Kansas City Royals Offseason Gets Mixed Reviews

One has to love the prognosticators. After all, they can claim that their prediction, no matter how off base at the end of the season, was based on the best intelligence at the time, and that no one can truly predict baseball. Yet, despite their built in excuse, and own admission that no one can predict the game, they try to anyway.

In his annual Best and Worst of the Offseason article, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com polled several front office members and scouts, getting their takes on which contracts and trades were the best and worst, and which teams improved or got worse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the general apathy towards most of the moves that the Kansas City Royals have made, the Royals did not fare well on this list.

On the positive side, the Royals signing of Jason Frasor received high marks, as five of those polled considered that signing to be the best of any contract for $3 Million or less. Since Frasor posted a 1.53 ERA and a 0.962 WHiP during his time with the Kansas City Royals, it is understandable that the signing would get praised.

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However, that does not the Royals offseason has been considered a success among the pundits. That same pool of experts considered the Royals to be one of the teams that regressed this offseason, as the Royals moves were not widely beloved. However, the additions of Kendrys Morales, Alex Rios and Edinson Volquez could well turn out to be better than anyone expects.

Perhaps that is a part of the stigma that the Kansas City Royals are carrying around due to the past two decades of failure. After all, how many times has a team come out of nowhere to make the playoffs, only to fade the following season? The Royals may be considered as one of those one year flukes, despite the willingness that David Glass has displayed in regards to opening his wallet.

It may take another trek to the playoffs before people trust that the Royals are making the proper moves. Yet, regardless of what the national media may think, there are plenty of reasons for optimism around the Royals. Maybe, if 2015 turns out to be another successful campaign, the rest of the baseball watching world will realize that.

The Kansas City Royals have made the moves they needed to this offseason. Now, all we can do is watch and hope that our optimism is rewarded.

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