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN.com about his article discussing all of those ideas. He went through his process of determining a team's best year for being a World Series contender and the factors he had in mind while lining up the next few seasons. We also talked about the Royals spring performance, the second base job and adding versatility, and the World Baseball Classic. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove12/story/_/id/8850218/kansas-city-royals-window-contention-mlb --- Jason Martinez link.

The Royals start out undefeated in Cactus League play and we decided to figure out if it meant anything. Or even a little bit of anything. Does it improve the team's confidence? Is it a sign of good things in 2013? How did we think the rotation did the first time through? We covered all of those topics and marveled at the Chris Getz homer and what it means for the second base battle. We also talked a bit about what the World Baseball Classic means for the rest of spring training. Paul McCartney even showed up*. *Paul McCartney did not show up. It was just a poor impersonation. The best part of the week, though, was our discussion with Anthony Seratelli of the Omaha Storm Chasers. He shared his story of how he got to be a part of professional baseball and the twists and turns that landed him in the Royals organization. He's an easy guy to root for.

Its season preview season which means we have to get the opinion of our main man Greg Schaum on the Royals 2013 season. Also on this episode Aaron Bentley of Baseballinstincts.com gives us his evaluation of the Detroit Tigers system.

While snow fell in Kansas City, the Royals were busy getting spring training underway and taking the field against the rest of the Cactus League. We did our best not to overreact to the action so far, but did discuss Luis Mendoza's potential as a starter, John Lamb's comeback and velocity (as well as that of Noel Arguelles) and Alex Gordon's day off. Then we welcomed the voice of Kauffman Stadium to the show. Mike McCartney's a name you might not know but if you get to see the Royals at home, you'll know his voice. We caught up with him to talk about the All Star break, his philosophy behind how to work within the game and the crowd in calling up a player, what he does with the weird names (and we tested a few with him), and what it's like to work at the ballpark all summer. After a brief interlude to talk about the Chiefs and their search for a quarterback (we try not to go there unless it's a big story), we talked with Elliot Johnson, the newest Royal in camp. Johnson shared a lot about his climb towards the big leagues, including the disappointments of being kept in the minors, bad timing, and his dustup with Francisco Cervelli (and he had a nice take on the overreaction to that 2008 collision). He also talked about the leadership the Royals should expect from former-and-once-again teammates James Shields and Wade Davis as well as his adjustment to a new clubhouse and coaching staff and playing every position on the diamond.

The Royals are gathering in Surprise, Arizona right now for spring training and taking stock of their talent as the 2013 season starts. Who better to discuss that talent than one of the men who's helped acquire it? Royals Assistant GM JJ Picollo talked with the Vault about a number of prospects and their expected paths to the big leagues, including John Lamb, Kyle Zimmer, Jason Adam and Yordano Ventura. He explained the organization's approach to advancing Bubba Starling and talked about the input he gave Dayton Moore prior to the Wil Myers/James Shields trade. He also gave us an idea of how things shift from a scouting and development standpoint and adjusting to the circumstances and skills of each player. Prior to talking with Picollo, Troy, Jeff and Mike talked about some of the early news out of spring training including Jeff Francoeur's reaction to criticism, the middle infield and utility player battles, and what to take away from Tuesday's intrasquad game.

Royals 2011 draftpick Kyle Smith talked with Clint about his stellar 2012 season, his training regiment and what his goals are for 2013. Also on the show Keith Elkins of the Lexington Legends spoke about the new partnership with the Royals at the Single A level, the towns great support for the team and upcoming promotions for the 2013 season.