A Hair Off Square   custom cards

I am posting Nate Adcock’s custom card today because I believe he made the team today. He was a rule 5 pick by the Royals meaning he has to be on the Royals roster all season or he will be offered back to his former team. Needing to know whether Adcock was worth the risk or not, the Royals started Adcock today. His line was extremely good. 3 innings, 3 hits, no walks, no strikeouts, no runs.

He has had the kind of spring the Royals had to be hoping for. He won’t be a vital part of the Royals but will fill an important early relief bullpen role and possibly be a swingman. I have a lot more hope for this rule 5 pick than the other rule 5 pick now trying to make the team. The Royals are trying left-handed relief pitcher Robert Fish, he is one of four or five lefties with a chance to make the team.

Here are a couple rookies that are hitting like they would really like to be on the Royals this year. The problem is that the Royals have two major league first basemen already. There is a lot of talk about Eric Hosmer but people tend to overlook Clint Robinson who just won the double-A triple crown in his league. Both guys have pounded the ball this spring and have looked great.

Clint Robinson is already assigned to the minors, chances are Hosmer’s fate will be the same. I think both could see Kansas City this year but it depends on a couple things. First, as I have said their is a logjam at first base and something has to give. One of three things need to happen; somebody gets traded, somebody gets hurt or somebody switches positions. The switch of positions is the most likely option within the Royals control. They don’t really want to trade any of these guys I feel.

Either way I want to see them play, all of them, somehow.

Another factor to consider here is defense. Butler has worked hard and is fair defensively but will likely spend a lot more time at designated hitter than anywhere else. Kila is better than Butler and should see the field a lot this year. Hosmer is very good and probably the best of the bunch. Clint Robinson sounds like he is the weakest of the group, he is also the second oldest in the group. He would be a candidate to move but what do you do with a guy who isn’t great defensively at first? That is usually where people get moved to not from.

Could Hosmer be moved to the outfield? I don’t think so. I would say the most likely scenario is that Clint Robinson goes to the outfield I guess but that doesn’t seem like a great option at this point. I am anxious to see what happens here. I will predict two things though; Butler stays and Hosmer stays. Robinson and Kila could be traded, even if it isn’t likely they could.

There is no competition at shortstop in Royals camp this year. Alcides Escobar will be the starter and this only being his second big league season, he could be the starter for a while. It should be a lot of fun this year watching the young star play shortstop. The first thing I heard about him when the Greinke trade went down was that the Royals now have the best fielding shortstop in the American League. I think by the time I heard that I had already forgotten about Yuniesky Betancourt.

He is a what I would consider a bit of a “throwback” shortstop. This means defense comes before offense. Starting with the great Cal Ripken, shortstop became an offensive position which it really had never been. Escobar will not hit a lot, he batted just .235 last year with 4 homers and 41 runs batted in. The Royals know this going in so the offensive expectations should remain low for him. Any offense a team can get out of the shortstop and catching positions is a bonus.

Then the Royals have the prospect in camp that isn’t ready yet but we get to see our first glimpse of. In the case of shortstop it is Christian Colon. What I have seen and heard I have liked, except the fact that he looks like a Yankees fan judging by his twitter account.  He is more of an offensive shortstop than Escobar. He clearly is not ready for the majors so he is no threat to Escobar yet. In 2012 he might be, and hopefully he will be a big threat in 2013 but only time will tell.

Getz will be the starting second baseman on opening day for the Royals. I believe he will have a better year than last year. I will also predict that Mike Moustakas will come up around June and force Aviles to second and Getz either to the bench or the trade block.

I listened to a recent Broken Bat Single podcast featuring an article on beyond the boxscore that made an interesting argument. It was discussed that basically Billy Butler is a microcosm of the Royals. While by no means to I feel this is inaccurate, I would substitute another player, Mike Aviles, to replace Butler in the argument.

Aviles burst onto the scene as a surprise and made a major contribution in his rookie season in the big leagues. From what I had gathered during that year, Aviles really didn’t have a ton of big league potential. He was sort of tagged as a “career Minor Leaguer.”

