*** Official Royals Repository, Part 3 ***

[duncan_idaho]

In this thread: All things related to the AL Champions.

Duncan's Official Team Record prediction: 90 wins
One month in: Looking strong
All Star Break: Looking strong, probably should adjust up to 93-94 wins.
Duncan's Official Team MVP prediction: Eric Hosmer
One month in: Upstaged by his best friend MIKE MOOTACOS, MAN. Tell us bout your hittin, bro!
All Star Break: Lorenzo Cain starting to run away with this one.

Division Preview
Clearly, overlooking the Twins was a mistake at this point. I still don't believe in that team long-term, but they're starting to get that Magic Season twinkle about them.

Detroit is toast. Garbage rotation beyond Price and Sanchez, Miggy out.

And Cleveland... Cleveland still is dangerous if it ever clicks offensively, because the starting pitching is good enough for them to real off a 15-5 stretch and get right back into the playoff picture.

The Royals will be a division winner IF ...
1) Ventura and Duffy combine for 375+ innings of high-quality work
2) Eric Hosmer delivers on his potential with a FULL season of success rather than bursts
3) The deeper bullpen lessens the critical load on Herrera, Davis and Holland
4) Lorenzo Cain stays healthy
5) Either Alex Rios or Kendrys Morales bounces back to 2013 form

The first of these is clearly not going to happen. The second looked good through the end of May but is now eating Cain's dust (Hosmer has still been improved this year, though, lessening his valley. If he has a really hot second half, he can get right back in it). Item three is definitely the case. Item four should probably be first at this point. And Morales has more than bounced back.

Duncan’s Top 20 for mid-season 2015:

Spoiler!

1. Raul Adalberto Mondesi, SS, BOTH: Tools, tools, tools. RA has tools galore. At his best, he’s an All-Star SS who plays elite D, hits 15-20 HR, swipes 40 bags, and is an ideal 1, 2 or 3 hitter. At his worst, I think he looks a lot like Alcides Escobar. Plate discipline is his biggest challenge at this point, but evaluators are confident that will come with time. Clear No. 1
2. Sean Manaea, LHP: I still believe in the upside here, even with the abbreviated start. 6-5 lefties with his combination of stuff and deception have the ability to pitch at the front of a rotation for a long time.
3. Kyle Zimmer, RHP: He’s pitching again and staying healthy, which is nice. He’s pitcing out of the bullpen to build back his arm strength, which is less nice. But still has that high upside, just a lower floor now. Ideally, the team will use him as a bullpen weapon in September (because he has earned it) and then give him a chance to transition back to starting for 2016.
4. Miguel Almonte, RHP: Still love the body, FB/CH combo. Results aren’t eye popping, but he’s still low enough and early enough in the development to prize those things over performance. Still a solid No. 3 starter upside, and just a year and some change away from potentially being ready to contribute at the MLB level.
5. Cody Reed, LHP: Reed has popped up this year, forcing an early promotion to Northwest Arkansas. His stuff is legit, with mid-90s heat and a wipeout slider. Control still needs work, but a promising young arm (that makes Almonte much more tradeable)
6. John Lamb, LHP: Lamb has had a career resurgence in 2015, putting him back on the prospect map. He’s dominating at AAA and will be in the rotation mix in 2016, unless he suffers another setback. Fastball is back, changeup is improving, still working on the ability to throw the slider and curve for strikes when down in the count.
7. Jorge Bonifacio, RF, RH: Emilio’s little brother got off to a horrible start in 2015 but has heated up as the season went on. He also is translating BP power to game power for the first time, with 15 HR just past the mid-way point of his season. Despite his disappointing 2014, he has a chance to build his way back into legit prospect status – and still is only 22. Next challenge for him should be Omaha, but that may wait for the start of the 2014 season.
8. Scott Blewett, RHP: Blewett has a nice two –pitch mix already and is off to a strong start. With his size (6-6) and a good fastball/curveball combo, Blewett could eventually turn into a good No. 3 starter, with a MLB-average changeup.
9. Nolan Watson, RHP: The Royals’ 2015 sandwich pick is a polished prep arm who is adding velocity and explosiveness to a good, polished base. Likely to move quickly.
10. Ashe Russell, RHP: The 2015 top pick probably needs more work than Watson, but the upside is really nice. Again, advanced two-pitch mix that will depend on him adding a changeup. Could be a very good NO. 2 if it all adds up.

