For a team that doesn't have any pitching, they've sure spent a lot of money on pitching.

This is definitely going to be the first Spring Training I've watched closely in three years (stupid hopes of competing in 2004), because of the 3B/LF/CF/RF mess, the Sweeney-injury sweepstakes, the bevy of new pitchers, and so on.

Here's a question for you: let's say Meche pitches very well, but KC is not in contention. Will that contract keep them from flipping Meche for top talent, or will another half-year of success make it seem like a good deal, and KC could get good return on a Meche deal? I'm guessing the latter- it's not out of line for a good pitcher's contract in this market.

This is definitely going to be the first Spring Training I've watched closely in three years (stupid hopes of competing in 2004), because of the 3B/LF/CF/RF mess, the Sweeney-injury sweepstakes, the bevy of new pitchers, and so on.
...and no Garth Brooks!

Is Greinke going to be ready for Opening Day?

Here's a question for you: let's say Meche pitches very well, but KC is not in contention.

That's a near-certainty. I don't know if they'd want to flip him, even if they aren't in contention, though. It would all depend on what they're offered, no doubt. I think the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and a handful of others would be able to pick up his tab if they thought it would help them get to the Series. Just cross your fingers and hope the Yankees are in as big a hurt for pitching as they were last year.

Is Greinke going to be ready for Opening Day?

He was recalled to KC at the end of the year (Sept. 19), and most seem to think he'll be in competition for a job. Some, like AG's#1F if I remember correctly, think he'll start the year off at Omaha before working back up into the Royals' rotation.

I think he can be ready tomorrow, the question comes down to what is best for him and for the team.

I'm not a Royals fan, but I'm curious about where Teahen ends up, if Gordon/Butler can win a job, if DeJesus will be moved back to CF, if ZG can win a rotation spot. Should be an interesting spring and season.

Also looking fwd to seeing what Shealy can do this year.

Long-time lurker, first time poster.....here are my random thoughts:

I'm fairly certain that Teahen is moving to left field, and Brown and/or Sanders will play in right. Assuming DDJ is in center, is the Gathright Experiment effectively over? Any hopes that he would improve into a Juan Pierre clone would have to die if he's playing every fifth day. Is he trade fodder?

If I had to guess, I would say Gordon makes the team out of spring training. I'm not sure why we would delay the inevitable any longer; if his array of awards from last season doesn't show that he is MLB-ready, nothing will. Worst case scenario is he starts the year off in Omaha and the German/Keppy combo keep his spot warm.

The LaRue/Buck situation is an intriguing one; LaRue would probably be the more productive player right now, but he's on a one year deal, and I doubt Moore wants to stunt Buck's development by sitting three out of every four games. That being said, $2.5 mill is a lot to pay a backup catcher.

As far as the rotation is concerned, Meche and Perez have their spots locked down. You would think Hudson would have a spot based on last year's performance. The trade for Bannister tells me he will have every opportunity to win a spot in spring training. That leaves De La Rosa, Greinke, a vet pitcher from an Emil Brown or Reggie Sanders trade, a free agent like Jeff Suppan, and possibly a penciled-in bullpen arm to fight for the last spot.

At this point in time, I think De La Rosa will get the spot, as it appear Moore is very optimistic in his chances to be a successful starter. I expect the flirtation with Suppan to end quietly, as it doesn't seem to make much sense for either side. Finally, Greinke will probably start the year in Omaha, and Moore may keep him down there the required amount of time to avoid Super 2 status (don't know the exact time it would take, but I believe it be about 2 months).

I think you can put Gordon on the depth chart. My guess is they'll lean towards starting him in Omaha, but if he puts up unbelieveable numbers in spring training, he may make the squad. And even if he doesn't, its just a matter of time before we see him in KC. He won't be in Omaha all year.

I do think Greinke begins the year in Omaha as they look for consistency from him. He had some great starts in Wichita, but he also had some starts he absolutely bombed. That shouldn't happen.

