I thought Dayton knew his shit.

I bought the “we’re gonna use sabremetrics” line

I thought Gorden would be a sure thing

• Hated the Meche deal at the time (although there’s still time for me to be “vindicated” on that one, I hope I’m not)

• Thought Emil Brown sucked, when he was actualy decent for the money in 2005 and really good in 2006

• LIke everyone in the pre-defensive stat days, hated the Dougie Deal

• Didn’t say anything publicly, but part of me gave up on Bannister after last season’s fiasco

• Vastly underappreciated Mark Grudzelaniek

• Even more vastly underappreciated Justin Huber’s

• Most vastly underappreciated Buddy Bell’s wisdom: “I never say it can’t get worse.”

Which leads me to number one …

1. Had an almost torrid love affair with Esteban German. Still think he could have added valuably to the offense and should have been the leadoff hitter we were always missing, but the less he played, the more I practically deified the guy. Hated Mark Grudzialanek just because he got in the way of Esteban German playing the same position (at which he wasn’t awful, probably not quite Callaspo bad). Come to think of it … we pretty much have Esteban German again, don’t we? Viva Callaspo!

2. Hated every 2008-2009 offseason free agent signing and trade, except one: Juan Cruz.

3. Thought the Royals should have traded Grienke this past off-season if they weren’t going to sign him longterm, figuring his value had peaked and that the roster assembled wasn’t good enough to compete. Right on the second, dead wrong on the first.

4. Was happy when Mike Sweeney’s contract trigger kicked in after the 2003 season. If not for that, he gets traded the next season when he still has value, and the Royals get better pieces for the long term.

5. Thought Chip Ambres might have some MLB use as a platoon vs. left handed pitching. Top that one.

I also fell for the Shealy/Dohmann for Affeldt/Batista deal.

The things that everyone is missing here is that the Royals have NO tradeable veteran assets.

Many of the other struggling teams were able to dump veterans for a collection of young rising kids. The Royals did not. We kept Meche, Guillen, Buck, Olivio and the rest of the bums we have.

The Royals will not win unless they vastly improve all three areas. HITTING, pitching and defense….and they did nothing to help themselves at the deadline. They can’t even get their top draft picks signed.

This franchise is a joke and run by a bunch of stiffs.

I was pretty sure that Mike Jacobs was going to catch fire when he hit in Kauffman Stadium

I may have been a bit high on Ryan Shealy too, I forget if I was

but Pickering over Harvey was not a mistake. Tony Pena screwed Pickering over with stuff like putting him in to face Moyer

Affeldt finally developed into a quality reliever. I was sad to see him go, but didn’t feel the trade was lopsided like the ones we’ve seen lately. That seemed to be a fair swap of upside potential, with the Royals coming out slightly ahead if Shealy could deliver 20-25 homers a year. I wouldn’t beat myself up about that one if I were you, I mean, you can’t win every trade (though it would be nice if the Royals would win at least 1 every once in a while).

I think the Royals are going to contend every year. That’s my biggest mistake. Being a ridiculously optimistic homerrific idiot every spring because baseball is back, and I have some hope that every single Royals player will come together in gigantic breakout seasons, and everything will fall correctly, and the Royals will make the playoffs!

Another that was mentioned above would be the Sweeney clause that 2003 triggered. I was so happy that Sweeney was staying. I still love the guy. He made Royals baseball bearable in the early parts of this decade. Then the 2003 mirage, and Sweeney’s back gives out the next year. I wonder how he’s even in the league at this point. He plays for love of the game, that’s for sure, because he has more than enough of Glass’s money.

1) I thought Ken Harvey should have been given a longer look

2) I thought (still think) Costa is a solid 4th OF’er or better.

3) I thought Chris George was going to save the organization

4) I thought Jeremy Affeldt was going to save the organization

5) I thought (still hope sort of) that GMDM was going to save the organization

6) Earlier this year, right after the epic 18-11 start (is that # destined to be as immortalized in KC as 83?), I was calling for Billy Butler to be sent down. Not to learn anything, but because he wasn’t producing @ the plate.

Ripping Rob Neyer for not buying into “Born Again Glass and the New Regime” circa late 2007/early 2008…

Does that legally obligate me to pay for the therapy he’ll be getting the rest of his life?

I thought A. J. Hinch was a real sleeper and would blossom.

I ate crab legs with George Brett. [insert stupid smiley emoticon.]

instead of terrible.

• After they finished just 6 games behind the A’s in ’73, occupying first place as late as August 16, I thought the additions of Briles and Pattin in ’74 would put the Royals over the top in the AL West.

• I was devastated when the Royals lost Ruppert Jones in the 1976 expansion draft (Mariners/Blue Jays).

• Hated the deal that sent Quirk, Wohlford, and McClure to the Brewers.

