Luis Mendoza Wins Final Spot In Royals’ Starting Rotation

After a tough battle with Bruce Chen, Luis Mendoza has been named the fifth starter in the Kansas City Royals’ starting rotation. Chen will be moved to the bullpen.

Mendoza had an impressive spring for Kansas City, allowing only one run in 11 innings pitched. Chen struggled in spring ball, giving up 13 runs and 16 hits in 13 and 2/3 innings. Mendoza also had an impressive showing in the World Baseball Classic for his native Mexico. As a result, Mendoza will be joining James Shields, Ervin Santana, Jeremy Guthrie and Wade Davis in the Royals’ starting rotation.

Chen could be a valuable asset to what is already a strong bullpen, and the veteran provides Kansas City with some nice insurance should one of the starters get hurt or struggle. Chen has won 35 games over the past three seasons and has been very reliable for the organization.

The Royals will have to make several other roster decisions in the near future. The team must decide between Brett Hayes and George Kottaras in the battle for the backup catcher position, and between Miguel Tejada and Irving Falu for the utility infielder spot. Kansas City will also have to settle on its bullpen, where pitchers such as J.C. Gutierrez, Francisley Bueno, Louis Coleman, Dan Wheeler and Donnie Joseph are all competing.

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Royals Spring Training Updates – Hochevar Moved To Bullpen

Despite being a former top overall draft pick, Luke Hochevar has struggled with consistency as a starter his entire career in Kansas City. Now it appears that the right-hander’s days as a starter with the Royals are over, as Kansas City announced that Hochevar will be moved to the bullpen.

Hochevar had been competing with Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza for the final spot in the starting rotation along with James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana and Wade Davis. Now the battle is between Chen and Mendoza. Chen has been steady for the Royals, and has the most wins of any pitcher with the organization over the past three years. Despite Chen’s consistency, Mendoza has to be the favorite. After a rocky start to last season, Mendoza has pitched very well and could be due for a big season.

Hochevar has baffled Kansas City fans with his inconsistency – at times he looks like a dominant starter, other times he looks like he doesn’t belong in the major leagues. Unfortunately, the bad has outweighed the good in his career, and the former top pick has a 5.39 ERA and a 38-59 record in 132 career starts.

While Mendoza and Chen are the front-runners to win the fifth starter’s spot, Will Smith has emerged as a dark horse candidate. Smith has a 1.29 ERA so far this spring and could be a potential starter down the road for Kansas City.

The emergence of Smith may lead to Kansas City considering trading Hochevar, as Kansas City already has a loaded bullpen. Greg Holland’s job as the closer and Kelvin Herrera’s position as his setup man are locks, and the Royals also have Aaron Crow, Tim Collins, Nate Adcock and Louis Coleman as relief pitchers. The loser of the Chen and Mendoza battle could also be used in relief, and it appears there isn’t much room for Hochevar. Don’t be surprised if the Royals try to shop Hochevar over the next couple of weeks.

luke hochevar trade moved to bullpen - KCMB Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Royals Spring Training Begins, Competition At Pitcher Heats Up

Royals spring training is officially underway! The team has made several key offseason moves in hopes for contending for the playoffs, and several position battles are taking place that could have a big impact on the upcoming season.

Currently, all eyes are on the pitching rotation, as a battle for the fifth starter’s spot has developed. It appears that Luke Hochevar is an early favorite to land the position, but he will have stiff competition from Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza. Hochevar has the most upside of the group, and manager Ned Yost is still high on the former top overall pick. However, Chen and Mendoza both had solid seasons in 2012, and while Hochevar occasionally flashes brilliance, he had an ERA north of five last year.

Kansas City has high hopes for its rotation, as the additions of James Shields, Wade Davis and Ervin Santana should provide a much-needed improvement. Royals starting pitchers went 47-69 last season with a 5.01 ERA – good for 26th in the majors. The three new additions will be paired with Jeremy Guthrie, who pitched incredibly well for Kansas City at the end of last season.

If Hochevar wins the fifth starter spot, Chen and Mendoza could be added to the bullpen, which already has several talented pitchers. Mendoza was recently named the MVP of the Caribbean Series while he pitched for Mexico, and Chen has been steady for the entirety of his career in Kansas City. If the Royals ever needed a spot-starter, or if a starter suffered an injury, Mendoza and Chen would both be worthy candidates.

Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino are both recovering from elbow injuries, but the pair could be back sometime around the All-Star break. Duffy and Paulino were starters before getting hurt, and both have pitched well in that role for the Royals.

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Royals Avoid Sweep With Extra Innings Victory Over Rangers

The Royals pulled off an improbably comeback today, beating the Texas Rangers in extra innings, 7-6. The game winning run was scored by Eric Hosmer, who scored on a costly throwing error by rookie Mike Olt to end the game. With the win, Kansas City moves to 45-62 on the season.

With the scored tied up at 6 in the bottom of the 10^th, the Rangers made several critical mistakes that allowed the Royals to steal the game. Olt’s error lead to the end of the game on Jeff Francoeur’s grounder, but Texas had shot itself in the foot previously in the inning to put themselves in that position. Alberto Gonzalez botched a routine ground ball only three pitches earlier which allowed Hosmer to advance.

It appeared as if the Royals were on the verge of being swept all game, as Texas took a three run lead in the fourth inning. After Kansas City regained the lead thanks to home runs by Francoeur and Bryan Pena, Olt tied the game up for the Rangers on a double from Michael Young. Elvis Andrus attempted to give the Rangers the lead on the same play, but was thrown out at home. Texas would have another opportunity to win the game in the top of the tenth, when they loaded the bases with only one out. Alcides Escobar made a great diving catch for the second out of the inning, and Greg Holland struck out Olt to keep Kansas City alive.

The Royals start a seven game road trip tomorrow, when they travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox. Luis Mendoza (5-7), who has been pitching well of late, will take the mound for Kansas City.  Chris Sale (12-3), in the midst of one of the best pitching seasons in the majors this year, will start for Chicago.

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Royals Win 15 Inning Marathon Against Cardinals

Yuniesky Betancourt blasted a two-run home run in the 15th, giving the Royals a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The win improved Kansas City’s record to 29-35 on the season, and the Royals have now won five of their last six games and trail the Chicago White Sox by only five games in the AL Central standings.

Betancourt wound up the hero, despite not even starting the game. He was forced into action when Chris Getz suffered a leg injury in the first inning. Betancourt nearly ended the game in the fourteenth inning, when his RBI double gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead. However, Jonathan Broxton blew the save and the game continued.

Before Betancourt’s heroics, Billy Butler had the game’s biggest hit. Butler hit a pinch-hit home run to tie the game in the ninth inning, his 12th blast of the season. Kansas City also got a bizarre contribution from Alex Gordon, who drew a franchise record five walks in the game. Gordon has now drawn five walks in a game twice, the only Royal in club history to achieve this feat.

While Betancourt and Butler stole the headlines with their homers, Kansas City would not have been in the game if it wasn’t for some strong pitching. Luis Mendoza pitched six strong innings, only allowing two runs while striking out five and only allowing one walk. The Royals’ bullpen also pitched well, as the Cardinals did not record a run between the sixth and fourteenth inning.

The Royals continue their interleague schedule tonight, when they will travel to Houston to begin a series with the Astros. Jonathan Sanchez (1-2) will start for Kansas City, while J.A. Happ (4-7) will start for Houston. The Royals have won seven of their last ten games against the Astros.

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Royals Place Felipe Paulino On Disabled List

The Royals' pitching staff has already been hit hard by injuries this season, and it appears as if things are getting even worse. Kansas City has now placed Felipe Paulino on the 15 day disabled list.

Paulino has pitched incredibly well for the Royals in his brief stint in the rotation this year, compiling a 3-1 record and an impressive 1.67 ERA. Paulino has a strained groin, and joins a long list of Kansas City pitchers who have gotten hurt this season.

Kansas City has called up Nate Adcock from Triple A Omaha, who already has seen significant major league experience this season. The Royals will also move Luis Mendoza back into the rotation after his recent stint in the bullpen.

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Kansas City Royals vs Blue Jays April 21st, 2012 Rookie Drew Hutchinson Handles the Royals - Kansas City News

Along the way to their 10 game losing streak, The Kansas City Royals were embarrassingly overmatched losing game number 9 of the streak on Saturday April 21st when the Royals self-destructed vs the Toronto Blue Jays.  The Kansas City Royals followed up Saturday's game with an equally terrible outing vs the Blue Jays, stretching their losing streak to 10 games.

Back to Saturday's game;  this was a game that the Royals could have won.  Take away a few bad coaching decisions, and we could have had this one.

