*** Official 2019 Kansas City Royals Repository ***

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Get the offseason thread out of here. It's on!

Opening day roster:

Catchers (2): Cam Gallagher, Martin Maldonado

Infielders (7): Hunter Dozier, Lucas Duda, Whit Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi, Ryan O’Hearn, Chris Owings, Frank Schwindel

Outfielders (4): Alex Gordon, Terrance Gore, Billy Hamilton, Jorge Soler

Starting pitchers (3): Jakob Junis, Brad Keller, Jorge Lopez

Relief pitchers (9): Scott Barlow, Brad Boxberger, Jake Diekman, Chris Ellis, Tim Hill, Ian Kennedy, Kevin McCarthy, Wily Peralta, Kyle Zimmer

Injured list: Danny Duffy, Brian Flynn, Jesse Hahn, Salvador Perez

Suspended: Eric Skoglund

[TLO]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I’ll be honest: I’m fine with seeing this team lose 10-20 extra games due to a crappy bullpen.

They have better young arms on the way in the near future (Zimmer, Staumont, Lovelady among them) that should add a lot of power back in the pen.

They’re trying to rehab some vets and build some trade value. If it doesn’t work, and it costs you games, the other effect is raising your next draft pick slot.

I'm not ok with this. At all. I want to win games now. Not wait around for a bunch of prospects that may or may not work out.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm not ok with this. At all. I want to win games now. Not wait around for a bunch of prospects that may or may not work out.

Yeah, it's a dumb comment. There's no reason to be "fine" with a bullpen blowing game after game. Some people's fandom is always based on building for some potential team that may or (more likely) may not gel in 3-5 years.
The bullpen has ranged from bad to sucked ass in every game so far. There's no reason to be "fine" with it.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I’ll be honest: I’m fine with seeing this team lose 10-20 extra games due to a crappy bullpen.

They have better young arms on the way in the near future (Zimmer, Staumont, Lovelady among them) that should add a lot of power back in the pen.

They’re trying to rehab some vets and build some trade value. If it doesn’t work, and it costs you games, the other effect is raising your next draft pick slot.

Yay! Better draft pick...guaranteed success!

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

Yeah, it's a dumb comment. There's no reason to be "fine" with a bullpen blowing game after game. Some people's fandom is always based on building for some potential team that may or (more likely) may not gel in 3-5 years.
The bullpen has ranged from bad to sucked ass in every game so far. There's no reason to be "fine" with it.

We need impact guys. The odds are much higher we're going to land a high impact guy with GMDM drafting in the Top 5 (preferably Top 3) than Top 15. 78 wins would be fun and all, but ask the M's how they've enjoyed that kind of 9-7 Chiefs like purgatory for the last ten years.

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

Yeah, it's a dumb comment. There's no reason to be "fine" with a bullpen blowing game after game. Some people's fandom is always based on building for some potential team that may or (more likely) may not gel in 3-5 years.
The bullpen has ranged from bad to sucked ass in every game so far. There's no reason to be "fine" with it.

Yes there is. This year's team isn't winning anything even if they had the '14 and '15 bullpens. If you want to get back to where you were in 2013-2016 as fast as possible (and sustain that success for a period of years), competing and winning ballgames in 2019 is not the way to do that, frankly.

This pen will look completely different in August and September. Ride the rebuild.

[MAHOMO 4 LIFE!]

The Nationals’ Trevor Rosenthal has faced seven batters over three appearances so far this season. This is how it has gone:

1B
1B
BB
1B
1B
BB
BB

0.0 IP, 4 H, 7 R/ER, 3 BB, 0 K

At this point, he’d have to pitch 21 consecutive scoreless innings just to get his ERA down to 3.00.

— Matt Chrietzberg (@BravesMattC) April 3, 2019

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm not ok with this. At all. I want to win games now. Not wait around for a bunch of prospects that may or may not work out.

This team isn't going to many games now, though. Not as currently constructed. And without a huge amount of luck or the influx of $100 million in added payroll, it wasn't going to win games now.

We're talking about the difference between winning 84 and 74 or 64.

They're going to upgrade the bullpen later this year with guys like Staumont and Lovelady. They're ready or near-ready. It's reasonable to take some time for those guys to develop and to let some cheap veteran arms build/try to rebuild some value. Adding guys like Diekman, Boxberger, etc. is done with an eye towards having more veteran guys (which would conceivably improve the team) and also having some guys who can be flipped for some form of value.

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

Yeah, it's a dumb comment. There's no reason to be "fine" with a bullpen blowing game after game. Some people's fandom is always based on building for some potential team that may or (more likely) may not gel in 3-5 years.
The bullpen has ranged from bad to sucked ass in every game so far. There's no reason to be "fine" with it.

A terrible bullpen matters when you're a real contender. When you're an also-ran, it is meaningless unless the difference between "pretty bad" and "really bad" really means that much to you.

My fandom is based on the Royals being as awesome as possible as often as possible. It's a challenge for them due to the market sizes and realities of baseball. I'm not and haven't been a proponent of complete tear downs and purposeful tanks.

But if it happens naturally... ok.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by TLO

I'm not ok with this. At all. I want to win games now. Not wait around for a bunch of prospects that may or may not work out.

With a small market team, you can't mortgage the future to find high price talent somewhere now, when the roster is not ready to win on a competitive level. We will get there, some good moves have been made, talent looking good. As duncan said, we have some up and coming arms in Triple A.

Next year ( 2020 ) is a major step, by 2021 if the young arms pan out the daily roster should be solid with enough experience to compete.

[Al Bundy]

I tend to agree with Duncan. The worst thing that could happen is that this team wins some games early. This team needs to be 20 games under by the end of May.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I’ll be honest: I’m fine with seeing this team lose 10-20 extra games due to a crappy bullpen.

They have better young arms on the way in the near future (Zimmer, Staumont, Lovelady among them) that should add a lot of power back in the pen.

They’re trying to rehab some vets and build some trade value. If it doesn’t work, and it costs you games, the other effect is raising your next draft pick slot.

Yeah, we saw that last year....I am in no mood for a repeat

[MAHOMO 4 LIFE!]

We’re not the worst!!

Cubs Bullpen
17 ER, 17 BB in 17.1 IP

GIF me.

— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeO670) April 4, 2019

[dallaschiefsfan]

My only issue with tolerating a bad bullpen is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum. It can be a defeater for young starting pitchers that do their jobs time and again. I'm OK with letting Boxberger pitch in a tight game that Homer Bailey or Danny Duffy starts (or Kennedy, if he ends up starting some games). But not Brad Keller or Junis or Lopez. I want the bullpen to deliver those guys the wins they've earned.

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan

My only issue with tolerating a bad bullpen is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum. It can be a defeater for young starting pitchers that do their jobs time and again. I'm OK with letting Boxberger pitch in a tight game that Homer Bailey or Danny Duffy starts (or Kennedy, if he ends up starting some games). But not Brad Keller or Junis or Lopez. I want the bullpen to deliver those guys the wins they've earned.

That works both ways. The same can be said for pitchers who don’t get run support. I think any pro pitcher understands that on any given day they’ll be benefitting from a teammate bailing them out.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!

We’re not the worst!!

Cubs Bullpen
17 ER, 17 BB in 17.1 IP

GIF me.

— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeO670) April 4, 2019

A race for the worst!

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

A race for the worst!

Hard to believe that the Royals bullpen ERA is only 4th worst but the Nationals, Cubs and White Sox have them beat. I know it's early though so the Royals have plenty of time to beat those guys.