Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana
Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP [Reply]
So I was feeling nostalgic and I started watching game 1 of the 2015 World Series. There was a really interesting infographic the broadcast team put up about Matt Harvey’s comeback from TJ surgery. His agent Scott Boras tried to place an innings limit, which Harvey or the Mets organization gave the middle finger to,, and Harvey himself said (demanded?) he’d pitch in the post season against Boras’ wishes. 5/6 years later he’s toiling in the minor league/fringe major league.
I just thought that was interesting. Curious what the smarter people in this thread (which is basically everyone) thinks about that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mizzou_8541:
So I was feeling nostalgic and I started watching game 1 of the 2015 World Series. There was a really interesting infographic the broadcast team put up about Matt Harvey’s comeback from TJ surgery. His agent Scott Boras tried to place an innings limit, which Harvey or the Mets organization gave the middle finger to,, and Harvey himself said (demanded?) he’d pitch in the post season against Boras’ wishes. 5/6 years later he’s toiling in the minor league/fringe major league.
I just thought that was interesting. Curious what the smarter people in this thread (which is basically everyone) thinks about that.
He had the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery that's when his career tanked, guys just don't comeback from that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mizzou_8541:
So I was feeling nostalgic and I started watching game 1 of the 2015 World Series. There was a really interesting infographic the broadcast team put up about Matt Harvey’s comeback from TJ surgery. His agent Scott Boras tried to place an innings limit, which Harvey or the Mets organization gave the middle finger to,, and Harvey himself said (demanded?) he’d pitch in the post season against Boras’ wishes. 5/6 years later he’s toiling in the minor league/fringe major league.
I just thought that was interesting. Curious what the smarter people in this thread (which is basically everyone) thinks about that.
Harvey is a great case for why you don’t blow the arm out too much in the first year back. He developed shoulder and thoracic outlet issues, which I suspect trace back to his workload that year.
He lost some of his arm speed, and he was a “blow you away with stuff” guy. Never has adjusted to having less dominant stuff. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
He had the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery that's when his career tanked, guys just don't comeback from that.
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Harvey is a great case for why you don’t blow the arm out too much in the first year back. He developed shoulder and thoracic outlet issues, which I suspect trace back to his workload that year.
He lost some of his arm speed, and he was a “blow you away with stuff” guy. Never has adjusted to having less dominant stuff.
The Royals and Bally Sports Kansas City (rebranding from FOX Sports Kansas City) announced a 161-game regular-season television schedule for 2021. The only Royals game that won’t air on Bally Sports Kansas City is June 26 against the Texas Rangers, which will be broadcast on FS1.
The 30-minute pregame show “Price Chopper Royals Live” will precede each game on Bally Sports Kansas City, while the “Boulevard Royals Live” postgame show will follow every game.
Ryan Lefebvre, in his 23rd season, will call the majority of the regular-season games for Bally Sports Kansas City, and Steve Physioc will provide the play-by-play on the remaining games. Rex Hudler will return for his 10th season as analyst, and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery will provide analysis throughout the season on “Royals Live” with host Joel Goldberg. [Reply]
The reasons (besides talent) Witt might actually make KC Royals’ opening day roster by
Sam Mellinger
Originally Posted by :
A decision without precedent in baseball begins because of a talent with few precedents.
Bobby Witt Jr. is different. We’ve known that for a while now. When the Royals made him the second overall pick in the 2019 draft, Jim Callis — who is perhaps more qualified than anyone on the planet to make this call — labeled Witt Jr. as baseball’s best shortstop prospect since Alex Rodriguez.
He is both fast and powerful, blessed with a strong arm, driven by a relentless desire to improve, all of it wrapped in a respectful and professional way that’s turned a fairly veteran clubhouse into something like a Bobby Witt Jr. fan club.
All of those factors are crucial to creating a new reality in which the Royals are absolutely, 100 percent, considering Witt Jr. skipping all traditional levels of the minor leagues and being in the Royals opening day lineup.