Spoiler!

11. Bubba Starling, CF, RH: Starling has been up and down this year but put himself back on the map by greatly improving his K rate while also improving across the slash line as a hitter. His defense and baserunning are MLB ready; if Starling can work himself into a league average hitter, he can be a solid MLB regular who plays great D in CF while hitting 15 HR and swiping 20 bags.
12. Balbino Fuenmayor, 1B/DH, RH: The Balbino came out of basically nowhere in 2015 to earn a Futures Game spot. Big power and an improved two-strike approach have turned the late bloomer into a legit prospect. He’s blocked at the MLB level currently by Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales, but Fuenmayor’s combination of power hitting and good average/strike zone control makes him intriguing.
13. Cheslor Cuthbert, 3B, RH: Cheslor probably is not going to be the star KC was hoping for when signing him out of Nicaragua, but he does look like he can be a solid reserve for an MLB club. Good defense at 3B paired with a solid plate approach and some gap power plays fine off the bench. He becomes a lot more interesting if they think he can stick as a 2B, which they have experimented with.
14. Chase Vallot, C/DH/1B: I really like Vallot’s power and plate discipline combo. His bat will probably force him from behind the plate, but he’s held his own despite being extremely young for every level he has faced.
15. Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado, OF, RH: Escalera-Maldonado earned a promotion to Wilmington at age 20, which is pretty advanced movement for that age. He’s an athletic outfielder who has shown some plate discipline at an early age, which is encouraging. Doesn’t sound like he can stick in CF long term for KC, but his bat has become one to watch.
16. Pedro Fernandez, RHP: I haven’t seen much of him, but like the reports I’ve heard on his fastball and general makeup. Could become the next Almonte/Mondesi, though he’s more likely to land in the pen than either of them.
17. Elier Hernandez, OF, RH: Elier Hernanez teamed with Escalera-Maldonado in breaking out at Low-A and earning a promotion to Wilmington. It’s still early for this guy – he is just 20 years old – but he doesn’t take walks and hasn’t developed the prodigious power many thought he had the potential for. Still worth watching.
18. Hunter Dozier, 3B, RH: Dozier is reworking his swing mid-season, which generally will cause production to do what his has done: Nose dive. The changes he made entering the season (seemingly geared towards increasing his power production) were a disaster, and now he’s trying to get back to what he used to be. Still looks great and checks most of the scouting boxes, but the performance hasn’t matched, and it almost knocked him out of the list.
19. Christian Binford, RHP: After a breakthrough 2014, Binford struggled mightily at AAA and suffered a demotion. His upside remains similar – a back-end starter who can eat innings – but Binford’s lack of velocity and reliance on command have caught up to him so far.
20. Marten Gasparini, OF, SH: Gasparini is intriguing because of his speed and athleticism. He’s a LOOOOONG ways from the majors and young for his level, but reports on his bat speed, swing, and speed remain positive enough to keep him on the bubble.

[O.city]

The 04 team was pretty stacked, just can't beat destiny or the red sox

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by tk13

And there's a huge, huge difference between a $15 million payroll and $150 million. I don't think we'd have a $150 million payroll if Ewing Kauffman owned the team.

Did we have a large payroll relative to that era ? I have no idea.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

You could put Scott Rolen in that category, too. At least in 2004.

2005 was the year he tried to play through the torn labrum in his left shoulder, right? I still remember watching him try to swing with that and just collapse in pain...

Yes, and that's how the legend of Abe Nunez came to be.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Your 2004 team was the best by far and they got smoked in the World Series. Baseball is a funny game.

2005 team was better, IMHO.

2006 and 2011 I bet you couldn't have found one Cardinal fan to say they had a chance in hell of winning anything in those years prior to the playoffs.

You have to have some talent. Just get into the tournament and then get hot.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by tk13

And there's a huge, huge difference between a $15 million payroll and $150 million. I don't think we'd have a $150 million payroll if Ewing Kauffman owned the team.

