Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
I believe I said when the pick was made that they had BETTER be right on this, taking a HS catcher over some of the other options available to them, and so far it looks like they have been.
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Physical tools to be a good defensive catcher are there. Big arm, receives the ball well.
No clue how his framing is, so far. Don't typically get that type of info this early.
His framing skills are entirely irrelevant and I hope the organization isn't wasting time trying to teach him any. We'll have robo-umps before he gets called up. Mark my words, Duncan. MARK MY WORDS. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cmh6476:
I don't think anyone has played third as well as maikel. Not sure why he has been fixed at Second for awhile.
I assume the Royals have made the correct decision to force him into a utility role. It doesn't matter how good his defense is at third, you can't have such a terrible hitter there long term. It appears his long term path to a major league career is being able to handle multiple positions well defensively, which has some value, because his bat doesn't look like it's going to play anywhere. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ:
…It appears his long term path to a major league career is being able to handle multiple positions well defensively, which has some value, because his bat doesn't look like it's going to play anywhere.
In other words, “he can’t hit a baseball worth a sh_ _” [Reply]
If that's the case, and we keep batting him leadoff, maybe we need to tweak the lineup approach. Maybe vat Bobby leadoff so he always has our best chance of doing something. Or put someone like renfroe up to, and see it helps as opponents are now likely to throw him strikes with our top bats following him up. [Reply]
Really wish we’d sign Trevor Bauer and move Marsh to the bullpen. It helps solve a major issue (bullpen) and upgrades us at SP without having to trade assets. Of course we can still trade assets to further upgrade the BP and OF. [Reply]