Detriment? BWJ is good enough to be on the team, and would make this Royals team better if he started for them on 4/1. Play the kid. If he's as good as we think he'll be, he'll have a new, big contract before that 'extra' season you want to save him for anyways.
Multiple analysis have said he has the best tools at SS since ARod. I don’t care how much Mr Sherman cares, his pockets aren’t paying that contract. He hasn’t played anything but rookie ball and practices so far. Throw the kid in AA for 2 months to see how he does. If he hits .400+ like Hos, bring him up. It makes no sense at all to bring a kid who’s only played rookie ball (with a .670 ops) up to the senior squad. Especially in a year that if every single thing went perfect, we’d still finish 3rd in the division. If we waited like 2 weeks to bring up Hos we would of had his rights after he hit like .320 and won a 4th straight gold glove. Instead of getting a return he left in free agency. But good thing he played 10 extra games in 2011 when we went 71-91.
I think if you look at witt’s stats this spring vs pitchers that have thrown major league innings, he’s like .230 with a pretty hefty K%
Gordo went from college PotY, to MLPotY (in AA), to MLB failure. Not giving the kid 6 weeks of AA at bats is ignorant.
Solid point. Pretty sure I saw Witt with a pretzel in the dugout a couple games ago. Should probably keep him down for at least 2 years till he commits to the Keto/Vegan/Gordo lifestyle.
If Witt is who we think he is, we aren't getting a discount for "doing the right thing." He's gonna sign half a billion dollar contract with the Yankees as soon as he can if he's ARod level. Play the service time game, for the love of God.
For the most part, I agree with you. I would prefer the kid gets some experience in AA. I agree that there shouldn't be any rush to get him to The K...although I'd argue that this team, with everything going perfect, could finish ahead of one of the Twins/Sox...but regardless it wouldn't be a championship caliber team. And I was a big Hos fan, but his GGs were silly. And, the Royals could have traded him during '17, but they decided they wanted to keep the band together a couple more months and sell some more tickets. (and the slight possibility that the team could slip into the playoffs and get bounced in a WC game)
It would be really dumb to put him on the big league squad on 4/1. Like others have said, he hasn't played above Rookie ball and his time there was pretty poor. I'm excited for his future but we aren't doing anything noteworthy this year. Keep him down, get the extra year, and call him up if he dominates in AA. If he really is a budding star then he won't be here past his first contract anyway. Might as well get another year from him before he becomes a Yankee/Dodger/Red Sock(?)
I like the squad this year, finally. I actually think we can be a .500 team. I mainly meant that I don't think we are a playoff team this year but if everything shakes out the way we think it can I think we can be a legitimate threat next season.
Oh I agree with you, was just being a smart ass. I'm always behind playing the service time game, I just don't recall the hype being this level with any of our other big prospects in the past. I'm sure it's because I didn't follow as close, but hearing that Matheny and the clubhouse are all calling for it, it makes me think he's actually good and could hang , but I get why he likely won't be on opening day squad.
Wil Myers was going to be a HOFer and trading him away was the biggest mistake the royals would ever make.
I never recalled him having the hype to make the major league roster out of camp at 20 He had hype that he was good like a lot of prospects.
And my point was I don't recall him having the level of hype where the manager and clubhouse were all saying they want him to be on the opening day roster when he was still so young....
I think Myers peaked around 5-7 or so overall. If Bob spends a year in AA and rakes like he is in ST I have no doubt he’ll be top 3 in every publication with a good chance to be #1 overall.
I’m guessing whoever struggles first between Junis-Duffy-Minor gets moved to the pen and then they bring Bubic back.
they don’t need to carry 5 starters right away because of all the days off to start the season. He’ll be called up in mid April
probably unless they also send him to the alternate site to stretch him out as he competes for that 5th spot
Junis should definitely be in the bullpen. He is much better suited for that role seeing that his 90-92 fastball could play up to 93-95 as a complement to his wipeout slider. As a starter, he can't just go out and throw 60% sliders. He could do that in the bullpen though.
Don’t know if that’s a great deal considering his age and his knees but I’m glad Salvy is getting rewarded for team friendly deals he’s made.
Yeah, I don't get that at all from your team's perspective. He's going to be 32 next year and last year's performance was an outlier compared to previous years. If they wait a year who is paying him more than 4/$80M in free agency next winter?
It’s not a good contract, we all know that. Putting it into perspective to the Yadi and Realmuto deals opened my eyes a bit. Here’s my piece, we questioned the “culture building” moves of not keeping Hos down a week or not sending Singer down after his last start to save a year, I disagreed. If Mr Sherman is cool with overpaying for a future Royals HoFer, especially with the team friendly deals he’s played under, especially with the young pitching staff coming up, then more power to him, i’d much rather we “built culture” that way than not bring up a reliever for 5 games. But if I was super rich, if I was Mr Sherman, a KC guy through and through, and $95 million meant nothing to me, I think I’d be more than happy... Also, Billy Beane said it best “how can you not be romantic about baseball?” And as a KC guy, how can you not be romantic about Salvy... Spoiler
Obviously that 9 spot will be a Lopez/Alberto/McBroom combo until BWJ or Isbel gets the call, but Vern said after talking to Matheny he expects the lineup to look like this to start the year.
I don't see the Royals putting Mondi in the 9 spot. I hope they don't need to, due to him producing...but I fear that they won't, even if it's warranted.
They have been pushing him along above what he's earned, all in the name of building confidence for his entire career. I don't see that changing, at least this year and especially after the way he ended last season. This may be his last stand though - both for being penciled into the lineup without competition, and also for his chances of getting a long term deal.
*Checks Isbel's 2019 numbers* Tore up Rookie ball, was horrific in High-A. I guess we will see how he performs.