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.

[blake5676]

Originally Posted by nychief

Cheap ****ers. I hate the ****ing Glass family.


Dollars to donuts our comp pick is in 50's... because at this point those are the teams willing to give up a pick and the money.

I'm no Glass defender by a long shot, but I seriously don't see how any bad words can be thrown in the front office direction on the Santana saga. We bought him cheap for a year, he gave us great production and we'll net an extra draft pick out of the whole situation. It's actually picture perfect and exactly what we'd have hoped for if having this conversation 12 months ago.

And as far as not forking over the $$ and signing him now? Well, he's "reportedly" going to get a deal for roughly the same as his QO from the Royals. NO ONE....especially Santana and his unemployed former agent, saw this coming. We couldn't have planned on that guy's stupid shenanigans. You have to put an offseason plan together and Ervin made it clear to the Royals he wanted multiple years for high dollars. That's where we move on and start assembling our starting 5, and take the comp pick to the bank. I see no cheap Glass, stupid Dayton here. And trust me, I'm often of the opinion they are incompetent.

[WhawhaWhat]

Ervin basically wants do-over on qualifying offer, so $14M is magic figure. #jays #o's. @Ken_Rosenthal @dSoldevila on this

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) March 8, 2014

[nychief]

Originally Posted by blake5676

I'm no Glass defender by a long shot, but I seriously don't see how any bad words can be thrown in the front office direction on the Santana saga. We bought him cheap for a year, he gave us great production and we'll net an extra draft pick out of the whole situation. It's actually picture perfect and exactly what we'd have hoped for if having this conversation 12 months ago.

And as far as not forking over the $$ and signing him now? Well, he's "reportedly" going to get a deal for roughly the same as his QO from the Royals. NO ONE....especially Santana and his unemployed former agent, saw this coming. We couldn't have planned on that guy's stupid shenanigans. You have to put an offseason plan together and Ervin made it clear to the Royals he wanted multiple years for high dollars. That's where we move on and start assembling our starting 5, and take the comp pick to the bank. I see no cheap Glass, stupid Dayton here. And trust me, I'm often of the opinion they are incompetent.

yay. we get a sandwich pick. hooray. Santana's ppl came back to the royals YESTERDAY saying he'd sign a one year deal... The front office has done nothing wrong other than give us a ONE YEAR WINDOW with Jason ****ING Vargas as our no. 2 starter.... news flash, Vargas sucks. As does Jguts... they are not great starting pitchers, and they are certainly not 2s or 3s on a playoff team. But, wait, what about the young guys? This front office gives me no confidence that they can develop starting pitching, because... THEY NEVER HAVE, EVER. Look up the number of DM picks to start in the big leagues...be my guest.

So, yeah, we have this one year with James Shields... who is going to leave. Then we back to the bottom of the pile.

But thank god we stuck to Glass' budget....

[WhawhaWhat]

Wade Davis is out of the fifth starter competition. He's moving to the back end of the bullpen.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) March 8, 2014

James Shields will start Opening Day and Jason Vargas will start Game 2. Jeremy Guthrie gets the home opener. Game 3 is undecided.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) March 8, 2014

[CaliforniaChief]

On one hand, I'm glad to see that Yost has enough sense to keep Davis in the 'pen. On the other, it makes the Myers trade more frustrating.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by nychief

Cheap ****ers. I hate the ****ing Glass family.


Dollars to donuts our comp pick is in 50's... because at this point those are the teams willing to give up a pick and the money.

Wrong, our comp pick will be a sandwich 1st-round pick regardless of who signs him. Even if the signing team has to give up a mere 3rd-rounder, that doesn't impact what we gain, their pick just disappears, and our comp pick just appears in a different spot.

edit: as of right now, our comp pick appears to be #29, which would be pretty high.

[alnorth]

The #5 starter is between Duffy and Ventura. Loser goes to Omaha.

I assume that if they feel its a tie, then Duffy will get it for service time reasons. They could wait to bring Ventura up until sometime in early May to get that extra year.

