2014 Royals Repository

[duncan_idaho]

With my 6,000th post on ChiefsPlanet (it only took me 12 years to get here), I bring you: The 2014 Kansas City Royals Repository.

To be discussed here: All things Royals, as they attempt to post another winning season and make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

25-man RosterAvailable HERE

AL Central Standings:

Link

Duncan's Top 20 Royals Prospects

Spoiler!

1) 3B Hunter Dozier ETA: 2015
Dozier started slowly at A+ Wilmington but caught fire in May and June, earning a mid-season promotion to AA Northwest Arkansas. Big, strong kid with good plate discipline skills and solid power who projects to be an above-average glove at 3B with solid power.

2) SS Raul (Adalberto) Mondesi ETA: 2017
Mondesis is the opposite of Dozier…. Started red-hot at Wilmington before back spasms derailed him for a few weeks and hasn’t gotten it going since coming back. Scouting reports have been great – defense and speed both improved over the offseason. Still a chance to be an elite SS, with 40 SB speed, plus glove, .300 average and some pop.

3) LHP Sean Manaea | ETA: 2015
Scouting reports outperform the stat line so far. Missing a ton of bats at A+ but not preventing runs like you’d expect to see. Needs to work deeper into games (gradually working about an inning deeper/month so far this year) and improve control. Walks are biggest concern right now, but could be elevated due to work on extra off-speed offerings. Still has No. 2 starter potential, could be higher if the great control he exhibited before his hip surgery eventually comes back.

4) RHP Kyle Zimmer| ETA: 2015
Should be NO. 1 on the list and is probably the Royals most VALUABLE current prospect, but he hasn’t thrown a ball in 4-5 weeks and had only been throwing for 2-3 weeks when he was shut down then.

5) LHP Brandon Finnegan| ETA: 2015
Top 2014 draft choice is an undersized lefty who will start at A+ Wilmington after anchoring CWS run for TCU. Good fastball, better slider, change that needs work to stick as a starter, but if he sticks, No. 2/No. 3 starter upside. Likely a top 10 or even top 5 pick if he doesn’t miss 1 start in the middle of the college season as a precautionary move.

6) RHP Miguel Almonte| ETA: 2016
Have heard some say Almonte is more advanced as a pitcher at A+ than Yordano Ventura was (comparison because both were cheap signs out of Latin America). Really advanced changeup and a curve that is working out well (where the ‘more advanced’ comment comes from). Fastball velo is good but not great – 92-94. Like Manaea, working on his second-best offspeed pitch and leaning less on his bread-and butter (changeup), which has hurt his numbers a bit.

7) RHP Christian Binford 2017
Reverse case of “don’t just scout stat lines.” Based on his stats at A+, you’d think he was an elite prospect, but there are questions about Binford’s stuff playing up at higher levels. Tall righty with great command of fastball, slider and a good and still developing changeup. None of those pitches profiles as better than average, though, limiting his likely upside to back-end rotation guy.

8) SS Orlando Calixte| ETA: 2016
I still like him more than many. Good combination of SS/MI skills and power. Started hot at NWA but in a slump at moment.

9)LHP Foster Griffin | ETA: 2019
Tall, projectable lefty taken in 2014 draft. Viewed as a great value in the sandwich round and probably would have been KC’s pick at No. 17 if Finnegan hadn’t fallen. High school arm who is going to take a while to develop.

10) RF Jorge Bonifacio| ETA: 2016
Hasn’t hit as well as expected in his second go-round at AA NWA. Power still sapped, and average skills have dipped. Once looked like he might be an option in RF at some point in 2015, now looks like 2016 is optimistic. Still young for his level.

11) 3B/2B Cheslor Cuthbert| ETA: 2016
Cuthbert has had better luck at NWA than Boni and is also extremely young for level. HE’s been moved to 2B since Dozier was promoted, which could put a new spin on Cuthbert’s prospects. If he sticks at 2B, bat plays up much better. Good OBP/plate discipline and solid power, but needs to continue improving contact skills

12) C Chase Vallot| ETA: 2020
Young (just 17) C with tremendous power. One of the top prep bats and a great value for KC where it got him. If he sticks at C, expect him to move slowly, but the bat may force the issue (or force him to another position).

