Royals Likely Headed for Rebuild

[Bob Sacamano]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/roya...or-rebuild.html

 

On the positive side for them, they have I think 4 picks after the first round. Who can they realistically trade that has value though? Duffy? Perez? I would think they're rebuilding situation is a lot better than the Tigers.

Edited December 4, 2017 by soxfan2014

[steveno89]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/roya...or-rebuild.html

 

On the positive side for them, they have I think 4 picks after the first round. Who can they realistically trade that has value though? Duffy? Perez? I would think they're rebuilding situation is a lot better than the Tigers.

 

Royals rebuild does not have the same luxury of tradeable assets that the White Sox did (Sale/Eaton/Quintana) that brought us Moncada/Kopech/Basabe/Diaz, Giolito/Lopez/Dunning, and Jimenez/Cease/Rose/Flete. That is a tremendous amount of young talent for any farm system to build upon. Those deals allowed the Sox to quickly build up a strong farm system, something the Royals won't be able to do. Duffy could get them a few nice pieces, and maybe Salvador Perez, but beyond that there is not very valuable assets.

 

The Royals should have started the rebuild a year ago and instead chose to go for it once more.

[Bob Sacamano]

Royals and Tigers going to hell right when the Sox have a window opening in the near future is one of my favorite parts of the rebuild.

 

Yep.

[GenericUserName]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/roya...or-rebuild.html

 

On the positive side for them, they have I think 4 picks after the first round. Who can they realistically trade that has value though? Duffy? Perez? I would think they're rebuilding situation is a lot better than the Tigers.

Yeah, 5 of the first ~40 picks is going to be crazy and give them a huge bonus pool. I feel like a good strategy for a quicker rebuild with that many picks would be to go heavy on college players at the top and use the huge bonus pool to pick up any high upside high school guys that fall to the later rounds.

[Bob Sacamano]

Yeah, 5 of the first ~40 picks is going to be crazy and give them a huge bonus pool. I feel like a good strategy for a quicker rebuild with that many picks would be to go heavy on college players at the top and use the huge bonus pool to pick up any high upside high school guys that fall to the later rounds.

 

If Seth Beer isn't drafted first round, they can definitely take a chance on him with those picks.

[Superstar Lamar]

Royals rebuild does not have the same luxury of tradeable assets that the White Sox did (Sale/Eaton/Quintana) that brought us Moncada/Kopech/Basabe/Diaz, Giolito/Lopez/Dunning, and Jimenez/Cease/Rose/Flete. That is a tremendous amount of young talent for any farm system to build upon. Those deals allowed the Sox to quickly build up a strong farm system, something the Royals won't be able to do. Duffy could get them a few nice pieces, and maybe Salvador Perez, but beyond that there is not very valuable assets.

 

The Royals should have started the rebuild a year ago and instead chose to go for it once more.

 

In fairness to the relative situations, they were a championship team trying to squeeze out the last drops of possibility.

 

I think you (not you, obviously) owe a championship team the opportunity to compete.

[Balta1701]

You have to think that played into the Sox overall decision just a little bit. I’m sure Front Offices saw this coming for both teams.

 

Not saying it was the biggest decision for the Sox to rebuild, but when you looked at the landscape, two teams in your division having to hit the reset button helps.

Cleveland being monstrously loaded through 2018 and beyond probably also. They might well win 100+ again next year. In fact, with the Tigers, White Sox, and Royals in that division, they're probably likely to win 100+.

[steveno89]

Royals and Tigers going to hell right when the Sox have a window opening in the near future is one of my favorite parts of the rebuild.

 

Totally agree^

 

Sox should be ahead of the Royals and Tigers rebuilds, and be ready to roll when the Indians window should be closing. Twins are decent, but I like our top end talent better than theirs right now.

[steveno89]

Cleveland being monstrously loaded through 2018 and beyond probably also. They might well win 100+ again next year. In fact, with the Tigers, White Sox, and Royals in that division, they're probably likely to win 100+.

