Back in March I wrote an article previewing the month of July for the Royals. Since July is nearly complete I thought now would be a good time to review that article and see if I knew what I was talking about. Let’s get to it:

“The days are long and hot. It is the only month Major League Baseball has to itself on the sports calendar. If you are reading this, you probably like that. It is when most of America takes their vacations. In recent years it is when Royals fans begin taking their vacations from watching or listening to the Royals. They would rather listen to cicadas and think about Chiefs training camp, or their favorite college team.”

I have taken a vacation. The days are defiantly long, and we all hope it’s another 31 years before we see another summer this hot. The end to the NFL Lock-Out has cut short MLB’s time in the spotlight. It might re-emerge sometime in September. Overall, the Royals are where we thought they would be for the same reasons we thought they would.

“With the exception of Cleveland at the end, all of them are expected to compete for play-off spots in 2011”

Oops. This will make the third time I’ve mentioned this. The Royals need to get some wins against the Indians this weekend. They have cooled off since jumping out of the gate, but they are still contending for the division title. Collectively they are the same age as the Royals…except their starting pitching is decent. I don’t see any reason they won’t get better. As a Royals fan I’m worried and jealous of the Indians. Beginning the weekend with a 12-0 thrashing is a good start.

“July is when the much publicized prospects will likely be called up. I expect Mike Moustakas to be the first, followed by Mike Montgomery. Watching them develop will be a reason to pay attention”

And

“But if you haven’t noticed the Royals have a log jam of power hitting first baseman. I anticipate one of them being traded, along with Eric Hosmer making his MLB debut.”

It has not exactly gone down like this. Eric Hosmer was the first to be called up. Many of us were shocked by the timing of Hosmer’s call up. But, he’s done the best out of any of the prospects promoted. Mike Montgomery has turned it around lately, but has struggled most of the season at Omaha. Mike Moustakas destroyed PCL pitching while he was there. Since being called up he has struggled. However, he did show signs of life this week in Boston. Too bad the other power hitting first baseman mentioned in the March article doesn’t bring any trade value.

“The end of July is also the trade deadline. I love the trade deadline. You never know what might happen”

The trade deadline is fun if you’re a fan baseball in general. I’ve been a tad frustrated about what the Royals haven’t done at the trade deadline. I want some veterans out of here, and Lorenzo Cain, and Johnny Giavottella called up. But then I remember that each trade needs a trade partner. I can’t figure out a team that needs Frenchy, Melky, or Chris Getz who can’t find a better option on another team. And I wouldn’t wish our starting pitching on anyone. This leads me to believe the Royals are done for this trade season, and if they aren’t, it won’t be anything to get excited about.

“the Royals are .500….”

Pfffft!

“Finally, we all know there won’t be any football training camp to look forward to. So you might as well watch the Royals”

I’m glad to have been wrong on this statement. Baseball is my favorite sport, and the Royals are my favorite team. But I love the Chiefs and the NFL too and I’m glad that their CBA has been settled. Despite being hopelessly buried in last place I still get sucked in. Especially when they have a stretch like they have had in the last week. August through October is my favorite time of the year. There is a lot going on in the world of sports, and the weather and leaves turn to awesome. And for the first time in several summers the Royals have proven they can be interesting enough to be apart of that.

The Major League Baseball trade deadline is approaching. The NFL is about to get it’s collective act together open up free agency before training camps open. These two things happening at the same time are going to make the coming week one of the most exciting for sports fans all over the country. Twitter will be busy. So will websites similar to www.flightaware.com. Where, if you know the tail number of your favorite player or general manager’s aircraft you can see where they are flying. I’ve never done this by the way.

It’s ironic that what makes me look forward to this next week doesn’t involve any action on the field in either sport. These battles will be won and lost on the phone, through texts, and in face to face negotiations. And really, we won’t know the winners and losers of many of these battles for several years. It’s a high stakes, high pressure game. And that’s why I’m kind of glad I’m an Arm Chair GM.

