I think it was more the losing streak.

I'm not sure they're as high on Sierra as you think. Have to ask DJLN for confirmation. I'm looking around at what it might take to move Moustakis to STL this year.

Interesting. In looking at the Cards system, it seemed like they had several corner types but not a true CF with high upside, outside of Sierra.

With Fowler on board long term, I suppose it might make Sierra less critical than I was thinking. Not sure he's good enough to be the main piece in a deal for Moustakas, but he'd be an awfully good second piece.

Someone asked about the return for Cain/Herrera from Washington: if you can get Robles back, major coup. He's an absolute monster. It would be putting all your eggs in one basket on those guys (and one that still is pretty far away), but he's a potential superstar.

I'd be pretty excited about that. Thrilled, even.


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Cueto and Zobrist trade updates:

Manaea: DL (Shoulder)
Finnegan: DL (Back)
Reed: Minors (With concerns he's at a Monty like stall)
Lamb: Minors
Brooks: Out of baseball

I recognize that Manaea, Reed, and even Finny could eventually be studs, but watching the trajectory of these gentleman since 2015 has been interesting to say the least.

I needed a smile today.

I argued pretty strongly at the time that Reed and Manaea were the only two to worry about long-term, looking back.

Still think Manaea is going to be a really good major league pitcher, if he can stay healthy. Not sure on Reed - probably would be best served moving to the pen, and blowing it out an inning at a time. His fastball/slider combo would play up into a major weapon there.

Same with Finnegan.

Lamb and Brooks were fodder.


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Realistically what is the earliest we'd be sellers? Let's assume we win 3-5 out of 10 from here on. No big winning streaks. Nothing to give hope we're a playoff team. Would the Nats even be buyers at this point?

It would be awesome to get prospects for Moose, Hos, Herrera and Cain. Esky's worth nothing I assume. Also assuming Hos continues to wake up.

I'd say June-middle of June is the smart target.

Moustakas, Cain, Herrera, Vargas, Hosmer would all potentially be on the block.

I could see them being open to moving Kennedy, if someone wants to take on the contract or is convinced he's going to opt out after this year.


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http://kansascity.locals.baseballpro...ough-5-4-16-2/

The fall is so much faster than the rise. Sad.

Unless Hosmer just goes on a tear and finishes up the early summer blazing I'm getting more and more confident that he will be back in KC. I just read Keith Law's article about him being worth about 20 million over 2 years.. There isn't really a lot of options for him and he's just about all hype. I just hope we don't try to give him 15M AAV to try and sell fans that we are trying to keep the band together. I'd still rank him behind Moose AND Cain to resign, he's simply not worth more than 10M/year..

Where are they now? 2015 Edition

Starting Pitchers

Johnny Cueto 4-1, 4.86 ERA, 1.324 WHIP, 4.50 FIP
Edinson Volquez 0-4, 4.71 ERA, 1.814 WHIP, 4.92 FIP
Yordano Ventura (RIP Yo - His loss can not be understated from an emotional and potentially competitive standpoint for this team).
Jeremy Guthrie 0-1, 135.0 ERA 15.00 WHIP, 21.04 FIP
Kris Medlen - Minors

Bullpen

Wade Davis 2-0, 0.00 ERA .600 WHIP, 1.69 FIP
Greg Holland 0-0, 1.38 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 1.88 FIP
Ryan Madson 0-2, 1.80 ERA, 1.258 WHIP, 1.97 FIP
Joe Blanton 0-2 10.64 ERA 1.818 WHIP, 9.49 FIP
Luke Hochevar - Injured, Unsigned
Franklin Morales - Out of Baseball
Jason Frasor - Out of Baseball

Offense

Kendrys Morales 225/277/360 4 HR
Ben Zobrist 233/347/395 3 HR
Alex Rios - Retired

I know some vocal fans (they tend to be of the "new wave" ~2013-2014 variety), have laid a lot of blame for the last two seasons at the feet of Dayton Moore. However, judging from the offensive and the starting pitching from those teams, it doesn't seem like retaining any of our offense or starting pitchers would have been the right move (an argument could be made for Zo, but as explained, he wanted to reunite with Maddon).

In terms of the bullpen, a legitimate argument could be made that parting with Wade was the wrong move. However, with Holland looking like he could earn 2/29 from his Rockies contract (if not more), with Madson making 3/22 (and with a Soria like season in 2016), I can't really say the Royals made the wrong move on passing on either of the latter options.

I love LoCain, but he's not worth resigning to a large contract. Moose, I'd pay.

Define large contract. 4 years at 16.5? I might bite on that. An injury this year would make it pretty hard for him to get anything more than 3 years, which would be intriguing to me.

Billy Butler got 3/$30 so I think Hosmer will get more than that, but no doubt he's at risk of losing a lot of money. He still has 5 months to turn it around though. He's always been such a streaky player.