# 2004 Kansas City Royals season

The 2004 Kansas City Royals season was the 36th season for the franchise, and their 32nd at Kauffman Stadium. It involved the Royals finishing fifth in the American League Central with a record of 58 wins and 104 losses. It was one of the most disappointing seasons in Royals' history. The team had been picked by many sporting magazines to win the AL Central following their third-place finish in 2003. Injuries of veteran acquisitions did the Royals in. Catcher Benito Santiago and outfielder Juan González both played very few games for the boys in blue. Mike Sweeney was also injured during the campaign. As a result, the Royals set a new record for most losses in franchise history.

## Offseason

* January 6, 2004: Juan González signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.
* January 16, 2004: Doug Linton was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 92 | 70 | .568 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 83 | 79 | .512 | 9 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 80 | 82 | .494 | 12 | 44‍–‍37 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Detroit Tigers | 72 | 90 | .444 | 20 | 38‍–‍43 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Kansas City Royals | 58 | 104 | .358 | 34 | 33‍–‍47 | 25‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

2004 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 7–2 | 7–0 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 10–9 | 13–7 | 6–1 | 9–10 | 4–5 | 7–11 |
| Baltimore | 3–6 | — | 10–9 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–14 | 0–7 | 7–2 | 11–8 | 5–2 | 11–8 | 5–13 |
| Boston | 5–4 | 9–10 | — | 4–2 | 3–4 | 6–1 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 11–8 | 8–1 | 5–4 | 14–5 | 4–5 | 14–5 | 9–9 |
| Chicago | 4–5 | 4–2 | 2–4 | — | 10–9 | 8–11 | 13–6 | 9–10 | 3–4 | 2–7 | 7–2 | 4–2 | 6–3 | 3–4 | 8–10 |
| Cleveland | 5–4 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 9–10 | — | 9–10 | 11–8 | 7–12 | 2–4 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 3–3 | 1–8 | 5–2 | 10–8 |
| Detroit | 2–7 | 0–6 | 1–6 | 11–8 | 10–9 | — | 8–11 | 7–12 | 4–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 4–2 | 9–9 |
| Kansas City | 0–7 | 3–6 | 2–4 | 6–13 | 8–11 | 11–8 | — | 7–12 | 1–5 | 2–7 | 2–5 | 3–6 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 6–12 |
| Minnesota | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 10–9 | 12–7 | 12–7 | 12–7 | — | 2–4 | 2–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 11–7 |
| New York | 4–5 | 14–5 | 8–11 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 5–1 | 4–2 | — | 7–2 | 6–3 | 15–4 | 5–4 | 12–7 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 9–10 | 7–0 | 1–8 | 7–2 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 7–2 | 5–2 | 2–7 | — | 11–8 | 7–2 | 11–9 | 6–3 | 10–8 |
| Seattle | 7–13 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 5–2 | 4–5 | 3–6 | 8–11 | — | 2–5 | 7–12 | 2–7 | 9–9 |
| Tampa Bay | 1–6 | 8–11 | 5–14 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 4–15 | 2–7 | 5–2 | — | 2–7 | 9–9 | 15–3 |
| Texas | 10–9 | 2–5 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 8–1 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 2–5 | 4–5 | 9–11 | 12–7 | 7–2 | — | 7–2 | 10–8 |
| Toronto | 5–4 | 8–11 | 5–14 | 4–3 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–12 | 3–6 | 7–2 | 9–9 | 2–7 | — | 8–10 |

