The Royals could trot out a young or old lineup this year. The young lineup would look something like this: catcher Perez 1b Prato 2b Massey ss Witt 3b Eaton of Melendez, Isbel, Gentry with sp Singer Grienke, Lyles, and 2 of many young ones. BP too many to go through but lots of candidates. Old lineup: c Perez, 1b Pasquatino 2b Lopez Ss Witt, 3b Dozier, Dh Reyes of Melendez, Isbel, Blanco. Sp Grienke Lyles Singer Keller and Yarborough Bp Barlow Staumont Lovelady Chapman Taylor Coleman Garrett Clarke. There are lots of givens such as a few young players are clearly in old lineup no matter and vets in young lineup no matter. Blanco is there as a placeholder like many others, effectively a Paulo Orlando type fourth guy that holds down fort.

If we go the young route and falter, heads will fall and our prospects or recent prospects will start to be dfa’ed at a greater rate. If we go the old route aka the development route, lots of guys who were rushed can develop at Omaha that would have a 2018 draft staff including Bubic , Lynch, Kowar, Heasley, and Hernandez plus Zerpa, Castillo, Sikkema, Way, that could allow those guys to have another chance when they are ready. The starting nine in minors would be pretty good too with Tresh, Prato, Massey, Garcia, Eaton, Cross, Gentry, and ( take your pick) Hicklen, and a few others. Then our last in class minors will look better with a few repeat students or guys that just take longer. The downside is we will lose now but we are expected to anyway. This reminds me of 1969 when we had old guys like Adair and Foy who kept the bases warm. The "old way" will let us keep the guys who are ready now and promote the others in their time. To me it’s a no brained- it’s how to play for 2024 and 2025.