As a baseball fan watching Kansas City suffer for years, I have to wonder if they are actually a good contender this season for the playoffs, or if this is just their 15 minutes of fame.

There is certainly something for Royals’ fans to get excited about right now. At this point in the year, Kansas City is 17-10, when last season at this time they were only 10-20. A dramatic difference. Pitching, in particular, seems to be carrying most of the team, but their offense is not far behind.

Royal Pitching

Veterans like Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie are having stellar seasons. They have combined for 7 Wins to date, both with having an ERA under 2.50 and WHIP just above 1.00. According to ESPN, while Santana is owned in 97% of fantasy leagues, Guthrie is only owned in 50%. Guthrie brings a commendable work ethic to the team and I think would be a valuable pick-up if he is still available in your league. The right-hander excels at mixing all of his pitches to keep hitters off balance, and he recently threw his first major league shut-out.

The Royals’ starting rotation has been rounded out with the new additions of Wade Davis and James Shields. While Davis is has been struggling since joining Kansas City with a 4.75 ERA, he hopefully can get back down to that 2.43 ERA he finished with in 2012. And Shields may soon become the ace of the team, filling the void that Zack Greinke left. Both Davis and Shields are 2-2 this season.

The Royals’ bullpen has been strengthened with former-starting-pitchers-now-relievers, Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar. Chen has not allowed an earned run yet this year in 5 appearances, and Hochevar has only given up 1 earned run in 7 appearances. Greg Holland is settling in nicely as a solid anchor for the bullpen. He has 7 saves so far this year and only 1 blown.

Royal Batting

Kansas City’s pitching has started off hot, but the fans are still waiting to see the promise the line-up showed during Spring Training this year. There are only three batters with an average above .300 right now, Jarrod Dyson is one of them and he only has 20 plate appearances so far.

The power is not quite there yet from their top hitters. It somehow got lost in the transition between Spring Training and the regular season. If this team can get their bats going and keep the pitching consistent, they can be a force for the entire summer.

Fantasy owners might want to watch players like Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Mike Moustakas. They have all been showing signs of improving in their last 15 games, and might just break out of their slumps soon. Moustakas is only 39% owned in fantasy leagues which is obviously due to his struggle at the plate. If he can start making solid contact again, he will prove he deserves a position on your fantasy roster.

Even though the Kansas City line-up is not producing the way they are capable of, they can still be tough to beat in the American League Central. But if history is any indication, this poor team does not have a chance. If someone were to walk into the baseball world right now and not know anything about the Royals’ past, they would never know that they are usually toward the bottom of the AL Central division.

First place Detroit Tigers better take notice that Kansas City is only a half game back. Can they keep this up? Is this just a flash in the pan? If the starting pitching can continue eating up innings, their bullpen will be able to stay fresh for the long season. And if their bats start producing, then I would say that the Royals can shed the pretender branding and will be a contender in 2013.

The St. Louis Cardinals brought an end to the biggest question that surrounded any part of the club this spring by finishing an agreement to keep pitcher Adam Wainwright in a Cardinal uniform for the for another half decade. After two months of ebbing and flowing through negotiations, and with less than a week before Opening Day, the team closed on keeping one of its most irreplaceable players in the fold.

While there’s no such thing has a perfect deal, this very well may be the best one the Cardinals have authored in some time. The extension, which starts with the 2014 season, runs for five years and will land the club’s ace $97.5 million over the run through 2018. The battleground between club and player was on finding a suitable length and annual value, in light of the multiple large scale deals being signed by other pitchers on the tier of Wainwright.

While not touching the value of the recent mega deals signed by Felix Hernandez and Zack Greinke, it will set several club records. It is the largest contract in club history for a pitcher, surpassing Chris Carpenter’s five year, $63 million pact from 2006. Also, Wainwright will become the highest paid Cardinal ever on an annual value basis, bring in $19.5 million per season, his deal surpasses Matt Holliday’s $17 million total.

Wainwright has stated his desire to remain with the club for the duration of his career, and while this most likely will not be his last deal with the club; it was the career-defining deal that he went on the record as saying was important to him personally. For the Cardinals, it gives two arms potentially signed through 2017, along with Jaime Garcia.

