Rubbing elbows with the Royals

The Royals are in town! No, not William and Kate, the Kansas City Royals. We don’t get a chance to see teams from the American League Central very often (at least not until next year) so I’ve enlisted some help from one of my fellow Internet Baseball Reporters. Travis Pflanz runs Royals fan site crowncrazed.com, and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about the team that will be playing the Astros for the next three days.

CTH: I see that Salvador Perez is on a minor league rehab assignment. Is there any chance that he will be called up in time to see action in Houston this week?

CC: Royals fans are pretty confused about why Perez isn’t already back with the team. He has been playing every day in AAA.

Royals insiders originally suspected that Perez would be back after he was able to play consecutive days in Omaha (AAA).

I believe Perez has not yet been called back to the team because the Royals cannot decide what to do with either Brayan Pena or Humberto Quintero. Both veteran catchers, neither will likely clear waivers to be sent to Omaha. My guess, the front office is trying to work out a trade before recalling Perez.

There has been squabbling amongst Royals fans as to which should be kept. I really don’t care which one. They are nearly identical players and Perez will be more of an “every day” catcher than a platoon catcher like Pena and Qunitero.

CTH: The Astros recently announced D’ Andre Toney as the PTBNL in the Humberto Quintero & Jason Bourgeouis for Kevin Chapman deal. Does this trade look as bad for the Royals as I think it does? What was Dayton Moore thinking?

CC: I think that hinges on whatever the Royals can get for Quintero/Pena in a trade… The Royals were desperate for a catcher, but we Royals fans wonder what Moore is thinking a lot of the time as well. Here is a piece Mark Poulouse wrote about Moore last week.

CTH: Eric Hosmer showed tremendous power and plenty of promise with an outstanding rookie campaign in 2011. This year his batting average is way down, as are his power numbers. But his K/BB ratio has actually improved. Is this just a sophomore slump? How good is he?

CC: While Hosmer has definitely been in a slump offensively, his defense is absolutely amazing. He is in charge of the infield and SS Alcides Escobar and 3B Mike Moustakas have the utmost confidence in Hosmer at 1B. It’s easy to see it when you watch them play. They don’t think… They just DO, because they know Hosmer can and will bail them out if the throw is errant.

Offensively, this is just a sophomore slump. Watching Hosmer play, I don’t think there is any doubt he is the best player on the team. Even other Royals players have stated that during interviews.

A big thank you goes out to Travis for playing along this week. Click the page below for a look at his latest piece that includes my keys to the upcoming Royals-Astros series.