As we sit at the All-Star Break, we take some time to reflect on the Kansas City Royals performance by position in the first half of the season.

There is no denying that expectations were higher for this Royals team. With this being the first year having most of the young players Royals’ fans have been hearing about starting the season with the team, it is only natural that fans expected to see production right away. Well, for the first week, things looked pretty decent. Then Johnny Broxton blew a game in Oakland and everything went to hell in a handbasket for 2 weeks. The Royals proceeded to get blown out on their home opener in front of a sold out crowd, in the second of 12 consecutive losses. Once the Royals finally snapped their losing streak, they actually began playing well. Despite several more injuries to key players, they managed to claw back to 5-6 games out of first place. Then they hit a swoon last week that puts them currently at 37-47 and 9 1/2 games out of first place in the division. How has each position performed? We will fill you in on that right now:

Starting Pitcher-C minus

People may feel like this is being too generous. But based on the injuries to guys like Duffy and Paulino, what more could you expect? Bruce Chen has regressed a little, and Luke Hochevar has been his same unreliable and inconsistent self. But Luis Mendoza has been a pleasant surprise, and guys like Vin Mazzarro, Nate Adcock, and Everett Teaford have done an ok job filling in. If it wasn’t for Jonathan Sanchez, I might be able to give this group a B minus.

Catcher-B
Brayan Pena will always be Brayan Pena. But this year he has solidified himself as a solid clubhouse presence as well as a high quality backup catcher. He and Humberto Quintero had to start more games than the Royals would have preferred due to Salvador Perez‘s knee injury, but that’s what they’re there for. Quintero is now gone, and since Perez returned from injury, he has been a monster in every respect. It would not surprise me if the Catcher position receives an A for its final grade based on what Perez is able to contribute in the second half of the season.

First Base-D plus

Eric Hosmer now has his batting average up to .231. This is saying something, considering it doesn’t seem that long ago that he was hitting a meager .179. The Royals and their fans expected more out of Hosmer this season, as they should have. I believe he will turn it around and have a very solid 2nd half of the season.

2nd Base-B

The tandem of Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz (when he as been healthy) has certainly outpaced expectations for this year. Johnny Giovatella’s less than inspiring performance after getting called up is certainly a downer, but overall I think the Royals have gotten more offensively than they expected to out of the 2nd Base position.

3rd Base-A

Mike Moustakas has exceeded all expectations both offensively and defensively. He is currently on pace for 29 HR’s and 91 RBI. While nobody doubted he could put up numbers like this eventually, nobody expected it to come this year. On top of that, he is playing gold glove calibur defense.

Shortstop-A

Alcides Escobar is hitting .307 and slugging .410. He also has 21 doubles at the break. And is probably the best defensive shortstop in the game. Yes, we will take that.

Outfield-C

Defensively, the trio of Alex Gordon, Jeff Francoeur, and Jarrod Dyson has performed quite well. Offensively, however, the production coming from the 3 outfield spots is well below where it was last year and well below where anyone expected it to be this year. After a slow start, Alex Gordon has now raised his batting average to .274 with 27 doubles. However, his 5 HR’s are well off the pace of the 23 that he clubbed in 2011. His speed on the basebaths has also somehow disappeared, as he sits at 3 SB’s after swiping 17 bags last year. Jeff Francoeur has been similarly disappointing at the plate. After hitting .285 with 20 HR, 85 RBI, and 22 SB’s a season ago, he currently sits with a batting average of .251, 7 HR, 25 RBI, and just 1 SB. This is far from the kind of production they were hoping for in 2012, and is the primary reason Royals fans are clamoring for Wil Myers to replace Frenchy in RF. And the lack of production in CF is almost entirely due to the injury of Lorenzo Cain, who is scheduled to return this coming weekend. Jarrod Dyson is a nice player with a limited skillset, so he is performing about as well as one could reasonably expect him to. So once Cain comes back we should see an uptick in production from the CF position.

Bullpen-A minus

A lot has been asked of this bullpen and for the most part they have delivered. Even with Joakim Soria going down before the season, Jonathan Broxton has stepped up and performed admirably in the closer’s role. Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins, Jose Mijares, Greg Holland, and Aaron Crow have also been very reliable options out of the pen. The hope is that this group was not over-used in the first half of the season and doesn’t break down, but time will tell.