I think de la Rosa is beginning to become the odd man out. He's out of options, and I think they have better rotation candidates at this point, particularly if they acquire yet another starter like they are rumored to do.

The bullpen sure has a lot of candidates, which is probably a nice way of saying its not all that great. But its probably not as terrible as it was last year. If they don't pick anyone up between now and opening day, I'd put the pitching staff as:

SP Gil Meche
SP Odalis Perez
SP Luke Hudson
SP Brian Bannister
SP Jorge de la Rosa

Long Relief Joakim Soria
MR Todd Wellemeyer
MR Yimmy Yobble
LOOGY John Bale
Setup Joel Peralta
CLOSER Octavio Dotel

Won't they start Gordon off in Omaha, then bring him up in May to delay the arb-clock?

I would, but I'm not sure they're concerned about his arb clock. Dayton has sent mixed signals. He says he wants players to play at each level, but also says some players are exceptions. If there was an exception, you'd think it was Alex Gordon.

The Omaha Royals all season kept promoting the fact that Alex Gordon was going to be in Omaha soon. It would be kinda funny if he never played a game there. And I bet it would piss the O-Royals off.

I can't wait to watch the perpetual tankers in my DMB leagues take a nosedive to win the #1 pick in the Gordon rookie draft sweepstakes. It might even surpass the great Prior tankathon of 2002.

I'm thinking Gordon is the Opening Day 3B. What would be accomplished by having him in Omaha for another two months? Sure there's the service time issue, but considering we threw $55 million at a pitcher last week, money can't be that big of a concern.

And I'm with the guys who think Greinke will be in Omaha. Keep bringing him along slowly, to build his confidence.

And I think Teahen is your starting RF.

Welcome, Balboni -- I hope you play better in the postseason than your namesake. :)

Is he trade fodder?

I think and hope that Moore will use him as trade fodder, and I think some teams would be willing to give us a legitimate price for him, too. Buuut considering that Moore wants increased team speed so much that he coughed up J.P. Howell to get a fast guy, I doubt he'll get a perceived good enough price to move Gathright.

My ideals:
--Gordon @ Omaha until May
--Teahen starts, anywhere's fine
--Brown traded, Huber starts in LF
--Greinke @ Omaha for three to five starts, pending performance in Spring Training

When does Butler get called to the bigs?

--Brown traded, Huber starts in LF
Unfortunately, I think the reverse will be true.

When does Butler get called to the bigs?
September, but True Baseball Man may give him the Huber treatment.

If Sisco and Nunez are in the bigs this season, it will be cause for despair.

Well if the Royals are pursuing Suppan and still shopping Sanders and who knows who else around for pitching, then you really start to have a logjam at the starter position (for once).

If they end up getting Suppan, he'll be a lock for a rotation spot, so you'd have:

-Odalis Perez
-Jeff Suppan
-Gil Meche

I think those would really be your only true locks. Hudson showed promise, Grienke always has the potential, Hochevar isn't ready yet but isn't too far off, Bannister would compete for a spot, and then you've got De La Rosa. All guys that *could* start in the rotation, but none of them would be locks, in my mind.


As for the PTBNL for the LaRue trade.....I'm wondering what airline Berroa would like to fly on his way out of town, because I would personally buy him one. For tomorrow. Or today. Or an hour from now. JUST GET HIM OUT OF HERE!

Unfortunately, I think the reverse will be true.

You're probably right, but according to all the sources, the Royals offered the Orioles Sanders for Rodrigo Lopez and the O's wanted Email Brown instead. I don't see why they're holding on to EB, considering without him we would still have DeJesus, Teahen (assuming he moves out that way), Huber, Maier, Sanders, and Costa to roam the wide-open space that is Kauffman.

The stats do show Brown to be a valuable hitter in comparison to the rest of the league, but he's probably not going to be able to grow any more like these younger guys can. The more experience Huber or Maier (or Costa or Teahen) can get out there, the better.

September, but True Baseball Man may give him the Huber treatment.