 

Sox knew that they were not going to compete with Cleveland in the near future for the division.

 

Royals gave it one last shot with a championship roster and came up empty. The additional picks and bonus pool money will help, but you can really only squeeze so much out of the draft each year. If you get a couple players who make the majors that is a great draft class.

 

For being one full year into our rebuild we have come a long way, albeit largely due to trading very valuable cost controlled assets. The Tigers/Royals don't have nearly what we had in Sale/Eaton/Quintana to reload with.

[Bob Sacamano]

Sox knew that they were not going to compete with Cleveland in the near future for the division.

 

Royals gave it one last shot with a championship roster and came up empty. The additional picks and bonus pool money will help, but you can really only squeeze so much out of the draft each year. If you get a couple players who make the majors that is a great draft class.

 

For being one full year into our rebuild we have come a long way, albeit largely due to trading very valuable cost controlled assets. The Tigers/Royals don't have nearly what we had in Sale/Eaton/Quintana to reload with.

 

Man the Tigers are going to suck for a long time. Their window was open for a while but just couldn't get the W.

[OmarComing25]

Man the Tigers are going to suck for a long time. Their window was open for a while but just couldn't get the W.

I think the Royals future outlook is worse IMO, the Tigers got two decent hauls for Wilson/Verlander and got a lot of money off the books this season. Meanwhile the Royals currently have arguably the worst farm system and although they'll get 4 picks after the first round I'd rather have the #1 overall pick that the Tigers have than all of those picks.

[Bob Sacamano]

I think the Royals future outlook is worse IMO, the Tigers got two decent hauls for Wilson/Verlander and got a lot of money off the books this season. Meanwhile the Royals currently have arguably the worst farm system and although they'll get 4 picks after the first round I'd rather have the #1 overall pick that the Tigers have than all of those picks.

 

Yeah I just don't think either team has anything worthwhile to deal. Cabrera will bring back nothing even if they can move him. They're gonna have to do it the way the Cubs and Astros did: suck and keep accumulating top draft picks for at least 3-4 years and keep trying to sign and flip guys.

Edited December 4, 2017 by soxfan2014

[steveno89]

Yeah I just don't think either team has anything worthwhile to deal. Cabrera will bring back nothing even if they can move him. They're gonna have to do it the way the Cubs and Astros did: suck and keep accumulating top draft picks for at least 3-4 years and keep trying to sign and flip guys.

 

The Cabrera and Zimmerman deals are a disaster moving forward, as nearly $50 million of payroll is going to those two players. These things should be kept in mind as we all clamor for the Sox to chase the huge money free agents next offseason.

 

They did manage to offload Verlander, Wilson and Upton which goes a long way towards financial relief.

[Bob Sacamano]

The Cabrera and Zimmerman deals are a disaster moving forward, as nearly $50 million of payroll is going to those two players. These things should be kept in mind as we all clamor for the Sox to chase the huge money free agents next offseason.

 

They did manage to offload Verlander, Wilson and Upton which goes a long way towards financial relief.

 

I mean, I'd rather give out the 10-year deals to guys in their mid-20s than the 10-year deals towards the 30/31 year olds (Pujols, Cano for example).

[steveno89]

I mean, I'd rather give out the 10-year deals to guys in their mid-20s than the 10-year deals towards the 30/31 year olds (Pujols, Cano for example).

 

Unless he bounces back, the Cabrera contract is the total disaster. He's set to get paid $184 million guaranteed over the next 6 seasons, which is a ton obviously. Signing a 33 year old to an eight year contract just screams bad idea, and I think the Tigers will suffer as a result.

 

Of course it is easier to hand a 8+ year deal to a player in their mid 20's, but the downside is very real. The Harper/Machado free agency figures very well could reach insane levels that I am not sure the White Sox should be messing with (+$400 million deals).

