Note: This was originally published on Pine Tar Press on March 18, 2016.
Sometimes things get started in the most innocent of ways. In the summer of 2011, I had a lot of things I wanted to write about regarding the Royals but none of those things were enough to get a full article. So I wrote a piece that basically just included five or six brief notes. I wrote it on a Friday and I called it Friday Notes. Don’t even ask me where I get the creativity from. It just comes to me. And here we are, 242 weeks later and I haven’t missed a week.
If you were wondering how far we’ve come since that first edition, my opening line was:
After a long week that included me questioning Dayton Moore’s ability to build a team, calling for Johnny Giavotella to be called up, actually praising Luke Hochevar and whatever other babble I spewed, I thought it was a good time to give some quick hit thoughts on the Royals.
Enough reminiscing. Let’s get to those notes.
- It looks like the second base competition is pretty much over with a couple weeks left in the spring. It’s not that I ever believed there was a great chance that Christian Colon would win the job over Omar Infante, but he was certainly given an opportunity. Unfortunately, Colon was 0 for the spring until he finally got a hit the other day while Infante hit reasonably well in limited at bats due to getting a late start. It’s not that I believe Colon is going to be some kind of great addition but rather that I don’t believe in Infante even a little bit. He had a solid spring last year too, and then had one of the worst offensive seasons in team history. I do have to say that I still hold out some optimism that him finally being healthy will make a difference. I just keep thinking about what he did in his last year in Detroit and wonder if he can put up like 60% of those numbers for the Royals. If he can, that’s not a bad bat to have at the bottom of the order. He does play solid defense, so maybe it’ll work out okay.
- If you ask me, I think the rotation to start the season is already set. Although maybe I’m not the best person to ask because I thought it was already set before spring training even began. We know it’s going to be Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura and Ian Kennedy, so those three are easy. We thought there was a competition among Chris Young, Kris Medlen, Dillon Gee, Danny Duffy and Kyle Zimmer for the fourth and fifth spots, but I don’t see much competition at all. Zimmer’s already been sent to AAA after seeing a dip in velocity in his final outing in big league camp. Duffy’s thrown six innings this spring while starters are getting up to four or five innings per start, so he’s likely in the bullpen (as expected). And Dillon Gee was added to the 40-man, but he’s only thrown five innings himself. He’s going to get a start this weekend, but that doesn’t mean a ton. Volquez and Ventura are being held out for dead arm and sickness respectively. So that leaves Young and Medlen, just like I figured when camp started. It hasn’t hurt that Young and Medlen have both been outstanding the last two days.
- One guy who has made some fans both inside and out of the organization is Reymond Fuentes. He’s just been red hot this spring and offers a lot to the roster if he can hold his own with the bat. We all know how useful spring stats can be, but his .375/.483/.708 line is impressive nonetheless. I personally see Fuentes as a bit of a poor man’s prime David DeJesus, but that could be very useful for the Royals, both before Dyson returns and after. He fits the mold of the Royals as a contact hitter who plays solid defense. As it stands right now, he seems to be the early season platoon partner for Paulo Orlando and has a chance to stick on the roster when Dyson returns as the 25th man. I don’t see him as much more than a fourth outfielder long term, but it’s nice that there’s at least some upside.
- While Dyson is out, it’s kind of looking like the 25th man on the roster will be Whit Merrifield. who put on a great deal of muscle during the offseason. Merrifield is a jack of all trades. He’s played more than 200 games in both left field and at second base in his minor league career. He’s also appeared in 82 games in center field and 64 in right. What holds him back is that he doesn’t really have the skills to do much on the left side of the infield, so he’s not likely to have value as a utility infielder. He’s had a fantastic spring so far, but is coming off a year where he hit .265/.317/.364 as a 26-year old who was playing in AAA for the second time. Considering the way the Royals roster is made up, I don’t see much of a need for him after Dyson returns, but if he does make the roster, it’ll be a nice reward for a good organizational soldier. One thing to keep in mind is that no matter how much the Royals like him, he’s not on the 40-man roster. If he’s a guy who is expected to be sent down when Dyson returns, I’m not sure if the Royals would jump on the opportunity to clear a spot for him.
- You’re not going to find much there just yet, but go ahead and bookmark http://kansascity.locals.baseballprospectus.com/ to get your Royals news beginning on Monday. Look for a lot of content in the first day as we’re all pretty excited to get the ball rolling. No, the URL isn’t the shortest or smoothest thing in the world, so that’s why you need to bookmark it now. You’ll thank me later when you’re trying to type it on your phone and your thumbs don’t allow it. Oh, go ahead and follow @BProKansasCity on Twitter.