“He’s earned the respect of all his teammates, and now that he’s been able to do that, I’m very much open-minded of him being on this team as we break camp,” general manager Dayton Moore said in an interview on Fantasy Alarm.
This messaging is intentional. Moore’s front office is guided by particular rules. Don’t put limitations or unfair expectations on players. Believe what you see, not what you think. Don’t make decisions on players until you have to.
Quietly, they have hoped this is how it would go. Now they’re more public about it, at least in part to see how the kid reacts his new reality.
Witt Jr. has a real chance to become the first non-pitcher to play in the major leagues before the minor leagues in 20 years (when Witt Jr. was 3 months old) and here’s how quickly things are moving for him in a sport where things rarely move quickly.
A week ago, the idea of Witt Jr. skipping the line was generally met with a chuckle. Today — right now and through the final days before the Royals make final cuts — the idea has enough traction that Witt Jr. will be in the lineup more, and against the best pitching.
In short, Royals coaches and club officials want to get as much information as possible about what to do with one of the best prospects in franchise history.
This is not a column stating the Royals will or even should put Witt Jr. on the opening day roster.
This is a column stating the Royals are giving far more consideration to the idea than they expected when planning for spring training, and even more consideration than they gave a few days ago.
The momentum is building, in other words, and part of why the Royals have a decision without precedent is because the current context is without precedent.
Because the decision isn’t whether to put Witt Jr. in the big leagues or the minor leagues. The decision is whether to put Witt Jr. in the big leagues or the alternate site, where he’d be playing something less than real baseball games.
For an organization with a proven record of putting development first and service time games never, that’s a real factor.
Of all the problems in baseball, this is one of the most obvious: teams are motivated to keep their best players in the minor leagues longer than is necessary in order to secure more years of club control.
The Royals are among the few teams who don’t do that. The most recent example came last summer, when the Royals started Brady Singer in the second game of the season even as waiting just a few days would have delayed his scheduled free agency an entire year.
To put it more succinctly, the Royals potentially traded a few days of Singer at 23 years old for an entire year of him at 29.
They did it because they felt it was in the best interests of both the player and the big-league club in the moment. They have a long record of similar decisions.
That organizational honesty — and this is beside the point, but some executives around baseball would call it naivety — means Witt Jr.’s credentials will be analyzed without agenda.
Some GMs obsess over that extra year of club control. Moore thinks about what to him would be the nightmare scenario — the Royals keep Witt Jr. down an extra few weeks to manipulate service time, and the team ends the season a game or two out of the playoffs.
Witt Jr.’s credentials present a compelling case.
The Royals have handled this deliberately, carefully, and intelligently. They are not putting Witt Jr. on many Zoom calls, even after games he stars. There is a certain order things have to happen, and the Royals are respecting that even as Witt Jr. is fast-forwarding the whole thing.
Witt Jr.’s place on the opening day roster should be objectively unlikely because of all the pieces that have to be in place. But his place on the opening day roster is an increasingly real conversation because all of those pieces seem to be in place.
He is wildly talented, and producing against the best competition the Royals are putting him in front of. He presents himself in a way that makes older teammates push for him, and the improvement of Seuly Matias and others has encouraged club officials about the usefulness of last summer’s alternate site.
One more time: None of this means Witt Jr. will make his big league debut on opening day against the Rangers, two months before his 21st birthday.
But it does mean the pieces are in place for it to happen, that he has an open-minded front office, aggressive coaching staff, and supportive teammates.
The Royals have two weeks of spring training left, and these will be among the most determinative of Witt Jr.’s young career. He has everyone’s attention now, and he knows it. They want to see how he responds, and he knows that, too.
Witt Jr.’s big league career is an inevitability. These two weeks will determine how quickly it starts.
