You will probably kick our ass at baseball but we'll for sure win a track meet. Could potentially have 3 of the top 5 SB leaders in the AL.
Also lost the throw-in live arm from the Jon Jay trade, Luciano. Don't see how he sticks in the bigs for a full year so I'd expect him back.
I believe we gave Cuthbert the boot in order to re-sign Zimmer. O/U on innings pitched before he suffers his first injury? Let's set it at 4.5
This contract just increased his trade value big time. 5.5 WAR player for $4-5 million per year? Sign me up. I know he isn't young but I can't believe that his agent let him sign that. Significantly underpaid.
The yearly breakdown is interesting. $1MM, $5MM, $6.75MM, and $2.75MM. Assuming he holds up reasonably well, I could see him bringing in a haul in a trade that last season. Of course, I hope we have a new GM by that point who is willing to trade guys rather than hold on to them for 2 seasons too long.
In the agents defense it was his 3 arbitration years. So they weighed risk it in arbitration hoping to avoid a fall off or injury vs taking $16 million guaranteed.
That and Whit wasn't exactly a bonus baby and was only making the league minimum. He probably took a discount from arbitration but I'm sure the financial security was more important to him than most.
Thanks to the Chiefs I'm done with football for the year so it's time to look ahead to the Opening Day lineup. Here's what I came up with: 1. Mondesi - SS 2. Whit - 2B 3. Soler - RF 4. Salvy - C 5. Gordo - LF 6. O'Hearn - 1B 7. Bonifacio - DH 8. Dozier/Gutierrez - 3B 9. Hamilton - CF 1 - Duffy 2 - Kennedy 3 - Junis 4 - Keller 5 - Lopez Bullpen - Gross Still some time to sign a DH/1B type that can hit LHP. I hope they give O'Hearn all the starts against RHP to see if he's a part of the future. His numbers against LHP were ugly (.108/.195/.270) but he mashed RHP (.313/.403/.705). 3B is gross but I still think they should still give Dozier to starting spot and see if he can do anything. It's shit or get off the pot time for him though. The defense should be quite good and the offense should be slightly better, but still below average. That rotation isn't great but I've seen worse. Still, below average. Bullpen will suck. I'd like to see them stick Staumont in the closer role and see what he's got.
I just wanna see Dicky Lovelady at some point in 2019. Honestly, it's not a horrible lineup if Soler can stay healthy (which he can't) and everyone can somehow up their OBP by 7% or so (which they can't). Oh, so I guess it is a horrible lineup.
I still haven't figured out what is going on with our outfield. The Hamilton signing was one of the most puzzling things DM has done, and that's saying something.
Is next year the earliest we’ll start to see some of our top prospects currently in the minors? Singer and Kowar seem like guys who could come up next year, maybe 2021 for Lynch, Lee, and Matias.
Well, it's the Royals and TNSTAAPP, so I'm sure Singer and Kowar will get hurt and have surgery so I wouldn't expect them until 2021 at the earliest. Looks like 21 is the first realistic year for the guys who are decent. https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/11/6/18069860/kansas-city-royals-top-20-prospects-for-2019
I don't necessarily think it was a bad signing but you're right in that it didn't really make sense for us. He's a good defender who can't hit... which seems to be what Phillips was doing. I'd much rather give those AB's to Phillips and see if he is going to be able to hit enough to be an everyday Major Leaguer. His track record in the minors suggests he should be able to hit in the bigs but his numbers have been pretty putrid over the past couple years against Major League pitching.
Greinke, Duffy, Russell.. let's just hope he can follow that career path. On a somewhat related note, I'm very happy that we have learned our lesson with taking HS pitchers high in the draft. The track record of HS pitchers turning into good MLB starters isn't great. Glad we went the college route last draft.
I would disagree. From looking at last year's leaders in WAR, a majority of the guys at the top were drafted in the first ~40 picks of the draft. Nola, Scherzer, Freeland, Snell, Sale, Verlander, Bauer, Cole, Taillon, Price, Corbin, Greinke, Syndergaard, Wheeler. That's like half of the guys that were ranked in the Top 25 in WAR and all were 1st round or top-40 picks. Take out the international signings like Berrios, Severino and Carrasco and that's like 70% of the best pitchers in baseball being drafted high.
That's all great, but for some reason I just don't have any confidence that the Royals can draft and develop SP.
Team draft hitters. We discussed this during the draft. Hitters are less likely to miss and less injury prone. Yeah there are a lot of elite pitchers that we're drafted high, but there have been exponentially more that have failed. Draft the surer bets then use those position players to trade for pitching that has developed. Especially given the Royals track record developing guys. Let someone else do it and trade for them
Former Royals outfielder Brian McRae could face assault charges for Arizona incident By Blair Kerkhoff February 08, 2019 11:57 AM Brian McRae, former Royals player Former Royals outfielder Brian McRae could face multiple criminal charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a woman, after an incident in Glendale, Ariz., last week. On Feb. 2, McRae, 51, allegedly assaulted a woman in a Glendale hotel room. Police arrived at the Residence Inn at 4:30 a.m., after someone in a neighboring room said a fight could be heard. McRae could face charges of aggravated assault impeding breathing, unlawful imprisonment, threat/intimidation with injury and/or damage to property and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, said a spokesperson with the Maricopa County attorney’s office. The incident occurred the day after McRae had participated in Royals Alumni Fantasy Camp at the team’s spring training facility in Surprise, Ariz. McRae, the son of former Royals manager and longtime designated hitter Hal McRae, spent the first five years of his 10-year major-league career with the Royals. He was a standout football and baseball player at Blue Springs High and was a Royals first-round pick (No. 17 overall) in the 1985 draft