The CttP Five: Desperate Teams Call for Desperate Measures

Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

#2 The ROYALS

It was a bit of a disappointing season in Kansas City. Never being quite out of it until the very end, the team remained an also-ran while being in the midst of a playoff race all year. Long before they were eliminated from the hunt, analysts were predicting that they’d already begun shopping their players and throwing in the towel on the year. Not many fanbases would be disappointed with an 86 win season, but with Cleveland’s handy little breakout, the Royals were left in the dust as the Indians surged to claim the Wild Card, beating the Royals (and their win-now acquisitions from the year before) by 6 games. This year, the Indians have been identified as having been a bit lucky and are only projected by Fangraphs to achieve about 84 wins to the Royals 83. The Royals have already gone out and signed second baseman Omar Infante to fix the hole at second base that they had temporarily plugged with Emilio Bonifacio last year, and the volatility of their young players alone could see them crush this projection. Guys like Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer all seem to be ready to have a massive breakout any season and James Shields has definitely come as advertised, whether or not you agree with the price they paid to acquire him. However, behind Shields the starting rotation is iffy, with Jason Vargas appearing to be the club’s number two starter going into 2014. Their bullpen, anchored by the quietly incredible Greg Holland, still projects to be one of the league’s best, but one can see a situation where the ‘pen becomes overworked in a hurry if too many stinkers are put up by the likes of Vargas, Jeremy Guthrie and (to a lesser extent) youngsters Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy. The Royals need to add a starter to cement themselves as a threat to the Indians and Tigers atop the AL Central, and a reunion with departed free agent Ervin Santana could go a long way toward bridging that gap.