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 duncan_idaho

Because I'm not a bandwagon fan who just roots for teams because they're good?

Did you at least go to school there? Or are you another t-shirt fan?

I'm not going to root for a football or baseball team that isn't local. So that leaves Royals and Chiefs (I liked the Cardinals/loved the Royals until spending 8 years living around Cardinals fan at Mizzou/in St. Louis. Still like and respect the team, but hate their t-shirt, front-runner fans. Note: This does not include all fans or passionate fans, with whom I enjoy talking baseball.)

And I'm certainly going to root for my alma mater in college sports. Guys that have "secondary" teams or that root for a team other than their alma mater are front runners. And I'd rather not watch sports than be that (that's what was ingrained in me by my family, my dad included. I'm a 4x legacy graduate of Mizzou).

I'm an alum. And yes, everyone roots for their school obv. My point on that was there are many regional choices on where to attend college or who to root for....but only 1 choice for MLB or NFL. You and I were born into that mess no doubt. It's very frustrating.


The Royals are my favorite team and its my favorite pro sport which makes it worse. For those on the board who marginally follow them it's not that annoying but for me at least, I can't fathom why we suck for decades on end. The laws of probability would make this run of suck hardly do-able.

[alnorth]

College - Kansas, went to school there
MLB - Royals
NFL - Chiefs, used to be the Cowboys. (My dad is a Cowboys fan, so I legitimately could have went that way, but sometime in high school I decided to switch because the Chiefs were local, and once I switched, it was for good, none of this having a favorite NFC team nonsense. I no longer care about Dallas)
NBA - don't care, won't follow it even if KC gets a team
NHL - don't care, won't follow it even if KC gets a team

[siberian khatru]

http://msn.foxsports.com/kansas-city...dressed-050614

'Frustrated' Moore says Royals' poor offensive approach has been addressed


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals general manager Dayton Moore sees the same thing Royals fans are seeing -- a team that is just not producing enough runs to reach its expectation of being a playoff contender.

"I'm as frustrated as anyone," Moore told FOXSportsKansasCity.com by phone. "It's very simple why we're not winning as much as we should be -- we're getting plenty of base runners but just not driving them in.

"(Monday) was another example. What did we have, 19 base runners? That's a game we dominated but couldn't get enough runs home. Our ability to get runs home has to improve. Period."

As the Royals' slide reached five games Monday night, the question becomes: What can Moore do to help the situation?

A trade seems unlikely at this point.

"There's not a lot you can do because there aren't a lot of players available (for a trade) right now," Moore said. "And I still have a lot of faith in the guys we have."


And Moore isn't about to swap out hitting coaches again. After firing Kevin Seitzer after the 2012 season and then reassigning Seitzer's replacements -- Jack Maloof and Andre David -- last May, Moore plans on sticking with hitting coach Pedro Grifol for now.

"It's the players who have to be accountable," Moore said. "And they are and they will be. I know Pedro and Ned (Yost) are working on (the hitters') approach all the time. That approach has to get better, too.

"It's quite simple for us. We need to be having our best at-bats when it matters most, when runners are in scoring position, and that's not happening now."

The Royals are hitting just .241 with runners in scoring position. With two outs and RISP, the number is even more grim -- .211.

"That's the time when, as a group, you have to concentrate and come up with your best at-bat," Moore said. "I get that we want to be aggressive and make things happen. But you also have to be selective and wait for your pitch to do some damage. That's not happening right now."

One area that likely will change immediately is the Royals' penchant for hacking at 3-0 pitches. The Royals now have swung at six 3-0 pitches and have just one hit, a seeing-eye single by Nori Aoki. The five other swings actually have resulted in six outs -- one swing produced a double play.

"The results of that are unacceptable," Moore said firmly. "That (situation) has been addressed. Pedro and Ned understand that."

Another area where Moore wants to see improvement is the team's pattern of swinging at pitches out of the zone. The Royals, according to FanGraphs, swing at an above-average rate (30.4 percent) of pitches outside the zone, which is never a good idea for a team that is last in the league in homers (13) and has a woeful .307 on-base percentage (13th out of 15 AL teams).

