Kansas City Royals: Moving Past the Window of Contention

The Kansas City Royals are set to lose their core players after 2017. Is the window of contention open longer than that?

People who are familiar with sports radio in Kansas City or Kansas City sports blogs over the past months have been exposed to the Kansas City Royals window of contention argument.

To be exact, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Wade Davis, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain, among others, all have contracts that will expire after the 2017 season. This leads to the conclusion many have drawn: that the Royals will no longer be among the elite baseball teams because they cannot retain the majority of these key players. This all makes sense to based on the idea of who the Royals have been in the past.

These are no longer the Royals of the past. Alex Gordon and Ian Kennedy‘s contracts proved that the Royals are not going to stand by and watch their players leave in free agency anymore. The Royals’ front office is more than capable of retaining the most important of the 2017 class of free agents and maintain their winning ways.

The Royals were able to give Gordon and Kennedy these contracts by deferring money to 2019 and 2020. Players are willing to make these sort of deals with teams who are successful. It is exactly this type of planning that should give fans faith in the Royals front office.

More from Kansas City Royals

• This Plus-Money Bobby Witt Jr. Prop Bet is on Fire (Hit in 15/21 Games)!
• The Royals Need to Extend Bobby Witt Jr. Immediately
• DraftKings + FanDuel Kansas Promos: INSTANT $150 Bonus Plus Two Chances to Win!
• 3 Royals Players Who Won’t Be on the Roster Next Year
• LAST CHANCE to Claim $250 GUARANTEED Bonus With FanDuel and DraftKings Kansas Promos!

Eric Hosmer is one of the top five fan favorites, but sadly he is the most unlikely to resign because he is young and has the highest ceiling. Hosmer’s future with the Royals is in serious doubt past 2017. But no one gave the Royals a chance at retaining Alex Gordon either, so nothing is set in stone.

Fans should not expect the Royals to keep every player. But it is believable that the Royals will re-sign perhaps two, or even three of these players. If the Royals continue to have success as they have the past couple of seasons then it should continue to drive revenue.

Fans are still not fully trusting of David Glass. He has a long established trend of spending very little compared to other owners to try and maximize the profits of owning a small market team.

Winning has a way of changing people’s attitudes and Glass seems to have changed his attitude by raising the Royals’ payroll to an all-time high.

Royals’ fans should have trust in the Royals’ owner to continue to put money into the Royals. After all, he wants to make them a successful franchise more than most of the fans.

No one knows what the next two years will hold. Fans can only guess what the status of these free agents will be after the 2017 season. Fans must shed this ‘window of opportunity’ argument because it is based on presumptions (i.e. the Royals don’t pay free agents) that are no longer relevant.

Fans should trust Dayton Moore as he is a supremely talented general manager who can keep the Royals relevant beyond any player’s contract. Fans should also trust Ned Yost and his staff of coaches to make the most of every player on the roster. Fans should believe in David Glass to continue to strive to make his baseball team a winner every year to help both Kansas City and himself.

More from KC Kingdom

• Win $650 GUARANTEED Plus $100 Off NFL Sunday Ticket With Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings Kansas Promos!
• This Plus-Money Bobby Witt Jr. Prop Bet is on Fire (Hit in 15/21 Games)!
• How to Bet on the Chiefs vs. Cardinals in NFL Preseason Week 2
• The Royals Need to Extend Bobby Witt Jr. Immediately
• The 3 Most Intriguing Games on the Chiefs’ Schedule

Dayton Moore and Ned Yost are in the final year of their contracts. Royals’ fans should be confident that Moore will continue on in Kansas City while Yost may be more up in the air as he is older than Moore and may be ready to retire. Moore is the key and he has spent ten years building the Royals from nothing to a championship ball club.

Why would he leave in the midst of the culmination of all his hard work? He was born in Wichita, Kansas and grew up a Royals fan. Dayton Moore is home and he is not going anywhere, if everyone in Kansas City including Mr. Glass, have anything to say about it.

Without these individuals, the Royals would have never won a World Series. It is this fantastic front office that will lead the Royals into the territory of sustained success that every fan hopes for their team.  They will ensure the team contends every year for championships like the Cardinals and the Giants. It is this faith that makes the window argument not only silly, but obsolete.

Next: Five Series To Watch In 2016

What do you think about the the Kansas City Royals window of contention argument? Do you think it is accurate? Be sure to leave a comment and tell us your opinion.

Contract info found on RotoWorld.com