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 dlphg9:
It's also absolutely ridiculous that he didn't win the MVP last year. The guy was 4th in cy young voting, so he was absolutely insane on the mound and then at the plate he had 34 HRs and a .875 OPS, but a shit Yankee hit a bunch of HRs playing in a park that has no place in ML, so Judge won.
Judge had the rare year that would knock Ohtani off the pedestal.
Baseball Reference WAR
Judge 10.6, Ohtani 9.0
Fangraphs WAR
Judge 11.4, Ohtani 9.4
I'm not a slave to WAR by any means. But dissecting it closely, Judge was in the vicinity with Ohtani and any voter that voted for Judge had a perfectly good case to vote for him. [Reply]
From the 2023 Baseball Prospectus annual about Judge:
"An aspect of Judge's herculean season that hasn't gotten nearly as much press as his exploits at the plate is the fact that he was essentially playing a new position this year, and a challenging one at that. The ineffectiveness of Aaron Hicks and the injury to Harrison Bader pushed Judge into center field, which accounted for the majority of his defensive innings for the first time in his career. Prior to this season, Judge had played only 3.9% of his defensive innings in center. Among players this century with at least 4,000 prior defensive innings in the outfield, that 3.9 rate is the third-lowest for a player who made center their primary outfield position (in 2013, both Andre Ethier and Shin-Soo Choo made the move to CF with less experience in center than Judge did.) Not only was it an unusual switch that helped his team fill a hole, Judge was good out there, too: all publicly available metrics pegged him as an above-average defensive center fielder last year, and his arm is nearly as impressive as his bat. Though it's not what people will remember most about his MVP season, Judge's defensive abilities are a big part of what's made him such a superstar." [Reply]
“As it stands, that Major League readiness is a point in the system’s favor, but once so many lose prospect status, expect a steep drop.” That’s what we wrote in the 2022 midseason rankings, and the Royals have dropped eight spots as more graduations rolled in, with Maikel Garcia, Nick Loftin and Drew Waters not far behind. Top 2022 pick Cross should at least lead the group for a while as he enters his first full season, and 2021 prep selections Ben Kudrna, Frank Mozzicato and Carter Jensen could jump with more experience in their second extended campaigns.
As they do from time to time, MLB Trade Rumors had a chat the other day with their writer Anthony Franco. One person asked pretty much my exact question about Edward Olivares! Here is the excerpt:
Originally Posted by :
"The Royals have an unsettled roster. How much playing time can Edward Olivares expect?"
Anthony Franco:
Yeah I think the Royals are positioned to give Olivares decent run. MJ Melendez probably gets the bulk of the left field time but right field's wide open, especially with Kyle Isbel moving to center while Drew Waters is hurt. Olivares should get a chance to carve out an everyday role. He has some interesting tools, just TBD on whether he has a patient enough approach to tap into it consistently.
The Royals are quietly one of the hardest teams to predict an Opening Day lineup for. With a plethora of young talent, there are many ways this lineup could turn out. The team currently has a shortage of true outfielders. With Drew Waters hurt, those three positions are wide open and will likely come down to Spring Training performances. With Nick Eaton and Franmil Reyes swinging hot bats, the Royals will be inclined to give them a chance to start. Reyes is not on the 40-man roster but was one of the top home run hitters in baseball just a couple of years ago.
This will push MJ Melendez to the outfield where he has continued to get more comfortable and also keep Edward Olivares on the bench. One other odd man out is Nick Pratto. Pratto seems to be the forgotten man, but a rough Spring Training with a high strikeout rate sends him back to Triple-A.
Note that they show two starting RFs and no LF, so that's a typo and I suspect they meant MJ will be in LF. But the key takeaway is that the mystery about whether Olivares will get a regular shot does continue.... [Reply]
Daniel Lynch left the game with left shoulder discomfort. He'll have tests done to determine what it is and what's next, Matt Quatraro said: "Didn’t feel right. But who knows. Sometimes they get in there and test it and it’s not as bad as you think. But definitely some concern.”
Per Forbes, the Royals TV deal is 3rd worst in the league only beating Minnesota and Milwaukee. Average TV viewership is 20th in the league. The Royals have an operating income of 32.8 million which is ranked 14th.
They list the Mets as dead last in operating income at -$138.5 mil! [Reply]
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
Per Forbes, the Royals TV deal is 3rd worst in the league only beating Minnesota and Milwaukee. Average TV viewership is 20th in the league. The Royals have an operating income of 32.8 million which is ranked 14th.
They list the Mets as dead last in operating income at -$138.5 mil!
You haven't been following the news? The counterparty (Bally Sports, it appears) of the TV deals for 14 teams went bankrupt, so the terms each team had under their deals have been rendered N/A. So really the Royals are now tied with 13 other teams for worst TV deal, because they don't have one. Or at least it's on the verge of being that way.
Here's your list of teams that really don't have a TV contract anymore:
Originally Posted by :
Bally Sports broadcasts the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
It's a wild and developing story.
Originally Posted by :
"Despite Diamond's economic situation, there is every expectation that they will continue televising all games they are committed to during the bankruptcy process. Major League Baseball is ready to produce and distribute games to fans in their local markets in the event that Diamond or any other regional sports network is unable to do so as required by their agreement with our Clubs."
MLB is making steady plans to do it themselves though, so the 'we expect it to be like normal' may just be legal posturing or public-facing optimism or some such spin. Check this out:
Originally Posted by :
The details are still a bit hazy, but the league recently started a local media division, fronted by Billy Chambers, Sinclair's former chief financial officer. The short-term plan would be to offer streaming through its MLB.TV app at a yet-to-be-determined price (it'll be cheaper than the current price to stream out-of-market games, according to a league source) and also air games on a yet-to-be-determined cable channel.
All excerpts from the below link. The whole thing is worth a read cause it's gonna affect the Royals and as soon as this here coming season. As the article says:
Originally Posted by :
A lot could happen really fast. Between now and April 30, 13 of the 14 teams under the Bally Sports umbrella are owed their rights fees, an industry source said, potentially forcing a lot of quick decisions from Diamond Sports Group and its creditors.... Skipping payments would allow said teams to break free from their contracts, as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned last month.
This sounds like a great opportunity for the MLB to do something forward thinking with half of their league to make sure more people can actually watch the games.
But I expect them to lose the ball in the sun on this, as usual. [Reply]
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
Of course I have but Bally being in bankruptcy doesn't mean the existing deals no longer exist.
My understanding is that it means exactly that if, or when, payments due to the MLB are missed. So far that has already happened for the Diamondbacks and Padres, with the others of the 14 TBD and we'll find out over the next month.
Originally Posted by :
...there's a good chance that Diamond's creditors eventually decide to drop some of the least profitable teams from the portfolio. In that case, MLB would need to step in. A league source anticipates that MLB will handle broadcasting for at least five teams in the very near future. So far, Diamond Sports Group has missed payments to the D-backs and, more recently, the Padres, triggering the contractual grace period that will probably lead to MLB taking over.
Bally is such a terrible company. Those motherfuckers got into so many contracts with different teams and botched it worse than any company I've ever seen when it comes to broadcasting. [Reply]
