2014 Royals Repository

[duncan_idaho]

With my 6,000th post on ChiefsPlanet (it only took me 12 years to get here), I bring you: The 2014 Kansas City Royals Repository.

To be discussed here: All things Royals, as they attempt to post another winning season and make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

25-man RosterAvailable HERE

AL Central Standings:

Link

Duncan's Top 20 Royals Prospects

Spoiler!

1) 3B Hunter Dozier ETA: 2015
Dozier started slowly at A+ Wilmington but caught fire in May and June, earning a mid-season promotion to AA Northwest Arkansas. Big, strong kid with good plate discipline skills and solid power who projects to be an above-average glove at 3B with solid power.

2) SS Raul (Adalberto) Mondesi ETA: 2017
Mondesis is the opposite of Dozier…. Started red-hot at Wilmington before back spasms derailed him for a few weeks and hasn’t gotten it going since coming back. Scouting reports have been great – defense and speed both improved over the offseason. Still a chance to be an elite SS, with 40 SB speed, plus glove, .300 average and some pop.

3) LHP Sean Manaea | ETA: 2015
Scouting reports outperform the stat line so far. Missing a ton of bats at A+ but not preventing runs like you’d expect to see. Needs to work deeper into games (gradually working about an inning deeper/month so far this year) and improve control. Walks are biggest concern right now, but could be elevated due to work on extra off-speed offerings. Still has No. 2 starter potential, could be higher if the great control he exhibited before his hip surgery eventually comes back.

4) RHP Kyle Zimmer| ETA: 2015
Should be NO. 1 on the list and is probably the Royals most VALUABLE current prospect, but he hasn’t thrown a ball in 4-5 weeks and had only been throwing for 2-3 weeks when he was shut down then.

5) LHP Brandon Finnegan| ETA: 2015
Top 2014 draft choice is an undersized lefty who will start at A+ Wilmington after anchoring CWS run for TCU. Good fastball, better slider, change that needs work to stick as a starter, but if he sticks, No. 2/No. 3 starter upside. Likely a top 10 or even top 5 pick if he doesn’t miss 1 start in the middle of the college season as a precautionary move.

6) RHP Miguel Almonte| ETA: 2016
Have heard some say Almonte is more advanced as a pitcher at A+ than Yordano Ventura was (comparison because both were cheap signs out of Latin America). Really advanced changeup and a curve that is working out well (where the ‘more advanced’ comment comes from). Fastball velo is good but not great – 92-94. Like Manaea, working on his second-best offspeed pitch and leaning less on his bread-and butter (changeup), which has hurt his numbers a bit.

7) RHP Christian Binford 2017
Reverse case of “don’t just scout stat lines.” Based on his stats at A+, you’d think he was an elite prospect, but there are questions about Binford’s stuff playing up at higher levels. Tall righty with great command of fastball, slider and a good and still developing changeup. None of those pitches profiles as better than average, though, limiting his likely upside to back-end rotation guy.

8) SS Orlando Calixte| ETA: 2016
I still like him more than many. Good combination of SS/MI skills and power. Started hot at NWA but in a slump at moment.

9)LHP Foster Griffin | ETA: 2019
Tall, projectable lefty taken in 2014 draft. Viewed as a great value in the sandwich round and probably would have been KC’s pick at No. 17 if Finnegan hadn’t fallen. High school arm who is going to take a while to develop.

10) RF Jorge Bonifacio| ETA: 2016
Hasn’t hit as well as expected in his second go-round at AA NWA. Power still sapped, and average skills have dipped. Once looked like he might be an option in RF at some point in 2015, now looks like 2016 is optimistic. Still young for his level.

11) 3B/2B Cheslor Cuthbert| ETA: 2016
Cuthbert has had better luck at NWA than Boni and is also extremely young for level. HE’s been moved to 2B since Dozier was promoted, which could put a new spin on Cuthbert’s prospects. If he sticks at 2B, bat plays up much better. Good OBP/plate discipline and solid power, but needs to continue improving contact skills

12) C Chase Vallot| ETA: 2020
Young (just 17) C with tremendous power. One of the top prep bats and a great value for KC where it got him. If he sticks at C, expect him to move slowly, but the bat may force the issue (or force him to another position).

