AGRI Biz

For those not familiar with Trey Hillman's in-game management genius, let me lay it out for you in bullet points: Gil Meche threw 128 pitches last night. Fortunately for Meche, he got the last batter he faced (David Murphy) on one pitch. Yes, with two down and runners at second and third, Hillman let a gased Meche face David Murphy. Moreover, Meche struggled ...

It's been a fairly eventful two-plus weeks since I last posted here.  Having not grown up in the Kansas City area (unlike my father, whose fandom I unfortunately inherited), my in-person Royals experiences have been mostly limited to seeing them play the Twins at the Metrodome or seeing Omaha play the Round Rock Express.  While visiting my sister in Lawrence, I got to see the ...

  Thankfully I was at work and unable to watch the Royals' pen squander yet another lead.  The only thing we fans once gave the braintrust at Treyton Millman Incorporated credit for is now the biggest problem with the team and it's debilitating.  Another day, another blown save. The Royals managed to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory, undercutting what Brian Bannister did over ...

We're four games in, and it would seem that Trey Hillman feels that both Mike Aviles and Mitch Maier haven't sat enough to fully cool off from their torrid spring. Both men all but forced their way into their spots on the 25-man roster entering Spring Training. In 21 games and 57 plate appearances, Aviles hit .471/.517/.725 with one-third of his hits going for extra ...

As we embark on another season in which the Kansas City Royals look to be competing for fourth place in the American League Central, there were only a few things that we Royals fans had to look forward to. That list got a little shorter yesterday when Danny Duffy decided to walk away from the game.  For those keeping track at home, Duffy's likely retirement ...

First things first, I need to apologize for my month-long absence here.  I've spent much of the last two months writing preseason fantasy baseball articles for Sports Grumblings.  Sure, I've written only three articles, but they were 6,326 , 4,775 , and 6,829 words long, and when you couple that with the increased hours working as a result of being a quasi-seasonal worker and officiating over ...

You may have noticed that it has been almost a month since my last post here. Suffice it to say, this author is one pretty unhappy Royals fan. My last post (regarding the Jason Kendall signing ) felt to me that it was coming from somewhere near my wit's end. Well, such a hope was short-sighted. Today, the assumption that many of us made last night was realized ...

I contemplated preparing something in advance for the occasion of Zack Greinke winning the Cy Young, but I was not entirely convinced that the BBWAA would make the right decision.á After the debacle that was the Bartolo Colon 2005 Cy Young Award and the late season statements of Patrick Reusse, a CY voter, I made sure to temper my expectations.á Consider my faith in the BBWAA as capable ...

The. Final. Piece. Of. The. Puzzle. Simon says Championship. It's hard to even feign emotion one way or the other about this signing. It's a minor-league deal, and he did man each of the four infield positions for the Yankees in 2008, so there is certainly an element of roster flexibility that he would fill in Mark Teahen's absence. He is pretty much ...

Sunday night, Bob Dutton reported that the Royals are rumored to be interested in shipping Alberto Callaspo to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 28-year-old (29 in April) catcher A.J. Ellis.á Seeing as though Ellis has worked his way up to a grand total of 13 plate appearances in two September call-ups at that advanced an age, it is hard to get overly excited about the prospect of this deal. It is ...