Bad Decision Number 1 - Pulling Mendoza Too Early
The first coaching mistake falls into the "hindsight is 20/20" category and it is hard to fault the management on this one, but even after starting Royals pitcher Luis Mendoza got shelled in the 4th inning, it would have been wise not to panic and pull him out so early in the game.  It is easy to understand why Grand Master Ned would take Mendoza out of the game after allowing 4 runs in one inning, but Teaford and eventually Herrera did nothing to stop the bleeding.  It is conceivable that the Royals would have stood a better chance if they would have left Mendoza in for a few more innings as the Royals offense indeed started making a hasty comeback after he was benched...a comeback that Teaford and Herrera basically threw out the window.  Teaford, the left hander was just throwing up ducks, the Blue Jays just swatted almost everything he threw at them, he had absolutely no skills on Saturday.

Bad Decision Number 2 - What Was Billy Butler Doing?
In the Royals highest scoring inning so far this season, Billy Butler let all of the air out of the tires.  After the nightmare that was the 4th inning, the Royals started a big time rally in the 5th inning.  The inning started off with a double by Alcides Escobar, who was pushed home by Mitch Maier's super hustle triple (Mitch STREAKED around those base pads, son).  Yuniesky Betancourt kept the magic going with a nice little single that brought Maier home, and then the rookie pitcher Drew Hutchinson started to sweat and walked Alex Gordon.  Up comes our 2012 MLB All Star Game candidate Billy Butler, who has been carrying the Royals offense all season...until Saturday.  With Butler at the plate with two men on base, the Royals fans rose to their feet.  Rookie pitcher Drew Hutchinson, who was literally pulled up from the AA roster that week, was obviously freaking out.  He could NOT find the plate and quickly put the pitch count up to 3-0.  Yes, 3-0.  Now what does a professional baseball player do at the plate when the count is 3-0?  That's right kids, he TAKES THE FREAKING NEXT PITCH.  We don't know if old Ned gave Butler the green light to swing on a 3-0 count or whether Billy took matters into his own hands, but with the entire stadium on it's feet and the rookie pitcher about to pee his pants and simultaneously walk the bases loaded, Billy Butler decided to swing the bat.  Clearly the pitch was going to be ball 4, as Butler awkwardly reached for a total squirrel pitch and grounded into an AROUND THE HORN double play.  We just have one question for you Billy, what the hell were you doing?  Butler would go hitless for the game.

The Blue Jays finished the job after that debacle, smacking the Royals up 9-5.  Oh well, the Royals keep losing, but the fans keep coming.  I suppose that is why management trades away all of our good players and keeps the fans dangling by promising them that "we're building our team from our farm team program" - yeah, right.  Attendance for the entire weekend series was around 27,000 each night - so if the people of Kansas City keep spending money to come out to the games no matter how dismal the Royals perform, why change the formula?  The reality is that Royals stadium is just a giant bar - well - it's a giant bar......with a mascot....and a massive cover charge.....and you have to pay for parking......and....oh well, we've got to be the most gullible and sheepish city with an MLB team, we just sit back and take it.

~~ Kansas City News, Royals vs. Blue Jays April 21st, 2012

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Royals Shut Out Again In Loss To A's - Kansas City News

For the second time this season, the Royals’ offense failed to put a run on the board, and Kansas City fell to Oakland 1-0 last night. The Royals had absolutely no answer for Tommy Milone, who threw eight scoreless innings while only surrendering three hits. The loss dropped the Royals record to 2-2 on the season.

The embarrassing offensive output wasted a great outing from Luis Mendoza, who pitched 5 2/3rds innings and only gave up one run on five hits. Mendoza had a fantastic spring, compiling a 4-0 record and a 0.47 ERA in exhibition play, and hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the journeyman the Royals are counting on this year.

While early, it has been hard to figure out the Royals this season. The offense has looked great in the team’s two wins, and dreadful in Kansas City’s two losses. One constant so far has been starting pitching – the Royals starters have all pitched extremely well. With a young and talented lineup, the Royals offense should start to find some consistency. The big question mark entering the season was the starting rotation, and so far, the Royals’ rotation has looked good.

With Kansas City hosting the 2012 All Star game and young stars like Eric Hosmer, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the Royals early in the season. With an easy early schedule, the Royals have a great chance to build some momentum and live up to the early hype.

Kansas City faces Oakland again today at 9:05 PM. Danny Duffy (0-0) will get the start for the Royals, while Graham Godfrey (0-0) will start for the A’s.

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