News broke first that the Royals and Dave Eiland had mutually agreed to part ways. My first thought was that maybe Eiland wanted to step away from being a pitching coach and the Royals weren’t going to stop him. The pitching staff had struggled this year at times, but the track record for Eiland was such that I didn’t expect him to be fired, even if they call it something different. Well, it appears my initial reaction there was wrong.

Dave Eiland, who was let go by #Royals as pitching coach yesterday: “I want to jump right back into it. I don’t want any time off.”

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 3, 2017

After learning of Eiland’s dismissal, we learned about the other three. The most surprising of those was Don Wakamatsu, who had been on the bench with Ned Yost since 2014 and looked like he was going to eventually get another shot as a manager, and maybe as a manager of the Royals. I wouldn’t go to Vegas and bet on that now.

So I quickly developed a bit of a theory. Yost was widely speculated to be retiring at the end of 2017 as the core made their exits to free agency. Then, with a week or so to go in the season, he told anyone who would listen that he was going to come back in 2018 and anyone who thought otherwise is and was crazy. That surprised me a little bit, both that he was coming back and how adamant he was about it. But with the firing of Wakamatsu, I think there’s something there. I think Yost was asked to come back for one year to mentor his replacement, who would be the bench coach.

I don’t know if this is true. We probably won’t ever really know, but it sure makes a lot of sense. The three likeliest candidates in my mind have all never managed or even coached at the big league level. They are, in no particular order, Raul Ibanez, Jason Kendall and Vance Wilson. There are probably 150 other managerial candidates out there who have a shot, so don’t take those three names as the only possibilities, but they are where my mind turned immediately. It would not surprise me in the least if Dayton Moore and the front office believed any of them or any other first time manager couldn’t benefit from a year of watching Yost manage the clubhouse.

In his season-ending press conference on Monday, Yost was very candid in explaining that he wasn’t great at in-game management and relied on his bench coach a lot for that. He also talked about this team taking a step back and developing more in 2018 than they had in the last few seasons, and that’s why the change was made. Development doesn’t have to stop on the field. It can happen on the bench too. I almost kind of wonder if the Royals know who it is they’re bringing in for that role has an idea of who he wants as pitching coach, and the Royals were happy to make that change to help bridge the gap between 2018 and 2019 even more.

Of course, John Coppolella resigning amidst scandal in Atlanta has put a big wrench in everything because the rumor mill began swirling that the Braves would go after Moore to replace him. After all, Moore openly says he grew up professionally in Atlanta, so it could be a homecoming for them. Moore’s lack of flat out denying interest in the job has fueled even more speculation, but my guess is he doesn’t leave. Still, it’s interesting to think about who might replace him if he did. Would they just promote J.J. Picollo, who has interviewed for a few open MLB GM jobs the past few seasons or would they bring in a whole new regime? And if they do bring in a whole new regime, who’s to say they won’t tear this thing down to the studs and get what they can for anybody with value?

I guess what I’m trying to say is we haven’t reached the LDS portion of the playoffs and the Royals offseason is already cooking. The only thing we know is that we really don’t know anything. I can’t promise you it’ll be fun offseason, but I can promise you that it’ll at least be interesting.

The Royals were rewarded with the success of Danny Duffy last season and gave lefty Matt Strahm an introduction in the bullpen despite his likely future coming from a starting role. That move could pay off, particularly with the recent loss of Yordano Ventura, and could force the Royals hand and push the lefty into the rotation to begin the year.

With the move of Strahm from the bullpen, would there be a starting pitcher from the minors who might profile in the bullpen to get his feet wet in preparation for a future starting role?

One pitcher who I had never looked at in this role prior, but suddenly am intrigued by, is 2011 draftee, Jake Junis. The right-handed pitcher has been on a slow development path in the Royals organization, starting or piggybacking in all 100 appearances of his minor league career. The development has been slow, but as a pitcher from a cold weather area like Rock Falls, IL, that shouldn’t be all that surprising. The biggest thing for Junis is that the pitches have come forward over that time and he’s nearly ready to compete for a starting spot towards the back end of a rotation with just some fine tuning needed in his change up to put him in that spot.

To this point in his career, Junis has shown very good control, walking just 64 in 308.2 innings over the past two seasons. He does this with a solid 91-94 mph fastball from the starting role and a above average low 80’s curveball that combine with his other two pitches to earn nearly 8 SO/9 during those past two seasons. Would those two solid pitches tick up enough to become a dynamic piece in the pen?

In my opinion, Junis with his broad shoulders and strong 225 lbs. body could easily tick his fastball into the 96-97 mph range in a one-inning role while maintaining the hard bite on his curveball that he’s able to dirt and move in and out to earn swings and misses. That curve was rated as the best curveball in the system which is saying something, considering Josh Staumont’s curve is rated as a future plus pitch also.

It’s Jake’s ability to mix speeds in the low 80’s to mid 70’s with his curve, while manipulating it to perform like his slider at times with hard darting movement and controlling it to different quadrants of the zone that allow it to play up and well off of his fastball. Those two pitches, combined with small mixing of his change up and slider, could allow him to help the major league pen in a sixth and seventh inning spot. Pitching out of the pen would also allow he and Eiland to refine things with other pitches to prepare him for a starting spot either towards the end of ’17 or the beginning of 2018.

A couple of the Royals best developed starters in the past decade, Zack Greinke and Duffy, required stints in the bullpen to refine things before settling more comfortably in the rotation. Working things in an opposite direction for some like Strahm and Junis could help iron out those wrinkles prior to fitting into rotation spots further down the road for the Royals.

Adding to the Farm

MLB announced the draft slot values for the upcoming 2017 MLB draft on Thursday. The Royals with the 14th overall pick will also have the 14th largest draft pool, registering in at $7,691,500 not including any allowed overages. Their pick at the 14th slot has been given a $3,549,800 value while their 52nd pick is worth $1,233,900. The last player the Royals gave $3.5m to in the draft was Sean Manaea who they picked 34th overall in the 2013 draft.

The Royals are in their second and final year of a international bonus pool penalty in which they are unable to spend over $300k on any individual player, meaning that their $5.75m value there is likely best used in trades.

Main Photo of Jake Junis via Minda Haas Kuhlmann Flickr