*** Official 2018 Royals Repository ***
 

The season is upon us, even if spring is not.

2018 MLB Draft Picks
#18
#33 - Compensation (Eric Hosmer)
#34 - Compensation (Lorenzo Cain)
#40 (Competitive Balance Round A)

018 Draft Names to Watch

RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.

OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI

1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).

RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).

ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.

Current Prospects to Watch:

OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.

1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.

OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.

OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.

3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.

SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).

1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.

Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),

In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both.

Thanks for doing this. Been using this website to track our minor leaguers. Matias hit another homer tonight.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index...e&ymd=20180406

Pratto and Lee are 3 years away at the earliest I would assume.

Tough pill to swallow but unlike the past few years they are doing the right thing. It's too bad DM had to sign guys like Jay, Duda, and Moose though. Totally pointless

I would think that if those guys produce at all, their contracts make them easy deadline deals.

For Jack Shit

Thanks for starting the new thread, duncan!

Yes. Probably the two highest upside position players outside of Seuly Matias.

They spent huge money on Matias and got put in the penalty box for signing LA players as a result. Would be cool if one of their big money international signings lived up to the hype


I’ll never have a problem with them going for it before 2016 (and no one should, ever. You don’t dismantle a WS winner two years before you have to) or before 2017. After so many decades of having no chance to win, it was RIGHT for them to try to maximize that group of players and go for it.

Considering the garbage returns available for position players in 2017 at the deadline, there’s also no problem with keeping guys (not to mention the fact they were in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot at that point).

Jay, Moustakas, and Duda are no-risk propositions. Short deals that don’t block anyone this year who deserves a shot and major Pt.

Even though none is likely to bring a major return at the deadline (though needs could be different and shift that market this year, who knows?) it’s also not a bad thing to have some trade capitol.

The Braves, particularly, if they stay in it could be a good match for Moustakas. They have a deep farm system and could move an interesting pitching prospect for him if they decide to go for it. Their 3B stud prospect, Austin Riley, probably isn’t ready to help this year, but an upgrade at that spot could help them a ton if they’re trying to make a push in 2018.

I’ll say this, too:

The Royals farm system ranking currently is not great, but I got excited looking at Lexington and Wilmington and imagining how those could take shape on the major league roster down the road.

Lee, Matias, Emmanuel Rivera, Gigliotti, Lopez (though he’s at AA), Pratto, Melendez, ever Gasparini offer an intriguing blend of ceiling and floor. Samir Duenez is also at AA, but I have a feeling he’s going to have a big season with the bat.

As always, a BIG thank you to Duncan for originating these threads. You’re the best, Dude!

Not sure if it made it into the other thread before this one was made, but Royals re-signed Zimmer to a minor league deal.

For someone who hates baseball, you sure post a lot here.

So maybe better than the Tigers but worse than the Indians and twins?

Keep them all together & bring all up at the same time so they have chemistry.

Good

And I'm also right alot.

Some lean years ahead but can we talk about what a stud Junis is? Duncan do you think he'll be around for the next wave of winning or eventually traded for a few more pieces?

What about pulling a Salvy and locking him up early at a cheap rate? He will be late 20s when the next wave comes up. Maybe the James Shields of that group

You weren’t right about a few things last season, dude, and why you had issues here is that you never acknowledged it and instead doubled down instead of having nuanced conversations about the issues.

No one was giving us anything for Hosmer, Cain, Moose or Esky. We got more value from the draft picks we got for them than we would have from selling them.

In 2016, we tried to trade Cain and Wade (and eventually traded Wade and Dyson). No one wanted Eric groundball Hosmer and Moose had torn his ACL, eviscerating his value.

While you had merit to critique Moore’s desire to buy-buy-buy (especially last offseason) just dropping in to say “THEY SHOULD BLOW THE TEAM UP - I WAS RIGHT” isn’t actually saying anything, because there was no way to blow the team up when we weren’t getting anything back for the pieces you were advocating we should trade.

With that said, I hope you stick around - and I do hope we can compromise on this issue here - because I do genuinely like your takes.

I appreciate it and we will agree to disagree on somethings but that's in the past now. It is disheartening seeing some jump off the bandwagon. Losing sucks but it's fun watching guys come up. Moore has made some boneheaded mistakes in the past but nothing like Allard Baird or Herk Robinson. I trust that he will be able to add talent again. In the meantime enjoy the few good players we have and hopefully ticket prices drop. Fun times at the ball park getting plastered with friends!