• Bet my college roommate that the Royals would beat the Yankees in the ‘77 ALCS. Well, that wasn’t the mistake. The mistake was that the loser of the bet had to do the winners’ laundry, and as an oarsman he piled up a lot of laundry. Actual money would have been the superior loss.

liked the mike jacobs signing

also though grienke shouldve been traded last year

did not like the meche signing, too much money for a projected 3rd starter

WHAT I think still needs to be done
trade teahan now, his value IS at its highest
trade Gordon for someone who hits over .275 with same or more power then gordon
find suitor for meche trade, and get a young promising starter at all costs, play hardball.
find a way to dump Guillen/Jacobs salary, either one, both prefferably

I wholly endorsed Dayton Moore for GM and endorsed Trey Hillman for manager even before either were publicly made candidates.

I hated the Gil Meche signing

I loved the Ryan Shealy/Jeremy Affeldt deal

I thought Luke Hochevar was a great draft pick, and would be the next Brandon Webb while Tim Lincecum would spend his entire career on the DL

Didn’t like the Minky signing

I thought we shouldn’t re-sign Raul Ibanez because he would decline rapidly

I thought Dan Reichert would be an All-Star

I hated the Jermaine Dye/Michael Tucker trade

I asked my dad for playoff tickets the day we signed Mark Davis

I was in KC the day of Game 4 of the 1980 World Series, but DID NOT go out to the stadium to see if I could scalp 2 tickets for my Dad & I.

Did not go to the 1985 World Series championship parade

Asking former Royals pitcher Vida Blue for his autograph in 2 more occasions in 2 years after he blew me off the first time

Thinking Pat Sheridan deserved the 1983 A.L. Rookie of the Year award

and exploring over three years’ worth of my Royals-related blog posts. It’s been a hilarious journey so far, and will turn into a (hopefully) interesting post.

One gem I’ve found so far: in early 2007, I was excited that KC’s rotation was about to become “respectable” because Scott Elarton and Luke Hudson were about to get back up to the Bigs.

Also, I liked Fat Elvis before he turned into Fat Elvis.

I was more or less against both a new stadium and the renovations plan, but now have softened a little bit and think that it may have been worthwhile to renovate

(Just cut and pasted it right out of my email)

“…We could rationally expect two of our big three to reach
whatever potential they have next year (as Glavine and Smoltz did) and
hope for Bautista to be our Steve Avery, who matured much more quickly
than the other two. We could rationally expect to win 60 something
games this year and gear up for a 90 win breakout next year. It all
depends on a lot more than this, but if we can spend a little money
and keep this team together as Baird says we can, then we every right
to be hopeful for a several-season run with our big 3 starting as
early as next year.”

I really did write that. This might be my most embarrassing moment ever. Looking back on it is like staring at the sun.

Optimistically yours (and I’d say reasonably optimistic),
Jack Campbell

-I thought Berrora was the answer at shortstop
-I thought TPJ was the answer at shortstop
-I thought Aviles was the answer at shortstop (may not be entirely wrong)
-thankfully, I did not think YBJ is the answer at shortstop

-inexplicable love of Justin Huber

myself all excited about the Juan Gonzalez signing.

not really proud of that one.

I didn’t think either would develop into anything special. Butts has a way to go to become special and Calle may just be a filler. But, they are better then I thought they would be.

I assumed that Fuddo the Clown was as bad as it could get. Hillfart is now coming dangerously close.

I loved the Jacobs trade

I really thought Craig Brazell needed mote of a chance.

Mike MacDougal was my guy.

I thought we should’ve traded Greinke last offseason.

Lastly, I thought Mark Teahen would be an elite player.

Believing the Royals will ever sniff the Playoffs again.

…was spending way too much time and energy worrying about low risk/low upside plays like Matt Diaz and Brayan Pena.

I advocated for a lot of pickups that never happened and didn’t turn out well in the long term anyways. Warren Morris and Bobby Estalella were notable examples. There were a lot more of them in the early part of this decade.

My principled draft policy of no pitchers in the top half of the first round would have resulted in no Greinke. I endorsed Scott Moore as the draft pick of that year.

I ignored said policy the year that they took Hochevar and gave my full endorsement to Brad Lincoln, ignoring my own good sense given that I had loudly agitated for Evan Longoria for at least 6 months prior to that under the guize of “best available player regardless of who you have in the system. Figure out where to put Longoria and Gordon when it becomes an actual issue”. It’s not often you can say that you ignored both your intellectual principles AND your gut feelings all at the same time. I consider it a personal achievement.

-not liking the Meche deal

That is the biggest one. There are others, but I don’t, nay, can’t think about the others.

sniff

2008: John Buck
2009: Mike Jacobs

I probably should reserve Yuni in 2010 and Willy Tavares in 2011 to make sure I keep that streak of awesomeness going.

