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]
2 things I would like to see this off-season. While teams are spending on free agents, I would love to see a big contract for Witt JR. Spend on our own talent. Two, trade Gallagher. I like him, but the catcher market is thin. Plus, it opens a spot up for MJ at the big league level. Heck the Marlins just traded for Jacob Stallings. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bronco_buster2:
2 things I would like to see this off-season. While teams are spending on free agents, I would love to see a big contract for Witt JR. Spend on our own talent. Two, trade Gallagher. I like him, but the catcher market is thin. Plus, it opens a spot up for MJ at the big league level. Heck the Marlins just traded for Jacob Stallings.
The Wander Franco deal would be a rough framework for that. I'm pretty sure Witt is going to be the #1 prospect on a few sites (Baseball Prospectus for one - they hinted at it in the Royals prospect report released today), which is not the same as being the #1 guy 3 years in a row like Franco was or debuting with the level of success Franco did, but it gets you close.
10 years, $175M for Witt? Would he even sign it? Most players that sign that huge early deal that covers all their arb AND some FA years are guys in rough financial shape to begin with.
I suspect BWJ's family is not in 3rd-world country poor status like Franco's was... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
The Royals are basically in a all in or all out position. Signing middling FAs like Carlos Santana etc isn't gonna do much.
They're in a spot to either go all out and pursue big time FAs (which they obviously aren't doing) or just let the kids play.
It's fine if they go with the kids approach since they have a lot of young guys thar need at bats.
If it results in Ryan O'Hearn and Hunter Dozier as everyday players then this team is to dumb to win.
What's so unusual is the Royals have a lot of big bats in the minors. Witt, MJ, and Pratto all have 40 HR potential in the show.
Don't sleep on Vinnie Pasquantino...he's a late bloomer at 24 but had a .957 OPS last year with a .390 OBP. That guy has some plate discipline and good pop (24 HR in 437 combined AB at High A and AA). He's an 11th round 2019 pick that crushed at Burlington in '19 (.963 OPS), crushed at high A in 2021, then continued to crush at AA (.927 OPS). [Reply]
Baseball economics are so broken. Seager's deal would eat up half of the salary spending for the bottom 13 payroll teams and a quarter of the salary spending for the bottom twenty. The MLB and MLBPA need to fix economic parity between teams. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nightfyre:
Baseball economics are so broken. Seager's deal would eat up half of the salary spending for the bottom 13 payroll teams and a quarter of the salary spending for the bottom twenty. The MLB and MLBPA need to fix economic parity between teams.
That's what I've been saying. They already want to push it even further and eliminate the benefits of a high draft pick by implementing a draft lottery like the NBA. You know what the NBA has that MLB doesn't? A salary cap. They want to have their cake and eat it too.
Put in a floor, put in a cap, and implement more profit sharing. The big market teams may bitch and moan, but at the end of the day there is no MLB without the small market teams. [Reply]
Why have we not traded our 4th string catcher, Cam Gallagher to someone yet? So many teams have garbage at catcher. Here in the Kansas City Royals system, they grow on trees.
Cam Gallagher in 378 career ABs is a 1.6 WAR player. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
Why have we not traded our 4th string catcher, Cam Gallagher to someone yet? So many teams have garbage at catcher. Here in the Kansas City Royals system, they grow on trees.
Cam Gallagher in 378 career ABs is a 1.6 WAR player.
I think it’s been mentioned but perhaps they plan on playing Salvy at 1b and DH more as he gets older. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Melendez is more likely to be able to handle a corner OF spot. He can definitely handle LF.
Apparently his D is lagging a bit for a AA/AAA player. His pop times and receiving are fine, but he’s not framing the ball well.
I also would not be surprised to see Nick Loftin or Peyton Wilson flipped to the OF on a more full time basis.
Don't you think it would be a huge waste to play Melendez anything but Catcher? Most reports are positive about his defensive I've read. Salvy can't frame either and if Melendez catches 75% and Salvy 25% that saves Salvy sooo much so he can just rake.
If Melendez hits in MLB in an expected fashion based on his Milb numbers we have a potential 8 WAR player on our hands. Muuuuch less in OF. [Reply]