For the team, it is the second time in two years that it has used the spring to strike an aggressive deal to lock its core up long-term, after extending Yadier Molina just before Spring Training a year ago. In the wake of signing Allen Craig this spring, the organization is in the best long-term shape of any team in baseball in regards to having its core intact in a three year window. With a mixture of arbitration year players, as well as minor leaguers ready to emerge, a St. Louis team that’s averaged 88-wins the last four years is in position now after inking Wainwright to only have to add final pieces its foundation, as opposed to being faced with rebuilding any part of it.

Yet the value of the agreement cannot be seen only in financial expressions.  With Carpenter’s days on the mound over and Jake Westbrook’s contract set to expire after the year, Wainwright will enter next season as the only Cardinal starter that has seen his 30^th birthday. Despite the gut of potential that is beginning to manifest itself through the organization, Wainwright represents a pillar in the organization. After returning from Tommy John surgery to post a 14 win, 33 start effort in 2012, he erased any doubts about his ability to continue to anchor the rotation. With the organization focusing on building from within and capitalizing on its stockpile of pitching talent, having a presence like Wainwright that can lead by example both on and off the mound, the value of keeping Wainwright in the fold is beyond just the comfort of having him throw himself every five days.

Adam Wainwright made his first “start” in what could be a year full of both starts and stops. Of course he’s still over a month away from his first meaningful appearance of the year, but these days, not much he says or does is without meaning.

With the high stakes nature of his ongoing contract negotiations hanging over his 6’7” frame, the comparison machine is going crazy in a wild attempt to get a grasp on what a long-term extension for the Cardinals’ ace would look like. Would it be a rather short-term, balanced money deal in the nature of the one Yadier Molina received last spring? Or would it be an extensive, full career (and then some) style deal, such as the one Albert Pujols ultimately received…elsewhere?

The expectation that the pact would be the largest team history isn’t a far fetched idea. In reality, it’s very much a fact. And the best comparison possible is one that is drawn from the terms that the current holder of that distinction agreed to: Matt Holliday.

Holliday turned 29 just days before signing his seven-year, $120 million deal back in 2009. This is was a mid prime deal for him that also would carry him likely through the remainder of his career. It also became the winter’s biggest deal, despite him likely passing on more lucrative offers from the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. It also came during a time when there was rapid contract growth around him, with Jason Bay, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez all recently receiving long-term deals.

This is nearly the exact scenario that Wainwright is placed in right now. He is 31 years old right now, and would be 32 by the end of the year. Yet, the starting pitching position is the middle of a massive salary push, with large scale deals going out to Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke and Felix Hernandez over the past year. If he was to hit the free agent market, he would instantly become among the most sought after free agents available. He stacks up very well in a class that features Matt Garza, Josh Johnson and Tim Lincecum, each of which will also be over 30 years old by the winter. Basically, Wainwright is running out of contractual obligation at a perfect time for his causes.

But what does the organization have to consider? There is much to be considered in how the team has approached its recent dealing, but also many parallels to pull away as well. The differences from the Pujols deal are numerous. In Pujols’ case, he had been playing a far lower rate than his performance would indicate for many years. And while he entered the market a similar age, his value took on historic connotation, not a superb prime for a top-tier performer, which is what Wainwright is, much like Holliday was. In the case of Molina, he took a shorter term extension, which will carry him into his late 30’s. Yet he still didn’t push for every dollar that he could have on the open market, and likely would have earned if he waited a few months.

The differences between the Pujols and Molina deals are clear, but there some similarities as well. All indications are leaning towards Wainwright wants a guarantee on the length of the deal, which was something they balked at with Pujols. The Cardinals have taken a pretty strong stance against signing over the low-to-late 30’s bridge. It was a balk in their offer to Pujols, and both Molina and Holliday’s deals would expire at ages 35 and 37, respectively. If Wainwright is seeking a deal that is comparable in length to either Cain or Hamels, the balance in length would be six years. This would carry him to his 38^th birthday, and most likely into a scenario where is paid past his prime and into his decline years. The ability to avoid doing this; and have been able to sign many players to their exact prime years and escaping the decline as it approaches. This is a primary factor for what has kept the small market Cardinals with the ability to field the financially flexible roster it has for so many years.