Looking at these performances, it is hard to not feel somewhat optimistic about the 2nd half of the season. With drastic increases in production expected from Catcher (Perez), Right Field (Myers), Center-Field (Cain), and the opportunity for Gordon to show improvement from the first half, the Royals could find themselves in position to make some noise in the 2nd half of 2012.

With last Friday’s return of catcher Salvador Perez (and yesterday’s DFA of Humberto Quintero), starter Felipe Paulino out for the year with an elbow injury, the All-Star caliber play of Mike Moustakas and the struggles of the starting rotation, it’s easy to overlook shortstop Alcides Escobar. But Escobar is quietly becoming one of the Kansas City Royals top players.

Escobar is not a product of the Royals farm system, but he is an example of getting a good player in a trade. As part of Zack Greinke trade in 2010, Escobar has brought the most value. Pitcher Jake Odorizzi is in AAA Omaha (but could be up soon), outfielder Lorenzo Cain‘s 2012 season has been fraught with injuries and reliever Jeremy Jeffress is still stuck in Omaha.

When the Royals signed Escobar to a long-term deal during spring training, many fans liked it. But the signing didn’t get the attention like Perez’s or Alex Gordon‘s long-term deals. It was almost like, “oh, we got Escobar for a reasonable long-term deal. That’s nice.”

And the signing of Escobar has been nice. Escobar leads the team with 82 hits and a .315 batting average. He’s not a power hitter, but Escobar is second on the team with 19 doubles and third on the team with a .353 on base percentage. He also has 12 stolen bases, which is one behind team leading Jarrod Dyson. And unlike fellow infielders Chris Getz and Yuniesky Betancourt, Escobar doesn’t get hurt and has played 71 of 73 games at shortstop, a demanding position.

Now Escobar isn’t the perfect shortstop. In 260 at bats, He’s struck out 43 times and only has nine walks. He’s grounded into eight double plays and committed eight errors. He has a .975 fielding percentage, which is just below the league average .978. His RF/9 is at 4.41, just below the 4.51 league RF/9 average. But Escobar does play good defense, gets hits, gets on base and steals bases.

While Moustakas gets most of the attention in All-Star voting, Escobar is fifth in voting among American League shortstops, behind players such as Derek Jeter, Elvis Andrus, J.J. Hardy and Asdrubal Cabrera. It’s likely the Royals will have only one representative in the All-Star Game and it will probably be Mike Moustakas. But if there’s a second Royals All-Star player, Escobar would be a strong candidate.

It’s easy to take a player like Escobar for granted. He doesn’t get the attention or the press coverage of players like Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon and Jeff Franceour. All Escobar does is show up to play every day, stays healthy, doesn’t make boneheaded mistakes and plays his position well. If all the Royals players were like Alcides Escobar, the team would be in a lot better shape than they are now.

While throwing to rookie Salvador Perez in the second half of 2011, Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar had his most consistent run of success in his career.

Luke Hochevar has been an enigma for most of his career. Early on, he was mostly bad with a few starts here and there that showed the ability that the Royals saw when they drafted him 1st overall in the 2006 amateur draft. Over the years, the good starts became a little more frequent, with a few outstanding performances thrown in. But when he was bad, he was really bad. It wasn’t until the second half of last season that Hochevar began to show some consistency. He still had some great starts, but his off-days were average instead of horrendous. They say that a pitcher should be judged on how he performs on his worst day, rather than on his best day. Hochevar’s worst days became much better in the 2nd half of 2011, which gave Royals fans much hope for him to continue this trend in 2012. Unfortunately, it was not to be. On April 13 for the Royals home opener, Hochevar gave up 7 runs in the top of the 1st inning which would be the beginning of one of the most horrific stretches of pitching for a starting pitcher in recent American history. His ERA currently sits at 7.02 for the season while pitching to Humberto Quintero in all 8 of his starts this season.

Salvador Perez was called up by the Royals last August and started his first game at Catcher on August 10. He caught each of Hochevar’s last 7 starts of the season. During this stretch he threw 45 2/3 innings and gave up 22 runs for a 4.34 ERA. In the first start he gave up 5 runs, so if you take out that one, assuming he was getting acclimated to having a new catcher behind the plate, the ERA is lowered to 4.17. Now, while an ERA over 4.00 will not win Hochevar any Cy Young awards, Royals fans would undoubtedly be pleased if he could provide numbers like this on a consistent basis.

