*** Official 2018-2019 Royals Offseason Repository ***

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by tk13

I think there was already zero doubt of that.

This probably doesn't 100% eliminate trading Whit. What we basically did was buy out all the years we already had him under control. Now we don't have to go to arbitration with him and we know exactly what he'll cost going forward. But I always thought it was way unlikely he's traded.

The game has changed. Look at how Harper and Machado are still out there. All these big market teams have totally changed the way they work. They still spend money but they don't blow out the budget on FAs and they don't trade their big prospects away so they can build from within.

well, and he fits the park and the club. We need to quit trying to get these low contact power hitters, it's nuts. We need to run, run, run, play defense and slap doubles into the gaps. Whit's the prototype Royal. I think he'll age well too, he's so fundamentally sound. he'll be good into his late 30's. AND-you're right also, if they DO decide to trade him, it's probably even easier now, as his salary going forward is locked in.

[Why Not?]

Good. Love Whit. No need to trade fun, likeable players if you can’t get value in return

[tk13]

Whit Merrifield’s four-year extension with #Royals will be worth $16.25 million with $2 million in performance bonuses, source says. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 28, 2019

[MAHOMO 4 LIFE!]

Originally Posted by tk13

Whit Merrifield’s four-year extension with #Royals will be worth $16.25 million with $2 million in performance bonuses, source says. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 28, 2019

That’s a steal!

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Wow. That’s peanuts.

I mean, I get why he did it, significant raise, guaranteed money in case of injury, etc., but wow.

He’s even more tradeable now than he was before (if they get a good enough offer). If not, the Royals get to keep a good player for next to nothing during his arbitration years.

Great deal for the Royals.

[Rivaldo]

we gonna steal some bases with a Hamilton, Merrifield, Mondesi top of the order

and blast some dongs.

[Bufkin]

Wait, that’s 16.25 million over 4 years? Not annually right?

Locking up Whit in his prime for essentially 4 million a year is insane. I almost feel bad for him.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by Bufkin

Wait, that’s 16.25 million over 4 years? Not annually right?

Locking up Whit in his prime for essentially 4 million a year is insane. I almost feel bad for him.

On the surface, it has a Salvador Perez ridiculous contract feel to it (before they renegotiated his deal), but in reality he was only getting 500K this year. Maybe $4-$5 mil. next year in his first arbitration year. Would have obviously made more in years 3 and 4 of arbitration, but he traded more money his last 2 years for some security (I.e. injury, etc.)

Still, a great deal for the Royals, no doubt.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

On the surface, it has a Salvador Perez ridiculous contract feel to it (before they renegotiated his deal), but in reality he was only getting 500K this year. Maybe $4-$5 mil. next year in his first arbitration year. Would have obviously made more in years 3 and 4 of arbitration, but he traded more money his last 2 years for some security (I.e. injury, etc.)

Still, a great deal for the Royals, no doubt.

Yeah baseball Twitter is flipping out over it, not just Royals fans but all across the board. But he's 30 years old and has probably made about 1 million dollars so far... this gets him financial security regardless of what happens, and he obviously likes KC.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Originally Posted by Bufkin

Wait, that’s 16.25 million over 4 years? Not annually right?

That's what I was wondering. Had to do a double-take.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Rivaldo

we gonna steal some bases with a Hamilton, Merrifield, Mondesi top of the order

and blast some dongs.

In my opinion, that pressuring the defense with the running game is what PECOTA could never calculate and why the '14 and '15 teams were so much better than projected. It forces the pitcher to throw fastballs, interferes with their location and accuracy, makes shortstops play out of the hole and gets in the head of every defender, forcing them to play everything perfectly and as fast as possible. We got away from that for a couple years for god-knows-why.

it's hard to put a statistic to that, but how often did we see that? Nobody plays that way anymore, it's foreign to most other teams. When I was a kid lots of teams played that way but that was a different era.

[FringeNC]

I think 2019 could be a really interesting season for the Royals if Ryan O'Hearn can put up numbers close to last year. A .900 OPS guy in the middle of line-up? We could be a real decent team. Probably a fluke last year, but exit velocity numbers were legit, so you never know....

[dallaschiefsfan]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

I think 2019 could be a really interesting season for the Royals if Ryan O'Hearn can put up numbers close to last year. A .900 OPS guy in the middle of line-up? We could be a real decent team. Probably a fluke last year, but exit velocity numbers were legit, so you never know....

If they sit O'Hearn against a decent amount of the lefties we face, I think you can expect him to repeat. While I don't trust Ned to do so, he really needs to maximize his roster to get them to start turning the corner towards competing again. The Royals don't need to be a .500 team, but they need to start their improvement and that will necessitate a semi-platoon of a guy like O'Hearn. If you play O'Hearn everyday, he regresses as an overall player. I'm not sure he'll ever be the kind of player that can play against lefties all the time.

We have a "not bad" rotation and I think the bullpen could actually become the biggest improvement if one of our rule 5's surprise and Zimmer shocks. Otherwise, the bullpen will be a work in progress for 2019 and we'll be well short of .500. If the bullpen surprises, getting close to .500 is not completely nuts in our mediocre division.

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan

If they sit O'Hearn against a decent amount of the lefties we face, I think you can expect him to repeat. While I don't trust Ned to do so, he really needs to maximize his roster to get them to start turning the corner towards competing again. The Royals don't need to be a .500 team, but they need to start their improvement and that will necessitate a semi-platoon of a guy like O'Hearn. If you play O'Hearn everyday, he regresses as an overall player. I'm not sure he'll ever be the kind of player that can play against lefties all the time.

We have a "not bad" rotation and I think the bullpen could actually become the biggest improvement if one of our rule 5's surprise and Zimmer shocks. Otherwise, the bullpen will be a work in progress for 2019 and we'll be well short of .500. If the bullpen surprises, getting close to .500 is not completely nuts in our mediocre division.

I was just looking at O'Hearn's splits. Which prompted me to figure out who'd take his place in the line up if you wanted to sit him against Lefties. Owings bats about .152 against RHP and .269 against LHP. Move Dozier to 1st, Whit or Owens to 3rd. O'Hearn and Owings both have better numbers at the end of the year.