Originally Posted by KChiefs1:
I was just sitting here thinking about the Royals lineup with Bobby Witt Jr starting the season in KC. I think you put him in the 9th hole to take the pressure off of him to start & move him up as the season goes along. I put Mondesi ahead of Dozier thinking that he might lead off an inning more often in the 6th hole with Dozier behind him to drive him in.
1. Whit Merrifield, RF
2. Andrew Benintendi, LF
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Jorge Soler, DH
5. Salvy Perez, C
6. Adalberto Mondesi, SS
7. Hunter Dozier, 3B
8. Michael A Taylor, CF
9. Bobby Witt Jr, 2B
That's a deep lineup.
This lineup has a lot of potential with a lot of " if's " as well.
If it turns out to be as good as it appears it could be, if our pitching is anything mediocre to good, we can compete and challenge for a playoff spot.
But as I said, many if's, Will Merrifield continue to perform, Benintendi refind himself, Santana return to his Indians performances, Soler cut down on SO's and continue to drive the ball, same with Perez, can he build off last years performance, Alalberto continue to improve, Dozier play like 2019, Taylor be consistent as years past and Witt Jr, continue a hot ST?
If the bench can fill in, the pitching?
A lot of upside to this team.
Plus the farm teams are getting some good young talent again!
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
The team officially dropped the moniker.
Why would anyone refer to them as the Indians on purpose? Because they want to channel Howard Cosell?
They're still playing as the Cleveland Indians in 2021. Go look at the MLB At-Bat App. They still have the Indians nickname, Indians logo in cursive lettering, all the branding. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Harvey is a great case for why you don’t blow the arm out too much in the first year back. He developed shoulder and thoracic outlet issues, which I suspect trace back to his workload that year.
He lost some of his arm speed, and he was a “blow you away with stuff” guy. Never has adjusted to having less dominant stuff.
Originally Posted by Mecca:
He had the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery that's when his career tanked, guys just don't comeback from that.
Jay Jaffe did a recent research project that found that only five pitchers since 2001 have returned to produce better ERA- totals post-surgery than prior to having thoracic outlet syndrome.
Arizona's Merrill Kelly posted a 2.59 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 87 DRA- through five starts last year after toiling in Korea for many years, and then boom, his feel-good story gets taken underneath him by thoracic outlet syndrome. [Reply]
10 Bold Predictions for Michael Simione
by Michael Simione
March 15, 2021
10) The Royals make the playoffs.
I’m probably not alone with this sentiment as it seems to be a common consensus that the Royals offense is underrated. It certainly is, but so is their rotation and bullpen.
There is a lot of potential with their lineup. Whit Merrifield is one of the top leadoff bats in the league. Andrew Benintendi is still only 26 years old and has 20-20 potential as well as a decent average to boot. The most controversial player in this lineup is Adalberto Mondesi. He can literally dominate games at times while also possibly being the biggest detriment. You have three hitters here who provide speed and some power at the top of their lineup. They are then backed with two huge power bats in Carlos Santana and Jorge Soler. Add in one of the best catchers in the league in Salvador Perez and a great bounceback candidate in Hunter Dozier and you quickly realize why the fantasy baseball community loves this offense.
Their pitching staff has some talent to it as well. Danny Duffy can be serviceable as long as he stays healthy. Brad Keller was great last season and is able to take on a big workload. The addition of Mike Minor gives them a veteran presence that is much needed. His velocity is back this spring and he could easily be the SP1 they needed. Brady Singer made strides towards the end of last year by featuring his slider more. Kris Bubic definitely needs some work but has shined at times. They even have Jakob Junis who has a great slider and is working on a new pitch. A lot has to go right here but the talent is there and the solid base of Keller and Minor can be big for them.
