[Farm] BA 2017 Royals Top 10 Prospects
1. Josh Staumont, rhp
2. Matt Strahm, lhp
3. Hunter Dozier, 3b/of
4. Eric Skoglund, lhp
5. A.J. Puckett, rhp
6. Scott Blewett, rhp
7. Chase Vallot, c
8. Ryan O’Hearn, 1b
9. Jorge Bonifacio, of
10. Kyle Zimmer, rhp
The bill for the Royals’ back-to-back World Series appearances and its 2015
title started to come due in 2016, but the balloon payment is looming in 2018.
Understandably, the defending World Series champs tried to keep the team
together to attempt a repeat. Free agent Alex Gordon was re-signed, ensuring
the Royals began 2016 with largely the same lineup that won it all in 2015.
The dominant bullpen was largely kept intact (closer Greg Holland was allowed
to reach free agency as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery) while free agent
righthander Ian Kennedy was signed to try to fill some of the innings lost
when trade pickup Johnny Cueto signed with the Giants as a free agent.
It didn’t work. A knee injury cost Mike Moustakas all but a month of the
season. Lorenzo Cain missed time. Gordon hit a baffling .220/.312/.380 as the
offense cratered.
And the Royals’ bullpen, the most-feared in baseball in 2014-15, became
merely mildly intimidating in 2016 thanks to an injury to Wade Davis and the
struggles of free agent signee Joakim Soria.
The emergency of Duffy as an ace and a still-impressive defense allowed the
Royals to hang around the periphery of the wild-card race until the start of
September. But when the bullpen blew two saves as part of four one-run losses
in a five-game span, Kansas City’s season was effectively over.
The result was an 81-81 record. Now Kansas City has one more shot at the
postseason before this group largely heads elsewhere.
Six members of the lineup—Cain, Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales,
Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar—will be free agents after 2017. So will
lefthander Danny Duffy and righthander Wade Davis. Even a large-revenue team
would have trouble keeping that group together. For the Royals, it will be
tough enough to find the payroll room to keep them this year when the
majority head to arbitration.
So Kansas City heads into 2017 knowing this is the final bid for postseason
glory before a likely lengthy rebuilding process. It’s a worthwhile tradeoff
to trade off future success to win a World Series, and that’s exactly what
the Royals did. Lefthanders Sean Manaea, Cody Reed and Brandon Finnegan would
likely all fit in the Kansas City rotation in 2017 as young, hard-throwing
and cost-controlled starting pitchers. All three were traded away to help
fuel the successful 2015 World Series run.
Kansas City lost its first-round pick in the 2016 draft to sign Kennedy as a
free agent, giving the club the second smallest draft pool in 2016. The farm
system is the thinnest it has been since before Dayton Moore’s rebuilding
process hit full speed in 2009-10.
If Kansas City falls out of the playoff race by the July trade deadline, it
could dominate the trade market with a slew of desirable talents that could
speed up the rebuilding process.
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