I hope that was a poor, tasteless joke, but I fear that there's a chance you're right. I can't even imagine how I would feel if that happened.

As for the PTBNL for the LaRue trade.....I'm wondering what airline Berroa would like to fly on his way out of town, because I would personally buy him one. For tomorrow. Or today. Or an hour from now. JUST GET HIM OUT OF HERE!

Don't PTBNL's usually work by the two GMs agreeing on a certain number of players to pick from, like 10 or so? If so, and Berroa is on that list, he needs to be gone right now. Unfortunately, I believe the PTBNL was specifically a minor leaguer, if I remember correctly. If, through some miracle, it ends up being Berroa, though, that LaRue deal is one of the best Moore would have made in my book.

I hope that was a poor, tasteless joke, but I fear that there's a chance you're right. I can't even imagine how I would feel if that happened.
I'm semi-serious. I really don't think Buddy would use Butler wisely.

The stats do show Brown to be a valuable hitter in comparison to the rest of the league, but he's probably not going to be able to grow any more like these younger guys can. The more experience Huber or Maier (or Costa or Teahen) can get out there, the better.

And his value will never be higher. Buy low, sell high.

For a team that doesn't have any pitching, they've sure spent a lot of money on pitching.

Only Meche, Perez is still getting paid by LA. Other than that only Dotel and Elarton are making >300k.


My plan
Teahen in LF from day one of ST, Kep and German play third.
Trade at least one of Brown and Sanders, preferable both.
Trade Huber OR making him DH FULLTIME when Sweeney's hurt.
Start Gordon in omaha (many reasosn, O-Royals are losing $, KC has small Neb fanbase etc etc etc)
Cut Berroa NOW.

I fully endorse Ozzie's gay friend's post.

There's a sentence I never thought I'd type.

My plan
Teahen in LF from day one of ST, Kep and German play third.
Trade at least one of Brown and Sanders, preferable both.
Trade Huber OR making him DH FULLTIME when Sweeney's hurt.
Start Gordon in omaha (many reasosn, O-Royals are losing $, KC has small Neb fanbase etc etc etc)
Cut Berroa NOW.

Moving Teahen to LF in spring training is probably a good idea, so he can get used to that position. But I would only do that if Gordon was going to take over at 3rd. Otherwise, what's the point? German is not someone you'd want for an everyday 3rd baseman, and I see him only as a utility guy (but I'd still take him fulltime at SS over Berroa). If you're going to get rid of Brown and Sanders, you've gotta have someone in the outfield, and that's where Huber fits (in RF).

Then you've got a lineup like this:

C- Buck/LaRue
1st - Shealy
2nd - Grudz
SS - German
3rd - Gordon
LF - Teahen
CF - DeJesus
RF - Huber
Backup OF - Costa
DH - Sweendoggle

It would probably be preferable to keep one of the Sanders/Brown duo, just to fill up that RF spot until the Maier/Huber/Butler sweepstakes settles itself out. The only downside of that is you push Costa back into a 5th OF spot, and I think he's a guy that has enough potential to play everyday, once he gets the chance.

Brown and Sanders are both on my mental trading block. Personally, I'd prefer getting a shortstop in return, but the Royals have enough needs that it's probably wiser to take the best offer available.

Needs:
Shortstop
Front of rotation starter (probably can't address this this offseason)
Relief pitching
Middle infield prospects.
Pitching depth in general

Trade candidates:
Brown and Sanders -- either or both
Huber
Minor league outfielders (not Butler)
German
Berroa (I wish)

I'm happy to see the Royals fans have reason to hope. They'll probably be my adopted AL team.

And his value will never be higher. Buy low, sell high.

I agree, but i'm not sure "selling high" is trading him for a Rodrigo Lopez-type. Maybe I still have my blue sunglasses on, but isn't a cheap, healthy, corner OF that can give you an 800+ OPS worth more than a 1 year flier on some scrub starter? Honestly, we have an abundance of young OF that may soon be ready for the big leagues, but I doubt any of them, save Butler, could put up better numbers at this point than Emil.

