FanPost

Is Kevin Millwood Next?

It's not an overstatement to say the starting rotation becomes a major question mark for the Royals with the departure of Greinke. But how bad do things look for 2011, really, and what do you think GMDM is going to do about it? Would it be that bad of an idea to bring back Chen or bring in Millwood for 2011 as long as the financial terms are palatable? Is it possible for any contract to be palatable for these guys?

Here's a snapshot of our current rotation's five-year history, just from the standpoint of making it through the season in one piece without wearing out the bullpen. This includes minor league starts and innings. Not completely accurate in that I didn't back out innings for non-starts, but these guys have been primarily starters in the years reflected.

De facto staff ace Luke Hochevar

Year GS Innings Inn./GS

2007 27 174 6.4

2008 25 146 5.8

2009 33 191 5.8

2010 19 108 5.7

Solid veteran Kyle Davies

Year GS Innings Inn./GS

2006 20 92 4.6

2007 30 146 4.9

2008 32 171 5.3

2009 30 169 5.6

2010 32 184 5.8

(One thing you can say about Davies, for better or worse he's lasting farther into games as his career progresses)

Cousin Vinny Mazzaro

Year GS Innings Inn./GS

2006 24 119 5.0

2007 28 154 5.5

2008 27 171 6.3

2009 26 148 5.7

2010 24 159 6.6

(2009 was the jump to ML)

Workout Phenom Sean O'Sullivan

Year GS Innings Inn./GS

2007 25 158 6.3

2008 25 158 6.3

2009 26 140 5.4

2010 29 168 5.8

(SOS broke ML in 2009, but made more starts in the minors than majors in both '09 and '10)

So at this point, Kyle Davies is our workhorse innings eater. Except that he and Greinke both started over 30 games the past 3 seasons but have averaged 175 and 217 innings per season, respectively.

I suppose that guys like Mazzaro and SOS have to be called upon at some point in their careers to make 30 starts and push 200 innings, but they're reaching age 24 and 23. Is it too early yet to expect them to do this?

In complete layman's terms, I'm worried about the starting rotation. Even if a Natural or Royal Storm Chaser makes the big league club out of spring training, they can't be relied upon to knock out a full season's compliment of starts, can they?

I know I'm not looking at this in a sabermetric sort of way, but is that how our GM looks at things? Surely GMDM has night sweats about this issue, and is actively considering rotation options. The best in-house options on the 40-man roster to fill the rotation would probably mean throwing Crow or Teaford out there, but they alone won't fill the void over the full course of the season.

Given the wad in Dayton's pocket after unloading Greinke's salary, is it only a matter of time until Kevin Millwood becomes a Royal?

Steady Kev Millwood

Year GS Innings Inn./GS

2006 34 215 6.3

2007 31 173 5.6

2008 29 169 5.8

2009 31 199 6.4

2010 31 190 6.1

(Yes, the bold is because Millwood led the AL in starts in 2006. He also led the AL in ERA in 2005. Both of these facts will be in the press release/conference announcing Millwoods signing by KC)

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.