Recap: Kansas City suffered through a bad, if typical, second year expansion season. They were actually 11-8 in April but that really only serves to point out how awful they were the rest of the year. Things truly bottomed out in June (7-19) and again in August (7-22) but things were never that good for the Royals. The best that can be said is that they have at least a piece and perhaps a couple pieces who might be a part of a future winning team.
History: The Royals are an expansion team entering their third year. It's pretty bleak. KC also hosted the A's from the late 50s through 1967; that team was also pretty awful, although they did have a couple of 80 win years to give the Midwest a tiny taste of decency.
Outlook: It doesn't look super great going forward, if we're being honest. KC is at least 3 years away from doing anything.
Rotation
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Tyler, Eric 30 RR 8 16 .333 4.87 32 32 0 9 1 0 221.2 253 140 120 30 80 17 142 1.502 10.3 1.2 3.2 5.8
White, Tim 29 LL 10 15 .400 4.38 30 30 0 9 3 0 207.2 235 119 101 23 83 12 114 1.531 10.2 1.0 3.6 4.9
Chavez, Miguel 30 LL 8 14 .364 4.90 26 26 0 2 0 0 167.0 174 109 91 15 87 8 125 1.563 9.4 0.8 4.7 6.7
Chaves, Jose 29 RR 7 13 .350 4.05 24 24 0 6 0 0 171.0 166 83 77 22 51 12 146 1.269 8.7 1.2 2.7 7.7
LaPointe, Jason 31 RR 7 3 .700 3.72 13 13 0 3 1 0 84.2 86 37 35 7 29 2 50 1.358 9.1 0.7 3.1 5.3
Marrero, Mario 29 RR 1 2 .333 5.77 8 5 0 1 0 0 39.0 36 28 25 9 21 0 16 1.462 8.3 2.1 4.8 3.7
Zuazua, Jose 24 RR 1 2 .333 6.04 5 5 0 1 0 0 22.1 25 15 15 2 7 0 9 1.433 10.1 0.8 2.8 3.6
Rodriguez, Rick 23 LR 1 1 .500 5.14 3 3 0 1 1 0 21.0 26 12 12 1 7 0 13 1.571 11.1 0.4 3.0 5.6
Gutierrez, Edgar 25 LL 0 0 .000 3.68 2 2 0 0 0 0 7.1 9 3 3 0 4 0 4 1.773 11.0 0.0 4.9 4.9
The Royals continued the expansion team thing of throwing any and all pitchers they could find into the fire. They're starting to reach the point where they shouldn't be doing that any longer but to be honest they don't really have a staff yet.
Eric Tyler is, I guess, the staff ace. He's a groundball pitcher who loses his composure with runners on base, places the ball too high in the strike zone, and lets hitters tee off on him. This isn't a recipe for success, although he could benefit this year from more stability in the infield.
Tim White won his 10th game in his final start of the season on September 28th and saved the club from the ignominy of having nobody with double digit wins. He looks imposing on the mound and throws a fastball that gets into the low 90s but neither it nor his change of pace miss bats. He does have a very easy motion, so when necessary the Royals can push his replacement level arm into the 8th or 9th innings without worrying about hurting it.
Jason LaPointe found his way onto the KC roster after the Cardinals released him at the end of June. He was the only guy to start significant games for the Royals and finish with an ERA below 4, so he'll certainly get a longer look in spring training. LaPointe also has the pedigree of being a former starter, although I'm not sure how going 10-16 for a team coming off of a 105 win season is a tick in his favor.