Hard to say with Kauffman's but more than likely no. 120 million is where the Cardinals are at, Royals are at 110ish. We are close where we need to be.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I think he's getting a bump from having thrown today, on the day that a lot of other good news popped up from the Royals.



Today was an encouraging step forward for Ventura. He needs to build on it and be consistent.



The biggest difference for him today was working ahead in a lot more counts. He's been falling behind a lot more often this season than he did last year, which leads to him throwing more fastballs in hitters counts, which leads to more hard contact and more contact overall, and worse results.

Duffy still concerns me because at one point in the game he had thrown 100 pitches while Feldman was at 54. Early in the game it was almost 50/50 on balls & strikes when it should be 67/33 or at least 60/40 strikes to balls.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Did we have a large payroll relative to that era ? I have no idea.

1990 Royals had the largest payroll in MLB at 23 million.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

I'd take the '05 offense over the '13 offense, but I might be inclined to take the '13 pitching staff. I still have no clue why Shelby only pitched one inning in the POs. And Wacha was insane.

That 2005 team had peak Carpenter, plus Mulder, Morris, and a solid Marquis/Suppan at the back. That was a heck of a rotation.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

2005 team was better, IMHO.

2006 and 2011 I bet you couldn't have found one Cardinal fan to say they had a chance in hell of winning anything in those years prior to the playoffs.

You have to have some talent. Just get into the tournament and then get hot.

2006 I thought they'd lose to the Mets at least. They were really, really, really good that year. Still have no clue how the **** they won that series.

2011 was destiny ala the '04 Red Sox.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

You could put Scott Rolen in that category, too. At least in 2004.

2005 was the year he tried to play through the torn labrum in his left shoulder, right? I still remember watching him try to swing with that and just collapse in pain...

Yeah. 2005 Rolen was done for the year for months by the time the PS rolled around.

2006 Rolen was a sad sight as well. His shoulder was still so ****ed up that he couldn't get around on anything, and he had to cheat like hell on fastballs, the most notorious of which is the one he got hold of in Game 7 of the LCS, only for Endy Chavez to make what is probably in the short conversation for the greatest catch in postseason history in robbing him of the homerun.

For frazod, Rolen was Holliday before Holliday.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by tk13

That 2005 team had peak Carpenter, plus Mulder, Morris, and a solid Marquis/Suppan at the back. That was a heck of a rotation.

2013 team had Wainwright, rookie Wacha, rookie Shelby, Lynn, Kelly.

Marquis/Suppan were better than Morris that year.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by tk13

That 2005 team had peak Carpenter, plus Mulder, Morris, and a solid Marquis/Suppan at the back. That was a heck of a rotation.

You forget that Mark Mulder has an elephant labia for a heart.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Hamwallet

Has everyone forgot we managed to spend in the top 5 every year on players until the 90's strike. The money is there. KC is spending shitloads on the the team. It can happen.

Yes baseball economics are exactly the same as 25 years ago.
Until they have a new TV contract they are significantly limited. They're still not going to transform into a Yankees or Dodgers payroll. Sustained success with continued attendance and playoff appearances could put them in a position to have a payroll in the back end of the top third to high end of the middle third.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Yeah. 2005 Rolen was done for the year for months by the time the PS rolled around.

2006 Rolen was a sad sight as well. His shoulder was still so ****ed up that he couldn't get around on anything, and he had to cheat like hell on fastballs, the most notorious of which is the one he got hold of in Game 7 of the LCS, only for Endy Chavez to make what is probably in the short conversation for the greatest catch in postseason history in robbing him of the homerun.

For frazod, Rolen was Holliday before Holliday.

I was just reminded of an exchange.

This is sometime during the LCS. Rolen is hitting like absolute shit, and some scrub Mets pitcher shatters his bat on a weak groundout. I type, "I'd like to stab him in the ****ing heart with that bat shard," and frazod replied, "he'd have to have a heart first."

Oh, the joys of October baseball.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

1990 Royals had the largest payroll in MLB at 23 million.

Multiple cities with BILLION$ cable TV contracts. The can pay $150-$200 Million player contracts and if they flop, no big deal. Plenty more where that came from.