*** Official 2015 Royals Repository ***

[duncan_idaho]

In this thread: All things related to the AL Champions.

Duncan's Official Team Record prediction: 90 wins
Duncan's Official Team MVP prediction: Eric Hosmer

I can't wait for this season to start. The AL Central should be a very entertaining race. I'll give brief thoughts on each team the Royals must contend with to make it back to the postseason - strengths and weaknesses.

Detroit Tigers:
Strength: The offense is still full of powerful hitters, and Miguel Cabrera may be healthier.
Weakness: Rotation is questionable after Price and Sanchez, bullpen continues to be horrible.

Cleveland Indians:
Strength: Great manager and a deep, versatile lineup.
Weakness: The rotation is a question mark past Corey Kluber, and even he has a few questions about him.

Chicago White Sox:
Strength: 1-2-3 combo of Sale, Quintana and Samardzija is pretty formidable. Offense is anchored by Jose Abreu, too.
Weakness: Defense still has major questions, and this team has 20 games to improve by if it really wants to make the playoffs.

The Royals will be a division winner IF ...
1) Ventura and Duffy combine for 375+ innings of high-quality work
2) Eric Hosmer delivers on his potential with a FULL season of success rather than bursts
3) The deeper bullpen lessens the critical load on Herrera, Davis and Holland
4) Lorenzo Cain stays healthy
5) Either Alex Rios or Kendrys Morales bounces back to 2013 form

Let's get this started!

[Hootie]

I'm paraphrasing here but Cowherd was just talking about baseball and the fact NO ONE can hit anymore due to all of the power pitching and he said baseball is becoming the Kansas City Royals. (He wasn't saying this as an insult). He said to win, you don't need great baseball players, you need good baseball players who are also athletes. Baseball is all about speed. Turning singles into doubles. Stealing bases. Scoring from 2nd on singles. Defense. Etc...

Basically ... the Vegas O/U at 80.5 for our team was HILARIOUS. It's nice to see a Kansas City team ahead of the curve for once ... this team has pretty much revolutionized the new age of baseball.

[Unsmooth-Moment]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

I hate the off day after opening day. Especially after yesterday. I'm ready for them to get back at it today.

Agreed. Also, no day games today. Gay.

[Unsmooth-Moment]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

I'm paraphrasing here but Cowherd was just talking about baseball and the fact NO ONE can hit anymore due to all of the power pitching and he said baseball is becoming the Kansas City Royals. (He wasn't saying this as an insult). He said to win, you don't need great baseball players, you need good baseball players who are also athletes. Baseball is all about speed. Turning singles into doubles. Stealing bases. Scoring from 2nd on singles. Defense. Etc...

Basically ... the Vegas O/U at 80.5 for our team was HILARIOUS. It's nice to see a Kansas City team ahead of the curve for once ... this team has pretty much revolutionized the new age of baseball.

In a sense it really has. No more taxing starting pitchers to get them "out of the game early". In the situation like we have our relievers are so powerful, it hurts other teams when the next pitcher up is better than the last. I think our defense is extremely undervalued. Of course everyone says we have a great defense, but I don't think people understand how many runs we actually keep off the board with these guys.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

Better yet.

I hope he gets incredibly disgruntled with the team that begins with an incident stemming from the GM eating his pudding from his lunch bag. The Gm deems him a locker room cancer and offers to trade him really cheap. Nobody budges because of the bad juju but Dayton steps in to trade him 2 prospects for him. Their Gm makes the trade. Both prospects don't do so well because they're incredibly mad because he's taking their pudding too, however, they've learned their lesson and keep quiet. Both are released midway through the season and signed by the Royals to a uber cap friendly deal. Both of them stay with the Royals the rest of their careers and are first rounder HOF. Royals win 3 championships facing the Giants in the WS every time.

Of course this is just my dream and can only occur if we are certain that San Fran's GM really, really likes pudding.