It doesn’t seem that Wainwright would push to hamstring the financial competitiveness of the team, but he has acknowledged that a lowered value deal isn’t likely. In comparison to his last deal he signed at age 26, his focus has changed, “I’m in a different place from last deal. My family is set up, and I’m looking at different things,” he stated last month regarding his desires for this contract. These are the words of a man that is looking towards the future, his own.

And as always, the organization will do what’s best for its future as well, financially and competitively. Both sides will be forced to concede a portion of their absolute interests to find a deal here. While the Cardinals have proven to be resistant to extreme concession (as the Pujols dealings showed), and prefer shorter term commitment (as they proved with Molina) they also have shown that when the situation requires it, as proved with Holliday, they will throw caution to the wind and compete over the long term.

As the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels spent unprecedented amounts of money during the offseason to try to establish dominance, a battle between rivals in the Midwest could be the most intense race of the 2013 season.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have won the National League Central Division in three of the past four seasons, and each team has made moves this offseason to bolster their chances to do so again next year.

The Cardinals haven’t added much, but they also didn’t have many holes to fill. They signed left-handed relief pitcher Randy Choate to a three-year, $7.5 million contract to fill the team’s biggest need in the bullpen. They also signed bench player Ty Wigginton to a two-year, $5 million deal, but unless Wigginton comes up with a late-inning homer against the Reds, that signing is negligable.

The Reds, who beat the Cardinals by nine games last year to win the division, made more substantial moves. They resigned reliever Jonathan Broxton to a three-year, $21 million contract to be the team’s closer for the foreseeable future and resigned leftfielder Ryan Ludwick for $15 million across two years. The Reds also traded for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo from the Indians to be their centerfielder and leadoff hitter next year.

The Broxton signing should allow flamethrower Aroldis Chapman to be in the starting rotation next year, and the trade for Choo fills a massive hole at the top of the lineup.

Drew Stubbs, who went to the Indians in the trade, held that spot last season, but he hit just .213 with a .277 on-base percentage and 166 strikeouts. By contrast, Choo hit .283 with a .373 on-base percentage and struck out 150 times. That’s still a lot of strikeouts for a leadoff hitter, but Choo provides more power and is certainly an upgrade in a spot the Reds tried to improve at last season’s trading deadline.

Although neither team has made nearly as many moves as several other teams so far in the offseason, the Cardinals and Reds have fortified their rosters to stage quite a battle throughout the 2013 season. They’ll do so without handing out contracts worth more than $100 million, as the Dodgers did by signing pitcher Zack Greinke and Angels did by signing outfielder Josh Hamilton.

The Cardinals and Reds have a recent history full of intense games that have at times led to shouting matches and even a full-out brawl in 2010. With both teams loaded and ready for battle heading into the season, one might think this could be a season series full of more temper tantrums and games that will leave blood boiling for both teams and both fanbases.

But this year’s rivalry might take a more professional turn. Both the Cardinals and Reds know each organization has a good team, and they will likely be the two strongest contenders for the NL Central Division title.

In past years, the Reds were an up-and-coming team that felt it had to rough up the more established Cardinals to gain entrance to the top of the division. Those days are gone. General manager Walt Jocketty has built a roster with a good starting rotation, solid bullpen and increasingly potent lineup filled with stars such as Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce.

This year’s Cardinals-Reds rivalry could be similar to recent battles in the AL West between the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Both teams had some of the most talented rosters in the league, and they stuck strictly to playing solid, intense yet not over-the-top baseball games.

Although it might be fun for fans to watch for extracurricular activities on the field and in the dugouts similar to a playoff hockey game, it might be even more impressive to watch a season series that has good, high-quality baseball.

So while big-market teams on the West Coast battle each other with dollar bills in the offseason, actual games between the Cardinals and Reds next season could create the most interesting division races in all of baseball.

We have all been embarrassed by our own family. Whether it’s an overzealous parent, a misbehaving kid, a drunken uncle, or a senile grandparent…we all know the feeling. It’s uncomfortable because we love our family and we understand them better than anyone. It’s also uncomfortable because it usually happens in public, in front of people that don’t love or understand the offending party. That’s exactly how I’ve felt on Twitter the past 24 hours.

