Spring training is all about finding hidden gems, filling out rosters and hoping that your studs stay healthy and don´t report to camp packing an extra 30lbs of offseason downtime. So far the Royals camp has been filled with both good news and bad news...
First, the things to like:
1. Grienke is still be Awsome! No signs of straying from the meds, no random elbow injury and no fluke season thoughts to ponder, the guy is here to stay. Also, in one game the Royals actually scored runs for him, a few four run leads for Grienke and he´s an easy 20 game winnner this year.
2. Arron Crow is awesome too, it appears that one of the Royals "can´t miss" picks might actually be that and the big bonous with him is that it might happen sooner than later...Grienke and Crow, the best one-two punch in the majors, lead the Royals to a sweep of the Yankees in the Division series...who doesn´t like the sound of that.
3. Mike Aviles might be back, this is a hold your breath statement, but the guy has been hitting in Spring Training and was (and hopefully still will be) one of those out-of-nowhere bright spots that the Roayls desperately need to suceed.
4. Mich Maier, Alberto Callaspo and Kila Ka'aihue are raking - while these are the bright spots offesnsively, they are also a double-edged sword because they were cast away by the Royals and no matter what they do they´re long shots to be full-timers. This is the kind of stick-it-to-the-man story you like to hear about; Maier was thrice informed that his services were no longer needed in the offseason (signings or OFs Anderson, Posednik and then Ankiel), Callaspo was arguably our non-Grienke MVP last season and then was told sorry we traded for the speedy slap hitter with Tom Emanski-like fundamentals and now maybe we can squeeze you in at DH and you can help Lil´Willie give guys days off. Ka'aihue is probably a victim of that old baseball fallacy that guys don´t hit as well when they aren´t playing in the field and thus to keep Butler happy and due to a log jam at DH he´ll be sent to the minors again and at best might be traded in the future.
5. Niether Meche, Bannister nor Hochevar have tweaked anything yet. These are the candidates to stand in the rather large shadow of Grienke and vie for that #2 spot in the rotation. Solid seasons are absolutely fundamental for these guys; no backiatomies for Meche, a whole season from Banny and something resembling the merit of a #1 overall pick from Hoch. If this has any chance to be an interesting year for the Royals not one, not two but all three of these guys have to make 30+ starts with ERAs under or around 4.00.
Now for the 4 horsemen of the Apocolypse:
1. Alex Gordon went out and broke his hand just a few games into the spring training schedule and when I read the headline it seemed like nothing surprising, just part of the box-score; Butler 1/3, Callaspo 2/3 and Gordon Broken Thumb. There was no way he could just be the George Brett we´ve been waiting for, this seems like as ominous of a start as you could get.
2. Ankiel´s Ankle, who thinks this is the last time we´re going to see this problem surface? Not me either, on a lot of teams you might be reading about the resurgence of Ankiel, but for the Royals it will be one nagging injury after another until the final "shut down" or "season ending surgery" or "tear in the (insert muscle here)" ends another failed gamble in the free agent market for the Royals. Forcast for raining frogs in the KC area.
3. Kendall has been hitting in the two hole, I read about it somewhere, then I saw it in the box score and immediately phoned the KC Star to ask if there was mistake. It just can't be true. If I´m not mistaken I thought I saw Coach Trey hitting fungo with a trident the other day.
4. Almost all of the offseason moves are proving to be worthless or more accurately put counter-productive and unnecessary: Ankiel goes down and his backup is some speed burning natural CF that, on paper at least, looks ready for a shot. If you strictly went by the numbers Maier wins a starting spot in the OF easily and the Teahen trade netted us a second baseman (already had one-Callaspo) and a back-up 3B/outfielder (traded one to get one-Teahen) who may back-up at first (had one-Ka'aihue). Could Posednik really be better than Maier? Only the Royals think so. Was Ankiel going to be the first Royal with 30 hrs in 10yrs? Outlook was doubtful. Do you give up on a .300 switch hitting secondbasemen for a rookie? It doesn't even make sense to try. Dayton Moore will be residing somewhere between the 3rd and 4th rings of the Inferno.
5. The 5th starter situation: other than Crow - and it's impossible to imagine Hilman and Moore not using the "seasoning in the minors" cop-out with him - there is nothing to be hopeful for. Kyle Davis has been throwing batting practice, Tejada has been shelled, The Farny experiment hasn't blossomed and the best sky-is-falling news is that Dr. Bruce Chen is still in the mix. Say your prayers.
Let's hope the rays of light outshine the dark clouds floating above the Royals dugout and fans can have something to at least be interested in this year.
