As the season comes to a close after an awful season, there is a possibility of some hope since the team played better in late August to the end of the season.
Here are all the important dates you need to know for the 2018-19 MLB offseason. Some of them do involve the Royals, such as:
Oct. 29: As of 9 a.m. ET on Monday, all eligible players are free agents (Escobar - good riddance).
Oct. 31: Most contract option decisions are due on this date (Hammel should be declined, resulting $2 million buyout and Peralta should be accepted, resulting $3 million increase to the payroll, and could be future flip for additional minor leaguers if he performs well).
Nov. 6-8: General manager meetings in Carlsbad, California.
Nov. 12: Deadline for free agents to accept or reject the qualifying offer.
Nov. 14-15: Owners meetings in Atlanta (possible future CBA discussions).
Nov. 20: Deadline for teams to add eligible minor leaguers to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.
Spoiler!
The Royals announced they've added RHPs Arnaldo Hernandez, Josh Staumont and Scott Blewett to the 40-man roster, protecting them from next month's Rule 5 draft. Blewett appeared to take a big step in the Arizona Fall League. The 40-man roster is full right now.
Nov. 26-29: MLB Players Association executive board meeting in Dallas (possible future CBA discussions).
Nov. 30: Non-tender deadline.
Dec. 9-13: Winter Meetings in Las Vegas. This is typically when all offseason hell breaks loose.
Dec. 13: Rule 5 Draft (could see the Royals taking a stab here).
Jan. 11: Deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit 2019 salary figures (I believe KC has some arb-eligible players).
Feb. 1-20: Arbitration hearings. You win some, you lose some.
Mid-Feb. : SPRING TRAINING!
As usual, let's have a good off-season discussion on ways that the Royals can/should/would do to improve. I will try to update the OP as the off-season goes along. And Duncan, you're more than welcome to provide us some information that I can add onto the OP. Just let me know.
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Ben Frederickson is not a beat writer (columnist) and was not in St. Louis for the first five years or so of Matheny’s time as manager.
I wouldn’t expect him to have the insight into why Allen Craig and Pete Kozma and etc. were getting playing time their performance didn’t warrant, at the expense of young players or better alternatives.
Joe Strauss, Bernie Miklasz, Derrick Goold... They were there. Believe the thought the Bible study group membership was influencing playing time decisions originated from comments from them. I never saw one of those directly because I don’t follow the Cardinals that closely, but people who did saw them.
Regardless, the fact remains that in addition to his worst-in-MLB bullpen management, Matheny had trouble with young player development, he had trouble connecting with all of his clubhouse, he lost big parts of his clubhouse, and he consistently played underperforming veterans for far too long.
He’s a terrible option for a rebuilding club that is planning to go young, young, young...
Remember the days of Ross Gload getting tons of PT over younger options? That’s the type of stuff Matheny is infamous for. No thank you.
Derrick Goold and Ben Fredrickson already weighed in on this - and both agree fully with me. I'll go ahead and downgrade you from their level, and put you in the BFIB bucket with Mecca, Rabbi, Hamas and Bigfatqueef. Congrats!
As the Warden told Andy Dufresne in Shawshank: "I'm pulling you out of that 1-bunk Hilton and casting you down with the sodomites" [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Derrick Goold and Ben Fredrickson already weighed in on this - and both agree fully with me. I'll go ahead and downgrade you from their level, and put you in the BFIB bucket with Mecca, Rabbi, Hamas and Bigfatqueef. Congrats!
As the Warden told Andy Dufresne in Shawshank: "I'm pulling you out of that 1-bunk Hilton and casting you down with the sodomites"
Show me Goold weighing on it and I’ll completely discount the rumors. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
No. It was in response to you lying about me, unprovoked.
Sure. Post the link, and if I made an incorrect analysis of course I'll own it. Who wouldn't?
I did a search over my lunch break. I couldn't find the back and forths I was thinking of in the gamethreads that I was thinking of - but here's the first exchange, with my first post coming earlier in the repo.
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
I've been wondering if the Royals might kick the tires on Shields for a while.
He could fill Jeremy Guthrie's role of eating 200+ innings while giving our bullpen some much needed relief.
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
We'll see. A few of my ChiSox friends are going ape**** because it's rumored they'll be sending over one of their top two prospects in exchange. Sox might be going for WS or bust with this one but Shields likely won't cover the very real holes on that roster.
