*** Official 2018 Royals Repository ***

[duncan_idaho]

The season is upon us, even if spring is not.

2018 MLB Draft Picks
#18
#33 - Compensation (Eric Hosmer)
#34 - Compensation (Lorenzo Cain)
#40 (Competitive Balance Round A)

018 Draft Names to Watch

RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.

Spoiler!

Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16

OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI

Spoiler!

Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.

1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).

Spoiler!

Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.

RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).

Spoiler!

Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.

ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.

Current Prospects to Watch:

OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.

1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.

OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.

OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.

3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.

SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).

1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.

Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),

In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Hey that's not nice. I have a ton of respect for you. Don't take my criticism of Dayton Moore so personal. The guy had so many years of suck and had a ton of high draft picks. He lucked into one of the best bullpens in history. Without that bullpen we don't have 2 WS appearances and 1 championship. The guy is loyal to a fault holding on to trash players for way too long. Picking Almonte over Manaea. Also I'm just throwing this out here but can anyone guarantee that we needed to trade for Cueto and Zobrist? Do we not win a world series if we don't have them? Honestly I'm glad we did it. I cried after they won the World Series, but I don't give much credit to DM or Yost for those wins.

I'm not looking to get people all over my ass with this post either since I'm sure it will be very unpopular

I'm certainly not going to get all over your ass and I'm also not going to act like GMDM is Theo Epstein but he deserves full credit for the moves he made to bring the Royals back to respectability and then to a title. He traded for Wade Davis so that's not lucking into anything. Questioning the Cuteo and Zobrist trades is peculiar. They won and those guys played big roles. You could look at any moves made by a team that went on to win a championship and ask the same question. He made those trades, those guys helped KC win a title, he gets credit. Period. Now, you wanna knock him for what he's done since or this current team or some of his draft pick? Fair. But give credit when it's due.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Hey that's not nice. I have a ton of respect for you. Don't take my criticism of Dayton Moore so personal. The guy had so many years of suck and had a ton of high draft picks. He lucked into one of the best bullpens in history. Without that bullpen we don't have 2 WS appearances and 1 championship. The guy is loyal to a fault holding on to trash players for way too long. Picking Almonte over Manaea. Also I'm just throwing this out here but can anyone guarantee that we needed to trade for Cueto and Zobrist? Do we not win a world series if we don't have them? Honestly I'm glad we did it. I cried after they won the World Series, but I don't give much credit to DM or Yost for those wins.

I'm not looking to get people all over my ass with this post either since I'm sure it will be very unpopular

You are a dipshit.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

but can anyone guarantee that we needed to trade for Cueto and Zobrist? Do we not win a world series if we don't have them?

FFS.

[OKchiefs]

Searching through Royals minor league stats is like grabbing your own pile of shit out of the toilet and picking through it searching for a golden nugget.

Even Seuly Matias isn't all that impressive anymore, his average has plummeted.

I have zero hopes for anything of substance coming from the minors.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Cueto? Maybe. But no way on Zobrist. He played a huge role throughout the playoffs and helped lengthen that lineup to where there really were no major holes.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Hey that's not nice. I have a ton of respect for you. Don't take my criticism of Dayton Moore so personal. The guy had so many years of suck and had a ton of high draft picks. He lucked into one of the best bullpens in history. Without that bullpen we don't have 2 WS appearances and 1 championship. The guy is loyal to a fault holding on to trash players for way too long. Picking Almonte over Manaea. Also I'm just throwing this out here but can anyone guarantee that we needed to trade for Cueto and Zobrist? Do we not win a world series if we don't have them? Honestly I'm glad we did it. I cried after they won the World Series, but I don't give much credit to DM or Yost for those wins.



I'm not looking to get people all over my ass with this post either since I'm sure it will be very unpopular

You deserve people all over your ass. To take a playoff bound team like those 2015 Royals and say, "I'm good with Colon and Infante at 2B and Jeremy Guthrie/Brandon Finnegan/Joe Blanton as one of my playoff starters" is idiotic. The Royals were bound to suck again anyway, so what does it matter if we saved on a few prospects, only one of which has worked out for other teams (Manaea).

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

Cueto? Maybe. But no way on Zobrist. He played a huge role throughout the playoffs and helped lengthen that lineup to where there really were no major holes.

And at the time of the trade, Alex Rios was sucking eggs at the plate and Gordon was hurt.

It was a CRUCIALLY important trade. I don't think any Royals fan with a brain regrets it one bit

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by Why Not?

