MLB Offseason Preview - Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals

American League	Central Division
81-81	8.0 GB of Division Lead
Manager: Ned Yost	GM: Dayton Moore
AAA Affiliate Omaha Storm Chasers	AA Affiliate Northwest Arkansas Naturals

2016 Rankings

Hitting	AVG – 7th	OPS – 26th	Runs – 23rd	HR – 27th	SB – 6th
Starting Pitching	ERA – 22nd	K/9 – 13th	H/9 – 21st
Relief Pitching	ERA – 4th	K/9 – 17th	H/9 – 16th

Top Hitters

POS.	Name	AVG	OBP	Slug	HR	RBIs	SB	WAR
OF	Jarrod Dyson	.278	.340	.388	1	25	30	3.1
CF	Lorenzo Cain	.287	.339	.408	9	56	14	2.9
C	Salvador Perez	.247	.288	.438	22	64	0	2.8

Top Pitchers

POS.	Name	G/GS	Record	IP/Saves	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	WAR
SP	Danny Duffy	26 GS	12-3	179.2 IP	3.51	188	42	125	2.6
SP	Ian Kennedy	33 GS	11-11	195.2 IP	3.68	184	66	119	2.3
CP	Wade Davis	45 G	2-1	27 saves	1.87	47	16	286	1.2

Trades That Occurred During the Season

• Traded OF Brett Eibner to Oakland for OF Billy Burns

Impending Free Agents

• SP Edinson Volquez
• DH Kendrys Morales
• RP Luke Hochevar
• SP Kris Medlen
• SP Dillon Gee
• LF Daniel Nava
• C Drew Butera
• RP Peter Moylan
• RP Joe Beimel
• OF Travis Snider
• SS Jason Donald

Top Prospects

• No prospects on top 100 lists

Team MVP

• C Salvador Perez - Although Salvador Perez didn't have the greatest season of Royals hitters, he was their most valuable and most important player.  He plays the premium position of catcher and is one of the best in the majors at his position.  He didn't have the greatest season at the plate, hitting under .250 but did hit 24 home runs and drove in 64 runs, and had his greatest impact in the field, creating 11 defensive runs saved, second best in the majors among catchers. Perez has been a consistent workhorse for the Royals, having played in at least 138 games every season since he became a full-time player.  Kansas City needs Sal Perez more than any other player on their roster and they have him locked down until 2021.

Success/Failure

• Failure - After back-to-back World Series appearances and winning the Series last season, the Royals entered 2016 with hopes of repeating, something that hasn't happened since the late 1990s and into 2000 when the Yankees won three straight championships.  The Royals struggled to get going from the start of the season and were seven games out on July 1, dealing with injuries all season long.  These included starting third baseman Mike Moustakas and elite closer Wade Davis.  They made a push late in the season and were only three games out of the Wild Card on September 1, but were never able to close the gap enough.  Overall, their lineup was unproductive with just one 30 home run hitter (Kendrys Morales) and one player with over 100 RBIs (Hosmer) and they also struggled with pitching, an area that was their strength last season.  They never had a true ace this season and Yordano Ventura has yet to develop into what everyone thought he would and instead, Danny Duffy was their most effective starter.

Offseason Outlook

• One good thing for the Royals for 2017 is that they will be getting Moustakas and Davis back from injury which will already give them a big boost.  They will also hope that Eric Hosmer bounces back from a down year in 2016, even if he isn't the perennial MVP candidate that it once looked like he could develop into.  My question for the Royals is where do they go from here? Does ownership increase payroll in order to fill the needs they have at starting pitcher, outfield, second base, and at DH?  I think that the only way that the Royals rebound next year and make the playoffs is by going out and acquiring talent.  Some free agents that I have identified for them to pursue include: signing Mark Trumbo or Carlos Beltran at DH, signing Ian Desmond to play the outfield, Sean Rodriguez or Neil Walker to play second base, and Jason Hammel, Doug Fister, or re-sign Edinson Volquez for their rotation.  If they don't pursue a couple of free agents I don't think that their roster is talented enough to win the AL Central over Cleveland next season.  If they do sign players, then the division is very winnable.  I think that there is a chance that they could look at tearing down their roster in the next year or so though, since they have had success and have won a World Series with their current core.  Many of their key contributors will be free agents in the next few offseasons including Lorenzo Cain, Davis, Alcides Escobar, Hosmer, Danny Duffy, and Jarrod Dyson after next season.  After the 2018 season, Kelvin Herrera will be a free agent and then Alex Gordon the year after, which probably isn't that big of a deal.  Most of these players will get paid a significant raise and most likely will price themselves out of what the Royals are willing to spend.  For that reason, I think that maybe next year could be the last year of their current core and may be their last real good shot to win another World Series.  I actually think it could be in the team's best interest to put Hosmer, Cain, Davis, and Escobar on the market this offseason and get major returns to rebuild their farm system which has taken a hit in recent years after calling prospects up to the majors and trading them away for playoff rentals.  An offseason where they trade away these players would put the team in a good position to win again in three or so years, rather than getting nothing for them when they reach free agency and leave.  They could still have a pretty good team even with trading these players and by signing some free agents and I believe that their fans would be patient considering they just won a World Series.

*All stats and information come from baseball-reference.com, fangraphs.com, rosterresource.com, baseballamerica.com, and spotrac.com