It has been 12 years since the Royals have had multiple players in the MLB All-Star Game, but this could be the year that streak ends.

The 2012 All-Star Game will be played at beautiful Kauffman Stadium on July 10. For 3 days, the city of Kansas City and the Kansas City Royals organization will take center stage in the baseball world. The hope was that the Royals would have an exciting young team that would be in contention at that point in the season. And while there is still time for that to happen with just under 2 months to go until the game, things have gone mostly poorly for the Royals so far this season. There was the injury to Catcher Salvador Perez, the injury to Closer Joakim Soria, the comical Broxton beanball walk-off loss in Oakland, the disastrous first inning the team played in front of its home crowd, the injury to Center-fielder Lorenzo Cain, the slow start by Alex Gordon, the 12 game losing streak, the Hochevarity of SP Luke Hochevar, the sub-.200 batting average of Eric Hosmer, Jonathan Sanchez becoming the pitcher version of Juan Gonzalez, and most recently the season-ending elbow injury to SP Danny Duffy. Nobody expected this season to go perfectly, but certainly nobody could have expected all of that disaster to hit before May 15. But despite all of that, there have been several bright spots for the Royals so far this season. And while it is extremely unlikely that any Royal gets voted in as an All-Star starter, it is not far-fetched to think that there are as many as FOUR players who could be deserving of selection as a reserve. Let’s take a look at these players, one by one, along with their primary competition to this point at their respective positions.

Designated Hitter

Billy Butler-Kansas City Royals

Avg: .285
R: 13
HR: 6
RBI: 25

David Ortiz-Boston Red Sox

Avg: .348
R: 24
HR: 7
RBI: 25

Edwin Encarnacion-Toronto Blue Jays

Avg: .276
R: 21
HR: 11
RBI: 29

Adam Dunn-Chicago White Sox

Avg: .250
R: 20
HR: 11
RBI: 26

Analysis: While “The Butler” is having a very nice year to this point, unless he goes on a surge and separates himself from this group in some way it is going to be very difficult for him to get selected out of this group. It is pretty clear that based on the numbers at this point, he would be the 4th most deserving candidate of these four players.  Not to mention, the likelihood of two DH’s being selected is not good.

3rd Base

Mike Moustakas-Kansas City Royals

Avg: .308

R: 14

HR: 4

RBI: 15

Miguel Cabrera-Detroit Tigers

Avg: .294

R: 17

HR: 7

RBI: 29

Evan Longoria-Tampa Bay Rays

Avg: .329

R: 15

HR: 4

RBI: 19

Adrian Beltre-Texas Rangers

Avg: .302

R: 19

HR: 6

RBI: 21

Analysis: With the type of defense he’s been playing, and the fact that statistically nobody is separating themselves from the pack here, Moose has a very good chance at being selected as a reserve.  Cabrera will likely get voted in as the starter, and the numbers at this point are close enough that is easy to see defending American League Champions manager Ron Washington going with the hometown guy in Moustakas.  Unfortunately, it is also easy to see him going with his own guy in Beltre.

Shortstop

Alcides Escobar-Kansas City Royals

Avg: .296

R: 12

HR: 1

RBI: 10

SB: 7

Derek Jeter-New York Yankees

Avg: .372
R: 24
HR: 5
RBI: 15

Elvis Andrus-Texas Rangers

Avg: .328
R: 24
HR: 1
RBI: 17

SB: 6

Mike Aviles-Boston Red Sox

Avg: .261
R: 22
HR: 5
RBI: 21

SB: 5

Analysis: Clearly Derek Jeter is deserving of the starting spot he will surely be voted into.  And while Aviles is having a very solid year to this point, his relative anonymity and the fact that he is extremely unlikely to continue to put up numbers like this make him the odd man out of this group.  So once again, that would leave Ron Washington deciding between one of his own players and one of the host city’s players.  Though he lacks the power numbers, the defensive reputation combined with the average, steals, and home-field advantage give Escobar a very good chance of being selected.