I get it, I really do. Wil Myers is going to be Dale Murphy, at least. Just like Alex Gordon was George Brett (I wrote that), Eric Hosmer was Albert Pujols (me again), and Luke Hochevar was a right handed Tom Glavine (okay, no one really said that). Baseball loves prospects and nowhere is that more true than in Kansas City. There are several reasons for that, not the least of which is the fact that prospects are seemingly all we ever have.

Another reason is that we have an incredible network of bloggers in this town that have a great grasp on talent evaluation and advanced metrics. This reason gets overlooked because for the most part these bloggers are looked down upon. They’re seen as cynical, all-knowing nerds that eat pop tarts in their parent’s basement. I’m obviously not in the business of disparaging bloggers, and I love reading what they write. I truly believe we have one of the most knowledgeable networks of baseball bloggers in MLB. That being said, their reaction to the Kansas City Royals’ trade for James Shields has been embarrassing.

For 25 years now we’ve watched and bemoaned the fact that the Royals are always on the opposite side of this trade. Even as recently as two years ago we were trading away Zack Greinke for a wheel barrow full of prospects and jokes about this franchise as a farm club for the rest of MLB remained alive and well. Well, that farm club has been extremely productive recently and we find ourselves with an abundance of position players with potential and nary a pitcher.

The obvious answer in a small market like Kansas City is to turn those prospects into the missing piece(s) for your ball club. Dayton Moore did just that…and he’s being crucified for it. Now I know my community of bloggers and I know that they value being right more than just about anything else. The whole pursuit of advanced statistics is just a pursuit to see who can find the truest “right”. Unfortunately, Dayton Moore has been wrong so many times that in second guessing him, we now always think we’re right. Here are the three main arguments, and my problems with them.

James Shields is not an ace. This is the one that’s gotten me most fired up this week, but it’s also the easiest to debate. After all, what is an “ace”? There is no standard definition. You could say that it’s the #1 starter for a major league team, but that would mean that Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar have both been aces. You could say that it’s an exclusive club of Cy Young winners I suppose, but that seems too stringent. I don’t really care how you choose to define it, Shields is an ace. John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press thinks so. So does Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports. Whether he fits your definition of ace or not, there’s no denying he’s one of the 20 best pitchers in baseball, meaning for the first time since Greinke left our ace would also be an ace on several other teams.

We gave up too much. Wil Myers may be a Hall of Famer…but the odds are against it. Jake Odorizzi may turn into James Shields, but no one is predicting that. The Rays are going to fix Mike Montgomery…well we sure couldn’t. The fact that all of these things are still possibilities is precisely because none of these players have done anything at the major league level. We may one day come to find that we did give too much, but it’s ridiculous to presume you know that now. How many times have we been on the flip side of this? How many times have we complained that we’re always giving up something real for something hoped for? We got the real side this time guys, get excited!

We can’t compete with the Tigers even after this move. This may be the most reasonable of the arguments, but it still irks me. If you truly believe this (of course I don’t) then nothing Dayton Moore does matters. The Royals weren’t going to compete with Wil Myers, no matter how awesome he is, and the current pitching staff. Jake Odorizzi could have maybe been a #3 starter, Mike Montgomery was going nowhere fast in this organization. I’ve heard several say we should have picked up Anibal Sanchez and kept Myers. That works except Sanchez is MUCH more expensive, may not even want to play in KC, and IS NOWHERE CLOSE TO THE PITCHER JAMES SHIELDS IS!

The fact is we gave up a lot of potential for two starting pitchers. One of those starting pitchers ranks ninth in WAR over the last two seasons (slightly ahead of Zack Greinke) and struck out 15 batters while walking NONE in the last game he started. This same pitcher has postseason experience, eats up innings like Prince Fielder eats bratwursts, and seems genuinely happy to be a Royal. We also go a guy that just turned 27 that is markedly better than Luke Hochevar will ever be.

The other fact is we reacted as if Dayton Moore had just traded Ed Hearn for David Cone. While some national pundits are praising Moore for taking a chance…While baseball executives are saying they liked the deal for the Royals…we threw a hissy fit for everyone to see. We diminished Shields’ possible impact to the point of saying that Wil Myers would have made as much of an impact as Shields will….in 2013!

