2023 – A new beginning for the Royals. Matt Quatraro era begins. A year to see which of our young players will make up the core going forward. Can Bobby Witt Jr become a superstar SS or will go to the hot corner? Will Brady Singer take the next step forward? Will Salvy be Salvy? Will Big Vin or Pratto take first base? Will they find a position for MJ? Who else emerges from the youth movement? Not to mention the development of the new downtown stadium.
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Jordan Lyles, RHP
Ryan Yarbrough, LHP
Josh Taylor, LHP
Aroldis Chapman, LHP
Top 10 Prospects from Baseball America
1. Gavin Cross, OF
2. Cayden Wallace, 3B
3. Drew Waters, OF
4. Ben Kudrna, RHP
5. Frank Mozzicato, LHP
6. Maikel Garcia, SS
7. Tyler Gentry, OF
8. Nick Loftin, OF/3B
9. Angel Zerpa, LHP
10. Carter Jensen, C [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
We are going to suck for at least a decade. Embrace the suck.
I'll only embrace the suck if we have a new dowtown ballpark and entertainment district! That's the only thing I can think of that would make me really enjoy baseball. Please save us John Sherman!!! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Ocotillo:
Who would you rather see be good out of the Royals and Sporting KC?
Well, one is a team in a legitimate major league that features players at the pinnacle of their ability.
The other is in like the 8th best league in the world, whose main contribution to the sport is serving as a safe landing spot and final payday for formerly great actual major league level players.
The Royals might be (insert name of bad Premier League/Bundisliga/etc. team here), but Sporting KC is the equivalent of the fucking KC Monarch or KC Mavericks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MAG:
Is this the lowest point in this franchise's history? At least when we were horrible before we usually had some hope in the farm system. Now there is no help coming and this team is all time awful.
It has to be, and any contest between some other time in their history has the ultimate tie breaker for this team: the draft lottery. We can't even expect a guaranteed #1 or #2 pick next year and follow along with next year's draft class. Since this is the Royals you can basically guarantee we are going to lose the draft lottery every year and drop positions. And maybe the one year we do win it, it will be the worst draft class in 20 years with no consensus top prospect. You know it's true. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MAG:
Is this the lowest point in this franchise's history? At least when we were horrible before we usually had some hope in the farm system. Now there is no help coming and this team is all time awful.
Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ:
It has to be, and any contest between some other time in their history has the ultimate tie breaker for this team: the draft lottery. We can't even expect a guaranteed #1 or #2 pick next year and follow along with next year's draft class. Since this is the Royals you can basically guarantee we are going to lose the draft lottery every year and drop positions. And maybe the one year we do win it, it will be the worst draft class in 20 years with no consensus top prospect. You know it's true.
2005 and 2006 was way worse. We have young talent and Salvy on the MLB roster at the moment that wasn't the case then. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Ocotillo:
Who would you rather see be good out of the Royals and Sporting KC?
Package them both and get another NFL team. Because when the Chiefs come to Kansas in 2030 I'm told Missouri Chiefs fan will no longer follow them. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
2005 and 2006 was way worse. We have young talent and Salvy on the MLB roster at the moment that wasn't the case then.
But the young talent isn’t proving to take any steps forward. Did we really miss on almost all these guys?
We knew pitching would suck this year but not seeing any hitters take giant leaps forward is super crushing. [Reply]
Originally Posted by lewdog:
But the young talent isn’t proving to take any steps forward. Did we really miss on almost all these guys?
We knew pitching would suck this year but not seeing any hitters take giant leaps forward is super crushing.
The hitting is really concerning. I was excited to see them take some huge steps forward, especially after another season with Zumwalt being in charge of hitting. Pretty much all we've gotten was a major regression with the bats; Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie both look completely lost. [Reply]
Originally Posted by lewdog:
But the young talent isn’t proving to take any steps forward. Did we really miss on almost all these guys?
We knew pitching would suck this year but not seeing any hitters take giant leaps forward is super crushing.
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
The hitting is really concerning. I was excited to see them take some huge steps forward, especially after another season with Zumwalt being in charge of hitting. Pretty much all we've gotten was a major regression with the bats; Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie both look completely lost.
Bob is hitting in bad luck
Worst Luck Hitters, Last 2 Weeks expected wOBA vs. actual wOBA
Pratto has stepped up. Which is good to see. I think Vinny's been hurt longer than he has let on with him going on the DL today it makes sense. MJ has been a disappointment for sure. Massey is meh. He makes it, we scored if not no lose. Garcia is a rookie.
I still think some of the bats will come around. Hell they are all 23 and 24. It's not like Gordon, Moose, Salvy, Hosmer and all of them just came out of the gate as bad asses at that age either. And the team's timeline of 2025 seems reasonable just knowing the average age of hitting your prime is 26. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
2005 and 2006 was way worse. We have young talent and Salvy on the MLB roster at the moment that wasn't the case then.
One big difference there is that Butler and Gordon were both elite prospects at that point. In 2006 both were top 30 prospects. So there was at least some hope for the future. You are probably right the actual major league team was worse but the minors are much more in favor of 2005-2006. [Reply]