Royals Undefeated In Preseason

The Royals’ preseason has gotten off to a great start, as the team is the only club in baseball to still be undefeated in exhibition play. Kansas City’s offense has been hot all spring, and that continued yesterday in an 8-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Royals fans have to be encouraged from how well the team has hit so far in spring ball. Third baseman Mike Moustakas currently has a .545 batting average, while first baseman Eric Hosmer is hitting .391. Kansas City needs both Moustakas and Hosmer to take the next step this season if the team is going to compete for the postseason, and both are producing so far. Alex Gordon may also be in-line for another good season, as he has hit .471 through exhibition play.

A battle for the fifth starter spot is still taking place between Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen, and it appears that the Royals are now considering trading the pitcher that doesn’t make the starting rotation (as long as the team’s other starters remain healthy). Both Chen and Hochevar will earn $4.5 million this season, and with the Royals’ payroll at a franchise-record $79 million at the moment, it would make sense to trade whichever pitcher will not be starting.

Several scouts were in attendance for the team’s victory over the A’s to watch both Chen and Hochevar pitch. Chen allowed one run on two hits with zero walks, while Hochevar pitched three scoreless innings with three hits and one walk. Chen has led the team in victories over the past three years, but many feel that Hochevar is the current favorite to win the rotation spot.

Kansas City’s undefeated record in spring ball will be put to the test this afternoon, when the team plays the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game will begin at 1:10 p.m.

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Royals' Guthrie Poor In Debut Against Twins

During the offseason, the Royals made one of the worst trades in recent baseball history. The team sent Melky Cabrera packing, trading the future 2012 All Star game MVP to the Giants for pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. This season, Cabrera has been one of the better hitters in baseball, while Sanchez was a complete disaster - a 7.76 ERA in 12 starts, one win and six losses. The trade could very well spell the end for Dayton Moore in Kansas City. The Royals finally cut ties with Sanchez, trading him on Friday for Jeremy Guthrie.

Unfortunately for Kansas City, Guthrie really hasn't been any better than Sanchez this season, and his debut today mirrored his results from earlier this year. Guthrie lasted only five innings, giving up five runs in a 7-5 loss to the Twins and falling to 3-10 on the season with a 6.49 ERA. Hopefully a change of scenery pays off for Guthrie, but his career as a Royal currently got off to a rocky start.

Starting pitching has been a huge problem for the team since the All Star break. On the Royals 10 game homestand, the team's rotation had a 7.38 ERA, a big reason why Kansas City is 3-7 despite facing an easy schedule. Injuries have really decimated this group, and its hard to see the team ever getting back in contention now.

The lone bright spot for the Royals was Billy Butler, who belted his 19th homer of the season. Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas have continued to hit and get on base as well, and the team's young core has steadily produced runs since the All Star break. We'll see if the Royals pitching can improve enough to support the team's offense.

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Mike Moustakas Leads Royals To Rout Over Blue Jays

Mike Moustakas had a huge game, leading the Royals to an 11-3 rout over the Blue Jays. The win improved Kansas City’s record to 36-42 on the year, and the team is only 5.5 games out of first in the latest AL Central standings.

Entering the game, Moustakas was in the middle of his worst slump of the season, hitless in his last 14 at bats. After striking out in his first plate appearance, Moustakas belted a double to score Yuniesky Betancourt in the third. This must have been what got the monkey off Moustakas’ back, as he blasted a grand slam in the seventh to turn the contest into a route. Despite the prior slump, Moustakas is having a very strong season for the Royals, and the offensive barrage in yesterday’s game was just a glimpse of the young first baseman’s power.

While Moustakas grabbed the headlines with his grand slam, several other Royals had strong games as well. Salvador Perez hit a two run homer, and Betancourt and Alex Gordon also drove in runs. As a team, the Royals tallied 14 hits last night, a season high. Also, Kansas City got a good pitching performance from Everett Teaford, who threw seven strong innings against one of the best offenses in the major leagues to earn his first win of the season. Given the Royals' injury woes at pitcher, we will likely see Teaford get a shot to join the rotation on a permanent basis for the rest of the season.

The Royals will try to keep their hot bats going tonight against Toronto, as the Jays’ Brett Cecil (1-1, 6.06 ERA) has struggled this season. Vin Mazzaro (3-2) will start for Kansas City. The game will start at 6:07 p.m.

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Billy Butler Named To 2012 MLB All Star Roster

Billy Butler won’t have to travel very far to attend his first MLB All Star game. The Royals DH was named to the American League squad for the 2012 MLB All Star game held in Kansas City.

Butler has been the Royals’ best offensive weapon this season, and is a big reason why KC is 35-42 and only a couple of games out of first place. Butler currently has a .297 average with 16 HR and 48 RBI for the season, and he has consistently provided the Royals with clutch hitting late in games. Butler is the only Royals player to make the team, despite strong seasons from players such as Jonathan Broxton, Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar.

Broxton still has an opportunity to play for the AL Central, although his fate is in the hands of the fans. Broxton is one of this year’s Final Vote candidates for the AL, joined by Yu Darvish, Jason Hammel, Jake Peavy and Ernesto Frieri.

Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton received 11,073,744 votes, easily breaking the previous record of votes for a player that was held by Jose Bautista. Giants catcher Buster Posey received the most NL votes with 7,621,370.