"That has been addressed, too," Moore said. "Pedro and Ned are working with the hitters every day on their approach, whether it's being ahead in the count, having two strikes on you, or whatever.

"But sure, we know it has to get better. I still believe this group of guys will hit."


Overall, Moore said the team hasn't really come close to playing the type of baseball he anticipated.

"We're just not there right now," he said. "This is not the start we expected. If you look at the whole, we're getting very good starting pitching. (James) Shields and (Jason) Vargas had a couple of rough starts over the weekend, but that's normal regression. It will build back up.

"The bullpen, for the most part, has been good to very good. They've given up runs, but all bullpens give up runs at some points. The bullpen has been strong.

"What has held us back has been the inability to produce runs with runners in scoring position. Once that gets better, we'll get better. It's early May -- a lot of baseball left."

As for the team's rough 0-5 start in May and any comparisons to the 8-20 May from a year ago, Moore said: "We're just not playing well right now. It has nothing to do with the calendar. But we need to start getting some wins right now."

You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.

[siberian khatru]

"It's very simple why we're not winning as much as we should be -- we're getting plenty of base runners but just not driving them in."

— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) May 6, 2014

The Royals currently rank 13th in the American League in OBP.

— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) May 6, 2014

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I'm just tired of Glass and Dayton remaining so silent. I mean, how can they find this crap acceptable? put some ultimatums on your team.

It would be different if this was only the 2nd or 3rd year of a rebuild. expectations were to make the playoffs, not just be happy your at the MLB level.
Posted via Mobile Device

Gordo Nation!
Fireworks Fridays!
All You Can Eat Seats!
Salute the A's Night!
Buck Night!
Kids Run the Bases!
Sunday Jesus Concerts!

How can you not be happy? What exactly do you expect from a Major League Baseball Team?

[Ebolapox]

@ the rany tweet. fark.

[siberian khatru]

"OBP? What kind of advanced metric is that?" /Dayton Moore

[alnorth]

"It's quite simple for us. We need to be having our best at-bats when it matters most, when runners are in scoring position, and that's not happening now."

The Royals are hitting just .241 with runners in scoring position. With two outs and RISP, the number is even more grim -- .211.

"That's the time when, as a group, you have to concentrate and come up with your best at-bat," Moore said. "I get that we want to be aggressive and make things happen. But you also have to be selective and wait for your pitch to do some damage. That's not happening right now."

I'm a little more worried after reading that. Some of that stuff might sound good, but I've always believed that your approach at the plate should generally be consistent no matter what the situation is, with some exceptions for strategic purposes (sacrifice bunt/fly, hitting it to the right side to get a guy to 3rd, etc). If you go into an at-bat with a whole different approach just because someone's at second base, you are more likely to screw yourself up.

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

"OBP? What kind of advanced metric is that?" /Dayton Moore

Yikes....that quote is pretty damn scary when you think of it.

[DeezNutz]

Rany has the ability to de-pants DM at a whim. So, so sad that our GM has absolutely no ****ing clue about how to assess the modern game.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Rany has the ability to de-pants DM at a whim. So, so sad that our GM has absolutely no ****ing clue about how to assess the modern game.

Rany the dude who wanted us to drop 125m on Carl Crawford?

[WilliamTheIrish]

A trade seems unlikely at this point.

**** you, Dayton Whoore.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Rany the dude who wanted us to drop 125m on Carl Crawford?

Oh, noes, are you suggesting that an analyst doesn't get everything right all of the time????

[WilliamTheIrish]

It's the players who have to be accountable

Why should the players be accountable? You're not. You certainly don't hold that galactic ****wit Ned accountable. It's time to sit some players who are not producing.

Nobody is accountable in this organization.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Oh, noes, are you suggesting that an analyst doesn't get everything right all of the time????

That wasn't a mistake. It was a major knee slapper. That would've hamstrung our franchise for years financially. It was a terrible idea