SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are proud to announce the creation of the Naturals Hall of Fame. Four former notable Naturals will appear on the first ballot.  Fans, prominent community members and local media members will be voting and collaborating to determine the first member of the Naturals Hall of Fame.

“We want to recognize individuals for their accomplishments and contributions to not only the Naturals but the baseball community,” said General Manager, Eric Edelstein.

The Naturals used the following criteria used to determine eligible candidates for the Hall of Fame:

• Players who have appeared with the club only on rehab assignments are not eligible.
• Player or coach must not be an active member of the team.
• Individuals who have not coached or played for the Naturals are eligible for nomination/inclusion by “veterans selection” committee beginning with the second year inductee class.

After much consideration and various rounds of discussion the Naturals have announced the candidates for the first inductee to the Naturals Hall of Fame. The inaugural ballot for the Naturals Hall of Fame includes: Mike Moustakas, Kila Ka’aihue, Eric Hosmer, and Clint Robinson.

A member of the Naturals during the 2010 championship season, Mike Moustakas batted .347 in 66 games and hit 25 doubles, 21 home runs and drove in 76 runs. Moustakas was named the 2010 Texas League Player of the Year.

Kila Ka’aihue batted .314 with 11 doubles, 26 home runs and 79 RBI in 91 games with the Naturals during their inaugural season in 2008. Ka’aihue was named the 2008 Texas League Player of the Year.

Eric Hosmer joined the Naturals late in the 2010 season and was a key part of the title run. In 50 games with the Naturals, Hosmer batted .313 with 14 doubles and 13 home runs. Hosmer hit six home runs and had 12 RBI for the Naturals during the Texas League Playoffs.

Clint Robinson won the Triple Crown in 2010, leading the Texas League in batting average (.335), home runs (29) and RBI (98). Robinson became the first player since 1999 to win the Triple Crown and only the third player in Texas League history.

The Northwest Arkansas community will get their first chance to vote starting at FanFest on Saturday, March 2 at Arvest Ballpark. Fans will also be able to vote online at nwanaturals.com. The fan votes will be tallied and will be counted as one vote.  The fan vote will be added with the votes of the Naturals Hall of Fame Committee.  The Naturals with the most votes will be declared the winner and will be the first inductee to the Naturals Hall of Fame.

The Natural with the most votes will be announced on Opening Day, Thursday, April 4 and will be inducted into the Naturals Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 17. The first 2,000 fans through the gates at Arvest Ballpark on August 17 will receive a replica plaque of the Naturals player voted into the Naturals Hall of fame. 

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. Visit our website, nwanaturals.com, for information on season tickets and ticket plans.

“The Process”, as Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore has often referred to the Royals’ journey from cellar dweller to perennial contender, is dependent on many things happening, and many players producing. One of those players is First Baseman, Eric Hosmer. If the Royals are to make any waves in 2012 and beyond, it is critical that Hosmer build off of his strong 2011 rookie campaign.

Hosmer, who will be only 22 years old for the entire 2012 season, is likely the most hyped player to wear the Royals uniform since Bo Jackson, who was patrolling center-field for the Royals in the year Hosmer was born. He is represented by “super-agent” Scott Boras, who has made it clear that he will not be advising his client to commit to any sort of long-term deal with the Royals prior to hitting free-agency in 2018. So assuming Hosmer does not make up his mind on his own to remain a Royal for his career, the Royals will have him for 7 more seasons. And they need to get maximum production out of him during that time.

In Spring Training 2011, Hosmer tore the cover off of the ball and probably warranted making the opening day roster. However, the Royals had committed to giving Kila Kilahaue a shot at holding down the First Base job. So, while Hosmer went down to Omaha and continued to rake, Kila could not hit a lick. After just over a month of the way through the 2011 season, the Royals decided that Hosmer had forced their hand, and they had to bring him up. He immediately became the everyday First Baseman and finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting, putting up the following numbers;

Games: 128
At-Bats: 523
Avg : .293
HR : 19
RBI : 78
SB : 11
SLG : .465
OBP : .333

You might look at those numbers and say “yeah, they look pretty good, but they don’t jump off the page”. Then you have to remember, he was only 21 YEARS OLD!! He is literally still learning the game. According to baseball-reference.com, there is one player that most compares to Hosmer at the age of 21. His name is Eddie Murray, and he is in the Hall of Fame. Does that mean I think Hosmer will be a hall of famer? It is entirely too soon to tell. But it is very clear that the sky is the limit for Hosmer.

