Offically announced today in KC

[prodpaul]

in the Kansas City Star that Greinke will not be the opening day starter. Pena doesn't want to put that much pressure on him. Said it will be R. Hernandez, or Jose Lima.

[trevisc]

holy cow! I guess they'll start out 0-1 then

[TheYanks04]

Gee...I thought it was going to be something profound, like "Billionaire Glass has an epiphany and decides to spend some money on Royals".

Like it makes adifference who starts game 1 for KC? They may be the worst team in MLB on 05. Their starting lienup is:

#1 David DeJesus CF
#2 Angel Berroa SS
#3 Mike Sweeney DH
#4 Ken Harvey 1B
#5 Matt Stairs LF
#6 Abraham Nunez RF
#7 Mark Teahen 3B
#8 John Buck C
#9 Ruben Gotay 2B


It would be difficult to find one even remotely as bad as this.

[mikegp]

holy cow! I guess they'll start out 0-1 then

0-2

[eftda]

I'm guessing the Rotation will look like so:

#1 Jose Lima
#2 Zack Greinke
#3 Mike Wood
#4 Brian Anderson
#5 Jimmy Gobble

I could see them getting 60 wins with that rotation.

[midwest_kc]

Gee...I thought it was going to be something profound, like "Billionaire Glass has an epiphany and decides to spend some money on Royals".

Like it makes adifference who starts game 1 for KC? They may be the worst team in MLB on 05. Their starting lienup is:

#1 David DeJesus CF
#2 Angel Berroa SS
#3 Mike Sweeney DH
#4 Ken Harvey 1B
#5 Matt Stairs LF
#6 Abraham Nunez RF
#7 Mark Teahen 3B
#8 John Buck C
#9 Ruben Gotay 2B


It would be difficult to find one even remotely as bad as this.

That's if Teahen starts, it may be Chris Freaking Truby.

[JoseCanYouSee]

I think Graffanino will start at 2B and hit second. Berroa's OBP will be terrible. Gotay will start in the minors.

[grammysboy]

I'm guessing the Rotation will look like so:

#1 Jose Lima
#2 Zack Greinke
#3 Mike Wood
#4 Brian Anderson
#5 Jimmy Gobble

I could see them getting 60 wins with that rotation.

All indications on KC radio and in the Star indicate it will be Hernandez instead of Wood. (Like it will make a big difference!)

Keep in mind the Royals were in first place in the AL Central as late as August of '03, when the wheels completely fell off. Injuries devastated them last season and poor performance from some of their FA acquisitions (Juan Gone & Santiago)

I'm not naive enough to think they will contend for the division crown, but they could play a spoiler's role and knock someone out of it.