Possible opening day roster?

[Bronco_Buster]

SP-Hernandez, May, Appier, Anderson, and Assencio
Relief-Affeldt, Sullivan, Leskanic, Corrasco, and Grimsley
Closer-MacDougal
Catcher-Santiago
1B-Sweeney
2B-Relaford
SS-Berroa
3B-Randa
LF-Guile
CF-Beltran
RF-Gonzalez
Other:Stinnett, Griffinano, Stairs, Harvey, Thompson, Lopez

Missing anyone? Will Assencio be ready?

[Oz_Chief]

I belive Asenscio will be ready but I thought Hernandez (Runelvys) was out healing from Tommy John surgery.

I'd like to see Gobble back in the starting rotation. I don't think Appier will contribute much.

What's the plan for Grienke? Omaha?

I hope MacDougal has grown a bit. He seemed to get rattled and then his pitching would go to heck. When Affeldt and MacDougal are on they are unhittable.

We have a pretty solid lineup. We got a little speed in the offseason for pinch-running. If Gonzales stays healthy and contributes the Royals could produce quite a few runs. I'm curious to see how Harvey hits this year. I think Harvey will be back at first and Sweeney will DH. Harvey made some great plays last season (along with a few bonehead ones: will chalk those up to experience).

My favorite is Berroa. I can't wait to see him play again. No one covers ground like he does. Period.

Anyone have thoughts on Detroit? They have been putting together quite a team (on paper).

Pre-spring training batting order prediction:

SS Berroa
3B Randa
CF Beltran
DH Sweeney
RF Gonzales
1B Harvey
LF Guiel
2B Relaford
C Santiago

[tk13]

I think as for the division, Detroit can't possibly be 119 loss bad again (can they?) but I don't expect a huge jump out of them. The Twins will probably find a way to hang in there and the White Sox still have talent (the sooner they dump Ordonez the better our chances get)... but the Royals should compete. The Indians are the only team I see possibly "breaking out"... they have a lot of young prospects who now have some experience... they should be better than last year at least.

Runelvys is out... the only chance he would have to play might be late in the season if he heals quickly, but I doubt it with the way Baird handles the pitchers.

Asencio should be good to go. I think the biggest question with the starting rotation is whether Jimmy Gobble and Zach Greinke show up in Spring Training and make it hard for them to get sent down. We've already brought up Gobble, if he performs well I definitely expect to see him from the beginning this time around. On the other hand supposedly they're going to give Affeldt a chance to start, and I don't blame them, his stuff is so good the more innings you can get out of him the better... but his blister problem seems unsolvable.

The other interesting situation is how Matt Stairs and Ken Harvey will be used. They might want to keep the pressure off Sweeney by DH'ing him, but Harvey really struggled against RHP's... the Sweeney/Stairs combo would probably be much more effective with the bat. Stairs quietly had a nice year last year and I do believe he's played some 1st base.

2B Relaford
3B Randa
CF Beltran
DH Sweeney
RF Gonzalez
1B Stairs
SS Berroa
LF Guiel
C Santiago

Bench - Harvey, Graffanino, Stinnett, Thompson, DeJesus (might end up being a D-replacement for Gonzalez in late innings)

SP - May
SP - Anderson
SP - Asencio
SP - Appier
SP - Snyder/Gobble/Greinke

RP - Grimsley
RP - Sullivan
RP - Leskanic
RP - Affeldt
RP - Carrasco
CP - MacDougal

[Oz_Chief]

I don't think the Tigers will lose 3/4 of their games again. If they jumped to .500 it would probably be the greatest improvement in the history of baseball. I wish the Royals had Bonderman (sp?).

I completely forgot that Kyle Snyder existed. I hope Gobble/Grienke make a push for the starting rotation. Last year Baird had such a strict timeline for Grienke and that makes me wonder if he isn't doing the same this year. I still have CHIEFS on the brain so I haven't been going through many of the press clippings to find out.

Stairs certainly has experience at 1st base. I think you are probably right: Stairs/Sweeney would be more effective than Harvey/Sweeney. I also think that you touched on another good point: hopefully Dejesus can come in every now an then to spell Gonzales. If everything is right with the world it would be beneficial to both players.

I'm starting to get pretty stoked about baseball season.

[tk13]

DeJesus is supposed to be the prospect with the skills to replace Beltran... obviously we can't expect him to be that good but he has expectations. I don't think it's out of the question that he might come in and surprise and steal some of Guiel's playing time. Thompson's supposed to be a real speedster, I did see he led the Arizona Fall League in steals and was up there in runs. With Gonzalez's health problems in the past these backups need to be ready to play...

[Oz_Chief]

I completely agree about the backups needing to be ready. That is one thing I really like about Peña: he'll play backups regardless of who's pitching or the team they are playing. Last season I got the feeling all of the backups were mentally prepared because they knew that they were going to play. I remember them delivering on more than one occasion.