Gor-done Deal!

 A long-term deal between Alex Gordon and the Royals became reality on Friday afternoon when the left fielder agreed to a contract potentially worth $50 million over five years. 


This new contract will pay him a guaranteed $37.5 million for the first four years -- $6 million in 2012, $9 million in 2013, $10 million in 2014 and $12.5 million in 2015. In addition, Gordon holds a player option for 2016 at $12.5 million. The contract also contains some fairly standard performance bonuses.


 After general manager Dayton Moore made the announcement, Gordon was Quoted saying this, " It`s a very special day, I couldn't be more excited,"  "He said four years with a player option, I look at it as five years.

"This is where I want to be, surrounded by great people. It starts with the Glass family and ever since Dayton came into this organization, you kind of saw something change and he turned this organization around and it's really the right step to where the players want to be."

This now makes the third long-term agreement reached in camp. Catcher Salvador Perez signed a contract that guarantees him $7 million over five years with three club options that could increase the total to $26.75 million. Perez has since suffered a knee injury, undergone surgery and is expected to miss about half the season.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar signed a deal that guarantees him $10.5 million over four years plus two club options that could boost the total worth to $21.7 million.

Sad to hear about Perez, but it`s a great thing the Royals locked up that potential, because they will need him towards the end of the season if they make a run. This is quite possible with Butler, Cain, Gordon, and Hosmer all hitting above .400, this signing could be one of the biggest Accomplishments Made by the royals Staff since the 1985 season. If these 4 can stay healthy and continue with the hot bats,I see the Royals having a great offense and ok defense. This could possibly mean a division Crown at the end of the season. your thoughts? Post em below.. :)

Mike Sweeney Back to the Big Leagues?

You heard right, Mike Sweeney is back in the MLB, Network that is. According to MLB.com, Five-time American League All-Star Mike Sweeney has joined MLB Network as a studio analyst. Sweeney will make his debut on MLB Tonight today, Wednesday, March 28 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Sweeney joins former MLBers Larry Bowa, Eric Byrnes, Sean Casey, Ron Gant, John Hart, Jim Kaat, Al Leiter, Mike Lowell, Joe Magrane, Kevin Millar, Jerry Manuel, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Billy Ripken, John Smoltz, Dave Valle and Mitch Williams as analysts at MLB Network. 

first baseman and designated hitter, Sweeney batted .297 with 215 home runs and 909 RBI in his 16-year career. Sweeney made his first of four consecutive American League All-Star teams in 2000, a season where he hit 29 home runs and drove in 144 RBI. Sweeney spent the first 13 years of his career with the Kansas City Royals (1995-2007) before joining the Oakland Athletics (2008), Seattle Mariners (2009-2010) and the Philadelphia Phillies (2010). Sweeney was the recipient of the 2007 Hutch Award, presented annually to an MLB player who best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire of former MLB pitcher and manager Fred Hutchinson. 

Sweeney will take part in the All-Star Game festivities in Kansas City this year, participating in the All-Star Game Charity 5K & Fun Run presented by Nike, which will take place on Sunday, July 8 in downtown Kansas City. Sweeney has created the “Sween Team” inviting fans to sign up for the race, with Major League Baseball donating all the net proceeds from the event to three charities supporting cancer research and awareness - Prostate Cancer Foundation, Stand Up To Cancer and the Greater Kansas City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 

So Congrats to Mike, he is very well deserving of this, and we Royals fans wish him the best in his new Career.

All Chens High In KC!

Its official, as of yesterday evening the Kansas City Royals announced their opening day starter. It will be left handed pitcher Bruce Chen. After Posting a 12 win season last year and only 8 losses, while striking out 97 batters and holding a 3.77 ERA in 155 innings pitched. Not bad, not bad at all, here`s what Manager Ned Yost had to say about it, "I think Bruce can keep us in ballgames against No. 1 starters, and then we've got Hoch and Sanchy coming up behind him that'll keep us in ballgames against No. 2 and No. 3 starters," Yost said. "So we like the way it sets up. It keeps our balance between left-right and Bruce deserves it, he earned it." Good luck to Chen on opening day, can't wait to see him in action.