I’ve often said that Kansas City is a great baseball town, and that if we built a winner we would support them as well as any city in America. Well, David Glass has spent the money. Dayton Moore has put his job on the line. Are we going to sit around and complain about losing a prospect or get excited about our new ace? There’s been plenty of time to complain and second guess. We’ve been right plenty of those times too. Now it’s time to support our new pitcher, support our new contender, and go win a damn division!

Each year, officials from the 30 Major League teams come together for the Winter Meetings to make deals via trades or free agent signings. Of course trades and free agent signings happen all year, but some important deals happen during the Winter Meetings. Some teams make a big splash, some teams just show up.

The Royals didn’t made a splash as of Wednesday night. They have two needs; starting pitching and a utility infielder. Starting pitching is more important to the Royals and there’s plenty of rumors about the starting pitchers the team has interest in via a trade or free agency.

The way it looks now, the Royals prefer to sign a starting pitcher via free agency. Zack Greinke is out of the question, but the Royals top target is Anibal Sanchez, who could be looking for a six-year deal at almost $100MM dollars. That’s way out of the Royals price range, but it’s more likely Sanchez will get a four-year deal and if the money is right, Sanchez might be a Royal. Sanchez isn’t an ace like Greinke, but he would bolster the Royals rotation.

Wednesday, the Royals made a two-year, $26MM offer to starter Ryan Dempster, but he’s looking for a three-year, $39MM deal and there are rumblings the Cubs, Brewers and Red Sox have interest in Dempster.

In other rumors, free agent starters the Royals are looking at are Shaun Marcum and Brandon McCarthy. Both starters had some health issues in the past, but could be intriguing choices if the price and years are right.

As for the trade route, there’s a few starters the Royals have interest in. The Wil Myers/John Lester trade rumors are cooling off, but the Royals still have interest in Rays starters James Shields and Jeremy Hellickson. For a while, there was talk of a Myers/R.A. Dickey trade, but the Royals quickly dismissed it. Yes, Dickey won the Cy Young Award this year and he’s a 20 game winner, but he’s 38 and Myers is 22. If Dickey was younger, it might be a better trade. Astros starter Bud Norris is another pitcher the Royals are looking at, who will be free agent in 2016. And the Royals have interest in Rangers starter Derek Holland, who’s a free agent in 2017.

Whatever the Royals decide, they’re not in a hurry to find the “right” starting pitcher. It could be after the Winter Meetings before the Royals make a deal.

The Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners have some interest in designated hitter Billy Butler, but there’s nothing concrete. Besides Felix Hernandez, the Mariners don’t have a Major League ready pitcher the Royals are looking for. Baltimore has some good pitching prospects and young Major League starters, but the Royals want a more established starter to lead the rotation in 2013.

There’s even talk the Royals are willing to trade Chris Getz and the St. Louis Cardinals might be interested in Getz as a utility infielder. Hey, aren’t the Royals looking for a utility infielder? Oh, wait, the Royals consider Getz a starting infielder.

With the flux of the Winter Meetings, this article might be invalid by the time it’s posted. As I write this, Twitter is buzzing about a potential Myers/Shields trade. Some Royals fans say yes, some say no, and some say heck no. Whatever happens, the Royals are getting a starting pitcher. Who that will be and when it happens is hard to say.

Offseason news is dominated with big trades (like the Miami Marlins shipping a part of their roster to the Toronto Blue Jays) and wondering where star free agents like Zack Greinke and Josh Hamilton will sign. But there’s a lot of small moves Major League clubs make in an effort to improve their teams and the Royals are no different.

Last week, the Royals traded reliever Jeremy Jeffress to Toronto for cash and reliever Tommy Hottovy to the Texas Rangers for cash and our old friend player to be named later. And on Monday outfielder Jason Bourgeois elected to become a free agent. Earlier this month, the Royals designated the three players for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster.

Jeffress, 25, appeared in 13 games with the Royals with a 6.75 ERA. He’s out of options and the Jays will give him to opportunity to make the team. Kansas City native and lefty specialist Hottovy, 31, appeared in nine games with the Royals with a 2.89 ERA and hopes to be a part of the Ranger’s bullpen. Bourgeois, 30, had a .258 average in 30 games with the Royals and has yet to sign with a team.

