Rise and Shine Campers!!! The most wonderful time of year is officially here!
Take a look outside, the 40 degree day full of drizzle and clouds should let you know it is almost Summer in Kansas City! And that of course means the boys in blue are back!!! Old faces like Danny Duffy, Mike Moustakas, and Alex Gordon will share the field with some of their new teammates like Jon Jay and Lucas Duda!
The Royals welcome the Chicago White Sox to the K for Opening Day. Though Salvy had a luggage mishap forcing him to miss the next month or so, the optimism in KC may never be higher than it is right now (or maybe as it was yesterday), and we here at Royals Blue would like to prognosticate exactly what we think is going to happen this season. Will John predict another 90 win season for the Royals (since he has actually seen all 50 years of Royals Baseball)? Will Luke take a big dump on everyone's happy-go- lucky spirit, and will Zach over-think it all and place a number directly in the middle? Well, wait no longer……….here are our annual Royals Blue prophesies:
Luke's Predictions:
With opening day of the 2018 Royals campaign upon us, I can say with certainty that this is the least excited I have been about an upcoming season in quite some time, if not ever.
It isn't the losing that has me down, its who we will be losing with. This isn't my team. This isn't my team of the future either. Guys like Moose and Duda wont be here in 2020. And the guys that WILL be here in 2020 are once again toiling in the minors.
I was looking forward to a year of watching my lovable losers with new faces peppered with old familiar ones.
And the old familiar face went and tripped over his DAMN LUGGAGE AND IS OUT FOR TWO MONTHS. THANKS SALVY….
So. With that said. My prediction for the upcoming season is that the Royals will give the illusion of being in the playoff hunt while not even being relatively close to being in the playoff hunt. The Wild Card makes it to where every team feels they have a chance right up until September, because every team DOES have a chance right up until September. Except they don't….they just don't know it.
72-90, Moose hits 29 home runs. Salvy comes back in 6 weeks but is not "right" the rest of the year. Bullpen drives the entirety of the Royals fanbase to become alcoholics. Our starting rotation is so bad that Luke Hochevar comes out of whatever retirement state he is in to pitch and we are grateful for it. Duffy's shoulder problem from spring training is a problem and has him miss significant time. Offense does "ok" but is streaky. Ned retires at the end of the year.
(So I guess yes, he did just take a big dump on our hopes and dreams…)
I predict the Royals to finish a meager 72-90.
The trade deadline will be busy with the Royals turning veteran Lucas Duda into prospect.
I also think Moose will become a clubhouse problem. Playing for his next contract will change the "keep the line moving" mentality causing some tensions to rise.
(In what has to be the biggest surprise in the 4 years I have been doing this X himself has agreed with one Luke Goosen. The Kool-Aid has run dry.)
Overall record 78-84.
I actually think the rotation is going to be one of the better ones we've seen in the GMDM era.
Bullpen is going to be a train wreck.
Offense will be good once Salvy gets back.
Moose, Duda, Jay will all have solid years.
(IN DAYTON WE TRUST….the Good Dr.'s prescription to watching Royals Baseball).
Record will be 75-87 (I think Salvy being gone for 4-6 weeks is worth -3 to -5 wins).
Having the 9th oldest team in the majors during a rebuild might point towards a fire sale around the trade deadline. But I think the Royals will be hovering around .500 then so fans will call on GMDM to trade to get very marginal players, costing us prospects…but GMDM will resist and let it ride to see how these guys do.
I think Gordo has a bounce back season hitting .224 with 11 homers and 150 strikeouts. Although Salvy will get to splash Kelvin Herrera 40 times, as he has a bounce back year in the pen, only to be traded for prospects.
this feels like a pre-2013 Royals Status Quo season.
