There’s David DeJesus, Chris Lubanski, Angel Sanchez/Berroa, Mark Teahen, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, John Buck(?), Justin Huber, Zack Greinke, Denny Bautista, J.P. Howell, Ambiorix Burgos—what will the 2007 or 2008 Royals lack?

I see speed/OBP guys missing. A deep bullpen/rotation, too.

That said, is Andrew Miller a lock for the #1 pick in the draft?

I’m glad I’m not a fan of the organization.  What’s amazingly frustrating is that the Royals have some of these possible pieces in the future and don’t seem to care about finding out if they can play.  The halfhearted way they’ve gone about Denny Bautista and Justin Huber’s careers are quite troublesome.  DeJesus is probably one of their main building blocks but even a few years ago, they had that same “Oh, well, we don’t have Beltran anymore.  Might as well stuff that David whathisface guy in there and hope he’s good.” instead of really seeming to be invested in his progress.  I think that until the Royals actually care about the future, it’s hard to really see their future.

Garth Sears - 24 April 2006 11:08 PM

There’s David DeJesus, Chris Lubanski, Angel Sanchez/Berroa, Mark Teahen, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, John Buck(?), Justin Huber, Zack Greinke, Denny Bautista, J.P. Howell, Ambiorix Burgos—what will the 2007 or 2008 Royals lack?

I see speed/OBP guys missing. A deep bullpen/rotation, too.

That said, is Andrew Miller a lock for the #1 pick in the draft?

Regarding Miller, you’d think he was a lock. But (these are the Royals, remember), according to Rocky Mountain News, Royals are interested in Lincecum as #1 pick.

Vrhovnik - 25 April 2006 01:03 PM

Regarding Miller, you’d think he was a lock. But (these are the Royals, remember), according to Rocky Mountain News, Royals are interested in Lincecum as #1 pick.

Yeah, one of the explanations I heard about Miller not being a lock was that he, in another draft, might not have been the #1 pick, or even top 3. So, why give Miller #1 money if he isn’t #1? That said, I’m thinking (and hoping) that Miller’s the way they go.

Dan Szymborski - 25 April 2006 12:22 AM

I’m glad I’m not a fan of the organization.  What’s amazingly frustrating is that the Royals have some of these possible pieces in the future and don’t seem to care about finding out if they can play.  The halfhearted way they’ve gone about Denny Bautista and Justin Huber’s careers are quite troublesome.  DeJesus is probably one of their main building blocks but even a few years ago, they had that same “Oh, well, we don’t have Beltran anymore.  Might as well stuff that David whathisface guy in there and hope he’s good.” instead of really seeming to be invested in his progress.  I think that until the Royals actually care about the future, it’s hard to really see their future.

I think a lot of that can be attributed to past failings—when 2004 rolled around, they had the young guys like DeJesus and Bautista and Greinke and traded for Buck and Teahen and Mike Wood, and it all fell apart.

Regarding Justin Huber, they tried him up in the MLB, didn’t work too well, so they sent him back down. Right now, he could probably make a passable MLB first basemen, and would certainly be developing into the hitter the Royals think he can be. It’s frustrating to watch Doug Mientkiewicz man the Royals’ 1B because, yeah he’s great on defense, but so what? That won’t matter when the Royals are making the push to get back into contention later on.

Here’s hoping Huber/Billy Butler/Chris Lubanski/Alex Gordon will all be up with the big club the very minute that they’re ready.

Pitching, pitching, pitching.  Right now the pitching is HORRIBLE!

I know that I’m rather tardy in getting in on this topic… but the pitching, I think, can be solved.  It won’t be easy, of course. 

What I’m really concerned about is finding a shortstop.  The Royals have no viable option in their system.  Bianchi used to seem like he might be that guy, but he’s already had a lot of injury problems and he’s still a long way from the majors.  It’s not like a lot of teams have quality shortstops sitting around waiting to be traded. 

Filling the position is very troubling to me.