They can clear payroll by dumping Hochevar and Volstad.

Good re-sign. So far the staff is becoming quite solid. Not great but a step in the right direction. Still work to be done for sure!

Bob Nightengale ‏@BNightengale

You know it's a good time to be a free-agent pitcher when Jeremy Guthrie lands 3-year, $25 million deal from #Royals.

Nice! I had been worried that the Royals wouldn't get this done. This shows that the team possesses a willingness to compete, and, at worst, the rotation will look something like this by the end of 2013.

Guthrie
Santana
Duffy
Odorizzi
Paulino/Mendoza/Smith/Chen (In order of potential)

Compared to past incarnations of Royals' pitching staffs, this could be mint.

I'll take it, but what I will say is that in the middle of the season last year, he was traded for Sanchez. I mean he was really playing bad and to his credit he did turn it around. I sure hope that 3rd year he can still play. Dude will be 34 next year when the season starts. Bruce Chen was 35 this year and he didn't seem to have it anymore.

I could stomach Hosmer for Hellickson and Archer. Hosmer for Hellickson straight-up would be tough to take.

I'm not a huge believer in Hellickson's ability to outpitch his peripherals long-term.

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm

Guthrie lifetime 55-77 with 4.28 ERA...led leagues in losses twice (09 & 11) career WHIP of 1.31 KC continue to load up on back end starters

4.28 ERA is our ace, sadly enough. I'd take that all freaking day long.

Buster Olney ‏@Buster_ESPN
Hearing solid reviews of the Royals' three-year, $25m deal with Guthrie from rival execs. They think it's a fair price, given the market.

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm

After the acquisition of Santana and agreement with Guthrie...Royals show they are determined to not be the A's or O's of 2013 #$38million$$



What did the Royals do to Jim Bowden?

You have to trust his stuff over his peripherals.

I had a long-ass post on this very thing in the other Royals thread when you were asking what tradeable assets the Royals had...before a crybaby **** of a mod banned me and I couldn't get it posted. The exact proposal was Hosmer for Hellickson and Archer.

My position was that Hosmer has 2 years of service time and is a Borass client. Hellickson has 2 years as well. Borass won't allow his client to extend in KC before his FA period, so you're looking at having to shop him in 2 or 3 seasons anyway.

I know it sucks to have to view the world that way, but I like Myers and Moose's upside more and those are guys the Royals will have to throw a bunch of money at to extend. Can they do that AND sign Hosmer out of the FA market? It sure seems unlikely.

So why not deal him for a power-armed starter that's proven to be durable and has definite #2 starter stuff.

You argue that Hellickson outpitches his peripherals when I think there's a sound argument to be made that Hellickson's peripherals simply don't match his ability. He should be as good as his ERA indicates. His stuff absolutely allows for that. With some adjustments in his approach and refinement to his breaking stuff, he has ace-caliber upside. Better still, he has youth on his side and plenty of time to reach that upside still.

Guthrie has been a league-average pitcher over the course of his career, pitching in the toughest division in baseball and in a home hitter's park.

I expect he'll end up around a 3.75-4.00 ERA, with 200 IP, playing for KC in this park.

I missed that. Hellickson/Archer is a nice pairing.

Hosmer actually has 5 years of service time left, though. Which adds a bit to his value, especially for a team like the A's.

I was a HUGE Hellickson fan for a long time. In fact, during Greinke trade proposals, he was my favorite primary pitching return (Jordan Zimmermann in Washington a close second).

I'm just terrified he's a white version of Jair Jurrjens.

We'll save a lot of money when we dump Hoch.

Jair Jurrjens couldn't bring Hell-Boy's heat.

And at this point the Royals may just have to worry about Eric Hosmer being a white version of Ken Harvey.