With their limited roles, Jeffress and Hottovy were the odd men out in an already solid bullpen. And Bourgeois was expendable since the Royals already have speedy outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson on their roster.

To be honest, Jeffress, Hottovy and Bourgeois had a small role with the Royals and they weren’t going to be a part of the team’s future. These minor moves in the middle of November will be a fading memory as the 2013 season commences. But it’s the business of baseball and I hope Jeffress, Hottovy and Bourgeois have good luck with their new teams.

I hope you can forgive a bit of rambling in this article, as a I am not even in high school yet.

My humor revolves mostly around things like ASDFmovie, and Gangnam Style.My friends and I play violent games like tennis, where one slaps the others hand and vice-versa until one of the players wimps out. Our sleepovers revolve mainly around games like Dead Island, Left 4 Dead, and MLB 2K12. (The last one is just me and my best friend)

In the past Dayton Moore has made decisions like we might at 2:00 in the morning when we are playing 2K12, and the case of Diet Code Red Mountain Dew (I have type 1 Diabetes, so we drink diet) is nearly drained. As I am currently typing this, it is very late on a Saturday night, and I have earbuds in, a laptop on the top of my lap, and the TV tuned in the MLB Network’s “Countdown, Top 25 Comebacks of All Time” But back to the point, Dayton Moore has made some pretty awful decisions since the blind squirrel that is the Kansas City Royals found an acorn in the return for Zack Greinke, but I will break that trade down in another article.

Ervin Santana is a Kansas City Royal. It even feels good to say. It is not even the best case scenario, but it is progress, and it is better that the previous news rush that Chris Volstad is a Royal. My hope with that pick up is that they hope they can fix him, and if they can’t, such as life. They cut him and pay him nothing. Let’s attempt to avoid that topic though. Santana was absolutely horrific this past season, posting a 5.16 ERA, -1.6 WAR, and a 1.27 WHIP, all while being paid 11.2 million dollars, Santana did though put up 178.0 innings in 2012. Even though there are currently 8 starters on the Royals depth chart, Santana is one of them. Some writers have been complaining that Moore should have gone after Dan Haren. Luke Hochevar was MORE horrific though, posting an ERA, WAR, and WHIP (All previous listed stats other than innings and salary) worse than Santana. I am hoping the Royals non-tender Hoch, but is highly unlikely. Just Rany predicted, Moore acted early.

I hope he acted effectively. He proved he is willing to spend money. Gil Meche was the last time Moore spent legit money on a starter, spending 12 (The option that they picked up on Santana was 13 million, but the Angels also gave Kansas City a million) million on Santana after, well, I am just assuming here, the Angels completely lost hope in him. Every few years he seems to have some kind of collapse, but I bet the Royals will only have him for 1 year. If you have been especially attentive while you have been reading this, then you have probably learned a lot. How strange I am. A great analogy about Dayton Moore’s decision making, and how this is a step in the right direction, and a decent sized one.

Royals General Manager Dayton Moore likes to strike early, and this offseason is no exception. To help bolster the rotation, the Royals acquired right-handed starter Ervin Santana, 29, and $1MM cash from the Los Angeles Angels for minor league reliever Brandon Sisk, 27. The Royals will likely pay Santana $13MM for 2013.

So what are the Royals getting for $13MM? In 2012, Santana had a 5.16 ERA with a 9-13 record over 30 starts and 178.0 innings pitched. He had a 6.7 SO/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 2.18 SO/BB ratio and gave up 2.0 HR/9. His WAR was -1.6. Of the five Angels starters, Santana had the worst ERA, had the least amount of SO/9, gave up the most home runs in the league at 39, and had the worst WAR among Angels starters.

That doesn’t sound good, but Santana’s ERA was lower than Bruce Chen, Will Smith and Luke Hochevar (I think everyone’s ERA is lower than Hochevar’s. Well, except for Jonathan Sanchez). Only Chen and Hochevar pitched more innings than Santana and only Chen won more games than Santana with 11. Santana had a better SO/9 than the 2012 Royals starters, but worse HR/9. Only Hochevar had a worse WAR at 1.7. In other words, the 2012 Santana is an improvement, but not by much.

