Thinking about how the son of a journeyman pitcher from the 1990s is about to own Kansas City alongside the other son of a journeyman pitcher from the 1990s.
Yes, these are the problems you like to have! Although the lack of impact outfielders ready to come up (or anywhere in the minors?) needs to impact our drafting going forward. I was glad to see that a couple of our highest rated international signings this week was outfielders. But they are far off. We need balance to sustain, so trade some of our middle infield prospects for outfield prospects. And draft a high impact one. Please.
If our Big 4 infielders produce/continue to produce, then to me the two biggest factors are Mondi's health and Whit's age. If the proper "Lorenzo Cain" like training regimen can work (if not ruined by the lockout), then Whit's age is the deciding factor for me. So he does go to RF, to live the youngest/best defenders/best potential (except maybe Whit better than Nicky). Just like trading someone before you lose them in free agency, Whit takes the back burner because of his age, and likely continued decline. With him in RF, and only a backup in the infield, you allow our top 3 to gel and thrive. Dayton likes continuity to produce the best defense, with as little shuffling as necessary. And Whit is the most flexible, career utility player we have and, if he becomes surplus because Isbel better deserves RF, then we trade him off as the modern Ben Zobrist at the trade deadline (and hopefully get a similar haul, a starting pitcher like Sean Manea). So Nicky back to 2B, and, I agree with you, Witt/Mondi at SS/3B or 3B/SS is a good topic for another article. If continuity/reliability is the straw that stirs that drink (or breaks that camel's back), then Mondi at 3B where continuity is not as important, unless his defense is markedly better than Witts, in which case Nicky is your flexible guy that can easily/effectively shift to SS to give Mondi his days off, unless you have an extra spot for Rivera for that.
Keep DH open for MJ except on days he trades with Salvy to catch. When the time comes, Vinny comes up when time to trade Salvy, to be the DH. And Pratto up when time to replace Carlos. And please draft or trade for some outfielders with high impact potential - instead of drafting 10 more SS/2B than we need.
Agreed on most of the points here, Steve. Just a couple things I'd argue with. I don't think Whit brings back near what Zobrist did unless he bounces back. Zobrist's worst year in the four or five leading up to the trade featured a 113 wRC+. Whit has exceeded that once. I would highly doubt they get back a potential 2/3 starter for him. Which stinks, but it's the reality.
And as for the drafting, you never should draft for need. These guys take long enough to develop that drafting for need could potentially see you miss on someone better and find that spot that was a position of need when you drafted them no longer is. Middle infielders move all the time. Sometimes it's out of necessity because they grow out of the position and sometimes it's because they simply are so athletic that they can handle other spots on the field. Mookie Betts was a second baseman. Moose was a shortstop. Dozier was a shortstop. Going back more than three decades, Brian McRae was a middle infielder. Danny Tartabull was a shortstop in the minors! Looking in the system now, Nick Loftin and Peyton Wilson both are middle infielders. I'd bet they see some outfield time real soon.
Okay, point well made, hoping that there are some dynamic impact outfielders currently disguising themselves as excess 2B/SS's in our system. And yes, just hoping that Whit catches fire to bring back a Zobrist lite haul to a desperate enough contender though, if he does and we are in playoff race, more likely that we keep him while Isbel/Olivares remain as backups and question marks (though would have been nice to figure out if one/both were good enough to save the money on Benny extension.
That's part of it too. If Whit is playing well enough to bring back a big haul, with an additional two playoff teams (I'm assuming that's happening), the Royals are probably at least on the periphery of that race. Not sure they move him then. It's definitely a good problem, but it's still a bit of a problem.
I guess I have a different take on all of this. If you have the #3 rated prospect in all of baseball, and if he is ready to play, you play him at his natural position. I think the consensus is that he is ready. He was probably ready last year. For me, Witt plays at SS, end of debate. I think we can all agree Whit is starting to decline, and he is much better defensively at 2B. I think Whit plays 2B, but has more days off. I think you let Mondesi play 3B, with several days off. That is where Lopez comes in, a super sub for all 3 of them. MJM, I think should be the almost full time DH, except when is catching to spell Salvy. That is my humble opinion on the situation. No telling on what they will end up doing though. Great discussion David.
I agree to some extent that you play your best player at his best position, but I think it's at least fair to wonder if he isn't better at third. And his bat is likely to be able to carry third. And if they're better as a whole with Witt at third and either Mondesi or Lopez at SS, then I think that makes the most sense. Ultimately, I think it matters where Witt's best position is. If you believe it's even or close, you go with the best overall team defense. If it's unquestionably shortstop, he plays shortstop and you fill in the rest around him. And if it's unquestionably third, he obviously should play third. It's not like they're asking him to play left field or even second base. It's a spot he's played and played well. So I think it just depends on what's best for him first and the team a close second.
