Royals News

Even 33 may not be enough.Last week I looked at the various teams in the Big 12 and tried to make sense out of who would be going to bowls. My most debatable opinion was probably that Kansas would not make a bowl if they lost to Texas and beat Missouri (if K-State also won over Nebraska and Texas A&M also won over Baylor). Well, KU lost to Texas as expected and A&M blew out Baylor. The fly in the ointment was K-State losing to Nebraska. That opens up another potential bowl bid for a Big 12 team and KU might get it if they beat MU. K-State, as everyone knows, has ended their season without qualifying for a bowl.read more

Royals right-handed pitchers Doug Waechter and Devon Lowery each elected to become free agents, rather than accept assignments to Class AAA Omaha.

So, it turns out the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum won't have new competition from Baltimore after all. A story in the Baltimore Sun this week detailing "the first East Coast museum devoted to Negro League baseball teams and players" caused concern around Kansas City from some about how much the project would compete with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum here. read more

The Royals made their winter 40-man roster final on Friday, adding infielder Jeff Bianchi, outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Jordan Parraz, catcher Manuel Pina and pitcher Blake Wood. To make room on the roster, the Royals outrighted pitchers Devon Lowery and Doug Waechter, designated infielder Tug Hulett for assignment and requested unconditional release waivers on pitcher Julio Pimentel.

The Royals finalized their winter 40-man roster on Friday, adding infielder Jeff Bianchi, outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Jordan Parraz, catcher Manuel Pina and pitcher Blake Wood.

My cell phone buzzes and the two-time Cy Young winner's number lights up on caller ID."Hey," he says, "it's Bret with one 'T'."There's a pause."But I'm Saberhagen, not that other guy."He laughs, a minor mystery solved. A few months ago, a friend of mine passed along this link and it seemed like a great story.One of the best pitchers in Royals history is now the technical director for a nationally syndicated radio show? Sweet!So I called Saberhagen, and after asking him a few questions about Zack Greinke, I mentioned that I'd like to write something about his work on Dennis Miller's radio show.Silence."I don't work on that show," he says, "but you're like the fifth person who's asked me that."I considered the possibility that Sabes just didn't want to talk about it, which would be fine. But logically, the bio does seem a little strange, and doesn't have a picture, and besides, if he didn't want people to know then why he want his name on the website at all?So I dropped an e-mail to the producer of the show, who explained that a guy who works there is named Bret, one 'T,' so they started calling him Sabes, it caught on, and they just ran with it."If you get the sense that the real Sabes was upset about it, just let me know," the producer wrote back.He's not."I don't need them to take it down," the real Sabes says. "I guess it's flattering if people remember you, right?"For sure.Because if the technical director's name was "Jose," and they called him "Lima-Time," it wouldn't be a compliment.

66.4% Effective FG%After the Memphis game, I complained that KU didn’t shoot the trey often enough and that they didn’t press. Believe it or not, I actually saw a full court press against Central Arkansas. Ok, it was only once or twice, but that’s still infinitely more than normal. Maybe… just maybe… Self will employ it in the future. And, instead of only five three-pointers against Memphis, the Hawks shot 19 Thursday night, hitting 11. Obviously, my opinion had nothing to do with it, but it’s always good when I don’t have to complain.read more

KSU FootballSnyder: "I have never been involved in a ballgame in which bowl eligibility and a division championship were on the line at the same time. I'm gratified on how much progress we make from week to week, but this past week, we didn't make much progress. So that wasn't very gratifying at all.  We have to play better than they (Nebraska) do. That's the bottom line anywhere. It is going to a big challenge to play in a very large stadium with a bunch of red-clad fans cheering against you, but that's part of this game."read more

<strong><span class="subhead">Royals 2010 spring reporting dates </span></strong>

The Royals began work on their bullpen with the signing of right-hander <strong>Brad Thompson </strong>to a minor-league contract on Thursday. Thompson, 27, was 2-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 32 games including eight starts for the Cardinals last year. His fastball is in the upper 80s, with a slider, curveball and change-up mixed in. Advanced analysis indicates his fastball and slider were both strong pitches when he went 4-0 with a 2.95 ERA in 40 relief outings as a rookie in 2005, but the quality of each has since dropped.