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 dlphg9:
A bunch of whiney millionaires. I wouldn't sign any of them. How often to big contracts work out?
And the owners who would have to pay them are whiny billionaires (whose margins have grown and who have a bigger piece of the revenue pie than they did since the MLBPA was formed). [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
And the owners who would have to pay them are whiny billionaires (whose margins have grown and who have a bigger piece of the revenue pie than they did since the MLBPA was formed).
Yeah I get that, but there are alot of people working for billionaires who get paid jack shit nothing and you have people that are getting paid 10-15 million a year bitching because they're not getting 20-25 million a year. [Reply]
I could care less whether the owners or the players have more of the pie. Class warfare between billionaires and millionaires just doesn't seem worth it - no horse in that race. Just let supply / demand to do its thing. Inflated markets always even out. That's all we're seeing here.
EDIT: Sorry...inflated markets even out EXCEPT for when government involvement - intentionally or not - artificially support an inflated market. I'm looking at you, college tuition. [Reply]
MLB.com has done the top 10 prospects at RHP, LHP, C, 1B and 2B for 2018.
Nick Pratto is our only prospect to make any of the top 10s so far, and will probably be the only one as I'm not sure we will have anyone on the top 10 for 3B, SS or OF. Came in at #4 for first basemen.
Austin Jackson signed a 2 year, $6 million deal with the Giants. He's not really a $15 million player but he had a really good year last year.
Austin Jackson was a two-win player last year. That's worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $15M in value for one season. He got a total of $6M guaranteed for two seasons. The bottoming out of this market is staggering, and what's scary is that this is just the beginning. https://t.co/5VTE4am20v
Likely puts a lid on any Cain signing by the Giants. Seems like he might end up going back to the Brewers - not much noise from any other teams. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan:
Likely puts a lid on any Cain signing by the Giants. Seems like he might end up going back to the Brewers - not much noise from any other teams.
That was my first reaction... what happens to Cain now? Not just in terms of team, but how much money is he going to get? He's older than Jackson.
The Brewers already have an issue with too many outfielders. They seem to be willing to make aggressive moves, but if they did sign an OF they'd be looking to trade someone like Domingo Santana, who was pretty good last year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MrGiggity:
MLB.com has done the top 10 prospects at RHP, LHP, C, 1B and 2B for 2018.
Nick Pratto is our only prospect to make any of the top 10s so far, and will probably be the only one as I'm not sure we will have anyone on the top 10 for 3B, SS or OF. Came in at #4 for first basemen.
Not surprising. Pratto didn't do enough to earn that status in his debut. I still like him, though.
Originally Posted by tk13:
That was my first reaction... what happens to Cain now? Not just in terms of team, but how much money is he going to get? He's older than Jackson.
The Brewers already have an issue with too many outfielders. They seem to be willing to make aggressive moves, but if they did sign an OF they'd be looking to trade someone like Domingo Santana, who was pretty good last year.
I think he ends up in Milwaukee or Texas, though if I'm the Royals, I'd be thinking long and hard about taking my Hosmer money and spending it on a combo of Cain and Moustakas (at this point you can probably get both for less than what Hosmer was offered).
If the Brewers move an OF, I'd expect some combo of prospect Monte Harrison and Keon Braxton rather than Santana. And I'd expect the return to be a quality SP.
If they land Darvish in FA and add a solid #2/3 type behind him via trade, that team is built to do damage. [Reply]