It is entirely possible that Hosmer could progress as a hitter this season, have an all-star caliber year, and the Royals still stink because other things went wrong. But it is nearly impossible to envision a scenario where Hosmer regresses in 2012 and the Royals have a winning season. It is for that reason, that he is as important of a player as any for the Royals in 2012.

Over the last few days there have been several press releases sent to the I-70 desk from the Kansas City Royals. They are summarized in the following. – Bill

ROYALS ACQUIRE PITCHER ETHAN HOLLINGSWORTH FROM OAKLAND FOR KILA KA’AIHUE

KANSAS CITY, MO (September 27, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Ethan Hollingsworth from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for first baseman Kila Ka’aihue. Hollingsworth was assigned to the Omaha (AAA) Storm Chasers roster.

The 24-year-old Hollingsworth spent a majority of the 2011 season with Midland (AA) in the Texas League, compiling a 6-5 record with a 3.61 ERA in 17 appearances, including 16 starts. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder also made a pair of late season starts with Triple-A Sacramento and one relief appearance in the Pacific Coast League playoffs. Born and raised in Joliet, Ill., Hollingsworth, whose first name is Phillip but goes by his middle name Ethan, was originally drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round of the 2008 Draft out of Western Michigan University. He was traded to Oakland for pitcher Clayton Mortensen on January 24, 2011.

Ka’aihue, 27, opened the season as the Royals starting first baseman and hit .195 (16-for-82) with two home runs in 23 games before being optioned to Omaha (AAA). He spent the remainder of the season with the Storm Chasers and was designated for assignment by the Royals on September 21.

ROYALS NAME RICK KNAPP MINOR LEAGUE PITCHING COORDINATOR

KANSAS CITY, MO (September 28, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has named Rick Knapp as the minor league pitching coordinator.

Knapp served as the Detroit Tigers pitching coach for the past three seasons before being relieved of his duties on July 3 of this year. Prior to joining the Tigers organization, Knapp spent 12 seasons as the minor league pitching coordinator with the Minnesota Twins from 1997-2008. A resident of Port Charlotte, Fla., Knapp pitched for five seasons for the Texas Rangers at the minor league level before beginning his coaching career in 1988.

Mark Davis will remain in the organization as a pitching coach.

ROYALS ANNOUNCE BENCH COACH GIBBONS AND PITCHING COACH MCCLURE WILL NOT RETURN IN 2012

KANSAS CITY, MO (September 29, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals and Manager Ned Yost announced today that bench coach John Gibbons and pitching coach Bob McClure will not return for the 2012 season. The remainder of the coaching staff: hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, first base coachDoug Sisson, third base coach Eddie Rodriguez and bullpen coach Steve Foster will be back for next season.

The Royals plan to hire a bench coach and a pitching coach as a later date.

ROYALS NAME CHINO CADAHIA BENCH COACH

KANSAS CITY, MO (September 30, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has named Chino Cadahia as the Major League bench coach.

“Chino brings enthusiasm and a great amount of experience as a catching instructor and communicator as well as four years working with Bobby Cox as the bench coach in Atlanta,” Royals General Manager Dayton Moore said. “He will be a huge asset to Ned and the entire organization.”

Cadahia joined the Royals in 2011 as a special assistant to player development after 15 seasons in the Braves organization, including the 2007-2010 season’s serving as the Major League bench coach with manager Bobby Cox.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Cadahia currently resides in Peachtree City, Ga., with his wife, Lynn, and daughter, Lauren.

