[討論] Offseason In Review:Kansas City Royals
The Royals sat out the trade market for top starting pitchers, instead adding a
pair of short-term lefties to their rotation, supplementing their bullpen, and
extending a couple of up-the-middle position players.
Major League Signings
Bruce Chen, SP: two years, $9MM.
Jonathan Broxton, RP: one year, $4MM.
Yuniesky Betancourt, IF: one year, $2MM.
Jose Mijares, RP: one year, $925K.
Total spend: $15.925MM
Notable Minor League Signings
Juan Gutierrez, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Tony Abreu, Zach Miner, Eric Duncan,
Greg Golson, Max Ramirez
Extensions
Salvador Perez, C: five years, $7MM. Include three club options.
Alcides Escobar, SS: four years, $10.5MM. Includes two club options.
Ned Yost, manager: exercised 2013 club option.
Trades and Claims
SP Jonathan Sanchez and SP Ryan Verdugo from Giants for OF Melky Cabrera
RP Brooks Pounders and IF Diego Goris from Pirates for IF/OF Yamaico Navarro
Cash from Yankees for RP Cesar Cabral, who was taken from Red Sox in Rule 5 draft
OF Jason Bourgeois and C Humberto Quintero from Astros for RP Kevin Chapman
and PTBNL
Notable Losses
Jeff Francis(CIN), Jeff Bianchi(MIL)
The Royals aren't quite ready to pounce. In an offseason that included
trades of starting pitchers Trevor Cahill, Mat Latos, Gio Gonzalez, and
Michael Pineda, Royals GM Dayton Moore settled for stopgaps Jonathan Sanchez
and Bruce Chen.
Melky Cabrera wasn't part of Moore's long-term plan, despite an age 26 career
year for the Royals in 2011. Though Lorenzo Cain turns 26 himself in April,
he'll be a defensive upgrade over Cabrera in center field and remains under
team control for the full six years. Allowing Cain to take over in center
and taking a one-year look at Sanchez in the rotation is a better fit for
Kansas City. The 29-year-old Sanchez tantalizes with big strikeout rates,
and is at least useful when he's healthy and keeps his walk rate below five
per nine innings.
Chen, 34, received the first multiyear deal of his career to return to the
Royals' rotation. A back injury cost him over a month in 2011, limiting him
to 25 starts. Chen (pictured) posted a 3.77 ERA last year, but his
peripheral stats suggest his ERA will come in a full run higher. Rather than
jump on Chen for two guaranteed years in November, the Royals would have been
better served to go bargain hunting for starting pitchers on one-year deals
in late December and January, around when Jason Marquis, Paul Maholm, and
Bartolo Colon signed. The departed Jeff Francis, who was no worse than Chen
in the Royals' rotation, signed a minor league deal with the Reds in late
January.
A hunting trip with Ned Yost, Jeff Francoeur, and Jeff Foxworthy on the
comedian's property helped secure Broxton on a reasonable one-year deal. The
huge righty is a year removed from relief dominance. Along with Greg
Holland, the Royals have the talent to survive the late innings without
closer Joakim Soria if his spring elbow soreness proves serious. Southpaw
Mijares was signed on the cheap for lefty matchups.
The Royals' other minor moves were led by the signing of Betancourt, who
started at shortstop for the club for a year and a half before being traded
to Milwaukee in last offseason's Zack Greinke trade. The Royals' press
release made sure to stress Betancourt's utility role. It remains to be seen
how Betancourt's poor shortstop defense will carry over to second and third
base. Of the team's minor league signings, Gutierrez is a fairly interesting
2013 play once he recovers from Tommy John surgery.
The Royals extended catcher Salvador Perez with just 50 days of Major League
service time, taking a page from the Rays' playbook. Unlike Evan Longoria
and Matt Moore, Perez profiles as more of a solid regular than a star. With
three club options and a guarantee of just $7MM, it'll still be hard for the
Royals to lose money here unless Perez completely flames out. Perez is off
to a rough post-contract start, with knee surgery knocking him out for 12 to
14 weeks. The injury necessitated the acquisition of Quintero. We'll have
to see the player to be named to properly judge that deal.
Escobar isn't similar to Perez, as the shortstop has over two years of Major
League service. Upon locking up Escobar, Moore noted the payroll is "going
to get a little sticky for us, it's going to get a little hairy as we get
into 2014-15-16." That doesn't apply much to Escobar, whose fantastic
defensive skills wouldn't have been highly-compensated in arbitration in '14
or '15. Instead, this contract gives the team affordable club options on two
free agent years.
The team and left fielder Alex Gordon have mutual interest in an extension,
but they've been unable to find common ground. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
says Gordon will "almost certainly will want more than $55 million," the
current club record. From the Royals' point of view, I'd be looking to do
more of an improved Corey Hart-type deal: $9MM for his final arbitration year
(2013) and $22MM for a pair of free agent years (2014-15). For Gordon to set
a team record, the Royals will have to buy out at least four free agent
years. That kind of commitment is a gamble until Gordon proves his 2011
levels of health and performance are sustainable.
The Royals are poised for another step forward at the big league level,
especially if players like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, Luke
Hochevar, and Felipe Paulino expand upon partial seasons of big league
success. The Royals have at least three potential front-rotation starters in
the farm system in Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi, and John Lamb, but only
Montgomery has a 2012 estimated time of arrival. GM Dayton Moore seems to
have an eye on truly contending in 2014, telling MLB.com's Richard Justice,
"We're not there yet. We won 71 games last year. I do feel we're going to
win more games in 2012 and 2013 -- and a lot more in 2014." Perhaps Moore
will make a play for an ace starting pitcher prior to the '14 season, after
which his own contract will be up.
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