3 years? BB has lost it.

That Madson deal is insane. Baseball has too much money. It's like Jesse Pinkman hosting 24/7 parties at his apartment for a bunch of hangers-on.

When Madson speaks to Billy Butler for the first time that'll be awkward. "So um...one year too late huh?"

Remember when Madson had to sit out for like 2 weeks at the end of August to let his arm recharge. Billy Beane doesn't.

It makes you wonder. He also signed Rich Hill to a 1yr 6M deal after he came back from injury and pitched a good Sept for Boston. Guys like Hill + Madson are guys Beane used to find first. And get cheap production from before letting them get paid by others

KMo and Volquez will cost us $19m this year.
Billy Butler and Madson will cost $17m this year

I'd feel worse about losing him if not for Madson's 2 meltdowns in the playoffs.

Well at least the Royals got good value out of Madson. No way I'd pay that kind of coin.

The Royals signing of the Madson last year was pure genius with whatever they saw that he had left.

Another great example of GMDM letting a certainly declining player cash in for another team. Thanks for a great year, Madson...good story.

Hoch already took that "7th inning role" during the WS. Find another comeback candidate on a one-year deal. Rinse, wash, repeat.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Royals re-signing Chris Young has felt like an inevitability for a while now. <a href="https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1">@Joelsherman1</a> says the deal will be two years and $10-11M.</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/673606953491271680">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kansas City pursuing left-hander Scott Kazmir, who is also on the radar of the L.A. Dodgers.</p>&mdash; Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/673607306001559552">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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I appreciate what Madson did for KC. He was huge out of the bullpen. His kryptonite was the Blue Jays, and unfortunately we had to go through them. He pitched fine in the World Series. I can't believe someone gave him three years though. No way they get three quality years out of that contract.

Like the deal with Young (and imagine they'll be taking out insurance on that contract). $5 million/year is a bargain for a decent back-end starter in this market.

Kazmir interest makes sense to me, too. Good pitcher in that second tier, who isn't going to cost you a draft pick, and shouldn't break the bank. Plus, with KC's bullpen, the Royals should be able to protect his arm a bit. As long as you're not expecting more than 180 IP from Kazmir, it's do-able.

Something similar to what Lackey got from the Cubs makes sense, but over 3-4 years instead of two.

His weak close to the year might also affect Kazmir's price a little bit, in the right direction. He was not good in Houston (ERA over 4, WHIP of almost 1.4, FIP over 5, plummeting K rate), but that park is a really bad fit for a LH pitcher who is a flyball pitcher.

His HR/FB rate was the highest during his time with Houston than it has been at any point in his career, outside of his short stint with the Angels.

I'm hoping the Royals are looking at Leake too.

Anyway to maybe start utilizing starting pitchers that pitch about 5 innings without killing your pen over the course of the year? Wasnt Tampa trying something like that?

Biggest question/problem would be how you handled it on days when your SP gave you two or three. Would blow out your pen.

But yeah, limiting SPs to two times through the order could work, as long as you have two long relief types you can rely upon, and as long as the back of your pen is deep.

Thanks. Just trying to think outside the box as the next trend in baseball.

Detroit signs Saltalamachia

W/ Royals = New life & a WS ring.
W/ Athletics = Getting paid for the work he did as a Royal.

I think it's coming. The data on guys going through the lineup a third time is just too compelling for something like that to NOT happen (just like the data was too compelling to NOT use a dedicated relief ace, who was more than just a failed starter, instead of letting your tired SP throw another inning or two).

It's tough to construct with a five-man rotation/25-man roster, though.

So your SP is never giving you more than six, and a lot of times only 4-5. That means you need to have four guys in your pen you can trust to throw single innings that are leveraged, and three guys you can roll out for 2-3 innings at a time (who can then pitch again two days later).

That's a tough thing to make work on a consistent basis.

I think we will see expanded rosters in baseball in a future CBA.

I'm admittedly not a huge fan of thinking that strategy will work. You get about 800 IP out of your starters if you go 5 IP a game. You need about 600-700 IP out of your bullpen then. You can do it but you need a real deep pitching staff. People already get nervous when we bring in our 5th, 6th, 7th relievers. You really need to lean on them in this scenario.

@Joelsherman1: #Royals have not given up on re-signing Alex Gordon. Still waiting for OF market to fully define.

I am very pleased to see Young resigned. I figured he would get a two year contract similar to what Chen was resigned for after his first few one year deals he was on here.

Kazmir has Jason Vargas written all over him. Good year 1, then most likely shit afterwards.

Entirely different players/upsides, though.

And you run that risk with any free agent, especially pitchers, because you're for the most part signing older guys.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/royalsreview">@royalsreview</a> Chris Young is on my flight from Dallas to KC as we speak. Maybe the rumors are true!</p>&mdash; Greg Hunsucker (@GregHunsucker) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregHunsucker/status/673690726245371904">December 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Royals pursuing Scott Kazmir, close to deal for Chris Young

I guess I don't understand why we can't develop any starting pitching. Yes we gave up some to get Shields and Cueto/Zo but man....where are the starters? And they don't have to be premium arms like Zimmer or Almonte. Surely there's a Jesse Chavez somewhere (like, once in KC!). Or Liam Hendricks who I wanted to see kept in AAA not released.


