When Do the Royals Make 'The Jump'??

[Inukchuk]

Aaron Crow?

[kab21]

I think everyone is a little prematurely excited about the Royals. It's possible that multiple young players could break out and they could win the central. but it's much more likely that these young players struggle a little and the Royals struggle to finish .500. I think .500 should be viewed as an optimistic goal.

[J35J]

Yeah, Hochevar's stuff is solid enough, his only problem is command and not neccessarily missing out of the zone but leaving stuff out over the plate belt high in the zone.


And yeah, .500 record and staying in contention into Sept is really my only goal for this year...we should be ready to compete in 2013 though....we better be anyway.

[Tavish]

I think Luke Hochevar takes a step forward next season and lives up to some of that potential. He had a very good second half last year. Fangraphs had a very interesting article on him (http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/luke-hochevar-and-reason-for-optimism/). His slider is apparently filthy. Can anyone who watches him consistently confirm this?

Hochevar's biggest problem for the last few years has been his inability to avoid big innings. He can be completely dominant for several innings, but it always seems like once he goes into the stretch, they had better get someone warming up in the bullpen. Both his slider and his curve are plus pitches, not so much great strikeout pitches but when they are on nobody gets decent contact on them.

I have no idea who their #5 guy is. Though I suppose it doesn't matter much. Unless I'm blanking on some good prospect or something.

It is hard to say exactly who the #5 will be since there are basically 4 guys who all could be slotted there.

Hochevar, Sanchez, Chen, Paulino are locks right now. Then you have Crow, Duffy, Teaford, and Mendoza with Montgomery being fairly close to ready are all potentials for the 5th spot or injury replacements.

And yeah, .500 record and staying in contention into Sept is really my only goal for this year...we should be ready to compete in 2013 though....we better be anyway.

If the team isn't a legitimate contender by 2013 then they might never be.

[MaudDib]

I think everyone is a little prematurely excited about the Royals. It's possible that multiple young players could break out and they could win the central. but it's much more likely that these young players struggle a little and the Royals struggle to finish .500. I think .500 should be viewed as an optimistic goal.

Agreed, the only thing that gives the Royals a chance is that the division is pretty bad. The Twins are really bad and they don't have much in the minors to get them going. The White Sox seem to be in selling mode for some reason and I don't see anything to be optimistic that they will some how turn things around. The Indians are looking better than when the off-season started so they will be hard to contend with. They also have a lot of youngsters but they are less proven than what the Royals have and most them (except for the pitching) have a lower ceiling than what the Royals have.

I would love to see a .500 team with the Royals and luckily they play against some pretty poor teams that .500 and then some can actually be dreamed on.

[daweasle]

I would love to be the GM of the royals right now.

I would deal for Garza. I would sign Roy Oswalt, and I would even make an offer to Aaron Harang.

Put two of those 3 at the top of the rotation - and let the 4 young guys fight for the 3-4-5 spots in the rotation.

My rotation would be good enough to sniff the playoffs....and if it's going the way I want in July - make a huge trade to fill in the holes.

[PlayingWithFire]

I would love to be the GM of the royals right now.

I would deal for Garza. I would sign Roy Oswalt, and I would even make an offer to Aaron Harang.

Put two of those 3 at the top of the rotation - and let the 4 young guys fight for the 3-4-5 spots in the rotation.

My rotation would be good enough to sniff the playoffs....and if it's going the way I want in July - make a huge trade to fill in the holes.

Dealing for Garza is going against everything the Royals has done in the past couple years, which is accumulating prospects. There will be a day where we actually trade for a MLB talent, we are not there yet. I'm cautiously hopeful that we will be after this year.

[Tavish]

I would love to be the GM of the royals right now.

I would deal for Garza. I would sign Roy Oswalt, and I would even make an offer to Aaron Harang.

Put two of those 3 at the top of the rotation - and let the 4 young guys fight for the 3-4-5 spots in the rotation.

My rotation would be good enough to sniff the playoffs....and if it's going the way I want in July - make a huge trade to fill in the holes.

So you would shorten their window of opportunity from 5-6 years of contention to 1 or 2 years so that it will come sooner? They need to develop an ace not acquire one. TINSTAAPP but when you have 4 or 5 young arms with the ability to become that anchor you give them their shot to develop. If the rotation is in the same shape after this season then you look at throwing money at a big time free agent to fill the gap for the next 5 years.

[MaudDib]

I would love to be the GM of the royals right now.

I would deal for Garza. I would sign Roy Oswalt, and I would even make an offer to Aaron Harang.

Put two of those 3 at the top of the rotation - and let the 4 young guys fight for the 3-4-5 spots in the rotation.

My rotation would be good enough to sniff the playoffs....and if it's going the way I want in July - make a huge trade to fill in the holes.

So you would shorten their window of opportunity from 5-6 years of contention to 1 or 2 years so that it will come sooner? They need to develop an ace not acquire one. TINSTAAPP but when you have 4 or 5 young arms with the ability to become that anchor you give them their shot to develop. If the rotation is in the same shape after this season then you look at throwing money at a big time free agent to fill the gap for the next 5 years.

But you also should look to acquire talent when you can. Look at the teams that made the playoffs last year, almost all if not all signed/traded for SP. Yes the Royals need to develop an Ace but that shouldn't limit us from going out and acquiring one. Right now we have 3 locks for SP and none of them are above a #3. Sign a Garza or Oswalt or Jackson and let the young guys learn from the veterans. Signing a couple SP doesn't shorten the window or opportunity, it could actually increase it. By signing a couple guys you allow the pitchers to develop and not be pushed which keeps them in the minors longer and pushes there window back.

[Tavish]

Sign a Garza or Oswalt or Jackson and let the young guys learn from the veterans. Signing a couple SP doesn't shorten the window or opportunity, it could actually increase it. By signing a couple guys you allow the pitchers to develop and not be pushed which keeps them in the minors longer and pushes there window back.

There is a big difference between signing a guy like Jackson and trading for a guy like Garza. Any frontline starter the Royals could acquire via trade is going to cost two or more of their key prospects. The team has plenty of options for the rotation that isn't going to force any of the prospects to the majors. It will be the prospects themselves that will force the move. Signing Jackson or Oswalt wouldn't be nearly as bad of an idea, but I don't see either being worth the type of money or years that are going to be thrown at them. I would rather give the current group a chance to develop another season and take a shot at one of the frontline starters next offseason.

And just to be realistic, the Royals are still a team that finished 20+ games behind the Tigers last season. And that was with career seasons from Gordon, Melky, and Francouer. Escobar is 24 years old with 2 full seasons at the major league level and will be the oldest and most seasoned starting infielder for the team. Gordon and Francouer were the only two Royals starters who were even alive (both were 1 year old) when Orta easily beat out Clark's throw in the I-70 World Series. The team has a ton of potential, but they are a lot further away from being a real contender than just adding a couple of starters.