While it may be a stretch to try and make this correlation, it cannot be discounted that if Hochevar can experience some success once Salvador Perez returns, that he will be the one common denominator. It cannot be understated how important consistency at the Catcher position is to the success of a pitching staff. And while Royals fans have seen pitching coaches come and go, and starting pitchers displaying maddening levels of inconsistency, perhaps it is the game of musical chairs that the Royals have played at the Catcher position over the last several years that is most responsible for this. Time will tell. Perez is due back in a couple weeks. Hopefully he can help Hochevar “turn the corner” one more time.

The hits keep on coming, but it’s not Eric Hosmer hitting into better luck. With left-handed starter Danny Duffy being out for the year due to a ligament tear in his elbow, the Royals suffered another injury to a key player. The Royals already lost closer Joakim Soria for the year to Tommy John surgery. Catcher Salvador Perez won’t be back until the All-Star Break recovering from a knee injury. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain is still recovering from a groin injury he suffered early in the season. Not to mention starter Jonathan Sanchez is on the DL with biceps tendinitis. These players were supposed to be a key part of the 2012 season and help make the Royals competitive. Instead, other players are filling the void.

With the loss of Danny Duffy for the year and Jonathan Sanchez out for a few weeks, pitchers Luis Mendoza and Vin Mazzaro are in the rotation. Mendoza and Mazzaro don’t inspire much confidence from Royals fans. But last Sunday, Mendoza pitched well, filling in for injured Duffy. And Tuesday night Mazzaro was unMazzaro like and pitched well enough against the Texas Rangers to win the game.

Mendoza and Mazzaro know they have a great opportunity to prove they belong with the Royals. But they need to pitch deep into games and keep the runs down if they have any chance to stay in the rotation.

Sometimes closer Jonathan Broxton makes the ninth inning more interesting than it needs to be. But in 15 games, Broxton has eight saves and until last night’s game with Baltimore, he’s held the opposing team scoreless with a 1.32 ERA. Many fans were surprised the Royals got Broxton in the off-season, but with the loss of Soria, it looks like a smart move.

Of course the Royals would prefer to have Salvador Perez behind the plate, but Humberto Quintero and Brayan Pena are holding their own. Interesting stats: before Wednesday’s game with the Baltimore Orioles, Quintero and Pena had the same amount of hits (15), doubles (6), RBI (7) and batting average (.238). Which mean they’re about the same player performance wise and one of them will be the backup catcher when Perez returns.

With Lorenzo Cain out since early April, Jarrod Dyson was plugged in to fill the void. After a forgettable two-game stint which sent him back to Omaha, Dyson was recalled a couple of weeks later and has done well in 18 games with a .304/.383/.362 average with 17 runs, 24 hits and nine walks. However, despite his speed, Dyson only has four stolen bases and was caught stealing twice.

If Dyson continues to play well, he presents the Royals with a dilemma when Cain returns. Do the Royals keep Dyson as the starting center fielder and put Cain on the bench or does Dyson go to the bench or Omaha and Cain becomes the starting center fielder? As long as Dyson plays well and the team is winning, the Royals will cross that bridge when they get there.

Despite all the injuries, the Royals are playing better baseball. And this is with Hosmer still struggling at the plate and Alex Gordon striking out more often and getting less hits and runs. On the positive side, Chris Getz and Alcides Escobar are playing well in the infield. The bullpen is pitching better and starters Bruce Chen and Paulino are pitching well.

It’s hard to forget the 12 game losing streak earlier this season, but fans have to be encouraged by the way the Royals are playing lately, despite all the injuries. Perhaps the team is playing up to their potential. Now the Royals need Eric Hosmer to be Eric Hosmer again.

The Kansas City Royals are off to a horriffic 3-12 start and fans are demanding some answers.

