2012 MLB Season Preview: Kansas City Royals
By John Parent
Addressing the Holes
The Royals began assimilating many of their prospects last season, so there isn’t much turnover for a club that lost 91 games last year. As the youngest team in the league, however, their biggest improvements are likely to come through experience gained by the players they have, rather than addressing needs from the outside.
While Melky Cabrera gave the Royals more than they could have hoped for in 2011, he was blocking the speedy Lorenzo Cain from a major league job. Having sufficiently re-built his value, the Royals shipped the switch-hitting Cabrera off to San Francisco, getting the talented but erratic southpaw Jonathan Sanchez in return. Sanchez immediately slots into the number two spot in the Royals rotation and Cain assumes full-time duty in centerfield.
Cain might not replicate Cabrera’s 40+ doubles this year, but he should represent a massive upgrade defensively and also on the bases. Cain shouldn’t be a slouch at the plate, however, as he posted a .312/.380/.497 line last season at Triple-A Omaha and boasts a career .368 OBP in seven minor league seasons. With Cain inserted between Gordon and Francoeur, a suspect defensive outfield got much better.
The offense figures to improve as well with full seasons from catcher Salvador Perez (.834 OPS in 39 games), who will be replacing a sub-.650 OPS offered up by the combination of Brayan Pena and Matt Treanor last year. Second baseman Johnny Giavotella (.395 OBP in AAA last year) will take over full-time as well, moving Chris Getz and his .600 OPS in 118 games last season to the bench. Moustakas struggled in his first taste of major league action, but he’s a far more talented hitter than his .675 OPS showed in 2011. Hosmer showed, with 19 home runs and 27 doubles, that his bat is for real. He has a real shot to become one of the game’s better hitters as early as this season. Both of those hitters only seem primed to improve as they get more comfortable on the biggest stage.
Key Additions: LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Jonathan Broxton, INF Yuniesky Betancourt
Key Subtractions: CF Melky Cabrera, LHP Jeff Francis
Projected Lineup/ Pitching Staff
- Alex Gordon -LF
- Johnny Giavotella -2B
- Billy Butler -DH
- Eric Hosmer -1B
- Mike Moustakas -3B
- Jeff Francoeur -RF
- Salvador Perez -C
- Lorenzo Cain -CF
- Alcides Escobar -SS
- RHP Luke Hochevar
- LHP Jonathan Sanchez
- LHP Bruce Chen
- RHP Aaron Crow
- RHP Felipe Paulino
LHP-
Even after the Royals graduated so many of their top young players to the major leagues last season, there is still plenty of help on the horizon. Should Aaron Crow struggle in his return to a starting role, look for southpaws Danny Duffy or Mike Montgomery to get the opportunity to work in the rotation. Duffy saw plenty of action in KC last season (20 starts, 105 IP), but he was knocked around pretty good by American League hitters. Though he no longer qualifies as a rookie, Duffy will play in 2012 at just 23 years old.
Montgomery has been considered one of the better prospects in the game for the past couple of years, but he was tuned-up pretty regularly in his first stint at Triple-A a season ago, albeit as a 21-year-old.
Montgomery saw his walk rate rise to better than 4 per nine innings for the first time in his professional career. He also hit a career-high seven batters and uncorked 14 wild pitches. Combine those issues with a slight decrease in strikeout rate (to be expected given the more advanced level of competition) and a significant uptick in hits allowed per nine innings, and the end result was a 5-11 record and 5.32 ERA.
Even with his struggles in 2011, however, he’s still ranked as the 23rd-best prospect in the game according to Baseball America. If Montgomery, who almost certainly will be assigned to his second-tour at Omaha, makes the needed adjustments and gets off to a fast start in Triple-A, the Royals won’t hesitate to give him a shot at the big leagues this year.