Also not to be dismissive of your point Chiefs and Duncan you're right the value back was minimal at best but even if they made it to the playoffs last year's team wasn't doing shit. Again we'll agree to disagree but the process was delayed a year. Suppose in the long run it won't matter much.

To allard moore’s Credit, if you’re going to suck, suck while the Yankees are good.

Agree on jay, moose, and Duda, especially if you can flip one for a prospect. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the soria trade. How did that fit into the plan?

Herrera is going to be worth a lot in July if he keeps this up.

He doesn’t even have a year of service time yet, so this is technically his first year (of six) of team control.

I like Junis a lot, as I mention d earlier this week in the old thread. I’m a believer that he can be a good 2/3 type starter with sustaining the changes he made in August of last year (basically, he started throwing a sinker, too).

He’s not even arb eligible until 2021 at this point. I think he’ll be around for the next wave of winning, barring injury.

Kennedy, Junis, and Duda will singlehandedly lead us to a division title

Kennedy looked good today. I haven't been supporting him, but the 1 out strikeout with the runner on third was great pitching.

I’ve been right about the Chiefs for 20+ years.

But at least I like football, douche.

another ****ing baseball thread to put on ignore...love that feature.

Bauer is a whiny little bitch lol did you guys see his postgame comments?

No you don't bundle of sticks

I am totally with you when it comes to this offseason. I was very disappointed with GMDM's fascination with Hosmer, especially when he gave up some of our most promising bullpen pieces to try to be in a longshot bidding war against a team with bigger pockets. The signings afterwards made little sense to me as well.

What did he say? He looked awful again today.

Hosmer just won a game for the Astros.

Astros Earn Bizarre Walk-Off Win.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...isplays-pop-up

Does anyone know if you can still get into games for free after the 7th inning?

Wow that's brutal

Not on Hosmer.

Shit. Hosmer freaking OVERRAN the play, this is completely on him. Now, you could argue that he shouldn't have been the one to go get that pop up in the first place, and you wouldn't be wrong, but he put himself in position to make the play and ****ed it up at the last second. Oh well, I guess he really isn't perfect after all.

Salvy should text him and tell him he would never have put Hosmer in that position in the first place. :evil:

Wade Davis also blew a save for the Rockies tonight. He had 1 blown save all of last year and it was in September.

Why an MLB pitcher would willingly play half of his games in Colorado is beyond me. It’s basically saying “these guys will pay me a lot of money to raise my career ERA by 2 runs.”

You answered your own question.

REEFER MADNESS

Hosmer problem was he wasn't expecting to put himself in that position. About a stride or two past the bag he starts to decelerate and brings his eyes down. I think he thought someone would have it but the catcher literally never even tries to move from home lol. Hosmer panics and hits max jets and by the time he located the ball again, yeah he'd gone too far.

I wonder why the catcher didn't call that immediately. Hosmers basically playing the outfield not 1b.

Looks like those defensive metrics on Hosmer are right

Hosmer is used to Salvy getting that ball.

Hosmer should not have been the one going for it. But he did. Not a royal, so makes me smile a little. Our catchers would have had it.

Seuly Matias now with 4 HRs in first 4 games for Lexington

Yeah that's not on Hosmer, he should have still caught it, but that's on the catcher

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Popouts are very hard for catchers to get to and they have the worst glove and the diamond to catch them - many practice to defer the moment someone calls for it - which Hos did - and then he immediately panicked and looked to the catcher when he realized where it was. I think Hos is used to Sal calling off everyone when a ball is in his zone - and we all have been spoiled by his defensive excellence behind the plate since 2011 (Hos included).

Hos said he called for it in postgame but lost it once he did. It's on Hos and he owned up to it. He's going to have to get used to playing without Sal.

Call him up!

Maurer sucks balls.

Really should tank hard this year and next. Get a couple of top 5 draft picks could help out the farm system pretty well.

Offense should improve a little don't know how many games we'll be in only scoring 1 run but if we had any bullpen we'd be in first after 1 week and setting up for a nice April.

That's Brandon "the only player to ever go to arbitration with Dayton Moore" Maurer to you.

It is unbelievable to me that people think this guy has promise. He sucks, hes always sucked, and always will sucks. It infuriates me not only that we like to use him in high leverage situations but also that hes even on the team in the 1st place.

And WTF was up with having Whit play 1B, then having Goins at 2b and then Soler in RF. Holy ****ing shit that is abysmal fail.

