Five Royals Storylines to Watch for in 2018

The Health of the Starting Rotation

If the season started today, the Royals’ starting rotation would likely be Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Jason Hammel, Nathan Karns and Jakob Junis. There are a couple players who could spot-start for the team (Wily Peralta, Jesse Hahn) but overall, the aforementioned five pitchers should begin the season in the rotation. Junis and Hammel come with clean bills of health these past few years, but that isn’t the case for their fellow starters:

Whit Merrifield’s Short Leash?

This may sound foolish to some of you, but we’re less than a year removed from Raúl Mondesí winning the starting second base job in Spring Training heading into last season. We all know the narrative after that. Mondesí struggled, so Whit Merrifield was called up and ran with the job. Hitting .288 on the season with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs, Merrifield was very good in the 145 games he played. He also led the American League in stolen bases with 34. He’s a lock to play second base all year, right? Not so fast.

In Mondesí’s season preview, I used a Dayton Moore quote that caught my eye. Here it is, in case you didn’t see it the first time around:

“Mondy, although he had a breakout year in AAA, there’s still some questions with durability. We need to see that but he’ll get an opportunity to compete at second base again. If he doesn’t win a job, he’ll be back at AAA to develop.”

Many Royals fans, including myself, are 100% sold on Whit Merrifield and believe he should be starting at second base all season. For some reason, Dayton Moore dropped that line about Mondesí getting another shot to compete at second base.

I’m not predicting this (or hoping for it) in the slightest, but don’t be surprised to see Merrifield’s playing time cut a bit if he struggles in Spring Training and Mondesí excels. Merrifield shouldn’t have to deal with a short leash, but it may be a bit shorter than you think. Whether we like it or not, that’s how it appears from the outside-looking-in.

Alex Gordon’s Last Hurrah?

Alex Gordon was bad last season. That’s been established. How bad? To put things into context, Gordon was the worst hitter in baseball in 2017. His OPS of .608 was worst than anyone in the game. I’ll put the tweet in here again:

Entering the third year of his four-year, $72 million contract, it’s time for Gordon to get his act together. He changed his approach in September and hopes to bring the same revised version into 2018. Following what was the worst season of his entire career, many of you have lost hope for Gordon. The only reasoning I can use here for gaining it back is: it’s extremely difficult to be that bad for two straight years.

Yes, Gordon was also dreadful in 2016. However, he wasn’t literally the worst performer at the plate in the MLB. There’s only one way to go from here: up. With an entire offseason to alter his approach and find out what was wrong with his bat, it’s not crazy to expect Gordon to improve in 2018. How much so? No one is sure. Here’s to Gordon (somewhat) returning to form this season.

Bubba’s “Star” Rising?

It seems as if Bubba Starling has been stuck in the minor leagues for almost seven years now. Oh yeah, he has. Despite an oblique injury cutting his season short, Starling was able to hit .248 in 2017. This may not sound like a good figure but when considering he hit .183 the year before, it’s progress. Hitting .248 in AAA is far more impressive than it looks, considering Starling’s extensive history of struggles at the plate.

It’s well-documented that Starling has MLB-ready speed and a great glove. Some are more optimistic than others:

Nonetheless, you get the point. Starling himself knows the clock is ticking on his MLB debut. Earlier this year, he said the following:

“I’ve been in the system long enough, seven years now, I feel like I’m getting kind of old… It’s like, it’s time for me to figure this baseball thing out and run with it.”

Expected to start the season in AAA Omaha, it would be a welcome sight to have Starling patrolling center field at Kauffman Stadium this summer. Set to turn 26 in August, time is indeed running out. It’s time for the Royals to find out what they have in Bubba Starling.

Trade Deadline: Making Moves or Standing Pat?

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA system projects the Royals to finish tied with the Marlins for the worst record in the MLB at 66-96. The team has exceeded the projections for a whopping eight consecutive seasons, though. After losing Lorenzo Cain and (as things stand now) the dynamic duo of Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas to free agency, this lineup is going to have immense trouble scoring runs. That’s just half of the battle.

Dayton Moore and Ned Yost want to rebuild. They also want to win soon. There’s a fine line one can walk in order to do both at the same time. This year is not the time to do so. If at the trade deadline, pieces such as Whit Merrifield and Kelvin Herrera are experiencing successful seasons, expect the Royals to listen to trade offers for them.

Herrera’s been involved in trade rumors for a few years now. In regards to those rumors, along with the club’s recent moves, here’s what he had to say:

“I knew the Royals were rebuilding, or they are rebuilding,” “I wasn’t worried at all. I tell you: I’ll do my job wherever.”

Danny Duffy has had some trade rumors surrounding him pop up as well. He quickly put those to rest with his intent to remain with the club:

Just a few things to think about. If the club is out of contention near the trade deadline, it’s still possible that pieces get moved. The same goes if the team is somehow outperforming its projections. No matter how certain you may be, the game of baseball will always find a way to throw you a curveball when you’re expecting a fastball down the middle.