The Royals

[Kat Kid]

Geez KK and WC08 are obsessed with me.

No, I just want to hear your reaction to the news and was trying to bait you in to posting.

[420seriouscat69]

Yeah, what are you talking about, cf3? That's gE 101 right there.

[Cartierfor3]

Geez KK and WC08 are obsessed with me.

No, I just want to hear your reaction to the news and was trying to bait you in to posting.

I would've preferred them to get a younger/better player for RF, and one that is not on a steady decline. I'm disappointed with Morales/Rios and overall would've just preferred Butler for 1 more year and Aoki back instead of Rios. However, I do think that the team is good enough to make the playoffs again. I never liked the idea of Morse, and I don't think he would be any better than the guys we ended up getting. Perhaps equal to, but no better. Royals fans remember his HR against the Cards and hit in game 7 and over value him IMO.

But, if we add a starter, we'll go into the season with arguably a better rotation (we started last year with Chen), a better bullpen (add Finnegan/Hoch), and a lineup that will be pretty equal to last season's. I mean, didn't like 90% of Royals fans complain about Billy all year? Didn't Aoki hit 1 fluke HR and was, well, less than impressive in the field? I liked both of those guys, and they contributed to the run, but are not irreplaceable, and I would expect similar production from Morales and similar, but different production from Rios. I expect Moose/Hos to play better early, and Salvy to not get so dang run down. Those things happen and we can absolutely make the playoffs again.

I guess I never expected a "splash" in FA to begin with, because, you know, I didn't start following this team on September 30th of this year. 1 year for Rios is fine.

[8manpick]

I prefer one year of Butler and 2 of Aoki over what we got. If we were going to hope for bounce back seasons, why not go with who brought us to the world series? Depending on where Aoki lands, it probably would have been less money, and only one year for the DH if we'd have kept BB and Aoki. Ostensibly we added some power, but we didn't add someone opposing pitchers fear as a power hitter.  The best thing I can say about Kendrys Morales is that I got Yoenis Cespedes confused with him for a while.

[Kat Kid]

Geez KK and WC08 are obsessed with me.

No, I just want to hear your reaction to the news and was trying to bait you in to posting.

I would've preferred them to get a younger/better player for RF, and one that is not on a steady decline. I'm disappointed with Morales/Rios and overall would've just preferred Butler for 1 more year and Aoki back instead of Rios. However, I do think that the team is good enough to make the playoffs again. I never liked the idea of Morse, and I don't think he would be any better than the guys we ended up getting. Perhaps equal to, but no better. Royals fans remember his HR against the Cards and hit in game 7 and over value him IMO.

But, if we add a starter, we'll go into the season with arguably a better rotation (we started last year with Chen), a better bullpen (add Finnegan/Hoch), and a lineup that will be pretty equal to last season's. I mean, didn't like 90% of Royals fans complain about Billy all year? Didn't Aoki hit 1 fluke HR and was, well, less than impressive in the field? I liked both of those guys, and they contributed to the run, but are not irreplaceable, and I would expect similar production from Morales and similar, but different production from Rios. I expect Moose/Hos to play better early, and Salvy to not get so dang run down. Those things happen and we can absolutely make the playoffs again.

I guess I never expected a "splash" in FA to begin with, because, you know, I didn't start following this team on September 30th of this year. 1 year for Rios is fine.

I think the problem is that the money spent on Rios and Morales makes it much less likely that there will be a quality arm signed.  Unless there is a trade involving several bullpen arms and a minor leaguer that everyone has claimed is untouchable, I don't see the rotation being capable of repeating what it did last year.  I mean, yes, oscar Chen started the season, but:

Shields
Vargas
Guthrie
Ventura
Duffy

is better than

Vargas
Guthrie
Ventura
Duffy
????

[8manpick]

The only way the rotation ends up better is a healthy stud Zimmer by mid season, a stud (starting) Finnegan, or a trade that probably includes one of those two.

[Cartierfor3]

Well lets wait and see who ???? is then before declaring the rotation to be better or worse

[8manpick]

Who do you think/want it to be, cf3?

[Dr Rick Daris]

the whole thing comes down to whether they are/stay healthy or not. healthy for the entire year and i think they both do well and were good signings. injured and then you're frustrated.

[Cartierfor3]

Who do you think/want it to be, cf3?

Don't be shocked if Shields is back.

[8manpick]

Who do you think/want it to be, cf3?

Don't be shocked if Shields is back.

I would really like that. A qualifying offer really limits the teams that will go after a guy that is really good, but not great.

[ksupamplemousse]

Who do you think/want it to be, cf3?

Don't be shocked if Shields is back.