Cameron has Kazmir 3/48 and the crowd has 3/42. I'll just assume it'll come in ~50. That's a helluva price to pay for not developing any starters.

Rany has proposed a deal for Shelby Miller centering around Mondesi. Thoughts?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With the Samardzija, Greinke, and Iwakuma signings, the Royals&#39; first round pick for 2016 has moved from 27th to 24th.</p>&mdash; Royals Review (@royalsreview) <a href="https://twitter.com/royalsreview/status/673699334177685504">December 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Meh, two of our homegrown starters have provided us with almost 700 IP over the last two seasons. Sure, it's certainly a weakness in our player development, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep when our organization has phenomenal in every other phase of the game.

Cant be that many teams that have at least 3 of the 5 starters that have only been with that franchise.

Any?

Forty percent of the likely opening day rotation will be homegrown. I'd guess that's about average. By 2017, I think you see that number at sixty percent.

The Mets and the Rays are the exception, not the rule.

Not sure if this is posted before, NY Post says Royals working on keeping Chris Young and Alex Gordon, think Zobrist is gone:

http://nypost.com/2015/12/06/busy-ro...eyeing-gordon/

So the trades for Shields and Cueto (both of whom made big $) and the signings of Volquez, Vargas, Young, Medlen and you cablissibly throw JGuts in there.....don't indicate at least some weakness in development?

Even Wade Davis was a starter for nearly a full year in 2013.


I also *think* Duffy is in the rotation but that's no gurantee. If they did sign Young and Kazmir then you can be assured he won't be. That's 1 starter in a small market. Just seems light

I think getting priced out on Zobrist might have tightened the Royals focus on bringing Gordo back. Last year, Moore seemed genuinely shocked that Butler went so quickly (and for so much) that the Royals wasted no time bringing Morales and Rios to KC.

Originally, the Royals wanted the DH to be fluid enough to give Salvy some relief at the plate. Winter meetings last year caused the Royals to adjust to the market, and it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again this year.

It doesn't really assure anything. They could easily see Young filling the role of long relief/spot starter (just like 2015).

Don't remember if it was Joel Sherman, but someone on Twitter was saying that Zobrist is definitely getting 4 years. At this point I legit wouldn't be surprised if he got 4/$70 million, or even more. Not bad for a guy who is about to be 35.

Cardinals for example:
Wainwright - trade
Wacha - homegrown
Martinez - homegrown
Garcia - homegrown
Free Agent 2016 - outside organization

Royals 2016
Volquez - FA
Free Agent 2016 - outside organization
Ace - homegrown
Medlen - FA
Duffy - homegrown
Young (long relief/spot starter) - FA

I always said we needed to develop a starter or two to win it all. We kind of did, but didn't. Although Ventura was a huge part of the last two years... not as good last year but he was solid in the 2nd half. Pitching costs so much you have to least develop a couple guys.

That's exactly what I told someone last night. At the beginning of the offseason I thought they'd be more inclined to go Zobrist and no way on Gordon. Now I think they go after Gordon.

Interesting. I've given up on Gordon, but nap patently KC has not.

Keeping Alex would stir a mix of emotions, but I trust the front office no matter what happens with him. How weird is that?


I'd be surprised if Young is NOT the swing man to start the year. Suspect Duffy gets one more chance to succeed out of the rotation, but is moved to the pen permanently if it doesn't work out this year.

Developing pitching is hard. I think Moore made those trades because his young SP didn't pan out, for various reasons. Lamb blew out. Montgomery was broken (and even the Rays couldn't fix it), etc.

They also traded some of their "closest" pieces to win a WS this year. That's a fair trade.

I'm not saying they're great. Just not shockingly bad.

I suppose we could've stood pat and had Yordano-Odorizzi-Duffy-Mobtgomery-Lamb in our rotation. And no hardware


still, we need to develop starters. DM himself called it "the currency of baseball"

Plus Almonte has really nasty stuff. Really nasty. If he can harness it at all he's going to be a weapon. And of course Zimmer. And they drafted some nice pitchers this year.

We're certainly not the Braves who have about 15 pitching prospects, but it's not hopeless either.

DM made it clear that this phrase didn't limit his organization from marrying those starters. Case and point, Dayton used his currency of starters to acquire Zobrist and Cueto and starting pitching was a big reason we landed Shields and Davis.

Detroit signs Mark Lowe.

It's worked like a charm for 3 years, but eventually you run out of "currency". Of course, he's prob got a few bills lying around. Reading the 2012 BA prospect book, they had Yordano rated 10 and Herrera rated 30 in our system. So you never know

Good find. If either Zimmer or Almonte and a surprise breakthrough pans out, our rotation should be set for a while.

