Kansas City Royals entering pivotal year for future of franchise

As the Kansas City Royals look to start their rebuild, the 2019 season is an important one, just not for the reasons one would expect.

At this point, the Kansas City Royals are squarely in the midst of their rebuild. While general manager Dayton Moore would prefer to think of it as a reloading process, the fact of the matter is that success is likely a few years away. The youth movement showed promise over the last couple of months, particularly in September, but it may be far too much to expect that the Royals contend next year.

This is something that Moore is aware of. He is focused on building the farm system back to where it was at the start of the decade, when players like Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Greg Holland, and Salvador Perez were making the jump to the majors. As such, Moore is looking at 2020 and 2021 being the years when the Royals are ready to compete once again, and add to their payroll.

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Obviously, this makes the 2019 campaign an important one, as the Royals look to build towards that future. And that will certainly be the case as they identify their future core, hoping that group can once again carry the franchise back to being baseball royalty. However, there is another reason that the upcoming season is important, as the Royals television deal is set to expire at the end of 2019.

While a new television deal will certainly add money to the Royals coffers, a strong 2019 campaign will help. Having Adalberto Mondesi show that his stellar end to 2018 was a harbinger of things to come, and an emergence into stardom, would help the Royals financial demands. Having Danny Duffy return to form, along with fan favorite Salvador Perez, would be a boost in the right direction. Identifying the next marketable stars to boost ratings will only boost that bottom line.

There is no question that the fans are there. Even though the Royals had the second worst record in the game, they had the sixth best local ratings. After the consecutive World Series appearances, Kansas City remains a hotbed for baseball. Taking that next step to contention will only further the fervor of the fanbase.

But the Kansas City Royals need to show progress, and continue developing that young core. If they do, the payoff in 2020 could come from more than the standings.