13) C Zane Evans| ETA: 2017
GA Tech product has handled Wilmington better than most RH bats and probably is in line for a promotion to NWA sometime soon. Decent pop, decent skills behind the plate. Could be a nice reserve catcher.

14) RHP Scott Blewett| ETA: 2020
Tall, projectable righty with a fresh arm but some injury concerns on his shoulder that slipped him out of Round 1 of MLB draft. Big time potential.

15) CF Bubba Starling | ETA:
Bubba Starling has great tools. Bubba Starling (still) can’t hit. That’s all I have to say about that.

16) 1B Samir Duenez| ETA:
I still like him, even though the attempt to run him through full season ball at 17 did not go well.

17)LF/RF Elier Hernandez| ETA:
Hernandez still pops up in scouting reports but still is very raw and toolsy.

18) RHP Pedro Fernandez| ETA:
Pop-up player on the same track as Ventura and Almonte. Similar signing, similar profile. One to watch over next few years.

19) SS Marten Gasparini| ETA:
Royals’ most expensive international signing likely moves to CF eventually, but his speed and athleticism are intriguing abilities. Early reports from complex ball are very positive on him.

20) RHP Niklas Stephenson| ETA:
Interesting pop-up candidate who found 10 more MPH on his fastball by using a weighted ball during workouts over the winter. Now sits mid-90s with fastball and is dominating at rookie ball (after having an ERA over 8 there a year ago). Likely promoted to a higher challenge soon.

[Archie F. Swin]

"The 2014 Royals are now seven games behind the Tigers, 3 1/2 behind the Mariners for the second wild card, and, barring a break from character, 65 games from becoming the first franchise in more than 20 years to not make the playoffs within four seasons of being chosen baseball’s best farm system by Baseball America."

[Canofbier]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Oh, you bet. These guys are going to turn it on any day now.

I'm a few pages late, but I just wanted to say that this is a great gif.

[duncan_idaho]

If an entire team is made up of home-grown players, with most of them being high school draftees or international signings, and they can't handle pressure, that isn't just about the players.

That's another strike against the development process that's in place.

There's an air of satisfaction with mediocrity, a participation medal feel, around this front office (that's what happens when you're two games under .500, wildly inconsistent and up-and-down, atrocious in one of the big areas of the game, and let it leak that you don't understand why you're not selling out every night).

That filters down to everybody. You just don't get a feel that there's a demand for excellence.

The stuff about BA and best farm system is just terribly damning. That goes to player development in the minors and at the major league level, too.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by tk13

That's not homerism or optimism. It's 3.5 games. That's one good week of baseball. They had a hot week or two about a month ago and were in 1st place. If someone gives you a Samardzija type deal maybe you listen about Shields. I'm not sure that'll happen though. Trading Gordon or Hosmer or anyone else is crazy. It's basically throwing in the towel during a 4-5 football season when you're one game out of a WC spot.

Last year after 97 games this team was 5 games under, and 9 games out of a WC spot. This year they're 3.5 and there are less teams to hop... Toronto's come back to earth, the Yankees are missing two of their best pitchers, we still have several games against Cleveland and Seattle has to battle Oakland/Anaheim. Dayton should be out there trying to wheel and deal for help to overtake these teams. His job should depend on it.

I hear what you are saying, but there is NO EVIDENCE to support that he is capable of getting this done. NONE!

You can't be this wildly inconsistent as a team, and expect that the other Teams around you are going to continue to keep you in the game. Those other franchises have actually won something in the last couple of decades, and know how to make deals to get better in the 2nd half of the season. The "Be Royals" and Dayton Moore..................yeah. Not so much.

[Archie F. Swin]

http://www.pinetarpress.com/royals-s...probably-wont/
Royals Should Sell, But History Means They Probably Won't
DB Lesky

After the fears of many have been realized, the Kansas City Royals are now in the home stretch of July and under the .500 mark. This may seem familiar. Just last year the Royals didn’t reach the .500 mark to stay until they beat the White Sox to win their sixth straight and got to 51-51. They’d fall back to exactly .500 once more before finishing the season on a strong note and getting to 86-76. At that time, the season was trumpeted by the organization as a success. You may recall Dayton Moore’s probably regrettable quote about the World Series. So that brings us to today, in the midst of the most anticipated Royals season since 2004, and the team is floundering. It seems like so long ago that the Royals were 39-32 and in charge of the AL Central with a 1.5 game lead. That’s vanished. They’ve even lost their hold on second place in the division.