Gor Don Blu?

With the first swing of the game on Saturday, Royals left fielder Alex Gordon had already added to his great spring.

Gordon, who is still hitting above .400 in the Cactus League, led off the game by crushing a 2-0 offering from D-backs starter Trevor Cahill high onto the grassy hill in right field. It was the first of six runs the Royals crowned in their 6-5 victory over Arizona at Salt River Fields.

Cahill only allowed one more run in the first, but he settled in after that, looking sharp in the 4 2/3 innings he gave,only allowing just those two runs, while striking out six and giving up five hits. The newly acquired righty retired 13 of the last 15 hitters he faced, including 10 in a row after he allowed the second Royals run on a Jeff Francoeur single.

The D-backs first broke through against Sanchez on a Paul Goldschmidt RBI single that plated Chris Young. They scored two more off of Sanchez in a sixth-inning rally, but only one was earned.

Gordon was one of four Royals with two hits. Francoeur, Lorenzo Cain and Brayan Pena combined for six of the Royals' 12 hits in the game, grabbing 2 a piece.

Kansas City took the lead for good with a three-run homer in the seventh, off of the D-backs' Tyler Skaggs, who struggled mightily, allowing four runs in his three innings of work.

The D-backs strung together a rally in the bottom of the eighth, but it ended when Royals left fielder Jason Bourgeois gunned the tying run at the plate. 

The Royals are finally clicking at all cylinders, hopefully they can keep it join from now till the All-Star break. Cain is hitting .488 right now right behind him is Gordon at .422, up next Butler, who is at .415, and Hosmer and Pena are hitting in the .360`s. This is great to hear from these guys, not to mention the bench players got the memo too as they are all hitting over .220. Not to bad, we are only 2 weeks away from the season beginning. How excited are you ? can we Repeat 2003, or can we do better?

Cain Is Able!

 Lorenzo Cain, who is leading all Major League hitters in Spring Training, slammed a home run and kept his average at .500, as the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3, on Wednesday at Surprise Stadium. Cain hit his third home run over the left-field wall leading off the second inning against right-hander Graham Godfrey. Cain went 1-for-2 and is 17-for-34 with 10 extra-base hits. Cain is having a tremendous Spring, he was a big question mark coming in and is proving he can hit as well as play the field. If cains hot streak can carry through this season, The Royals could be looking into a long term deal with him, past has proven once we get a good player in centerfield they quickly go, for instance Beltran, Damon, and DeJesus. As I always say, time will tell.

HQ comes to Kc and Soria moves to DL?

Thats right folks, The Royals have aquired catcher Humberto Quintero from the Houston Astros in a trade on Tuesday.They also received outfielder Jason Bourgeois in the deal that sent Minor League pitcher Kevin Chapman and a Minor League player to be named to the Astros. The Royals made this Trade due to Perez going down. Quintero Has a great arm and pretty good accuracy, so he should fit in quite well until perez gets back to action. 


In other news, The Royals Bull pen takes another blow with Soria taking a couple of days off to consider what to do about his ailing right elbow, Royals officials said on Wednesday.

Soria has returned from a visit with Dr. Lewis Yocum, an elbow specialist in Los Angeles, after tests showed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament. That's a problem often resolved by Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, which Soria already has undergone once in his career.

"He's got definite ligament damage and both doctors agree," manager Ned Yost said. "They gave him some options and I'm not sure what they are." so Soria will probably head to the DL, but don't worry, that leaves the door wide open for Aaron Crow. who had 4 wins and 22 saves last season, and more good news as Royals starting pitcher Felipe Paulino Allowed the Angels to one run in his four innings. Mark Trumbo doubled off the right-field wall in the second inning and later scored while Maicer Izturis, who had singled him to third, was put out in a rundown on a steal attempt.

Paulino twice struck out the Angels' other big offseason investment, first baseman Albert Pujols. He also fanned against Louis Coleman and was 0-for-4, but he's still hitting .367. Not bad for the Royals probable starter.

Around The Horn We Go!

Over the weekend the Royals trimmed their roster to 43 players. On Sunday, the Royals optioned three players to Triple-A Omaha -- first baseman Clint Robinson, and outfielders Derrick Robinson and David Lough.

