Kansas City Royals: Window of Contention Could be Closing Soon

The Kansas City Royals have definitely been one of the biggest underdogs over the past few seasons, even though they appeared in two World Series and won one of them. Many think the Royals’ contention window will be coming to an end.

After three exhilarating seasons for the KC Royals and their fans, the team took a step back in 2016. It was a kick in the gut to Royals fans and what was even worse was the fact that non-locals predicted the Royals to take a step back. They’ve never had faith in the boys in blue.

The Royals managed to go 81-81 in 2016 despite a ton of injuries. That says something about this team and the way they’re run. That’s why I have faith in this team for 2017, but others aren’t so sure.

People seem to think that the window for the Kansas City Royals will be closing after this season. Most recently, Grant Brisbee of SB Nation had the Royals in the list of teams who will no longer be contenders within the next year.

The article has a graph that has four different sections to it regarding the 2017 season:

Should Contend
“Nope” (aka won’t contend)
Window Shutting
Window Open

The Kansas City Royals were placed in the “Should Contend” category, which is a nice compliment, but Brisbee also put them at the very top of the teams whose window will be closing. In other words, this could be nicknamed “WIN NOW”. He had this to say,

"The Royals have a bunch of free agents after the season, and they’ve already spent a lot more than they normally do"

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"These are the teams who are caught in the middle, between a desire to improve immediately and a need to keep a substantial portion of their prospects because they’re a-gonna need them. Should the Royals dump every A-ball wizard they have if they’re in first place at the deadline? Maybe. Maybe they should be focusing on something more sustainable, lest there be another two decades of darkness."

There’s no argument that the Kansas City Royals will have an interesting offseason ahead of them in 2017. With Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas all set to hit free agency, the Royals will probably be losing a lot of talented players.

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Not to mention if the team is sitting at or around .500 at the trade deadline, will they opt to sell these guys off to rebuild the future? We’ve already heard chatter of Hosmer and the Royals discussing an extension. If that gets done, I think fans would be thrilled.

The Royals have already defied the odds by making it to two World Series, winning a World Series in 2015, and re-signing Alex Gordon to the largest contract in franchise history.

They also retained Danny Duffy, one of their star pitchers, and proved they’re out to compete still, inking Ian Kennedy before 2016 and this offseason signing Jason Hammel, Brandon Moss, and Travis Wood to the team.

I don’t care what the outsiders say about this team. The KC Royals are a different kind of baseball team and they know how to win.

When you look at just how many injuries occurred last season, it’s amazing that the Royals ended up going .500 on the year. That’s proof as to how this team operates and that they’re going to be right back in the thick of things.

Not only that, but Dayton Moore made moves this offseason to show he’s wanting to compete after the 2017 season. He traded Wade Davis for Jorge Soler and also sent Jarrod Dyson to Seattle for Nate Karns. Both of these deals will help the Royals stay contenders for several more years.

What do you think, Royals nation? Are the KC Royals near the end of their window of contention?

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