MLB Preview: Kansas City Royals

The 2007 season was a season of progress for the Kansas City Royals as they avoided another 100 loss season, it may not sound like much progress but if you are a Royals fan you will take what you can get at this point.

The Royals seem to be showing signs of actually becoming a relevant franchise again as Drayton Moore has taken the reigns of the team as GM, and tried to mold them into the form of the Atlanta Braves, which is where he came from.

The Royals saw their promising prospect Alex Gordon finally settle down and become a solid player during the 2nd half of last season, and Billy Butler showed that he can terrorize major league pitching, despite not being able to play a lick of defense.

The 2008 Royals should continue to make progress, and may actually avoid finishing in the cellar for the first time in nearly 5 seasons.

Now it's time to answer three questions about the 2008 Kansas City Royals

(1) Is there finally going to be life within the Royals franchise again?

The Royals recent streak of futility is all to common amongst Royals fans, and the team really has never recovered from the strike of 1994. The Royals play in one of the Majors smallest markets which makes it difficult to compete, but the Royals have also seen small market clubs like the A's and Twins succeed in recent years so that excuse only goes so far.

In reality the problem with the Royals is that ownership wasn't committed to a winning team, and former GM Allen Baird really was not given much of a chance to succeed, and in all honesty didn't do a solid enough job developing the farm system.

The year and a half tenure of Moore has proven to be relatively successful as he has made some solid, if unspectacular moves in acquiring Tony Pena jr. from the Braves prior to opening day last season. Pena will never be confused with Cal Ripken at the plate, but his glovework is amongst the best in the majors, and will make fans easily forget about Angel Berroa. Moore has also found diamonds in the rough like Brian Bannister who surprised everyone in baseball by winning 12 games and posting a sub 4 ERA.

Maybe the biggest difference between Moore and previous leadership in the Royals organization is his patience with young players. Moore never wavered after Alex Gordon struggled to hit above .100 midway through May last year, proclaiming that he was the third baseman of the team and would not be sent down to the minors. Moore's stance gave Gordon the confidence to rebound in the 2nd half last season. It remains to be seen how successful the Royals will be, but the team definitely is on the right track and can be considered a relevant franchise again.

(2) Where will the team play Billy Butler?

Billy Butler is a unique case of a player who despite being young, just doesn't have the range or ability to play any defense. The team tried playing him at 1b last year, and that didn't prove to be a successful decision, but if Butler will play anywhere on defense it will have to be at first. The team also tried him in Left Field and that was not a pretty sight.

It's probably time for the Royals to give up on the notion that Butler will be anything more than a DH, and although that may be tough to stomach, the team can't afford to have his bat out of the lineup. The advantage for the Royals is that they don't really have a solid incumbent DH as Mike Sweeney is no longer on the squad, and Butler would fill a need for the club.

Butler hit nearly 300 last season and drove in 52 runs despite playing only half of the season. Butler has 30 home run potential and should be a staple in this lineup for years to come.

(3) Can the Royals expect their starting rotation to continue to make strides?

The signing of Gil Meche to a 5 year 55 million dollar contract last off-season was ridiculed by everyone within baseball. All Meche did was post a remarkable 3.67 ERA, and was named the Royals pitcher of the year by the local media. Meche only won 9 games despite that incredible ERA, but that was because he received the 2nd lowest run support in Major League Baseball last season. The Royals can expect that win total to jump significiantly this season.

The most important member of the Royals rotation, and perhaps the organization for that matter is Zach Grienke, Grienke has as much talent as any young pitcher in the majors, but has had some mental health problems that he appears to have recovered from. Greinke was sent to the Royals bullpen after struggling in the rotation last April, Greinke became comfortable in the bullpen, and got another chance to enter the rotation later in the season. Greinke became lights out, and has the Royals brass extremely excited in his potential this season.

The rotation still is a work in progress after third starter Brian Bannister, as the Royals have been trying to piece together the end of the rotation for the better part of two years. Odaliz Perez, and Jorge De La Rosa have been given numerous chances to perform. The team even invited Hideo Nomo to camp to see if he had anything left in his arm. The Royals would like to see Braves castoff Kyle Davies come through and win a spot, but he has had a terribly inconsistent career as well.

The 2008 Royals are still a ways away from catching Detroit and Cleveland, but if the team is able to find some answers at the back end of the rotation they will be a lot closer to catching those teams in 2009.