Really good breakdown of a very complicated situation. Thank you. You convinced me that moving Barlow is very important, and urgent. Before spring training would actually be best in my opinion--i.e. before he has a chance to show any signs of problems. (Not likely to happen, I know).
Nice recap David. Actually, the interesting part in the exercise the last few days has probably been how little the names have changed since end of year. Watching baseball for a number of season now, my fear isn’t that no improvement is going to be made. My fear, as always with the Royals, is that they always “count/hope” on everyone improving and that isn’t how it works. Improvement will be made with this pitching staff, how much is up for debate. Because, I think someone is going to pop and have a good season (think Singer last year)…but I also know more than one is going to regress.
Here’s my what if question. What move makes this team better both this year and in 2024? Trading Melendez for Pablo Lopez….or signing Lyles for 2/17? I assume you’d probably say keeping Melendez, which i get. But man, I’d be more interested in this team with a Singer, Lopez, Lynch top of the rotation that I could dream on a little bit. No dreaming with Lyles as the second starter. Lol. I’m still irritated by the lack of movement from this front office. I understand it….but its still smells of prior years.
Great article and it's going to be interesting to see how our pitching staff changes over the next few weeks and through spring training. I'm more pessimistic about our starters than our bullpen - I just don't see how we possibly have enough quality/talent there to compete even if we resign Greinke. I think we need to make a couple of moves/acquisitions for starters to improve over last year. Somehow, I think we can find a way to have at least a decent bullpen with our current roster. Your thoughts?
Just looking at the pitching staff fills me with the same overwhelmed feeling I had when we started moving a few months back. I brought home a bunch of boxes, I knew the end result I wanted, but there was so much to do and I was so unsure where to start that I found myself just standing there, doing nothing at all. Fortunately, it's not my job to fix the Royals pitching, but I am invested and I hope Quatraro, Sweeney, and Bove aren't stuck in that stunned state. Though I probably wouldn't blame them if they are.
Really good breakdown of a very complicated situation. Thank you. You convinced me that moving Barlow is very important, and urgent. Before spring training would actually be best in my opinion--i.e. before he has a chance to show any signs of problems. (Not likely to happen, I know).
Nice recap David. Actually, the interesting part in the exercise the last few days has probably been how little the names have changed since end of year. Watching baseball for a number of season now, my fear isn’t that no improvement is going to be made. My fear, as always with the Royals, is that they always “count/hope” on everyone improving and that isn’t how it works. Improvement will be made with this pitching staff, how much is up for debate. Because, I think someone is going to pop and have a good season (think Singer last year)…but I also know more than one is going to regress.
Here’s my what if question. What move makes this team better both this year and in 2024? Trading Melendez for Pablo Lopez….or signing Lyles for 2/17? I assume you’d probably say keeping Melendez, which i get. But man, I’d be more interested in this team with a Singer, Lopez, Lynch top of the rotation that I could dream on a little bit. No dreaming with Lyles as the second starter. Lol. I’m still irritated by the lack of movement from this front office. I understand it….but its still smells of prior years.
Great article and it's going to be interesting to see how our pitching staff changes over the next few weeks and through spring training. I'm more pessimistic about our starters than our bullpen - I just don't see how we possibly have enough quality/talent there to compete even if we resign Greinke. I think we need to make a couple of moves/acquisitions for starters to improve over last year. Somehow, I think we can find a way to have at least a decent bullpen with our current roster. Your thoughts?
"...the most cautious of optimism..."
Hmmm... David, you sound as fully committed to unwavering ambivalence and clearly defined areas of uncertainty as I am.
What odds would you put for Kowar and Hernandez to be in the rotation, bullpen, Omaha or not on the team?
Just looking at the pitching staff fills me with the same overwhelmed feeling I had when we started moving a few months back. I brought home a bunch of boxes, I knew the end result I wanted, but there was so much to do and I was so unsure where to start that I found myself just standing there, doing nothing at all. Fortunately, it's not my job to fix the Royals pitching, but I am invested and I hope Quatraro, Sweeney, and Bove aren't stuck in that stunned state. Though I probably wouldn't blame them if they are.
Sorry I missed Prato name on the roster
I share your optimism on the new pitching staff but it's such a low bar to hurdle. Thanks for the insight.