What’s the upside? If you average out Santana’s 2008-2011 seasons, his ERA was 3.90, he had a 52-37 record with 202.1 average innings pitched. His average SO/9 was 7.4, BB/9 was 2.7, SO/BB was 2.89 and he gave up an average of 1.1 HR/9 with a 2.4 WAR. Compare that to top free agent Zack Greinke‘s 2012 season with a 3.48 ERA, 212.1 innings pitched, 8.5 SO/9, 2.3 BB/9, 3.70 SO/BB and giving up 0.8 HR/9 and 1.6 WAR. Greinke’s overall numbers are better, but Santana’s numbers are close. If the Royals get the 2008-2011 Santana, he will be a vast improvement to the Royals rotation.

Between the two, Greinke is a much better pitcher. But if you think the Royals are getting Greinke for $13MM a year, you’re dreaming. Santana is a one year, $13MM deal and unless he goes all Jonathan Sanchez on the Royals, they’re getting a league average middle of the rotation innings eater. The Royals hope Santana can bridge the team to 2014, when pitchers like Jake Odorizzi, Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino are a part of the rotation.

Let’s put it this way: the Royals offseason is better compared to last offseason by getting Ervin Santana and trading Sisk to the Angels, who wasn’t going to be on the Royals 40-man roster anyway. Of course that’s a pretty low bar to clear. But it shows the Royals are serious and Moore says the team isn’t through looking for starting pitching.

I wrote this article for school. We were not allowed to do any research, hence the significant lack of numbers. Leave a comment and I will revise it so there are more stats.

The Kansas City Royals pitching staff was horrific this past season, with Luke Hochevar and his 5.39 ERA, and Jonathan Sanchez giving up 7 runs in 1 1/3 innings to the Mariners. I have a proposition, which will hopefully make the Royals 2013 season the first memorable one since 1985. This would be an anomaly, as the Royals have the longest playoff drought in any professional sport since fifteen years before I was born. Being a Royals fan is difficult, as you have to get accustomed to losing. But if Dayton Moore, the Royals General Manager, would consider these ideas, the Royals may win what is expected to be the worst division in baseball in 2013.

The Royals need starting pitching. Anibal Sanchez is their best option. Sanchez started the 2012 season with the Miami Marlins, who traded him to the Detroit Tigers at the trading deadline. He struggled out of the gate, but picked it up and had a fantastic end of the season. His great performance spilled into the postseason, where he dominated the Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees. He makes the start for game 3 of the World Series, which, as I am writing this, has not occurred yet. Sanchez appears to be the best realistic option, as a Zack Greinke reunion seems to be unlikely.

Speaking of Greinke, if the Royals were to get him, I believe that it would require them to get creative. I think that I can assume you do not know who Mike Sweeney is. He was a first baseman for the Royals before he became injury plagued. The player is not the comparison, his contract is. I was reading a Rany Jazayerli article (a blogger and founder of Baseball Prosepectus) the other day, and he presented the idea of taking the unique clause out of Sweeney’s deal, that says the Royals cannot be bad. Let me explain- the clause says that if the Royals don’t finish over .500 (81-81) in 2003 or 2004, Sweeney can walk away. In the first year of his contract, (2003) the Royals won 83 games. The contract worked, as it kept what was at the time one of the best hitters in the American League in Kansas City. Greinke left Kansas City because he wanted to win, if the Royals give him this clause, if he does not win, he gets to leave.

Dayton Moore claims that he would like to pick up Kyle Lohse. I share another theory with Rany, and that is Moore should stay away from Kyle Lohse. Lohse currently plays for my beloved Cardinals, but he is a free agent this offseason. I have looked at all of Lohse’s splits, (stats) and all of them appear to say that he relies heavily on the Cardinals good defense, and luck. Since 1985, Kansas City is where luck keels over, balls up, and dies. Kansas City has a below average defense. (as a team). Lohse is going to get paid a substantial amount more than Sanchez, and Sanchez has appeared to be better over the last few seasons.

I hope that you have been able to draw a fair amount from this article, but if one thing could stick with you, it would be this; The Kansas City Royals need starting pitching, and Anibal Sanchez seems to be the answer. I am not saying that the Royals will be the best team in baseball, I am just saying that they might be competent, and competent is all that we are asking.