I would really like that. A qualifying offer really limits the teams that will go after a guy that is really good, but not great.

Still probably won't end up in KC.

[8manpick]

Who do you think/want it to be, cf3?

Don't be shocked if Shields is back.

I would really like that. A qualifying offer really limits the teams that will go after a guy that is really good, but not great.

Still probably won't end up in KC.

Likely that he won't, but if he is comfortable here, we have to give up less than any other team to compensate him. Also, it's not like days of old when staying with the royals meant staying with a 67 win team.

[420seriouscat69]

We pretty much got another Aoki for another 9 mill a year and our starting rotation is way worse. Woof!

[kso_FAN]

I'm not going to lie, I enjoy all (most) of the Royals thoughts and opinions here, but I pretty much rely on CF3 to be my Royals guide for positive/negative feelings on things.

[420seriouscat69]

You should listen to Petro, _fan. Best baseball mind in the city.

[Dr Rick Daris]

We pretty much got another Aoki for another 9 mill a year and our starting rotation is way worse. Woof!

we replaced butler and aoki with two similar players, making similar money and both on one year contracts. just imagine that butler and aoki were still under contract and coming back next season and you're instantly happier. then you're only looking to replace shields and there's still plenty of time left.

[420seriouscat69]

I guess if you look at it that way, it does make me happier. Also, that guy we signed yesterday from Minnesota? Do you think they're wanting to make him a rotation guy if we can't get another starter? Cause that scares me too.

[8manpick]

We pretty much got another Aoki for another 9 mill a year and our starting rotation is way worse. Woof!

we replaced butler and aoki with two similar players, making similar money and both on one year contracts. just imagine that butler and aoki were still under contract and coming back next season and you're instantly happier. then you're only looking to replace shields and there's still plenty of time left.

Except that Morales is on a 2 year contract, and Aoki made $1.95 million last year.

Butler / Aoki 2014: $10.95 million (incl Butler $1M to decline option)
Morales / Rios 2015: $17.95 million ($10.5 committed to Morales in 2016)

Butler / Aoki Royals 2015: $18 million ($9 million committed to Aoki in 2016)

(Aoki projected by MLB trade rumors to get a 2 year $16 million contract, Butler would have been at $12 million for the Royals in 2015, and really only $11 million since we paid him $1 million to leave.)

It's basically a wash, money wise, either way we would be increasing salary by ~$7 million for those two spots. It all comes down to who is more likely to get back to pre-2014 production for each of the 4 players.  Also clubhouse presence.  Personally, I'd prefer the guys who we went to the World Series with, but IF Rios can get back to some semblance of 2012-2013 production, he is a huge get.

[Kat Kid]

We pretty much got another Aoki for another 9 mill a year and our starting rotation is way worse. Woof!

we replaced butler and aoki with two similar players, making similar money and both on one year contracts. just imagine that butler and aoki were still under contract and coming back next season and you're instantly happier. then you're only looking to replace shields and there's still plenty of time left.

Except that Morales is on a 2 year contract, and Aoki made $1.95 million last year.

Butler / Aoki 2014: $10.95 million (incl Butler $1M to decline option)
Morales / Rios 2015: $17.95 million ($10.5 committed to Morales in 2016)

Butler / Aoki Royals 2015: $18 million ($9 million committed to Aoki in 2016)

(Aoki projected by MLB trade rumors to get a 2 year $16 million contract, Butler would have been at $12 million for the Royals in 2015, and really only $11 million since we paid him $1 million to leave.)

It's basically a wash, money wise, either way we would be increasing salary by ~$7 million for those two spots. It all comes down to who is more likely to get back to pre-2014 production for each of the 4 players.  Also clubhouse presence.  Personally, I'd prefer the guys who we went to the World Series with, but IF Rios can get back to some semblance of 2012-2013 production, he is a huge get.

There is no way Rios was going to get $11 million from any other team.  It was an overpay to get it to one year and even then I can't imagine he had other offers in the ballpark.  It was a panic move and the quotes from the team official are great evidence the incompetence and panic:

Also, source says #Royals believe Rios could have "huge bounce-back year and fills a great need. We have to stay up" with Central contenders

[nicname]

There's nothing better to get a group of young scrappers over the championship hump than bringing in a bunch of crappy old guys and paying them lots of money.

[8manpick]

Pro tip: we weren't actually that young a team last year

[nicname]

Pro tip: we weren't actually that young a team last year

A bunch of old guys who hardly played really messed with that average.

[420seriouscat69]

Also, can we cool down with the Finnegan is a stud talk? His wildcard performance was a ton of fun, but there's nothing I saw after that, that makes me think he's a shoe in to be a monster in the Majors.

[WillieWatanabe]