The Royals are heading in the right direction once again. Sweeping the Twins at home and looking good while doing it gives more sparks to the fire of success that has started to grow in Kansas City this baseball season. The Twins, who have plagued this franchise for over a decade, were absolutely out hit and pitched the whole series.

Photo Courtesy of Minda Haas

The series against Baltimore proved to be a challenge against not only their opponent but also the very stadium in which it was played. In the Wednesday night game Aviles hit a rocket to the gap and circled the bases for what appeared to be an inside the park home run. This score was wiped out due to the ball being stuck at the bottom of the outfield fence. (So much for home field, advantage) If this had happened to last year’s team, it would have sent them spiraling into one of their five game or more losing streak. Not this year though. The Royals responded the next night with a 9-1 shelling to clinch the series. Who knew Bruce Chen was this good?

Jason Kendall and Robinson Tejada are recovering and rehabbing but are being very cautious though. The Royals called up Eric Hosmer from Omaha, and demoted the struggling Kila Ka’aihue. With this move, it definitely has the potential of increasing an offense that needed at least one stronger bat in the lineup. Although, one could make the case that the Royals were doing okay by platooning Betemit and Aviles at third and first base since both are hitting well.

Friday night marked the return of David DeJesus to Kansas City. The Athletics pulled out a tight one but if this season has taught us anything, it will not keep this young team down for too long. They are still above .500 and in second place in their division, which is still exceeding any expectations. They have a tough week coming up going to New York and then to Detroit.

The Yankees struggled this week at Detroit, losing the last three games of the series. Detroit is nipping at the Royals heels in the division. A little bit of pressure early in the season against these quality teams will be a very good barometer of how far the Royals have come since last year.

The Royals hot bats have ended the week on top of the American League rankings in batting average, doubles and triples, while finishing second in on-base percentage. Their defense and pitching are on the upward swing. A call up on the pitching side of things could be in the near future if the young prospects continue to show promise and current roster members continue to struggle.

Being positively consistent is the key to success in this game and the Royals are showing that they are very capable of being just that.

Today may mark the dawning of a new era in Kansas City. In more ways than one.

The promotion of Eric Hosmer signals more than just the natural progression of a talented player to the highest level. The repercussions of the move will be many.

Photo by Minda Haas

First, it likely signals the end of the Kila Ka’aihue experiment. Great a guy as he is, his window was very small. When he didn’t hit instantly, you knew his days were numbered. Kila will return to Omaha with nothing left to prove. He’s destroyed AAA pitching, and probably will again. But unless Hosmer flops, there is no way Kila will return. I would guess the Royals will try to deal Kila in order to give Clint Robinson all the at-bats at Omaha.

The move backs up Ned Yost’s recent comments regarding his lineup. He has said that a lineup can accommodate one or two negatives at the plate, if they are positives in the field. He was probably referring to Alcides Escobar and Matt Treanor. He was probably not giving such an exemption to Chris Getz, and certainly not to Kila.

In addition, Jason Kendall was bumped from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. No surprise there. The message sent is that Kendall is older and more frail than the Royals wanted to admit.

And of enormous importance, the promotion starts the clock on Hosmer’s road to arbitration a year earlier than expected. Due to a complicated system that dictates when a player is eligible for arbitration and free agency, it has long been assumed that Hosmer would not be called up before the “Super Two” deadline in mid-June. Such a delay would have prolonged Hosmer’s obligation to the franchise.

Now the Royals will have to negotiate with Hosmer a year earlier than necessary. That move says two things quite loudly:

One, the team is more serious about winning this year than was previously believed.

And two, the Royals can probably be expected to try to negotiate with Hosmer well before his contract with the team expires, a la Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays.

By promoting Hosmer now, the Royals are also provoking some questions:

If they were willing to dump a weak link on the field and promote a prospect, are they willing to do the same with a pitcher? If you think Kila was bad, what about Kyle Davies and Luke Hochevar?

Would the team consider bringing up Mike Montgomery or Danny Duffy before the Super Two deadline in order to bolster the pitching staff?

It has been said that prospects may be more motivated when they see they will not be held back due to financial considerations. Have the Royals just sent a message to the farm system that big payoffs are available to prospects who can get promoted over lackluster veterans?