DRUGS is... is... bad

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

I'm paraphrasing here but Cowherd was just talking about baseball and the fact NO ONE can hit anymore due to all of the power pitching and he said baseball is becoming the Kansas City Royals. (He wasn't saying this as an insult). He said to win, you don't need great baseball players, you need good baseball players who are also athletes. Baseball is all about speed. Turning singles into doubles. Stealing bases. Scoring from 2nd on singles. Defense. Etc...

Basically ... the Vegas O/U at 80.5 for our team was HILARIOUS. It's nice to see a Kansas City team ahead of the curve for once ... this team has pretty much revolutionized the new age of baseball.

The game has definitely changed. With all relievers basically blowing it out for one-inning stints, it's a real limit to offense. Same with the approach taken with starting pitchers... there's no reason to let your back-end guys try to fight through the lineup a third time if they're struggling. Pull them, keep yourself in the game, and keep it moving.

Baseball is going to have to do something to help the offense out. More hitters learning and focusing on hitting to the opposite field to beat the shift will help, but the ability of pitchers to throw crazy gas at the knees for strikes really limits what an offensive player can do with the ball.

I'm not sure what it will come to ... adding the DH to the NL would help, as would juicing the ball or lowering the pitcher's mound again. Or raising/re-defining the strike zone. But baseball might have to do something within the next few years.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

juicing the ball

how about letting juice back into the game

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

The game has definitely changed. With all relievers basically blowing it out for one-inning stints, it's a real limit to offense. Same with the approach taken with starting pitchers... there's no reason to let your back-end guys try to fight through the lineup a third time if they're struggling. Pull them, keep yourself in the game, and keep it moving.

Baseball is going to have to do something to help the offense out. More hitters learning and focusing on hitting to the opposite field to beat the shift will help, but the ability of pitchers to throw crazy gas at the knees for strikes really limits what an offensive player can do with the ball.

I'm not sure what it will come to ... adding the DH to the NL would help, as would juicing the ball or lowering the pitcher's mound again. Or raising/re-defining the strike zone. But baseball might have to do something within the next few years.

seriously

even the best hitters in the game can't touch guys like Wade Davis or Greg Holland (or Kelvin Herrera)

this is why I thought it was so funny when the offseason predictions had us being like the 24th best team in baseball

why?

cuz we don't hit homeruns?!

haha

we play better defense than anyone, we'll steal more bases than anyone, we're fundamentally sound, we're deep, we have the best bullpen in baseball by far (and our 4, 5, 6, and 7 could be closers on a lot of teams which is hilarious), we're coming off a pennant run

...and we added veterans like Rios and Morales who are going to inevitable be huge upgrades to Aoki and Butler while having guys like Medlen and Chris Young as insurance to our rotation

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

I'm paraphrasing here but Cowherd was just talking about baseball and the fact NO ONE can hit anymore due to all of the power pitching and he said baseball is becoming the Kansas City Royals. (He wasn't saying this as an insult). He said to win, you don't need great baseball players, you need good baseball players who are also athletes. Baseball is all about speed. Turning singles into doubles. Stealing bases. Scoring from 2nd on singles. Defense. Etc...

Basically ... the Vegas O/U at 80.5 for our team was HILARIOUS. It's nice to see a Kansas City team ahead of the curve for once ... this team has pretty much revolutionized the new age of baseball.

Yep. Taking the roids out of the sport changes the game more than most people realize. It's now back to being about youth and speed. 162 games is a LONG season. The dudes built like action figures are going to wear out over the course of a season without PEDs.

Our roster is well suited for the new style of play. Speed and defense don't have slumps. Half a dozen relievers bringing 95+ can take a lot of pressure off the starters who know that we only need 6.

That said, we need to keep hitting it over the wall. We can't mask that issue all season again.

[Hootie]

It would be nice to have more home runs, no doubt. I think it's inevitable that we will. But the Cardinals only hit 5 more than us last year if I recall, and they were right in the thick of things (per usual) all the way until the end.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

It would be nice to have more home runs, no doubt. I think it's inevitable that we will. But the Cardinals only hit 5 more than us last year if I recall, and they were right in the thick of things (per usual) all the way until the end.

Cards fan dropping in here,but to chime in with what is being said.

