The Kansas City Royals have been extremely successful the past two seasons after appearing in the last two World Series, but the 2015 champs haven’t gotten off to a great start this year.
Last night, with a loss to the New York Yankees, the Kansas City Royals went under .500 for the first time since July 22, 2014. While this may be disappointing for Royals fans, it just shows how great the club have been since their incredible second half run to end the 2014 season and their utter dominate of the American League last year. While it is still early in the the 2016 season, the Royals can’t feel good right now with the expectations that the team had coming into the year.
After winning the World Series, Kansas City got to work of trying to make sure that their magical run would continue. The club re-signed longtime Royal Alex Gordon to a 4 year, $72 million deal and inked pitcher Ian Kennedy to a 5 year ,$70 million contract to help beef up what was merely an average rotation the year before. This type of offseason activity was very un-Royal like and signaled a possible new direction of the franchise where the franchise would perhaps spend money to be considered favorites year after year.
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According to an ESPN panel before the start of this season, 15 of the 31 experts had the Royals winning the American League Central and eight writers had the defending champs winning the American League Championship Series and going to the Fall Classic for the third consecutive season. It’s easy to see why many well-informed baseball people had faith that the club would once again have a great amount of success in 2016.
Looking at the roster, many of the core players for the team are still in their primes. Guys like Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain all should be considered some of the best players at their position. Kansas City also had an arguably improved pitching staff with the addition of Ian Kennedy and the continued growth of Yordano Ventura. Not to mention that the team’s bullpen looked stacked once again with Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis forming a lockdown duo at the ends of games. However, things haven’t panned out the way the team probably hoped to start the year.
Instead of Kansas City being at the top of the standings, as much had anticipated after a month of baseball, the surprise Chicago White Sox sit in first place with an American League leading record of 23-10. The Sox are currently seven games up on the Royals who are currently third in the AL Central at 15-16. What has been the key differences between the 2015 and 2016 Kansas City ball clubs? Well it’s just been a simple case of players not performing up to expectation.
Even though free agent signee Ian Kennedy is pitching possibly the best he ever has in his career, collecting an earned run average of 2.13 after six starts, the rest of the Royals rotation has been sub-par. Edison Volquez has been decent, pitching to an ERA close to 4.00. Yordano Ventura has been inconsistent once again, and Chris Young, who surprised last year, has regressed considerably, holding a 6.68 ERA through seven starts.
Kansas City’s lineup has been similarly disappointing outside Eric Hosmer, who’s been ripping the cover off the ball. Usually dependable hitters Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon all have batting averages under what they had in 2015. Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez are just flat out not hitting the ball too. Things also got a little worse when Moustakas was put on the 15 day disabled list with a fractured thumb.
The good news for the club is that it is still only the beginning of the season and the White Sox outstanding starting pitching should slow down as the season wears on. The Royals also still have one of the best bullpens in the game and proven hitters throughout the lineup that should get back to where their career averages are as well. The biggest concern that the Royals must address is the lack of starting pitching depth. The team could find serviceable arms on the trade market when the season gets closer to the all-star break. This would greatly help them in locking down a postseason spot.
Even though many of the team’s players have gotten off to rocky starts, it doesn’t mean that this should be a major cause for panic. However, the starting rotation needs some upgrades to get back to where the team was last year. With that, the track records throughout the lineup and the dominance of the bullpen should have the Royals competing for a playoff spot at the end of this season, it just may not be as easy as Kansas City might have thought it would be at the beginning of the season.
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What do you think of the Royals going under-.500 for the first time since 2014? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.