KC Royals: Who Will Be Back To Defend The Title?
The Kansas City Royals are the 2015 MLB World Series Champions!
The Kansas City Royals clinched their first World Series Championship in thirty years on Sunday Night in their 7-2 Game 5 win over the New York Mets. This was the second straight World Series appearance for the Royals, and I’m sure the players and fans of the Royals’ organization are expecting to be in a similar place next year.
With that being said, it’s time to start thinking ahead to next season and the situation that the Royals have put themselves in heading into the offseason.
The Royals luckily get the majority of their big-name players back for next year and beyond, but there are definitely going to be some holes to fill, whether its via trade or the free agency period.
Some of the guys who made a significant impact during the postseason who are scheduled/likely to be free agents this offseason include:
SP Johnny Cueto
SP Chris Young
LF Alex Gordon
2B Ben Zobrist
Cueto and Young were both paramount to the team’s success this offseason, pitching in 3 out of the 5 World Series games combined, and were basically responsible for the wins on all three occasions. Chris Young came out in a relief effort in Game 1 of the World Series and pitched very well, saving the Royals’ bullpen from having to get heavily involved in the first game of what promised to be a long series.
Gordon and Zobrist were two of the most important hitters in the Royals’ lineup in the postseason. Alex Gordon hit a massive home-run in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the World Series to tie the game. The Royals ended up winning the game to get out to a 1-0 lead in the series.
Zobrist was clutch all postseason long, both in the field and at the plate. He proved to be one of the most important mid-season moves that any team ended up making, and he proved that he is still a very capable utility player in the field and a good early-lineup batter as well.
So the question now becomes, how much are owner David Glass and general manager Dayton Moore willing to pay these guys in order to keep the World Series championship team relatively intact?
Well many have suggested that the Royals’ front office will likely go after Zobrist and Chris Young first, as their price tag will be much lower than that of either Cueto or Gordon, who will likely have close to $100 million contracts each starting next season.
Could the Royals front office decide to pay one of these guys a massive amount of money?
The answer is yes for Gordon and no for Johnny Cueto.
Gordon has been a career-long Royals player since being drafted in the first round years ago by the Royals, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock if David Glass decided that he wanted to keep one of the franchises’ best all-time players in town. As for Cueto, he was basically a “rent-a-player” for the Royals, who did a similar thing in 2014 with (Big Game) James Shields, who was their Ace pitcher for all of one full season.
Gordon has been a career-long Royals player since being drafted in the first round years ago by the Royals, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock if David Glass decided that he wanted to keep one of the franchises’ best all-time players in town.
I doubt we will see much change in the Kansas City lineup or rotation for next season, but it would be very unlikely that the entire team stays the same, and fans need to understand that Dayton Moore knows what he is doing and that he will get players to replace the ones he lets go in free agency.
Next: Catcher Salvador Perez Wins MVP
This offseason should be a fun one for the Royals’ fans around the country as they prepare to defend their 2015 World Series title.