Opening Day Pitching Staff

by lordbyronk on Jan 23, 2008 3:19 PM EST

Has anyone else noticed how deep our pitching has become? I mean, who will make the opening day roster?

Starters:
Meche, Greinke, Bannister, Hochevar, Tomko, Davies, JDLR, Bale, Hudson

Relievers:
Braun, Duckworth, Yabuta, Soria, Peralta, Musser, Mahay, Nunez

Long Shots: Tsao, Colon, Lawerence Nomo

If I were mixing and matching this bunch. I would carry the following
Starters: Meche, Greinke, Bannister, Hochevar, Tomko
Relievers: Hudson, Bale, Peralta, Gobble, Nunez, Mahay, Yabuta, Soria

Figuring that Spring Training will sort most of this out, how would you mix and match the pitching staff, if we start tommorow?

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Agree except

You've got eight relievers. I'd have Hudson in AAA.

That's no lefties in the rotation, but four in the 'pen---Yabuta, Mahay, Bale and Gobble.

Peralta and Nunez setting up Soria from the right side, with an opening for Duckworth if he performs well in spring.

GMDM on the caravan said he expected Hocheavar to pop and really impress people and that Greinke was locked into the rotation and that 200 'high quality' innings was a reasonable expectation from him.

by howserfan on Jan 23, 2008 3:22 PM EST reply actions

deep, but not necessarily strong

but this could be a kick ass NL staff

I wanna know what love is, I want you to show me

by LeoBloom on Jan 23, 2008 3:29 PM EST reply actions

True

would it be better than the one that the Rockies went to the World Series with last year? I think, yes.

by lordbyronk on Jan 23, 2008 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

Yes

Bale is a decent reliever, but he needs better control to survive a move to rotation. Hochevar is not major league ready and needs to work through some things in the minors. As is, Davies is replacement level and needs his control to improve either significantly to stick in the rotation or modestly to stick in the pen. de la Rosa is replacement level as a starter, with the upside of a lefty relief specialist. Hudson pitched 18 innings last year, and his upside at this point looks a lot like Tomko.

Braun and Musser could be nice relievers, but they are essentially replacement level until their control improves. Duckworth is AAA fodder with no upside.

Assuming a 11-man staff, I would go with a rotation of Meche, Greinke, Bannister, Tomko, and either Bale or Nunez, with a bullpen of Soria, Yabuta, Mahay, Peralta, Gobble, and either Bale or Nunez.

That would be a solid rotation but with a few questions (like whether the top three can repeat their 2007 performances), and a very strong bullpen. Paired with a mostly strong defense, there is genuine reason for optimism.

by Gopherballs on Jan 23, 2008 4:38 PM EST up reply actions

i agree

by Freneau on Jan 23, 2008 5:29 PM EST up reply actions

I think it will be

Rotation: Meche, Bannister, Greinke, Tomko, Hudson

Bullpen: Duckworth, Gobble, Mahay, Bale, Yabuta, Peralta, Soria

Omaha - Davies, Hochevar, Nomo, Lawrence, Tsao, Musser, Nunez, Braun

Released - de la Rosa

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 23, 2008 6:21 PM EST reply actions

Nunez is out of options

There's about a 0% chance he'd make it through waivers. I highly, highly doubt they'd keep Duck over Nunez.

by doublestix on Jan 23, 2008 6:48 PM EST up reply actions

Didn't know that

Put Nunez in the bullpen in Duck in Omaha or on waivers.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 23, 2008 8:08 PM EST up reply actions

Hey!

That's more like it!

by doublestix on Jan 23, 2008 8:09 PM EST up reply actions

If KC started tomorrow

here is the way it would break down for me:

Starters: Meche, Greinke, Bannister, Tomko and DelaRosa

Relievers: Soria, Yabuta, Mahay, Peralta, Gobble, Nunez and Bale.

Omaha will be stacked:
Rotation: Hochevar, Davies, Hudson, Lumsden, Rosa and Wright

Bullpen: Hughes, Braun, Musser, Plummer, Colon, Giron, Tsao,

Predictions:

At least 2-4 pitchers will have strains and pulls beginning season on DL.
Duckworth and DelaRosa are first ones to be dealt or released.
Sleeper in the bullpen is Leo Nunez. He will be lights out in a 2-3 inning role.
Hudson will start at Omaha to get some work.
Best thing for Davies and Hochevar is to start at Omaha and learn how to dominate. Midseason callups who won't return to AAA after that.
Royals will pull the trigger in spring training and deal a LH in bullpen like Gobble or Bale.

by daveyork on Jan 23, 2008 7:33 PM EST reply actions

this is how it works out for me...

if only for a few starts, i think we need to give JDLR a little bit of time as one, last gasp effort to capture his potential or whatever.

whenever hochevar and/or davies begins to dominate at AAA, or someone else too i guess, DFA JDLR (assuming he sucks as usual, if he is pitching well we have a pretty sweet "problem" to have) and bring him up. that bullpen could be really good.

however, and this goes against what i just said, what about trying JDLR out in the bullpen? i know we have more than enough lefties in the pen already, but if we trade one of them (most likely gobble), it might be worth trying out.

by rockchalk on Jan 24, 2008 10:38 PM EST up reply actions

Davies and De La Rosa

While I'd like them to get some major league starts this season, I think their major league futures are in the bullpen. I think both could make effective relievers, maybe even good relievers. If they don't succeed in the rotation, I hope they get a shot in the pen.

I probably disagree with you.

by Scott McKinney on Jan 24, 2008 10:45 PM EST up reply actions

I'll go with an 11-pitcher projection...

...because with Moore's pickups of Callaspo and Olivio, breaking camp with 5 bench spots instead of 4 seems fairly likely. That said, here is what my magic 8 ball revealed to me:

Rotation: Same as daveyork's--Meche, Greinke, Bannister, Tomko, JDLR

Bullpen: Soria, Mahay, Yabuta, Nunez, Peralta, Bale, with Gobble getting traded (Mahay's and Yabuta's splits against lefties make Gobble at least somewhat expendable).

Omaha rotation: Hochevar, Davies, Hudson, Lawrence, Lumsden, Tsao. Nomo gets released.

by DarthYoshi on Jan 24, 2008 11:58 AM EST reply actions

My guess

I also think it will be an 11-man pitching staff because we don't need a 12th pitcher and we do need (or at least want) all five of those bench spots.

Rotation
Meche
Bannister
Greinke
Tomko
De La Rosa

Bullpen
Soria
Yabuta
Mahay
Bale
Peralta
Gobble

Are we sure Nunez is out of options? Is this verified? If he is out of options, then I think he will be in the bullpen with someone like De La Rosa traded, then Bale moves to the rotation.

I probably disagree with you.

by Scott McKinney on Jan 24, 2008 10:06 PM EST reply actions

We don't need a 12th

But I've read a few times that they want to go with a 12 man staff. I think 12 man staffs are stupid, especially early in the year when you only have a four man rotation.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 25, 2008 9:16 AM EST up reply actions

I haven't read anything like that

I try to read everything on the Royals that I can find and I haven't read anywhere that the Royals want to have or plan to have a 12-man pitching staff. Where did you see this?

I probably disagree with you.

by Scott McKinney on Jan 25, 2008 1:13 PM EST up reply actions