Going Full Royals

[jaa36]

The 2014 season had just come to an end, and the perpetually disappointing Kansas City Royals had just finished 76-86, 21 games out in the AL Central. They were in contention for a Wild Card slot into late August, but collapsed in September to finish under .500.

A beleaguered Dayton Moore awoke in a cold sweat the morning after the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. He had just had a vision of a strange, alternate universe in which the Royals had run off a 34-22 record in the last two months of the season, beat a heavily favored A's team in an incredible wild card playoff, and then reached the World Series on the backs of three incredible relievers and an impenetrable defense, with some surprisingly creative managing from oft-befuddled skipper Ned Yost. Whoa, thought Moore. This is the One True Path.

Moore resolved to reorient his team around three simple rules:
1. To acquire as many top-flight bullpen arms as he could.
2. To make sure that Ned Yost uses them as often as possible.
2. To prioritize speed and defense in the lineup.

This makes life a lot easier, thought Moore. Trust the process. And he set to work: to go Full Royals.

[darkcloud4579]

Nice start!

[jaa36]

It actually wasn't a bad year for the Kansas City offense. Salvador Perez, Billy Butler, Mike Moustakas, and Alex Gordon all had very good years at the plate. The pitching was not quite as good, with Bruce Chen the best of the five starters, and James Shields and Kyle Gibson notably ineffective. The defense was just middle of the pack. Greg Holland and Kelvim Herrera shined out of the bullpen- a harbinger of things to come.

[jaa36]

Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers to their first World Series win since 1984, and fell three homers short of the Triple Crown. Chase Utley and Mark Teixeira had resurgent seasons. Scott Kazmir and Stephen Strasburg were the class of their leagues.

[jaa36]

I'll have trading on hard and neutral with respect to prospects. No restrictions on number of trades or rule 5 draft. Once I get to the regular season, I'll be playing out every game. The plan will be to never let a pitcher go more than one time through the order- and thus to use a very strong bullpen early and often. Meanwhile, I'll look for cheap speed and defense wherever I can find it.

Heading into the offseason, Norichika Aoki, James Shields, and Bruce Chen will leave as free agents. I may have to move some money around to really shore up the pitching and defense.

[jaa36]

Plenty of deals in the offseason.

-Traded Wade Davis, Kyle Zimmer, Jair Jurrjens, Raul Mondesi Jr., and Jason Vargas to the Dodgers for reliever Jose Dominguez. This was a straight salary dump (with us sending prospects), as Vargas and Davis were both worthless.
-Traded Jeremy Guthrie and Jose Lobaton to Boston for reliever Junichi Tazawa.
-Traded Kyle Gibson and Sean Manaea to Cleveland for reliever John Axford, outfielder Tyler Naquin, and reliever Nick Hagadone. Naquin is a good defender who should be able to play any outfield position.
-Signed Japanese free agent pitcher Daisuke "King Kong" Miyakawa, who was then listed as the top prospect in MLB going into the season! The 24-year-old Miyakawa agreed to a three-year deal worth $5M/year, and then he'll be arbitration eligible thereafter.
-Signed free agents Nick Punto, Rajai Davis, Chris Perez, Andrew Bailey, Darwin Barney, Jhan Marinez, Pedro Feliciano, Mike Adams, Jason Motte, Chris B. Young, Juan Centeno, Huston Street, Josh Beckett, and Yunel Escobar. The total salary for all those guys was $16M.

Spring training saw Mike Adams suffer a rehab setback and retire, and Jhan Marinez lost for the season, as well as smaller injuries to Tim Collins, Jason Motte, Salvador Perez, and Chris B. Young. The latter two are out for the first few weeks of the season, which hinders our lineup, but we have plenty of relievers to deploy in creative ways. Also, with a glut of position players, Nick Punto, Alcides Escobar, and Rajai Davis were sent to AAA to start the season. I don't have quite as much speed as what I was hoping, but the defense should be solid.

Opening day lineup:
RF Tyler Naquin
2B Omar Infante
1B Eric Hosmer
DH Billy Butler
3B Mike Moustakas
LF Alex Gordon
SS Yunel Escobar
CF Lorenzo Cain
C Juan Centeno

[jaa36]

The plan worked to perfection. The Royals banged across five runs on 11 hits to win 5-2. Yordano Ventura, Pedro Feliciano, John Axford, Nick Hagadone, Kelvim Herrera, and Carlos Perez combined to allow two runs on eight hits, striking out eight. Kansas City is on its way!