Moving on to their bullpen, I know Greg Holland is old but last year he showed he can still get the job done. He pitched 28.1 innings with a 1.91 ERA and grabbed six saves. His backup and eight innings guy Josh Staumont increased his velocity and that lead to a 2.45 ERA and 33.0% strikeout rate. Then you have Scott Barlow who experienced some bad luck with a 4.20 ERA and 3.42 FIP. He too improved his strikeout rate to an impressive 31.2%. Lastly, you can throw in Jesse Hahn who had a pitch mix change last season and produced a 0.52 ERA and 2.56 FIP.
There is a ton of talent here and if a few things go right they could definitely be a winning and competitive team. The lineup seems scrappy and has a ton of power to back it up. The rotation has two anchors with some young talent. The bullpen has several high strikeout pitchers who can be difficult to face for any hitter. This is a young and exciting team that could come to fruition this season.
Lewis: Will Bobby Witt Jr. break camp with the Royals? Putting the decision in context by
Alec Lewis
Originally Posted by :
Dayton Moore’s first answer was par for the course.
He had been asked about Bobby Witt Jr. Asked about the 20-year-old shortstop who has lit the baseball world on fire this spring. And Moore, the Royals general manager, began the way he has in the past.
“He’s a special player,” Moore said of Witt on the Fantasy Alarm show with Howard Bender and Jim Bowden.
Moore, who has watched Witt play since the shortstop was 14 years old, said Witt has always been the most talented player on the field. He then said Witt has not only the tools but also the skill, a combination that means the Royals have an impact player. Truth be told, Moore wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t already said nor anything that was not known. He finished his answer. It was a glowing review. The conversation moved on. Then two minutes later, Bowden asked Moore directly: “Is there a chance he makes this team out of spring training?”
This time, Moore didn’t hold back. “He can,” Moore said. “We’re going to be very open-minded.” He continued, mentioning the club’s approach ahead of spring training. They hadn’t wanted to create an aura around Witt. They simply wanted to let him play. With that play, Moore said, Witt has garnered the respect of teammates.
“Now that he’s been able to do that,” Moore said, “I’m very much open-minded to him being on this team as we break this camp.”
This comment, in comparison to his first, was not par for the course. It was a chip-in eagle for Royals fans, as witnessed on social media, and it was an indicator as to why this situation, and the way Royals officials have responded to it, is — and I’ve never typed this word in this space — unique.
Take, for example, the Royals’ responses to pivotal questions about prospects 10 years ago. There was Mike Moustakas, the third base prospect who had tied the minor-league lead in home runs the year before. And there was Eric Hosmer, that year’s first-round pick from Florida. Both players competed in big-league camp. Both homered multiple times. Granted, each baseball player (and human) develops differently, but both players’ strong big-league futures were clear.
The Royals, though, kept their foot on the brakes. Officials explained the importance of their performances at Double A and Triple A to start the season. They explained how important April, May and June of that season would be. Assistant general manager J.J. Picollo told reporters, “They’ll tell us (by their performance) what their pace is,” but Hosmer posted a 1.470 OPS in 20 spring training at-bats; it wasn’t good enough.
So that’s the internal context to true differentiating elements of this current situation. In comparison to how other club executives have discussed top prospects in recent years, Moore’s comments seem even more jarring.
First, there’s the talking-down strategy Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins used. He had been asked in February 2019 about Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s big-league chances. He mentioned Guerrero’s defensive shortcomings and said: “I just don’t see him as a major-league player. He’s 19.”
Then there’s the “lack of playing time” excuse the New York Mets chose with Pete Alonso, who in 2018 posted a .975 OPS at Double A and Triple A. The Mets didn’t call up him, and here was the explanation from assistant general manager John Ricco: “He’s had an unbelievable season. He’s done everything we asked. … But the way we see it, the lack of playing time is a factor.”
Here’s how Alonso took that: “I’m not going to lie, it’s really disheartening and disappointing because of the things that people tell you is as long as you are successful, you’re going to be in the big leagues.”
Then there’s everyone’s favorite element: service time, which Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine explained bluntly in 2018 when asked about top prospect Byron Buxton: “I think part of our jobs is we’re supposed to be responsible to factoring service time into every decision we make. … We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we weren’t at least aware of service-time impacts on decisions we make.”
