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.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by hawkchief

My problem us more with MLB and its stupid revenue plan than it is with our team.

Of course, that makes zero sense given how hypercompetitive the sport has beem the past 15 seasons. Since 2000, 1/2 of the 30 teams have played in the World Series. With multiple winners. There are only like 4-5 teams that haven't made the playoffs since then. So what exactly are you talking about?

[Jive Ass]

Nice to see Shields leading the staff with the most wins. If he continues pitching like an ace, he'll either lead us to the playoffs or fetch something huge in a trade (see my last post).

[Archie F. Swin]

GMDM Claims to have watched at least one of the '85 WS home games from near 1-70 (as a Royals fan). Something tells me he'll never see a championship game *inside* Kauffman Stadium

[ChiefsCountry]

2-2 in July. Need to pick it up from .500 pace.

[BigCatDaddy]

Need Dunn and Byrd. Make it so Dayton. A couple of good bats to replace Aoki and Butler and this team has a shot. If they stand pat im not seeing it

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Need Dunn and Byrd. Make it so Dayton.

Honestly, we really do need two bats with pop. I just don't see that happening.

[TLO]

I think we should fire up "Part II" of this thread coming out of the break.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Need Dunn and Byrd. Make it so Dayton. A couple of good bats to replace Aoki and Butler and this team has a shot. If they stand pat im not seeing it

I like it. Who would we have to give up?

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

I like it. Who would we have to give up?

That's a Duncan question. Probably not much at all for Dunn but I'd guess trading for Byrd would hurt a bit if he waives the no trade.

[duncan_idaho]

So, I imagine I didn't miss much this weekend and haven't had a chance to read back through the thread yet. Spent Saturday and Sunday at home helping my dad finish the interior of my grandmother's new garage. It was a lot of tough work (sheetocking walls without a drywall lift sucks), but at least I missed the debacle Saturday.

Winning yesterday keeps the weekend series from being a complete disaster (it is just a minor one now), but the team has already talked so much about how it's a second-half squad, it had better deliver. Unless a move is made to add some punch to this offense, I hold out little hope for that.

It wouldn't shock me if Hosmer continues to hit and has a really strong second half. At this point, I'd be pretty shocked if Butler turns it around.

As for the costs on Dunn or Byrd, neither should be prohibitively expensive in acquisition cost. Dunn has one year left on his deal and is owed about $7 million over the rest of the season. I've never been a fan of his game and think the fanbase would quickly get annoyed with his 3 outcomes nature (think about how pissed people get now if a player doesn't deliver a runner from 3rd with less than two outs... that's pretty much Dunn's MO).

I can't imagine the White Sox market for Dunn is huge. He's a DH-only guy at this point, really. So you're limited to AL teams. I imagine it would be a very minor cost (something like Jason Adam, a lotto ticket who MIGHT eventually become a back-end starter).

Byrd probably makes more sense and is an easier fit for KC (as he brings more to the table than Dunn), but probably costs a little more to go get. And there's the no-trade clause issue, though he already has said he's willing to waive it to go to Seattle.

Being able to play Byrd in RF (something they should certainly be willing to live with considering they were fine with playing Ibanez RF) is a nice bonus, and his option for next year provides a little insurance for when Butler's option is not picked up. It would take more than Dunn - probably more like Adam plus another lotto ticket type -but Philly needs pieces and numbers to start its rebuild.

You could Byrd and not have to immediately cut ties with Billy Butler as part of the deal. Not really the case with Dunn.

Side note:

Kyle Zimmer is supposed to resume throwing today. We'll see how long this lasts!

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Jive Ass

The more I think about it the more I realize that there is an essential trade that needs to be made:

So, we could offer up Shields, Moose, Colon and Crow plus a few farm pieces (since we have the best farm in the league) for Stanton.

Discuss.

Baltimore Orioles fans think this is a good trade, probably. But it's far off the mark in what it would take to get Stanton.

Why does Miami - a team that's going nowhere this season - want James Shields?

Why does Miami a middling reliever who's about to hit arbitration and become expensive?

Moustakas and Colon maybe have some value to the Marlins, but as throw in piecess.

This is one of those trades that might work on MLB The Show on Playstation but makes no sense for either team in real life.

You want to talk about a cheap owner who abuses his local fanbase? Talk about Jeffrey Loria, who swindled the city of Miami into building a new ballpark for him with public funds and has since reneged on his "Changed ways" as an owner. He makes David Glass look like Steinbrenner by comparison.

If the Marlins trade Stanton, it will assuredly be for a package centered almost entirely around prospects. There might be 1-2 players with MLB experience in there, but they will be cheap young guys, not established stars with salaries north of $10 million/year.

KC would need to surrender:

RA Mondesi
Miguel Almonte/Christian Binford (pick one)
Ventura/Duffy (Pick one)

and that's just where it STARTS for Stanton. Likely would require a few more valuable pieces.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Calling out DeepSouth:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...postcount=6077



Calling out DuncanIdaho:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...postcount=6082

Nice call out.

I mean, it's not like I quoted a post in which you said you believe in stats, and shared stats that suggested Detroit was NOT going to run away and hide.



Hindsight is nice. At the time of that post - coming off a terrible month that had the team on the verge of fracturing and a clubhouse that was starting to see rumors about its rookie manager being overmatched - there wasn't anything STATISTICAL to suggest Detroit was about to go on a stretch in which it went from a -3 run differential to a +50 run differential in 23 games.

There was nothing that suggested an offense that had, to that point, been pretty mediocre would suddenly explode. As of 06/18, the Tigers had scored 305 runs in 68 games. That's 4.5 runs a game, and was 7th in the AL (Just nudging out the Royals at 303 runs, 8th in the AL). There was nothing to suggest JD Martinez, a scrap heap acquisition at that point posting an .843 OPS with 4 HR, would go on a tear in the next 23 games that would see him hit 9 HR and post a 1.222 OPS.

But congrats, I guess?

[Archie F. Swin]

RE:Byrd - I hope that when the Royals played the Mets in Aug last year and Byrd went full reerun in the outfield in the 2nd or 3rd game of the series, that was Marlon at his very worst...cause that was god awful.

[Archie F. Swin]

Jonny Gomes is a #Royals trade target, according to @jcrasnick. He's an interesting name to consider. Down year, but big power.

— David Lesky (@DBLesky) July 14, 2014

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Archie F. Swin

Jonny Gomes is a #Royals trade target, according to @jcrasnick. He's an interesting name to consider. Down year, but big power.

— David Lesky (@DBLesky) July 14, 2014

His max HR's in a yr was 21 - which he did once. He hasn't hit 20 HR's since 2009. Since when is that considered BIG POWER? Only for the R's I guess.....JFC