State of the KC Royals

[Slyder]

AP World: Dateline 8/1/2009.

For many years we have all heard about how bad the Kansas City Royals were in Major League Baseball. The once barren wasteland is beginning to sprout some growth for the first time (arguably) since the first Clinton administration (1995) and compete for the playoffs for the first time since the first Bush administration (1989). 44 wins already this year is a meer 10 wins away from last years total and 13 from the previous year. The team is getting turned away from the practices of giving outrageous contracts to below average players.

The following posts will document the team as it is shaping up to be.

[Slyder]

The team has seen a lot of change over the Slyder reign. Long time fan favorites such as Mike Sweeney to players like Reggie Sanders were sent packing for prospects in hope of building for the future rather than compete for average. This massive change included even free agent signings, as players like Junior Spivey, Tim Raines Jr, Bob Kepple, Matt LeCroy and Jake Westbrook were signed or acquired to be stop gaps for a team in desperate need anyone to keep from having to rush the kids. Now are elsewhere.

Allow me to introduce the post trade deadline Kansas City Royals.
1 Joselo Diaz RHP
2 Matt Garza RHP
3 Dennis Schlosser RHP
4 Chuck James LHP
5 Zach Greinke RHP

Far gone are the days of Odalis Perez being the "ace" of the staff and Scott Elarton was run out there to get crushed. James was acquired at the deadline sending spects, who were blocked by others, and is being allowed to compete for a rotation spot.

Allow me to now introduce the everyday starters:
C- Chris Iannetta Acquired from Colorado as part of the trade for Junior Spivey, Iannetta is in there for his defense more so his bat. 6 pass balls and a 32% CS rate are well above average for the young catcher.
1b- Austin Tillman The 1b of the future was the #1 overall pick in the June Draft. The total package when it comes to his hitting and defense. Right now being used as the DH because of the type of year Justin Huber is having with the glove and letting Tillman grow a bit before feeding him to the sharks.
2b- Josh Wilson Also acquired in the Junior Spivey deal, Wilson is keeping the 2b warm for when the rest of the spects come up. Played a lot of SS the past couple years but doesn't have the type of arm I like having there. He is getting a chance to play 2b because Pennington has a stronger arm and L.A.G. really sucks.
3b- Alex Gordon Defensively lacking, but you will never miss his bat. He's been one of the few lights in the dark stormy sky. This year is opsing .882 which is up from his rookie season. Only 25 years old, expect him to be in Kansas City for many years to come.
ss- Cliff Pennington Acquired from Oakland in the trade of John Buck and Matt Campbell. Pennington made his MLB debut in June starting off hitting .286 and ops .742 after opsing .816 in AAA.
RF- Tim Frend one of the relative unknowns, Frend defied the odds and survived in an OF full of guys younger than he is and talently equal. He has rewarded KC with .326 batting average and an ops of .856 this year.
CF- Joey Gaithright acquired in 2006 by AI. Gaithright has been learning on the fly and been the leadoff hitter almost exclusively until recently when Shane Costa took over that role vs LHP. Gaithright's OBP has improved each of his 3 years in KC but its still not quite to where the Royals would like it.
LF- Shane Costa One of the young OFs, has improved his hitting each of the past two years, putting up solid numbers to be given the everyday LF position.

The bench has Free Agent acquisition Kevin Thompson at the front of it. The rest of the bench is nothing to write home about.

The pen is a work in progress taking its bumps.

[Slyder]

The last stop for the kids before the show or the place where worn out welcomes are sent to stew or fade into oblivion.

The future is here and now for this club and lets start with the rotation.
1 Michael Czerwinski RHP
2 Derek Royals RHP
3 Christopher Dorr LHP
4 Yorman Bazardo RHP
5 Luke Hochevar RHP
SS Luis Cota RHP

Michael Czerwinski will be the next to "get the call" for the majors. The former 4th overall pick in 2007 has been dominant in AAA this year. Bazardo was acquired in the Casey Fossum deal, he will be looked at as another option to reenforce the rotation. Former 1st round pick Luke Hochevar has toiled in the minors for some time now, and now 25 time is short for him.

The lineup has some quality bats that could make an impact in the near future.

Robinson CF
Jackson SS
Butler 3b
*Dukes RF
Lubanski LF
*Whitmire 2b
Morrison DH
xSnelling 1b
xPrice Ca

Dukes and Whitmire are the only guys (considered spects) not brought up through the system. Dukes acquired last year has been a real late bloomer so far really racing up the system since being acquired. Whitmire was acquired from Minnesota in exchange for Donnie Murphy.