The moves reduce the Royals' camp roster to 43.

Clint Robinson, stuck behind Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler in the first base-designated hitter ranks, batted .318 (7-for-22) in the Cactus League, with one double and two RBIs.

Derrick Robinson hit .364 (4-for-11) with three RBIs, and Lough's average was .316 (6-for-19), with two triples and one RBI. now on to pitching 

Royals reliever Blake Wood will be out 10 days to two weeks with a sore right elbow, the team reported on Sunday during their 6-4 win over the Indians in Cactus League action at Surprise Stadium.

Wood arrived at the clubhouse on Sunday wearing a sleeve on the elbow, and he will be temporarily shut down after making four appearances and tossing 3 1/3 innings. He's 1-2 with an 8.10 ERA.

"I tried to recover a little bit, but it just got progressively worse," Wood said about the Saturday night outing. "It started to worry me because I didn't want to do something real bad. I just couldn't get through anything because it was hurting. It's hard to command the ball when you're going through something like that."

Wood said this is all new territory for him.

"I've had stuff before, but I've never been taken out of a game before," he said. All this according to Royals.com

Also Two pitches before the end of his brief relief outing in the fifth inning on Sunday against the Indians, Royals closer Joakim Soria felt a tug in his throwing elbow. A pitch later that tug became more painful and Soria called manager Ned Yost to the mound. A moment later Soria was walking across left field to the clubhouse accompanied by a trainer.

Like Blake Wood, Soria has been diagnosed with a sore right elbow. Unlike Wood, who is out for at least the next 10 to 14 days, the jury is still out on Soria, who will be re-evaluated early this week.

Losing a setup man is one thing, but having your closer get hurt with a little more than two weeks to go in Spring Training has to be a major concern.

"Yeah, it's a concern, there's no doubt," said Yost, whose club held on for a 6-4 win at Surprise Stadium after building a 6-0 lead against Tribe starter Josh Tomlin. "But again, we can't get crazy concerned until the doctors evaluate it and see where we're at."

Well Let`s see, We are Just half way through Spring training, and two of our relief pitchers are down due to a poor training staff, our Catcher is out half the season do to poor training, cause you don't just tear a ligament by mistake, its due to poor pre game warm ups, and finally our coach can't do anything to help our team cause we are still farming. Hosmer and Hocheaver  looked good so far, and a little more good news Quintero is now on the Royals radar to replace perez. so we will once again see how this turns out.

Short Stop turns into long stop!

The Royals announced this morning that they have signed Short Stop Alcides Escobar to a 4-year deal through 2015 with two club options for `16 and `17 the terms have not yet been decided. he originally signed a 2 year deal last year in the trade from Milwaukee, but the Royals I guess had other plans to keep him just a bit longer. personally I think this is a morale boost for him to play better this season, or it could be a smart decision,because Betancourt only signed yet another 1 year contract with the club, and last year he was traded midseason to the brewers, who made it to the post season soo... Hopefully the organization made the right decision, He did hit .364 last season and had 55 at bats in 22 games last season as well as an on base percentage of.400. speedy and quick, he makes a great designated runner for late innings for guys like butler, or for pitchers when they have to hit in inter league play. So I will have to sit on this for awhile, but for now I'm not to crazy about it, but again the Staff may see something I haven't. what are your thoughts?

Prezzy Bad News!

The Royals' took a pretty serious hit on Wednesday, when they announced that $7 million catcher Salvador Perez is to have surgery on his left knee. You Herd right, Just as I stated a few times that the Royals needed to overcome the Injury bug, we'll, not off to the best start. Yes, they do have a, in my opinion, Fairly decent Back up in Brian Pena who was quoted saying this, 


"I knew from the beginning that this was his team, and I was ready to back him up," Pena said. "It's unfortunate that this injury happened, but me personally, I'm ready. I feel I know these guys on our pitching staff. I've been working with them the last couple of years, and I feel right now that we're going to be very good. With our bullpen and [Bruce] Chen, [Luke] Hochevar and [Jonathan] Sanchez, I think we're going to be good and we'll try to hold on until the big man comes back." courtesy of Kcroyals.com


