Kansas City Royals considered one of most hopeless teams in MLB
The Kansas City Royals have dropped off significantly since they won the World Series in 2015. Sports Illustrated even listed them as one of the MLB’s most hopeless teams.
The SI staff wrote an article where they highlighted that the Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, and Miami Marlins are the most hopeless teams in Major League Baseball. For anyone who has followed the sport this year, that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
The article ranked the teams who appear to be going nowhere anytime soon, taking many things into consideration. These factors included payroll, farm system, record, and playoff appearances.
Here’s why SI considered the Royals to be a hopeless franchise,
"The best way to explain the Royals’ hopelessness is with the players no longer on their roster. Nine ex-Royals from the 2017 team are now playing for teams that do not appear on our hopeless index, including three key members of their 2015 World Series championship team: first baseman Eric Hosmer (Padres), third baseman Mike Moustakas (Brewers) and Lorenzo Cain (Brewers)."
We all knew things would be rough after the key free agents left for other teams and it certainly has been. Moustakas and Cain have both helped the Brewers get to new heights while Hosmer is now with the Padres, who have hope for the future. Since those three guys left, there hasn’t been much to root for in Kansas City.
The next section was “Where Did Everything Go Wrong?” where the staff answers that very question. After making it to back-to-back World Series, the Royals didn’t get back to the postseason in 2016. No one lived up to the expectations in 2017, even after a midsummer trade that brought four total players to Kansas City to help them make a second half push.
The final section was “One Reason for Hope”, which highlights why fans should be optimistic moving forward. For the Royals, that reason is shortstop Adalberto Mondesi.
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"The 24-year-old shortstop has five-tool potential and projects as a 20-20 talent. His defense is magnificent, with nine defensive runs saved in just 82 games this season before landing on the IL in mid-July. He’s hitting .266 with a .727 OPS and 31 stolen bases. If he stays healthy and gets on base more often, Mondesi will be a force atop the Kansas City lineup."
It’s hard to argue against any of that, as Mondesi truly is a special player. Injuries have limited him from reaching his full potential, but there’s no doubt about Mondesi’s skills as a baseball player. He’s been a lot of fun to watch these past few seasons.
Before SI dove into those three segments, they listed a few other facts about the team, but the most notable was their prediction of the soonest the Royals could return to October being in 2022. This isn’t a bad prediction at all, as the team has some great pitchers coming up in their farm system, including Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, and Kris Bubic, all of whom were drafted in 2018.
Pair those guys along with Brad Keller and Jakob Junis and the Royals could have a steady core and some decent arms in the bullpen when the big games are ready to return to Kauffman Stadium in a few years.
Next. 2020 Free Agent Options, Part I: Pitchers. dark
While the Kansas City Royals might seem hopeless now, we all thought the same thing for 20+ years. What did they go on to do though? Well, they won the whole she-bang in 2015. The impossible became possible and that means we should never completely rule out the Royals returning to relevancy again someday.