Outfield

Alex Gordon-Kansas City Royals

Avg: .256
R: 22
HR: 4
RBI: 16

Adam Jones-Baltimore Orioles

Avg: .291
R: 27
HR: 10
RBI: 21

SB: 5

Josh Hamilton-Texas Rangers

Avg: .402
R: 30
HR: 18
RBI: 44

Curtis Granderson-New York Yankees

Avg: .258
R: 23
HR: 11
RBI: 20

While Gordon’s numbers don’t stack up at this point, this selection was taking into consideration the fact that he got off to such a slow start to begin the season and has hit put up very good numbers to get up to the respectable level he’s at now.  If he continues at the pace he’s been on since he broke out of his funk, he will be right in the mix come decision time.  And given the fact that he deserved to make it last year and didn’t (with Washington also being the manager who snubbed him), he should have a very good chance of being selected.

It’s been a long time since Jermaine Dye started the 2000 All-Star game and Mike Sweeney made the team as a reserve.  But 2012 may just be #OurTime to have multiple All-Stars once again.

The Royals are like your kids. You don’t love them because they’re good. You love them because they’re yours.

For more than two decades I’ve loved a loser. But like a parent, I could never give up on my kid and move on to another.

After 100 posts covering my favorite team in all sports, I’ve come to the conclusion that loving a baseball team can’t be about winning and losing. And further, writing about baseball can’t be about winning and losing.

As a journalist, I’ve covered floods, storms, arrests, trials, legislative proceedings, and business and religious events. All those would seem infinitely more important than sports.

Yet I spend most of my time covering sports. Why? Is it because I’m lazy or unable to focus my feeble mind on more important matters?

Maybe.

But there is something about sports that draws me. When I see children playing on a playground, my eyes are unavoidably drawn to those who are competing at a sport, rather than the ones on the swings or playing imagination games. Why is that?

I recently came to the conclusion that I’m drawn to any sport where I see people trying to accomplish a task. Whether it’s a small child trying to put a ball in a hoop, or a general manager trying to rebuild a loser through the draft, there is some challenge that requires determination, resilience and effort.

So perhaps floods, trials and elections are no more important than the Royals snapping a 12-game losing streak. After all, the human struggle to overcome, persevere and achieve is played out no more gloriously than on the athletic field.

The Royals continue to dredge the depths of the baseball world. They continue to lose far more games than they win. But they persevere in the battle to overcome. And that’s why I’m drawn to watch.

When it comes to the Royals, I am more drawn to write stories about minor leaguers and about the draft, and about roster makeup than I am about the wins and losses of the big league club. And I think that’s because I’m more into the grind to develop than I am about the wins and losses.

The losses keep coming. We hoped this year would be different. But so far it’s not. Still, I keep watching, keep writing, keep caring.

After 100 posts, I’m still just as passionate about my team as a parent is about their child. Some day they’ll win, but that doesn’t matter. What matters most is the struggle the Royals engage in, to overcome, to persevere, and to achieve.

The Kansas City Royals are only 3 games into the season, however, they have already given fans much reason to believe things could truly be exciting in 2012.

Coming into this season, there have been a wide array of opinions on what the Royals record might be when the 2012 season comes to an end. The most optimistic of prognosticators predicted as many as 85 wins for the Royals on the high side, while some have picked them to show little to no improvement and still finish last. The first series of the season was sure to be an immediate test, heading out west to take on Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not only were they going to have to deal with that extremely potent offensive attack, but they would have to face starting pitchers Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana in succession. So while the world was watching how Pujols would perform on his new club, the Royals took advantage of the attention and showed the baseball world that it is time to take notice.

It is hard to not look at this series and wonder what the possibilities might be for 2012. Consider that the Royals won this series despite the following events:
-LF Alex Gordon failed to record a single hit
-3B Mike Moustakas recorded just one hit
-CF Lorenzo Cain recorded just one hit

Also, despite being shut out in the first game, the Royals responded with 6 runs and 7 runs respectively in the next 2 games, giving them an average of 4.3 runs per game for the series. This happens to be just under the 4.5 runs per game they scored per game in 2011. It definitely appears this team is going to hit.