Also
—Thought Dean Palmer was the best acquisition ever
—Thought Denny Bautista was going to be an ace
—Thought that no manager being hired could possibly be worse than Buddy Bell
—Wanted to see a lot more of Chip Ambres

Happy about Sweeney’s contract extension kicking in after 2003.

Really excited about the Juan Gonzalez signing.

After those disasters, I grew somewhat more pessimistic, and have fared better.

I was for Burgos for Bannister, but against Sisco for Gload.
Strongly against Howell for Gathright.
Strongly against the 2008/09 offseason (aside from Greinke) – although the one pickup I did like (Cruz) has bombed.

Probably no one remembers Danny Tamayo, but for a long time I thought he was going to be our sleeper prospect that became a mid-rotation starter. I don’t think he ever sniffed the big leagues.

I’m back, and this is the perfect way to reenter.

1) I thought Dee Brown would be an All-Star caliber player and the face of the franchise on offense for years to come.
2) I thought that both Chris George and Jimmy Gobble, two soft-tossing lefties with great minor league numbers, would be solid MLB starters. Forgive me if I am skeptical about Danny Duffy because of this.
3) In 2004, I believed a rotation of Brian Anderson, Darrell May, Jimmy Gobble, Jeremy Affeldt, and Zack Greinke (5th starter!!!) would be enough to carry the Royals to the AL Central title. WTF was I thinking.
4) I thought Denny Bautista would be a useful pitcher, if not in the rotation then at least in the bullpen as a setup man or closer.
5) I thought the Mike MacDougal trade was awful. But turning MacAttack into Yuniesky Betancourt and Jordan Parraz is not bad, though i would still prefer to have Cortes in the minor league system.
7) I liked the following FA signings at the time – Juan Gonzalez, Reggie Sanders, Yasuhiko Yabuta, Juan Cruz.
8) I disliked the following FA signings at the time – Gil Meche (did anyone actually like this one), Mark Grudzielanek.
9) I didn’t think J.P. Howell would amount to anything useful.
10) I thought (hoped) that Alberto Callaspo would be able to provide league-average defense at 2B.
11) I thought Joakim Soria would be a starting pitcher by 2009. So much for that one.

oh how i was wrong…

I bet on the Royals/Red Sox, Royals/Yankees season series. I’ve lost some good stuff: spanking new Louisville Slugger, pizzas, cash and a lot of booze. The payoff came in 2006 (I think) when the Royals actually swept the Sox in a series.
More recent mistake: believing that Mark Teahan was probably going to be THE MAN this year. Saw him in spring training and began to believe. FAIL!

2 things come to mind, the dumbest bet I ever maid was when the Royals were like 17-9 and I bet a friend the Royals would have a better record than the Yankees (gonna lose an Andrew Jackson on that one). Im not surprised Im gonna lose this bet, but i can’t believe how completely different these two teams have been since I made the bet.

And I really thought Gator was gonna be better than he turned out to be. I realize batting average doesn’t mean much but he did hit .300 and I just felt with his speed he had potential.

a day after the John Lester no-hitter. The appreciative Boston fans were all over me. Literally, all over me. Royals got crushed that game, too. The only consolation: Joey Gathright’s ninth inning persnicketiness caused the game to go late and my Red Sox fan friend missed his train home. And it was raining.

He hit 20 homers and had an OPS of .830. Thought he was gonna be a star.

Also thought if Jeremy Giambi could develop into half the player his brother was, we’d be lucky. We didn’t even get 1/10th.

I though Mark Teahen truly did break out in 2006, and would be a true middle of the order powerhouse.

I too hated the Gil Meche deal

I didn’t like Jay Bell when he arrived (what would we give for Jay Bell back?)

I thought Billy Buckner was going to be really good.

I thought DDJ had 4th outfielder stamped all over him.

I was excited when DM was appointed.

I was too harsh on Allard Baird (this isn’t just a reaction to Dayton’s crappiness).

Was believing in McClure. I thought he was the reason we were studs in the pen last year and I remember saying something like, if he can do that with what we had last year, think of what he can do with this year!

Also, I thought Olivo had turned around his pitch calling at the beginning of the year when every pitch Grienke threw turned into gold.

when we got Jefferies, McReynolds, and Miller from the Mets.

I thought we actually made out well on the Beltran deal. It wasn’t the usual deadline payroll dump disaster we’ve come to know and love, but it hasn’t been nearly as good a deal as I thought it would be.

I was also excited when we hired Hillman.

I Believed in May.

and actually felt disappointment.

boy was I wrong.

not in any particular order
1.Thinking Shealy was long term answer at 1st base
2. Thinking Jacobs was going to continue Marlins production.
3. Thinking DM was doing more than sitting at his desk sharpening all his pencils
4. Thinking chris lubanski was our saviour(sounds really stupid right?)