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2017 Royals
- Thread starter ColoREDo
- Start date
They should have started the rebuild at the trading deadline. It's going to be hard to resign Moose or Hosmer, and Cain is playing on borrowed time (he walks like he is 50). They should not even entertain resigning Escobar, he is awful. Herrera has no value anymore. There is little to no talent in the minors. The contracts of Kennedy (can't believe they gave up their 1st rd pick to sign him) and Gordon are a huge burden on the payroll. That Davis for Soler trade looks worse every day.
Brace yourselves Royals fans, this is going to be a LONG rebuild.
I don't see it being quite as bleak as you but there are going to be some major changes and its going to sting initially.
Cain is still solid and I think they return either Hosmer or Moose. With the freed up money I think they go out and get a replacement for whichever was lost. Ryan O'Hearn(1B) and Hunter Dozier(3B) are waiting in the minors but both had disappointing 2017s.
I don't think Escobar is awful but his defense certainly took a step back in 2017. His bat came alive in the 2nd half of this year but still completely inconsistent. I think Mondesi gets a chance to see if he can play at the MLB level next year. If not, Torrez is more than capable at SS.
2B is solid obviously. So is catcher.
The outfield is going to be okay. Gordon has lost a step defensively but is still a plus defender. His bat however is abysmal. I think Bonafacio is going to get better with his bat and hopefully in the field as well. Orlando is a pretty good RF and can be a good bat at times. Gordon either starts producing or faces a lot of bench time. That leaves Soler. Just like Mondesi, he destroys the AAA but when he gets to the majors...nothing. Frustrating.
Pitching is either going to have to rely on Duffy and a bunch of old veterans or Duffy and some inexperienced youngsters. Probably a mix. Jake Junis is going to be very good for the Royals and I see him as a lock to be in the rotation next year. Skoglund, Gavligio, Almonte and Staumont all will make a bid to start in KC as well.
No clue what to do in the bullpen other than find a closer. Maybe Herrera can find a way to get things done somewhere but he doesn't have the mentality to close and this season might have broken him for good. Alexander, minor, Buchter, and McCarthy have done well in the bullpen, the rest are iffy at best. Moylan is pretty good but gets crushed at times, probably from overuse.
I am of the belief they should have traded Hosmer at the trade deadline last season when he still had a year and a half left on his contract, he would have gotten a great return. He wants 20 mil a year, and with Boras as his agent they will take the highest contract offer. Moose also has Boras, so ditto. Neither will give the Royals a discount, which is why I think it will be hard to resign either. Cain is still good, but speed is the biggest part of his game and he is on the wrong side of 30, so that speed will start to decline and once it does, so will his production. I thought the Royals could have helped themselves by keeping Dyson and playing him in center so Cain could move to right, saving some tread on his tires. The Dyson trade for Karns looked questionable at first until Karns' found his curveball, it's unfortunate he got hurt and was lost for most of the season. They also missed out on a golden opportunity to trade Vargas earlier in the year when he was playing way above his average.
Stating Escobar isn't awful made me chuckle..... he has a negative WAR and negative runs saved statistics to go with a .245 ba and .267 obp. He is anemic with the glove and the bat. Both the starting pitching and the bullpen have been dumpster fires since August 1st. There are a couple decent arms in the bullpen, but without DUI Duffy in the rotation who else do they Royals have that could even be considered above average? Gordon's contract has got to be the worst contract in Royals history.
The Royals also don't have a single top 100 prospect according to MLB.com. Cle has 2, ChiSox have 7, Min has 4, and Det has 5, so all of their division rivals have better talent in their systems than the Royals. Their highest ranked prospects won't even sniff the majors for a couple seasons. Being a seller at the deadline would have helped jumpstart the rebuild, but instead they were buyers, clinging on to hope that the core could come together and overcome bad trades and signings by Dayton Moore and the inevitable horrible managerial decisions by Yost. Granted, they didn't give up much to acquire the players that they did. Their best hope to acquire young talent now rests in compensatory draft picks after they lose Moose and Hosmer.
I don't want to be so doom and gloom about the Royals but I decided to be realistic. They had 2 options in the offseason and at the trading deadline: plan for the future or try for 1 more magic carpet ride. They chose the latter, and they will have to deal with the consequences of that choice. The WS runs of 2014 and 2015 were an awesome time to live here in KC, October 2015 was probably the best time I've had living here. I, like most Royals fans, will remember and cherish this team for what they accomplished. Now we have to deal with the aftermath which I think will be an ugly one, at least for a few seasons (hopefully not 30).
Stating Escobar isn't awful made me chuckle..... he has a negative WAR and negative runs saved statistics to go with a .245 ba and .267 obp. He is anemic with the glove and the bat. Both the starting pitching and the bullpen have been dumpster fires since August 1st. There are a couple decent arms in the bullpen, but without DUI Duffy in the rotation who else do they Royals have that could even be considered above average? Gordon's contract has got to be the worst contract in Royals history.