[CatKnight]

I just dunno, this sounds like one of those crazy ideas Ruben Amaro Jr. would come up with...

[jaa36]

After winning the first two games of the season, the Royals dropped the next four, including an 11-6 decision to the Phillies. The strategy hasn't worked very well thus far, with the team allowing 31 runs in six games. Rookie Daisuke Miyakawa has been hit particularly hard, allowing five runs in just 2 1/3 innings. Outfielder Tyler Naquin suffered an injury and will miss 2-3 weeks, with the mercurial Terrance Gore joining the club as a reserve outfielder.

[jaa36]

The Royals are 6-6 so far. The team's offense had a very hot week, sweeping Minnesota by a total score of 27-7 and then dropping two of three to Toronto. Eric Hosmer leads the team with 11 RBI thus far, and Omar Infante and Billy Butler are both hitting above .400. We're off to a decent start, but need to string together a winning streak. On the injury front, Salvador Perez suffered an injury during his rehab and won't return until May.

[jaa36]

The Royals went 4-1 this week and are now in first place in the AL Central at 10-7! The pitching has come around and we are currently first in the AL in runs allowed, with a staff ERA of 3.28. We actually only have 9 stolen bases- Jarrod Dyson has seven of them. Billy Butler hit two home runs in a game last week and leads the club with four overall.

Kelvin Herrera suffered a slight injury and will miss a week. (I have injuries set to "realistic modern day.") Tyler Naquin returns from injury in two days, and Salvador Perez in a week. Overall, the team is pretty healthy right now.

Here's a look at the very democratic pitching staff. Basically, I'm using the guy with the best ratings when possible, but sometimes will match up with a lefty when I need to, or throw in a lower-rated guy when it's a blowout. I'm limiting the pitcher to one time through the order, with rare occasions when a pitcher faces 10 or 11 batters.

[jaa36]

The Royals are rolling, with a 4-2 week leaving us at 14-9 overall- the best record in the AL! We took two of three apiece against division rivals Detroit and Cleveland. The Indians series was a final exhibition of Royals baseball, ending with a 2-0 win and a 3-1 win. We've given up only 86 runs, the fewest in the AL.

Shortstop Yunel Escobar put together a 16-game hitting streak that just ended. Billy Butler is second in the AL with a .375 average- and his contract expires at the end of this year.

Things are looking good in Kansas City- the system is working!

[jaa36]

We went just 3-4 for the week, but had our most Royals win so far on May 7. Daisuke Miyakawa gave up three first-inning runs, and we were down 4-0 after six innings. Eric Hosmer and Juan Centeno collected RBI hits in the seventh and eighth to cut the lead to 4-2. Then light-hitting Darwin Barney led off the ninth with a homer and Eric Hosmer followed with a single. Jarrod Dyson pinch ran, promptly stole second, advanced on a groundout, and scored on a Billy Butler sac fly. The Royals pen held steady, and in the bottom of the twelfth Alex Gordon walked, advanced to second on an error, went to third on a sac bunt, and scored on another error to give Kansas City a 5-4 win.

After a 2-1 win, the Royals then were shut out in consecutive games by the likes of Erik Johnson and Jose Quintana. The offense is just 13th in scoring thus far.

Salvy Perez returned and will occupy the #5 spot in the lineup. Our major league club is currently as healthy as it's going to get, and we're still in first place by half a game at 17-13 overall.

[jaa36]

A 3-3 week leaves us at 20-16 overall, which is still first in the AL Central. The most exciting win of the week was an 8-7 comeback victory over the Yankees which was capped off by a walk-off balk by Tyler Clippard. Our club is just 14th in the AL in home runs, and now tied for 14th in runs scored as well. Offensively, Tyler Naquin is off to a good start, hitting .347, but there aren't many bright spots on that side of the game. The defense has been good, but not game-breaking so far, and we are actually just 13th in stolen bases, with 9 of our 12 coming from Jarrod Dyson alone!

