The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets to win the 2015 World Series, which means these two teams can now join the rest of the league in figuring out their future plans.
While the Royals might take a little bit of time to celebrate, the reality is the offseason has officially started. With 29 teams looking to improve upon their performance from this past season, Kansas City doesn’t have a lot of time to rest on its laurels.
At the same time, the Mets have a young team with many returning players but still have a lot of question marks going forward.
Here is a look at the biggest questions each World Series team faces in the upcoming winter.
New York Mets
1. Can Mets keep middle-of-the-order hitters?
Yoenis Cespedes came to the Mets at the trade deadline and exceeded all expectations. In 57 games, he hit 17 home runs with 44 RBI and posted a .941 OPS. He also helped jump-start what was a stagnant offense at the time into a legitimate playoff contender.
Daniel Murphy has been with the team his entire career, although his best was saved for the very end when he hit seven postseason home runs while earning MVP of the National League Championship Series. He didn’t have a great World Series, but he still was a major reason the team got to that point in the first place.
Despite these two key hitters in the lineup, Marc Carig of Newsday thinks they will each end up elsewhere:
ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin recently reported New York is only going to “modestly pursue” the Cuban outfielder and likely won’t match his six-year asking price.
Meanwhile, Murphy will likely be too expensive to keep as well when you consider the Mets have cheaper alternatives in Wilmer Flores and Dilson Herrera currently in the system.
Both young players would also represent defensive upgrades over Murphy at second base. Not only did the veteran make costly mistakes in the World Series, but Baseball-Reference.com rated him as a below-replacement-level infielder in each of the past four seasons.
After the Game 5 loss, Murphy was grateful to the organization but still didn’t seem like someone planning on staying:
These players were important at the plate this past season but don’t necessarily fit into future plans.
2. How will the team fix the bullpen?
Looking back at this World Series, it will be remembered for the Royals’ ability to score late.
Closer Jeurys Familia set a major league record with three blown saves in the series, although he didn’t allow a hit in two of them. The rest of the bullpen could barely be trusted to pitch most games, with starters Bartolo Colon and Jonathan Niese getting a lot of work in the playoffs.
Ron Darling discussed this being a smart move with John Harper of the New York Daily News:
Still, this strategy is difficult to trust in big moments and certainly won’t be available for the duration of the regular season. The Mets need to add a few pitchers they can trust in the late innings before getting to Familia. This includes a lefty specialist, which was missing from the organization after Jerry Blevins broke his arm early on.
After seeing how valuable the bullpen was to Kansas City, you can be certain the Mets and other teams will start being more aggressive looking for these types of assets.
Kansas City Royals
1. Will Alex Gordon find more money elsewhere?
No matter what happens this offseason, Alex Gordon will be remembered fondly in Royals history thanks to this huge home run in Game 1:
This shot tied the game in the ninth inning and gave Kansas City a chance to win the opening game of the World Series. Despite hitting out of the No. 8 hole, he showed just how valuable he could be at the plate.
Of course, Gordon has been an elite player for some time. The three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove player is a consistent producer who helps the team win in many ways. Although injuries limited him to just 104 games this season, he did finish 12th in the MVP race in 2014.
The outfielder is expected to decline his $12.5 million player option, and then, as ESPN’s Jim Bowden reported, the Royals will “make it a priority” to re-sign both Gordon and Ben Zobrist. That said, there is likely going to be a big market for a five-tool player who now has a ring.
Even at 31 years old, Gordon should get a nice contract this offseason. The question is whether that is in Kansas City or somewhere else.
2. What free-agent pitchers might be available?
One of the only question marks heading into the World Series for the Royals was their starting pitching. Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto had been terrible in their postseason careers, while Yordano Ventura and Chris Young were extremely hit-or-miss.
Despite these issues, all four players came through as needed in the final round, especially Cueto with his complete-game win in Game 2.
The problem is the ace likely won’t be back next season and will need to be replaced.
“The Royals already know they will not be trying to retain Johnny Cueto,” Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported. “They expect his free-agent price tag to go beyond their comfort level and, also, they have seen enough of his inconsistency to be worried about trying to keep him long term anyway.”
David Price and Jordan Zimmermann are also on the market, although Kansas City seems unlikely to get to that cost, either.
Instead, the Royals might continue to go after the less-heralded players who could provide much value. Volquez was a relative steal last offseason, and the team might be able to find a similar player in John Lackey, Mike Leake or others.
After seemingly every move has worked out for this organization in recent years, the front office will try to keep it going with some sleeper picks on the free-agent market.
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