CBS Sports: Salvador Perez trending positively in recovery
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/ba...y-in-recovery/

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said Sunday that swelling has "vacated" Perez's sprained left knee, and the catcher is expected to "get back a little bit before" the 4-to-6-week recovery timeline established March 28, Josh Vernier of 610 Sports reports.

Since Perez has yet to resume baseball activities, it's too early to predict with much confidence that he'll be ready to go by the end of April, as Moore seems to be forecasting. In any case, the fact Perez has healed a little faster than anticipated counts as positive news and may convince any owners with limited bench spots who were thinking of cutting him to think twice. The Royals will likely provide additional updates on Perez's condition over the next few weeks before a firmer return date is sussed out.

So here's my question for anybody who is halfway familiar with grade 2 MCL sprains. How much is this going to linger for a heavy bodied catcher who (when healthy) catches a ton of innings? A lot of fans have been saying Salvy will end up playing a lot of first base sooner rather than later, but is that something we can expect soon? He's so irreplaceable behind home plate that that's tragic to think about.

Again, I know jack shit about MCL sprains and the long term ramifications of one for an MLB catcher.

I’d rather have Salvy at 1B than Merrifield.

No clue on MCL sprains lingeringand if that’s a sign the ligament is likely to go later...

But there’s absolutely no reason to rush Perez back.

If you’re willing to throw games away while continuing to see if Brandon Maurer lives up to his potential (according to his arm talent), there’s no incentive to rush Perez back.

Bringing Perez back early is a move you make if you’re contending.

Perez should be brought back when he is completely healthy, and then traded before the deadline.

I was looking at pitching stats for the bullpen. Turns out only half of the Royals bullpen suck;

Doing great (both have 0.00 era;
Herrera
Keller

Doing OK;
Grimm
Hill

Really Suck;
Maurer
Boyer
Flynn (only played in one game but gave up 3 runs in 1.1 innings)

Don't know yet;
Burch Smith ( pitched in one game, gave up one run, got no outs )

Maurer and Boyer have been disasters for their entire careers. There shouldn't be any surprise for the Royals regarding those two.

:rolleyes:

The Royals CAN trade him, but it has to be for the right return.

It’s got to be a huge win for the Royals to do it, to the level of the Brewers win with Jon Lucroy (that netted top 25 prospect Lewis Brinson and top 75 prospect Luis Ortiz, for only 1.5 years of control).

Considering Perez is controlled for 3.5 years at market value (or maybe even a little less), it’s kind of staggering to think about a comparative return for him.

It would take at least one prospect of Brinson’s stature, maybe even more highly regarded. Plus a top 50. Plus a top 75-100. Plus a lotto ticket.

Is there a contender motivated enough to provide that, that has a deep enough farm system? I just don’t know about that.

??

I'm assuming he doesn't like the idea of trading Perez.

It's a ****ing reeruned idea that's why.

Thanks, I appreciate the insult.

So, you think we are going to make another run before Sal's contract is up?

Perez turns 28 in May. In two years ( 2020 ) he'll turn 30. In my opinion, catchers don't age well and he seems to be hurt a couple times a year as it is. Who is the best catcher in the minors that could replace him in 2020 or 2021?

Yankees?

Why would the Yankees want him when they have Gary Sanchez.

Sanchez is only 25 and hit 33 homers last year. It'd be hard to bench him. Now, if he got hurt, that's a different story.

I think you're correct, but I thought they might be willing to part with pieces for a guy like Salvy.

You aren't going to get a return that will match what Salvy brings on the field, in the stands, or for the PR.

Also baseball isn't football or the NBA where you need to blow the bitch up to get the top pick to get the franchise QB or player in basketball. Draft wherever and still have a top farm system.

The whole idea of tanking actually started with the MLB. The Royals were (inadvertent) pioneers, followed by the Cubs and the Astros.

Drafting in baseball just has a lot of risk compared to other sports, and you're able to drastically increase your probably of "landing someone" when you pick higher up in the draft (I.E. college ready arms, star hitting prospects, etc). The further you slide in the first round, the more you're drafting the "toolsy potential" types.

It's cute you thinking that tanking is something new. There is a reason the NBA put the lottery system in the draft in 1985.

You don't have to be a dick.

I was referring to the contemporary trend that's gripping each of the major sports. Rany just wrote an entire article referring to how baseball is revolutionizing the trend - and it's something major writers across the board agreed with and supported themselves.

I wonder when I'll finally watch a game this year.

Salvador Perez is untouchable to this franchise. No one since George Brett has been more of a face for this franchise. No team could offer near enough.