So now, they should sell.

I’m a firm believer that if a team doesn’t have a real shot at the playoffs that they should always be trading parts that can allow them to receive help for future seasons. How many players I’d trade really depends on the team and the season. The Rangers, for example, are pretty clearly losing because I’m pretty sure their entire roster has spent time on the disabled list. With better health hoped for and assumed in 2015, the Rangers should probably hang on to some of their key guys. Maybe Elvis Andrus could fetch something on the open market, but he can be a key contributor to a good Rangers team next year, so why trade him just to trade him? At the same time, Adrian Beltre might be a good fit to be traded because the Rangers have Joey Gallo on the way, so they could boost their 2015 team with the return for Beltre and hopefully not lose anything at third base next year with the young guy coming up.

With a team like the Cubs, trading Jeff Samardzija was probably the right move. They’re on the cusp of being good, but not right there, so trading a guy who would probably be gone after next season anyway is smart. If the Cubs felt they could win next year, then I think it would be harder to trade Samardzija. The Rays might believe they can contend next year. If that’s the case, they’re not likely to receive anyone in return for David Price who can better help them to that goal, so maybe they hold on to him.

You can see that it’s not so easy to make these decisions. The Royals are kind of no-man’s land right now because they are sort of in striking distance of the second wild card with a fair amount of time left to go this season. This is where the history of the franchise gets in the way of the future of the franchise. If the Royals were an organization that had a couple playoff runs here and there and weren’t gunning for their third .500+ season since the strike, things would be very different. The Royals would look at their current roster and see a lot of potential for this team next season with the right moves being made. The front office wouldn’t feel the weight of their first eight years in control along with the weight of the 21 years prior to that. If we’re being honest, anything that happened before 2014 from a franchise perspective should be irrelevant. If we’re being logical, though, we know that’s not the way things work.

Now the Royals are in a situation that they don’t really know what they should do. If you watch this team, it’s pretty apparent that they’re mediocre. No, they aren’t as bad as they’ve shown at times, and they’re not nearly as good as they showed during their winning streak that vaulted them into first place. They’re probably a team destined to win somewhere between 78 and 86 games. A team without the last quarter century plus of losing might look at that record and see that it’s not good enough to really get anywhere and realize that the difference between 72 wins and 86 wins is nothing if it means no playoffs. A team like the Royals, though, sees value in 86 wins over 72 wins because even a .500 record is so hard to come by. That’s a big reason why you’re not going to see a Royals team near .500 and relatively close to a potential playoff spot in July selling off pieces. If it gets really bad, then maybe the conversation changes.

A related reason is the failure of this regime to get to the playoffs in nearly a decade on the job. When the Royals traded for James Shields and Wade Davis, a pretty clear message was sent that the Royals were expecting to make the playoffs in 2013 and/or 2014. I think there are ancillary benefits of respectability that a lot of people just don’t want to hear, but you don’t trade one of the best offensive prospects your system has seen for two years of a legitimately good starting pitcher unless you expect to make the playoffs with that guy. You don’t trade a potential stalwart in the outfield to have two .500+ seasons. Some can argue that, but they’d be wrong. So yeah, this season means a lot to this front office.

And that’s why they’re probably not going to do what they probably should do and trade James Shields to a team desperate for starting pitchers. That’s why they’re probably not going to pick one of Davis or Holland and trade them now. That’s why they’re probably not going to even seriously consider trading a guy like Eric Hosmer or Lorenzo Cain or, gasp, Alex Gordon. Instead, they’re likely going to stand pat or maybe even add some pieces to make a run as the 2014 season begins to wind down. This team could potentially even make a run if they add the right pieces. A right-handed bat who can hit some homers would be huge in this lineup. Bolstering the bullpen would be really helpful to aid a very good starting rotation. And this team could make a bit of a run and they could get to that 86 or 87 win mark. The problem is that I don’t think that’s even going to be enough to make the playoffs. Why sell the farm to miss the playoffs by three games?

