Official Royals Thread

For which I think I will be the sole member...but if anyone else wants to talk some royals baseball here's the place.

Perhaps you would like to outline your three year plan for everybody, Z.

I wish the royals were good=/

The Royals have the pieces in place to be very good very soon. I'll go more in depth later, but they've got the power arms in the rotation and the pen, and they "could", emphasize the "could", have the power bats they need in Gordon and Butler, plus the solid, get-on-base by any means necessary players in Teahen and Dejesus. I don't see Guillen as a long term solution, and I don't really think Buck is the guy at catcher. What really needs to happen is for Joey Gathright to emerge as a leadoff hitter. He doesn't need to be all star quality, but he needs to be in that conversation. If that happens, I think the Royals would be wise to trade Dejesus before his production falls (as sadly, I fear it will) and hopefully accumulate a young relief pitcher or a decent starting pitching prospect.

Just my two-cents.

How's spring training going so far for the Royals?

They are battling for the top of the Cactus League (the small leage for the teams training out of Arizona).

From the Pitchers Meche has looked great, Greinke and Bannister has looked okay, John Bale has looked really solid, Hochever been a real surprise. The bullpen has been inconsistent...and Brett Tomko has been absolute garbage.

From the posision players, Butler can't play defense, which isn't a surprise. What is a surprise is Joey Gathright, he's been stealing bases right and left and finally starting to use his speed a little bit. It's a nice surprise.

Gordon has been okay at the plate (getting better now though) and Justin Huber has been absolutely killing the ball. Unfortunately he doesn't know which had to put a glove on and he's still a worse hitter than Butler so he's unlikely to make the team.

It's the middle of spring training so it's hard to make any concrete conclusions, but I think they'll be better than last season. Then again, that's no saying much.

So...the Royals are better than I thought they'd be. Not just because they are 6-2, but because the bullpen has emerged as a stregnth rather than a liability. I really thought that losing Greinke to the rotation and Dotel to a trade would really make the seventh and eighth inning an adventrue but I was wrong. Nunez, Ramirez and even Mahay to an extent have all been solid.

Now they just need to find a way to score a few more runs, and as soon as Jose Guillen finds his stroke I think that will happen. I still don't think they are a playoff team but the Royals are getting damn good in a hurry.

they are pitching around guillen. i doubt unless people start fearing butler will it change. they would rather take thier chances with him than guillen.