This, of course, is important context to the current situation. For those who ask what the Royals would gain from withholding a spot for Witt on Opening Day, it’d be an extra year of control for a small-market franchise that needs homegrown talent present for as long as possible. Yet here’s a question*: Why play a game over a few weeks if this is the type of franchise cornerstone you’d want to keep forever?
*The question is speculative: The most the Royals have spent is $72 million for Alex Gordon. Chairman and CEO John Sherman and his ownership group weren’t around then, but it’s still hard to imagine this club spending the type of money it might take to keep Witt around forever. (Never say never.)
Also in the backdrop of Moore’s comments are some different ideas. There’s a sample size element. Even Juan Soto, who debuted at 19 years old, had more than 450 plate appearances in the minors; Witt has only had 164. There’s a previous Royals history element. Adalberto Mondesi, who was the son of a former big-leaguer and had all the tools and skill, was pushed quickly and hasn’t been able to perform consistently. It’s something to think about. And maybe most important, there’s the psychological element both for Witt and the clubhouse.
After one of Witt’s home runs a few days ago, clubhouse vets such as Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier were tweeting about Witt. Danny Duffy has raved about him. Royals manager Mike Matheny, who is asked about him daily, can’t help but smirk. That is not solely a testament to Witt’s talent but also the way he carries himself.
Here’s how Bobby Stroupe, a performance consultant who worked with Witt this offseason and who also works with Patrick Mahomes, described it:
“He’s certain that’s about to happen and he doesn’t talk about it. He’s just got a smirk on his face.
No matter what we’re about to do, he’s about to do it better than anybody there. And it’s not a smart aleck thing.
You can feel energy from it. He’s a natural alpha in a way that’s not threatening. That was very easy to pick up on.”
Moore’s comments, combined with Witt’s spring training performance (a .919 OPS with three homers and seven RBIs in 33 at-bats), now have the hype at an all-time high. How will Witt handle it? This is yet another test. Each scout we’ve spoken to thinks Witt will force his way into this team at some point in 2021, but for now there are two more elements to consider.
The first drifts back to Hosmer, whom the Royals promoted in May 2011. Then-Royals first baseman Kila Ka’aihue had been struggling. Hosmer was raking. After Moore made the call he said this to reporters: “You want to have as much competition as possible, and you’ve got to have guys pushing.” In this case, the Royals have a second baseman, Nicky Lopez, who is a Gold Glove-caliber defender. Even after swing changes this offseason, he has a .417 OPS and 10 strikeouts in 24 at-bats. That’s not going to play; although maybe these comments light a fire for him.
Which brings us to the final piece of the puzzle.
Time and time again this offseason, after the club showcased a winning culture with the decision to pay minor-leaguers, the Royals have talked about their desire to win games in 2021. The talk was backed up by actions when they signed Mike Minor, Carlos Santana, Greg Holland and Michael A. Taylor. It was backed up by the trade for Andrew Benintendi. It has been backed up by how hard the club has played since spring training began.
Now here’s another opportunity. The factors at play are aplenty. But the possibility that Witt could break camp with the club now is clear.
Originally Posted by TLO:
Someone PM me regarding how they plan on watching Royals games this year. Please explain to me like I'm 5 because I'm not super tech savvy
Bally Sports has purchased the Regional Fox Sports Networks. I'm still hearing they're going to offer the games directly through their new app that is supposed to go live March 31st. I think the app will be called Bally Sports. Supposedly, you will be able to subscribe to the local network without having to have a subscription to a cable or dish network. Hopefully. [Reply]
Most PAs, 2nd spring training as a pro 1. Andrew McCutchen: 60 2. Javier Baez: 48 3. Jason Heyward: 44 4. Bobby Witt Jr.: 40 5. C.J. Abrams: 38 6. Justin Upton: 36