What may not seem like good business sense may just be that in the long run. By giving young players a chance to break into the bigs more quickly, and thus cashing in earlier, the Royals may actually finally cut some of the dead weight that has hung around the KC lockerroom. Veterans will know they must perform or they won’t be tolerated.

And the youngsters may get more hungry. And they might also feel some sense of loyalty to the club in the long run. The Royals may become known as a “player-friendly” club where guys want to play.

Best of luck to you, Hosmer. All eyes will be on you for the rest of the season.

We have seen youngsters with high expectations come up and struggle in the past. David DeJesus did. Mark Teahen did. Alex Gordon certainly did. I hope you don’t go through the same growing pains. But regardless of how you do, a strong message has already been sent.

It was a wild and crazy opening week at Kauffman Stadium full of extra innings, lead changes, walk-offs, meltdowns and best of all, a 4-2 record for the Royals. Here is a look at some of the biggest plays from each game based on win probability added (WPA) (numbers all from the indispensable Fangraphs):

March 31 • Angels 4 Royals 2

The opener did not feature any of the dramatic swings that the next five contests did. The key moment of the game came when the Royals threatened to come back in the bottom of the eighth after Melky Cabrera, Billy Butler and Kila Ka’aihue walked the bases drunk with just one out. They were down 2-4 but had raised their win expectancy (WE) to 38%. Jeff Francoeur stepped to the plate but struck out, which dropped the Royals WE down to 23%. Alcides Escobar was up next with a chance to play hero, but flew out instead, and the Royals chances fell all the way down to 8%.

(WPA is a descriptive or “story” stat, meaning it describes what happened without necessarily reflecting a player’s true talent. Still, it is worth noting that Escobar had the worst WPA in the majors last season and has jumped out to the worst WPA for the Royals so far. Hopefully some timely hits will start falling in for him. The good news is he has looked outstanding with the glove.)

April 1 • Royals 2 Angels 1

The start of the four-game winning streak, and first of three walk-off wins on the week. Not surprisingly, Kila’s 9th inning bomb was the play of the game, boosting KC’s WE from 64% to a cool 100%.

April 2 • Royals 5 Angels 4

The Royals came-back came in the eighth inning this time with a couple of unlikely names doing the damage with the bat. With two outs and two on, the Royals were down 3-4, and had just a 31% WE. Light-hitting Matt Treanor knocked Billy Butler in with a single to tie it, and also-light-hitting Chris Getz gave the good guys the lead for good with a single of his own. KC’s WE shot all the way up to 86%.

April 3 • Royals 5 Angels 4

More late-innings madness, this time in both the ninth and 13th innings. Down by two in the bottom of the ninth, things were not looking good until suddenly the bases were loaded; Wilson Betemit had the biggest hit for the Royals all week (judged by WPA) when he doubled in two runs. Tying the game resulted in a mammoth 51% swing in WE in the Royals favor. The teams locked horns for four more innings before Treanor continued an amazing first week as a Royal with a walk-off ding dong. Even though it won the game, it had a smaller impact on WE (39%) than Betemit’s game-tying double.

April 5 • Royals 7 White Sox 6

How about another extra-inning, walk-off win? Once again it was the hit to tie the game that had the biggest effect on WE, rather than the walk-off hit itself. The tying runs came on a mammoth home-run from Bam Bam Butler, boosting the Royals WE from 20% to 56%. Cabrera’s single in the 12th wasn’t bad either, moving the WE from 70% to game over.

April 6 • White Sox 10 Royals 7

insaness

The magic ran out in another crazy game. It looked like the Royals were going to win in non-dramatic fashion for a change after jumping out to a 5-0 lead and handing a 6-3 lead to Joakim Soria in the ninth. Soria got two quick ground-outs, and the game was basically over. The Royals WE was 99.6%. The White Sox had flat-lined and were moving towards the light. Three singles and a walk later, the White Sox were within one run, but the Royals WE was still 83%. Next came the biggest WPA play of the week when Carlos Quentin doubled in the tying and go-ahead runs, swinging the WE 66% in the White Sox’s favor. It appeared the Royals might come back from the collapse when Ka’aihue doubled in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, moving the WE 42% back in KC’s favor. The Royals couldn’t score. Then in the 11th, the Royals got their WE all the way back up to 83%. In a repeat of opening day, Jeff Francoeur and Alcides Escobar squashed a rally with back-to-back outs. It was not to be this time, and the Sox finally finished the job in the 13th inning.