As incredibly talented as Manaea is, watching him in the fall league reinforced my concerns over his long term durability. He has a wonky delivery and has already had concerning injuries in the past.

If there's any organization that could make him David Price it's the A's, but I understand why the Royals would part with him before Almonte.

@Jcrasnick

Free agent Joakim Soria is finalizing a 3-year deal with the #Royals, sources confirmed.

:clap:

Royals sign Soria.

Soria wants to come home! And we say welcome home Soria! Time to go get yourself a ring

3 years, 25 million

Basically he just got what Madson got. Soria will be the set up guy more than likely or Herrera will be.

I don't doubt DM anymore so whatever he wants I trust him!

Very interesting hmm there are rumors that Soria could be used as a starter

Soria was supposedly seeking incentives in case he became a starter. I'm not saying that's what will happen, but Dayton was always toying with that idea before. I wouldn't immediately dismiss it.

How scary is this (I don't believe for a second that they'll try him out as a starter) Soria could arguably be the 4th best option out of the pen if all things hold equal to last year. Granted 2-4 are all very very close to each other.

Hoch 6
Soria 7
Herrera 8
Wade 9

Now I can dig out my Soria jersey.

Soria have many 2 inning outings after he left? I remember him having some 2 inning saves here.

Dodgers looking to acquire Jose Fernandez to replace Greinke.

He did not have a 2 inning outing all of last year. They may just end up using him as the 8th inning guy if they don't want to extend them. Who knows, they have options.

Soria might be the set up guy but who knows

Soria has a option for a fourth year as well

That's my guess. He steps into Madsen's 8th inning role and away we go. Pen back to full strength (at a cost).

Makes sense. The other thing that does is keep you from throwing Davis three days in a row. Just like last year... they could throw Wade in there to keep from overthrowing Holland. Now you can give Wade a day off and use Soria in the 9th and still feel confident.

Welcome home!

3 for $25M is a little rich for my blood for a guy that could be our 4th best reliever, but I'd rather that than the 3 for $22M the A's gave Madson. Regardless, should be fun having a shut down pen again.

Given our needs in the OF corners and in the rotation, it seems strange to sign a reliever first. But GMDM can do no wrong right now as far as I'm concerned, so....well done Dayton. Now sign Gordon and Kazmir and let's get the 2016 season rolling.

If DM signs Kazmir, it's a good offseason. I always wanted Kazmir.

If he signs Gordon, it's the best offseason you can realistically imagine. Losing Zobrist sucks, but the Mets (or whoever) are overpaying to get him.

Just spitballing here...

But signing Soria would potentially give KC flexibility to move Herrera or Hochevar as part of a package for a corner OF.

We've seen a lot of smoke on Herrera. Makes me wonder if perhaps the organization looks at Kelvin the way our old friend Hoots does (one-pitch pitcher, who is going to take as steep downturn in effectiveness as soon as he loses 100 mph and is more of a 97-98 guy).

Soria is replacing Holand, including salary. This could be setting up a trade; Herrera for a legitimate starting outfielder.

I hadn't really thought of that, but if they trade for the right guy, I love the idea. (I haven't decided who I think the right guy is.)

I am shocked by the Soria deal unless there is an injury we do not know about or we are trading someone. I was wanting that money saved for zobrist.

It will be interesting to see if we try a trade, what teams are thinking now when the Royals want a player before the season.



I would not mind seeing the Royals also try out their new style a bit further. the goal is to not have a starter see batters for the 3rd time. With this style you do not have to have an elite num 1 starter, sure it is awesome. But it saves a lot of money and you can spend a little bit more elsewhere and compete. But if your pitcher is going lights out that game, you keep him in longer.

We signed Young as a starter/long relief, I would not mind signing one other pitcher for a starter/long relief and try out a four man rotation, and then alternate the two long reliefs depending on matchups or if one is not used early in a series. Then hit them with our relief.

Seems like a great way to save millions and use that money for securing the field spots Cain/Salvy/Hos..

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tigers are looking at yoenis cespedes and Alex Gordon as OF option. They loved cespedes. Quiet OF market could heat up soon</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/673867833944768513">December 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Bob Nightengale @BNightengale
The #Royals believe their stiffest competition for OF Alex Gordon could come from #STLCards

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The hits just keep on coming. According to <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB">@FlannyMLB</a>, the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> have agreed to a deal with Chris Young. <a href="https://t.co/cxaOjKtwp4">https://t.co/cxaOjKtwp4</a></p>&mdash; David Lesky (@DBLesky) <a href="https://twitter.com/DBLesky/status/673876307814453249">December 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dodgers?src=hash">#Dodgers</a> have indeed checked in on Zobrist, as <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS">@JonHeymanCBS</a> said. Difficult to see fit as LAD is presently constituted. However…</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/673876385795043328">December 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Those sonsabitches