It is not HIS fault

Nobody saw this coming. While opinions of what these 2012 Kansas City Royals would be varied some, there was nobody who believed the Royals would be this bad. And we are still less than 10% into the season, starting the season by losing your first 10 home games is no way for an organization to endear itself to its fans. While nobody believes the Royals will continue play at a .200 clip, it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify watching games on television, or ponying up the cash to take your family out to the K. It is getting very depressing seeing all of the empty seats, all of the double-plays, a different leadoff hitter every night, and on and on. So it is time that we, the fans of this organization who have had to put up with this garbage for the last 20 years, got some answers.

Imagine for a second, that we, the Royals fans, are the judge and jury on this matter. We have every player and member of the Royals organization in one room. It is time to find out once and for all who is at fault for this nightmare.

In doing so, the easiest thing to do is to acknowledge those whose fault it is definitely NOT. Therefore, we will go ahead and excuse the following individuals from the room:

-Billy Butler-you are hitting exactly as we expected
-Bruce Chen-you have unexpectedly been every bit as good as we could have possibly hoped
-Danny Duffy-despite some struggles in your last outing, you have been pretty darn good
-Alcides Escobar-You have played outstanding defense, stolen some bases, and are hitting better than we could have asked
-Chris Getz/Yuniesky Betancourt-Not much was expected of this 2B duo, and they have been surprisingly somewhat effective

-Sluggerr

-Humberto Quintero/Brayan Pena-See Getz/Betancourt above. Except Pena, will you please stop grounding into double-plays in key situations?
-Mitch Maier-As expected has been used sparingly, but performed alright
-Jason Bourgeois-See Maier above, with the exception of an extremely ill-advised stolen base attempt the other night
-Mike Moustakas-Has been pretty much exactly as expected, with the exception of his defense, which has been far better than expected.
-Lorenzo Cain-your injury excuses you from any blame for this mess

As for the rest of you…

Eric Hosmer, you can leave. You have shown flashes of what you can do, have 3 (4 now as I write this) Home Runs, are hitting the ball hard (just right at the other team), and look to be adjusting to the way you are being pitched to.

The rest of you better make yourselves comfortable. Yes, I’m talking to you Ned Yost, Dave Eiland, Kevin Seitzer, the entire bullpen, Luis Mendoza…

On second thought, Mendoza, get out of here. You are performing exactly as we expected you to. Your negative impact on the team should more be blamed on the people who continue to put you in position to hurt the team.

OK, where were we…

If you have not yet been excused, then this is directed at you. We are going to address each of you either as the unit you are a part of or individually. Starting with…

-Royals marketing department-Seriously guys…WTF were you thinking? OUR TIME? Our time for what?!? Dayton Moore has tried to tell the fan base that The Process will likely take 7 years. That would put “our time” at approximately 2014. So what on earth possessed you to declare that this year would be OUR TIME?!? This was a big mistake that has contributed to unrealistic expectations.

-Ned Yost-Ned, when we watch you in your post game interviews, we get the feeling that you are very aware of why you were sent packing from a Brewers team that at was in 1st place in September. You have a reputation for being too tightly wound, and over-thinking every situation. That is why we have been somewhat impressed with the way you have maintained your composure (for the most part) in front of the media during this stretch. At the same time though, we don’t want a manager that second-guesses his decisions. We want a manager with conviction, who makes a decision and defends it. Your players need to know that you are decisive and your blabber about having Jose Mijares pitch to Prince Fielder last Wednesday portrayed you as being anything but decisive.  And on top of that, all of the bunts and ill-advised stolen base attempts have gotten completely out of hand.

-Alex Gordon-You seem like a really great guy, Alex, and your baseball talent is off the charts. There is no doubt you are committed to your craft and are an extremely hard worker. That being said, have you ever done anything of note in the major leagues when there was the tiniest amount of pressure being put on you? If you have, we can’t recall. Your best season (by far) was last year, when pretty much everyone had given up on you being the player you were originally expected to be. And it took place in a season when the Royals had pretty much zero expectations of being competitive. It is still only April, and you have come up countless times in late game situations with opportunities to drive in key runs and have consistently come up empty. This is unacceptable.

-Jonathan Sanchez-By this point in your career you should be able to throw strikes. You have demonstrated an extreme inability to do this. It has to get better.

-Luke Hochevar-With the exception of one inning, you have mostly been decent. But that one inning was likely the most important inning of this whole season. Some may say that it was the final inning in the third game agains the Oakland A’s that sent this season spiraling into oblivion, but my feeling is that it was the first half inning in the home opener against Cleveland. To say this half inning was deflating for Royals fans would be a massive understatement.

