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]
Can someone briefly explain why the Royals have been so bad since their championship year? I can see they had a few decent records after 2015 but have mostly been bad. [Reply]
Originally Posted by AussieChiefsFan:
Can someone briefly explain why the Royals have been so bad since their championship year? I can see they had a few decent records after 2015 but have mostly been bad.
The previous regime didn’t do a good job turning the farm system over after the wave of talent that led to the title. The change in draft rules hurt them, and they fell behind analytically.
The decision to double-down on a major league coaching staff that had a track record struggling with young player development and analytically backwards:uninterested really wasted four years.
This year is a year where they really need to see what they have and what can be improved with better coaching.
Early returns on pitching (Bubic, Keller) are mostly positive. Same with some of the hitters.
This is a development year any way it’s sliced. [Reply]
Isn't the pitching as a whole performing well above the standards of prior years? That alone is enough to justify flushing the turds like we did. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Isn't the pitching as a whole performing well above the standards of prior years? That alone is enough to justify flushing the turds like we did.
No, it’s not performing any diff. We are 19th in pitching WAR. Last 3 years we were 28, 19, 17. So not much of a change [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
We just needed to get rid of Bible study, then we would turn it around.
And we are seeing that evidence already.
While all that was completely idiotic and had really no place when it came to creating a baseball team. It doesn't change that the team lacks talent.
People in a way view this wrong because of last time. Calling up a bunch of young guys, most of them working out to be at least good players and becoming a World Series, team is generally not how it's done. That was a rare occasion of having the #1 farm system and luck coming together.
If you wanna be truthful about how long it'll be before this team is good. It's kinda ugly honestly. A more reasonable way of building a team is you have some good players before young guys come up and you supplement with FA.
It's far more likely they find some good players in this crop of rookies, keep some, lose some, another wave comes and they add a few guys and become a contender but that would be like 27-29 not now or next year. [Reply]
You guys can yuck it up about the religiosity of the previous regime all you want, but that was just one of a component of issues with the previous coaching staff. (and one that was historical to his time in St. Louis).
I cited Mamoron's inability to manage young talent well, his lack of tactical acumen, and how hard he was on relievers, and how tight his teams played as reasons he was a really bad fit for KC.
He compounded his shortcomings by also hiring a pal as his pitching coach, a guy who had literally never been a pitching coach before, and who had a distinct distrust of and disinterest in analytics and video.
But still... flushing that coaching staff was not going to turn this into a playoff team overnight or year-to-year. This was clearly a build and assess year to everyone except Dayton Moore and the booted-to-the-curb regime.
There are positives (hitting approach still looks solid, Witt and Pasquantino look really good, Melendez is showing good peripherals and waiting for the numbers to catch up, Bubuic and Keller have taken nice steps in results and peripherals).
They're still some time out before they really have this thing running again. They were further away than Moore and co. acted.
What would be really great is to sign some of their quality young guys to long-term deals NOW and build a foundation. Witt, Pasquantino, Melendez, Nick Loftin if he comes up and performs, Keller, Singer, Bubic, etc.
With the idea that those guys can be key pieces/veterans on good times a few years down the road, supplemented by good acquisitions and the farm system. [Reply]