Butler’s AL teammates also include C Mike Napoli, 1B Prince Fielder, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Adrian Beltre, S Derek Jeter and DH David Ortiz as the starters. Apart from Ortiz, Adam Dunn of the White Sox is the other AL Designated Hitter on the All Star roster.

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Royals Swept By Cardinals

Just when the Royals had crawled back into contention and found themselves only a few games out of first place, disaster struck. Kansas City’s starting pitching was dreadful all weekend, and the Royals were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The sweep highlights why Kansas City will once again have a sub .500 season – the Royals simply do not have capable starting pitching. Against St. Louis, the Royals gave up 41 hits and 30 runs over three games. The poor pitching performances wasted a great offensive output from the Royals on Sunday, when Mike Moustakas hit two home runs and both Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler went yard as well.

Injuries have completely decimated the rotation, forcing the team to start players that really have no business pitching in the major leagues. At the moment, Bruce Chen is the team’s best pitcher who is not on the disabled list, and he is sporting a 4.81 ERA for the season. Chen is who he is, a decent option for a fourth of fifth starter, but he shouldn’t be the Royals best option at this point. Luke Hochevar has made it official that he is never coming close to living up to his first overall draft status as well, meaning that Kansas City is going to have to score a lot of runs night in and night out to have a shot. That is simply too much pressure on the offense, and it appears that it will likely be downhill from here for the rest of the season.

The Royals will try to get back on track tonight, when they start a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Hochevar (4-7) will start for the Royals, while Alex Cobb (3-3) will take the mound for the Rays. Game one is tonight at 7:10 p.m. at Kauffman Stadium.

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Royals Beat Yankees For Their First Home Win Of The Season

As sad as it is that it came in May, the Royals won their first home game of the season last night, beating the New York Yankees 4-3. The Royals were able to hold on in ninth thanks to a fantastic play at third base by Mike Moustakas, who made a bare-handed grab to throw at Alex Rodriquez to end the game. The win improved the Royals’ record to 8-16 on the season.

Moustakas also contributed at the plate, belting a solo shot in the second inning to give the Royals an early lead, and adding two more RBIs in the fifth. The young third baseman is silently having a very good season for the Royals, hitting for a .318 average this season with 4 home runs and 15 RBIs. He has also played excellent defense at third base, and last night’s game winning throw was just one of several highlight-reel plays he has made at third base this season.

Danny Duffy pitched very well for Kansas City, and improved his record to 2-2 on the season while lowering his ERA to 3.57. The Royals bullpen was solid, save for a shaky outing from closer Jonathan Broxton. Broxton gave up a hit and a walk before a big double play got Kansas City closer to victory.

The big story before the game was New York’s loss of Mariano Rivera, who tore his ACL before the game shagging balls and may be done for his career. Rivera is the greatest closer in MLB history, and his absence surely played a part on the Yankee’s struggles. However, give a lot of credit to Kansas City, the Royals deserved the win and got the winless-at-home monkey off their back.

Kansas City will play New York again tonight at 7:10 p.m. Bruce Chen (0-3) will start for the Royals, while C.C. Sabathia (3-0) will start for the Yankees.

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Royals Win Game One of the 1-70 Series

The Royals held on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 in the first game of the annually-hyped 1-70 series. Alcides Escobar continued to stay hot at the plate, contributing two hits and a run for Kansas City. Escobar is now 14 of 24 from the plate over the past seven games, with eight runs scored.

Escobar was also involved in the game's deciding play during the eighth inning. Escobar hit a hard ground ball towards gold-glove first baseman Albert Pujols, however Pujols was unable to make the stop. Mike Moustakas scored the go-ahead run, and Pujols was charged with an error. Pujols had a chance to get revenge on the Royals in the ninth, as he faced closer Joakim Soria with the tying run on first. However, Soria was able to get the out, and Kansas City stole game one of the series.

Kansas City raced out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to RBI hits from Jeff Francoeur and Alex Gordon, only to watch St. Louis roar back and take a 4-3 lead in the third. Game two of the series starts tonight at 6:15 p.m., and Vin Mazzaro will get the start for the Royals.

Royals Trade Callaspo, Call Up Moustakas and Gordon

Royals’ third baseman Alberto Callaspo has been traded to the Los Angeles Angels for two pitchers. Callaspo was dealt just before Thursday’s loss to the New York Yankees. In the deal, the Royals acquired right hander Sean O’Sullivan and minor-league left hander Will Smith. The deal was made to clear a starting spot for prospect Mike Moustakas. Moustakas is believed to be one of the organization’s top minor league players.

On paper, the move makes a lot of sense for the Royals. They made room for a top prospect and signed two good young pitchers in the process. However, the Royals have been down this road with often disastrous results. The Royals have traded the likes of Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon in the past for a series of prospects, and never got back the value of the players they dealt. While Callaspo isn’t an All-Star player as Beltran, Dye and Damon were, he has been a very steady and productive hitter and infielder. The Royals need Moustakas and O’Sullivan to produce, or Kansas City fans will have to watch another former player tear up for a contender with little to show for it.

Speaking of prospects who haven’t lived up to their potential, Alex Gordon has been called up to replace David Dejesus, who was lost for the season due to injury. Gordon has been a disappointment so far, and Dejesus has been one of the Royals’ most productive hitters for the past season. Losing Callaspo and Dejesus deals a big blow to the team’s offense, but will give younger players an opportunity to contribute. Hopefully these turn-of-events will make the team better for the future, but I’m not holding my breath.