-The Bullpen-Wasn’t this supposed to be a strength of this team? Between Broxton’s blown save against Oakland, Greg Holland‘s struggles, Jose Mijares’ struggles, and overall inconsistency from everyone else, this has been a train wreck for the most part. Poor pitching out of the pen has been the reason for more than a few of these 10 consecutive losses.

-Jeff Francoeur-What happened to your power, dude? 0 HR’s and 2 RBI’s at the end of April isn’t the type of production this club had in mind from it’s #5 hitter.

-Dave Eiland-Show us where you’ve made a difference with ONE of our pitchers, Dave. Danny Duffy you say? Ok, show us two. In fact, tell us why all of these pitchers who were good last year with Bob McClure as pitching coach are all of a sudden worse this year?

-Kevin Seitzer-We wanted to excuse you, Kevin. But it is time we got some of these guys going. We don’t hold you responsible yet, but if more of these guys don’t start hitting at their potential soon, we will be looking to you for answers.

-Dayton Moore-Where is our return for David DeJesus? So far, it is not appearing that you maximized the return for Melky Cabrera. Where are the rest of the young starting pitchers?  We are not going to beat up on you too much, Dayton. Underperformance is not the General Manager’s fault. But this losing is getting really old.  And this is the second manager you have hand-picked that appears to be on the verge of a mental meltdown.

And finally…

-You, David & Dan Glass…Yes, we understand you have tried to do things better in the last 5 years. But that does not make up for the previous years of ineptitude. And you are the one constant through all of this misery we have had to endure. And now we are going to host the All-Star Game with the worst team in baseball. Talk about embarrassing.

As you can see, we officially have more places to point the finger than all of us not named Antonio Alfonseca have on our 2 hands combined.  It has unfortunately gotten to this point.

*As I finish writing this, the Royals proceed to drop their 11th in a row to go 0-10 at home and 3-13 on the year. :SIGH:

The Royals hoped going into 2012 that competition for most of their positions had come to an end. They hoped now they could focus on developing the players they had in place, growing into a competitive franchise. They hoped this was “Our Time.”

But over the last month, the exact opposite has occurred.

Granted, the Royals have played just 11 games, roughly the equivalent of one game in an NFL season. That’s hardly time to panic.

But what the team hoped would occur (or had occurred) has not come to pass. The waters that they hoped had been calmed have only been muddied.

I am tempted to say that nothing good has happened for the Royals this spring. That might not quite be true, but let’s take a look at the list of things that have taken place:

The Royals hoped the corner-position holdovers from last year would own their respective positions for the next half-decade. Instead Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Jeff Francoeur and Mike Moustakas have all started very slowly. What the team hoped would be answers continue to look like questions.

The Royals hoped Lorenzo Cain would grab the centerfield job by the throat. He did that during spring training, but then struggled in a handful of games before going down to an injury. The shuffle of Jarrod Dyson, Mitch Maier and Jason Bourgeois keeps that position in flux.

Shortstop is settled, but the team is waiting for Alcides Escobar to rise from passable to elite. He hasn’t made that jump yet.

Second base and catcher are more tricky.

Catcher seemed settled with Salvador Perez. But without him, the team has two guys – Humberto Quintero and Bryan Pena – who were supposed to be merely placeholders for the rightful owner. But rather than struggle, they’ve actually both thrived in their role.

Ironically, both catchers have posted incredibly similar offensive stats. Each stands at .368 with three doubles and a single strikeout.

So when Perez returns, the team will be faced with the difficult choice of who to keep as a backup catcher.

At second, the Royals would have liked for Johnny Giavotella to claim the job outright. He didn’t do that in the spring. So plan B would be for Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz to hold the job until Giavotella shows he’s the long-term answer.

Best case scenario, both Getz and Betancourt fail, opening the door clearly for Giavotella. But that’s not happening. Getz has been just good enough at the plate and field to keep his hat in the ring. Betancourt’s limited range and strikeouts are offset by his occasional pop and versatility (read “he’s equally bad at second, short and third”).

As is often said about quarterbacks, when you have three second basemen, you actually have none.