I'm certainly not going to get all over your ass and I'm also not going to act like GMDM is Theo Epstein but he deserves full credit for the moves he made to bring the Royals back to respectability and then to a title. He traded for Wade Davis so that's not lucking into anything. Questioning the Cuteo and Zobrist trades is peculiar. They won and those guys played big roles. You could look at any moves made by a team that went on to win a championship and ask the same question. He made those trades, those guys helped KC win a title, he gets credit. Period. Now, you wanna knock him for what he's done since or this current team or some of his draft pick? Fair. But give credit when it's due.

Davis was traded for to be a starter irrc. No one expected him to be the best reliever in the league.

[Al Bundy]

This team is dead. They all know they aren't good enough to win. We have one starting pitcher that is a major league player, the others are trash. The offense laid down today against a bad Sonny Gray.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

And at the time of the trade, Alex Rios was sucking eggs at the plate and Gordon was hurt.

It was a CRUCIALLY important trade. I don't think any Royals fan with a brain regrets it one bit

Ok I won't question Zobrist. He did help a ton, but Cueto was less than good for the most part.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Ok I won't question Zobrist. He did help a ton, but Cueto was less than good for the most part.

The Royals were going to the playoffs with or without Cueto. He was brought in to win in the playoffs and came up big a few times during that run.

[Bearcat]

Whatever a 2 hitter in the deciding game of the ALDS and a CG 2 hitter in the WS is worth, I guess...

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Ok I won't question Zobrist. He did help a ton, but Cueto was less than good for the most part.

No. This revisionist history needs to stop. Cueto pitched 2 of the top 3 all time postseason starts for the Royals. Any pitcher who pitches two 2 hitters in the playoffs is absolutely worth the trade. We likely do not make it out of the ALDS without Cueto.

"But, Mr. Chiefspants, we scored 7 runs in Game 5, any pitcher could have kept the Stros below 7 runs."

Nope, completely wrong, hypothetical poster. If you remember, we were shutout until the 4th inning. Had we gone with Chris Young (a flyball pitcher facing the Stros a second time - yikes) and the Stros rushed him for 5 run - the Stros pitch sequencing, strategy and use of pitchers completely changes. Most importantly - Hinch likely doesn't pull McHugh, whose reliance on soft tossing offspeed pitches was a perfect matchup against the aggressive free swinging Royals - and he likely makes it out of the 5th with minimal damage. Remember, he only got in trouble because an offspeed pitch got away from him to hit Sal, and the Stros outfield positioning turned a flyball out into a double for Gordon.

That doesn't even begin to get into the importance of Game 2 of the World Series. After we exhausted our bullpen in Game 1, Cueto gave our entire pen critical rest before we again relied heavily on them in Games 3-5. After watching the Mets' pen collapse, are we really going to discount his incredible complete game 2 hitter he threw against the Mets on the baseball's biggest stage?

Sorry - I love Cueto, but this continued criticism just baffles me. The dude was a legendary ace when we needed one the most - and do we actually miss John Lamb, Brandon "bullpen" Finnegan, and Cody "still in the minors" Reed so much that we're still questioning this trade? No way.

Cueto and Zo both were critical for our title - and I'd argue they were both equally important in the 2015 postseason.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by OKchiefs

Searching through Royals minor league stats is like grabbing your own pile of shit out of the toilet and picking through it searching for a golden nugget.

Even Seuly Matias isn't all that impressive anymore, his average has plummeted.

I have zero hopes for anything of substance coming from the minors.

He’s 19 and leads a full season league in HR. That’s impressive.

Stat scouting minor league players doesn’t take into account their age for the level, the park they play in, or what they’re working on at the time. Stats are secondary to development.

The Lexington and Wilmington rosters have a lot of interesting players having strong campaigns (including MJ Melendez, who has been impressive defensively at C and is showing strong power and a quality approach).

It’s not pretty above a-ball, though.

Nicky Lopez is about the only bat above a-ball that I think will amount to anything, and Foster Griffin and Scott Blewett are the only SPs who might be a real contributor in a major league rotation.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Davis was traded for to be a starter irrc. No one expected him to be the best reliever in the league.

They traded for him hoping he would be a good starter but knowing he could be an elite reliever as a backup plan. Moving him to the pen absolutely was on the radar when they made the deal. I heard Moore say as much personally in February 2013.

Holland and Herrera were products of the Royals system. Ryan Madson was a second-chance signing who paid off huge. Luke Hochevar was an internal product (who never was what you’d hope to get from a No. 1 overall pick, but WAS the winning pitcher in the decisive game of a World Series).

Sure, there was some luck involved in building that pen, but any good outcome in Baseball requires some luck. Most of it was just good work by the front office.