I’ll take the under on whether next year’s payroll will be the same as the payroll that started last season (included Greinke, Benintendi, Merrifield, and Santana). But I hope ownership is willing to spend on coaching and pitching developmental specialists!
David, someone is lying to me. Its either JJ, or Sherman and that’s the part that confuses me. Sherman said all the right things in the beginning talking about churn, and roster improvements. That’s what has me confused. Because JJ isn’t going to work out at this rate. That may be a little quick….and they can still add some bottom of the barrel pieces but the last 5-6 guys on the list that signed would be fine for the royals with a 2 year deal. They have the money. Instead on a 97 loss team we will get more O’hearn, more Keller, more of everyone that we have already seen and hope. Hope is not a strategy. I’m frustrated by it because just as likely as Lynch is to improve, we could absolutely see Singer regress a little bit. Nobody knows, that’s the thing. So HOPING for EVERYONE to improve is a terrible strategy. I hope when they do spend money they are planning on a 150m payroll at this rate. I don’t need big moves here, but I expect trying to improve. Its not late in the offseason…but we aren’t early anymore either. We’ll see what JJ has.
Mr. L, thx for breaking down the insanity of the big spending. Seems to me the Royals are trying to answer Casey Stengel's famous question about the early Mets teams: "Can't nobody here play this game?"
David, why are they in the market for a backup catchers when they added Freddy Fermin to the 40 man roster. Where I’m going with this is….they added him to the 40…and then said the roster was full instead of getting a live arm in the rule 5 draft that maybe Sweeney could work with…but also saying they are in the market for a backup catcher? You hearing anything on why?
Standing pat with the arms seems like a strong vote of confidence in the 2018 draft getting a strong bounce back. Otherwise they should just tear it down and rebuild right?
I hope their belief in the young pitchers bouncing back is grounded in reality and not wishful thinking/a lack of any better options.
My fear is this belief is just a spin on the ugly reality that they have no options left except to hold onto these guys (with their value at their lowest) and hope things get better so better action can be taken in the future.
I'm in your camp as far as not rushing to sign players yet. Management talked of KC's "Army of Arms" before start of last season so I'd like to see if this new coaching staff can do them any good. I know it won't be instant miracles, but sure hope it is, but let them earn their pay and let us see how good those draft's picks were. Fingers crossed.
I don’t mind the lack of moves for the big league roster. I do mind the lack of change in the organization outside of the coaching staff changes at the major league level. I think that management is wrong in it’s diagnosis that the minor league pitching development is ok, and I am frustrated that they have not hired an outside director of pitching from another organization with an excellent pitching track record to create and execute an overall organizational philosophy on how to develop pitchers to succeed at the major league level. Gibson, Adcock et al., have not really shown they know what they are doing. I want the major league coaching staff to succeed because these guys seem like rock stars, but I don’t believe that they have the entire organization figured out.
Glad to see this, I've been a little confused by the seemingly widespread frustration. The Royals, and many other small market teams, are not going to players in the early rounds of free agency. I also agree that it is probably not the right strategy at this moment to be early players (ie Ian Kennedy). The majority of the roster consists of talented young players. I am a little concerned with JJ's "leash". Hes not perfect and no GM is, but so far I think his assessment of the org and corresponding moves have been a huge upgrade. Based on the assumed lack of spending on the field, one can reason his success is going to be determined by progress of current players. This leads me to think the majority of JJ's focus is the restructuring of development systems and corresponding personnel hires, as this is what will dictate his (and his colleagues) future. Given this line of reasoning, is it fair to wonder if the priority given to free agency and trades is..lacking? If this front office knows their jobs are predicated on development and coaching staff hires, development system changes, extensions and MLB pitching improvement, maybe roster changes are not front of mind..Given this seems to be the case, maybe Sherman isnt willing to spend more until he has proof it will yield results.
I’ll take the under on whether next year’s payroll will be the same as the payroll that started last season (included Greinke, Benintendi, Merrifield, and Santana). But I hope ownership is willing to spend on coaching and pitching developmental specialists!