So while one cannot reasonably expect Humberto Quintero and Chris Getz to hit close to .600 for the whole season, it is safe to assume their negative correction will be more than made up for by Gordon, Moustakas, and (hopefully) Cain’s positive correction. Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler looked to be poised for huge offensive years, and Jeff Francoeur looks to be picking up right where he left off in 2011.

So back to the question: is one series enough to begin raising expectations for this team? The answer is probably no. But when you consider that the biggest question for the Royals coming into the season was the starting pitching, it is difficult to not look at this first series of 2012 as being an extremely positive sign for things to come.

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver preview the much anticipated nationally-televised mid-season match-up between the NL Central leading St. Louis Cardinals and the AL Central leading Kansas City Royals

Joe Buck: It gives us great pleasure to welcome the entire country to beautiful Kauffman Stadium for this week’s featured matchup between, currently, the best team in each league.  And in the case of the American League, the separation between the Kansas City Royals and every other team in the league is far and wide.  After last night’s win, this incredibly exciting young Royals ballclub sits at 48 wins and just 28 losses, putting them 10 games in front of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central.  And they have done it on the backs of their young stars.  We are still a few weeks away from the All-Star Break, and 3B Mike Moustakas leads the entire major leagues with 22 home runs.  1B Eric Hosmer has a batting average of .365 which also leads the entire major leagues.  Left-fielder Alex Gordon picked up exactly where he left off last season, and Catcher Salvador Perez has caught the attention of the baseball world not only with his defense behind the plate, but also with his bat, carrying a .321 average with 10 home runs and 40 RBI into today’s game.

Tim McCarver: You know, coming into this season, everyone in the game was acknowledging that these young Royals had some great hitters.  But the question was pitching.  Nobody on this staff had really established himself as a front-line starter, and the young pitchers were not quite ready to make the leap.  Next  year was supposed to be the year.  But as we sit here today, Joe, you would have to say that under new pitching coach Dave Eiland, the Royals may be sporting one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball.  The big right-hander we will see today, Felipe Paulino, has to be considered one of the front-runners to start the All-Star Game for the American League, which by the way, will take place here in Kansas City in just a few weeks.

Joe Buck: And if Paulino makes the all-star team, he most certainly will not be alone.  The left-hander Danny Duffy, a kid who the team wasn’t even sure was going to make the team out of spring training, has absolutely electrified since the beginning of the season.  The staff leads the American League in strikeouts, something that manager Ned Yost told us earlier was even a surprise to him.

Tim McCarver: You know, Joe…it doesn’t seem like that long ago when this team was only winning 48 games in a whole season.  Now they have 48 wins and we still have more than 3 months to play.

Joe Buck: When General Manager Dayton Moore arrived in Kansas City 6 years ago, the organization was in shambles.  The major league club was losing, every time they would develop anything resembling a star they would be traded away, and the minor league system had nothing in it to offer any hope for the future.  Moore arrived and stated that his primary objective was to rebuild the farm system.  And he said it would take time.  It has taken time, but Tim, it looks like we might finally be seeing the patience of the Kansas City Royals’ fans beginning to pay off.

Tim McCarver: You got that right, Joe.  This is a deserving fan base that has waited far too long to have something to get excited about.  It’s great a great thing to see.

Joe Buck: This team is taking this city for a ride, and it’s been a long time coming.  Kauffman Stadium is a sea of blue, on a balmy June afternoon, and it’s almost time for baseball.  We will be back for the first pitch, after these messages…

I have been struggling to find something in the baseball world to keep my attention. Yes, the Kansas City Royals signed some contracts to avoid arbitration. What kind of contract Alex Gordon gets remains to be seen. However, I view this stuff like changing the oil in your car. It needs to be done, yet it won’t increase performance, and will only help delay an inevitable decline.

