Watching the Royals/Yankees today and want to inject a little optimism on KC.
Rosell Herrera. Competent defense and good speed. Can play all over the field. Batting .289 and hit his 1st HR for the Royals today.
Mondesi has done much better since being called back up. He is batting .281, has been stealing bases, and has been playing well at short.
Merrifield is staying put if the rumors are true.
Goodwin has hit very well since coming over from the Nats.
Brett Phillips got his first start as a Royal since coming over from the Brewers as part of the Moose trade. He looks great in right field. Made a leaping top of the wall catch and showed a very strong arm. If he can hit like he has been projected, he might be the answer in right field for quite some time.
Now the questions.
What do the Royals do with all of the OF? Goodwin in center/DH and Rosell at third? Assuming Phillips is the future in right, where does Bonifacio go? Left? Gordon has become a huge problem for the Royals. He still plays plus defense but that .237 average is very troubling especially considering that there isn't a lot of pop to go with it. And then there is Soler who has finally shown that he is getting it.
I think the best thing for KC would be to get rid of Gordon, Escobar, Orlando, Duda and finally end the Starling experiment. I am not overly impressed with Dozier but its too early to give up on him. But with Schwindel hitting the way he is in Omaha, I think you have to see what he can do in the majors once the rosters expand. Which brings us to Nicky Lopez. He also has shown he deserves a shot in the bigs but I can't see them playing him at SS over Mondesi so probably 2B and move Whit to 3B.
Though they are a couple of years away, Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias are probably going to be outfielders for a long time with Phillips if everything goes as planned. But when has that ever happened?
At this point, I don't even want to think about pitching.