The Kansas City Royals lost some viable starters in their rotation over the past offseason.
Veteran Gil Meche retired, Brian Bannister left for the Japanese league and former Cy Young Award-winner Zack Greinke was traded to the Brewers.
With all of this recent turnover and many familiar faces gone from seasons past, this year’s starting rotation will be full of question marks.
The following is how I see it shaking out for KC in 2011.
With Spring Training right around the corner, it is time to start looking forward to the ’11 MLB season which begins at the end of next month.
The Kansas City Royals will have some changes in their 2011 lineup, as they have acquired a slick fielding shortstop in the Zack Greinke trade and also signed a couple of former Braves prospects.
These projections could be modified some as Spring Training gets going, but for now, this is the lineup is that I see the Royals going with this season.
When Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore took over back in 2006, the organization was going in a downward spiral with nowhere to go but up.
In his first full season in KC, the team lost 100 games and once again finished in the cellar of the AL Central division.
Moore, the former Atlanta Braves scout, got to see firsthand why this team has been the laughingstock of major league baseball for over two decades.
A self-proclaimed Royals fan since he was young, Moore vowed that he would bring back this struggling franchise to the glory days that it once enjoyed so long ago.
Fast-forward a few years to a couple months before the 2011 regular season begins.
After four dreadful losing seasons and two more manager changes, the Royals are still one of the worst teams in baseball.
But this time, there is actually some hope for an organization that has had just one winning season in the last 25 years.
I’m referring to the recently No. 1-ranked Royals farm system that was announced by Baseball America last month.
With can’t-miss prospects like Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Mike Montgomery moving their way up the minor league ladder, suddenly KC has a good chance to turn things around.
But haven’t we heard this story before?
The Royals have brought up some solid players through the minor league system over the years, including names like Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran and Jermaine Dye.
We all remember what happened to those star players: They were all traded away because of the almighty dollar.
Why should we be convinced that this won’t happen to some of the current prospects, after they have success at the big league level?
The difference this time is there are several guys on the Royals’ minor league teams who are committed to winning in Kansas City, not just one or two here and there like in the past.
It seems like for the first time in ages, the Royals brass has got it right.
Not only are they responsible for putting together the best farm system in baseball, but they have also drafted several players who are leaders on the diamond.
Take for instance Royals third-basemen of the future and reigning minor league player of the year, Mike Moustakas.
It was reported that “Moose,” as many in the organization call him, once jumped all over a teammate for supposedly throwing a fit in the locker room. The word on the street was there were no future problems with that particular teammate after that incident.
This is the kind of leadership that Dayton Moore has wanted on his Royals team since he arrived in the city of fountains nearly five years ago.
Moore’s plan is finally coming to fruition; a gaze into the organization’s future shows an unlimited amount of talented prospects and a potential contending major league team for years to come.
Until then, we will just have to wait and enjoy the view from here.
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The Kansas City Royals made news this offseason when they announced that the team would be willing to deal All-Star closer Joakim Soria for the right price.
Many began to think that the club was going to deal the talented 26-year-old Soria, especially after it was reported that Soria himself said that he would be willing to go to a team like the New York Yankees.
Now, after most of the MLB offseason dust has settled, Soria is still a Royal. Here are some reasons KC will not trade him and he is here to stay in Kansas City.
The Kansas City Royals franchise have produced many great players since their inception in 1969.
From Cy Young Award winners to Hall of Fame third basemen to speedy outfielders, the organization has seen a great amount of talent come and go.
In this feature, I have examined the best 50 Royals that have played on the team over the course of the last four plus decades.
The Kansas City Royals made some surprising news earlier today as they announced the signing of free agent and former Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis.
On one side, the move makes sense because KC needs immediate help in their starting rotation, after losing former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke via trade and not resigning veteran Brian Bannister for next season.
Francis also has some upside to him, as he went 17-9 back in ’07 as he helped lead the Rockies to a World Series birth later that year.
On the other side of this deal, you can see that Francis has only pitched in 20 games combined during the last two seasons due to surgery on his left arm before the ’09 season.
I think the real question with this signing is can he be an ace for this mostly unproven starting rotation?
The answer is still unknown, but most signs point to us for this to happen.
If you take a deeper look at Francis’ short six-year career in the majors, you will find that he has been an ace for three of those years, of half of his pro career.