I don't necessarily think it has to be home runs, but as with the cardinals, and to go along with what's being said, with pitching being what it is, it's hard to score runs via 3 or 4 straight singleS. Someone has to be able to hit it over the fence, or in the gap.

The Cardinals struggled with that last year, but pitching and defense (sorta) kept us in it. The year prior, the cards set the record for hitting with risp.

Just as its going in football, athleticism is becoming more and more valuable.

[ChiefsCountry]

Getting on and stealing bases can help with singles. Lot of times you can score easy from 2nd on a normal single.

[Fairplay]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

The game has definitely changed. With all relievers basically blowing it out for one-inning stints, it's a real limit to offense. Same with the approach taken with starting pitchers... there's no reason to let your back-end guys try to fight through the lineup a third time if they're struggling. Pull them, keep yourself in the game, and keep it moving.

Baseball is going to have to do something to help the offense out. More hitters learning and focusing on hitting to the opposite field to beat the shift will help, but the ability of pitchers to throw crazy gas at the knees for strikes really limits what an offensive player can do with the ball.

I'm not sure what it will come to ... adding the DH to the NL would help, as would juicing the ball or lowering the pitcher's mound again. Or raising/re-defining the strike zone. But baseball might have to do something within the next few years.

The MLB Commissioner wants to end defensive shifts in baseball so that would help out the offense.

With today's technology how come they can't have an invisible electronic strike zone set up for each player and still have an umpire to call the strikes or balls. But it could be referred to if a player challenges the call.

[ChiefsCountry]

Add the DH to the NL, get the Rays and A's ballparks ironed out, and then expansion to 32. That will help offenses out IMO. Also influx more money in the league as well.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

seriously

even the best hitters in the game can't touch guys like Wade Davis or Greg Holland (or Kelvin Herrera)

this is why I thought it was so funny when the offseason predictions had us being like the 24th best team in baseball

why?

cuz we don't hit homeruns?!

haha

we play better defense than anyone, we'll steal more bases than anyone, we're fundamentally sound, we're deep, we have the best bullpen in baseball by far (and our 4, 5, 6, and 7 could be closers on a lot of teams which is hilarious), we're coming off a pennant run

...and we added veterans like Rios and Morales who are going to inevitable be huge upgrades to Aoki and Butler while having guys like Medlen and Chris Young as insurance to our rotation

Yeah.

i've broken them down, but the pitching projections for the Royals' staff were hilariously awful.

predicting 1-2 ERA jumps for Herrera, Holland and Davis. Projecting .75-1.50 jumps for all the starting pitchers.

It might have made sense according to statistical measures, but only because those measures keep trying to predict extreme backslides on defense, ballpark factor, and HR prevention.

The Royals are not suddenly going to start giving up a ton more HR at the K. The ballpark depresses HR. Same thing with many of the Central division parks - Target Field and Comerica both are bad parks for HRs.

Jacobs field is good for LH power and The Cell is good for all power. But 100 of the Royals 162 games will be played in bad HR parks.

The bullpen is not going to backslide. Predicting Greg Holland to suddenly become ineffective is stupid and a low percentage play. He's pitched at roughly the same, ultra-elite level for 4 years now. Unless he's hurt, he is who we have seen the past several years. Same with Davis and Herrera, who have track records as really elite guys out of the pen.

The middle inning relievers are going to be better. Just Frasor would be a big upgrade. Adding back Hochevar and the other new options (Flynn, Morales, Madson) is going to improve performance there.

And the defense is not going to backslide. Gordon has been amazing in LF for 4 years. Cain is a stud when healthy, and even if he isn't, Jarrod Dyson is a stud CF. Rios is a BIG upgrade in RF from Aoki (from what we've seen).

Projection systems are great for some things, but they have some significant blind spots - and the Royals happen to live in the biggest of those.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

It would be nice to have more home runs, no doubt. I think it's inevitable that we will. But the Cardinals only hit 5 more than us last year if I recall, and they were right in the thick of things (per usual) all the way until the end.

Yeah, but you're comparing a National League team to an American League team.