Leftridge: Fresh Off World Series, Royals Seek Replacement Parts

With Major League Baseball’s off season hootenanny officially underway—Ned Yost finished third in AL Manager of the Year voting, btw—it’s time for rumors to start flying faster than insults regarding intellect and/or sexuality in the KCC comments section.

So far, the Royals have been the subject of multiple whispers, most of them awful. For the first time in club history, there’s a chance payroll will exceed $100mil. This is fine news IF they spend the money wisely; speculation seems to suggest that they may not.

But again, these are only rumors and furthermore, we find ourselves in a digital era teeming with exceptional levels of unaccountability. So when @BonerRoyals69 says: “sources indicate Baltimore has offered B. Butler a 3 yr/$30MM deal,” you should probably just LOL at that asshole.

Speaking of Billy Butler and the other members of the Dearly Departed Squad (James Shields, Nori Aoki):

The Royals find themselves in need of a designated hitter (probably), a right fielder (definitely) and a legitimate top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher (absolutely).

Billy Butler could be that DH, but, well, he’s Billy Butler. For as nice of a career as he had in KC, it’s probably just time to see if he can spread his wings elsewhere. It has been suggested that he’s seeking a deal for multiple years (three), and the Royals aren’t inclined to go more than two; I think this is smart, and I’d hate to see anything more than an incentive-laden 2 year/$16MM type of deal. IF they can’t land on something a little more intriguing, that is.

They’ve also been linked to Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies as a potential DH option. This is certainly “a little more intriguing,” but HA HA HA HA. No thanks. Howard was once one of the premier power hitters in all of baseball. As such, he was given a ridiculously hilarious contract, after which he began rapidly falling apart. Now he’s a shell of his former self and probably poison. I don’t know that this one has much in the way of legs, but it’s still a little worrisome to entertain the idea. (See also: Juan Gonzalez, Jose Guillen)

In all likelihood, the DH role will probably be handled on a rotational basis by dudes already in the lineup. While I love the idea of a monstrous power-hitter who does nothing but live in the cleanup spot, there aren’t a ton of really good options.

Right field gets weirder.

Kansas City could resign Nori Aoki who plays funny-but-ultimately-reasonable defense and bounced back offensively in the second half of the season, but it doesn’t sound like they have the same interest as some of his other potential suitors.

One potential replacement being bandied about is former Royal Melky Cabrera. Cabrera—who likes drugs—had the best season of his career in Kansas City (2011) and has ultimately turned into a really pretty decent, pretty consistent player. But you know, drugs. At 30-years-old, he’s likely seeking a lengthy contract, and given his history with PEDs (he had a 50 game suspension in 2012 and was later implicated in the Biogenesis scandal but not suspended), it’s a bit of a scary proposition. Either his skills were enhanced by usage and now he’s clean and will regress, or he stays consistent because he’s still doping it up and the team that lands him runs the risk of buying a lemon. Well, there’s also the chance that he’s off the sauce and he flat-out sucks, I suppose. So… yeah.

Another dicey proposition is that of Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas who the Royals are scouting as you read this. Tomas, isn’t quite as mesmerizing as Chicago White Sox rookie (of the year, 2014) Jose Abreu, but he’s probably nothing to sneeze at, either. The problem is, the Royals are one of six or seven potential suitors (the Phillies being the favorite, it seems), and speculation puts a contract at somewhere around 7 years/$93MM. That’s a lot of money to tie up in an unproven player, especially for a team like Kansas City. If you land him at that price and he turns into something fairly special, you’re a genius; if not, you’ve screwed your organization for a long-ass time. I’m not so sure KC can assume that risk.

But I’d certainly rather see someone young and exciting like Tomas instead of someone old and in decline (defensively, at least) like Torii Hunter. Although the long-time AL Central nemesis (10 years with the Twins, two with the Tigers) hit .286 with 17 HR in 2014, HE’LL BE FORTY YEARS OLD NEXT SEASON. While I appreciate the “win now” mentality, it’s hard to justify picking up someone whose skills could deteriorate with a stiff breeze.

In the end, KC’s best bet is probably trying to resign Aoki. Now whether that happens is an entirely different matter. And signing the incumbent isn’t an option when it comes to finding a number one starter, because Kansas City—the actual city itself, I mean—probably doesn’t have enough money to bring back James Shields.

So the Royals are looking at former Oakland Athletics Super Prospect (Baseball America had him ranked as the number seven overall prospect in 2009) Brett Anderson. The book on Anderson is this: awesome talent, broken body. Unlike someone like Cabrera—or even Tomas or Hunter, for that matter—Anderson could be a relatively low-risk/high-reward guy. It won’t take an insane amount of capital to land him (perhaps) but he might also throw like, 50 innings or something. So they still need a reliable ace.

Enter Ervin Santana. You may remember Santana from The Season he Pitched Well for The Royals Already. Then you may recall how he wanted a multi-year deal and how nobody wanted to give him one, so he ended up in Atlanta for a single season. (And pitched well again, it’s important to note.) With strong back-to-back campaigns under his belt, he’s once again seeking a multi-year deal. The difference this time is that someone will pay him. Most projections have him looking at something in the ballpark of 4 years/$56MM. To me, this doesn’t seem outlandish for the return. And I think if you’re the Royals, you make it happen.

Anyway, to recap: Kansas City should stay away from Billy Butler, Ryan Howard and Melky Cabrera, they should avoid Torri Hunter like the plague, they should make a play for Yasmany Tomas but be prepared to fail before ultimately re-signing Nori Aoki, and they should make thorough attempts at landing Brett Anderson and Ervin Santana.

Oh, and they should get Pablo Sandoval, too.