RCI Results - April 2010

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 3:52 PM EDT

I'm not going to sugarcoat this. The confidence of the Royals fanbase is at its lowest level in recorded history* (* - the recorded history of the RCI goes back two years). During the Dayton Moore era, fans have typically been somewhat optimistic going into the season, only to have their hopes violently dashed on the jagged rocks of reality. Not so this season. Compare these preseason RCI's:

March 2008	6.99
April 2009	6.34
April 2010	4.17

The RCI has descended to a lowly 4.17. We're not optimistic and we're not happy. Compare the current RCI to the last recorded number back in May 2009. After a good first month, we were feeling pretty positive back then.

	May 2009	April 2010
Team	7.3	3.9
Starting Pitching	8.0*	6.0
Relief Pitching		4.6
Hitting	6.1	3.0
Defense	5.7	4.2
Trey Hillman	6.6	2.7
Dayton Moore	5.3	3.1
Minors	6.7	6.6
Future	7.7	5.0

* - number indicates a rating for pitching in general

The numbers are down across the board. Most of them are way down. The RCI for the team has been nearly halved. We were once fairly happy about the pitching and hitting. Not anymore. A once promising future is now seriously in doubt. What a difference 11 months make.

But the biggest turn around has been in the support for Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman. Cautious optimism and the benefit of the doubt have been replaced by contempt and ridicule. You can't say it hasn't been well earned. Compare their favorability ratings:

	May 2009		April 2010
Dayton Moore	May 2009		April 2010
Strongly approve	20.2%	91.0%	3.6%	5.5%
Somewhat approve	70.8%	91.0%	1.8%	5.5%
Somewhat disapprove	5.4%	6.6%	24.5%	94.5%
Strongly disapprove	1.2%	6.6%	70.0%	94.5%
Don't know/No answer	2.4%		0.0%
Trey Hillman
Strongly approve	2.4%	43.8%	0.0%	3.6%
Somewhat approve	41.4%	43.8%	3.6%	3.6%
Somewhat disapprove	44.3%	51.4%	50.9%	94.5%
Strongly disapprove	7.1%	51.4%	43.6%	94.5%
Don't know/No answer	4.8%		1.8%

Total approval ratings of 5.5% for Moore and 3.6% for Hillman. Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush laugh at those numbers. Moore's approval rating dropped from 91% to 5.5% in eleven months. A politician would have to rape a panda to make that happen. I guess this is what happens when an awful offseason doesn't pan out, and then you add a horrendous midseason trade, followed by another crappy offseason. Honeymoon, over.

There has been a similar shift in the right track/wrong direction numbers:

	May 2009	April 2010
Going in the right direction	97.6%	18.5%
On the wrong track	2.4%	72.2%
Don't know/no answer	0.0%	9.3%

The prevailing sentiment is that the ship is sinking, if it was ever afloat. And now, the rest of your RCI answers.

D. When do you think Trey Hillman will be fired?

1. During the 2010 season - 14%

2. This coming offseason - 42%

3. During the 2011 season - 21%

4. In the offseason after the 2011 season - 16%

5. Sometime after the start of the 2012 season - 2%

6. He won’t be fired for several years. He’s going to get a multi-year contract extension. - 5%

E. How many games do you think Zack Greinke will win this year?

16.6

F. Which team is going to win the AL Central this year?

Minnesota 70%

Chicago 16%

Detroit 9%

Kansas City 4%

Cleveland 2 %

G. How many games will the following players play for the Royals this season?

Jason Kendall - 116

Yuniesky Betancourt - 85

Mike Aviles - 107

Alberto Callaspo - 121

H. Who will make the fifth highest number of pitching starts for the Royals this year (assuming that 1-4 are Greinke, Meche, Bannister and Hochevar)?

