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]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Uh,,,,,no. Soler was certainly not a 40HR 800ops guy. And besides, he’s a FA after the year anyway and he wasn’t coming back. We wouldn’t have won anything with him and we got Atlanta to assume the $3M left on his deal. That trade meant nothing to our future
He is now. You could see him coming around before they traded him. I understand he was a free agent but if you wanted to actually take a risk you could have tried to extend him for a year or two. Maybe that wouldn't happen. But the real point is when a guy's value is low you aren't getting decent prospects for him. Certainly not Gleyber Torres.
Soler looks like what we thought Santana was, an elite power hitter who just got messed up by the COVID season for some reason or another. But who knows, maybe getting a contract this offseason will send him back to the guy he was in the first half. It's also possible he'd just do better in a warm weather city. [Reply]
I predicted we would suck, and we did indeed suck.
But all is not lost. Whatever the hitting coach in MiLB did in the offseason did wonders. I did not see this amazing progression of so many bats in our system. There is alot to be excited about moving forward. [Reply]
The Royals make the Michael A. Taylor extension official: It's two years, $9 million (with $500,000 in incentives), a source tells The Athletic. @JeffPassan was on it.
The Royals make the Michael A. Taylor extension official: It's two years, $9 million (with $500,000 in incentives), a source tells The Athletic. @JeffPassan was on it.
Not real crazy about the money on that. Not surprised they did it. The guy is absolutely an elite CF. I'm not sure TV does him justice. Decent chunk of money though, but you knew they were going to put a solid defensive CF out there to play in the K. And to back up all these young starting pitchers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
DID. NOT. WANT.
Nor I, if he would hit better it would be great. I rarely get excited for guys that hit south of .260. But he does patrol a lot of field in CF. [Reply]
The Royals make the Michael A. Taylor extension official: It's two years, $9 million (with $500,000 in incentives), a source tells The Athletic. @JeffPassan was on it.
To be fair, there's not really anything in the minors to step up and take that spot next year. The Royals likely would have had to sign another FA to play CF and there's not a lot out there besides Marte, who is gonna command a hell of a lot more money on the open market.
If the bats in the minors continue to progress and get called up at some point to give some real 'umphh' to the lineup, then you don't necessarily need Taylor's bat going forward. You just stick him at the bottom of the lineup and use him for his elite defense. You can live with his bat if the other parts of your lineup are hitting. But I realize that's a big 'IF' at this point . . . . . . [Reply]
Taylor ain't Cain or Beltran but he's OK. He's a streaky hitter, and sometimes he throws to the wrong base. But he generally has good speed and had several assists, including throwing some guys out at the plate. I guess we could do worse. I wonder if this means Mondi will play third next year? [Reply]
This really demonstrates just how much the Royals value defense in comparison to other squads.
I wondered if they'd leave the door open for a low-cost LoCain reunion speaking of defense, but MAT seems to have the durability LoCain has seldom had since 2018 and is 5 years younger (LoCain continues to put up respectable #'s on offense and is surprisingly close MAT's WAR despite playing only 74 games). [Reply]