It's the end of the world as we know it... and we feel... fine?
2018 is a season of transition for the Royals, or at least it is at this point. Dayton Moore is back. Will he swing full into THE PROCESS 2.0? Or will he try to load up again and make some reload magic happen?
Pending Free Agents:
1B | Eric Hosmer | San Diego Padres, 8 years, $144 million ($5 million signing bonus; $20 million/year in Yrs 1-5; $13 million/year in Yrs 6-8 wth player opt out)
Spoiler!
(DI's Guess: Texas Rangers, 6, $118 million)
3B | Mike Moustaskas | Kansas City Royas, 1, $6.5 million
Spoiler!
(DI's Guess: Los Angeles Angels, 5, $98 million)
CF | Lorenzo Cain | Milwaukee Brewers, 5 years, $80 million
Spoiler!
(DI's Guess: San Francisco Giants, 4, $68 million)
RP | Mike Minor | Texas Rangers, 3, $28 million
Spoiler!
(DI's Guess: Los Angeles Angels, 3, $35 million+ $12 million team option
SP | Jason Vargas | New York Mets, 2, $16 million
Spoiler!
(DI's Guess: Baltimore Orioles, 2, $29 million)
SS | Alcides Escobar | Kansas City Royals, 1, $2.5 million
In case I, picks would be #32, 33, and 34, if Alex Cobb of Rays signs for $50 million guaranteed.
Kansas City will likely have 5 of the top 40-45 picks in the draft, and the bonus pool money should rival that of the teams drafting 1-3 in the 2017 draft. This should give KC tremendous flexibility in acquiring talent that otherwise might slip or not be "signable."
2018 Draft Names to Watch
RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.
Spoiler!
Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16
OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI
Spoiler!
Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.
1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).
Spoiler!
Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.
RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).
Spoiler!
Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.
ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tk13:
Pitching is such a tough thing to develop, you just don't see many teams do what the Mets did... and even then they haven't been able to keep all those young aces healthy and/or pitching efficiently.
Did being the key word. Many at MetsRefugees think they traded the long term health of their pitchers for a chance to win it all in 2015.
The most hilarious karma of the day goes to Cubs announcer Len Kasper, who is very good... but he caused a stir on Twitter this afternoon. He was watching the Pirates and Tigers game go 13, and said regular season games should be declared a tie after 12 innings. People didn't like that too much.
Ok I’llsay it. The Pit-Det game should end in 10-10 tie. 12 inning reg season max. Blow out pen on DAY ONE? Neither team loses, the few thousand left in stands say they saw a wild game. Done. This shouldn’t be a controversial idea. So few games even go 12. @BoogSciambi amiright?
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
I don't claim to be a baseball scout.
But as a former executive a $5 billion dollar entertainment corporation, I easily recognize mismanagement when I see it.
And the 100 loss season that I predicted in November still stands.
Did that prediction come with a prediction that Perez would miss 1/3 of the season and Duffy would be hurt?
It was a 90-ish loss team on paper heading into the season. Perez being hurt is worth 3-4 losses and maybe more considering what a disaster they’ve been without him in the past. If Duffy is hurt, as it looks like he might be, that’s another 2-3. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
This is exactly why Moore and the entire front office and staff should have been fired after last season to give the team a fresh start and reboot.
Moore's a mess. He says he's going young, cutting payroll, then goes out and signs a bunch of vets. The payroll was supposed to be cut to somewhere around $110 million while they rebuild the Farm, yet it's only $12 million less than last year's payroll. He says he's not interested in Moose, then signs him, only to publicly trash him.
I don't know why anyone in their right mind would think that he can rebuild the Royals into a contender whether he's given 4 years or 10 years.
I hope he proves me wrong but I highly doubt it.
And those veterans he signed blocked who, exactly?
Bubba Starling (who’s hurt again, anyway).
Frank Schwindel/Ryan O’Hearn (for one year and neither is really that good a prospect at this point).
Mondesi is the only legitimate prospect who was blocked, and that was partially due to him needing an attitude check. He’s hurt now, anyway. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
This is exactly why Moore and the entire front office and staff should have been fired after last season to give the team a fresh start and reboot.
Moore's a mess. He says he's going young, cutting payroll, then goes out and signs a bunch of vets. The payroll was supposed to be cut to somewhere around $110 million while they rebuild the Farm, yet it's only $12 million less than last year's payroll. He says he's not interested in Moose, then signs him, only to publicly trash him.
I don't know why anyone in their right mind would think that he can rebuild the Royals into a contender whether he's given 4 years or 10 years.
I hope he proves me wrong but I highly doubt it.
Well one reason to believe its possible is because he already has once... [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Did that prediction come with a prediction that Perez would miss 1/3 of the season and Duffy would be hurt?
It was a 90-ish loss team on paper heading into the season. Perez being hurt is worth 3-4 losses and maybe more considering what a disaster they’ve been without him in the past. If Duffy is hurt, as it looks like he might be, that’s another 2-3.
Dane made that prediction months before the season started. When many free agents still weren’t signed and we didn’t know what the roster would look like. He said he “knew” we weren’t signing anyone.
He’s closer to Dayton Moore than Dayton Moore’s own taint. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
And those veterans he signed blocked who, exactly?
The point is that Dayton put together a 68 win team at best, which is a terrible ROI for a $123 million dollar payroll.
He sat on his hands the past two years when he should have traded Hosmer and Moustakas at their peak value and it was probably a mistake not to move Duffy before this season began.
Moore has made a lot of bad decisions and winning a WS title shouldn't provide cover for those mistakes.
Successful NFL GM's are fired all the time. Just this year, Jerry Reese, the Giants GM and architect of two Super Bowl teams was fired. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SAUTO:
Well one reason to believe its possible is because he already has once...
I think the deck is stacked against him, especially since the rules regarding international players has been changed, along with a juiced ball, which really hurts their pitching staff, which is already one of the, if not the, worst in MLB. [Reply]
Originally Posted by lewdog:
Dane made that prediction months before the season started. When many free agents still weren’t signed and we didn’t know what the roster would look like. He said he “knew” we weren’t signing anyone.
He’s closer to Dayton Moore than Dayton Moore’s own taint.
That's because I could see the writing on the wall, although I am surprised that the market for Moustakas was so weak and didn't think he'd return.
But yeah, Jon Jay and Lucas Duda aren't going to put them over the 70 win hump.
Bloated contracts for Kennedy, Gordon and even Hammel don't help their situation, either. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
That's because I could see the writing on the wall, although I am surprised that the market for Moustakas was so weak and didn't think he'd return.
But yeah, Jon Jay and Lucas Duda aren't going to put them over the 70 win hump.
Bloated contracts for Kennedy, Gordon and even Hammel don't help their situation, either.
You act like you're making some bold prediction. Not one person here thinks this is a playoff team. I think your 100 loss prediction is off, but with Salvy maybe missing extended time and Duffy looking like AIDS, it's possible. But you made this prediction months ago. It's not like it was some hot take.
And your prediction track record is about as high as Billay's IQ. Predictions of grandeur and greatness for the past 5 years for the Chiefs, with Alex at the helm. The "possibility" of deep playoff runs due to your claims of a loaded roster.
There's a reason we wanted your name changed to Dane McHomer. You don't have two legs to stand on. [Reply]