13) C Zane Evans| ETA: 2017
GA Tech product has handled Wilmington better than most RH bats and probably is in line for a promotion to NWA sometime soon. Decent pop, decent skills behind the plate. Could be a nice reserve catcher.

14) RHP Scott Blewett| ETA: 2020
Tall, projectable righty with a fresh arm but some injury concerns on his shoulder that slipped him out of Round 1 of MLB draft. Big time potential.

15) CF Bubba Starling | ETA:
Bubba Starling has great tools. Bubba Starling (still) can’t hit. That’s all I have to say about that.

16) 1B Samir Duenez| ETA:
I still like him, even though the attempt to run him through full season ball at 17 did not go well.

17)LF/RF Elier Hernandez| ETA:
Hernandez still pops up in scouting reports but still is very raw and toolsy.

18) RHP Pedro Fernandez| ETA:
Pop-up player on the same track as Ventura and Almonte. Similar signing, similar profile. One to watch over next few years.

19) SS Marten Gasparini| ETA:
Royals’ most expensive international signing likely moves to CF eventually, but his speed and athleticism are intriguing abilities. Early reports from complex ball are very positive on him.

20) RHP Niklas Stephenson| ETA:
Interesting pop-up candidate who found 10 more MPH on his fastball by using a weighted ball during workouts over the winter. Now sits mid-90s with fastball and is dominating at rookie ball (after having an ERA over 8 there a year ago). Likely promoted to a higher challenge soon.

[Coach]

The thing is, and maybe it's just me, but this team is just almost an identical team as last year. We all have lamented about that awful May record (was it 8-20 or something?) last year and that most of us believed that if we had gone .500 on that May, the Royals could have been in the WC spot last year.

I know it is a long season, and anything can happen, but I think it's the repeat from last year's team, minus the horrendous May record, at least I hope that'd be the case....

[KCCHIEFS27]

I am excited to see these guys pumped up about a series against Detroit. Since being swept at home by Houston this team is 12-4.

[KChiefs1]

Pitching matchups:

Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers
Monday, June 16, 7:08 PM EDT , Comerica Park

Jason Vargas, LHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. DET hitters
Career stats
Vargas stifled the Indians for most of eight innings, finally yielding three runs but earning his sixth win. He gave up six hits and no walks, but hit three batters for the first time in his career. Vargas has gone at least six in 12 of 14 starts.

Justin Verlander, RHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. KC hitters
Career stats
Verlander has been encouraged by his fastball lately, but his results haven't translated. After holding the White Sox to one run over five innings, he gave up six runs in the sixth, five of them after his second and final out.


Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers
Tuesday, June 17, 7:08 PM EDT , Comerica Park

Yordano Ventura, RHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. DET hitters
Career stats
Ventura had perhaps his best fastball command in a seven-inning win against the Indians on Wednesday. He issued no walks, and 61 of his 85 pitches were strikes. Although capable of 100-plus mph, Ventura stayed mostly in the 95-97 range.

Max Scherzer, RHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. KC hitters
Career stats
Scherzer threw his first career complete game in his last outing, a three-hit shutout of the White Sox last Thursday in Chicago with three walks and eight strikeouts. It broke a string of four outings without a quality start.


Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers
Wednesday, June 18, 1:08 PM EDT , Comerica Park

Jeremy Guthrie, RHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. DET hitters
Career stats
Guthrie ended an 11-start winless stretch his last time up despite putting together a worse outing than many of his starts during the drought. He struggled with command but managed 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball while striking out nine to four walks.

Drew Smyly, LHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. KC hitters
Career stats
Smyly is quietly finding his form again, having tossed back-to-back outings with six innings and one earned runs allowed, but paid for a hanging curveball with an Eduardo Escobar home run in Thursday's 2-0 loss to the Twins.


Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers
Thursday, June 19, 1:08 PM EDT , Comerica Park

Danny Duffy, LHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. DET hitters
Career stats
Following a dead-arm period at the end of May, Duffy has been on a roll in June. With seven scoreless innings Saturday vs. the White Sox, Duffy lowered his ERA in three June starts to 1.45 to go along with a 0.86 WHIP and 18 K's in 18 2/3 innings.

Anibal Sanchez, RHP
Last 3 starts
Regular season
Last 5 years vs. KC hitters
Career stats
Sanchez is unbeaten in six outings since his return from the disabled list in mid-May, the last five of them quality starts. He has allowed just 20 hits over 34 2/3 innings in those five starts, walking five and fanning 32.

[KChiefs1]

Detroit News:

www.detroitnews.com
Red-hot Royals ready to take a swing at Tigers


Detroit — They were celebrating again, bounding across the field after a walk-off sacrifice fly. As dramatic finishes go, it wasn’t quite spine-tingling, but it was another glimpse at the Tigers we thought we knew.

They won a series by beating the Twins 4-3 on Sunday, and they did it with better starting pitching, a double-digit hit total and a couple gifts from Minnesota’s wobbly defense. The past three weeks have been excruciating for the Tigers, and the flaws haven’t disappeared while winning three of their past four.

But if they’re ready to stretch their legs and unleash their vaunted arms again, now would be a fine time to do it. At the risk of eliciting eye rolls, I’m anointing this four-game series starting tonight against the Royals as the first Big Showdown of the season. Silly to be declaring a showdown in June, I know, but this is the closest any division foe has gotten to the Tigers.

The Royals have been an alleged rising team for so long, they should legally change their name to the Rising Royals. Now here they are, winners of seven straight, just 1½ games behind the first-place Tigers (36-29). Kansas City has been mashing the ball and getting good pitching, a lethal combination the Tigers should’ve trademarked when they had a chance.

The early-season Good Tigers gave way to the Bad Tigers, and now there’s an inner battle for the team’s true identity, or something like that. As always, it will be decided by the starting pitchers, and after an awful stretch, they’re finding their way. Rick Porcello delivered the team’s fourth straight solid start, going seven innings against the Twins and buckling only once, in a three-run sixth.

“Well, we hope we’re getting back to what Detroit Tiger baseball is, which is the starting pitching going deep into games,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “We score runs, including some days with big offensive outputs, but the key is the pitching.”

Bullpen still struggling

Before anyone declares the end to any slump, we need to see a few more things. For instance, the smoldering bullpen has to replace its gas hose with a fire hose. Joe Nathan struggled again Sunday, giving up two singles before escaping a scoreless ninth on Ian Kinsler’s snare of a soft liner. The only reliever displaying consistent bite is Joba Chamberlain, and that has to change. Nathan wasn’t necessarily hit hard by the Twins, but he still doesn’t induce many swings and misses.

We also need to see if Justin Verlander can flash his ace capabilities again when he faces tough Royals lefty Jason Vargas tonight. All of the Tigers’ Big Three — Verlander, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez — will pitch in the series, and they’d rather not have to win games by themselves.

The Tigers fared poorly with runners in scoring position Sunday and had to grind it out, capped by Torii Hunter’s sprint to the plate on J.D. Martinez’s flyball to medium-depth center field. It wasn’t majestic, nor was the Tigers’ 12-9 victory the night before, when the bullpen tried to blow it. But it’s amazing how a few breaks and quality starts can stabilize a team and lift the mood.

“I loved today’s game, a great win for us,” Porcello said. “We got off to an early lead, I gave it back, we were down, then we climbed back. It was a fantastic win all the way around.”

Porcello has somewhat mirrored the Tigers — good early, not so good recently, scrapping to be good again. Same with the offense. Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera still supply most of the production, although the Tigers are getting more and more from their rookie infielders, Nick Castellanos and Eugenio Suarez. The key is whether they can shake awake Austin Jackson (5-for-46 with runners in scoring position) and get Hunter back to driving the ball.

In the meantime, you ride it out, because prognostications to the contrary, there might be a summer-long race in the Central after all. The distance between the Tigers and the last-place White Sox is a mere 5½ games, and the division combatants are like crabs in a bucket, clawing over each other to get a snap at the Tigers.