His numbers since 2015 have been much more Jeremy Guthrie than 13-14 Shields.
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Uh.....Jeremy Guthrie??? Shields went 13-7 last year with a 3.91 ERA and 216k. Not sure I'd use Batting Practice Guthrie as the right comp.
He's had 1 terrible start this year. It happens. His first 10 starts he had a 3.05 ERA.
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
Jeremy Guthrie's 2014 FIP: 4.32
James Shields's 2015 FIP: 4.45
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
James Shields = Jeremy Guthrie
(Falls down laughing)
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
You're embarrassing yourself.
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
Right. That comment is out of context from a conversation PB and I had two days ago. I argued that since 2015, Shields resembled more of an inning eater type like Guthrie did for the Royals from 2012-2014.
Shields stats since 2015: 4.44 FIP, 1.357 WHIP, and a 4.00 E.R.A.
He's been an innings eater who has provided relief for the bullpen, but at 34, his role might be a #4 type innings eater at this point.
PB, I like your analysis and think you're one of the best baseball minds on here. But your constant negativity is wearing me down. This team won back to back pennants and is off to strong start despite struggling with major injuries. If that opinion means I embarrassed myself, so be it.
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Gawd it'd be nice to get Shields and banish Kennedy to the pen
I know that we've already cluttered up the thread enough. So here's the deal. I'll concede that your concerns about the 2016 season were in the right place, if you own up to repeatedly calling me out and going after me personally (i.e. "I'm embarrassing myself") over Shields.
I still believe that the preponderance of accounts from the STL Media, National Media, and from Cards fans demonstrate that we want nothing to do with Matheny in our locker room, but if you own up about Shields, I'll take back that you got your *** kicked. Deal? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
I did a search over my lunch break. I couldn't find the back and forths I was thinking of in the gamethreads that I was thinking of - but here's the first exchange, with my first post coming earlier in the repo.
Is that What's Eating Gilbert Grape? My bad then. Yes Shields went to shit. I don't presume to know anything about pitching. I'd never sign any vet. They're all pricey and the odds they'll succeed are nil to me. Don't take pitching advice from me in the future.
Originally Posted by :
I still believe that the preponderance of accounts from the STL Media, National Media, and from Cards fans demonstrate that we want nothing to do with Matheny in our locker room, but if you own up about Shields, I'll take back that you got your *** kicked. Deal?
I've stated a dozen times now: it's only about his RELIGIOUS BIAS that I dispute. Not his leadership skills. I'm not getting that across apparently. I'll have to try more - as Richard Nixon famously told his aides, "The 50th time I say something is the 1st time a voter hears it". [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Is that What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Oh my god. You are such an ass. It's amazing.
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
I've stated a dozen times now: it's only about his RELIGIOUS BIAS that I dispute. Not his leadership skills.
Let's clear something up. In the beginning. You either doubted the entire existence of a bible study or your word choice gave that impression. That’s what I clarified with Cards fans since the consensus was that they definitely were a part of that locker room.
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
People spewing the "bible study" charge need to back it up with evidence, or admit they're full of shit.
It’s evident the study existed. Now, I agree with you now from your link that there’s no evidence that the study influenced Matheny’s decisions. For some reason he continued trotting out players whose production was refried ass (Kozma, Choate, Ellis, etc), but you’re right, there’s no evidence that his devotion to players with awful production was because of their attendance to his bible study. I do retract that and won’t repeat that position again. Are we good now, PB?
Out of curiosity, what’s your overall take on Matheny being named as a successor to Yost? [Reply]
If anything, I'd guess that Matheny is the equivalent of a player reclamation project. They see things they like...but want him in their system to see if they can fix what they don't like. They might just want him around Yost to see if he can learn from what Yost learned about his own mistakes in Milwaukee. It won't make him any better of a tactician (Yost has never really developed on that end, either), but it could move him towards being a better manager to players. It's not a terrible idea. I doubt it's a given at all that he's next in line, regardless. [Reply]
There's literally nothing he does that's worth reclamation. He's bad at handling players, bad at in-game strategy, and knows dick about analytics. But yeah, good luck getting a guy whose book was called a manifesto in its own title to soften up how he handles players. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Why Not?:
Decent. Had an awful year last year. Prior to that he was a decent utility guy with some pop who could steal a base or two.
Yeah, seemed to have some hard luck hitting last year. Hopefully, he can turn it around. [Reply]