My hope is that when the shortstop free agent carousel is over that the one holding the bag would offer us something of value for Lopez. Sell high. We have Mondesi for short, if he gets hurt, Witt can slide over. Rivera plays third. Isbell gets regular time in right.
I think this one is simple to start the year, it gets tougher as the season goes on and more prospects come up but it will sort itself out I’m sure. To start the year though I think you have Witt jr at 3B, Lopez at ss, merrifield at 2B and Mondesi giving those guys days off when they need them and probably getting 4 days a week at dh. Let mondi stay healthy and get some at bats. If he hits he hits. If he doesn’t hit somebody takes his spot in June. Then I think you have dozier in right and Isbel getting a lot of time in right along with some time in center. My thoughts at least
Eventually tho I think Witt will play ss. He may even start the year there. I think that will play a big part in to extending him and keeping him in kc for the long haul. In that case merrifield moves to right, Lopez to short, mondi/Rivera get time at 3B and I think you still have to give Isbel everyday at bats somehow. Which mean s either sacrifice MAT defense at the beginning of the year and put Isbel in center or trade Benny after the lockout and put Isbel in left where he’s probably the best defender in the mlb in left
That's an interesting thought. I doubt it's enough for a full article due to it being, you know, so rare, but Franchy was probably selling high. Off the top of my head, Brandon Finnegan was definitely a sell-high. Wil Myers has been a good big leaguer, but he was a top-five prospect when they moved him, so he probably qualifies. Very interesting.
I like a slightly different alignment. Rivera at 3B, Witt at SS, Lopez at 2B, Mondesi at UTL, and Whit in RF. I think 2 years from now your infield will be those 3 above with Pratto at 1B. Mondesi and Merrifield will both have moved on. We aren't going to the playoffs in 2022 so let's get ready to make it in 2023.
I am higher on Rivera than most. He had a solid AAA season and came up to get a bone in his hand broken in his first week that (from what I read) saps your power. I thought he played really solid D and has as much potential to blossom into an above average major leaguer than anyone not in our top 4 position players. Plus his nickname is Pulpo. If that doesn't smack of star quality, I don't know what does.
I like Rivera, but I just don't think he finds a way to crash the party without an injury, which is obviously VERY possible given Mondesi's history. But yeah, Pulpo is a pretty outstanding nickname.
Thinking about how the son of a journeyman pitcher from the 1990s is about to own Kansas City alongside the other son of a journeyman pitcher from the 1990s.
Just wait until Cole Irvin Jr. is patrolling center field.
Yes, these are the problems you like to have! Although the lack of impact outfielders ready to come up (or anywhere in the minors?) needs to impact our drafting going forward. I was glad to see that a couple of our highest rated international signings this week was outfielders. But they are far off. We need balance to sustain, so trade some of our middle infield prospects for outfield prospects. And draft a high impact one. Please.
If our Big 4 infielders produce/continue to produce, then to me the two biggest factors are Mondi's health and Whit's age. If the proper "Lorenzo Cain" like training regimen can work (if not ruined by the lockout), then Whit's age is the deciding factor for me. So he does go to RF, to live the youngest/best defenders/best potential (except maybe Whit better than Nicky). Just like trading someone before you lose them in free agency, Whit takes the back burner because of his age, and likely continued decline. With him in RF, and only a backup in the infield, you allow our top 3 to gel and thrive. Dayton likes continuity to produce the best defense, with as little shuffling as necessary. And Whit is the most flexible, career utility player we have and, if he becomes surplus because Isbel better deserves RF, then we trade him off as the modern Ben Zobrist at the trade deadline (and hopefully get a similar haul, a starting pitcher like Sean Manea). So Nicky back to 2B, and, I agree with you, Witt/Mondi at SS/3B or 3B/SS is a good topic for another article. If continuity/reliability is the straw that stirs that drink (or breaks that camel's back), then Mondi at 3B where continuity is not as important, unless his defense is markedly better than Witts, in which case Nicky is your flexible guy that can easily/effectively shift to SS to give Mondi his days off, unless you have an extra spot for Rivera for that.
Keep DH open for MJ except on days he trades with Salvy to catch. When the time comes, Vinny comes up when time to trade Salvy, to be the DH. And Pratto up when time to replace Carlos. And please draft or trade for some outfielders with high impact potential - instead of drafting 10 more SS/2B than we need.
Agreed on most of the points here, Steve. Just a couple things I'd argue with. I don't think Whit brings back near what Zobrist did unless he bounces back. Zobrist's worst year in the four or five leading up to the trade featured a 113 wRC+. Whit has exceeded that once. I would highly doubt they get back a potential 2/3 starter for him. Which stinks, but it's the reality.
