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
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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]
Yeah Moose was always expected to be a guy who was just a pure power 3B. He could just as easily blame Bruce Rondon for busting his knee and sapping his power last year. Either way, pure power guys aren't getting big contracts like they used to. Look at how last year Chris Carter and Mark Trumbo led each league in homers and neither one of them got a huge deal. Trumbo at least got something... Carter got jack squat in free agency. I think we all thought Moose would do better because of the position he plays, but the fact he posted a negative defensive WAR last year is probably hurting him. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tk13:
With that deal I'm a bit skeptical Moose is going to get to $50 million, but anything's possible I guess. I really think the whole 2 WAR thing is killing him... I thought it would knock down his market, but not nearly to this extent. Apparently Dayton did say this today. I don't know what options Moose has left at this point though.
DAYTON on MOUSTAKAS: "Moustakas had some expectations that were a little different, places he wanted to play. It was clear from the beginning that we weren’t a high priority."
Originally Posted by cosmo20002:
Also from Petro:
DAYTON on MOUSTAKAS: “We felt that Hos is the priority. We have options at third. I wouldn’t say absolutely not. We want to make it clear that Hos is the player that fits us for the future. I want to get through the Hosmer negotiations before we work on Moustakas."
That's some pretty strong stuff from a GM, especially someone like Dayton who is always so positive and diplomatic. Don't usually hear a GM talk about two of his players and publicly say one is the priority who fits us for the future and one isn't. Its not like he's taking about Hosmer vs some bench guy. Just seems very weird to me, especially since they have the same agent.
I like Dayton. I like him as the Royals' GM. BUT...he lets his emotions get the better of him in negotiations. He didn't have to pay Salvy more, but he did. (I'm not disagreeing with it. "Just saying" he didn't have to do it.) He didn't have to give Gordon big money on a long term deal, but he did. And he did it because he's good friends with Alex. Who do you think wrote the Forward to Dayton's book? And now it sounds like Moose said something that hurt Dayton's feelings, so Dayton is pushing back. Not a smart choice for negotiations, if you ask me. [Reply]
Originally Posted by T-post Tom:
I like Dayton. I like him as the Royals' GM. BUT...he lets his emotions get the better of him in negotiations. He didn't have to pay Salvy more, but he did. (I'm not disagreeing with it. "Just saying" he didn't have to do it.) He didn't have to give Gordon big money on a long term deal, but he did. And he did it because he's good friends with Alex. Who do you think wrote the Forward to Dayton's book? And now it sounds like Moose said something that hurt Dayton's feelings, so Dayton is pushing back. Not a smart choice for negotiations, if you ask me.
Signing Salvy long term was a smart move and signing Gordon was viewed as a good deal at the time. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lex Luthor:
I hadn't really thought about it. I think this is pretty accurate. Alex cost Moose BIG TIME.
I don't think so. Gordon stinking caused the Royals and the rest of the league to be hesitant on Moose? It's not like Gordon is the 1st free agent ever to stink, and if it impacted Moose, wouldn't it impact all free agents? And, we really don't know what offers Moose has received.
He's just kind of got a weird resume. Decent 3B, but slow as shit. Had the freak injury in 2016, but some nagging ones in 2017.
Had a decent 2012, regressed in 2013, sent to minors in 2014, came back for decent postseason.
Good 2015, hurt in 2016, had career year in 2017 where he had some nagging injuries.
If think some see him as a 5-yr all-star for a WS winner, and he's not that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Ron Swanson:
Signing Salvy long term was a smart move and signing Gordon was viewed as a good deal at the time.
:-):-):-) You are wrong on both accounts. Salvy was already signed to a club friendly, long-term deal. Overpaying and gambling on an extra 2 years for a catcher of his size and injury history is not smart. Shelling out an extra 36 million dollars for a catcher that will be 31 at the end of the contract is not smart. And if Gordon was such a good deal at that price at the time... Why was no other team willing to shell out that kind of money for him? You should call Dayton and see if he needs an assistant. [Reply]
Originally Posted by T-post Tom: :-):-):-) You are wrong on both accounts. Salvy was already signed to a club friendly, long-term deal. Overpaying and gambling on an extra 2 years for a catcher of his size and injury history is not smart. Shelling out an extra 36 million dollars for a catcher that will be 31 at the end of the contract is not smart. And if Gordon was such a good deal at that price at the time... Why was no other team willing to shell out that kind of money for him? You should call Dayton and see if he needs an assistant.
You're the one who is wrong.
Gordon had a few offers that would have paid him more. While there were some who doubted Gordon would play up to the deal in Year 4 and maybe even Year 3, NO ONE was seeing the immediate drop-off/cratering. The deal's consensus view was as a very fair/good deal for KC that included a significant discount and kept the Window for contention open in 16 and 17.
But it wouldn't be a week on here without someone applying hindsight to claim the Royals got ripped off and everyone knew it when the Gordon deal was signed.
As for Perez, it's true the Royals didn't have to tear up his deal and give him more money or extend him two more years. It's also true that he was incredibly underpaid, that the original deal was starting to cause some bad feelings, and that the Royals bought themselves a lot of useable capital with players by taking care of Perez and ensured their clubhouse leader would be the affable, personable, positive influence they needed him to be.
The deal also is still incredibly friendly - $10 million/year. Yeah, that's much more than the original contract, but there are intangible benefits purchased by that deal also. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cosmo20002:
I don't think so. Gordon stinking caused the Royals and the rest of the league to be hesitant on Moose? It's not like Gordon is the 1st free agent ever to stink, and if it impacted Moose, wouldn't it impact all free agents? And, we really don't know what offers Moose has received.
He's just kind of got a weird resume. Decent 3B, but slow as shit. Had the freak injury in 2016, but some nagging ones in 2017.
Had a decent 2012, regressed in 2013, sent to minors in 2014, came back for decent postseason.
Good 2015, hurt in 2016, had career year in 2017 where he had some nagging injuries.
If think some see him as a 5-yr all-star for a WS winner, and he's not that.
When I said Gordon cost Moose big time, I was really referring to Gordon running into Moose and tearing his ACL, not Gordon's suckage after signing his contract.
I always totally blamed Gordon for Moose's injury. The outfielder has the play right in front of him, and he can see the infielder. He should have called him off at the top of his lungs. That's Baseball 101. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
You're the one who is wrong.
Gordon had a few offers that would have paid him more. While there were some who doubted Gordon would play up to the deal in Year 4 and maybe even Year 3, NO ONE was seeing the immediate drop-off/cratering. The deal's consensus view was as a very fair/good deal for KC that included a significant discount and kept the Window for contention open in 16 and 17.
But it wouldn't be a week on here without someone applying hindsight to claim the Royals got ripped off and everyone knew it when the Gordon deal was signed.
As for Perez, it's true the Royals didn't have to tear up his deal and give him more money or extend him two more years. It's also true that he was incredibly underpaid, that the original deal was starting to cause some bad feelings, and that the Royals bought themselves a lot of useable capital with players by taking care of Perez and ensured their clubhouse leader would be the affable, personable, positive influence they needed him to be.
The deal also is still incredibly friendly - $10 million/year. Yeah, that's much more than the original contract, but there are intangible benefits purchased by that deal also.
Completely agree. Salvy's original deal was TOO team friendly (5 years, $7 million). I was surprised when Salvy originally agreed to it, but I understood why he did. Seven million dollars is a lot of money when you have nothing. Extending the deal and bumping his salary a few years later was exactly the right thing to do. [Reply]
