Not long after the Cinderella Dutch team was eliminated from the World Bseball Classic, the Royals signed team catalyst and leader Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal. Ponson pitched fantastically during the WBC and earned strong recommendations from several Royals’ scouts.

Against Venezuela Ponson pitched in 5 innings and gave up 2 runs in the 3-1 loss. Ponson also beat the Dominican Republic by going 4 innings and giving up only 2 runs. Last season Ponson had a 4-1 record with a 3.88 ERA in 9 starts with the Texas Rangers, and with the New York Yankees pitched in 16 games with a 4-4 record and a 5.85 ERA.

I expect Ponson to report to camp as soon as possible and compete with Bannister, Hochevar, and Horacio Ramirez for the final two rotation spots behind Meche, Greinke, and Davies.

On Sunday, March 1 the Royals announced the signing of left handed starter to Bruce Chen. Chen will pitch for Panama in the Wolrd Baseball Classic, then is expected to report to minor league camp for the Royals.

Nothing to complain about here and Chen will most likely just add some minor league depth at starter. Chen could feasibly get the big league call if the injury bug bites the big league club hard, or if he seems to have found his old form. In 2005, Chen has a 3.83 ERA with 13 wins for the Orioles. I doubt that Chen will wind up being the lefty starter for the rotation, but my only question is if Horacio Ramirez gets a chance, what is the harm with giving Chen one?

The Kansas City Royals needed some pitching help and they hope to have solved that in the last week has they have brought back Horacio Ramirez and also signed free agent Kyle Farnsworth.

Ramirez will start out in the starting rotation while Farnsworth will be slated for the bullpen. Ramirez made 15 relief appearances for the Royals, with a 2.59 ERA and a 1-1 record. Then, on Aug. 9, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Minor League outfielder Paulo Orlando

Farnsworth will be signing a two-year deal worth $9.25 million ESPN analyst Steve Phillips is saying. The only thing that is left for Fransworth to do is take a physical. He will be a dominate right hander out of the bullpen, something the team really keyed in on to get this off season.

Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals completed a three game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 4-3 victory in 11 innings on Wednesday afternoon.  The Royals have now won four straight games!  Most Royals fans have to be sky high right now with the four wins in a row lol!

Jose Guillen hit a rbi sac fly to score Esteban German for the winning run in the eleventh inning.  I wonder if Guillen even said a word afterwards with the way he has been demanding a trade.  Guillen also had a rbi single the sixth inning as he finished the game with two rbi.  Mike Aviles and Mitch Maier both contributed with an rbi each as well.

Brian Bannister gave up eight hits and two runs over five innings to get the no decision on the mound.  Horacio Ramirez was charged with one run as he pitched when Bannister was taken out of the game.  Ramon Ramirez ended up getting the win while Joakim Soria nothced his 30th save of the season.

Good job by the Royals!  I need to let all the readers know that I will be out of town until August 12th as I will be at a conference out of town for the next couple of weeks.  If there is a Royals fan out there that would like to do some blogging and game recaps, please email me by clicking the contact us link at the top of the blog and I will send you some details.

Thanks – Cliff

Just as I had predicted, the Kansas City Royals lost on Wednesday afternoon to the Detroit Tigers.  It was a 7-1 loss and the Royals were swept away in the three game series.  I’m sure they are glad that the Tigers are getting out of town after these last three games.

Zack Greinke gave up seven hits and five runs to take the loss for the Royals.  Greinke is now 7-7 on the season.  Horacio Ramirez gave up two more runs in the 7th inning.  Leo Nunez pitched a scoreless 8th inning before Ron Mahay pitched a scoreless 9th inning.

The one run for the Royals came the 7th inning when Jose Guillen singled to center and David DeJesus scored.  That was all the Royals could muster however as the bats were still swinging and not making very good contact.

The Royals will now begin a series on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Uh oh, it looks like it could be another sweep!  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox played 13 innings on Tuesday night and it was the White Sox that came away with the 8-7 victory.  After the Royals tied things up in the 11th inning with two runs, they gave up a run in the 13th inning and were unable to tie the game once again and fell to the White Sox.

Orlando Cabrera hit a rbi double in the 13th inning off of Robinson Tejeda who took the loss for the Royals.  Tejada is now 0-1 on the season.  Horacio Ramirez gave up two runs in the 11th inning for the Royals as well.  Starting pitcher Kyle Davies pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits and three runs.  Joe Crede did take Davies deep for a solo home run in the game for the only long ball of the night.  Ramon Ramirez gave up two more runs as he pitched 1 2/3 innings after Davies left the game.  The pitching staff just didn’t have it on Tuesday night.

The Royals were led by David DeJesus and Mike Aviles at the plate as both players had two rbi each in the game.  Alex Gordon, Miguel Olivo, and Esteban German all had one rbi each.  Aviles and Gordon were the two players with a rbi in the 11th inning that extended the game even further.

The Royals will now try to tie the series up at 1-1 with a victory on Wednesday.  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals lost to the Baltimore Roylas 5-2 on Wednesday even as they struggled against Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera.  Cabrera tossed a complete game while Royals starting pitcher Gil Meche was rocked for nine hits and five runs.  The Royals will need to win on Thursday if they want to split the series.

Meche dropped to 6-9 on the season as the took the loss.  Meche lasted six innings but was hit hard as he gave up ten hits and all five runs.  Horacio Ramirez came in after Meche left the game and pitched two scoreless innings.

David DeJesus had the only rbi for the Royals and that came in the first inning when he led the game off with a solo home run.  The other run for the Royals came in the third inning Joey Gathright scored on a double play.  Since it was a double play, no rbi was awarded.

So will the Royals get the sweep on Thursday against the Orioles?  Right now I don’t like their chances.

Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals signed pitcher Horacio Ramirez to a one year contract worth $2.75 million dollar contract on Friday.  It is unclear if Ramirez will fight for a spot in the Royals rotation, or pitch out of the bullpen.  Heck, he might not even make the team out of Spring Training the way he pitched last year!

Royals Blog