Originally Posted by FringeNC (Post 14100086)

Looking forward to the season. Gosh, things look so much better than did at AS break last year. Real reasons for some optimism about contending at some point.

Originally Posted by FringeNC (Post 14100086)

Looking forward to the season. Gosh, things look so much better than did at AS break last year. Real reasons for some optimism about contending at some point.

Originally Posted by TLO (Post 14100606)

What's Jose Lima up to these days? Think we could bring him in for a look in the pen?

Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan (Post 14095122)

Giving lower payroll teams higher picks for winning is an interesting attempt to stop the tanking trend. I kinda' like it because it can only be helpful to the Royals when they're winning - they never really tried to tank like other teams, so I don't see it changing the way they operate - only a potential benefit.

But I'm not sure how it helps the current issues being experienced with FA contracts. Teams like the Royals MIGHT change some behaviors, like signing a lower to mid tier FA here or there instead of going with a rook. However, the top tier FA's continue to stay on the market so late into the off-season because high revenue teams have simply changed their business approach to FA and aren't paying/bidding like they used to.

Since top tier FA's tend to set the market for everyone else, I'm not sure how this will change much, since the high revenue teams are usually signing the big names. I'm curious as to whether the corresponding penalty for tanking applies to high revenue teams as well - I would think it would have to...otherwise, they could tank without repercussions. Maybe they think the penalty will cause them to go spend crazy for the Harpers and Machado's of the world? I'm not so sure. You don't need those guys to simply avoid tanking.

Originally Posted by Valiant (Post 14100725)

It wouldn't change anything, if you suck and are going to lose 90 games because of past bad contracts, you are still going to suck. Why go spend a shit ton to still lose 90?

They want competition? Salary floor and ceiling. 8 teams make postseason per conference.

If they institute the clock they also need to bar batter timeouts. Maybe also push the batters box away from the plate a inch or more on each side.

Originally Posted by cosmo20002 (Post 14100611)

Not sure if serious...

Let's just say he's in the bullpen with Dan Quisneberry waiting to relieve Yordano Ventura.

Originally Posted by tk13 (Post 14100564)

As optimistic as I like to be, if the bullpen is still terrible this might still be a last place team. We'll see if guys like Lovelady can actually come up and give us a shot of life. There will probably be games where the offense looks rough and other games where they light it up with their team speed and a little bit of pop. At their best we might actually be a pretty fun offense to watch compared to the rest of the league.

The catch is who knows if anyone in our division will actually be any good. The White Sox could still make a move or two, including Machado. The Twins just continue to add mid range free agents, although they did get Nelson Cruz. It's the same question as last year for them though, is that all going to come together and actually work. The Indians are the front runners by default but they're not nearly the same team either. If any of the other teams could just play above their head for a bit you're probably a 2nd place team at least.