The Royals

[Rage Against the McKee]

Andy McCullough @McCulloughStar
The Royals made a qualifying offer to James Shields. It is for one-year, $15.3 million. He has until Monday to accept or decline.

Draft pick compensation here we come!

What if he accepts the deal 

We make the 2015 playoffs.

[Rage Against the McKee]

We should have at least offered Shields $50 million over 3 years. That wouldn't be such a slap in the face.

[kso_FAN]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/how-likely-are-the-royals-to-return-to-the-world-series/

[Rage Against the McKee]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/how-likely-are-the-royals-to-return-to-the-world-series/

They should probably do that analysis after we finish our offseason moves.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

cartier dont read that!

[Cartierfor3]

I don't need to read it to know that returning to the Series in 2015 is highly unlikely. We had tons of breaks. Tons. I mean, we rolled through the ALDS/ALCS without facing anything resembling an ace. Sale/Kluber/Lester/Hernandez/Price/Scherzer were the elite pitchers in the AL, and after Lester we avoided them all. Outside of Duffy, we had no injuries going in. The Orioles were without Chris Davis and Manny Machata. The Red Sox AND Yankees were both down in the same year for the first time in about 20 years. Also, the Indians will be better next year, so even returning to the playoffs will be tough.

Part of why the loss hurts so much is knowing that we aren't a franchise that will have a clinching World Series game at home very often. I won't say it can't happen, but its unlikely.

[TownieCat]

Royals picked up Davis' $7M option for 2015. 

[Rage Against the McKee]

Royals picked up Davis' $7M option for 2015. 

Well, that's good news, as long as they still have enough money to go get an ace.

[TownieCat]

Royals picked up Davis' $7M option for 2015. 

Well, that's good news, as long as they still have enough money to go get an ace.

It's only $2.2M more than last year, so it doesn't really affect the overall payroll much.

The Shields offer is very generous considering he turns 33 next month, has racked up 900+ innings the past 4 years, and has a very shaky postseason record. Any contract over 3 years would be very foolish. Considering that the majority of the roster is coming back he has to consider it, especially if he really cares about winning.

[mocat]

Royals picked up Davis' $7M option for 2015. 

 

[mocat]

honest Q: are we going to be playing 5 inning games next year? (HHDH related) 

[ksupamplemousse]

honest Q: are we going to be playing 5 inning games next year? (HHDH related) 

Probably not after we trade Holland.

[TownieCat]

Does anyone know what our record was when leading after 6 innings? I remember seeing it during our playoff run but can't track it down.

[joda]

Why do some of you idiots keep saying we need to get an ace? Ourdano may be better next year than anyone available other than Scherzer. Ventura, Duffy, Guthrie, Vargas is a pretty decent rotation still. Add another pitch to contact innings eater and let the D do its thing.

[Cartierfor3]

Anyone thinking we're going to sign an "ace" needs to take a look at recent contracts of big time pitchers. 0% chance we'll sign an "ace" like Price or Scherzer. Its going to be another Vargasy type.

[Cartierfor3]

honest Q: are we going to be playing 5 inning games next year? (HHDH related) 

With Davis back on for what we're paying him, and already having 2 other power right arms, Hoch is likely done in KC. JMHO

[TownieCat]

honest Q: are we going to be playing 5 inning games next year? (HHDH related) 

With Davis back on for what we're paying him, and already having 2 other power right arms, Hoch is likely done in KC. JMHO

JMHO, but I agree.

[ChiComCat]

Anyone thinking we're going to sign an "ace" needs to take a look at recent contracts of big time pitchers. 0% chance we'll sign an "ace" like Price or Scherzer. Its going to be another Vargasy type.

Yea, Ventura will be our #1

[mocat]

honest Q: are we going to be playing 5 inning games next year? (HHDH related) 

With Davis back on for what we're paying him, and already having 2 other power right arms, Hoch is likely done in KC. JMHO

i would like to keep Hoch even if we keep the HDH band together. How many of our games were lost in the 6th inning? like, all of them? JMHO

[Cartierfor3]

Well, what's he cost? He's coming off a TJ surgery and was the worst starter OAT but was a very, very good reliever for half a season. 3 million is the max I'd spend on him.

Plus, 6th inning might be Finnegan's

[mocat]

Well, what's he cost? He's coming off a TJ surgery and was the worst starter OAT but was a very, very good reliever for half a season. 3 million is the max I'd spend on him.

Plus, 6th inning might be Finnegan's

Hoch is the same thing as Wade Davis to me. Make Finnegan a starter or long reliever

[mocat]

i really believe we sort of broke through to a new dimension this year in terms of using a bullpen. i'm glad they are keeping everyone, though it goes against conventional wisdom. WGAF if we overpay our bullpen? it is by far the most extraordinary thing on this team, and we can use them every game if we want to. let HDH keep their roles, but then you add a leftie (Finn) and rightie (Hoch), it just gives you even more options if you want to give one (or two) of them the night off, or keep your starters' work load down. it's crazy exciting to me that our bullpen could be even better, despite possible (likely) regressions from HDH.

Refresher:
2013 Hoch: 70.1 innings, WHIP = 0.82, ERA = 1.92
2014 Davis: 72.0 innings, WHIP = 0.85, ERA = 1.00

[mocat]

our starters pitched 986 2/3 innings in the 2014 reg season, 3rd most in the AL. our starters' ERA was 3.60, 4th best in the AL.
how many runs did they give up due to Ned having to try to stretch them to HDH? i don't know, i don't remember. could be very few, could be a lot.

this is what i do know about our 2014 relief staff:

Aaron Rough Riding Crow pitched 59 innings (4.12 ERA)
Louis Dick Flopping Coleman pitched 34 innings (5.56 ERA)
Francisley Fire Proofing Bueno pitched 32.1 innings (4.18 ERA)
Michael Marcus Mariota Mariot pitched 25 innings (6.48 ERA)
Tim Boss Tom Collins pitched 21 innings (3.86 ERA)

[Rage Against the McKee]

Why do some of you idiots keep saying we need to get an ace? Ourdano may be better next year than anyone available other than Scherzer. Ventura, Duffy, Guthrie, Vargas is a pretty decent rotation still. Add another pitch to contact innings eater and let the D do its thing.

This year's roster was barely good enough to make the playoffs, so losing Shields and replacing him with an innings-eater while not making a significant improvement anywhere else all but guarantees no playoffs next year. The window for success with this roster is closing a whole lot faster than a lot of us want to believe and if this team wants to get back to the World Series, next season is their best bet. They need to go all in with free agency and put a better roster on the field next year than they did this year.

[ChiComCat]

Finnegan isn't there yet.  He had a couple of good outings in the playoffs but also some bad ones.  He is good for how young he is but he is not ready to start or be consistently relied upon daily.