All of us are Arm Chair GM’s. If you’ve ever made an opinion about who should be called up, sent down, franchised or traded you know what I’m talking about. Most of us do this every day. Some of us take to Twitter to tell the world what an awesome General Manager we would be, me included. However, I was faced with a certain irony last night while listening to the Royals game.

Many of us, including some very smart baseball people, have been screaming for Johnny Giavotella to be called up to replace Chris Getz at Second Base. Giavotella has been destroying PCL pitching, going .394/.485/.879. Meanwhile, Chris Getz has gone .256/.312/.598. If I take these numbers out of context and slap them beside each other it’s easy to see why this argument is made. But this article is not why Giavotella should be brought up. I just use the situation as an example. Besides Kyle Davies still being in the rotation this seems to be the biggest point of discussion among Royals fans.

This example is no new or unique. It’s happened before. Remember Kila Ka’aihue? Kila destroyed PCL pitching. The cries for him to be on the major league roster went on for a couple years. Yet, Dayton Moore kept in him down in Omaha. He got a cup of coffee in 2008 and did good enough for the rest of us to scream for more. Yet, in 2009 the Royals were Kilaless the entire season while we suffered through the Mike Jacobs experiment. Yet, in late 2010, and early part of this season Kila mostly struggled. Turns out the Royals front office did know what they were talking about.

Not to say front offices don’t deserve criticism. After all, a really good reliever was surrendered for Mike Jacobs. Kyle Davies is still pitching. You don’t have to be a sabrematircian, scout, or “baseball guy” to know these two players are terrible. There is this continual debate among fans of baseball between the “eye test”, and the statistics test. Like most things. The answer is somewhere in the middle. Most of us only see the numbers put up by minor leaguers. On top of that, even if we see video, we’re not watching in real life. And even if we are, most of us are not baseball scouts.

So, remember the next time we’re playing Arm Chair GM, that the front office of our favorite team might have access to better, and more information than we have. But that shouldn’t ever stop us from being an Arm Chair GM.

September brings playoff hopes to many teams. It has cities across the country getting ready for deep runs and World Series dreams. In Kansas City in 2011, it brings something much more important. The rosters expand.

The team will bring to the Major League level some of the best talent the area has seen and people might just flock down to the ballpark. They may not be playing winning baseball and it may be a bit early to anoint any of these players the next George Brett, but they will be exciting, and with the NFL Lockout, they may be the only game in town.

Anthony Lerew by Erika Lynn

September Breakdown:

Total Games: 24

Home: 11

Road: 13

Vs teams with winning records in 2010: 15

Vs teams with losing records in 2010: 11

Vs teams in the AL Central: 17

Key Series:

September 15-18 vs Chicago – the White Sox will come to The K for a four game set that will bring a buzz to the city. The rivalry will be revisited, the team will have play off hopes and the young guns of the Royals will look to prove themselves. Add this in with no football and Kansas City may be a volatile place to visit.

September 26-28 @ Minnesota – the final series of the year sees the young Royals take on the perennial contenders in the Minnesota Twins. The Twins will be making a playoff push and the Royals will be looking to end 2011 on a high note. The Royals may benefit from a division race that may be decided before this date, giving them the opportunity to play the Twins while they are not at their best.

Key To a Hot September:

Let the kids play. The young guys will put butts in the seats and score some runs. It could be the most exciting baseball that Kansas City has seen in quite sometime.

At the end of September:

If the Royals have 15+ wins… then the farm system is all it is promoted to be and then some. It is a lofty goal, but with some big bats and big arms on the way, the Royals need to start dreaming and start dreaming big.

If the Royals are above .500… they will have, honestly, proven enough. This team does not need to over-achieve right now, they simply need to prove they can compete. This is not about win now, it’s about proving to the division and the league that 2012 will see the Royals no longer being American League whipping boys.

If the Royals are below .500… most people would expect this outcome, but I would think it would be slightly disappointing. It could also mean that the team did not jump on the youth movement this year and chose to keep the kids in the minors and under wraps.

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.