We are 31 days from the pitchers and catchers reporting to camp, 36 days until the first full squad work-out, and 44 days until the Cactus League Opener. There isn’t a lot going on right now. However, I was at my parents’ house last Sunday when I ran across something that rekindled my baseball fire: my boyhood baseball card collection!
I spent Sunday afternoon going through my collection, and it was like going back into time. The first time I pulled these cards out of their packages they came with a stick of bubble gum. I might have bought them on the way home after baseball practice. Maybe I bought them after riding my bike up the local convenience store where we would play Super Mario Brothers on an arcade game. I probably received baseball cards for a random birthday. Baseball was my favorite sport growing up, and collecting baseball cards was an appropriate outlet.

For one afternoon in January while the NFL playoffs were on the television, baseball became innocent again. When I was collecting baseball cards I didn’t know about payrolls, collective bargaining agreements, steroids, gambling, identity theft, or all the rumors about a player’s off the field deeds or miss-deeds. During this time I’m not sure if this information was public or I was sheltered from it. Either way, it seemed like a simpler time in the baseball world.

When going through the collection I studied the pictures a lot more closely than when I was a kid. Kauffman Stadium used to have orange seats, rock hard Astroturf, and dirt cutouts for the bases. It was Royals Stadium back then. I tried to tell from the shadows and angle of the sun if the picture was taken in spring training or in August. My favorite pictures were action shots, not the scripted poses.

I’m not sure how many baseball cards I have. I can tell you I only have one complete set: 1991 Upper Deck. That set is probably my favorite. But I did not buy that set when I was a kid. I bought the complete set as an adult when I was at an antique store with my Mother-In-Law. I bought it for $10. The store owners didn’t know what they had, and that was post internet proliferation. The closest I came to acquiring a complete set through buying individual packs was 1989 Topps, and 1991 Fleer. I always got a thrill out of opening a pack of cards because you never knew who you were going to get. Sometimes I got a Bo Jackson, other times I got a Rance Mulliniks, of which I already had three. Sometimes I bought “Jumbo Packs”. Mostly, my collection was built one pack at a time with allowance money.

The core of my baseball card collection is around twenty years old. Now we have access to endless information on baseball players through websites like Fangraphs, Baseball-Reference, and Rotoworld. I can look up information on my phone at any time. However, I feel I was more dialed into baseball twenty years ago when I was collecting baseball cards. Reality is I probably had more time to be dialed into baseball twenty years ago.

Found this in the first pack of baseball cards I have bought in 20 years.

That got me thinking. Do they still sell baseball cards? They do, Topps signed an exclusive agreement with MLB in 2009. I’ve walked into a few convenient stores this week to see if they still sold baseball cards. I have yet to find one that does. So far, Wal-Mart and hobby shops are the only places I have found them. I bought two packs of 2011 Topps the other night. $2 gets you ten cards these days. A long way from $.69 for 16 cards back in The Day. I got a Tim Collins rookie card for my trouble. Royals’ fans can only hope that someday that card is worth more than the $2 I paid for the pack. I suppose I could just order the entire 2011 Topps complete set. It would be more economical to do that. But economical and fun don’t always go together. Maybe I’ll pick up a few more packs between now and spring training.

Since the St. Louis Cardinals won their 11th World Series title in October, the team lost the city’s most beloved star and brought in a former Cardinals killer.

The Cardinals signed Carlos Beltran to a two-year, $26-million contract Dec. 22 to fill in some of the offensive production lost when Albert Pujols left to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

If somebody had said in 2004 or 2006 that less than seven years later St. Louis baseball fans would have more positive things to say about Beltran than Pujols, that person may have been sent to the nut house.

Beltran put together two of the best postseason performances in history when he played for the Houston Astros in 2004 and the New York Mets in 2006. Each year he terrorized the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. He had a combined .357 batting average with seven homeruns and nine RBIs in those 14 games.

Just the mention of Beltran’s name back in those days was enough to raise a Cardinals fan’s blood pressure. Now he will make their hearts race for a different reason.

All of a sudden Beltran could be the new hero in St. Louis while Pujols is the enemy.

This type of move certainly isn’t unprecedented. The Cardinals signed Lance Berkman last offseason, and he quickly became a fan favorite in St. Louis. However, these moves continue to prove that loyalty is a tough sell in the current baseball world.

