Q.  What's the bottom line?

A.  He'll 'wow' everybody in March, and make Safeco his personal Matterhorn, or he won't 'wow' everybody in March, and Capt Jack will get on with the Corteses and Luekes and Robleses.

We can argue all we want about how good he is or isn't.  The song remains the same:  he'll show us how good he is or isn't.

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Q.  As with the usually-invisible, hyper-dimensional yeti, there are no convincing videos of Royce on the 'net. 

Any lore we can go with?

A.  Elementary, my dear Watson...

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• Throws LH
• Throws 83-87
• Short,* stocky
• Big slider+curve mix (40%)
• Fairly even career RH/LH results in majors ... though K:BB terrible vs RHP
• Totally even RH/LH splits in minors in 2010, including K:BB
• Groundball pitcher (0.7 homers per nine, even flailing helplessly in majors)
• 7k, 5bb, 0.7 hr profile in majors
• 8k, 3.5bb, 0.7 hr profile in minors (100% consistent with majors line)
• Has been sharper in 2009 and 2010

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Q.  Is he a LOOGY?

A.  No, I'm sure that he isn't.  Tell you why in a sec.

But he might (conceivably) be a great guy to bring into a bases-loaded jam, game tied ... and might (conceivably) hit the Lotto and become the next Chien-Ming Wang.

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Q.  We notice that fangraphs has Royce as throwing his CB a lot more than his SL ... and the CB having a huge negative value...

A.  Which, if true, would be yet another echo of Jason Vargas.

Don Wakamatsu, brilliantly, saw Vargas as a two-pitch fastball-change guy, told him to scrap the curve, and Vargas reaped the rewards.

IF Royce had a similar [-2.00 runs / 100 pitch] curve ball, then he looks like a stocky 87 mph lefty who can cobble two years in The Show by using his two best pitches for a while.

We use the term "best" advisedly.

No word on whether Royce Ring is a swarthy, "what me worry" Eastern European slumming in cheeseburger America for a generation or two.

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Q.  What happens if you have two pitches, and scrap one of them?

A.  Once in a while, you become a major league star...

Now, granted, the Yankees only got Yoogth into five games, all out of the bullpen.  But in those five games, he used only one pitch, his good pitch.  And he showed flashes of dominance with it, starting with the > 70% grounder rate.

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