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2012 was supposed to be "Our Time" for the Royals. It ended up being "Our Time" to do more of the same. The Royals started hoping to make some progress. If anything, they moved backwards during the season.
First of all, here is what was verified to me during the 2012 season.
- The starting pitching situation is still a mess.
- Chen and Hochevar still suck as starters.
- Mazzarro, Teaford, Adcock are still not MLB starting pitchers
- Frenchy and Yuni are still horrible at baseball and they both have convinced the team that they can still play baseball.
- The 2B situation is still not resolved.
- Billy Butler and Alex Gordon are still damn good baseball players.
- Greg Holland can still close games.
- The backend of the bullpen is still good.
- Ned Yost still loves bunting.
- I still don't know anything about Dave Eiland.
- Jarrod Dyson is still fast and still can't hit worth a lick.
- I am still waiting for the Best Farm System in Baseball to produce a league average starting pitcher.
- The Royals can still just win between 65 and 75 games a season in the Dayton Moore Era.
What I learned in 2012
- The ulnar collateral ligament for Soria, Duffy, Wood and Paulino were all going to give out at the beginning of the season.
- Jonathan Sanchez sucked worse than I ever thought imaginable. I figure he would pitch for a big free agent payday, instead he put up a BB/9 (7.4) higher than his K/9 (6.1).
- Eric Hosmer forgot how to hit.
- Moustakas' defense looks better than advertised.
- Escobar can hit a little. I was worried he would just be another black hole in the lineup.
- Salvador Perez has a cannon for an arm and is continuing to hit.
- Cain looks destined to always be hurt.
- Tim Collins can control his walk rate.
- Herrera is probably better than Holland.
- Two teams in the Central were worse than the Royals.