I wonder how this compares to other teams?

It certainly speaks to GMDM's stated belief - that pitching depth is the single most important attribute of a good organization. Still does seem a bit odd - after all, most teams' major league roster consists of about 52 or 56% position players and 44 or 48% pitchers, so that theoretically should translate to about the opposite ratio - 22 position players and 18 pitchers. Then again, considering the propensity for injuries, maybe this makes eminent sense after all!

Rather than start counting with those who will make the team, let's go backwards and subtract those who will not make it. We will need to subtract 5 players from the current 18 position players on the 40 man, but if Gordon makes the team out of spring training, the figure would rise to 6 because Alex would need to be added to the 40 man. OK, here we go.

I, unfortunately, see no room for Huber on the roster. That's one.

Next stop, backup middle infielders. Royals were very reluctant to play Grud at shortstop last season, so one should probably assume that either Blanco or Sanchez will make the team, with the other sent to Omaha. Probably will be Sanchez in Omaha, primarily because Blanco is out of options due to Baird rushing him to the big leagues. That gives us two subtractions.

That leaves either 3 or 4 subtractions coming from the outfield. I am going to assume Gordon wins the 3rd base job, and Teahen moves to a corner OF spot. That means we have to get rid of 4 outfielders from the 40 man out of the following group:
Gathright
Maier
Costa
Brown
Sanders

My guess would be Costa and Maier go to Omaha, if for no other reason than they have options left. Now it gets sticky. Sure, one of either Sanders or Brown is likely to be traded or cut, but that
still leaves a difficult decision between the remaining player of Sanders/Brown and Gathright. The problem is who can actually play CF well enough to backup DeJesus, and is that a big enough issue to warrant a roster spot? (Remember, the corner backup situation will be somewhat alleviated by Gload's ability to play both 1B and corner OF)

As an alternative, the Royals could keep one additional outfielder and take this concern off the table, but that might possible be at the risk of losing Andres Blanco to the waiver wire. Of course, there is bound to be a spring training injury or two (be it real or "faked") that might delay this decision, but rest assured GMDM will eventually have to address it.

Perhaps the Gload acquisition, if viewed from the perspective of his versatility, makes a bit more sense than we first thought. Surely there has to be a move or two GMDM is still working on to resolve the OF logjam, right?

Personally, I could live with the occasional game where Grud plays SS and German plays 2B. Berroa had no range last year anyway.