While signing Beltran, who began his career in 1998 as a Royal, might go a long way toward keeping the Cardinals in the hunt for yet another World Series title, it’s unfortunate the current financial system in Major League Baseball forces teams to reload regardless of how successful the team plays the previous year.

Part of what made being a Cardinals fan so much fun during the last decade is the fact that there was always the star player that usually created memorable moments whether the team was in the playoff hunt or not. The attachment fans build toward their favorite players is part of what makes the game so fun.

But, that attachment is harder to build in today’s sports world because of the economics of the game. It is much harder now to put together favorite players and non-favorite players because they could eventually end up on nearly all of the 30 teams at some point in their career.

Unfortunately, the sport feels a little more watered down when situations similar to this offseason happen. That’s the direction Major League Baseball has headed for a while now, and soon there might not be much difference between the American and National leagues. It takes some of the culture out of the sport.

I’m not saying Cardinals fans shouldn’t root for Beltran now. He will be a fine player and likely help the team remain one of the best in the National League.

However, that part of baseball that turns us all into hopeless romantics is also the part that makes me wish Cardinals fans had the chance to root for Pujols for his entire career and Beltran could remain the guy who nearly thwarted two of the team’s World Series appearances.

Old friend Pall F Sullivan takes a look at what a 2011 World Series Movie might look like:

Paul Francis Sullivan
Blog: http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/
Video Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/sullybaseball
Twitter: @sullybaseball

December is traditionally the first full month of the offseason where news of last year is over and done with and nearly all the focus of the Major League Baseball world shifts once and for all to next year. The St. Louis Cardinals may have a lot of familiar faces returning for 2012, but this franchise has, in the span of a few weeks, undergone change of epic proportions. It’s something Cards fans have not witnessed since Bill Clinton’s first term as President of the United States.

First, some accolades are in order. The Cardinals are the only team to play in three World Series in the last 10 years, and are one of two to win it all twice. Except for a couple of lean years in 2008-09, 2003, and 1997-99, the Cardinals have been in the playoffs. They dominated the National League like the Atlanta Braves did when they rattled off their 13 division titles in a row. The difference being, of course, that the Cards won one more Fall Classic.

It would be foolish over-credit Tony La Russa for this run, but it would be equally foolish to under-credit him too. The fact of the matter is La Russa instilled a brand of baseball here that his players were able to parlay into historic success. And now that brand is gone. Well, maybe not gone entirely. New manager Mike Matheny thrived under La Russa, after all, and most of the coaching staff La Russa employed is still around. But Cardinal Baseball is going to be very different for the first time in 16 seasons. That’s a really, really long time.

Next, consider the players. Colby Rasmus, who we all hung so much hope on for the five or six seasons he was property of the Cardinals, is gone forever. Last year at this time we were worried about whether or not Albert Pujols would re-sign with the team. I guess some things never change. But how much better does this team look with guys like Lance Berkman, Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso, Jason Motte, and David Freese all guaranteed to be on the 25-man roster in 2012? It’s not enough to make you say “Albert who?” but it sure doesn’t seem like the team would fold without Pujols anymore, does it?

This time last year, no one thought about what the rotation would look like without Adam Wainwright. Even if he isn’t 100% by Opening Day, the prospect isn’t all that scary anymore, is it? And it makes having him back seem like winning the lottery.

John Mozeliak did what it took to build the 2011 championship team, and he deserves a ton of credit. He knew what the Cards’ needs were, and he addressed them accordingly. Some may have had their doubts about him, and there’s always the chance that Rasmus develops into a star that the Cardinals mortgaged for one year of glory. But Mo’s shrewdness can no longer be doubted. The roster is in good hands. He will go into the Winter Meetings and pick up the players needed. Even if it doesn’t look like they’ll work, and maybe guys don’t pan out, he’ll make the adjustments. This front office is not populated by fools. The 2011 team is a testament to that.

