Big announcements! RC adds some serious talent...

This is the Mavericks Stadium vantage point of RC's newest correspondent.

Folks, RC has some excellent news to share. Over the past couple days, we've added two outstanding new correspondents to our rapidly growing roster of RC contributors. The first is Jon Rosen, Director of Broadcasting for the High Desert Mavericks. Jon has offered to take over duties as our left coast correspondent, covering the High Desert Mavericks and the California League.

RC religiously listens to High Desert games over the Internet, and we first made note of Jon last summer, commenting about the excellent job he was doing as the voice of the Mavs. Indeed, RC is convinced he was the best minor league announcer we heard all last season.

Anyhow, as you can imagine, Jon is obviously in a unique position to cover the Mavericks, and he'll provide us with photos and commentary you won't see anywhere else. Here's a little preview of what you can expect from Jon all season, right here on Royals Corner:


Chris Lubanski taking BP


This is the first time RC has actually seen what Angel Sanchez looks like.


Jon snapped some shots of the clubhouse jocularity and shenanigans that ensued after the Mavs clinched their division last season.

RC welcomes Jon aboard, and we cannot adequately express our excitement over his addition to our team. We can't wait to see the fascinating content he'll add to the site this season!

But wait, there's even more great news. On Tuesday night, Kevin Agee also agreed to join RC:


RC will look the other way on Kevin's unauthorized use of our logo.


Throughout his distinguished blogging career, Kevin has provided some of the finest Royals commentary anywhere, and we actually credit him with inspiring us to start Royals Corner in the first place. He's written extensively about the Royals for Most Valuable Network, All-baseball.com, and his own excellent site, Kevin's Royals Blog (which holds a permanent spot atop RC's Blogroll of Honor). For months, RC lobbied Kevin to join our team, and we're ecstatic that he's now agreed to do so. Kevin is an outstanding writer whose unique style combines excellent statistical analysis, astute logic, optimism, and a touch of humor, and he'll be a great fit at RC.

Right now, Kevin is planning to submit about a column a week, and he's also going to provide us with original Texas League and Wichita Wranglers photos throughout the season.

RC welcomes our new correspondents, and we pledge to continue searching for ways to provide you with the best Royals coverage available anywhere on the Net. This promises to be an incredible year, and we can't wait for the season to begin!

Exclusive report from down under, and other random tidbits...

Allard Baird and co. are presently in Australia taking in the local culture and planting organizational roots. (Full Disclosure: RC may have taken a few liberties with this photo. RC means no harm by our gratuitous stereotypification of the land down under. On the contrary, Australia is the Official Ally of RC.)

There are certain advantages in having one of Australia's most popular players in your minor league system. Not only is Justin Huber a top notch prospect, but his fame in his home country has prompted the Royals to send a small delegaion, led by Allard Baird and Dan Glass, to conduct a one-week scouting and goodwill tour around Australia. Details of the trip have been limited to small blurbs in the KC media, but thanks to RC's new Australian Correspondent, Adam Ramsey, we've obtained some new information.

Adam reports that "Baird and sundry are currently in Melbourne at the moment, 'perusing' the National U/18 Championships." He continues, "Justin Huber (who I have played with a couple of times in club ball back in my younger days) has been instructed that he is NOT allowed to play any baseball while home. That includes any club games (Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers) or for Victoria in our Claxton Shield competition. Claxton Shield is a short tornament for senior players (as opposed to juniors), where Australia's states play against each other."

Adam also mentioned that the Royals are reportedly interviewing around five people for a scouting position in Australia, and he added that this is a good site for news on Australian baseball. RC will be sure to check it regularly, and we encourage our readers to do the same.

Folks, this is a seemingly minor development, and it may indeed yield minor results, but it shows us the Royals are constantly looking for new ways to add talent to the organization. While countries like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are already heavily scouted, Australia is a largely untapped resource. If these efforts produce even one decent prospect, it will be well worth it, and we already find this trip very encouraging. A big thanks to our newest foreign correspondent, and we hope he will continue to keep us informed of the goings on down under.

RC is also pleased to announce that we've received permission to use Midwest League photos taken by a professional photographer. In fact, Emily Smith is a photographer for MLB.com, and she covers the Midwest League from her home base in western Michigan. Thanks to RC correspondent Chris Ray, we came across some of her fantastic photos this morning, and Emily graciously granted us use of her photos for our various features. Here are a couple photos she took last season of Luis Cota, which serves as an excellent preview of what you'll get this season, right here on Royals Corner:





A huge thanks goes out to Emily, as her efforts will no doubt be a fantastic addition to RC. Also, we highly encourage you to visit her site, where you'll find some of the best baseball photos around.

We suppose we should comment on the roster cuts the Royals finally made last week. As you should know by know, the Royals designated for assignment pitchers Devon Lowery and Kyle Snyder to make room for Reggie Sanders and Joe Mays on the 40-man roster. We knew Lowery would get the axe, and we figured Snyder was a good candidate. Neither move disappoints us, as the odds of either ever becoming a solid Major League contributor are quite low.

Unfortunately, Lowery's removal from the roster brings us one step closer to the possibility that 2001's disastrous draft won't yield a single Major League player. We suppose first rounder Colt Griffin still has an outside chance of breaking in as a reliever, and shortstop Angel Sanchez made some great strides this season, but beyond those two, there's really nothing left. Thank God we haven't had any more drafts like that...

On a more positive note, we are pleased to unveil the newest T-shirt design for the Official RC Store. The new shirts boast RC's newest logo on the front, and our innovative RoyalsCorner.com logo on the back:


Was little Billy disappointed with what Santa Claus brought him for Christmas? Make it up to him by buying our hottest RC T-shirt, a must-have for this season's fashion.

The new design is available on both the long and short sleeve T-shirts, and for a limited time only, we're offering both at base cost. That's right. For only $13.99, you too can be the envy of your neighborhood, and if you pay $5 more, we'll even throw in long sleeves. You can't beat those prices anywhere!