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*** Official 2016 Royals Offseason Repository *** (https://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=295826)

If Cain can get a 6 year deal when he hits FA, more power to him. I bet he gets max 4 unless it's structured team friendly, or his power hits the roof and you can slot him at right field. Still don't think that's likely.

The Royals are doing what they can do to be competitive now, and not handicap us for years down the road. Can't say I am complaining about anything they are doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tk13 (Post 12028818)

That may be a big reason why we re-signed Gordon.

On the flip side, Cain is going to be 32 his first year of FA. Giving him a $100+ million deal through his age 37 season is probably a way bigger risk than re-signing Gordon. I guess it depends on how injury prone he is these next two years... we'll see how the market plays out.

Yeah. I've long thought that Cain was someone you control until FA, get what you can, and say goodbye to.

His game, even on offense, is so dependent on his legs, it seems very likely he will suffer a Carl Crawford-like fall once he starts to lose a step.

Interesting story and stats on Ian Kennedy - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/still...w-ian-kennedy/

A few slices from the story...

Quote:

First off, Kennedy’s greatest strength is his above-average strikeout rate. He posted a 24.4% K rate last season, fractionally below his career-high 2014 mark.

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Kennedy is a clear fly-ball pitcher, posting a fly-ball rate percentile rank of 85 in 2015. This is not a new development, as his fly-ball percentile rank has been 76 or higher in five of his six qualifying seasons. On the plus side, a fly-ball tendency usually carries with it some free outs in the form of pop ups. For the sixth straight season, he had a higher-than-average pop-up rate, with a 60 percentile rank.

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What Kennedy has done since first sticking in a big league rotation in 2010 is stay healthy; he’s taken the ball every fifth day without fail. What he hasn’t done is accumulate significant value above replacement level outside of that 2011 campaign; he racked up 4.8 WAR in 2011, but only 9.3 WAR total in the other five seasons combined.

Quote:

Enter the Kansas City Royals, who play in one of the most spacious parks around, and deploy the best set of fly-catchers out there. Lorenzo Cain is as good as they get, Alex Gordon is unexpectedly back, and Jarrod Dyson is likely to log more time than ever in 2016. Kennedy’s pulled fly-ball percentage was actually in the bottom third of ERA qualifiers last season, so it stands to reason that he’ll be able to pitch to the large part of the park more often than most going forward. Imagine the effect on Kennedy’s tension level when he allows a well-struck fly ball or line drive, and realizes that Matt Kemp isn’t there to play it into a triple.

You let Cain walk. Get his best WAR years and say bye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilson8 (Post 12029206)

Interesting story and stats on Ian Kennedy - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/still...w-ian-kennedy/

A few slices from the story...

Great post!

That last sentence is hilarious.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ian kennedy, royals in agreement on $70M, 5-yr deal</p>— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/688351171023470592">January 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Done deal.

Thoughts on Kennedy?

I like it because I think we had to have another arm with the question marks in the rotation and uncertainty about Zimmer/Almonte.

He's got decent peripherals. Should play up in our park and with our defense. Dude can log the innings and has been relatively injury free his entire career.

So with all that being said, in today's free agency it's hard to HATE a deal that only pays a SP $14m/year. Has some upside to be a great contract but will likely be hard for it to be a terrible one.

Kennedy is a great fit for KC but I did not expect him to get that much after that mediocre year in San Diego. The pitching market is out of control.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC_Connection (Post 12029580)

Kennedy is a great fit for KC but I did not expect him to get that much after that mediocre year in San Diego. The pitching market is out of control.

Especially also giving up a draft pick. Got a year more than I thought, but still less than Leake and Smard.

Apparently the deal has an opt-out after year 2. Will be interesting to see the year by year numbers breakdown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevB (Post 12029582)

Especially also giving up a draft pick. Got a year more than I thought, but still less than Leake and Smard.

I was thinking something like 4/56 at most, yeah. Durability has its value, though. It's why the Jays keep paying Dickey something like 14M a season to throw his 200 mediocre innings.

I am complete.

Kennedy is a nice fit for KC in terms of park, as a flyball pitcher, and Eiland has worked with him a lot. He was very good from June on last year and is durable.

Strengths: good changeup, misses a lot of bats. Improve his breaking ball last year and increased swing and misses from it, too. Actually kind of a lite version of James Shields in terms of stuff. He has been durable and is a fiery competitor.

He did give up a lot of HR last year, especially on the first pitch. But that seems more like an anomaly than anything.

Put him in front of this defense, in this park, and I think you like the results.

This also will help bridge the gap in those post-2017 years. You're now looking to have ventura and Kennedy in the rotation through 2020.

The Os just handed out 7/161M to Davis in what can only be considered to be the new version of the Ryan Howard contract. How long before they regret that one? Three years? Less?