Bullpen
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Munoz, Billy 29 RR 1 2 .333 2.08 23 0 19 0 0 7 30.1 23 10 7 2 11 0 33 1.121 6.8 0.6 3.3 9.8
Euceda, Eddie 35 RL 3 11 .214 4.18 49 9 17 3 0 0 114.0 114 67 53 12 43 9 68 1.377 9.0 0.9 3.4 5.4
Quinn, Kevin 35 RR 3 3 .500 4.62 46 0 19 0 0 4 60.1 58 34 31 2 51 6 40 1.807 8.7 0.3 7.6 6.0
Banks, Tim 36 LL 2 6 .250 3.67 30 7 14 0 0 1 68.2 71 34 28 6 32 4 34 1.500 9.3 0.8 4.2 4.5
Reyes, Victor 28 RR 1 6 .143 5.94 29 0 16 0 0 4 47.0 58 33 31 6 20 3 29 1.660 11.1 1.1 3.8 5.6
Hicks, Ryan 34 RR 3 4 .429 6.97 23 6 7 0 0 0 60.2 83 52 47 6 37 3 44 1.978 12.3 0.9 5.5 6.5
Gonzalez, Ismael 25 RR 0 0 .000 3.28 19 0 8 0 0 1 24.2 29 12 9 0 14 1 16 1.743 10.6 0.0 5.1 5.8
Fitzgerald, Glenn 35 SR 0 0 .000 3.43 16 0 6 0 0 0 21.0 21 11 8 0 15 3 10 1.714 9.0 0.0 6.4 4.3
Nies, Chad 26 LL 1 1 .500 7.17 14 0 9 0 0 3 21.1 28 17 17 1 11 2 23 1.828 11.8 0.4 4.6 9.7
Colucci, Nick 28 SR 1 0 1.000 8.10 9 0 0 0 0 0 16.2 24 15 15 4 6 0 9 1.800 13.0 2.2 3.2 4.9
Bump, Vince 24 RR 1 1 .500 4.15 7 0 1 0 0 0 13.0 11 6 6 1 9 1 8 1.538 7.6 0.7 6.2 5.5
Lopez, Ramon 25 LR 0 0 .000 1.46 7 0 0 0 0 0 12.1 14 4 2 2 9 0 10 1.865 10.2 1.5 6.6 7.3
Byrne, Danny 30 SR 0 1 .000 8.49 9 0 6 0 0 3 11.2 16 11 11 4 2 1 10 1.543 12.3 3.1 1.5 7.7
Mendez, Jose 30 RR 0 1 .000 8.38 6 0 3 0 0 0 9.2 13 9 9 2 10 1 10 2.379 12.1 1.9 9.3 9.3
Wood, Arthur 34 SR 1 0 1.000 8.10 3 0 2 0 0 0 3.1 4 3 3 0 1 0 0 1.500 10.8 0.0 2.7 0.0
Kansas City finished the year with
Kevin Quinn as their stopper, Billy Munoz having been traded to Baltimore in June. Quinn was pretty great in 1969 (2-1, 2.81) but then pretty awful last year; there's nothing really about him that screams "closer". He did throw a lot harder last year than the year before but that wound up being a net negative, as Quinn, who was never a control artist, got extremely wild at times in 1970. One man who the Royals would have loved to move up into that role was
Victor Reyes, who as recently as the summer of '69 was holding his own as a closer. Then he had a bad last month with Atlanta, followed by a horrific start to the 1970 season that saw him get released by the Braves on June 5, and then a mediocre at best run in KC. He showed just enough in September (0-2, 3.86) to earn a shot in spring training this year.
Eddie Euceda followed up a 7-20 1969 season with a 3-11 year shuffling between the rotation and a left-handed specialist slot. He'll turn 36 on October 30 and his days in the league are surely numbered. I guess to be fair you could say that about all of the Royals' pitchers.
Catcher
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Byers, Jay 29 LR 94 282 28 51 12 0 6 28 61 90 1 0 8 .181 .319 .287 2
Flores, Chris 30 RR 97 300 23 68 12 0 0 14 22 53 2 0 12 .227 .282 .267 2
Catcher was a bit of a wasteland last year and isn't likely to get much better in 1971.
Chris Flores plied his trade in Cincinnati for two seasons before being acquired by the Royals in the expansion draft, and then after being stuck in AAA for most of 1969 he emerged as the by-default starter in 1970. He's reportedly not super happy about this turn of events and he's not the best guy to have in your clubhouse in the best of time. Also, he OPSed under .550 last year.
Jay Byers has better secondary stats but that doesn't mean much when you hit .181; he also has a below-average arm. Outside of free agency, there doesn't seem to be anything in the organization close. You have to go all the way down to AA to find a catcher who hit above the Mendoza Line and that guy hit .210.
Infield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Ono, Yahashi 39 RR 159 625 82 179 28 4 11 72 94 73 3 2 24 .286 .378 .397 3*
Coleman, Ian 28 RR 96 355 48 82 12 8 7 38 34 55 4 3 10 .231 .297 .369 4
Dunnahoe, Luke 28 RR 75 298 35 61 11 1 11 45 44 55 3 1 7 .205 .303 .359 4
Hearn, Rick 29 RR 13 16 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 .188 .222 .188 /46
Jaquez, Arturo 27 RR 2 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 .400 .400 .400 /4
Newton, Ryan 25 LR 104 377 29 87 15 3 2 38 21 72 16 4 4 .231 .267 .302 5
Ramos, Cris 32 LR 39 60 5 15 7 0 0 8 2 8 0 0 2 .250 .270 .367 5
Sita, Nate 24 SR 84 230 27 42 7 1 10 31 37 65 1 2 2 .183 .295 .352 65
Altmann, Carlos 34 SR 88 201 14 41 7 2 1 21 18 31 7 2 5 .204 .271 .274 6/5
Saunders, Steve 29 RR 40 117 7 21 4 1 0 6 4 38 0 0 4 .179 .207 .231 6
Steinmetz, Andy 29 RR 15 23 2 4 1 0 1 3 3 4 0 1 1 .174 .259 .348 6/5
Yahashi Ono had a good, consistent season as the team's #3 hitter. Still, he's 39 and as such the Royals brought in Josh Lewis from the White Sox to push him in 1971. Lewis was bad last year but carries a career .275 average; if he can do that for Kansas City, that's... still a downgrade from Ono but he's 10 years younger.
