They have been 3-3 since I last wrote. Hosmer has been hot, he had a 5-5 night, and could win the A.L. rookie of the year. Moustakas and Perez continue to hit. Teaford had a rough start going 5 innings allowing 5 runs. 30 year-old Luis Mendoza has had made two great starts this year, going 14.2 innings allowing 2 earned runs. Hochevar, Francis, and Duffy have been shut down, giving Triple-A call ups Vin Mazzaro and Sean O'Sullivan a start at the major league level.
The Royals' future is still bright with the potential to have one of the best lineups in the league. They need at least two good starting pitchers, they have zero, with not much potential. Vin Mazzaro, Sean O'Sulivan, and Danny Duffy could be ok starters, but nobody is looking like a number one or two starter. For the offseason I feel they need to trade Melky Cabrera or Lorenzo Cain for pitching. Easier said than done, but Cain is ready and can't spend another year at Triple-A. As for free agent pitchers this year there isn't much, and to get anybody good they will have to overpay. I think they still need to wait a year to spend big money in free agency.
This year has been a success, at the beginning of the year the royals were expected to lose 100 games, they will finish with about 90. Here is a position by position breakdown of what went better or worse than expected.
Catcher: Better, Matt Treanor and Bryan Pena were ok, but Salvador Perez has been great and he is only 21 (exactly one year older than me). He is not expected to hit this well in the future but who knows.
First Base: Better, Kila Ka'aihue was awful in April, but when Hosmer was called up he produced immediately. Hosmer was a big time prospect but you never know what you're gonna get till he's here, we got something special for the future.
Second Base: Worse, Chris Getz proved that he is not an everday player and Johnny Giovatella has been bad at the plate and in the field, it has been the biggest hole in the lineup the last month.
Shortstop: Same, Alcides Escobar has been a plus glove and a below average bat. He is still young and could develop into a more sound batter.
Third Base: Worse, at least for this year, Betemit and Aviles weren't very good early and Moustakas hasn't been a factor until late. Hopefully he picks up where he left off next year.
Left Field: Better, Alex Gordon was the biggest surprise this year. He has been great in the field making teams respect his arm. He's had an all star caliber season and if it was determined at the end of the season like the NFL he'd be in for sure. Give credit to the Royals though, they could of given up on him and nobody would have argued, they did the same with Greinke a few year back.
Center Field: Better, Melky Cabrera was a cheap signee this offseason who has produced at the plate this year, he just doesn't cover enough ground for a center fielder.
Right Field: Better, the best addition this year was Jeff Francouer. He's been great for the clubhouse and has revived his career here in KC. The Royals have him signed for the next two years as well.
Starting Pitching: Same, this was supposed to be one of the worst rotations in baseball, and it has been. Hochevar looked good after the all star break but returned to normal. Chen has been pretty good, Duffy not so much, and the Kyle Davies experiment finally ended. Midseason acquisition Felipe Paulino has done pretty well with an ERA of 4.10.
Bullpen: Better, especially early in the year, where they carried the team in April. Aaron Crow was good pre all-star break, Greg Holland has been good all year. Soria not so much though, he blew quite a few games early and never really recovered, hopefully he'll bounce back next year. The bullpen is pretty young so hopefully they come back even stronger next year.
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