Top five plays by WPA during opening week:

-66%: April 6 • 9th • Carlos Quentin go-ahead 2B

+51%: April 3 • 9th • Wilson Betemit tying 2B

+42%: April 6 • 9th • Kila Ka’aihue tying 2B

+39%: April 3 • 13th • Matt Treanor walk-off HR

+36%: April 5 • 8th • Billy Butler tying HR

A Royal Review

Opening up at home after a good spring training is just the thing this young ball club needed after showing off to mainly Arizona natives and a handful or reporters. A chance to show off their energy that made this writer intrigued for the first time in awhile.

I was extremely skeptical of what this team would look like after seeing the off-season transactions that took place. Two all-star caliber players off to new teams, a veteran taking one for the team (good job Gil) and lots of young, inexperienced but very energetic and enthused players.

Opening Day, the bats were as cool as the weather. The Royals went scoreless until late in the game and came up short in the end. However, the defense committed three errors, which was a problem reminiscent of last season. Any time you commit an error, it gives you an extra out and the Royals gave a whole extra inning to the Angels on Thursday.

Friday night was a different story however. The game was tight from start to finish despite the both defenses making what could have been costly errors but did not come back to haunt either team. However, in the bottom of the ninth Kila Ka’aihue blasted a ball over the right field wall for the game winning home run.

Coming Up

The Royals will finish their four game series with the Angels with a game on Saturday and Sunday. It may also be noted that there will be a special double header following Saturday’s game featuring the Storm Chasers and the Naturals, the Royals AAA and AA affiliates, respectively.

The Royals then have Monday off as they prepare to host the Chicago White Sox for a quick two game series. After that series, the Royals will have another day off before having a weekend series against another central division foe, the Detroit Tigers.

The Royals struggled against both of these teams last year. Accumulating a below par 16-20 combined record against these teams last year, the Royals look to improve upon those numbers. If they are going to compete this year, they are going to have to be able to consistently play well against division opponents.

Having these two days off this coming week will keep the Royals well rested before hitting a string of thirteen straight playing days beginning on April 12. The good news is that eight of those thirteen games are at home and against teams that finished off last season in just as bad shape as the Royals did (Cleveland and Seattle). However, before the Royals can get to these two teams, the Royals have to go to Detroit and then to Minnesota.

Solid pitching, timely hitting and executing on defense are the ways to win ball games. If the Royals can do that, they can compete with anyone.

The season is quickly coming upon us and here at I-70 Baseball, we want to give you a sneak peak at the fantasy outlook for both teams. Here is a look at the Kansas City Royals in 2011.

Projected Starting Lineup & Stats

3B Mike Aviles .287/11/60 – 12 SB

CF Melky Cabrera .263/7/45

1B Billy Butler .310/18/93

DH Kila Ka’aihue .255/20/75

RF Jeff Francoeur .260/12/65

LF Alex Gordon .264/18/67 – 10 SB

C Brayan Pena .273/5/30

2B Chris Getz .262/2/30 – 17 SB

SS Alcides Escobar .270/5/50 – 22 SB

Bench:

3B Mike Moustakas .290/17/45

IF Wilson Betemit .265/13/55

OF Mitch Maier .265/5/40

OF Lorenzo Cain .290/5/47 – 30 SB

Starting Rotation:

Luke Hochevar 8 W 4.62 ERA 125 K 1.41 WHIP

Jeff Francis 9 W 4.35 ERA 108 K 1.37 WHIP

Kyle Davies 8 W 4.85 ERA 125 K 1.55 WHIP

Bruce Chen 8 W 4.39 ERA 120 K 1.40 WHIP

Vin Mazzaro 6 W 4.47 ERA 90 K 1.46 WHIP

Bullpen:

SU – Robinson Tejeda 3.60 ERA 60 K 1.33 WHIP – 15 Holds

Closer – Joakim Soria 2.27 ERA 72 K 1.05 WHIP – 42 SV

What to Watch For:

Will Billy Butler’s power ever develop? If so, then he will quickly become one of the more coveted first basemen in fantasy circles. If not, you still have a guy who is a lot like John Olerud. He will have a great average and knock out 15-20. First base has plenty of options and winding up with Butler could be a nice place to be given his possible upside. Alex Gordon has moved to left. If you are still waiting for the superstar then you need to look elsewhere. That being said, with the attention now seemingly deflected away from him, Gordon might settle in and become a decent fantasy option. Mike Moustakas may begin the season at AAA, but he would be worth snatching the minute he is called up. The youngster enjoyed a breakout season last year (36 HR in AA & AAA combined) and looks to be in the majors soon.

Who to Stay Away From:

Is there a starting pitcher on this team you’d want to own? We might as well go ahead and say, “Stay away from them all”. The only one that might help in desperate times would be Jeff Francis. If he can recover some of his old form, he’d be a decent spot starter or back end option. However, you should really just steer clear of the whole situation.

Fans lined up in towns throughout the Royals’ region to meet current and former players on the 2011 Royals Caravan. Among them, Billy Butler and Kila Ka’aihue gave fans their perspective from the vantage point of first base.

The first-base tandem made appearances as part of the annual caravan in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, as did Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Jason Kendall, Mitch Maier and Royals former greats George Brett, John Mayberry, Jeff Montgomery, Joe Randa and Frank White.

The caravan gives fans young and old the opportunity to shake hands with a major league ballplayer, get an autograph, and ask a few questions about the Royals.

“The Royals are my favorite team, so I wanted to come see them,” said 10-year-old Michael Ruhlman of Springfield. “I hope they do better this year than they usually do, maybe make it to the World Series.”

A World Series would appear out of reach in 2011 for the accumulation of young, unproven players the Royals will field this season. But Butler and Ka’aihue weren’t telling fans to give up on this season just yet.

“Our expectation is to win and win now,” Butler said when asked if the players see 2011 as a rebuilding season. “If we thought any other way, we wouldn’t be doing ourselves any good. People don’t expect a lot out of us. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to pack it up and go home. We’ve still got a season to play. Everyone is 0 and 0.”

Butler embarked on the Royals Caravan while the ink was still drying on a 4-year extension to his contract which could earn him as much as $30 million. That signing comes on the heels of the trade of Zack Greinke, who wasn’t up for waiting out the process. Without criticizing his former teammate specifically, Butler insisted that he is committed to helping the Royals build.

“I can’t speak for Zack, but obviously at one point he wanted to stay here,” Butler said, referring to the contact Greinke signed with KC two years ago. “But for me, I don’t imagine myself playing anywhere else. And I’m saying that after four years of not being very competitive and losing a lot of games.

“I realize what the organization has done for me. And I’d rather play my whole career trying to build one winner than to go somewhere else where it’s already been built. I’ve put too many years of hard work in to leave what we’re trying to do here.”

Ka’aihue didn’t agree with Greinke’s assessment that the Royals are in for several more bitterly unsuccessful seasons.

“That’s just Zach’s opinion and that doesn’t affect the rest of us. We’re moving forward,” the big Hawaiian said, reassuring fans that this team can compete with the new pieces now in place. “I’m not expecting to fail. I’m going in with the mindset to win and win right away. It might sound crazy or like on paper it can’t be done, but there’s enough talent on this team that we could make a push. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t.”

Perhaps Greinke was too busy analyzing the timetable for developing the talent that has made the Royals’ farm system the best in baseball. Butler said players don’t need to think about the process, but rather to focus on winning games today.

