Royals 2017 Thread

[ono]

This team is gonna suuuuuuuck next year. Of course, this is the season I made plans to go to Spring Training for the first time.

I like Soria too, but not sad to see him go. I know he altogether had a good season, but I can't shake the feeling of every single time he came in with a small lead, it was immediately relinquished. And with the $/WAR value, he was worth his salary, I'm not sure how useful an expensive reliever is on a building team.

I am not particularly a fan of this deal as a whole though. I would think we could get more for Alexander alone. And I don't know why we just didn't do it that way. Soria could have been dealt as a salary dump in another deal. It seems DM got fixated on including Soria with Alexander and took whatever he could get.

[NoPantsChico]

But you can't get anything in a salary dump unless you're packaging it with money, a better player or some combination. That's why it's a salary dump. They probably could've unloaded Alexander on his own, but he wouldn't have fetched a better return (even though he and Soria are going to separate teams). As good as Alexander is, there's a pretty big supply of young, solid, cost-controlled relievers on the trade block, and if teams don't like what they see, they can look at their most recent failed starters and just put them in a different role and there's a shot it'll pan out.

[ono]

I would agree to disagree, I think Alexander could be more valuable than you think.

The separate teams thing does quasi-make this two separate deals, but I'm guessing that's not how the trade began. I'm guessing LA wanted Alexander, Royals said you have to take Soria, and then the third team was brought in. What I would have done is unload Soria and a fringe prospect for salary relief and a fringier prospect. Then I'd move Alexander separately and get the best deal possible. Who knows, maybe Oaks was it. But I don't like minimizing the value of a decent asset by packaging salary along with it.

[NoPantsChico]

Oh, I Iiked Alexander a ton. He was a great fireman and I think guys who generate ground balls like he can should be increasingly valuable given the current home run spike, but he's already 28, so there was a decent chance he wasn't going to be part of the next competitive team. Working on the assumption that the Royals aren't going to be good this year, there wouldn't be many leads for Alexander to protect, which means fewer chances to showcase him to potential suitors, and all of that is assuming he doesn't regress or get hurt like so many of the Royals relievers over the last two seasons. I see the case for holding onto him, but I think it would've been a risky play.

[NoPantsChico]

So Dave Cameron, the Managing Editor of Fangraphs, is taking a job with the Padres. I guess the half-joke here is that Hosmer is falling into the Royals' laps and they'll get him at a severe discount.

[Jhawkz5]

Gerit Cole to the Stros makes it even more evident the Royals should go full on tank mode. We aren't going back to the WS anytime soon while their core is still intact.

[NoPantsChico]

LoCain gets 5 years and $80 million from the Brewers and the Royals get a draft pick. I'm gonna miss the hell out of that dude but am happy he's finally getting real money.

[NoPantsChico]

And CainHolio!

[ono]

....and now they have a deal with Escobar. Puke.

[Jhawkz5]

....and now they have a deal with Escobar. Puke.

Whit at 2nd, Esky at short, Mondesi in center. It's going to happen.

[ono]

Whit at 2nd, Esky at short, Mondesi in center. It's going to happen.

Just fucking brutal.

God, imagine if we trade Whit, and go Esky at SS, Mondesi CF, Torres at 2nd. I wouldn't be totally shocked at that, and I would vomit.

[NoPantsChico]

Just fucking brutal.

God, imagine if we trade Whit, and go Esky at SS, Mondesi CF, Torres at 2nd. I wouldn't be totally shocked at that, and I would vomit.

Would it be too tinfoil hat-y to say that the Royals planning a Whit bobblehead day leads me to believe that he won't be moved?

[ono]

They've had bobblehead days for guys they have moved before... but it was mid season IIRC... TPJ comes to mind. And I hope the marketing geniuses who came up with TPJ bobblehead day were fired.

[ono]

Apparently his deal is for $2.5mm. Glad we shed payroll for that.

[GregA]

Insanity.

[swidman]

Glad Cain is out of the division. Will the Royals replace my Whitesox as the bottom feeder of the AL Central this year? Two teams going, apparently, in opposite directions.

[ono]

The Royals are going to be the worst team in the AL.

[Joe Norris]

Trust the process?

[swidman]

I'm trusting the process in Chicago. Rick Hahn is doing exactly what he needed to do with his trades and draft picks. Heard him on the radio this morning talking about not only getting championship caliber players at each position, but changing the overall culture in the organization. The Whitesox convention was this past weekend and Hahn keeps hearing the young guys talking about making it up to the big club faster than Hahn is expecting and wanting to bring a World Series to the south side more than just once. It's that type of talk that this fan base hasn't ever really experienced since Big Frank and Robin Ventura came up back in the early 90's.

[ono]

Moss and Buchter traded for salary relief. Assuming we overpay for Hosmer now.

I'm glad for what he did, but since the Zobrist trade, DM has been the worst GM in baseball.