The pen has some promising young arms. None more so than 2nd round pick in 09 Rocky Dahlberg. Seen as many as the future closer for the Royals, he's been in AA for a lot of the time going 2-1 with a 2.73 era. He will be taking over the closers roll for Omaha.

[Providence A's]

The Buck trade has worked out quite well for me. He is currently leading the AL in batting average at .338. He's 3rd in OBP at .397. He's 7th in OPS at .934. He's got a .986 fielding % this year as well. I hope it works out for you...my Buck/Shoppach platoon has worked out quite well (with Buck playing the majority). Combined they've got 15 homers and 70 RBIs hitting 6th in my lineups.

[Slyder]

Our last stop today takes us to Witchita where the Kansas City Royals AA affiliate plays. The mass majority of high potential for the Wranglers rest in the rotation. Where former 1st round pick (2nd overall) in 08 Javy Adino is being groomed for life in the rotation after coming out as a MR in the draft.

1 Javy Adino RHP
2 Kyle Waldrop RHP
3 Dexter Wright RHP
4 Morton Banh LHP
5 Alfonso Garcia LHP

Waldrop was acquired for David DeJesus and has been improving in AA. He is still young (21) so Kansas City is letting him take his time along with 19 yr old Adino. Dexter Wright is a former 9th round pick of the Florida Marlins who is getting a chance from KC. So far results have been a mixed bag for Wright.

The lineup use to look a lot stronger but as the Robinsons, Butlers, Dukes of the team started to move up they were replaced with guys that the Royals hope to find some diamonds in. The premier hitter of the team now is ss Jeff Bianchi who is scheduled to take some time at 2b before moving on to AAA (2b is where the Royals forsee him ending up due to the arm much like Wilson in the majors). There are also some projects in the mix at AA. including recently acquired CF Trent Oeltjen, the 26 yr old lefty has the talent to be a force in the field and on the base paths, he just has not been able to put it all together yet. A fellow 26 yr old Aarom Baldiris finds his time mostly in the batting cage now. He may get a call up to AAA for some at bats depending on what happens there with callups just to see if it gets him going.

Oeltjen CF
Parker SS
Bianchi 2b
Baldiris 1b
Southern LF
Kapp 3b
Sutherland DH
Gutierrez Ca
Burns RF

The pen has a lot of wash out starters trying to find a niche on a team that is fairly deep on SP now. The biggest project right now is Edwardo Sierra acquired from Colorado as part of the Kepple/Raines trade. He much like now teammate Oletjen has the talent to be a very good player, just hoping a change of scenary does him some good.

[Slyder]

The Buck trade has worked out quite well for me. He is currently leading the AL in batting average at .338. He's 3rd in OBP at .397. He's 7th in OPS at .934. He's got a .986 fielding % this year as well. I hope it works out for you...my Buck/Shoppach platoon has worked out quite well (with Buck playing the majority). Combined they've got 15 homers and 70 RBIs hitting 6th in my lineups.

Looking back I got dominated on that deal. But Pennington still has a chance at being a table setter type I was looking for instead of an over age under developed catcher power hitting potential like Buck was at the time I traded him and still had Gordon, etc on the farm.

[Providence A's]

well, I wouldn't say I expected Buck to do that...at the time I was just looking for two young catchers to platoon. My idea was get a couple young guys that had good defense...any offense was a bonus in my mind. They're both doing well for me this year. Pennington could finish filling out and/or gain talent...I'm sure he'll be useful. I have been pleasantly surprised as the situation has worked out better than I could have hoped. Campbell of course lost talent and fell apart...not that he was spectacular, but whatever.

[Slyder]

Feel free to put the 2 cents in. Might as well open it up since I was bored and put forth the initial work of typing all that up. LOL.

[mntwinsfan]

Hell of a job there Slyder! Not bad at all. Now you should report on all the teams in the AL Central!

[realmofotalk]

Spare me your "Major League" storyline. Unlike KC, I have to make do without high first round gifts such as Tillman and Czerwinski.

[Slyder]

Spare me your "Major League" storyline. Unlike KC, I have to make do without high first round gifts such as Tillman and Czerwinski.

Roy O> My entire organization at the time of take over. LOL.

Swampy is really nice too.