From: dae@cbnews.cb.att.com (david.a.elliott)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Who to watch for '93
Date: 14 Aug 92 20:22:21 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <1992Aug10.055436.21525@cs.cornell.edu> tedward@cs.cornell.edu (Edward [Ted] Fischer) writes:
>
>I don't honestly know much about the Royals.  Appier is nice, but the
>rest?  Pichardo has pitched some fine games, and Meacham has been
>successful in relief, but the rest of the pitching prospects seem to
>stink!  The offense will be sad to see Brett and McReynolds go.  *I*
>don't see any light at the end of the tunnel for the Royals.  But
>perhaps I'm missing something.  Will they sign Joyner?  (Did they sign
>Joyner?  I half-heard a report of a 4-year deal...)

This article is a little old now, but I decided to throw my $0.02 in (as
usual) about the Royals.

Pitching-wise, KC has 2 high quality pitchers - Appier and Montgomery.
Meacham might be in that class, but I'm still not convinced he can be
successful long-term without dominating stuff.  The rest of the staff is
talented but full of question marks, and it's hard to separate them.
Gordon, Aquino, Gubicza, Magnante, Shifflet and Pichardo all could be
decent, but all have had problems of one sort or another this year.  I
doubt they will keep Berenguer or Boddicker, and Reed is really a AAA level
pitcher.  This is a mid-level staff, which could be near the best if they
get lucky with injuries.  They are still relatively young.  There's not much
help in the minors.

Joyner has signed a long term contract, but is really having a poor year.
An infield of Joyner/Miller/Jefferies will probably be acceptable.  Short
remains a major hole on this team, and there are no real SS prospects in
their system.

It looks like they are going to give Conine a chance to play outfield
(although they are replacing him for defense at every opportunity).
Assuming he can hit major league pitching as predicted, he will probably
play left.  McReynolds will move to right, and I'm sure my buddy Brian will
stay in center.  Eisenreich will not likely be retained, and the reserve
outfielders will probably be Gwynn, Thurman, and Koslofski.  They have 2 OF
prospects in AA - Dan Rohrmeier and Les Norman, and one at AAA - Adam
Casillas.  Thurman could be bumped by one of them.  It's an outfield that
is only fair, with none of the starters really being top level players.

Brett will probably be back for one more year due to his resurgence during
the last month.  He's not really the caliber hitter you want in the 3 spot
though.

Catching is also only fair.  Mayne is good defensively, but has no power and
can't hit lefties at all.  MacFarlane is starting to hit the ball, and may
yet have a decent year offensively.  He is erratic defensively, but has some
power.  There's not much help in the minors at catcher, either.

This looks like a .500 team to me.  If Conine turns out to be for real and
they get some help at SS, the offense will be better than this year's
abysmal showing.  But I don't think they can put enough SLG in the lineup
to be a contending team.  I'd say 5th in pitching (runs allowed), 10th in
runs scored, a .500 record and 4th or 5th place in 1993.



Dave Elliott
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball