Season Preview: Kansas City Royals

Kansas City has been the butt of so many jokes over the last few years that it's difficult to write an intro that's not cliché. With some intriguing young players, though, they may be worth watching. They won't compete this year, but the Tigers' quick turnaround shows that correctly guided a team can improve quickly in the major leagues. Hopefully the Royals will improve enough in the six years before Alex Gordon is eligible for free agency for his probably fantastic performance to matter.

Projected starters:
C: Jason LaRue / John Buck
1B: Ryan Shealy
2B: Mark Grudzielanek
SS: Tony Pena / Andres Blanco / ???
3B: Alex Gordon
OF: Mark Teahen
OF: David DeJesus
OF: Emil Brown
DH: Mike Sweeney

Bench:
1B/3B Ross Gload
2B Esteban German
OF Reggie Sanders
OF Shane Costa

Rotation:
Gil Meche
Odalis Perez
Zack Greinke
Luke Hudson
Jorge De la Rosa / Scott Elarton / Brian Bannister

Bullpen:
Octavio Dotel (closer)
Todd Wellemeyer
David Riske
Joel Peralta
Ryan Braun
A Whole bunch of journeymen and assorted crap

Let's start with the positives:
1. Angel Berroa was sent to AAA. When I looked up his bio I couldn't believe that he had won the rookie of the year award in 2003. He probably wouldn't have won it many other years (though he did beat out Mark Teixeira), but considering his utter suckitude in the years since, cutting ties with him was a good idea. Let's hope his decline doesn't hint at similar things for Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon.
2. Alex Gordon is the starting third baseman. The favorite for rookie of the year could have held his own the last half of last year, but he's finally here and should be a perennial All-Star or better. Unfortunately, he's first eligible for free agency in 2013 and it's questionable whether the Royals will have a competitive team before then.
3. There's upside in the rotation with Zack Greinke back.
4. The team could trade Dotel to a contender desperate for relief for some prospects, assuming he pitches well.
5. Mark Grudzielanek is hurt, which will force the team to play German. Hopefully he will play well enough to earn a permanent spot.
6. Jason LaRue was an underrated pickup who could provide good production.

Yeah, that's about it. This team is pretty bad. Is there anyone who thinks the Gil Meche signing was a good idea?

There's basically no chance that the Royals will win 70 games this year. They are in a very difficult division and have two good offensive players (Gordon and Teahen) and two (maybe) good pitchers (Greinke and Dotel). There's very little upside with only Shealy a decent chance to improve on his projections.

It's going to be a long, slow rebuild in KC, assuming they do things right. In a few years Gordon and Teahen should be entrenched on the team and hopefully Billy Butler and Luke Hochevar can join them. Greinke could be a solid #2. Combined with the prospects that the Royals hopefully trade for and draft in the next few years, they could field a solid team soon. But I wouldn't count on it happening in the way it did for Detroit.