Kyle Davies 64%

Aaron Crow 15%

Robinson Tejeda 13%

Kyle Farnsworth 4%

Jarrod Washburn 2%

Other 2%

I. What kind of a chance do the Royals have of making the playoffs this year? (give a percentage: 0%-100%)

6.5%

J. What is your best estimate of how many games the Royals will win in 2010?

70.6

And then hopefully something to make us smile

Tweet Comment 55 comments | 5 recs |

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Comments

wow - now I'm even more depressed

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Apr 6, 2010 4:01 PM EDT reply actions

where's Katie?

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Apr 6, 2010 4:02 PM EDT reply actions

Fixed

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

thanks, now I feel better

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Apr 6, 2010 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions

wow

what a turn around on supporting dayton

it’s hard to even remember when we had his back that much

by AtTheWall on Apr 6, 2010 4:05 PM EDT reply actions

Cleveland!

by Freneau on Apr 6, 2010 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

If you end up being right, it will be impressive that you were one of the few who made the call

Quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if any of four teams won this division.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

the BBTN guys were all over the White Sox last night...

by Freneau on Apr 6, 2010 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm with you.

Anyone not named the Royals have a chance, though I think MIN is most likely.

by AxDxMx on Apr 6, 2010 9:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Pitching

I think pitching will doom Cleveland. Not really going out on a limb there.

by Tito42 on Apr 6, 2010 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions

This may be one of the best quotes I've seen on this site

A politician would have to rape a panda to make that happen.

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Apr 6, 2010 4:17 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

That makes me a sad panda

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 6, 2010 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Unless I'm wrong...
My Twitter feed

by Top Ramen on Apr 6, 2010 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Ditto

Although I feel scuzzy for having laughed so heartily at it.

I really wish I would have known my life as a fan would peak in October 1985. Savor the moment, kids.

by chiefstatnut on Apr 6, 2010 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Now that the season has begun, I’m bringing my A game.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Indeed

Bravo

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Apr 6, 2010 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

:)

smile

by Boots 58 on Apr 6, 2010 4:27 PM EDT reply actions

At first when seeing those numbers

It was kinda like this:

But then the pic of your child came up, and I am entirely happy now….for the Royals prospects no, but happy in general.

- .... .- - .----. ... / .-- .... .- - / ... .... . / ... .- .. -..

by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Apr 6, 2010 4:34 PM EDT reply actions

I think the passenger

trusted the driver’s process a little too much.

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Apr 6, 2010 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Mr Glass was the passenger

interesting concept sir!

- .... .- - .----. ... / .-- .... .- - / ... .... . / ... .- .. -..

by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Apr 6, 2010 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions

70.6?

That is the most surprising number to me. How will this team improve 5-6 wins over last year? I mean, short of bringing back Nick Swartz to assure an early end of the season for Guillen, Betancourt, Bloomquist, et al.

I really wish I would have known my life as a fan would peak in October 1985. Savor the moment, kids.

by chiefstatnut on Apr 6, 2010 4:54 PM EDT reply actions

Fewer games lost to injury and regresion to the mean

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Which will be taken as progress

Sigh

by kcbottom9th on Apr 6, 2010 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions

And Kendall making everyone around him better.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Wait

Isn’t the mean 48?

I really wish I would have known my life as a fan would peak in October 1985. Savor the moment, kids.

by chiefstatnut on Apr 6, 2010 9:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

More trusting of the process

Obviously

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 6, 2010 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions

And not as much forcing of the envelope as last year

Just playing better baseball, basically.

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Apr 6, 2010 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions

no way this team wins 70 games

not going to happen.

where's ross gload to explode the process?

by blue bandwagon on Apr 6, 2010 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions

this is really sad

I wish there was a way that we could make the discontent of the fans visible to someone in the F.O. that would actually give a damn. Not someone who would just tell us we are being impatient and just don’t understand how things work.

Where does the talent of Royals prospects go? I imagine a man in Germany shouting "Why can I play baseball so well? WHY?" - Joe Posnanski

by RoyalsFanStuckInCardsLand on Apr 6, 2010 7:09 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

I think the problem lies

in that the general discontent of the online message board fan probably doesn’t represent the level of anger of your Joe Average “KC Star Commenter” fan.