Now Aviles seems to be a cornerstone for the Royals, not necessarily in a way that they can build around him but they can rely on him. The Royals didn’t seem to have many of these players in recent years. A couple names do come to mind: Dejesus, Butler, Aviles. At least with some players you know what you are getting.

Aviles is a microcosm of the Royals because not much was expected out of him. Is he a superstar? No. Is he a star? No. He is consistent and solid. Low expectations and slightly higher results I guess is the bottom line. That is your microcosm of the Kansas City Royals.

So it is his year, Luke Hochevar is set to be the ace of the Royals pitching staff and likely start on opening day. Hochevar has had a career filled with potential with scattered results. At times he looks brilliant and at times not. Either way this is a make or break year for him. With all the left handed pitching coming up through the Royals system right now I like to envision a rotation with three to four lefties and Hochevar.

He is still a young pitcher. He is getting to the typical age when pitchers figure “it” out. It is another building year for the Royals. They won’t be very good but this could easily be the year that Luke Hochevar and Alex Gordon show whether they will be on the team with all of this young talent or whether they are just more high draft picks that never panned out.

Danny Duffy is a part of the Royals future plans, period. Is he part of the plan for this year though? I have him playing a lot in Kansas City this out of the bullpen. I originally thought Everett Teaford would fill a lefty out of the bullpen role along with Tim Collins but Teaford has gotten rocked so far this spring. He did pitch two innings and give up one run today in a spring training game but I still see him missing the cut unless things improve dramatically for him.

That is not to say Teaford won’t spend time in Kansas City too, I think he will. After his first couple spring appearances it just looks like he has some things to figure out.

So my prediction is that Duffy is likely to make the team. He might not make the opening day roster due to some service time issues but I’m not really sure where he is on that. Service time is a bit confusing and I’ll admit I don’t have it figured out. I know in some cases if a team holds a prospect off the roster for as little as a couple weeks they can keep him under contract for another year. The bottom line is Duffy will be in KC.

Performance is really only a part of this. I think Duffy could be in Kansas City to appease the fans. Fans have endured a lot of losing over the last few years, alright, a lot of years, and they keep hearing the names Duffy, Lamb, Hosmer, Moustakas… The fans will get the first glimpses of these guys this year. It appears to be a consensus that Moustakas will spend some time in Kansas City this year and by the end of September we are likely to see Hosmer, Lamb and a couple other guys.

Now back to Teaford for a bit. Everett Teaford seemed to be a leading candidate going into camp this year to fill a lefty spot in the bullpen. Now, maybe not so much. Ned Yost may even carry three lefties in the pen at times, I think two will be a much more common number.It will be interesting to see who joins Tim Collins in the Royals pen this year. Teaford and Duffy are not the only candidates either. There are several dark horses that could perform well and grab a spot on the 25 man roster. We will find out in a few weeks.

Dyson got into some Major League games last year, as well he might this year. It is however hard to see him on the opening day roster with how packed the Royals outfield appears to be. I like his speed in the lineup but unless he really starts to shine hitting I don’t see him getting a lot of playing time this year, that is, until we trade Melky Cabrera, even then I would rather see Cain in the biggs.

There is not a lot to say about Kyle Davies. He isn’t an ace and never will be but he is a decent starting pitcher. He shows sparks of being very good and at times looks like he isn’t even a major league caliber player. He is currently a good fit for the Royals. A long term solution? No, but he is alright for now.

I am behind this signing. I was against it at first, but after interviews and hearing what teammates say about Francoeur, I am behind him. I will admit it seems rather similar to the Mike Jacobs situation of 2009 because he was a great guy, great teammate but the skills he brought to the team didn’t match up with the team’s needs.

Jeff Francoeur will be different. I am convinced of this. Even if he doesn’t have a great year, he will be a good influence on some young players and allow those same young players time to develop before next year. I have never been very good at predicting stat lines for a year but I’m think Francoeur will end up somewhere around .265, 18 HR, 68 RBI. Not huge numbers but would undoubtedly be a respectable line for both Francoeur and the Royals.