FanPost

FanFest Impressions

There are no photos of FanFest. So here are some fans. - Ed Zurga

I'm a little surprised that no one created an entry for this already, so here goes.

Royals FanFest was today, and I lined up with the rest of the season-ticket holders at 9:00 a.m. A big crowd was already on hand. We went straight to the team store, and found lots of bargains - game-worn jerseys for $20, t-shirts and caps for $1, vinyl posters that announced "Our Time" and ASG 2012 were available for $15, bobbleheads for $5, etc...

Autograhpers: Danny Duffy, Luke Hochevar, Chris Getz, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Denny Mathews, Joe Randa, and some others.

I sat in on the GMDM and Ned Yost interview by Ryan Lefebvre. Some tidbits: Ned is really excited because he thinks he has a team that can compete this year. I asked what he thought were the strengths and weaknesses of the MLB club. He started out talking about defense and mentioned Sal Perez, Eric Hosmer, Escobar, Moustakas, and Gordon. He did not mention Cain or Francouer, and I don't think he talked about 2B. Then he talked about the bullpen being strong and how all the bullpen guys pitch with confidence. Then he talked about starting pitching and the depth we have there. For weakness, he mentioned the possiblity of injury. GMDM then chimed in and talked about team chemistry and how this team really wants to win - a group of real competitors.

Ned listed starters: Shields, Guthrie, Santana, Davis (that may not be the order he listed them, but Shields was first and Davis was last).

In response to another fan question, GMDM said he will evaluate the roster after 40-50 games and make roster changes if necessary. The way he said it, he indicated that he would trade with another club to get the pieces he needed if necessary. In other words, he will spend more money if he needs to. He also said that he has never had the payroll constrained by Glass, but he only wants to spend money when they are in position to win. He said that even with the trade to the Rays, the KC farm system is still in better shape than 2008.

The final fan question was about Soria's rehab and chances with the club this year. Ryan let the guy know (gently) that Soria was no longer with the club.

Both GMDM and Ned were somewhat defensive about trading away Myers. They pre-emptively talked about how trading him away was not what they wanted, but what they needed to do to win. GMDM said he kept all of his left-handed hitters because right-handed hitters often have trouble hitting lefties. He wasn't directly saying that Myers can't hit lefties, but that's the impression I got. We left at 11:00 and the lines to get in ran almost completely out of the building in two directions. Could be a record turnout for a non-ASG year.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.