“Players don’t need to put too much into whether this is a rebuilding process. That’s not their job, to say if we’re in a rebuilding process. If they don’t want this to be a rebuilding process, then go out there and play better. Go out there and win ballgames. That’s Dayton (Moore)’s job. I believe in Dayton and everything we’re doing here.”

What Butler believes Moore is doing is assembling the kind of depth in the farm system that could make the Royals a contender in just a few years.

“I feel like I am part of a long-term process,” Butler said. “We’ve got a lot of really good prospects that are on the brink and we made some good trades, and we’re just building for the future. And it’s going to start this year.

“We have the number one minor league organization for a reason. There’s a lot of guys that are expected to do a lot of great things. And that means very soon here we’re going to be contending on a regular basis.”

When Butler arrives at spring training, he’ll have to introduce himself to a host of new players after the Greinke trade and several other moves changed the roster drastically. Most significantly, Moore added Alcides Escobar to play shortstop, three new outfielders, and Jeff Francis and Vin Mazarro to the pitching rotation.

“What we had before didn’t work, so we had to change, and we changed pretty much every part of it,” Butler said. “That’s nothing against the guys we had before, but we just didn’t have the right mix.

“Now we have a lot of young talent, and it’s all about how we translate the talent onto the field. The bottom line is that we have the talent to do it. Now we just have to go out there and do it.”

The Royals will enjoy having manager Ned Yost from day one this year. Yost joined the team on May 13 after Trey Hillman stumbled to a 12-23 start to last season.

“Ned’s definitely very detailed and very prepared at what he does,” said Butler. “I know when we get done with spring training with him we’re going to be prepared for everything the opponent is going to try to do to us.”

“What we experienced during the season was a calmness about him, but an expectation to win,” Ka’aihue added in regards to Yost. “He seems like a players’ manager, and he gives us a relaxed feeling in the clubhouse.”

Butler and Ka’aihue weren’t interested in arm wrestling for the first base position, as was suggested on the caravan. They both look forward to playing as much in the field as possible, but are willing to bat in the DH spot when necessary.

“Of course I want to play 162 games at first base, but when you’re looking at the long haul of a whole career, it may be smart to split some time at DH,” Butler said. “I played 125 games at first last year, and it probably made me a lot healthier at the end of the season.”

Butler recently received the Les Milgram Award as the Kansas City player of the year after he batted a career high .318 with 15 homers and 78 RBIs. He is the closest thing the team has to a hitting star, with 590 career hits at the young age of 24.

Ka’aihue has yet to post significant numbers at the big league level, but he did start to get his wits about him by the end of 2010. He batted .274 with 6 homers and 18 RBIs in September.

“It’s exciting to have that little bit of success to build on and hopefully I can carry that into this year.” Ka’aihue didn’t think his approach to spring training would change this time around, however. “I’ve gone in every year hoping to win a job, and it doesn’t feel much different this time. I am expecting to play everyday and I’m going to prepare that way.”

While neither man is writing off 2011, they are not oblivious to the hope the franchise has placed in the farm system that is regarded as the best in baseball.

“It’s an exciting time, you know,” said Ka’aihue, who has played with some of the Royals’ top prospects in his minor league career. “A lot of the guys who came up together are finally going to be in the big leagues together. We all pulled for each other in the minor leagues and to do it together, it will be a great accomplishment.”

Butler relishes the help he could have in the batting order.

“We have Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas very close to the big leagues who are supposed to hit in the middle of the lineup, and what better than to see those guys hitting around me. It sounds real fun.”

Making the transition isn’t easy or smooth, according to both first basemen who were top prospects at one time themselves.

“It’s a different game up here,” said Butler. “There’s a transition process. But when you got guys around you who want to see you do good, and you’ve got the talent, that transition can be a lot shorter rather than longer. You’ve got to come up here and play the game like you always have, not putting too much pressure on yourself.”
Help from the minor leagues may be a ways away. But in January, the fans can be as optimistic as the players representing the team on the caravan. Getting an autograph and a chance to talk to a major leaguer, even if his team is expected to wallow through another rebuilding year, is worth waiting in line in freezing temperatures.