### Transactions

* July 30, 2004: Justin Huber was traded by the New York Mets to the Kansas City Royals for José Bautista.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | John Buck | 71 | 238 | 56 | .235 | 12 | 30 |
| 1B | Ken Harvey | 120 | 456 | 131 | .287 | 13 | 55 |
| 2B | Tony Graffanino | 75 | 278 | 73 | .263 | 3 | 26 |
| SS | Ángel Berroa | 134 | 512 | 134 | .262 | 8 | 43 |
| 3B | Joe Randa | 128 | 485 | 139 | .287 | 8 | 56 |
| LF | Dee Brown | 59 | 195 | 49 | .251 | 4 | 24 |
| CF | David DeJesus | 96 | 363 | 104 | .287 | 7 | 39 |
| RF | Abraham Núñez | 59 | 221 | 50 | .226 | 5 | 29 |
| DH | Mike Sweeney | 106 | 411 | 118 | .287 | 22 | 79 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Matt Stairs | 126 | 439 | 117 | .267 | 18 | 66 |
| Desi Relaford | 114 | 380 | 84 | .221 | 6 | 34 |
| Carlos Beltrán | 69 | 266 | 74 | .278 | 15 | 51 |
| Benito Santiago | 49 | 175 | 48 | .274 | 6 | 23 |
| Ruben Gotay | 44 | 152 | 41 | .270 | 1 | 16 |
| Aaron Guiel | 42 | 135 | 21 | .156 | 5 | 13 |
| Juan González | 33 | 127 | 35 | .276 | 5 | 17 |
| Calvin Pickering | 35 | 122 | 30 | .246 | 7 | 26 |
| Ruben Mateo | 32 | 93 | 18 | .194 | 0 | 7 |
| Alberto Castillo | 29 | 89 | 24 | .270 | 1 | 11 |
| Andrés Blanco | 19 | 60 | 19 | .317 | 0 | 5 |
| Kelly Stinnett | 20 | 59 | 18 | .305 | 3 | 7 |
| Byron Gettis | 21 | 39 | 7 | .179 | 0 | 1 |
| Mendy López | 18 | 38 | 4 | .105 | 1 | 4 |
| Brandon Berger | 11 | 35 | 7 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Wilton Guerrero | 24 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 1 |
| Alexis Gómez | 13 | 29 | 8 | .276 | 0 | 4 |
| Donnie Murphy | 7 | 27 | 5 | .185 | 0 | 3 |
| José Bautista | 13 | 25 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Damian Jackson | 14 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 2 |
| Adrian Brown | 5 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Tonis | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Phillips | 4 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Thompson | 6 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Darrell May | 31 | 186.0 | 9 | 19 | 5.61 | 120 |
| Brian Anderson | 35 | 166.0 | 6 | 12 | 5.64 | 70 |
| Jimmy Gobble | 25 | 148.0 | 9 | 8 | 5.35 | 49 |
| Zack Greinke | 24 | 145.0 | 8 | 11 | 3.97 | 100 |
| Mike Wood | 17 | 100.0 | 3 | 8 | 5.94 | 54 |
| Denny Bautista | 5 | 27.2 | 0 | 4 | 6.51 | 18 |
| Kevin Appier | 2 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 2 |
| Eduardo Villacis | 1 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 0 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Dennys Reyes | 40 | 108.0 | 4 | 8 | 4.75 | 91 |
| Jeremy Affeldt | 38 | 76.1 | 3 | 4 | 4.95 | 49 |
| Chris George | 10 | 42.1 | 1 | 2 | 7.23 | 15 |
| Jimmy Serrano | 10 | 32.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.68 | 25 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Jaime Cerda | 53 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3.15 | 33 |
| Scott Sullivan | 49 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4.77 | 45 |
| Nate Field | 43 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4.26 | 30 |
| Shawn Camp | 42 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.92 | 51 |
| Jason Grimsley | 32 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.38 | 18 |
| D.J. Carrasco | 30 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.84 | 22 |
| Curt Leskanic | 19 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8.04 | 15 |
| Rudy Seánez | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.91 | 21 |
| Justin Huisman | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6.84 | 13 |
| Mike MacDougal | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.56 | 14 |
| Matt Kinney | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.16 | 21 |
| Ryan Bukvich | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.68 | 7 |
| Jorge Vásquez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | Pacific Coast League | Mike Jirschele |
| AA | Wichita Wranglers | Texas League | Frank White |
| A | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League | Billy Gardner Jr. |
| A | Burlington Bees | Midwest League | Jim Gabella |
| Rookie | AZL Royals | Arizona League | Lloyd Simmons |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Chukars | Pioneer League | Brian Rupp |