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This morning, I am going to run through a quick exercise in constructing the Royals' twenty-five man roster for the coming season. My guess is that almost everyone who reads any Royals' blog has already done this in one form or another, but I have serious doubts that the Royals' front office has.
Okay, sure, we know that is total sarcasm, but seriously I think the Royals have a firm idea on the 40 man roster, but only a vague 'things will work themselves out' idea as to the 25 they will break camp with. You can make an argument that this is the perfect way to go into spring training and I would generally agree, but I do wonder if a 'small budget' club like the Royals can assemble and pay for 30+ guys to compete for their 25 spots?
The catching position is pretty simple: Jason Kendall starts, Brayan Pena watches. The hope is that Kendall is an upgrade defensively and in handling the pitchers, while not just destroying you at the plate. If he can get on base at even a .340 clip, throw runners out and get along with Greinke and Meche, he might be tolerable. In Pena, the Royals have a switch-hitter who might log some time at DH. I wish the team had given Pena two months of everyday duty last year to find out if he really is THAT bad behind the plate, but that ship has sailed. Manny Pina, acquired from Texas last year, is the next in line, but his bat is not ready for the bigs (and may never be). He is, should everything go to hell, probably the best defensive catcher in the organization. At any rate, it's Kendall and Pean: that's two.
The corner infield positions are pretty clear: Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. What happens after that is a mystery. The Royals acquired Josh Fields as part of the Mark Teahen trade, making rumblings about Fields playing a corner outfield spot, but that has gone by the wayside with the signings of Podsednik and Ankiel. Out of options, Fields will be on the 25 man roster come April, likely as the backup third baseman and part-time designated hitter. That's three more guys, for a total of five.
We will jump out to the outfield at this point. I shudder to think how the team is going to actually arrange David DeJesus, Rick Ankeil and Scott Podsednik defensively, but we all know that those will be the three outfielders and that they will play everyday. The signing of Ankiel brought out the semi-public announcement that Jose Guillen would be the club's primary designated hitter - something Jose probably has not yet heard and won't like when he does. While the 'just cut him' plan of action is certainly appealing and maybe even logical, it is hard to see the Royals doing so. There's four players, four veterans mind you, that will be on the team in April, bringing us to a total of nine on our roster.
Okay, middle infield will be...deep breathe...Yuniesky Betancourt at shortstop and somebody else. Of course, the Teahen trade also brought Chris Getz over and the expectation is that he will be an upgrade defensively at second over Alberto Callaspo. However, with Guillen moving to DH (not to mention Fields), playing Getz at second leaves few places for Callaspo to play. As much as I hate watching Alberto field, I do love watching him hit. The other glaring problem is that keeping Betancourt, Getz and Callaspo leaves no room for Willie Bloomquist. We all know that's not going to happen (besides, Willie is the only one who can play short). The wild card in this equation is Mike Aviles. My guess is that Aviles will not be ready at the start of the season and will open the year on the disabled list.
We will assume that the Royals will open the year with a 12 man pitching staff or move to that sooner rather than later. Although he has options left, it is hard for me to believe Dayton Moore traded Mark Teahen for a bench player and a guy who is going to play in Omaha. That leaves Getz on the roster, with Callaspo and Bloomquist who, for all his faults, can fill the role of both fourth outfielder and utility infielder. With Betancourt, that makes four for a total of thirteen.
That means Brian Anderson, all $700,000 of him, is in AAA and Mitch Maier, out of options, might be somewhere else come April. The schedule might allow the team to open with eleven pitchers, so it could be Mitch and the organization a couple of weeks to sort out what to do, but by the end of April, barring a trade or simply cutting bait with Guillen, Mitch will be off the Royals' big league roster.
Now, onto the pitching staff. The starting rotation right now will be Greinke, Meche, Bannister, Hochevar and either Kyle Davies or Robinson Tejeda. There are rumblings about the Royals fishing for a veteran, which would likely be the end of Davies and push Tejeda back to the pen. Right now, though, my money is on Tejeda as the number five starter. At any rate, that's five guys, so we are up to eighteen total, now.