“I love it,” said Brooks Beattie, a 10-year-old from Nixa about getting to meet major league baseball players. “I heard about it and I said ‘I want to come.’ It’s exciting.”

On the I-70 Baseball Radio Hour last week, I-70 editor Bill Ivie slandered my good name, accusing me of milking this “Predicting the 2011 starting lineup” storyline for all it’s worth. Slanderous, but also one hundred percent true.

Every time the Royals have made a big move this offseason, I’ve been able to write a story about what Kansas City’s starting lineup would look like on Opening Day. And now that they’ve made the biggest move of all, shipping Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt to Milwaukee, I get to do it all over again.

Hopefully Dayton Moore will keep making trades and I won’t have to come up with an original story idea until April.

All kidding aside, the Royals’ potential starting lineup was seriously reorganized following the trade, and it’s important to see where the new faces fit in.

Just to review, here’s the first starting lineup prediction I made:

1. CF Jarrod Dyson, 2. RF David DeJesus, 3. 1B Billy Butler, 4. DH Kila Ka’aihue, 5. 2B Mike Aviles, 6. SS Yuniesky Betancourt, 7. LF Alex Gordon, 8. 3B Mike Moustakas, 9. C Lucas May.

Then DeJesus was traded, the Royals signed Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur, I realized Moustakas was probably not going to make the Opening Day roster and I flip-flopped my starting catcher prediction. So the second iteration of my proposed lineup looked like this:

1. 2B Chris Getz, 2. CF Melky Cabrera, 3. 1B Billy Butler, 4. RF Jeff Francoeur, 5. DH Kila Ka’aihue, 6. 3B Mike Aviles, 7. LF Alex Gordon, 8. SS Yuniesky Betancourt, 9. C Brayan Pena.

Then the Greinke trade came to pass. So here we go, Round 3 in a bout of who-knows-how-many rounds:

1. Alcides Escobar, SS

I think the young shortstop, acquired in the Greinke trade, will be thrown right into the fire. He should be a good leadoff hitter (of course, the Royals have seen lots of shoulds come and go over the years). He should also steal a lot of bases. And he will definitely be a defensive upgrade over every Royals shortstop since, I don’t know, Fred Patek. I’m excited to see Alcides in Royal blue.

2. Mike Aviles, 3B

I’ve shuffled Aviles all over the field and all over the lineup in this little simulation, but he’s always been a good fit in the No. 2 spot.

3. Billy Butler, 1B

Only Butler has remained in the same lineup spot in each of my proposals. I think that speaks to how important Butler is to this team, especially now that he’s the biggest star in town.

4. Jeff Francoeur, RF

5. Kila Ka’aihue, DH

No change in the 4 and 5 spots.

6. Melky Cabrera AND/OR Lorenzo Cain, CF

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a platoon situation here. Although he was a free agent signing, Melky was inexpensive, so salary alone will not win him a spot. Expectations are high for Cain, and I’m hoping he plays at least 100 games in 2011. Either one of these guys can play any outfield position, which is good, and eventually I’m hopeful that Cain can take over the leadoff spot, since he’s probably a more natural leadoff hitter than Escobar.

7. Alex Gordon, LF

I have a bad feeling that Gordon may be the reason I make a fourth proposed lineup. The Royals’ outfield situation is more confusing than ever, and since the team also has guys like Mitch Maier, Jarrod Dyson and Gregor Blanco available now, I would not be shocked to see a Gordon trade before Spring Training. Of course, if that happens, it’s almost inevitable that Gordon would win an MVP award with his new team.

8. Brayan Pena, C

No changes here except a new spot in the lineup.

9. Chris Getz, 2B

Getz is much more suited to the bottom of the lineup than the top.

Some people are saying the Royals will be horrible next year, maybe the worst team in baseball. And with this lineup, that may be true. But it doesn’t matter. Next year is the time we evaluate guys like Escobar, Cain and Pena, and the time we see how Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers, Clint Robinson and a whole slew of pitchers progress through the minors.

Just don’t ask me what the starting rotation is gonna look like.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the associate editor of I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey14@yahoo.com.