The Kansas City Royals remind me so much of the Mets of the late 70's. They seem to come up short bidding or trading for big name players, then end up acquiring a star nearing the tail end of his playing career. Jose Guillen in this case. The Royals also, like the Mets of the 70's, seem to have young prospects who do not live up to their billing. Remember the Lee Mazzilli and Steve Henderson era?
Okay, but this is about the Royals and their new manager Trey Hillman. What you have here is a pretty dull team I'm afraid. Starting with their biggest weakness, their rotation, you see that they couldn't afford a big time free agent pitcher a few years ago, so they signed Gil Meche as their ace. He's a good third starter on teams like the Mets or Yankees, if that. Brian Bannister is a finesse pitcher who performed well last season, but he's not a lights out pitcher. You need pitchers who can throw an occasional goose egg every now and then and I just don't see that dominance in their top 2. Zach Greinke is a good looking prospect but he's too young to expect much from at this early point in his career. The last 2 spots are up in the air between Brett Tomko, Jorge De La Rosa, Kyle Davies and John Bale.
Although it's not a great rotation, it isn't necessarily bad either. But it sure won't be good enough to lift the Royals out of the cellar, especially considering their weak offense. The bullpen looks to be busy this year and will have Ron Mahay, Yasuhiko Yabuta to serve as their primary setup men for closer Joakim Soria. Soria was lights out in 64 appearances last year, getting 21 saves in 24 chances. He's a good looking young pitcher. Jimmy Gobble will setup as a lefty and Hideo Nomo will make a nice long reliever.
Their offense features cf David DeJesus, a respectable .300, 100 runs type player, rf Jose Guillen who will miss the first 2 crucial weeks serving a suspension, Mark Teahan who needs to up his power numbers a bit and raise his BA a bit higher than .284 to be a real impact player. There's little more after those three. Tony Pena at ss needs to get on base much more than his .284 OBP of last year, Mark Grudzielanek is getting old fast, who at 38 has undergone 2 knee surgeries in the last year. Alex Gordon at 3b looks like a prospect of the 70's Mets, all hype but little production, but there is a steady hitter at first base with Ross Gload. Their catcher will be John Buck, who has yet to establish himself as a consistent hitter. All in all, this offense is weak and with a shaky pitching rotation which lacks lights out leaders, you have to expect this team to finish last once again with a record of 60-102. At least I do. Until they earn a better projection.
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