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 DJ's left nut:
Eh - nothing wrong with a guy with solid but unspectacular raw power trying to pull the ball, but he's gotta keep his lower half in if he's gonna do that.
That bottom half comes open too early and that's when you start coming over top of the ball and rolling it to 2b.
I wouldn't want him 'playing the slice' just yet. Because his hit tool is good enough to make him a 25-30 HR player and a real nice run producer in the 5 spot.
I think the kind of target you'd like to see for him would be someone like Adrian Gonzalez? Or if you'd prefer a direct Royals comp, what about Raul Ibanez (offensively)? I think he could be that sort of player.
Pasquantino has a good swing if you ask me. It lends itself to great contact. He stays in the zone a while and his head doesn't move a ton. Not a very talented guy but his approach and swing is top notch in my book. Melendez is a guy that has an incredibly flawed swing. I don't know how he even makes contact. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TLO:
Using your own words, (obviously), describe this team for me.
I can't make heads or tails if they're good, overachieving, mediocre, etc.
Honestly some of all of it, I think. They are much better than I thought they would be. BWJ and Salvy are legit MVP candidates if the season ended today and using that same qualifier, Lugo is probably the CY Young. Singer looks really good and Ragans seems to have blown past the "flash in the pan" point. If Massey can keep it up, that could be a missing piece that has alluded for ever, save Zobrist.
That being said, I don't really trust the bullpen and there are a good amount of damn near automatic outs in the lineup. The OF is basically worthless at the plate. I mean Kyle Isbel is our best hitting OF and it's not particularly close. I figure Renfroe would be kinda mediocre until his power could come up in the summer but he's practically Tony Pena Jr at this point. Sorry guys, MJ Melendez is not good and I don't think he ever will be.
I'm on record as saying I think this is a team that lands around the mid to high 70s in wins. I'm not ready to come off of that (to be clear, I hope like hell I am wrong and this team does win 90 or 100 games like some think they can/will). To me, June will be the clarifier. The June schedule is brutal. If the Royals come out of June at over .500, it will be time to fully get on the hype train. Until then, I will take a cautiously kinda optimistic-ish perspective. But I will be rooting for all the unabashed, all in optimists to be right and for me to be eating my crow (which I will do gladly) come July 1. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Why Not?:
That being said, I don't really trust the bullpen and there are a good amount of damn near automatic outs in the lineup. The OF is basically worthless at the plate. I mean Kyle Isbel is our best hitting OF and it's not particularly close. I figure Renfroe would be kinda mediocre until his power could come up in the summer but he's practically Tony Pena Jr at this point. Sorry guys, MJ Melendez is not good and I don't think he ever will be.
Yeah, this is my only hesitation in getting too excited about the seasons outlook moving forward. At this point, I've already enjoyed this team and they've exceeded my expectation no matter what happens rest of the year. This month and a half has been more enjoyable than the last few years combined.
But when you look at the nitty gritty, we are outperforming majorly. We have 3 starters with an OPS above .700 and the only reason our offense has been league average is because for the first time I can remember we're just crushing with RISP. No idea how long that can last, but Isbel and Renfroe are below replacement level and MJ isn't a lot better (although I can't give up on him yet). Hopefully 2nd base is going to improve permanently with Massey bc if I have to see Frazier and Garrett Hampson play there regularly anymore I might vomit.
So yes...tons of holes in the offense but we're scrappy thus far and tons of fun to watch. I desperately wish we had someone to look fwd to bringing up from AAA to help the OF situation but can't pretend like Waters is gonna turn into some world beater and I thinks thats about all we have on reserve right now. And we don't have a ton of ammo to trade on the farm either, as far as I can tell but I've followed prospects a lot less since Covid. [Reply]
Originally Posted by blake5676:
Yeah, this is my only hesitation in getting too excited about the seasons outlook moving forward. At this point, I've already enjoyed this team and they've exceeded my expectation no matter what happens rest of the year. This month and a half has been more enjoyable than the last few years combined.
But when you look at the nitty gritty, we are outperforming majorly. We have 3 starters with an OPS above .700 and the only reason our offense has been league average is because for the first time I can remember we're just crushing with RISP. No idea how long that can last, but Isbel and Renfroe are below replacement level and MJ isn't a lot better (although I can't give up on him yet). Hopefully 2nd base is going to improve permanently with Massey bc if I have to see Frazier and Garrett Hampson play there regularly anymore I might vomit.
So yes...tons of holes in the offense but we're scrappy thus far and tons of fun to watch. I desperately wish we had someone to look fwd to bringing up from AAA to help the OF situation but can't pretend like Waters is gonna turn into some world beater and I thinks thats about all we have on reserve right now. And we don't have a ton of ammo to trade on the farm either, as far as I can tell but I've followed prospects a lot less since Covid.
This formula is actually pretty similar to the one the Indians have been winning consistently with. They have a few legit stars in the lineup (like, 2) and really good SP and defense and base-running.
I think Ragans is sustainable. Singer and Lugo and Wacha and Marsh will really determine how interesting the rest of the season becomes? [Reply]