We witnessed one of the greatest eras in St. Louis Cardinals history, and the page has officially turned. But even though some faces have changed and some may still change, the story ends the same way: a success. It’s Cardinal Baseball through and through. Sometimes patience is needed, but the payoff sure is sweet.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter at @birdbrained.

Last week, the Chicago Cubs brought their managerial search to an end, appointing Brewers’ hitting coach Dale Sveum to the position. For the most part, the baseball world shrugged and moved on. Not that Sveum was a bad choice, simply that it was not an impactful choice that struck a lot of fear in anyone. One thing it did do was create a possible scenario in the mind of those focused on free agency.

The prize free agent on the market, of course, is St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Albert Pujols. As free agency began, many people speculated who would be interested in the powerhouse that has patrollEd Busch Stadium for the past decade plus some. Names of franchises like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim surfaced quickly. The Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins have both been rumored to have an interest, though no one is sure if they have the funding. The one franchise that has struck fear in the hearts of every Cardinal fan is the rumored interest the Cubs would have in the man famous for being a Cardinal.

Plenty of good reason were given for the interest of the Chicago-land Northsiders. With a new, high profile, man in charge of the front office and a new general manager and field manager in town, the Cubs may look to make a splash quickly. A player the caliber of Pujols can change the direction of an entire franchise almost immediately. The Cubs will need a first baseman and would like to put into place a player that they can build the franchise around.

The appointment of the manager leads to a new thought process, however. The other big prize on the market also plays first base, comes from a franchise that has developed quite the rivalry with Chicago, and now has an established relationship with the man in charge. Many would say that Prince Fielder does, in fact, make more sense for the Cubs at this point.

Fielder and Sveum had a solid working relationship and both men respect each other immensely. The Cubs do have the ability under newer ownership to make a big play on a payday for the free agent first baseman and Fielder fits the prototype of a game changing player worth building around. Sveum recently was reported as saying (via MLB Trade Rumors):

“I think me being here can only help the process.” – Sveum in regards to Fielder possibly coming to Chicago

In the long run, the Cubs managerial move may have had a positive impact on the Cardinals hopes to retain Albert. It may have limited the number of teams competing for him. It may have been just what the Cardinals needed.

Time will tell.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Stein, Cordaro Named Executives of the Year
Ballpark Digest honors Storm Chasers’ President and VP/GM

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha Storm Chasers’ President Alan Stein and Vice President/General Manager Martie Cordaro have been named 2011 Baseball Executives of the Year by Ballpark Digest, publisher Kevin Reichard announced Monday.

The honor recognizes the pair’s accomplishments over the past year including the opening of brand-new Werner Park and the successful naming and branding of the Storm Chasers.

“Keeping the Storm Chasers in Omaha was a much more monumental task than most people realize,” Reichard said. “Putting together a financial deal for the ballpark with Sarpy County, broadening the team’s sponsorship base and opening a new ballpark under a tight timeline are huge organizational accomplishments, and Martie deserves a ton of credit for directing them.”

Full release: http://ballparkdigest.com/201108224134/awards/news/2011-executives-of-the-year-martie-cordaro-and-alan-stein

ABOUT THE BALLPARK DIGEST AWARDS

Each year Ballpark Digest honors noteworthy accomplishments in the baseball world, whether it be Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, independent baseball, summer-collegiate baseball or college baseball. Readers are asked to submit nominations for awards in specific categories; Ballpark Digest editors then go though the submissions (numbering some 400 pages of documentation last year). The awards cover both individual accomplishments as well as team accomplishments. This is the fourth season for the Ballpark Digest Awards. A complete listing of Ballpark Digest Awards can be found at www.ballparkdigest.com/awards.

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The leading Website covering the culture and business of baseball since its inception in 2002, Ballpark Digest (www.ballparkdigest.com) has been called an “indispensable” guide to baseball and ballparks by The New York Times; it’s been used as a source by publications and Websites ranging fromThe Wall Street Journal to Epicurious.com. August Publications is a publisher based in Middleton, Wis. Besides Ballpark Digest, August Publications’ leading Websites include SpringTrainingOnline.com, ArenaDigest.com and YellowstoneInsider.com.