Royals Player Preview Part 1 of 4 (Infield)

I'm going to do a four part series (Infield, Outfield, Relief Pitching and Starting Pitching) of the Royals players, looking at what to expect for the upcoming season.

Salvador Perez:

Best Case Scenario:  The best case for Perez is probably regression to be honest, nobody see's him hitting .331 for an entire season. Best case is he hits .300-.310 and becomes a catcher nobody considers stealing against.

Expectations:  I view him as a catcher who will hit about .260-.280 this year, with little power.  He isn't considered a great hitter and it was very suprising to see him have the success he had last year.  Good thing about Perez is he is only 21 and shares a birthday with me.

Worst Case Scenario:  You don't know exactly what you're getting from him since he was a late season call-up so you could see him struggle and possibly even get sent down to develop.

Eric Hosmer:

Best Case Scenario:  There really is no limit with Hosmer, he has the potential to hit .315 this season with 30 Home Runs and 35 doubles.  Another best case scenario is seeing a big improvement in his defense.  He was a highly toughted defensive player coming in, but struggled in his rookie season, some people think it was just a case of his alignment.

Expectations:  I think he's going to progress this season into a possible All-Star, it would be great to have more than one Royal in the All-Star game, epsecially since it's in Kansas City.  I think a good year for him would be a .300 average with an improvement in walks, and hit 25 home runs.

Worst Case Scenario:  Worst case for Hosmer would be a repeat of his rookie season. I don't see any way he doesn't get better, he has everything going for him.

Johnny Giovatella:

Best Case Scenario:  People are saying he could make or break the Royals lineup and I somewhat agree with that.  If he becomes a .300 hitter this lneup could be really good, and it's not impossible for that to happen.  Even though he's not a big time prospect he has hit at every level in the minor leagues.  He doesn't have home run power, but could hit 35-40 doubles, especially at the doubles paradise that is Kaufman Stadium.

Expectations:  I see him progressing some as a hitter, improving his .247 average from last year.  The two areas that need improvement are his defense and plate dicipline.  He only had 6 walks in 184 at bats last year, which is really bad, and his defense was pretty bad.  I think last year he was pressing too much, but nothing has really changed since they resigned Chris Getz, so the same ammount of pressure will be on him, if not more.
Worst Case Scenario:  He could turn out to be a bust, not a huge bust, but a step backward to Chris Getz.  Chris Getz is like Ichiro the only difference is Getz hits .250.



Alcides Escobar:
Best Case Scenario:  He had a really odd season last year, to start he hit around .200 just hoping to make contact.  He then hit .336 from June 4-July 19th.  Then hitting about his average of .250 the rest of the season.  Best case secnario would be him hitting .280-.290, which would be great with the amazing defense he provides.
Expectations:  Escobar is still young and I think he'll take a small step forward with his average, and hopefully a bigger step forward in on base percentage.  He doesn't strike out a lot but doesn't walk very often, he had an OBP of .294, average for 2009 (the only stat I could find) was .336.  A stat line of .265/.330/.380 would be a reasonable expectation for this season.  Those three numbers are batting average/on base percentage/slugging percentage.
Worst Case Scenario:  I don't see him taking a step backward but I could see him fail to develop into a everyday major league shortstop.  It seems like every trade Dayton Moore has made has been blah, you look at the player we got and think dang he sucks, but then you look at what we gave up and think, alright that players sucks too.  Hopefully Escobar develops because Greinke doesn't suck (the Royals also got Lorenzo Cain and Jake Odorizzi who both have promise).


Mike Moustakas:
Best Case Scenario:  He falls into the category with Hosmer, Escobar, Giovatella and Francouer, who need to be more patient at the plate and improve their OBP.  He didn't have a great stat line last year because of the terrible start he had, but he recovered well, getting his batting average up to .263 by seasons end.  He is a power hitter so an average of .290 would be really good along with an OBP of .370.  This isn't likely but he does have a very high celling.
Expectations:  Moose is a big question mark, and a lot of questions will be answered this year.  On the negative side, he struggled most of the season, and got hot when the competition wasn't as tough.  What he has going for him is his work ethic, and the fact that he has had an adjustment period at each stop in the minor leagues.  I could see Moose being a star, just a solid player or a bust, I don't have a good read on him.
Worst Case Scenario:  This is his job for entire year, there are no bench players or prospects who will apply any added pressure.  I think people get too excited about prospects, because even the best fizzle out once they reach the majors, Moose might be one.

The reason I'm not writing about KU Basketball is because I don't wanna be that guy who doesn't know what he's talking about.

Chiefs Grades

Sorry for the long layoff but here is a player breakdown on how well each player did based on expectations.

Quarterbacks

Matt Cassel  D:  He had a bad year before he got injured, 10 touchdowns to 9 interceptions.  I think the Chiefs have to and will stick with him next year, they have no better options.  I don't think Kyle Orton will return to the Chiefs with Cassel on the roster, and I also believe Peoli has too much invested in Cassel to go with anybody else.

