It’s time for a painful reckoning. Even discussing this is not fun. But yes, it is time to prepare ourselves to say goodbye to many of our favorite Royals. Sure, they’ll come back to Kansas City from time to time, wearing different colors, and some people will boo them while others give them ovations for […]
Author: Darin Watson
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Royals Have Been Great at Drafting Football Players
The NFL draft starts tonight, so let’s get going with your Chiefs draft preview… Ha! Just kidding, of course. But why would a Royals blog bring up the NFL draft? Because the Royals, in their history, have managed to draft several players who turned down baseball and went on to successful football careers. And also […]
OOTP18 Review: An Excellent Game Adds Even More Historical Accuracy
It is March 1942. The world is at war, but I have more local issues on my mind as I enter Wrigley Field on my first day as general manager. It has been over three decades since the Cubs won the World Series, and the fans (and ownership) are impatient. But I have an idea […]
Royals’ Rotation Should Pile Up The Strikeouts
If you’ve paid any attention at all to the Royals’ spring training games, you’ve probably noticed that this team appears to have more power hitters than any recent edition we’ve seen here in Kansas City. Our own Craig Brown discussed that even before the start of spring training, and the numbers so far bear it out. […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Cookie Rojas, 1973
As you probably know, recent Royals acquisition Jorge Soler is a native of Cuba. Of course, he is not the first Cuban in team history, joining a list that includes the good (Kendrys Morales), the bad (Yuniesky Betancourt), and the popular backup catcher (Brayan Peña), among others. But probably the most popular and best Cuban […]
Royals Have Good Options In Second Base Battle
It’s a good spot to be in. The Royals don’t have many questions about the starting lineup as spring training begins. The rotation is more or less set. The key bullpen roles are penciled in. But second base is definitely a battle to be resolved over the next five weeks or so. While there are […]
The Return Of Alex Gordon
As we begin preparing for the 2017 season, also perhaps known as The Last Ride Of Ned Yost And His Immortals, I don’t think it can be overstated: a resurgence from Alex Gordon is absolutely crucial to the Royals’ chances of squeezing one last playoff run out of this group of players. As a brief […]
Rotation Depth Bodes Well For Royals
While this has been a quiet offseason for the Royals, I feel good about the rotation headed into the 2017 season. This is no small feat, because as we chronicled plenty here last season, the rotation was a big reason the 2016 Royals missed the playoffs and limped home with a .500 record. That excitement […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Jeff Montgomery, 1993
The Royals have had some really great closers in their history, but for the most part they have not been the prototypical hulking closer with a big beard and 98 mph fastball to match. Dan Quisenberry threw underhanded and might not have been able to break glass with his fastball. Joakim Soria threw hard in […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: Figuring Out Wade’s Place In Royals History
With Wade Davis on his way to the north side of Chicago, I began wondering if it was possible to assess accurately where he might fit in the history of Royals closers. This is a topic I’ve been thinking about for some time, but I could never quite figure out how to get an accurate […]