AGRI Biz

Immediate gratification. Prolonged success. There appear to be two sides forming among Royals fans in the Kansas City Metro area. Local talk radio is buzzing about the Royals (for a change), their recent encouraging performances, and the fact that good fortune has finally begun to shine on them. When a franchise is as parched for wins as this one is, the assumption is that the fan base would be eager to jump on the ...

Gil Meche is ailing. He began the year on the disabled list and hasn't come close to a quality start since being activated. As a matter of fact, he's had a pretty rough go of it since manager Trey Hillman's infamous overuse of him last June. In a span of three starts that month he threw 357 pitches, culminating in a 132-pitch complete game effort against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In his next start against ...

To date, Zack Greinke's record is 0-0 and Kyle Farnsworth's is 1-0.  Things aren't always as they seem, though. Both of these pitchers took very different routes to get to this point. Zack Greinke, while not dominant, cruised through six innings on Opening Day, giving up 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Greinke turned a winnable game and a 4-2 lead over to the bullpen in the top of the seventh.  The result: ...

Alex Gordon’s make-or-break 2010 season has been derailed . In the same week that Justin Upton re-upped and signed a six year/$51 million contract—validating his presence in the league—Gordon broke his thumb on a head first slide into second base.  The team has placed a three to four week timetable on his injury. That should be especially concerning for the Royals, as this was supposed to be the year the one-time ...

Kansas City baseball is currently in a rebuilding era, and has been for some time now. One thing that is different now than in the past is talent in the farm system. This young talent, combined with off season acquisitions, will present interesting personnel scenarios for the Royals in 2010. Scouting and team management will play a huge role in player development this season - to the chagrin ...

As far as Royals fans go, I am one of the more optimistic. I retained my family's season tickets while away at college so I wouldn't lose my childhood vantage point when the team finally returned to the postseason. I attend upwards of 40 games a season since I moved back to the nation's bread basket in 2004. I was so confident in General Manager Dayton Moore's abilities that I placed ...

Joe Mauer ran away with the MVP this season. It was only the second time a Catcher has won this award in the last 32 seasons, and there are only 10 catchers* to win it since the writers began deciding the winner in 1931. *The only multi-year winners were: Roy Campanella (3), Yogi Berra (3) & Johnny Bench (2)...quite a list! The fact is, there are few Catchers that stand out among their ...

By now, every angle of the American League Cy Young Award race has been examined. The general consensus is that old-school baseball voters covet wins too much and new-school writers are attempting to usher in the new sabermetric age in respect to player evaluation. Old schoolers will have you believe that C.C. Sebathia's 18 wins in the AL East or Justin Verlander's 16 wins in the midst of a pennant ...