I’ve been an advocate of buying for the Royals, but my advocacy stems from the fact that I just don’t see the Royals doing the opposite. Realistically, they should probably sell and try to re-tool for next season. They have two guys in their rotation in Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy who have shown that they may be able to headline a rotation. There’s potential for 2015. If the last 29 years of Royals hadn’t been such an abject failure, the organization might be able to look to that year and tell the fans that they’ll try again next year with a stronger team, with holes from this year’s team fixed and strengths made stronger.

With all the flack we deservedly give this organization, it’s easy to forget that they know exactly what’s going on with team. They know the problems. Still, they see a team with a lot of potential and often focus on what they can do rather than what they have done. When you look at the entirety of what this team has done, it’s just hard to see a way this team makes the playoffs. Becuase of that simple point, I would sell. Unfortunately, Dayton Moore and company know the history of both this organization and their regime and feel they just can’t do that. And unfortunately, that has a chance to lead to the organization missing an opportunity to strengthen the next few years for the glory of not being mathematically eliminated until late in September again.

[gblowfish]

I've been saying these guys are pants wetters forever. Any time we draw a big crowd at home, they play like shit. But if it's Tuesday night in September and 10,000 (barely) people show up, they play like world beaters.

Glass won't do anything to change anything. This team was "better" this year, which means they waited until July to implode instead of May. Next year will be 30 years even of futility. They should put a shoulder patch on the uniform to commemorate the achievement.

Even if Glass did whack GMDM, the next contestant would stand up at the press conference and announce "I have a plan, but the fans need to be patient. Give me five years...."

Uuuuuugh.....

We are the American League Version of the Chicago Cubs.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I've been saying these guys are pants wetters forever. Any time we draw a big crowd at home, they play like shit. But if it's Tuesday night in September and 10,000 (barely) people show up, they play like world beaters.

Glass won't do anything to change anything. This team was "better" this year, which means they waited until July to implode instead of May. Next year will be 30 years even of futility. They should put a shoulder patch on the uniform to commemorate the achievement.

Even if Glass did whack GMDM, the next contestant would stand up at the press conference and announce "I have a plan, but the fans need to be patient. Give me five years...."

Uuuuuugh.....

We are the American League Version of the Chicago Cubs.

WRONG!

The Cubbies have actually been to the Playoffs 5 times since we last went. We are in a league of our own.

[gblowfish]

We're better at being the Cubs than the Cubs!

[Nzoner]

This could be a column pointing out that Ned Yost torpedoed a game with a brain-dead pitching change on Friday, the kind of failed leadership the Royals just can’t afford. This could be a column pointing out that Dayton Moore has had more time in charge of the Royals than the constitution allows presidents in the White House, all without a postseason while the team that just passed them in the standings is on its second successful rebuild in that time.

Once again I'll bring the argument that a good manager can make a big difference.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

We're better at being the Cubs than the Cubs!

Hate to say this, because it sounds very Royal-ish...

but the Cubs and the Astros are the two teams who are set up to be damn good in 2017.

I know we all thought that about the Royals 3 years ago so...yeah. Anything can happen I suppose.

Dayton should sell. He should sell Shields and Holland for sure. And then he should get the boot and we, once a-freaking-gain, should start over.

Hire some stats geek from the A's or the 'Stros and go from there.

[TambaBerry]

Please Glass sell the team to the cerner group. I'm tired of this no accountability. From the owner to guys like Moore and yost.

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by dingleberry

Please Glass sell the team to the cerner group. I'm tired of this no accountability. From the owner to guys like Moore and yost.

Glass has zero reasons to sell the team.

[Hootie]

I'm not seeing why, currently, David Glass is an issue. We spent plenty of money this year. We've spent more money than the Pirates and the A's to name a few...a lot more money than those two teams actually.

So yeah. He's clearly not a great or attentive owner...but the failure has to be on Dayton at this point. If we want to blame Glass for Dayton's failure I suppose that's acceptable.

[Jerm]

Save Our KC Royals fixin to start flying banners according to their FB...

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

I'm not seeing why, currently, David Glass is an issue. We spent plenty of money this year. We've spent more money than the Pirates and the A's to name a few...a lot more money than those two teams actually.

So yeah. He's clearly not a great or attentive owner...but the failure has to be on Dayton at this point. If we want to blame Glass for Dayton's failure I suppose that's acceptable.

I wonder how much time Dayton has left?