[Balta1701]

Unless he bounces back, the Cabrera contract is the total disaster. He's set to get paid $184 million guaranteed over the next 6 seasons, which is a ton obviously. Signing a 33 year old to an eight year contract just screams bad idea, and I think the Tigers will suffer as a result.

 

Of course it is easier to hand a 8+ year deal to a player in their mid 20's, but the downside is very real. The Harper/Machado free agency figures very well could reach insane levels that I am not sure the White Sox should be messing with (+$400 million deals).

Interestingly, so far that Cano deal has not been bad. A quick bit of math suggests he's been worth 16.4 fWAR so far in 4 years with the Mariners. So far he's been worth about $130 million in performance to the Mariners and they've paid him $98 million. They're on the hook for $240 million and, with inflation, they're ahead of the game.

 

It doesn't look like he's been worth that much to them because they haven't made the playoffs, but that's the "trick of the free agent market". He's actually producing at a rate above his contract, but because the Mariners weren't that good of a team, they haven't done anything with that performance.

[daggins]

ALC is going to be hilarious next year with three teams in full rebuild.

[Jerksticks]

ALC is going to be hilarious next year with three teams in full rebuild.

 

Which makes me think we're going to win more than most predict (if you believe we'll be better than Royals/Tigers already). We could be a force in the second half when Lopez, Giolito, Hansen, Kopech & Rodon are all averaging 7IP 12K, and Eloy is hitting 5 bombs a week. Suck it

[Quin]

Seeing other teams launch rebuilds makes me grateful the Sox had the pieces they had to kickstart the rebuild

[BigHurt3515]

Seeing other teams launch rebuilds makes me grateful the Sox had the pieces they had to kickstart the rebuild

 

We had way more assets then most teams do.

[Quin]

We had way more assets then most teams do.

 

And more importantly, the assets were elite and controlled.

[steveno89]

And more importantly, the assets were elite and controlled.

 

Just sucks we couldn’t build a winner around what assets we had. The tigers and royals farm systems will take a few years to restock and neither possess the top end talent ours currently does.

[witesoxfan]

Just as it's better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late, it's better to start a rebuild a year too early than a year too late. The Sox could have certainly gone for it last year and could have snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins or whatever it was, but then they face the Yankees and suddenly you don't have near the assets you did the year before, which greatly diminishes any returns you'd get. I don't see any way they end up with either Eloy or Moncada, let alone a guy like Kopech.

 

This is part of the reason why so many people here have graded the rebuild so highly. The so-called easy part is done, and it's going to be quite a bit more difficult moving forward, but with the assets they've collected, they are positioned very well moving forward.

[Balta1701]

Just as it's better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late, it's better to start a rebuild a year too early than a year too late. The Sox could have certainly gone for it last year and could have snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins or whatever it was, but then they face the Yankees and suddenly you don't have near the assets you did the year before, which greatly diminishes any returns you'd get. I don't see any way they end up with either Eloy or Moncada, let alone a guy like Kopech.

 

This is part of the reason why so many people here have graded the rebuild so highly. The so-called easy part is done, and it's going to be quite a bit more difficult moving forward, but with the assets they've collected, they are positioned very well moving forward.

They'd have needed 86 wins to beat the Twins, FWIW, although a couple of those wins could have come from us being a better team against the Twins.

 

Then again...that's still a jump of what, 10 wins from our best effort in 2016 and 2015.

[witesoxfan]

They'd have needed 86 wins to beat the Twins, FWIW, although a couple of those wins could have come from us being a better team against the Twins.

 

Then again...that's still a jump of what, 10 wins from our best effort in 2016 and 2015.

 

If they don't deal Sale and Eaton, they probably would have been close to moving on from Avisail too, if not at least platooning him. Now they're either looking at a decent player moving forward or a guy that they can trade for a small package too.

 

The Sox are among the teams best positioned to make noise moving forward. 2018 will be fun watching the kids, and 2019 could be a really great year, especially if they're able to bring in one of the top free agents.