[tk13]

I bet we'd have to go 16-17M to get Santana now.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by tk13

I bet we'd have to go 16-17M to get Santana now.

Signing him for one year doesn't make any sense at all for us at this point. It might make sense for someone who has already burned their top 2 picks.

At this point, people need to factor in that comp pick. If we presume that it is now a virtual certainty that Santana will not go unsigned past June, then that ~#29 pick is ours, in the bag, in our draft order. If we want to sign him, we are not just out the money, we also surrender a pretty high draft pick, all to have him for one more year?

[alnorth]

Unless he inexplicably gets forced into the rotation and then explodes into awesomeness, I think this is the last year we'll see Wade Davis in KC. He's already too expensive as a back-end bullpen pitcher, there's no way in hell we should exercise any of his 3 team options. We'll give him his buyout and close the book on "the trade".

edit: Here's our roster, with option info updated to correct a few mistakes.

[blake5676]

Originally Posted by nychief

yay. we get a sandwich pick. hooray. Santana's ppl came back to the royals YESTERDAY saying he'd sign a one year deal... The front office has done nothing wrong other than give us a ONE YEAR WINDOW with Jason ****ING Vargas as our no. 2 starter.... news flash, Vargas sucks. As does Jguts... they are not great starting pitchers, and they are certainly not 2s or 3s on a playoff team. But, wait, what about the young guys? This front office gives me no confidence that they can develop starting pitching, because... THEY NEVER HAVE, EVER. Look up the number of DM picks to start in the big leagues...be my guest.

So, yeah, we have this one year with James Shields... who is going to leave. Then we back to the bottom of the pile.

But thank god we stuck to Glass' budget....

Not trying to argue with you over Glass' cheapness and how deep his pockets are. But you're just completely overlooking the fact that this worked exactly as we had hoped. Couldn't have gone better, actually. Dream scenario for a one year player...he pitched well and we're going to get a high pick and more $$$ for the draft because of it.

It seems to me that you think without a doubt that Santana will replicate the season he had last year. In actuality, it's pretty unlikely. Especially when you look at his history. Dropping $15M for one more season and losing the extra pick doesn't make much sense. We have no idea the exact number Santana's people demanded in order for him to come back. And you can't exactly wait until 3 weeks before the season to set your starting 5.

[Sure-Oz]

1 year deal def doesn't help the royals except now our 'year', that pick is valued, obviously why he hasn't signed at this point.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

1 year deal def doesn't help the royals except now our 'year', that pick is valued, obviously why he hasn't signed at this point.

yeah, I think we would have been happy if he accepted the QO, and then someone who we later signed wouldn't be here now in his place. Once he declined the QO, that suddenly introduced a new high draft pick that wasn't there before we offered the QO. That high draft pick is tough for us to give up unless he agreed to a long-term budget-friendly deal. 1 year? No way, forget about it.

edit: here's what we have now.

#17

Comp pick, currently #29 and probably won't move

The 5th competitive balance A pick, it will be somewhere in the high 30's or low 40's. This pick is tradable.

Then our 2nd rounder will be about the 15th 2nd round pick. Overall, we'll have 4 of the top 55 or so, and 3 of the top 40 or so. Thats quite a haul, and similar to what the Rays have been doing.

[alnorth]

Andy McCullough ‏@McCulloughStar 41m
Like most SP shifted to relief, Davis doesn't exactly sound crazy about it. But he's moving forward. "What are you going to do? Say no?"

Sorry Davis, thats what happens when you suck.

By the way, the new beat writer is a must-follow if you are on twitter. That young guy has turned out to be a worthy successor to old man Dutton.

[Sure-Oz]

Tim Brown ‏@TBrownYahoo 5m

.@dSoldevila reporting Ervin Santana has a one-year, $14m deal with Toronto Blue Jays.

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi 23s

Source close to Ervin Santana talks says Blue Jays do not have an agreement in place with him at this moment. But they are working on it.