Your 2012 Royals!!
04/05/2012
Hours after signing
Burton Bye to a one year deal, the Royals 25 man roster was completed. But more importantly its currently about who is not on the 25 man roster than who is.
After an extremely brutal Spring Training, the Royals will start the season with three big names on the DL.
Rudolph Shaeffer(out for year),
Jesus Uriate(5 months), and
Joey Ros(3 months) all are on the DL. But before we cry more about spilled milk lets look at the players that are able to play and will defend the Royals Central Division Crown.
The starting catcher this year will be the reigning AL MVP
Gene "Boom Boom" Marguez. Coming off a year for the ages, Gene will be looking to stay healthy all year long. Last year he hit .356 and had an amazing .472 OBP. Along with his 23 home runs and 97 RBI's he had 110 walks. He will bat second this year again to take advantage of his incredible ability to get on base.
Starting at first base will be 2-time All-Star
Melvin "Butterball" Colmenares. Butterball missed three months of the 2011 season with a fractured cheekbone but will be looking to top the 159 games he played in 2010 this year. Last year he hit .299 which included 23 home runs, 73 RBI's and 65 walks. He also had a .412 OBP and will be batting third again this year.
The starting second baseman will be different this year. With the injury to Joey Ros,
Michael Cuddyer will be called on to fill his absence. Cuddyer only played four games in 2011 but before that he averaged just over 26 home runs a year from 2004-2010. He is no where near the defensive second baseman Ros is but should fit nicely in that position for the next few months. Cuddyer will bat eighth in this years lineup.
Freddie Bynum will be this years starting short stop after Shaeffer was lost for the year. This will be the position that will be most closely watched by the front office. Bynum is strictly a role player and has never really started on a regular basis in his career. He hit .197 in 48 games last year for the Royals but hopefully it works out for Bynum this season. Bynum is penciled in as the ninth hitter this season.
Starting at third base is the reigning AL Rookie of the Year,
David Adam. Coming off a season that rookie's just dream about, it will be interesting to see how Adam does. He led the Royals in home runs with 33 last year and will be looking to duplicate that performance. He will bat fifth in this years lineup and should be able to drive in a lot of runs behind Marguez and Colmenares.
The Royals DH this year will again be
William Quattlebaum. The 27 year old ex-Rookie of the Year has made a nice home in the DH spot. He dislocated his shoulder late in the 2011 season but bounced back to have an outstanding playoff appearance. In 114 games he hit .282 with 18 home runs and 71 RBI's. With the absence of Shaeffer, William will be batting in the fourth spot this year where is last year he batted fifth.
In center for the Royals will be
Larry Bigbie. Bigbie who is in his last year of his contract has certainly turned his career around in Kansas City. Originally signed a few years back to bridge the gap to the younger guys, he has proved he deserves a spot in the starting lineup. After never hitting over ten home runs in a season he has 15,12,10,10 in the past four years. The 34 year old has been extremely durable and has made his desires known he wants to stay in Kansas City after this year. He will be batting in the sixth spot in 2012.
In left field will be
Kevin McCreight. Behind Bynum at SS, this position will also be closely monitored. Kevin has proved he belongs in the majors but has really struggled at times. And with
Santiago Rao on the bench to start this year, if Kevin starts to struggle again, the Royals will be fast to put the ex-Rookie of the Year Rao in left. While Rao struggles at the plate he led the league in stolen bases last year so he can certainly help the team. Keven is currently slated as the seventh batter in the lineup.
And rounding out the offense will be
Peter Friel. He will be roaming in right field again this year. He will be batting leadoff this year and with his incredible speed he will be looked upon to set the table early and often. He hit .257 last year but towards the end of the year he was moved to the leadoff spot and really excelled. He is also an extremely good gap hitter and in Kauffman Stadium that only makes you more valuable to the offense.
On the bench for the Royals will be Santiago Rao as mentioned above,
Javy Herrera(C), Burton Bye(1B,2B,3B,SS,LF,CF) and
Teo Aguinaldo(1B,2B,3B).
Now when it comes to the pitching staff, its almost the same players that led the Royals to 108 wins last year. Anchoring the staff and in the second year of his four year $60 million contract, will be
Joe Blanton.
Blanton is coming off a 2011 season where he went 19-3 and had a 2.30 ERA. He also finished second to
Roy Halladay in the AL Cy Young Award. The 31 year old pitcher will certainly be a force again this year and with Halladay now with the Indians, these two pitchers will go head to head quite a bit this year. Will certainly be an interesting year.
In the second spot in the rotation is free agent to be
Blake Hawksworth. Last year he went 15-6 with a 2.86 ERA. The third lowest ERA in the American League. With Blake in a contract year you know he will pitch lights out. Lets just hope the Royals will be able to re-sign him before the season is up.
Ian Oquendo will be the middle man in the starting rotation. Oquendo has always been a guy you never know what you are going to get from. Some days he will be lights out and others he will be hit all around the park. Last year he went 10-8,4.02 and struck out 125. He did lower almost his entire stat line from the 2010 season so there is hope this will be a strong year for the 30 year old pitcher.
Pitching fourth for the Royals will be Mr. Royal himself,
Bobby Brownlie. The longest tenured player on the Royals roster will be looking to improve off his 14-5 2011 season where he had a 3.72 ERA. Brownlie has always been a pitcher the Royals could count on and this year should not be any different. The only area of concern has been his endurance. If he gets in a jam early, he has a hard time getting past the fifth inning which then taxes the bullpen. But we will hope for more wins than losses this year for Bobby.
Rounding out the rotation will be the youngster
Cleo Garrido. The 23 year old certainly proved he was worth being up here last year. In his first full year of starting he went 12-5 with a a 3.75 ERA. Not bad at all from a 22 year old pitcher. He does give up a lot of hits but with maturity comes the ability to manage games and the Royals front office has high hopes for this young gunslinger.
Closing games for the Royals will again be
Brian Meadows. He saved a Royals record 36 games last year but all signs point to the fact that he wants out of Kansas City. This is his last year of a two year $20 million dollar contract and expect him to be moved if the Royals falter or find a young arm that can close games this year.
Rounding out the bullpen will be spot starter
Robert Shelor,
Rocky Biddle,
Eddy Valtierra,
Tokuma Hayakawa,
Porfirio Camara and
Chris Hernandez. All have major league experience minus Hayakawa.
Hayakawa is one of the Royals promising up and coming arms and will certainly be nursed along much of the year to let him adjust to the big leagues.
So going into tomorrow's game against the Cleveland Indians, the Royals appear to be ready to roll in 2012. Minus in the massive injuries in Spring Training, the Royals Front Office has high hopes for this season and the owner expects a return trip to the playoffs. Lets go Royals!!!