David, someone is lying to me. Its either JJ, or Sherman and that’s the part that confuses me. Sherman said all the right things in the beginning talking about churn, and roster improvements. That’s what has me confused. Because JJ isn’t going to work out at this rate. That may be a little quick….and they can still add some bottom of the barrel pieces but the last 5-6 guys on the list that signed would be fine for the royals with a 2 year deal. They have the money. Instead on a 97 loss team we will get more O’hearn, more Keller, more of everyone that we have already seen and hope. Hope is not a strategy. I’m frustrated by it because just as likely as Lynch is to improve, we could absolutely see Singer regress a little bit. Nobody knows, that’s the thing. So HOPING for EVERYONE to improve is a terrible strategy. I hope when they do spend money they are planning on a 150m payroll at this rate. I don’t need big moves here, but I expect trying to improve. Its not late in the offseason…but we aren’t early anymore either. We’ll see what JJ has.
Mr. L, thx for breaking down the insanity of the big spending. Seems to me the Royals are trying to answer Casey Stengel's famous question about the early Mets teams: "Can't nobody here play this game?"
David, why are they in the market for a backup catchers when they added Freddy Fermin to the 40 man roster. Where I’m going with this is….they added him to the 40…and then said the roster was full instead of getting a live arm in the rule 5 draft that maybe Sweeney could work with…but also saying they are in the market for a backup catcher? You hearing anything on why?
Standing pat with the arms seems like a strong vote of confidence in the 2018 draft getting a strong bounce back. Otherwise they should just tear it down and rebuild right?
I hope their belief in the young pitchers bouncing back is grounded in reality and not wishful thinking/a lack of any better options.
My fear is this belief is just a spin on the ugly reality that they have no options left except to hold onto these guys (with their value at their lowest) and hope things get better so better action can be taken in the future.
I'm in your camp as far as not rushing to sign players yet. Management talked of KC's "Army of Arms" before start of last season so I'd like to see if this new coaching staff can do them any good. I know it won't be instant miracles, but sure hope it is, but let them earn their pay and let us see how good those draft's picks were. Fingers crossed.
Is interest in bringing Can Gallagher back low because of his vaccination status? My guess is yes.
Yo any news on FanFest?
I don’t mind the lack of moves for the big league roster. I do mind the lack of change in the organization outside of the coaching staff changes at the major league level. I think that management is wrong in it’s diagnosis that the minor league pitching development is ok, and I am frustrated that they have not hired an outside director of pitching from another organization with an excellent pitching track record to create and execute an overall organizational philosophy on how to develop pitchers to succeed at the major league level. Gibson, Adcock et al., have not really shown they know what they are doing. I want the major league coaching staff to succeed because these guys seem like rock stars, but I don’t believe that they have the entire organization figured out.
Glad to see this, I've been a little confused by the seemingly widespread frustration. The Royals, and many other small market teams, are not going to players in the early rounds of free agency. I also agree that it is probably not the right strategy at this moment to be early players (ie Ian Kennedy). The majority of the roster consists of talented young players. I am a little concerned with JJ's "leash". Hes not perfect and no GM is, but so far I think his assessment of the org and corresponding moves have been a huge upgrade. Based on the assumed lack of spending on the field, one can reason his success is going to be determined by progress of current players. This leads me to think the majority of JJ's focus is the restructuring of development systems and corresponding personnel hires, as this is what will dictate his (and his colleagues) future. Given this line of reasoning, is it fair to wonder if the priority given to free agency and trades is..lacking? If this front office knows their jobs are predicated on development and coaching staff hires, development system changes, extensions and MLB pitching improvement, maybe roster changes are not front of mind..Given this seems to be the case, maybe Sherman isnt willing to spend more until he has proof it will yield results.
All of this frenzied inactivity makes me wonder if they are still clinging to the Mondesi and O'Hearn and Keller fantasies.