Well pena, I hope you Guys can hold on too, cause Estimated Recovery time for the Injury 4-6 weeks. yeah, thats about a month and a half to wait and 2 months if they want him fully healthy. The man has an arm like a young yadier Molina as well as the accuracy. He will defiantly be a huge loss for the team but at least it happened early in spring training and not later. Again Pena isn't a bad replacement although he hit .196 last season due to a knee injury, he's looking to rebound this season, as he usually hits for an average of .270. not to mention he has a great throwing arm and has a fairly accurate throw. So royals fans pay close attention over the next few weeks and watch closely to see what happens. Will Pena be right or will the Royals struggle? feel free to comment.

Broxton Takes The Bull From The Pen To The Mound!

Jonathan Broxton, a very big Boy  at 6-4 and 300 or so pounds, If you haven't already noticed, Brings Bulk and intensity to the mound. He has been an intimidating power-arm closer,and In his peak, he was a 96, 98 mile-an-hour fastball, a slider, throws strikes, on the attack," manager Ned Yost said. "He's a big guy, he's very quiet. He's a man of few words. Very good-natured guy. Very smart, knows what he wants to do, knows how to go about it." 
   
   Now if you remember correctly last season Broxton didn't do a whole lot. he was held to 14 games because of bone spurs in his elbow. That finally resulted in surgery last Sept. 19. "It wasn't a major surgery where you have to be out a long time," Broxton said.In the Game on monday March 5, vs Texas, He faced five batters in the first inning and, after Mitch Moreland singled, got two outs including a strikeout of Adrian Beltre and issued two walks. After 27 pitches, the inning was waved to a close.

   "The elbow feels fine but I was a little rusty out there," Broxton said. "The timing wasn't all there but the elbow feels fine so that's all that matters right now. I'm just going to build off that and the next time out I'll worry about some more stuff."  
  
    Broxton then tested his fastball, slider and curve, and while he declared the pitches not that well executed, he didn't feel tired, which was a plus. He is scheduled to pitch again in this Wednesday night's game against the Seattle Mariners at Peoria. So hopefully this is a sign of good things to come in KC this season. If Broxton fixes his mechanics a little more and stays healthy, as well as Soria and Crow. the Royals could have a 1,2,3 punch this season at the closer position. Which KC has desperately needed for quite some time now, but only time will tell.

Calling the Butler!

1st baseman/ DH Billy Butler says he is willing to do what ever it takes to win, even if that means to play the outfield.

watch this video and give your thoughts about Billy Butler 

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20149129&c_id=kc&partnerId=aw-4800392551103347705-1121

Personally I think this could be a mistake if he does go to the outfield, but If he can trim down a bit more, bulk up on muscle and takes it seriously. then maybe I could see the move work out. But then again an old Barry Bonds, with bad knees, Could play the outfield so who knows. Again give me your thoughts.. :)

Royal Bash!

With ticket sales opening on Saturday, and the teams first Spring game on sunday vs. the Rangers. The Royals were the talk this weekend. On Saturday I was one of those waiters for opening day Tickets, and After an hour and 30 minutes of waiting, I finally got my chance, but 90% of the seats were gone. hopefully this means fans are excited to see there Royals possibly win the Central this season. Only time can tell. Then on Sunday afternoon the Royals Played host to the Texas Rangers. the Royals took an Early 2-0 lead over the Rangers.By the 5th inning the Royals took a 4-0 lead and then Butler, who promised his daughter a home run before the game, took command and hit a two run home run. which then put the Royals out in front by five, making the score 6-0. the Royals went on to win the game and collected their first win this spring. with 29 games left until Opening day the Royals looked on top of their game. They looked like they actually had fun out there, hopefully this will carry through the regular season. cause a team who has fun usually has a good game, a team who doesn't have fun usually tends to Struggle with lack of play and a lot or errors. This team looks like the team from 2003, when Manager Tony Pena turned this team around having them in first place at the all-star break, but we all remember what happened players went down to injury and the Royals fell to 3rd place with an 83-79 Record, Just 7 games back from the division lead. since then the royals have never seen an above .500 season. This year they hope to prove their critics wrong.