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The Royals: Frustrating but Future Stars?
by Nick Scott
Watching the Royals in this very young season is as frustrating as it has been since they acquired Storm and Mark Davis. They show flashes of brilliance and then follow it up with utter incompetence. Sparkling plays by a player seem to come directly before or after major errors by the same player. This baseball can be very hard to watch for the casual baseball fan, and believe me when I say that it can be the same for baseball fanatics as well. However, this is what is expected out of a team this young and is actually very helpful.
The sparkling plays show the sheer skill and ability of these amazing young athletes, and the bumbling errors are a learning experience that is not available in the minor leagues. On most teams, most of these guys would be stuck in AAA or even AA ball, but in the current economic climate of the MLB the Royals have to rush these guys to the majors because they are cheap. But do not get fooled that just because these guys are cheap that they are not good. These guys are actually pretty darn good.sometimes.
Good baseball teams have cycles predicted on when they will have a shot at that "window" where they can go for the playoffs or a championship. The Royals modest window closed last year when their offseason acquisitions bombed miserably. This is the beginning of a new cycle that should come to fruition in 5-6 years. The reason it is 5-6 years is because that is when most of these guys will be available for free-agency and thus will be unaffordable for the Royals just like Dye, Beltran and Damon.
Since this is the first year of the cycle, you have to be patient and enjoy what you can out of the season. It would be great if we went to the playoffs, and it truly is possible, but not likely. These guys are way to fresh and too raw to be consistent enough to win a division, but they have the skills. In the MLB it is consistency that gets you where you want to go, 162 games is too many to get by on raw skill. You have to get hits regularly and have consistent power and a consistent curveball. These are all things the royals are lacking, but only consistently.
They all show "flashes" and hopefully Tony Pena can show these young players how to pull that magic out of the bottle more regularly. If this team is going to gel and win in the 5-6 year cycle, Guy Hanson will have to show guys like Bautista how to win when his curveball is off, and Greinke how not to have his pitches end up 450 feet away in a fountain. Pena is going to have to show Teahen how to make those plays in a big league ball park, and Dejesus how to steal bases.
This is going to be the fun part of the season, to watch our new crop of guys grow up in to major league superstars. If you are sad that you did not get to see Beltran very much, then Dejesus is your new chance. Want to see what Randa was like as a rookie? Keep your eye on Teahen. We've all been waiting for the full-time shortstop that is young and strong since...well I can't even remember our last superstar SS, but Berroa is that guy.
There will be many more frustrating games this season like the Mariners series, but there will also be some as amazing as the Angels series. You have to go out and see how great these guys can be, because it just might happen that in 5-6 years these young players anchored by a stiff pitching staff and helped by a couple of veteran acquisitions could be playing in the playoffs or even in the World Series. When that day does hopefully come, you can sit there in your coat and holding a beer and say to your buddy "These are my guys, I've been following them for 5 years now, they might be gone next year, but this is what we've been building for." Once you make it to the playoffs, nearly anything can happen, so do not give up on these guys. Applaud them for their sparkling plays and their effort, help build them up with that great Kansas City spirit and maybe we can be lucky and cultivate an atmosphere where players will stay, and we have enough money to keep them.