As for the pitching, the bullpen has been shaky. Luke Hochevar had a flashback to the one-inning speed bumps that plagued him last season. And just when the team hoped to find out if Felipe Paulino is for real or not, he went missing.

As I mentioned, I am tempted to say nothing good has happened for the Royals. But that’s not quite true.

Danny Duffy appears to actually be able to pitch beyond the fourth inning on a regular basis.

And Moustakas doesn’t look nearly as lost as he did last season.

The season is truly still young. There is plenty of time for these youngsters to get it going. But the waters remain murky for the time being. Answers will come, but they haven’t come as quickly as hoped.

And sadly, the answers may not be what we’d hoped for.

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.

Earlier this week as I was drowning in the sarcasm and negativity from my fellow Royals bloggers, I made a decision to make sure this week’s article was positive. It’s hard to imagine a Spring Training going much worse than 2012 has gone for the Kansas City Royals, so I thought I should offer up a little Kool Aid for a fan base that may be growing hesitant to partake. Of course, Dayton Moore kind of beat me to it now didn’t he?

The Alex Gordon signing makes three in just over a month for Moore and all of them have surprised me by how little they’ve cost. This means Dayton Moore is either a master negotiator or Kansas City is truly a place these guys want to be.  Either would be great news for the Royals, but I tend to believe the latter is more of a factor. Whatever the motivation, we are now assured that the core of this team will be together for the foreseeable future. We have superb defense at short and catcher, developing power at the corner infield positions, solid production from a corner outfielder and (still) the second best farm system in all of baseball according to Baseball America. The rest of the AL Central ranks 20^th (Minnesota) 23^rd (Detroit), 29^th (Cleveland) and 30^th (Chicago). The future has never looked brighter in Kansas City, and I mean never.

That being said the Kool Aid Drinker, like many of you I assume, is tired of waiting. I’ve had illusions of grandeur with no payoff for far too long and I’m ready for some results. When I say “results” I mean playoffs; when I say “ready” I mean expect. And I mean now. How?

The Superstar- This offense will score a ton of runs in 2012, of that I have no doubt. Even with Chris Getz or Yuniesky Betancourt sieving at bats… even with Humberto Quintero or Brayan Pena clogging the bottom of the order. They will score runs because for the first time in a decade they have a legitimate top and middle of the order. More to the point, they will score runs because of Eric Hosmer. Before I started at I70 Baseball, I had my own little blog and I wrote this about Hosmer. The kid is destined to be a star and there is no reason to think a regression is coming in year two. With Billy Butler (whom I expect to have a career year in 2012) behind him teams will no choice but to pitch to him, which will result in Hosmer breaking Steve Balboni’s embarrassment of a home run record. I said it on Twitter, and I’ll say it now officially. Hosmer is going .335-37-132 and winning the MVP. Think that is ridiculous? No player has ever had a rookie season like Hosmer’s and not won an MVP eventually.

Country Breakfast- There are countless articles on the web telling you how Billy Butler is in the best shape of his life and it’s about damn time. Butler is the quintessential “see ball, hit ball” hitter and I guess because of that he always thought his pudgy frame served him just fine. I was always concerned that the current wave of Royals prospects would see Butler’s approach and adopt it, turning us into a cheaper and less talented version of the Boston Red Sox. Thankfully, it seems that Hosmer and company have reversed my expectations and motivated Butler to hit the weights. It is not possible to state the importance of Billy Butler producing behind Hosmer’s big bat, and no one should know that better than Butler himself. He knows what it’s like to be a star up-and-coming hitter with no protection. Of course, Butler still isn’t exactly a grizzled veteran himself, he turns 26 in a little over 2 weeks. In other words, he’s entering his prime. Billy Butler will have a career year in 2012, putting up .351-26-115 and winning his first batting title. I admit I may be a bit off on this one. I see Butler as a right handed hitting Carl Yastrzemski, and Butler could very well mimic Yaz’s 1967 season in which he went .326-44-121. For those of you rolling your eyes, Yaz had never hit more than 20 home runs coming into that year.

