2k24: Kansas City Royals

[revo]

To fit Chen on the roster, the Royals have DFA'd Emilio Bonifacio.

[Don Quixote]

Don't forget that they may have the best bullpen in the majors, arm for arm...this could be a very surprising team if a few players live up to their hype...

It would be a surprise only to those who don't pay attention, meaning the most casual fan and the vast majority of hack media types. The latter pay attention only to those teams to which the rest of the herd is paying attention. Their idea of getting a scoop isn't doing one's homework and learning who is good but underpublicized; it's getting the same Internet feed as everyone else and shouting "FIRST!" because they typed it in .000047 nanoseconds faster than their peers.

The Royals, like most almost-contenders, will have to play at their best in order to make the playoffs, but hey, weirder things have happened. Look at my Pirates last year--written off by the herd as perennially hopeless, and look what happened.

Despite what seems at times to be the best efforts of management to do otherwise, this is a pretty good if unknown team.

[Teenwolf]

What the hell happened to this team? A couple of years ago they were the envy of most teams, with a minor leagues filled with elite pitching prospects. Now they're going to have Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen taking up 3/5ths of their staff. What a crock.

Let's see. The "Big 3" were John Lamb (TJ, stuff never returned, bust), Mike Montgomery (bust), and Danny Duffy (still waiting). Chris Dwyer was also a possible mid-rotation arm, but now is nearly a bust, with limited MR potential.

Now they're in the same position as a few years ago, with Ventura, Zimmer, Almonte, and Manaea all viewed as possible impact SPs on the farm. Let's see how this batch turns out.

Shields/Guthrie/Vargas/Duffy/Ventura doesn't look great, and Bruce Chen probably gets 15 starts. You need to hope Duffy & Ventura perform like 2/3 guys if you want to see the playoffs. Their offense improves a bit with Infante at 2B to complement a group of hitters in their prime. I can see this team making the wild card game at least, if a few things break right.

[Hornsby]

What the hell happened to this team? A couple of years ago they were the envy of most teams, with a minor leagues filled with elite pitching prospects. Now they're going to have Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen taking up 3/5ths of their staff. What a crock.

Their elite pitching prospects were very young (Almonte, Ventura, Zimmer), got hurt (Duffy), or simply got dealt for other, more important parts (Odirizzi). Now they have the young guys almost ready to take those rotation spots, by mid season if need be...they'll be fine as a pitching staff. Don't forget that they may have the best bullpen in the majors, arm for arm...this could be a very surprising team if a few players live up to their hype...

[onejayhawk]

What the hell happened to this team? A couple of years ago they were the envy of most teams, with a minor leagues filled with elite pitching prospects. Now they're going to have Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen taking up 3/5ths of their staff. What a crock.

If a little learning is a dangerous thing, what about a little winning?

J

[revo]

What the hell happened to this team? A couple of years ago they were the envy of most teams, with a minor leagues filled with elite pitching prospects. Now they're going to have Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen taking up 3/5ths of their staff. What a crock.

[Don Quixote]

Royals sign Ramon Hernandez to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training. Worth a shot, I suppose.

[Controller Jacobs]

Yeah - Hochevar's a FA in 2015, and his value is at a high-point. They should be actively shopping him.

[Moonlight J]

Listened to their pitching coach on XM today saying they haven't ruled out Hochevar back in the rotation. Like Wade Davis last year, I think you leave a guy in a role where he has flourished. Davis dominated in the pen and the Royals stupidly put him back in the rotation. I wouldn't touch Hochevar. I'd put Davis back in the bullpen and make a deal from their bullpen depth for other pieces.

I'm not a fan of giving Vargas 4 years of guaranteed money. He's the type of pitcher you develop from within and not sign.

[joncarlos]

What are they going to do with Wade Davis? I assume they're going to wait and see if they can fill the rotation without him (Shields, Guthrie, Vargas, and some combination of Duffy, Yordano Ventura, maybe another free agent, Zimmer, Lamb, etc). But they already have a ridiculous bullpen (Holland, Hochevar, Collins, Herrera, Crow) and they don't really need Davis there.

[Controller Jacobs]

Baseball Reference Page
mlb depth charts
cot's contracts - team page
cot's contracts - 2014 spreadsheet
mlbtraderumors - team page
fangraphs - team page
fangraphs - park factors

prospects - rhd, with team highlighted
prospects - top 10 - Jason Parks, Baseball Prospectus