The Royals also don't have a single top 100 prospect according to MLB.com. Cle has 2, ChiSox have 7, Min has 4, and Det has 5, so all of their division rivals have better talent in their systems than the Royals. Their highest ranked prospects won't even sniff the majors for a couple seasons. Being a seller at the deadline would have helped jumpstart the rebuild, but instead they were buyers, clinging on to hope that the core could come together and overcome bad trades and signings by Dayton Moore and the inevitable horrible managerial decisions by Yost. Granted, they didn't give up much to acquire the players that they did. Their best hope to acquire young talent now rests in compensatory draft picks after they lose Moose and Hosmer.
I don't want to be so doom and gloom about the Royals but I decided to be realistic. They had 2 options in the offseason and at the trading deadline: plan for the future or try for 1 more magic carpet ride. They chose the latter, and they will have to deal with the consequences of that choice. The WS runs of 2014 and 2015 were an awesome time to live here in KC, October 2015 was probably the best time I've had living here. I, like most Royals fans, will remember and cherish this team for what they accomplished. Now we have to deal with the aftermath which I think will be an ugly one, at least for a few seasons (hopefully not 30).
Your belief of what should have happened is pretty irrelevant.
Escobar's bat has been decent in the last 81 games. He is batting .299 with a .431 slugging percentage(not counting the 2-3 he had today). To say he is anemic with the glove sounds like someone who never watches the Royals play and throws moronic comments out of their ass. Has his defense declined? Yes. But he gets to balls that many wouldn't and still makes many highlight reel plays. He will never be a 3-5 in the order bat type of shortstop but he is plus with the glove no matter who you ask.
Prospects are a crapshoot for the most part anyway and many of their top guys were already on their 40 man roster so they are no longer eligible for that list. If you pay attention to the way prospects work, which I doubt, you know that they are shuffled all of the time. This is not to say that the KC farm system is loaded but rather its an inexact science. The Royals have sold off a lot the past years to play the MLB playoff hunting game. The rest of the division has done the opposite. They have sold off their good veterans to acquire minor league talent. The Royals top prospects the last few years are now farther down the list on their own board. Its the nature of the beast.
As for Dayton Moore, he definitely had a bad season but he is due one since he has been pretty damn stellar before 2017. I won't be stupid enough to question him but you go ahead. In the end, he has more pluses than minuses.
The Royals are definitely in for a slide but that is built into the MLB system especially for a small market team. Teams like KC don't have the luxury to just buy talent anytime they need it and when they have a chance to be special, they have to capitalize on that opportunity and sell the farm to increase their chances of winning it all. See it for what it is...thats being realistic.
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As a fellow Royals fan I was enjoying having a discussion with you, but since apparently you can't have a disagreement without making personal attacks I won't make that mistake again.
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Not really that personal but if you took it that way, so be it. I get much more personal with my good friends.
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Meh, looking over what I wrote, maybe I was a little harsh. I apologize.:Speechless:
S'all good man. I'm still new here, don't know anyone well enough to care to engage in the petty back and forths that are rampant on this forum.
Give me some time, I'll learn
Darned if the boys aren't still hanging around. It would be great to have a "thanks for the memories" winner take all game at Yankee Stadium in October before the inevitable breakup of the "core."
Who knows, maybe Dayton Moore can pull another offseason genius move.
Re: contracts I think we manage to sign one of Hos, Moose, Cain. Probably not more. Gordon's tailspin is absolutely mystifying to me...definitely have red-colored glasses with him but never saw this coming. Still one of the best LF anywhere and that will keep him in the lineup. I'll be happy if we can emerge from the offseason with another half dozen or so quality prospects. It'll be a rough year most likely.
Who knows, maybe Dayton Moore can pull another offseason genius move.
Re: contracts I think we manage to sign one of Hos, Moose, Cain. Probably not more. Gordon's tailspin is absolutely mystifying to me...definitely have red-colored glasses with him but never saw this coming. Still one of the best LF anywhere and that will keep him in the lineup. I'll be happy if we can emerge from the offseason with another half dozen or so quality prospects. It'll be a rough year most likely.
I heard rumblings that the payroll next year won't be up where it is this year (around $130 mil). The Royals are going to have to get creative with their spending, they have around 85 mil tied up without Hoz, Moose, Cain, Escy, Melky, Herrera, or Vargas, and that doesn't include the $26 mil in potential options for Minor and Kennedy.
Hopefully Mondesi and Dozier are ready next year, that would be a big help.
If Mondesi and Soler could do in the majors what they do at the tripleA level, we would be in much better shape.
I may have been a bit harsh about Escy. He has been significantly better at the plate the last month. Whatever he has been doing, I wonder if he can share it with Gordo.
