Quote:
Originally Posted by sterlingice
Of any team out there, they have the brightest future between a bevy of prospects, a good front office, and a money making machine that should make them the Red Sox of the next decade.
But beware of prospects (of course):
Success and Failure Rates of Top MLB Prospects - Royals Review
Royals' can't-miss prospects have missed - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...-what-happened
For the "Best Farm System Ever", here's the gains for the Royals:
Hosmer and Moose, for all their postseason heroics this season have been worse than expected. Moose has a career .236 average and 1 season over 1.1 WAR. Hosmer has been worth a total (not average, total) of 2.4 Myers won ROY for Tampa last year but put up a triple slash of .222/.294/.320 this year.
Lamb (18 in 2011 BA rankings), Montgomery (19), and Dwyer (83) have combined for 3 major league innings.
The jury is still out on Colon (Utility IF so far), Duffy (Royals #3 starter this year but oft injured), and Jake Odorizzi (decent season in Tampa this year)
SI |
To be fair though, while both Baez and Soler have high bust potential, Addison Russell gives them another top 10ish guy (at a certain point, one of those guys has to be good), and Kris Bryant is about as can't miss as prospects get. Very similar to Alex Gordon in that even if it takes him a couple years, he's going to be an above-average MLB hitter. Plus both Castro and Rizzo are only 25 and they look like they found a couple starters in Arrieta and Hendricks. If they do decide to spend on a front line starter (or two) they're set up pretty well to at least make a playoff run in the next 2 seasons, and their mid-long term future looks brighter than Tampa Bay's. So yeah, I hope Bucc is just trolling with that statement.
Butler's an interesting case. I'm sure he loves the Midwest, but he also had the exact opposite of a contract year. Even as a slow DH, he probably would have gotten $100 million if he hit FA after 2012. A 2 year (or 1 year + an option) contract that puts him back on the market by age 30 hopefully after he's reestablished his value is his best move. Heck, if the Red Sox didn't have DH locked up I wouldn't mind offering him an Adrian Beltre-esque $10-$12m, with a team option for year 2, and it'll be interesting if any other AL team does that if he doesn't resign with KC before FA starts.