Would it be the worst thing in the world if we kept him another season and he did the same thing he's done the last two years? I admit that I may still be traumatized by the Raul Ibanez fiasco, but I don't think we're in the position to run a guy like Brown out of town and get peanuts in return.

AG#1- thanks, I hope you realize though that over half of what I post here is very non-serious and only for my personal amusement.

The idea with starting Teahen in left is to have Gordon up by the ASB.

IMO you HAVE to start Gorodn in Omaha.
In short, the Royals have jerked Omaha around for years, Omaha's pissed about prospects skipping AAA, Nebraska is cornhusker-crazy and Gordon crazy but has no interest in the Royals, etc etc.

As of this time last year the Royals were barely in the top-5 most popular MLB teams in the state.

Good points, Balboni. Ideally, I think what you'd like to do is trade well enough that you realize his value at a position where you need it more (shortstop!). But the trade market isn't liquid enough that you can necessarily do that.

Maybe I need to update my mental picture: with the rotation a shambles, almost any trade of Brown for pitching helps the team. After this offseason, that need is a little less pressing.

Sanders, I would let go for almost anything. For Brown, I'd want someone who'll stick around for a few years.

Cut Berroa, waiting for him to regain his form is pointless, and you'll NEVER get anything for him.
(as an aside, Berroa is the only current royal who resides yearround in KC).

Andres Blanco is Cesar Izturis v2.0 (as I've been saying for years), he'll do for now.


Opening day (RH-heavy, but what the hell):

CF Dejesus
2B Grudz
LF Teahen
DH Sweeney
RF Brown
1B Shealy
3B German
C Larue
SS Blanco

September 2007:

CF-Dejesus
2B-German (this has zero chance of happening, it'll be Grudz, but I can dream)
3B-Gordon
DH-Butler
LF-Teahen
1B-SHealy
RF-Huber
C-LARue
SS-Blanco

AG#1- thanks, I hope you realize though that over half of what I post here is very non-serious and only for my personal amusement.

When I first read his comment, I thought it was a joke, him saying he never thought he'd fully endorse something said by someone named Ozzie's gay friend. Of course, I could have read it incorrectly. It wouldn't be the first time.

So you'd cut bait with both Berroa and Buck? I think I'd agree with you on Berroa, but while I think LaRue is better than Buck straight up, there still might be a margin of a percent Buck turns into something decent, and I still don't know if that possibility is worth waiting around for.

Unless you've already picked out the barrel you want to be held over, you can't trade or release Berroa until you've found a replacement. Unless we see some movement on that front, he's the probable starter.

No, I was acting under the impression that LaRue is getting #1A billing for next year, but come to think of it I though I heard they'll be spliting duties.

Looking back my lineup is sorta silly, that september team would play some brutal defense.

I doubt Huber every plays in KC again, DM's got some interesting choices to make, esp if Maier and/or Lubanski pan out.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, Rodrigo Lopez could be nontendered today, along with Joel Pineiro. If Moore wanted to trade Sanders for Lopez, do you guys think that was more of a unload-Reggie's-salary-forsomething deal or a legitimate desire to get Lopez?

Pineiro's name looks attractive, considering all I can remember of him is that he seemed to dominate the Royals whenever they matched up, but looking at his stats, he has had some really down years lately. I know the get-someone-so-they-can't-beat-you tactic doesn't seem to work (sure didn't work with T-Long), but anyone think he could be a worthwhile pickup?

Royals trade P Andrew Sisco to the White Sox for 30 year old 1B/OF Ross Gload.

The first truly retarded move of the Dayton Moore era. Sisco was terrible last year, but he's still young, still has upside, and showed he could produce in 2005. A season in Omaha would have probably put him right back on track. Instead, we deal him for a decent backup 1B/OH, a position we have more than enough candidates for. Just a baffling, Baird-like move.

Yeah, I don't understand that move at all. Moore must really hate Huber.