Okay first off we must make the standard set of disclaimers which are inevitably repeated spring after spring; these stats are meaningless, you can't expect them to continue, golf balls and HRs go further in Arizona, the Royals will not be battling for first place and Melky Cabrera will not hit .500.
Unless you were the most casual, uninformed, gullible KC Royals fan you probably don't expect them to continue their spring training domination into the regular season, but is it really that meaningless. When looked at from a whole the answer is clearly yes, but there are always individual performances which might give you a window into what they might do during the regular season. As an example let's look at last year's spring training along side this year's; last year the Royals signed two veteran, experienced, stop-gap outfielders who had very little appeal to anyone else in the league, promised them starting positions and indirectly told Mitch Maier that he was not worthy. Fast forward one year and the Royals have done virtually the same thing, Scott Posednik & Rick Ankiel beget Melky and Frenchy. Last year Scotty Pods was hot in spring training and Ankiel was injured and struck out a lot, in the regular season Posednik carried that over had a nice first half and was traded, while Slick Rick continued to be hurt and strike out a lot during his brief career as a KC Royal. This spring Melky is hitting and Frency is not, in fact they are basically standing on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon. Will this continue into the 2011 regular season? Would it surprise you if it did? For me it wouldn't, the odds that both of them have some sort of resurgent, career saving year are pretty low. But Melky hitting a glass half full .300 and Frenchy toiling away in the depths of the low .200s with a modicum of power, yes that is believable.
Alex Gordon and Kila Ka'aihue seem to have formed the Royals version of the Odd Couple. Polar opposite backgrounds and routes to their current status as major league players, but here they stand with Babe Ruth minor league resumes and a lot left to prove in the bigs. Yet again they are both proving that if Major League pitching consisted of veterans on rehab assignments, players who throw 92 with no other pitches, and those pitchers who either get way too much of the plate or just can't find their spots - basically if they could hit against the Royals current starting rotation - they would be two of the best players in the league. However, we are still waiting for them to show that, but given their play in spring training it does offer hope that at least one of the two should put together a pretty decent year. And if they both continue to prove otherwise, no worries because now the Royals do have other people who can step in (eventually). These are the two closest things the Royals have had to Money Ball type players in a long time and if they turn into a poorman's version of Adam Dunn and J.D. Drew, the Royals might actually score a few runs this year without having to hit three consecutive singles.
Despite signing two starters late in the offseason and trading for another, the Royals still don't have any starting pitcher who is remotely discernible from the next. Except for those rookies who still need another year of "seasoning" in the minors. On a positive note Mike Montgomery is still on the roster in spring and may have moved up is arrival time-table, which would be awesome, since we lost a Cy Young winner from our rotation and need someone who isn't at best a #3 starter (on the Royals). I honestly have more faith in Alex Gordon becoming our best hitter than I do Luke Hochevar establishing himself as a #1, even on the Royals where your competition is Kyle Davies, Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis, Corned Beef & Cabbage O'Sullivan and Spaghetti & Meatballs Mazzaro. Aaron Crow has also proven that he still might, just maybe, with a little luck, be a decent starting pitcher. Personally, I would rather see him try to pitch on opening day than any of the other six #5 (on winning teams) starting pitchers we'll start the year with. But, if he is this year's Hosmer or Moutsakas (ie big bounce-back year in the minors) then we could see him as soon as one of the indistinguishable six either gets hurt or is sporting a plus 6.00 ERA.
Caring about who makes up the Royals bullpen after Soria, Tejada and (hopefully) Tim Collins is essentially like picking the 8 vs. 9 seed game in your bracket; flip a coin, move on and hope for a Butler. It seems to be the consensus that this will be a big improvement from last year, but that should be tempered by the fact that if you pitched the staff of the Powder Blue Room behind Soria, Tejada and Collins, it would be an improvement on last year's pen that came out of spring training. Not to mention that Trey Hilman's patented bullpen management strategies were historically bad and Yost, Slugger, the bat boy or a Magic 8-ball could choose a better way of setting-up the Royals' pen. That being said the youthful infusion is nice to see.
There is actually one spring training roster spot battle that is worth getting somewhat interested in, and that is what appears to be the last OF spot which will either be Jarrod Dyson or Gregor Blanco (according to the KC Star). Raise your hand if you have any interest in seeing Gregor Blanco play one inning for the Royals this year. Not that I have any bones to pick with Blanco, but he will always be exactly what he is, Atlanta didn't give him to us by accident, he really has hit his ceiling. And Dyson doesn't need more ABs in the minors, he can run really fast, this particular skill doesn't require "seasoning" and is best put to use as often as possible. Dyson will probably never be a major league hitter but as Billy Butler's designated pinch runner and late inning Melky defensive sub he fits the bill perfectly. And seeing him get one start a week will be much more valuable than having Blanco take the Sunday afternoon start in CF. Our CF of the future is clearly Lorenzo Cain at this point and this means that Dyson has almost no chance of beating him out or proving his worth unless he starts the season on the team and plays so well during his limited action that the Royals have to take a look at him, which has infinitely more value than giving those looks to Blanco. This decision would further prove that the Royals are fully on the young homegrown player bandwagon and are starting to take some risks as opposed always playing it safe.
In other encouraging news, thankfully we will have, at least, a few weeks sans Jason Kendall to start the season.
The Royals are currently playing winning baseball and by the end of April we probably won't be saying the same thing, so Royals fans should be enjoying this spring fling while it lasts. I'm looking forward to the regular season as much as anyone, but I also like seeing the Royals winning box scores. The most interesting thing about spring training is seeing what good things continue and watching other things fall back to reality, and I guess we are about to sort those things out.
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