[jaa36]

The Royals are on a 4-game winning streak and took four of six on the week overall. May 19 was a tough loss to the Angels in which we went down 5-0 early, clawed back to tie the score in the ninth, and then lost in the bottom of the twelfth on a one-out double. We also won a close one three days in later in which we were down 2-0 heading into the eighth before scoring three late runs.

We continue to specialize in low-scoring games overall, with just the 15th best offense, but the 2nd best team in run prevention. Billy Butler has been our offensive star, hitting .342 with 5 home runs. Mike Moustakas and Yunel Escobar also have five homers apiece and have put together a good season offensively. On the pitching side, Greg Holland has been dominant, with 44 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings and a 1.64 FIP.

We are now 2 1/2 games in front in the AL Central. The team remains entirely injury-free for now.

[jaa36]

Another stellar week leaves us at 30-19 overall, 4.5 games in front in the AL Central. We won six out of seven games this week. The most dramatic win was a 6-5 come-from-behind win capped off by a walk-off two-run double by Billy Butler. The game before that was a 1-0 win with the only run driven in by light-hitting Jarrod Dyson. The team gave up just 13 runs in seven games over the course of the week. Mike Moustakas had a two-homer game and is now hitting .290 with 9 home runs.

It's hard to say how much of our success is due to the team's strategy of pitching to only once through the order, or how much is our good health, timely hitting, or blind luck. But there's no turning back now- the Kansas City Royals are the biggest surprise in the league this year.

[jaa36]

It was a very up-and-down week that ended with three wins and four losses. We dropped the first three games to St. Louis, the first two in blowouts, then won the fourth game against the Cardinals. We then won the first two against the Rangers, the second one a 9-8 nailbiter, and dropped the series finale by letting a five-run ninth inning lead evaporate and losing 8-7 in extra innings- our toughest loss of the series. We're at 33-23 overall, which is 4 1/2 games in front in the AL Central.

Mike Moustakas continues to tear the cover off the ball and is now hitting .310 with 14 home runs and 46 RBI. That's good for 2.5 WAR, third in the AL. Rookie Tyler Naquin is hitting .331, and Billy Butler .320.

We suffered a big injury, losing Eric Hosmer for six weeks with a fractured hand after he was hit by a pitch. Chris Young missed five days with an injury but has already returned. Danny Valencia was called up from Omaha to DH and Billy Butler moves to first base for now.

[jaa36]

The Royals went 4-2 on the week and are now at 37-25 overall. That's 3 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central. Thus far, Andrew Bailey and Tim Collins are neck and neck as our best pitchers. Bailey has a 1.80 ERA and Collins 1.59 in 45 innings apiece. Tyler Naquin is hitting .331 at the top of the lineup and is a rookie of the year candidate.

No injuries this week. The draft came and went, but wasn't particularly interesting to me, as this will be a one-season effort. I'm hoping to pull off a trade soon to strengthen the middle infield or center field.

[jaa36]

We went 4-3 this week- our seventh consecutive winning week- and are now 41-28 overall. We're now four games ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central. One of the losses was a 12-3 drubbing to the Tigers in which Khris Davis hit three home runs and drove in 9. We also lost an 8-2 decision in which the pitching staff gave up 17 hits. But despite those two bad losses, the club keeps winning enough games to push farther ahead in the standings.

Some of the role players have been making big impacts. Darwin Barney, who is generally a defensive replacement, is hitting .329 with 3 home runs. Lorenzo Cain is hitting .314 in 171 at-bats, with solid defense as well. Danny Valencia, our new DH, is hitting .346 so far. And Jarrod Dyson has stolen 15 bases as our pinch-running specialist.

[jaa36]

A 3-3 week leaves us at 44-31 overall, still four games up on Cleveland. We've scored 307 runs overall- 13th best in the league- but have allowed a league-best 287 runs against. The team has the best batting average in the league at .269- which says a lot about how limited the offensive output is in 2015.

Aptly-named minor leaguer Brooks Pounders (6 foot 4, 270 lbs) is having a remarkable season for AA Northwest Arkansas, going 13-0 with a 2.00 ERA thus far.

We're quickly approaching the midpoint of the season- and still I haven't been able to pull the trigger on any kind of trade. Eric Hosmer has two more weeks on the DL before his return.