Luke Hochevar- I said it before and I’ll say it again, Cool hand Luke is going to break out in a big way in 2012. I really think he’s the kind of guy that may not do well playing out the string on another 90 loss season but may thrive when things are really going well. He has what should be an excellent defense behind him, and he’ll get to face terrible lineups in Chicago and Minnesota along the way. I’m not predicting anything silly like a Cy Young, but I think 15 wins and a sub 4 ERA is well within his reach.

The Competition- The White Sox and Twins are flat out terrible; the Royals should win 25-28 of those 36 games. The Indians, in my opinion, are overrated and will struggle to win 72 games. That leaves us with the Tigers, who I think are this year’s candidate to be the most disappointing team in Major League Baseball. There is absolutely no way that Justin Verlander duplicates what he did in 2011, none. I think he’s due to regress in a major way, if not fall to injury. He’s thrown nearly 900 innings the past 4 seasons combined, and not less than 200 in the last five. I think that streak gets broken in 2012. Of course, the Tigers pitching isn’t what scares people, right? It’s that lineup. Well, I ain’t scared. It didn’t take long at all for Miguel Cabrera to take a ground ball off the face, who knows what injury is next. Even if he doesn’t, we’ve already talked about the massive letdown Prince Fielder is about to experience. After those two, what’s left? Austin Jackson? He’s got over 350 strikeouts in 2 seasons. Brennan Boesch? Your Kila Ka’aihue impersonation isn’t fooling anyone. Delmon Young? Please. This lineup just isn’t that scary, and there defense will be atrocious. This is not a 100 win team, and it may struggle to be a 90 win team.

At this point you’re either extremely excited, or wondering what I’m smoking…or both. Regardless, jump on the Kool Aid Drinker bandwagon now! 93 wins and an AL Central title from now, it may be too full.

We keep hearing that there’s very little competition at the day-to-day positions in Royals camp. Other than the mess that Yuniesky Betancourt and the other second basemen are in, the roster could have been filled out prior to spring training.

Having Salvador Perez go down created intrigue that wasn’t expected at catcher. That problem was resolved for the time being with the acquisition of Humberto Quintero.

But the bullpen situation is another matter entirely. When Joakim Soria was sidelined with a serious elbow injury, it only further muddied the waters. The Royals have so many questions to be answered it’s hard to know where to begin.

In the words of Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain… No there is too much. Let me sum up.”

First, Soria’s injury ended, for the time being, the conversion of Aaron Crow to the starting rotation. He’s now fully entrenched in the bullpen and will probably end up closing some games.

Manager Ned Yost most likely will try a closer-by-committee approach, using Crow, Jonathan Broxton and Greg Holland in that role.

So if the Royals starters include Jonathan Sanchez, Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen, then a couple of rotation spots will affect the pen.

Felipe Paulino and Luis Mendoza are out of options, so they are going to be given every opportunity to stick. Paulino showed potential last year, but has been rough so far this spring. Mendoza was great at Omaha last year, and has had a good spring.

But Danny Duffy has been solid thus far and has the most potential. It’s hard to envision him not coming to KC. The numbers don’t add up.

The Royals have room for eight relievers. Crow, Broxton and Holland are locks. That leaves five spots.

Guys who had bullpen roles last year are right-handers Louis Coleman, Blake Wood and Nathan Adcock, and left-handers Tim Collins and Everett Teaford.

Add to the mix righty Kelvin Herrera and lefty Jose Mijares. Both have been very good so far this spring, but there isn’t room for both.

Wood is temporarily out of commission, so we’ll count him out for now.

Adcock has already been sent to minor league camp.

Injuries to Wood and Soria probably take most of the decision making out of Yost’s hands.

Best case seems to me to have potential starters Mendoza and Everett Teaford join the bullpen mix for now. That gives another righty (Mendoza) to work with, and two guys who can go long innings or make necessary starts.

Herrera would probably benefit from some time in Omaha, so he’s a logical cut. If the Royals don’t keep Mendoza in the pen, however, then Herrera becomes a more important right-handed option to keep in KC.

Seems like what was a mess a few days ago now lines up pretty clearly like this:

Starters (5): Sanchez, Hochevar, Chen, Duffy, Paulino.

Middle Relievers (5): Righties Coleman, Mendoza; Lefties Collins, Teaford, Mijares.

Closers (3): Righties Crow, Broxton, Holland

If the Royals are willing to go with Mendoza in the bullpen, this would look on paper like a balanced, experienced group holding down the fort until Soria returns.