And as for the drafting, you never should draft for need. These guys take long enough to develop that drafting for need could potentially see you miss on someone better and find that spot that was a position of need when you drafted them no longer is. Middle infielders move all the time. Sometimes it's out of necessity because they grow out of the position and sometimes it's because they simply are so athletic that they can handle other spots on the field. Mookie Betts was a second baseman. Moose was a shortstop. Dozier was a shortstop. Going back more than three decades, Brian McRae was a middle infielder. Danny Tartabull was a shortstop in the minors! Looking in the system now, Nick Loftin and Peyton Wilson both are middle infielders. I'd bet they see some outfield time real soon.
Okay, point well made, hoping that there are some dynamic impact outfielders currently disguising themselves as excess 2B/SS's in our system. And yes, just hoping that Whit catches fire to bring back a Zobrist lite haul to a desperate enough contender though, if he does and we are in playoff race, more likely that we keep him while Isbel/Olivares remain as backups and question marks (though would have been nice to figure out if one/both were good enough to save the money on Benny extension.
That's part of it too. If Whit is playing well enough to bring back a big haul, with an additional two playoff teams (I'm assuming that's happening), the Royals are probably at least on the periphery of that race. Not sure they move him then. It's definitely a good problem, but it's still a bit of a problem.
I guess I have a different take on all of this. If you have the #3 rated prospect in all of baseball, and if he is ready to play, you play him at his natural position. I think the consensus is that he is ready. He was probably ready last year. For me, Witt plays at SS, end of debate. I think we can all agree Whit is starting to decline, and he is much better defensively at 2B. I think Whit plays 2B, but has more days off. I think you let Mondesi play 3B, with several days off. That is where Lopez comes in, a super sub for all 3 of them. MJM, I think should be the almost full time DH, except when is catching to spell Salvy. That is my humble opinion on the situation. No telling on what they will end up doing though. Great discussion David.
I agree to some extent that you play your best player at his best position, but I think it's at least fair to wonder if he isn't better at third. And his bat is likely to be able to carry third. And if they're better as a whole with Witt at third and either Mondesi or Lopez at SS, then I think that makes the most sense. Ultimately, I think it matters where Witt's best position is. If you believe it's even or close, you go with the best overall team defense. If it's unquestionably shortstop, he plays shortstop and you fill in the rest around him. And if it's unquestionably third, he obviously should play third. It's not like they're asking him to play left field or even second base. It's a spot he's played and played well. So I think it just depends on what's best for him first and the team a close second.
My hope is that when the shortstop free agent carousel is over that the one holding the bag would offer us something of value for Lopez. Sell high. We have Mondesi for short, if he gets hurt, Witt can slide over. Rivera plays third. Isbell gets regular time in right.
I think this one is simple to start the year, it gets tougher as the season goes on and more prospects come up but it will sort itself out I’m sure. To start the year though I think you have Witt jr at 3B, Lopez at ss, merrifield at 2B and Mondesi giving those guys days off when they need them and probably getting 4 days a week at dh. Let mondi stay healthy and get some at bats. If he hits he hits. If he doesn’t hit somebody takes his spot in June. Then I think you have dozier in right and Isbel getting a lot of time in right along with some time in center. My thoughts at least
Eventually tho I think Witt will play ss. He may even start the year there. I think that will play a big part in to extending him and keeping him in kc for the long haul. In that case merrifield moves to right, Lopez to short, mondi/Rivera get time at 3B and I think you still have to give Isbel everyday at bats somehow. Which mean s either sacrifice MAT defense at the beginning of the year and put Isbel in center or trade Benny after the lockout and put Isbel in left where he’s probably the best defender in the mlb in left
Lesky - damn auto correct. You should run an article on the last time the Royals traded a player and sold high on said player. :)
That's an interesting thought. I doubt it's enough for a full article due to it being, you know, so rare, but Franchy was probably selling high. Off the top of my head, Brandon Finnegan was definitely a sell-high. Wil Myers has been a good big leaguer, but he was a top-five prospect when they moved him, so he probably qualifies. Very interesting.
I like a slightly different alignment. Rivera at 3B, Witt at SS, Lopez at 2B, Mondesi at UTL, and Whit in RF. I think 2 years from now your infield will be those 3 above with Pratto at 1B. Mondesi and Merrifield will both have moved on. We aren't going to the playoffs in 2022 so let's get ready to make it in 2023.
I am higher on Rivera than most. He had a solid AAA season and came up to get a bone in his hand broken in his first week that (from what I read) saps your power. I thought he played really solid D and has as much potential to blossom into an above average major leaguer than anyone not in our top 4 position players. Plus his nickname is Pulpo. If that doesn't smack of star quality, I don't know what does.
I like Rivera, but I just don't think he finds a way to crash the party without an injury, which is obviously VERY possible given Mondesi's history. But yeah, Pulpo is a pretty outstanding nickname.