Kansas City Royals Continue Hunt for Elusive Starting Pitching
By David Hill
The Kansas City Royals have built a contending ballclub on the strength of timely hitting, stellar defense and a strong bullpen. However, starting pitching remains a gaping hole that they have not been able to fill internally.
The past two seasons have been great for fans of the Kansas City Royals. After two decades of being irrelevant, the Royals made the 2014 World Series, coming one game short before returning last year and ending their 30 year championship drought.
Along the way, they have changed the way teams build their rosters. A squad built upon putting pressure on opposing defenses, stellar defense and a bullpen that was the envy of the rest of baseball, the Royals kept finding ways to win. It may have been unconventional at the time, but now teams like the New York Yankees and Houston Astros have attempted to emulate that approach to the relief corps.
However, the Royals have had one constant weakness over the past few years with their starting rotation. Those issues have continued this year, as the Royals rank 25th in baseball with a 4.96 ERA heading into today’s slate of action, and are 28th with 484 innings pitched, ranking ahead of only the Orioles and the Reds. Once again, the Royals bullpen has had to pick up the slack.
As such it is no surprise that, once again, the Royals are being linked to various starters on the trade market. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe mentioned that they are linked to old friend Ervin Santana, as well as the Rays Matt Moore and the A’s Sonny Gray. Although these players would be more than just a rental, the cost would be quite steep, especially for Gray.
What has gone wrong for the Kansas City Royals as they have been unable to solidify their rotation? Let us take a look back over the past few years.
Next: The initial candidates