Kansas City Baseball Vault

This week, we were talking about the Royals trip to Seattle and the weird games they ran into in the Pacific Northwest. We also talked about speculation that Mike Moustakas may be sent to Omaha to work on his struggles, including how effective a demotion might be for him, and compared his case to Alex Gordon's past.

Then we talked about sample sizes and regression to the mean. It's early in the year, but a question posed to us by a listener was "when does it stop being a small sample size?"

So we looked at some work by some really smart mathematical guys and came up with an answer: it depends. There are a lot of factors involved and we tried to discuss as many as we could to get closer to a tidy answer.

To finish up, we got an update from Brett Parker, an organizer for Dressed to the Nines, a promotion being pushed in tandem with the Royals' Salute to the Negro Leagues. Brett talked about the Kansas City businesses helping out, what to expect on Sunday May 18, and what lies ahead.

As always, our thanks to Kelly's Westport Inn, our fine sponsor, and co-hosts of the 3rd Annual Kelly's and McCoy's Block Party in Westport on May 25.

From Omaha: John Lamb Interview (05 - 03 - 14) by KC Baseball Vault

From Omaha: Johnny Giavotella Interview (05 - 03 - 14) by KC Baseball Vault

This week, the Kansas City Baseball Vault covered a lot of topics, starting with the controversial decision by MLB Advanced Media to pull the plug on multiple fan podcasts on iTunes. The Royals Podcast Network was among the iTunes casualties, and we explained where things stand - long story short, not much is going to change at all, and if you're listening now, you've found other ways to hear our show. Keep checking in on Soundcloud, Stitcher Radio, any other podcast app, or RoyalsPodcast.com for new episodes.

Then we covered the crazy weekend, the awful Monday night loss in San Diego, and the small bit of redemption through Wednesday. The Royals seem to be showing some life after a rough start to May that brought back painful memories of last season's awful May.

The bulk of our discussion centered around plate approach and the importance of valuing at bats and getting on base. We compared some Dayton Moore quotes to some winning teams' track records with OBP and other stats to find a consistent model for winning and where the Royals are in fitting that mold.

Finally we talked about the upcoming series in Seattle and the upcoming homestand.

Thanks to Kelly's Westport Inn for helping us bring you Royals discussion every week.

This week, we kicked things off by talking about the Royals' trip to Cleveland and Baltimore - a mixed bag for sure.

Jeff and Mike raved about Yordano Ventura's outing against the Orioles and his poise and approach in his eight shutout innings on April 25. We also had to lament the close games lost in Cleveland, key AL Central contests.

But the meat of this week's show was a deeper analysis of Kauffman Stadium and the following question: Are the Royals a team of guys who won't hit homers at all, or is the stadium the biggest culprit?

By comparing what the Royals have hit over different eras, what other teams hit in the league (in and away from Kauffman), we came to a few conclusions and dug up some interesting facts. Last week, we just skimmed the surface. This week we looked at as much as we could from many different angles.

Also keep your calendar clear for Memorial Day weekend. Our sponsor, Kelly's Westport Inn, is helping host a block party with their neighbors at McCoy's on May 25 at 8 p.m. It's a $5 cover and local band Lost Wax takes the stage at 9:30.

email: [email protected]
twitter: @KCBaseballVault

Kelly's Westport Inn presents the Kansas City Baseball Vault:

Your hosts Jeff Herr and Michael Engel discussed the last week of Royals baseball and the rebound after a miserable series in Minnesota.

While Kansas City is scoring more, they're still showing disturbing splits on batted balls, and many key players have hit far more groundballs than is ideal. Of course, the Royals are notorious for having the lowest franchise home run record in the majors, so that fact led to a discussion about why.

Sure, the stadium is large, but what about the players? Other teams haven't had issues finding players to hit 40 or more in similarly large stadiums. Jeff focused more on the talent on the team; Michael saw a mix between personnel and surroundings.

In the second segment, the two played a name game regarding James Shields. Is James Shields an Ace? He's certainly a great starting pitcher, but an Ace? How do you define an Ace? Would you take Shields over Felix Hernandez? Jon Lester? Max Scherzer?

Finally, they wrapped up talking about the bullpen, specifically Danny Duffy, and what his success means going forward.

Reach the Vault by email at [email protected].
Follow on Twitter: @KCBaseballVault; @TheJeffReport; @michaelengel

The Royalman Report returns as an interview series with former and future Royals. In this first episode, Troy catches up with former Royal and current El Paso Chihuahua, Jeff Francoeur. Jeff speaks very candidly in this interview about his time with the Royals, his baseball struggles, his life struggles, the prank and his mission to make it back to the Big Leagues. If you want to see the prank his teammates pulled on him, you can do so here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2llUpTmIkdc

Email your thoughts and opinions to [email protected]

Michael Engel talks about his joining the Pine Tar Press team, the Royals bullpen, Mike Moustakas and much more.

To distract ourselves (momentarily) from the Royals' awful series in Minnesota, we opened the show by talking about Royals fandom, loyalty, and some silly comments from Steve Physioc about social media.

But we couldn't stall forever and had to address some concerns - the offense, the bullpen. Players we thought should be fine who aren't, and players we feared would be awful who are - so far - still awful. It's not all bad, though. We talked about the bright spots in the early season as well, like the start from Jason Vargas, and Sal Perez's solid hitting.

We compared being a Royals fan to being a Marlins fan, the Royals offseason and payroll standing, Billy Butler's early struggles and some of the flack against him. We let it all flow out so the fan pain wouldn't be so real.

Finally, Troy shared what's next for the show and for him and we looked back at just a few of the early moments of the podcast's run. We'll still be around as usual, but there are changes ahead.

Share your thoughts with us - have a correction? Disagree? Want to lavish praise upon us and help our ego? Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter at @KCBaseballVault.

Mike and Jeff talked about the Royals season opener and broke down the loss and shared impressions. It's only one game...but it was still a game the Royals should have won.

But there's a lot of season left, and we broke down the opening day roster and looked at a few of the key players, including the importance of Mike Moustakas, the potential of a healthy Lorenzo Cain, and how important this year is to Alcides Escobar.

We also chipped in official win predictions, so if and when we're incorrect, you can come back and correct us.

Email your thoughts to [email protected]
Follow us at @KCBaseballVault
Follow the hosts at @KCRoyalman, @TheJeffReport, and @michaelengel

And visit Royalspodcast.com for all the latest shows by and for Royals fans.