Slumping Royals Lineup Has Come a Long Way

Last year, the Kansas City Royals lost 100 games for the fourth time in five years. That's bad, but it could have been worse. Through the first two months of the season the Royals' record was 13–38, on pace to set the record for most losses in a season. The team wasn't just horrible, it was hopelessly horrible. Old players like Mark Redman, Reggie Sanders, and Matt Stairs — who would have been role players on any remotely decent team — weren't just starting in Kansas City, but were among the team's best players. And youngsters Mark Teahen, John Buck, and Angel Berroa weren't just bad, but rated among the worst players in the game.

On May 31, the team finally fired longtime general manager Allard Baird and replaced him with Atlanta Braves executive Dayton Moore. Considered among the game's surest bets to be an excellent GM, Moore took the job with a condition. He wanted owner David Glass, a notorious buttinski who ran his ballclub using the lessons he learned making his money as a member of Wal-Mart's cult-like managerial class, to stop interfering in the work of the professionals. Glass agreed, and Moore promptly got rid of every player and executive he could. Whether because they weren't as bad as their record showed, because they were shaken up by Moore's purge, or something else, the Royals improved immediately, going 49–62 in the last four months of the season. That's bad, but not out of the ordinary. Observers raised their eyebrows.

In the 10 months since he was hired, the only thing Moore has done that's attracted any real attention has been signing free agent pitcher Gil Meche, who last posted a league-average ERA in 2000 and has never pitched 200 innings in a season, to a $55 million contract. This was widely derided. After all, it's one thing to identify a pitcher as a candidate to establish himself as a solid starter, but another to pay him as if he's already done so. In context, though, the move makes sense. The Royals had only four pitchers good enough to toss 75 innings for them last year, and none of them had an ERA below 5.00. A typical, submediocre Meche season would constitute massive improvement for the team. If he actually does what Moore and his capos suspect he might and grows up to be the next late-blooming ace a la Jason Schmidt or Chris Carpenter — all the better for Missouri.

While that's been the only big move, it's far from the only one, or even perhaps the most important. Looking at the totality of what Moore has done since hanging his hat in Kansas City, you have to be impressed. A team that a year ago looked worse than the 1962 Mets now looks as if it might not be half bad. This is not faint praise.

The most important reason the Royals have the faint scent of a possible surprise team (note the qualifiers) is Alex Gordon. Moore had nothing to do with Gordon, but he does get to reap the benefits of bringing him to the majors and installing him as the no. 3 hitter. Gordon, a 23-year-old third baseman whom the Royals drafted in 2005, is one of those rare talents who come out of college as fully mature ballplayers and aren't so much prospects as players who happen not to have played yet in the majors. With a couple of nagging injuries, he hit .325 BA/.427 OBA/.588 SLG with 22 steals in 25 attempts and good defense at Double-A last year. Right now, he's probably about as good as David Wright.

Gordon has knocked the dominoes around in the Royals' lineup. Teahen, who in the last four months of 2006 rediscovered the stroke that had once made him a fine prospect and established himself as a quality regular at third base, has been shipped to right field. (His performance in right has been good enough that he'll probably end up playing a bit in center.) That move sent incumbent Sanders (an ancient veteran who can still hit a little), into left, where he'll platoon with another good hitter, Emil Brown. With center fielder David DeJesus healthy, the outfield should actually be very good. Whereas last year the three slots were filled mainly by Sanders, Brown, and pinch runner Joey Gathright, with DeJesus getting plenty of at-bats when healthy, this year will see DeJesus, Teahen, and a good platoon. That's a big difference. At first base, last year's main player was Doug Mientkiewicz; this year, Ryan Shealy, a 27-year-old power hitter Moore nabbed from the Rockies in a minor deal, will take the at-bats. He's not great, but he's good, cheap, and in his prime. In total, the Royals should be getting good production from all three outfield positions and the infield corners, as opposed to getting it only from third last year. Add in shockingly long-lived second baseman Mark Grudzielanek and stalwart designated hitter Mike Sweeney, and the Royals sport a real lineup. Should the Royals bench the mind-searingly bad shortstop Berroa in favor of a passable gloveman such as Alex Gonzalez, as it seems they will, the team should also have a decent defense, which will help the pitching a lot.

Ah, the pitching — there, as with every club in the midst of rebuilding, is the rub. The Royals' pitching looks pretty bad, but it should also have the capacity to surprise. Moore has not accumulated a great amount of mound talent, but he's also stayed away from hopeless cases. Meche will front a rotation that actually has some potential. Zack Greinke, who is on the comeback from mental health issues that have prevented him from harnessing his immense talent, has the potential to be a true ace. Odalis Perez has been a poor starter for a couple years now after starring earlier in his career. But he isn't yet 30 and probably still has the kind of run in him that makes him worth good prospects at the trade deadline. And former Met Brian Bannister isn't about to rank with Nolan Ryan among causes for Mets fans to grieve, but he should keep the team in games. None of this sounds very impressive, but again, last year the Royals literally didn't have pitchers who could take the ball. Being able to name four starters is actually a mammoth improvement.

What will the Royals do this year? Likely not much; they're in the game's most brutal division, and they're rightly focused not on winning but on acquiring and developing talent. Still, the Royals are finally looking like a major league team. We'll see what Moore will be able to do over time, but for now there's no reason to think the team is going to lose 100 games any time soon. I'm sure Kansas City will take it.

tmarchman@nysun.com