The bullpen will have Joakim Soria and Juan Cruz at the backend, with Kyle Farnsworth available for blow-out work (what a fine use of funds, by the way). Rule 5 pick Edgar Osuna is all but guaranteed a spot, which fills four of the seven spots.
I would be pretty amazed if veteran journeyman Matt Herges does not get a spot. Just a hunch, but I think he will trade it that number 77 for a real baseball number by April. I am also hoping beyond all hope that the Royals give and Carlos Rosa earns a spot in the bullpen this year. Rosa, performing as I hope he might, is the guy who makes what Juan Cruz and Kyle Farnsworth do irrelevant.
That leaves one final spot (assuming Tejeda is the fifth starter) up for grabs between Ramon Colon, Victor Marte, Dusty Hughes and all the non-roster invitees. Throw Herges into this mix if you want and say this group is fighting for two roster spots. It doesn't much matter how it ends up, but that's seven relievers, twelve pitchers and a 25 man roster.
Now, in reading all this, how likely do you think it is that all of Chris Getz, Jose Guillen and Alberto Callaspo break camp with the Royals? You could throw David DeJesus into that mix as well as he is likely the most tradable of all the Royals' position players. Barring trades or another free agent signing, I would put pretty good money on the 25 players outlined above.
Part of me is pretty certain Dayton Moore has two more moves on his agenda that will make the real 25 man roster different from the above. All of me is hoping that is the case.
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Comments
Looking back I just wish we had held onto Cortez and then be forced to take a look at Bianchi this season at short until Aviles was ready. We are stuck now with Yuni at short and his defense if horrible and he can't hit his way out of a wet paper sack. I would much rather see anyone else at short this season than Yuni, whether it was Getz, Bianchi, or someone via FA.
My guess is that Guillen eventually gets cut or traded for nothing because reports are that he is not healthy and will not be happy just being the DH.
As far as the outfield, I don't see how Hillman will really entertain the option of moving DJ to RF and put Ankiel in CF. Just leave DJ in right, Pods in center and Ankiel in RF. Come on Trey!
Like everyone else, I would love to see Guillen be traded but I don't support just releasing him. It is his "contract year" and we are paying him anyway... so why not see if he is a bit motivated and returns to his good hitting ways?
Do we really want to trade Meche just for salary relief? I wouldn't be happy about that unless we KNOW that Trey's overuse through high pitch counts really is going to have a lasting effect.
And if we did sign Mulder or Bedard.... I don't want to see it end Robinson Tejeda's starting shot. He did show us something last year.
I continue to read all Royals-related rumors and blogs that I can find each and every day. I do it because deep inside... I trust that there is going to be another move (or two) BEFORE Spring Training. Come on, GMDM.... get something done to clarify this.
Go Royals!!! C-ya, AusSteveW
Anyway, I expect to see Callaspo, and possibly one of those outfielders, dealt for some middle relief help at some point. Aviles will likely start the year on the DL. Willie WILL find a way onto the 25. Guillen might flat-out get cut at this point. It'll all shake out.
Oh, and if we can sign Erik Bedard, and he can pass a physical, we'd be fools not to.
We can't undo the past. If we could then we certainly reverse every one of Dayton's moves over the last 1.5 years except for the Greinke extension but that's another argument altogether. I guess right now what makes the most sense is cutting Guillen and letting Callaspo DH. Whatever, it's going to be a long long year.
I know that we throw our hands up in the air whenever we sign a new "marginal" player to the roster for what WE deem too much money, but what if that is what is necessary to even get guys to come to Kansas City. I know it is probably a lot easier to land guys who are looking for another shot or close to the end of their career, but what about the guys that a lot of other teams are courting.
As an example I used to live in St. Louis. My boss approached me a couple years ago about moving back to this area and said that I would either be moved to KC or to Parsons, Kansas. In my head, I was already calculating how much more I would want to be paid if my move would have been to Parsons. Thankfully that never happened, but baseball players are the same way. I'm sure that guys want more money to come to play for KC because they know that they are most likely not going to have a chance at the postseason.
Not all baseball players are as money hungry as they are made out to be. I bet that a lot of guys look at other things such as: Championship possibilities, clubhouse, city life, management, training staff, fan support . . . The only way to get better guys to KC is to improve on these other areas.
What do you guys think?