Our Offense

[Cironnu]

Has some big holes in it. I'm curious to see what anyone here would like to see done to shape up the lineup. The "other" board has a lot of people obsessing over Andruw Jones, something I don't agree with. While I'd like to see an outfielder brought in to go along side DDJ and Teahen, we have another need, IMO, that's far more glaring.

Shortstop. I like TPJ, but the fact is that after a hot start, his bat died. He's a terribly ineffective offensive player. I'd love to see DM try to bring in a decent shortstop. My personal idea/dream/wish? Miguel Tejada. He had a down year this year where he only hit 296/18/81. Only! He usually hits for more power than that. He's still decent/solid defensively, and at 31, is hardly ancient. He's going to make 13 million in 2008 and 2009, and after the contract ends there, he'll be owed 2 million in 2010 and 2011 as part of a delayed signing bonus. That's hefty money to be sure, if we end up paying all of it. Of course, if we end up paying all of it, we'd be giving up less talent in the trade. The more the O's pick up, the better the players they'd receive. Still, it'd take us from a black hole at shortstop to a very good offensive player, while not sacrificing the defense. It's pretty unlikely, but it'd sure make me a happy Royals fan.

[JMUplayer]

That's not a bad idea at all considering the price etc etc.
TPJ is not a long term answer by any means... he could be a utility player at best on a contending team.
Someway somehow however all the hitting in the world wont matter unless you get some pitching. The royals have a little bit in the cupboard in the minors but you need a lot and hope that a couple just pan out.

Trading Dejesus would be a move in the right direction... I'm just not sold on his long term value. His current value is as high now as it will be.

[Cironnu]

I like DDJ, but if it was a deal that helped the team, I certainly wouldn't throw a fit about trading him. As far as Tejada goes though, I'm willing to bet that the O's would want some young pitching. I wouldn't want to see Greinke, Soria or Bannister go anywhere at all, but if something to the effect of Lumsden, Nunez, and another guy for Tejada and a marginal prospect, with KC picking up all the salary, would do the job....I'd do it.

It's going to be another interesting offseason, that's for sure. At least I'm not completely desperate to rebuild the pitching staff the way I usually am. If we can hold on to Meche, Greinke and Bannister for the rotation, and Soria and a couple of guys like Riske and Gobble for the bullpen, then we're already halfway to a good pitching staff.

[GeorgiaRoyal]

We've got to upgrade at catcher. John Buck has basically 4 seasons under his belt and is a .237 career hitter. His highest batting average for a season was .245. There was a jump in his homeruns this season going from 11 in 2006 to 18 in 2007 (in about 25 fewer at bats). However, I think he had about 13 of those homeruns before the all star break. I don't think that is a signal of him turning into a consistent 15-25 HR guy. I think he had a good 1st half.

We'll be able to find someone to play 1B. I hope it is Butler. If it is, then we won't need to worry about our offense out of 1B for a while.

We've got 2nd base covered with Grudzielanek, and 3rd base with Gordon. If we can't do better than Tony Pena, then that's fine. He can bat 9th and hopefully improve upon his 640 OPS that he put up this year. Truthfully, I'd be happy if he could just post something close to 700 and maintain his good defense.

The biggest place we need to improve is in the OF. We need more power out of these spots. I don't care what is done, or who is traded. I'm sick of seeing that someone leads the team in HR with 18. That's sad and pathetic. We need a guy that'll hit 30 or so and maybe even challenge the great Balboni's record.

[Cironnu]

I'd like a better hitting catcher too, but I took a look at what the rest of MLB was sending out there and.... Buck was comfortably average, probably on the high side of average. After you get past a handful of big hitters, the drop off is like the Grand Canyon.

One guy who IS available, probably, is Jorge Posada. I'm pretty sure that his 2007 campaign was a bit better than he'll usually do, but he's still a very solid hitting catcher. What if the Royals pay him enough to come to KC for a few years, and we use him as a part time catcher, first baseman, and DH? Catch a couple of days a week when Buck is off, a game or two at first, and the rest of the time as DH. I doubt we could get him to come here, but he'd certainly be a good bat to have around.

And yeah, we need an outfielder with pop. I can live with DDJ OR Gathright in center, and I want to give Teahen another shot in right to see if his bat recovers, but there's pretty much no one else on the team I'm interested in seeing in left field next year. Can't have both DDJ and Gathright out there, Brown isn't good enough....we need a left fielder. I just don't know who it'll be.

[Nat]

Geez.....why, out of all the available free agents....Steroid Guillen?

[Cironnu]

As opposed to "Steroids ????" Plenty of names on the list to choose from. Hunter was gone, Andruw wanted too much, and that left Guillen as the next best option.