Players downplay series

The Rising Royals are here, and not to make you nervous, but they have a nasty good bullpen with closer Greg Holland. We can have fun with the Big Showdown moniker, but don’t expect the Tigers to join in.

“You can spin it any way you want,” Ausmus said. “It’s certainly an important series, I don’t know if I’d call it a showdown. But it’s a big series against a team that’s played well lately. I’ll just leave it at that.”

If necessity is the mother of invention, the Tigers showed on Father’s Day that perseverance is the father of contention. The notion they’ll just pitch and mash their way to World Series contention has taken a hit, and now comes an opponent eager to take its swings.

“Every game we play in our division is very important, but it’s not the series of the year — AT ALL,” Hunter said. “If it was September, yes. Not in the middle of the season.”

OK, I get it. It’s a long way to September, and the Tigers expect showdowns then. Of course, they won’t have to worry as much if they take care of showdowns now.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Thanks. Can you post the updated division records now like you did a few days ago?


One cause for concern is our peripherals. Our expected production is actually better than our actual for both offense and pitching. I.e., today we won 6-3 but stranded 6 while they stranded 13. Long term that's a concern.

I remember hearing that the Sox stranded 32 for the 3 game series- that was a bit unsettling.

[alnorth]

Here's an irritating headline.

Tigers Look To Recapture Comfortable Division Lead In Series With Royals

The story basically reads like "a month ago the Tigers had a comfortable lead, but don't worry, the Royals are coming to town so we're obviously gonna win this week"

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Here's an irritating headline.

Tigers Look To Recapture Comfortable Division Lead In Series With Royals

The story basically reads like "a month ago the Tigers had a comfortable lead, but don't worry, the Royals are coming to town so we're obviously gonna win this week"

Bullshit. We're coming for blood, mother****ers.

[C3HIEF3S]

RT @ChrisFickett: As #Royals chase playoffs, GM Dayton Moore says he's confident team could spend more if needed http://t.co/WcYvzPZOdG

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) June 16, 2014

I'd ****ing hope so..

[WhitiE]

Originally Posted by C3HIEF3S

RT @ChrisFickett: As #Royals chase playoffs, GM Dayton Moore says he's confident team could spend more if needed http://t.co/WcYvzPZOdG

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) June 16, 2014

I'd ****ing hope so..

Lol no shit man

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by C3HIEF3S

Absolutely correct.


And there isn't much on Tampa besides Longoria. There's also Loney, but he is a 1st baseman that hits for average and little power. We already have two of those so no on him.
There's no power hitter on that team either, Longoria leads them with 7.

The only hope to get another bat at the deadline is, as you mentioned tk, to hope some teams fall off and fall off hard.

If I were to bet, the team that you see right now is going to be what we see in August/September.

Um...Zobrist???

[Don Corlemahomes]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Um...Zobrist???

Shit, I hope not. I could see Dayton giving up Zimmer a la Shields for Myers.

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Um...Zobrist???

He is a decent player, but if DM were to trade for a bat I would want a serious power bat. Or at least someone that will significantly improve this team.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by C3HIEF3S

He is a decent player, but if DM were to trade for a bat I would want a serious power bat. Or at least someone that will significantly improve this team.

Zobrist is a stud man. He's king of WAR. He can play multiple positions. That would probably mean being able to boot Moose to the curb. Surely Infante or Zobrist can play can rotate 3b accordingly. I wouldn't even care trading Zimmer for him quite honestly. Zimmer might not even do shit, especially with his injury history so far.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Zobrist is a stud man. He's king of WAR. He can play multiple positions. That would probably mean being able to boot Moose to the curb. Surely Infante or Zobrist can play can rotate 3b accordingly. I wouldn't even care trading Zimmer for him quite honestly. Zimmer might not even do shit, especially with his injury history so far.

While I love Zobrist, and I choose him EVERY year in fantasy, he doesn't fit the Royals needs right now. If you are gonna trade for a bat, it has to be a power bat for this team. Don't care about average but just someone that can smash.

[BWillie]

You guys done bagging on my boy Billay?? The trek to .300 batting average is coming.