At second, the Royals stuck with another castoff for most of the season -
Luke Dunnahoe, who played 154 games for the Phillies as their starting shortstop in 1969. He'd been traded off to St. Louis, who didn't have a place for him and re-sent him to Kansas City in exchange for a career minor-leaguer. He missed the final month of the season with a herniated disc in his back and didn't look particularly amazing before that point. As such,
Ian Coleman, who hit .316 in the expansion season but fell into a 7 for 55 hole right as Dunnahoe entered the scene, may compete for the role in spring training.
Ryan Newton, a second round pick by the Orioles whom the Royals acquired in an offseason minor league deal (which really means: he was on a farm team that was switched from the O's to the Royals at some point), was pretty solid in the field but looked a bit overwhelmed at the plate. In the long-term, he's going to need to turn some of those strikeouts into base hits if he's going to stick around in the major leagues.
Cris Ramos, a longtime veteran of the Mexican League, exists in case this doesn't happen or if Newton regresses in the field.
Shortstop is also kind of a mess right now, although
Nate Sita's power is intriguing. It'd be more intriguing if he didn't whiff so much. He needs to shorten his swing to really stick. Still, he at least has a chance at being better, which is more than can be said about, say,
Carlos Altmann. I guess that's unfair; Altmann's actually a very good defensive shortstop even at age 34. He was never more than a backup before the Royals nabbed him off of the Cubs in the expansion draft, and that's probably the best place to put him even now. One player to watch out for is
Mike Dawson, the Royals' 1st round pick in 1969 (22nd overall) who hit a solid .281/14/53 for the single-A San Jose Bees last year. BNN thinks he might arrive in the major leagues next season. I'm not going to rush him by putting him on the spring training roster but we'll see.
Outfield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Nation, Jeff 25 RR 146 571 72 167 31 10 21 84 43 76 7 6 17 .292 .350 .492 75/3
Damian, Kyle 30 RR 87 182 17 47 12 0 4 16 5 26 0 0 6 .258 .299 .390 7/358
Sicre, Sergio 24 LL 41 136 14 31 6 0 1 15 12 16 0 0 7 .228 .289 .294 7
Corona, Dave 21 LL 157 611 108 184 34 18 18 66 113 59 47 28 5 .301 .408 .504 8*
Riley, Dave 30 LL 63 78 10 17 3 1 1 8 11 12 1 2 0 .218 .311 .321 8/9
Hull, Tom 29 RR 17 14 2 2 0 0 0 7 2 4 0 0 0 .143 .211 .143 /87
Domi*nguez, R.J. 25 RR 88 294 47 71 21 0 13 40 79 66 0 2 4 .241 .405 .446 9
Milton, Bryan 38 RR 102 189 20 49 9 4 0 15 31 23 4 2 7 .259 .351 .349 9/7
Guzman, Carlos 31 RR 50 163 17 37 3 0 4 22 13 40 0 0 5 .227 .288 .319 9
The failure of
Jeff Nation to stick at third base spelled his ultimate doom for as a member of the Royals, as they are chock full of corner outfield prospects. For the time being, the gameplan looks to be to retrain
Dave Corona in left. Corona had a fantastic season last year that even saw him be the Royals' All-Star representative. I'd call him a ROY candidate but I believe that he did not qualify; he played in 56 games and had 131 at-bats the season before. He also, as a 21 year old, clearly demonstrated that he is not a center fielder, not now and not ever. He's got a good enough arm for right but he doesn't track the ball well in the field and that hurts his range. The Royals hope that, moved over into left field, the budding superstar can concentrate even harder on his offensive game.
The person who's making the move possible, well, other than Corona's sheer inability to play center field at a major league level, is the newly acquired
Josh Coldiron. Coldiron wore out his welcome with the White Sox by hitting .149 in a late-season call-up. The Royals see a leadoff hitter and great fielding center fielder in his future. Should he continue to struggle at the plate, I probably won't turn back to Corona; a possibility might be
Allen Scurry, an independent league discovery by the Royals in 1969 who hit well in both AA and AAA last year (.294/14/72 combined).
RJ Dominguez is a Cuban refugee who missed the final 3 weeks of the year with a torn hamstring. As of press time it looks like he should be back in time for spring training. He's only 25 (or at least that's what his birth certificate says) but he had the patience (105 walks in AAA and the majors combined) and power (20 HRs combined over 430 at-bats) of a seasoned veteran. His absence prompted the Royals to use
Bryan Milton in his place but the Royals would much rather he stick with his position as the team's #1 pinch-hitter for 1971. He hit .279 as a pinch-hitter last year with 9 walks in 60 appearances; the fact that the team lost a lot of close games was not his fault. Here, too, the Royals have young depth in the form of
Jared Ferrell, who hit .286/25/73 in AA Elmira and AAA Omaha in 1970. He's not as fast as some of the other prospects, but boy, that power...