To us, Podsednik, Ankiel, Yu-Bet, etc. look like crappy pickups. To the casual fan though, they represent names they’ve heard of, so it looks like progress. And if (when) it fails, it was because injuries and underperformance, not that the underlying process was fatally flawed.

Unless I'm wrong...
My Twitter feed

by Top Ramen on Apr 6, 2010 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I think all the casual fan knows or cares about is the wins and losses

If the team is winning, he’s happy. If not, he’s unhappy. This has been a losing team for a while now, including every season under Moore and Hillman. I think even the casual fans are angry.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 9:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I think its clear

The only people they listen to is season ticket holders. If they even listen to them.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 7, 2010 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Agree whole-heartedly.

by Casper01 on Apr 7, 2010 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Luckily the mood of the online fanbase

won’t have much bearing on the team’s success. Color me crazy, but I think management could be improving in their decision making. Sure, the Yuni trade, representing our all-time low point, was less than a year ago, but they didn’t make any moves this offseason that I strongly disagreed with. They spun their wheels a bit with Kendall and Podsednik, but I just can’t bring myself to care that much. Go Royals. Play Aviles and bring up Crow.

by kcdc1 on Apr 6, 2010 7:55 PM EDT reply actions

I think management could be improving in their decision making

but they didn’t make any moves this offseason that I strongly disagreed with. They spun their wheels a bit with Kendall and Podsednik, but I just can’t bring myself to care that much

This offseason proved that the FO’s decision making isn’t getting any better. Signing Kendall and Podsednik is not “spinning their wheels.” It is proof that they don’t evaluate talent well, and they don’t know how to place an appropriate dollar and year value on talent. There were better options than Kendall, and they go out and give him multiple millions for two guaranteed years. That’s an horrendously stupid decision making process. There were MANY better, cheap OF options, but they go out and get Podsednik, Anderson and Ankiel. More stupidity.

If anything, they are getting worse as they go. When Moore has more money to spend, you’re really going to see some spectacular stupidity.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 6, 2010 8:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

but neither signing is anywhere close to Guillen or Yuni. Maybe that’s just because DM didn’t have an opportunity to throw $40 mil at a past-his-prime former slugger, but I’m gonna choose to instead believe that DM has recognized his mistakes.

by kcdc1 on Apr 7, 2010 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions

If by "spun their wheels"

you mean “spent $7.75M on two players that are very likely worse than the younger, cheaper options already in the organization that they will end up blocking”…then I wholeheartedly agree with you.

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Apr 6, 2010 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions

If Anything, Moore

Spun the wheels clear off the bandwagon.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Apr 6, 2010 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions

The most positive content on the RCI this year is NYKatie. No offense, but that's the truth.

by Steve Hovley on Apr 6, 2010 8:04 PM EDT reply actions

NYKatie

the brightest spot for following the Royals this season.

Even Greinke starts will not make me smile as much as that pic above. Because sometime the Royals bullpen hates Greinke and they do what they do.

- .... .- - .----. ... / .-- .... .- - / ... .... . / ... .- .. -..

by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Apr 6, 2010 10:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Easily the best acquisition of the past year

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Apr 7, 2010 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

The Boppy

I see it in the background of the NYKatie pic. Those things are invaluable. Wish I could come up with something so simple that made millions.

by Tito42 on Apr 6, 2010 10:41 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, Mrs. NYRoyal couldn’t live without it.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Apr 7, 2010 7:23 AM EDT up reply actions

it is just a mixture of laughter and sadness at this point

i know that DM has made more than his share of mistakes, but god damn it would be nice to have a few things go our way. and yes, i am conveniently forgetting that we have one pitcher who is arguably the best in the game, another steal of a find in the rule 5 draft, and a first baseman who seems to actually be fulfilling his promise.

i’m at the point where i just want a competitive team that doesn’t routinely embarrass the city, is that too much to ask? is it really that hard to reach mediocrity, even in an industry as competitive as baseball?

"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Apr 7, 2010 12:27 AM EDT reply actions