Homer alert, but man this team makes me giddy me for the future.

1: Merrifield and Mondesi make up a super exciting middle infield next year.

2: Salvy has been a lot better during the 2nd half. Having him back for a full healthy season will be nice.

3: O'Hearn may finish with a 1.0 OPS and put up comparable home run numbers to Eric Hosmer with about 15% of his at-bats. Plug him in as our permanent #3 next year and we may have a more athletic, less worthless Billy Butler.

4: A mixture of Herrera, Phillips, Goodwin, Dozier, and a full Jorge Bonifacio should equal out to at least a couple of solid players for tomorrow.

5: A rotation of Keller/Junis/Lopez/Fillmyer/Skoglund would make me happy. Ride those 5 for the entire season and throw Dick Lovelady in the bullpen.

You had me until 4 and 5. Herrera can he a utility guy. Goodwin can play for sure and Boni is serviceable at best as a DH. Not sure about Dozier yet.

Duffy likely is part of the rotation next year also but that looks pretty bad. You pray Keller can duplicate what he has been doing and I think Junis is fine as a back of the rotation guy. Lopez can potential as a middle of the rotation guy but Skoglund sucks. Mayne a long relief guy at best.

Sounds like an orgasm waiting to happen for the true fans!!! That's a good enough lineup to maybe win 75 games. Hey, at least we won't lose 100. We will have no chance of actually competing, but at least we'll put butts in the seats.

Hi friend,

So for small market teams, an exciting season isn't exclusively a season where 95+ games are won. For example, the 2011 season was a statistical failure (71-91 record), but an extremely fun season when preparing for the future (Hosmer breaking out, Gordon and Melky career years, Moustakas, Esky, and Salvy all having good years, the debut of Cain, Hochevar looking decent, etc.)

Next year will certainly be another sub-500 season, but baseball is a weird thing. You don't have to dominate every season in order to be ultimately successful. The Royals will never be a playoff team year in and year out, and that's just the way it is.

Hope this helps!

Bufkin

I completely forgot about Duffy. Throw him in near the top and make Skoglund the long reliever.

Herrera is probably at best a utility backup...

Here is your issue how do you have Bonificio and Soler on the same team? They really are both DH's..

And dude didn't even mention Soler and the Royals are probably more committed to playing him than any of those other OFers.

My point is, and I know I keep harping on this, holding on to Merrifield is so ****ing stupid just to have an "exciting infield". Assuming we got a monster Adam Eaton -esque return, trading him brings far more value. Your average fan at Kauffman is an idiot and will probably be pissed, but trading Merrifield (again, assuming the return is good) is absolutely 100% the right move.

If this team won 75 games next year that would mean they are well on their way to another decent run. Especially since none of our top prospects will be here for another year or 2. You're such a ****ing moron it hurts. You have no ****ing clue what you're talking about. You just want to bitch. Because you are a bitch.

Soler and Gordon are the starting corner OFers. Next year should be a transition year for sure with plans to compete for a playoff spot in 2020. Find yourself some solid cheap bullpen pieces to build on going forward and get those college arms from this draft ready to roll. You get Gordon off the books in 20 as well which is nice. The position players are actually pretty solid.

Even with an elite bullpen, that lineup and starting rotation is at best an 80 win team. KC will not have an elite bullpen. I dont see them even having an average bullpen. Im happy a few of the young guys are showing promise, which is (I think) the point of the excitement... however they will still lose a LOT and we will have a ton of frustration next year. There is also virtually Zero depth for servicable ML ready talent to fill in for the inevitable injuries.

Sorry, you're really fooling yourself if you buy the nonsense from Moore that we can compete by 2020.

We went to two World Series with Aoki and Rios in RF. They'll definitely play both Soler and Boni, they're both just entering their prime years and have shown talent. Boni was derailed a bit this year by the suspension though. I guess we'll find out next year if he's the same player but both of those guys should be playing everyday.

No, 75 wins is their ceiling for another 3-4 years until actual talent starts arriving from the minors. 75 wins just means lower draft picks and false hope. We still have one of the worst minor league systems and have signed very little talent in IFA. Don't attack me because you're drinking the koolaid in thinking we are anywhere close to being competitive.

I'm not drinking the koolaid, bitch, just stating a fact. 75 wins would mean they are going in the right direction. Like I said you just want something to bitch about. Are you a girl?

What OF should they be sitting?

They refuse to sit Gordon even though they should...