As we are time-lining this thing out to get the Royals to an average baseball team. I think they are probably in the 5th inning of that now. Or stage two if you will. Stage one was working on the pitching. Still work to do…but if they do nothing else I think everyone feels a lot better with it than what they had. Stage two….pretty clearly fixing the outfield situation now. It’s why I keep waiting for that Melendez trade….and you’re not deleting that article so I’m still hoping. I look at that outfield and man…it’s just 5 “ifs”. One of those “ifs” I think will work out…if we get lucky two…but three is asking a lot. The Renfoe trade still just doesn’t make sense to me if they are keeping Melendez. That’s the one that the math doesn’t quite add up to me. Renfoe is almost exactly the same player as Velasquez and Melendez (from the left side). So we’ll see. I guess it doesn’t have to be this offseason….but it still doesn’t quite fit. We’ve talked about it plenty tho. Lol.
I think they're closer to average than that, but in the fifth inning of actually being good. They need at least one more impact rotation arm, a third bat to go with Bobby and Vinnie (and no, it's not Salvy anymore) and probably a couple more average relievers assuming two of the young guys step up to be legitimately good. They're certainly not done and I think, to the organization's credit, they aren't claiming victory about it. I'm glad they're acknowledging that it is going to take a little more time and I like what they've done to this point.
The big key is going to be how the farm system is perceived after this season. I've heard some legitimately great things about both Blakes from the draft last year and think they could both easily be top-50 prospects (one scout told me he watched Mitchell hit last week and he's a monster in waiting and could be a top-20 prospect this year) soon. They need to be able to get Seth Lugo from the minors, not for $45 million. It's a perfect fine, if not good, signing. But if you have a budget and have to spend some of it on average to above average, you're not leaving much to overspend on great. That's where the system comes into play.
Well…..I’m glad they have done what they’ve done and I think they are going to entertain me enough this year with 70-75 wins to stay interesting for a while. But yes, the elephant in the room is the development and farm system. I think they bought this year….and that’s ok. But if at this time next year the farm system hasn’t moved up to at least middle of the pack on a consensus level….there are some real problems for the FO. Because you can only buy your way to mediocracy for so long. I’m not even saying top 10….but they need to see some real improvement this year in that department. I don’t know enough about the guys to I’m not even going to comment. IDK. But yeah, they should honestly be able to find an above replacement level outfielder….or a Seth Lugo with pretty good regularity. We’ll see, that’s stage 3. Don’t rush the build David!
Celebrate, we now have a rotation. Bullpen much better. Infield, very solid. Outfield, somewhat scary. Someone needs to step up in the outfield. Possibly 70 wins. Unsure about the coaching. I'm all over the place over this team. Exactly where I like to be at this time of the year.
The pitching, on paper, looks like it'll keep the team in games. If they hit like they did in the second half, this is a team that can flirt with .500 pretty easily and a few bounces can get them higher than that. It can also get them lower, but that's a story for midseason if it happens. I don't think we'll see much more than competent baseball this season, but competent baseball is a massive step up.
As we are time-lining this thing out to get the Royals to an average baseball team. I think they are probably in the 5th inning of that now. Or stage two if you will. Stage one was working on the pitching. Still work to do…but if they do nothing else I think everyone feels a lot better with it than what they had. Stage two….pretty clearly fixing the outfield situation now. It’s why I keep waiting for that Melendez trade….and you’re not deleting that article so I’m still hoping. I look at that outfield and man…it’s just 5 “ifs”. One of those “ifs” I think will work out…if we get lucky two…but three is asking a lot. The Renfoe trade still just doesn’t make sense to me if they are keeping Melendez. That’s the one that the math doesn’t quite add up to me. Renfoe is almost exactly the same player as Velasquez and Melendez (from the left side). So we’ll see. I guess it doesn’t have to be this offseason….but it still doesn’t quite fit. We’ve talked about it plenty tho. Lol.
I think they're closer to average than that, but in the fifth inning of actually being good. They need at least one more impact rotation arm, a third bat to go with Bobby and Vinnie (and no, it's not Salvy anymore) and probably a couple more average relievers assuming two of the young guys step up to be legitimately good. They're certainly not done and I think, to the organization's credit, they aren't claiming victory about it. I'm glad they're acknowledging that it is going to take a little more time and I like what they've done to this point.
The big key is going to be how the farm system is perceived after this season. I've heard some legitimately great things about both Blakes from the draft last year and think they could both easily be top-50 prospects (one scout told me he watched Mitchell hit last week and he's a monster in waiting and could be a top-20 prospect this year) soon. They need to be able to get Seth Lugo from the minors, not for $45 million. It's a perfect fine, if not good, signing. But if you have a budget and have to spend some of it on average to above average, you're not leaving much to overspend on great. That's where the system comes into play.
Well…..I’m glad they have done what they’ve done and I think they are going to entertain me enough this year with 70-75 wins to stay interesting for a while. But yes, the elephant in the room is the development and farm system. I think they bought this year….and that’s ok. But if at this time next year the farm system hasn’t moved up to at least middle of the pack on a consensus level….there are some real problems for the FO. Because you can only buy your way to mediocracy for so long. I’m not even saying top 10….but they need to see some real improvement this year in that department. I don’t know enough about the guys to I’m not even going to comment. IDK. But yeah, they should honestly be able to find an above replacement level outfielder….or a Seth Lugo with pretty good regularity. We’ll see, that’s stage 3. Don’t rush the build David!
Absolutely. The system is what's going to keep this group employed or not. So far, they've passed the tests, but there's still a ways to go.
Celebrate, we now have a rotation. Bullpen much better. Infield, very solid. Outfield, somewhat scary. Someone needs to step up in the outfield. Possibly 70 wins. Unsure about the coaching. I'm all over the place over this team. Exactly where I like to be at this time of the year.
The pitching, on paper, looks like it'll keep the team in games. If they hit like they did in the second half, this is a team that can flirt with .500 pretty easily and a few bounces can get them higher than that. It can also get them lower, but that's a story for midseason if it happens. I don't think we'll see much more than competent baseball this season, but competent baseball is a massive step up.
Absolutely.