Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Originally Posted by gblowfish:
I love Denny and I'll share a couple quick stories.
Thanks for sharing your stories. He may not have the same pizazz as Uecker, but anyone who doesn’t appreciate Denny is clueless. Being able to listen to any game & broadcast with MLB.TV makes me appreciate what the Royals have even more. There are several MLB broadcasters out there who make the games unwatchable. [Reply]
Denny is like a family member. been with us since kids.
Yup. For life long fans who lived in and around KC growing up he was a familiar voice every summer calling games. Thinking about it brings me back to when I was a child and I would listen to him on the radio. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GeorgeZimZam:
Boring, gray, wet Sunday here, where Hurricane Beryl is starting to deliver rain and wind. Fortunately, it's landfall path has developed more to our northeast. I was wondering how the Royals record correlates to our GDTs, and used the Advanced Search and Excel to answer the question.
The standings are obviously just for the hell of it, and skewed by the vast differences in GDT started by frequent and not-as-frequent posters. Nevertheless, they are weighted first by Games Back (0.5 games each per advantage in the Win and Loss columns) rather than Winning Percentage (just as with MLB standings).
Just like the Royals themselves, GabyKeepsMeWarm and cmh6476 started out especially hot, but have racked up mostly Ls lately.
Originally Posted by tk13:
The thing about Denny that people underrate even now is he's very smart and has a good feel for the game. He'll never get credit for that because he's not someone who gets super excited. There have been times even this year where he'll pick up that the momentum has shifted, or you shouldn't have walked that guy, this batter is going to be trouble, etc. and you're kind of like "okay whatever" but sure enough he'll be right and either the Royals will come back or they'll blow the game. That kind of thing.
He’s not the same broadcaster as he was in the 70’s. He and Fred White were a great team. And as the Royals began to show they were becoming a contender, they got extremely excited on their calls.
Frequently I heard
“Hit like a bullet down the left field line”.
“Otis drills a shot into the right center gap, and with his speed that could be 3 bases”!!
And all those times a ball got laced down the line and some opposing RF (Yaz, Steve Kemp, Roy White) would wait for the bounce only to have the ball hug the bottom of the wall and roll toward RC field, they went crazy on those plays., [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefshrink:
How do you go from over 100 losses 106 to be exact from the previous season to competing for the division the next year? Crappy division I guess??:-)
Originally Posted by gblowfish:
I love Denny and I'll share a couple quick stories. In the late 1980s I went into my local grocery store that was open 24 hours. It was around midnight. When I went to the checkout lane, there was a guy waiting in front of me wearing a Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Jacket. I said "Hey man, that's a really cool jacket. Are you from Chicago?" Guy turned around and it was Denny. My eyes lit up because I recognized him. Before I could say "Holy Shit YOU'RE DENNY MATTHEWS" he put his index finder in front of his lip to shush me. He said in a real hushed tone "Thanks. I'm a big hockey fan. I like baseball better, but really like the Blackhawks." I just smiled and nodded. He didn't want anybody to make a fuss over him in the grocery store.
In 2015 at the world series parade, I was in the front row with my friend Gary and Derrek. Derrek passed away in 2016, and we three guys were the three muskateers of going to Royals games. We went to games as friends since 1974; went to the parade together in 1985 and again in 2015. Derrek detested Denny for some reason. Said he was just a stat regurgitator; had no real personality like Harry Caray or Bob Ueker, and was in the Baseball HOF for "perfect attendance." We argued about Denny for years and years. So I tell you this because, during the parade, a truck comes rolling down with a bunch of the Royals employees, and walking along side is Ryan Levebre and Denny. I'm yelling at Denny and waving at him. He comes right over to us, and makes a beeline to the first person in our group -Derrek- Denny sticks out his hand and says to Derrek -thanks for coming out, you fans are the greatest- something like that. Denny shook his hand and Derrek was speechless. Gary and I just laughed and laughed. One of my favorite memories of the parade.
Awesome story GB but I will have to side with your late friend Derrek on this one. I never could bond with Denny. It was Buddy all the way for me. I still hear Blattner's voice to this day.
I watched the 85 Parade from the 24th floor of the Town Pavilion. Dangling my feet over the steel, the best seat in the house. JE Dunn wanted me up there to push the plumb line up the steel skeleton. Later figured out The Super just wanted us all to have the best vantage point in the city. No work was able be done with the crowds along the sidewalks where control points existed. [Reply]
Will Smith needs to find his locker empty. Zack Greinke get off the couch, Mom can drive the kids to school. He was effective in my mind early in games as a starter last year. If he'll accept a relief pitcher role come back.
Also why has Blanco tried to steal third with 2 outs twice this season, with THE BOBBY WITT JR at the plate. First time a coaching moment, second time my baseball cleats up your rear end. [Reply]
