The season is upon us, even if spring is not.
2018 MLB Draft Picks
#18
#33 - Compensation (Eric Hosmer)
#34 - Compensation (Lorenzo Cain)
#40 (Competitive Balance Round A)
018 Draft Names to Watch
RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.
OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI
1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).
RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).
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.
Current Prospects to Watch:
OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.
1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.
OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.
OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.
3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.
SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).
1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.
Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),
In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both.
[Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Great. They tore down their team on purpose for financial needs.
Teams rarely if ever have the fall we did
Um, so did we. Cain, Hosmer, Moose, Davis, Herrera, all those guys are gone because we couldn't afford to keep them. Maybe we aren't a WS team anymore with all those guys, but they wouldn't be a 100 loss team either.
[Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Found it - Royalsreview stated we would be first since 1915 As to lose 109 theee seasons after winning it all. Kinda lame criteria there. Suffice it to say, few teams have 100 losses so soon. That's undeniable, how bad we crashed.
The WS team capitalized on incredible seasons from Chris Young and Ed Volquez. Duffy and Hochevar were also effective bullpen pieces that kind of showed up out of nowhere. Madsen was also a gift. They had just enough luck to get by with a sturdy set of starters and got even BETTER long relief bullpen pieces.
It's lucky when you hit those pieces at the right time, but so many of them were short timers or guys who would crash back to reality. Throw in the fact that we had to get rid of the meat of our starters, and that's why this crash took place.
The only way to prevent it was to go through the sell-off much sooner and more aggressively. That's what some of us wanted but the Royals chose differently. Oh well. Too bad.
Who cares if our bottoming out was 90 losses or 110 losses? It was going to happen. Bitching about the degree of the bottom out is kind of... well... stupid
[Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
The WS team capitalized on incredible seasons from Chris Young and Ed Volquez. Duffy and Hochevar were also effective bullpen pieces that kind of showed up out of nowhere. Madsen was also a gift. They had just enough luck to get by with a sturdy set of starters and got even BETTER long relief bullpen pieces.
It's lucky when you hit those pieces at the right time, but so many of them were short timers or guys who would crash back to reality. Throw in the fact that we had to get rid of the meat of our starters, and that's why this crash took place.
The only way to prevent it was to go through the sell-off much sooner and more aggressively. That's what some of us wanted but the Royals chose differently. Oh well. Too bad.
Who cares if our bottoming out was 90 losses or 110 losses? It was going to happen. Bitching about the degree of the bottom out is kind of... well... stupid
Bitching is a bit of an overstatement. But it's fair to ask why this team is losing so many games. I've argued they should be winning more based on their talent. That's debateable but it's what I think.
Consider how awful this division is. All the teams suck. Cleveland even sucks. An ugly -6 under .500 against non division). If we were in the West or the AL Beast, holy hell we'd be challenging 119 losses. I
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