Something else important to note will be the inexperience of the Royals ’11 starting rotation, with presumptive starters Luke Hochevar, Vin Mazzaro and Sean O’Sullivan having a combined eight years of major league experience under the belts.
This staff seems that is in dire need of a player like Jeff Francis coming in and giving some much needed competition to an under-performing group of pitcher such as the injury-riddled Gil Meche.
This signing also shows us that Royal GM Dayton Moore is content on signing guys to cheap, short-term deals until he gets his draft picks up from the farm.
Adding Francis will only improve the overall level of talent for the current Royals’ roster and give the Royals another solid arm in the rotation.
However, will it turn out to be a good signing?
At this point yes, but we still have the entire ’11 season to find that out.
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There has been some recent speculation that the Royals would be willing to trade All-Star closer Joakim Soria for the right price.
Royals GM Dayton Moore has already made some fireworks of his own this offseason when he dealt former Cy Young Winner Zack Greinke and starting shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to Milwaukee for Alcides Escobar and three prospects.
If Moore were to trade Soria, this would be another way of him showing everyone in Kansas City and the rest of the MLB that he is indeed very serious about this Royals’ new youth movement.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of trading away a player like Soria. We will see if giving up a young player at his caliber is worth it in the first place.
On the pro side of the trade, the Royals wouldn’t have to pay his soon $4 million salary for the ’11 season and could take several million dollars off their books by shipping away the talented closer.
They could also bolster an already loaded farm system with like more top-tier prospects in return for the former Rule Five draft pick.
On the other side of the coin, the Royals would be losing arguably their best pitcher on their current roster and clutch closer than can get the job done time and time again when they call his name.
Losing Soria would also mean that Moore would likely have to go after someone in free agency or bring someone up from the minors to fill his vacancy as the Royals have no other current solutions at that position at this time.
When you weigh the pros and cons of trading him, I believe that the cons easily outweigh the pros, as closers as hard to come by these days in major league baseball.
I would say that they shouldn’t trade Soria, but Dayton Moore holds the key to this answer.
Stay tuned for the results.
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The MLB’s winter meetings have come and gone, and the former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke still has not been traded out of Kansas City.
Royals GM Dayton Moore made statements during the winter meetings that KC would be willing to trade their star player to anyone that was interested. In the end, there were some teams that would have like Greinke’s services, but could never come to an agreement with the Royals for what they wanted in return.
Now, with the top prize of the free agent class, Cliff Lee, still unsigned, many, including Royals officials believe that after Lee signs, the interesting in Greinke will grow immensely.
With many teams likely to have been interested and will be interested in the stud pitcher, some are more likely to acquire him than others in terms of what they have to offer in return for his services.
Earlier today, the Kansas City Royals made it official that they have indeed signed free agent outfielder Jeff Francoeur.
The team announced that it was a one-year dear that includes an option for 2012, and is still pending a physical.
The signing also puts to rest the rumors about Royals GM Dayton Moore trying to sign Francoeur many times in the past.
Moore also mentioned recently that he was looking into adding a right-handed hitting corner-outfielder, and to him, “Frenchy” fits the bill for this.
With Francoeur now in the mix, this now changes up a lackluster Royals outfield and give the offense a fresh, new bat in the lineup.
He will likely be penciled in as the starting right-fielder for KC in ’11, as Kansas City only has Mitch Maier and Gregor Blanco as the other likely candidates for that position.
Overall, Francoeur is a low-risk, high-return kind of player as he has shown he has power(29 homers in ’06) and can field as well throughout his brief career(he won a gold glove for his efforts on the diamond during the season).
However, he has also been largely an inconsistent hitter throughout his time at the major league level, and has struggled getting on base with a .310 lifetime OBP.
What Franceour really means for the Royals is that they now have a new outfield starter for next season that should be able to contribute to the team immediately.
The big question with him is if he can produce at a level that will impact the club and if he can play well enough to be a long-term answer for the team’s future.
The answer remains to be seen, but we will find out in a matter of months if “Frenchy” still has it.
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The talks about Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke are starting to heat up as KC has mentioned that they are willing to trade him, given the right price.
With the MLB winter meetings starting today, the talks and rumors will be flying for awhile until one team is satisfied.
The Yankees are one of those teams that has been very interested in the former Cy Young award winner’s services and as usual, they have not been very shy about it.
There are also many other teams other than New York that are interested in Greinke, and many of them would be better fits for Greinke than the pinstripes.