Some wonder if Soria will ever return. Either way, the confusion of the Royals bullpen seems to be resolving itself.

With catchers Salvador Perez and Manny Pina being out for 2-3 months with knee injuries, the Kansas City Royals made a trade Tuesday, acquiring catcher Humberto Quintero and outfielder Jason Bourgeois from the Houston Astros for minor league left-hander Kevin Chapman and a player to be named later. To make room for the newest Royals, the team put Perez and Pina on the 60-day disabled list.

Ever since Perez’s injury, the Royals expressed interest to acquire a catcher outside the organization. There were rumors the Royals invited Ivan Rodriguez to camp, but it ended up being just rumors. Instead, the Royals went the trade route, getting Quintero.

The 32 year-old Quintero is a nine-year major league veteran, playing for the San Deigo Padres from 2003-2004 and with the Houston Astros from 2005-2011. He’s been a career backup catcher, appearing in 379 games. Quintero appeared in 88 games in 2010, the most he’s played in a season.

Quintero’s career line is .234/.268/.321, so the Royals didn’t get him for his hitting. They got him for catching and throwing ability and his major league experience. For now, Quintero expects to play two to four days a week, splitting playing time with Brayan Pena.

It was clear the Royals didn’t see Max Ramirez as a solution, despite his good spring offensive numbers. In fact, Ramirez only started a handful of spring training games as a catcher, so the Royals didn’t have much faith in his catching abilities. Cody Clark doesn’t have major league catching experience and it’s likely the Royals believe Clark would be a better fit for AAA Omaha, where they also need catching help.

There is one concern and hopefully it’s a minor one. This spring, Quintero was out with a bulging disk in his back but returned to action over the weekend. At least it’s not his knee.

As for Bourgeois, the 30 year-old outfielder has four years in the majors, playing for the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Astros. Bourgeois played 192 major league games in his career with a .262/.307/.324 line with 431 plate appearances and 22 RBIs. His speed and versatility are his main assets, with 46 career stolen bases, with 31 of those in 2011. Bourgeois also hits well against left-handers, with a .328 batting average compared to .205 against right-handers.

Bourgeois is not a everyday player, so Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Jeff Francoeur have little to worry about. But with his versatility of playing all outfield positions and some second base, players like Mitch Meier and Jarrod Dyson have some competition for the reserve outfielder job. Who knows, maybe Manager Ned Yost might have Bourgeois in the second base mix between Johnny Giavotella, Chris Getz and Yuni Betancourt. It is spring training after all.

Probably not. The Royals see Bourgeois as a right-handed reserve outfielder who’s a cross between Meier and Dyson. The odd man out in this situation could be Dyson, who bats from the left side but doesn’t have the versatility of a Bourgeois.

Both Bourgeois and Dyson have options remaining, so it’s likely one of them makes the Opening Day roster and the other one goes to Omaha. If Bourgeois goes to Omaha, he would serve as outfield depth in case someone get injured. If Dyson goes to Omaha, he would get more playing time, perhaps improving his chances of developing into an everyday outfielder. If either player makes the Royals roster, it will be as a reserve outfielder.

The Astros get Chapman, a 24 year-old left-handed relief pitcher who played two seasons with A+ Wilmington and AA Northwest Arkansas. His career ERA is high at 5.06, and he gave up 9.1 hits per nine innings. But his strikeouts per nine innings is 12.4, so Chapman gets a lot of strikeouts. Chapman projects to be a reliever if he makes it to the majors. And that could be soon, since he’s with the Astros.

The other player the Astros get is our old friend player to be named later. It’s uncertain who it is, but according to Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow, this player was a big reason the Astros did the trade. Don’t worry, Royals fans, it’s doubtful the PTBNL are either outfielders Bubba Starling, Wil Myers or pitcher Jake Odorizzi. It better not be, if Dayton Moore wants to keep his job. And if Royals fans want to keep their sanity.

Quintero and Bourgeois are not long-term solutions for the Royals. Quintero was acquired to fill the gap of Perez and Pina being gone for half the season and Bourgeois was acquired to provide outfield depth and perhaps give Dyson and Meier some competition as a reserve outfielder. For now, they fill some holes, if nothing else.