Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
The Royals could have had Teel, but they took someone that is middling around in low A.
One could argue that an .870 OPS by a 19-year-old in Single-A is as impressive, if not more so, than an .854 OPS by a 22-year-old in AA.
Pretty easily.
I was not a fan of the Mitchell pick, and the K rate bears watching, but he has been really encouraging so far this year and is cracking top 75 lists pretty consistently. [Reply]
Well, sadly as expected, Salvy and BWJ were not voted into the starting lineup for this year's ASG. But the pitchers and reserves will be announced this Sunday, 4:30pm Central. Hopefully BWJ and/or Salvy doesn't get the shaft. They are both more than deserving, along with Seth Lugo. Frankly, all three should be a lock and a fine crew to represent the Royals at the break. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm:
Well, sadly as expected, Salvy and BWJ were not voted into the starting lineup for this year's ASG. But the pitchers and reserves will be announced this Sunday, 4:30pm Central. Hopefully BWJ and/or Salvy doesn't get the shaft. They are both more than deserving, along with Seth Lugo. Frankly, all three should be a lock and a fine crew to represent the Royals at the break.
With all the pitchers replaced on the roster because of usage (can't pitch if they start Sunday), I wouldn't be surprised if Cole Ragans is added at some point. [Reply]
I believe I said when the pick was made that they had BETTER be right on this, taking a HS catcher over some of the other options available to them, and so far it looks like they have been. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
He's got a chance man. Pretty good numbers for a 19 year old. Does he project to actually be a decent catcher at the MLB level?
Physical tools to be a good defensive catcher are there. Big arm, receives the ball well.
No clue how his framing is, so far. Don't typically get that type of info this early. [Reply]
I was a little surprised to find that Mitchell has only thrown out 11 of 72 attempted base stealers (13%) at low Single-A Columbia.
There's a lot of unknowns here such as baby faced pitchers adjusting to pro pickoff rules and being slow to the plate. But it's an eye opener considering Mitchell's arm was one of his carrying tools. [Reply]
