At the beginning of each baseball season, fans of every team have a possibility of 3 plausible expectations. To contend for a championship. To be around .500/mediocre. And lastly, to stink.
The Royals were considered by many to be members of the latter group. In a year where Eric Hosmer departed via free agency, it became clear that a .500 team in 2017 had only grown weaker. With a bottom ranked farm system, there was little hope of the Royals renewing the magic of '14 and '15 without some serious free agent help, and the stars were not aligned for the Glass family to pour out millions of more dollars on a team with more holes than a slice of swiss cheese that had been blasted with a shotgun.
Couple all of this with the fact that the Cubs and Astros have laid the blueprint for rebuilding in the last several years. They managed to go from zeros to heros in a few short years utilizing a system of tanking to ensure higher draft status, more draft pool money and with competitive balance rounds, a greater number of meaningful draft picks. The Royals themselves used this strategy (though it seems not intentionally) to build the championship team in 2015. It was full of former top draft picks like Hosmer, Gordon and Moustakas. You simply do not get top picks like these year after year unless you stink. And stink for an extended period of time.
So with every sign pointing to the Royals ready to take several steps backwards and work on contending in the future, what do they do? Re-sign Moose to play third base, pick up free agent first baseman Lucas Duda to fill the hole left by Eric Hosmer, pick up free agent outfielder Jon Jay, and bring back Alcides Escobar to man short stop. All of these on team friendly 1 year deals.
Dayton Moore has a track record of success with his bargain bin free agent pickups. The problem isn't whether these moves work out, its that they MIGHT work out. Does this team actually believe it can contend in 2018? With a bullpen full of "who dat" and a rotation that is paper thin, the problem is there are still FAR too many holes on a team that still looks like it has regressed dramatically from a .500 2017 campaign.
Part of it could be that Dayton Moore has stated in the past that he will not tank.
“We’re always going to do whatever we can to field a competitive team, there’s no doubt about that, that’s how we’re wired. We’re not going to tank like the way some people like to talk about.”
LATER STATING:
“The only way to spend money in the draft, you have to pick high. You can’t set your own budget and strategically out-scout guys and out-manuever them, and strategize in a way that gives you an advantage like we did with Wil Myers….”
“The only way to really build your farm system through the draft and do it quickly is to draft high.”
So what gives? Which Dayton are fans suppose to listen to? The one that wants to be competitive every year even though it may be counterintuitive to the very strategy Dayton himself lays out for drafting high for talent? Which Dayton Moore is this? The one that stated Royals prospects would have a chance to play in 2018 for evaluation and experience, or the Dayton Moore that instead fills those holes with 1 year veteran contracts?
In an offseason full of more questions than answers, one thing remains very clear to this author…….The Royals are in no position to contend with the number of holes they have. The shrewd move is to use this year to improve draft position and evaluate. The aquisition of average talent does nothing more than push the Royals towards the purgatory of a mediocre club not capable of contending, but also positioned in the middle of the draft.
In a year when it made perfect sense to let the young kids play for 2020 and beyond it has become painfully clear…………………. the Royals suck at sucking.