Tyler Palko D:  He is ultimately the reason Haley got fired.  I think everybody thought he would be bad but he was the worst quarterback in the league that started a game this year, and he started 4.

Kyle Orton C:  Kyle Orton was exactly what I expected, one good game, one bad game, and an average game.  He's okay, but he's not the long term solution, if Haley went to him sooner they may have made the playoffs though.

Running Backs

Jamaal Charles B:  In the limited work before he tore his ACL he averaged 7 yards a carry, hopefully having the injury early in the year helps his recovery.

Thomas Jones  D:  Why the Chiefs resigned him was beyond me, he showed massive signs of decline at the end of last season and carried them into this year.  He averaged 3.1 yards per carry scoring 0 touchdowns, completely awful, what was worse is that the Chiefs gave him the ball 10 times a game.

Jackie Battle A:  He had a terrible pre-season and was likely to get cut.  He then surprised everyone by rushing for 119 yards against Indianapolis to save the season from disaster.  He rushed for 600 yards this season, averaging 4.0 yards per carry, he'll likely be the backup to Charles next season.

Dexter McCluster B:  He had a pretty good year to be honest, 850 yards from scrimmage averaging 4.5 yards per carry.  Though he's not an every down back he was the only running back capable of making a big play.  He's not Darren Sproles, but he's also not a bust.

Wide Receivers

Dwayne Bowe B:  He quietly had a good year, when I looked at his stats I thought i'd see about 800 receiving yards, not 1159.  He's a true number one receiver and the Chiefs need to sign him this offseason, or at least put the franchise tag on him.

Steve Breaston B:  He had a good year, 800 receiving yards and was really good after the catch.  He was never spectacular but was always solid.

Jonathan Baldwin D:  After he jumped onto scene on Monday Night Football against the Chargers but you never really heard from him again.  Hopefully he steps up next year, I think having Cassel go down really hurt his production.

Offensive Line:  The offensive line played alright but they really need to find a right tackle.


Brandon Albert B
Ryan Lilga C
Casey Wieggman C
Rodney Hudson C
Barry Richardson D-

Defensive Line

Tyson Jackson B:  After winning Least Mentioned Player last year he really stepped up.  He made some plays this year, not in the sacks category but in disrupting the run.  He wasn't amazing but he seems to be improving and becoming a solid player.

Glenn Dorsey B:  Same with Tyson Jackson in the fact that he is improving, they have not lived up to top five draft picks but haven't been huge busts either.  You can tell they are playing better by looking at Derrick Johnson's stats, they are allowing him to make plays.

Kelly Gregg C:  To be honest I don't really know too much on how well he played, or do I care.  He was a one year fix, and looking into the future they need to find somebody who can play this position.  This is the one major hole in the defense.

Linebackers

Tamba Hali A:  I was a little worried that the new contract he got would hurt his production.  It didn't, he made his first Pro-Bowl and is turning into an elite player.

Jovan Belcher C:  He's not terrible but he's also not that good, he should be a rotation player instead of a starter.

Derrick Johnson A:  It seemed like he was in on every tackle, kind of like Eric Berry last year.  He is really good... don't know what else to say.

Justin Houston A:  He didn't have a sack in the first 11 games then had 5.5 in the last five.  He still has a lot to learn in coverage but it appears the Chiefs have 2 good pass rushers for years to come.

Defensive Backs

Brandon Flowers B:  He played most of the year at a Pro-Bowl level, but he did blow a few coverages, one thing elite cornerbacks don't do.  He is still a good cornerback with the potential to be elite.

Brandon Carr A:  I was completely wrong about him, he is a good cornerback.  At the beginning of the year I said he needed to be replaced, now I say we need to sign him to a long term deal.  They have no depth at cornerback and would miss him dearly if he left.

Eric Berry A+:  Only kidding, he played about one quarter this year, hopefully he can return to the Pro-Bowl level he played at as a rookie.

Kendrick Lewis A:  Lewis was really good this year, progressing a lot faster than anybody expected.

Analysis

Most of my grades were good, but the most important grade was not, quarterback.  I'm still split, trade a ton of draft picks and draft RG3, or build around Cassel.  It's kinda pointless to debate though, because the Chiefs are not going to draft a quarterback.  They have a really solid team, but solid teams don't win championships.  The Chiefs appear to be the front runners in the division next year though, by placing last in the division this year they will get an easier schedule than everybody else.  And by having Tebow win on Sunday the Broncos will have to keep him as the starter for next year, good for Chiefs fans because he is really bad, though he did have a good game on Sunday.  The Chiefs will have the 11th draft pick if they win the coin toss or 12th if they don't.  Look for them to draft an offensive lineman, there are a lot of them in this years draft.  In later rounds they may look for a defensive tackle, inside linebacker, or more offensive lineman.  Hiring Romeo as head coach was a alright move.  Good that he will be able to run the defense, bad that he's not good at in game managing.  Thank God that Josh McDaniels is going back to New England instead of coming to KC, I think he's awful. As for the Chiefs final game, they had a great game plan on Tebow, don't rush him just contain him, and make him throw in the pocket.