KC Royals: Yankees Adopting the Dayton Moore Philosophy
The KC Royals have become one of, if not the model franchise in the MLB. With their extremely talented bullpen, they have started a new culture throughout baseball.
The Kansas City Royals have won the World Series against all odds. Being in the second smallest market in pro baseball, they have a large disadvantage that has come to light over the years. They seem to lose their star player(s) once they get good (ex: Zack Greinke and Johnny Damon). This has forced the Royals to adopt a different approach.
Royals’ general manager Dayton Moore has went against the grain and build this team from within the organization for the most part. Hosmer, Moustakas, Salvy, and others come from the lower ranks of the Royals organization. They have played together since AA and AAA ball years ago.
Moore has also spent a lot of time and assets on bolstering the bullpen. Most teams value starting pitching over relievers, but having such a strong bullpen has allowed the starters to only have to throw five to six innings before the trio could come in and close out the game. This is a luxury that most teams couldn’t afford over the last two post-seasons.
Now that the Royals have had so much success, teams are attempting to acquire relief talent to try and minimize spending on starting pitching like the KC has. A great example of this is the New York Yankees.
The Yankees have just acquired the hardest throwing pitcher in baseball in Aroldis Chapman. Chapman can throw in the 102-mph range pretty consistently and has been the Reds closer for the last couple of years. The Yankees already had Andrew Miller and Dellin Bentances before trading four minor league players for Chapman. Both Miller and Bentaces are very talented relievers as well and as a trio, they could be considered one of the best recent memory (as Christina Kahri of ESPN speculates).
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Herrera, Davis, and recently acquired former Royal Joakim Soria is a good trio, but it is nowhere near what we should expect from these three next season if they can stay healthy. If the two were to meet at some point next post-season, we could be in for a matchup for the ages.
The new Yankees trio had the top three K/9 percentages in the league (strikeouts per nine) in major league baseball last season, so despite the steep price for Chapman, the Yankees could have just got the key to a deep playoff run. Not many teams will be able to keep up with such a solid bullpen.
Next: Top Ten Catchers in Royals History
Let me know what you think! Could the Royals maintain their success for years to come? Will more teams attempt to bolster their bullpen to attempt to emulate what the Dayton Moore has done in Kansas City? Leave a comment below and let me hear your comments and opinions!