Kansas City headed into 2004 coming off of a surprising 83-79 record. Hopes were high that the team would improve and challenge for the AL Central crown. However, those hopes didn't materialize as the team managed just 58 wins and saw Carlos Beltran leave town.
What was the problem, pitching or hitting? How about both. The Royals ranked 12th in the AL in runs scored and were dead last in runs allowed.
So what was the team's big move this offseason to get the team moving in the right direction? A return of LIMA TIME!
Besides the Lima signing there wasn't much activity by the Royals to get excited about unless you really like Eli Marrero and Terrence Long, or a return of Runelvys Hernandex from Tommy John surgery. Given that it's hard to see how the Royals will even challenge to be a .500 team, let alone a playoff condender.
How did the Royals get into this situation? Let's take a look at how the current roster was assembled:
Position-Player Team Round, Year How Acquired by Royals if not drafted C J Buck Astros 7th, 1998 Acquired from Houston in the 2004 Beltran trade 1B M Sweeney Royals 10th, 1991 2B T Graffanino Braves 10th, 1990 Signed as a FA 3B C Truby Astros UDFA, 1992 Signed as a FA SS A Berroa A's UDFA, 1997 Acquired from Oakland in the 2001 Damon trade OF E Marrero Cardinals 3rd, 1993 Acquired from Atlanta this offseason OF D DeJesus Royals 4th, 2000 OF M Stairs Expos UDFA, 1989 Signed as a FA DH K Harvey Royals 5th, 1999 3B M Teahen A’s 1st, 2002 Acquired from Oakland in the 2004 Beltran trade DH C Pickering Orioles 35th, 1995 Signed as a MLFA OF T Long Mets 1st, 1994 Acquired from San Diego this offseason for May SP Z Greinke Royals 1st, 2002 SP R Hernandez Royals UDFA, 1997 SP J Lima Tigers UDFA, 1989 Signed as a FA. SP B Anderson Indians 49th, 1995 Acquired from Cleveland in 2002 trade. SP J Gobble Royals 1st, 1999 RP S Sullivan Reds 2nd, 1993 Signed as a FA. RP M MacDougal Royals 1st, 1999 RP J Affeldt Royals 3rd, 1997
Looking at the Royals 2005 key players, here is how they were acquired:
Drafted: 8 - Sweeyney, DeJesus, Harvey, Greinke, Hernandez, Gobble, MacDougal, Affeldt Traded for: 6 - Buck, Berroa, Marrero, Long, Teahen, Anderson Signed as FA: 6 - Graffanino, Truby, Stairs, Pickering, Lima, SullivanThe free agents signed are, at best, stop gaps for the Royals.
Trades made have fallen into two categories:
1. Trades made to acquire veterans to fill holes which, like the FA signings, are stop gap players.In terms of quantity of young players on the roster the Royals have done a decent job as 11 of the above players started their career in KC. In terms of quality of young players on the roster there could be improvements. Sweeney is solid, albeit injury prone, DeJesus looks promising, and Greinke is a potential star. Hernandez and Affeldt have both showed promise, but have had problems with injuries. None of the others are players to get that excited about.
With a limited budget the Royals have little margin for error. Like any team not in the top third of payroll they need to consistently develop quality young players. At this point the Royals aren't doing this nearly enough to remain competitive.
Simplistically, the Royals have traded away Dye (pre-broken leg), Damon, and Beltran and only have Berroa, Teahen & Buck to show for it. None of these three players are likely to come close to reaching the level of success of the players they were acquired for. That's a serious decrease in talent from a team that was mediocre to start with when they had those players. Until the Royals are able to improve their talent base there will be a lot of long seasons in Kaufmann Stadium. Right now they're still going in the wrong direction.
Is there any hope down on the farm? Not enough. The Royals best prospects, Greinke and DeJesus, graduated to the big leagues last year. The top prospects according to Baseball America were Billy Butler ('3B') at #75 and Mark Teahen (3B) at #85.
From a different perspective none of the Royals made Baseball Prospectus' Top 50 prospects or 15 honorable mention spots.
Outlook:
This is a bad team that got worse with the loss of Beltran last year. In my mind the best case scenario for the Royals this season is 75 wins. I think they'll come in somewhere between that and last year's 58 wins. I'll put them down for 67 wins.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050225140540217