alvador Perez will almost certainly miss the year after tearing

It’s a longshot. But where’s the fun in that?"Spring is the time of eternal optimism in baseball Matt Andriese Jersey , regardless how good or bad each team is. It’s time to Believe. For the Kansas City Royals, however, such hopes have already taken a hit. Shis UCL, the somewhat rare non-pitcher Tommy John injury. However, for the Royals, a team fresh off a 104-loss season that saw no meaningful attempts to improve itself through trades or free agency, Perez’s injury doesn’t move the needle anywhere.Let’s be real here: the Royals are going nowhere this year. Yes, they play in a weak division. But there are plenty of good American League teams to soak up the Wild Card spots, and one glance at the Cleveland Indians roster shows how huge of a gap there is between them.That being said, you didn’t click on this article for a cold splash of water in the face. You came to wonder what the Royals would look like if they suddenly became magically great out of nowhere. You came to read an article that the cool, analytical fans are going to quote-tweet with snark and disdain.Some cold hard facts are also in order, and those facts are that it is possible for a team to immediately become a contender from the depths. Remember, the Minnesota Twins won 59 games in 2016—one more than the 2018 Royals—and won 85 the very next year. So in the vein of some of my fellow writers, let’s pretend a little. If they contend, this is what it’s gonna look like. Gather round, kids: it’s the evening before the AL Wild Card game. First Round Draft Picks Back From the DeadThe Royals suffered 2018 in no small part because a trio of top ten draft picks—Bubba Starling, Kyle Zimmer, and Hunter Dozier—had busted hard. But 2019 was a bizarre year of vengeance C. J. Cron Jersey , and all three became core cogs in the machine.Dozier was the least surprising. With 409 of big league plate appearances coming into the season, a steady spot at third base, and a fully healed wrist after his 2017 fracture, Dozier broke out in a big way. The big Dozier clubbed 25 home runs, provided solid defense, and swiped 20 bags thanks to his sneaky speed. Dozier was voted to the All-Star Game as one of the Royals’ multiple representatives.More surprising were Starling and Zimmer, who made their debuts and impacts in their first year. Starling parlayed a strong spring into an opening day roster spot, a spot secured after Alex Gordon pulled a hamstring at the end of March. While Starling struggled at the plate, he turned out to be every bit the defensive wiz he was predicted to be. On more than one occasion, Ned Yost ran a Terrance Gore/Billy Hamilton/Bubba Starling outfield, which, by the numbers, was the best defensive outfield in baseball. Meanwhile, it turned out that Driveline did indeed resurrect Zimmer, who eventually clocked in mid-to-upper 90s with his fastball and boasted a truly nasty set of breaking pitches. Yost and the Royals kept Zimmer in the bullpen to limit his innings, but Zimmer rewarded them: only a late-season Francisco Lindor grand slam bumped his ERA from a number starting with a ‘1’ to an ERA starting with a “2.”A Steady RotationThe Royals’ exciting finish in 2019 was due to many factors, but the first factor here is both perhaps the most important and most uninteresting. While the Royals’ rotation lacked a true ace, it was instead anchored by a trio of workhorse guys who http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , more often than not, simply did their job. the very beginning, as he squeaked into the last bullpen spot for Opening Day and didn’t look back. It took major arm injuries to Peralta and Diekman, respectively, for Josh Staumont and Richard Lovelady to get called up.With an upper-90s fastball, Staumont often looked like a particularly volatile Yordano Ventura. He struck out 12 batters per nine innings, walking five per nine innings. Yes, Staumont got into trouble on more than one occasion. But Zimmer’s brilliance bailed him out multiple times, and Staumont was simply so dominant that he could make any hitter look like a fool even with wild pitches.As for Lovelady? He was simply effective, offering Ned Yost a skilled lefty in the vein of a less good Andrew Miller to mix and match in the later innings. Young Gun Position PlayersAfter 2018, Adalberto Mondesi’s MVP-worthy campaign in 2019 wasn’t that surprising. Mondesi never learned to walk, doing so at a rate under 4%, but when you hit .300 and do so leadoff you’ll get ample opportunity to shine. And that’s just what Mondesi did. The 24-year-old hit 30 home runs—and stole 60 bases. Every time he stepped to the plate was must-see TV. Meanwhile, O’Hearn didn’t quite replicate his 2018 season. After all, not many players manage a 153 wRC+ over a full season. O’Hearn did manage a wRC+ of 120, though, plenty good enough to lock down first base.But it was Nicky Lopez that surprised many. Lopez forced his way to Kansas City in May after definitively proving that he had nothing left to do in Triple-A Omaha. By July, Lopez had displaced Chris Owings as the go-to utility infielder Jonny Venters Jersey , and by September Lopez and his truly slick fielding started at second base more often than not. This allowed Whit Merrifield to take on a Ben Zobrist-ian superutility role, a role Merrifield relished (especially when he got to play center field). So, who knows how the Wild Card Game will turn out. But thanks to some unlikely players, the Royals had done it. They contended. Take that, pundits at the beginning of the year who thought they would flounder. Such is baseball. Atlanta misses out on yet another impact player this winter."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Talking Chop User’s GuideTalking Chop PodcastAround the NL EastBaseball Analysis PrimerBraves miss out on JT Realmuto as Phillies reportedly close to landing star catcherNew,720commentsAtlanta misses out on yet another impact player this winter.ESTShareTweetShareShareBraves miss out on JT Realmuto as Phillies reportedly close to landing star catcherJasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsThe Phillies are reportedly close to adding catcher JT Realmuto from the Miami Marlins in exchange for a pretty hefty package of pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez (No. 27 overall on MLB Pipeline), catcher Jorge Alfaro and a third or fourth piece that is yet to be reported.The impact here, other than Realmuto going to an NL East division rival, is that the Braves are going to miss out on one of the most obvious upgrades available on the market. They will now hope Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann hold up for 162 games behind the plate.If you don’t believe they’re going to pay for Bryce Harper, Manny Machado or Dallas Keuchel – and why would you at this point? – there are few options to significantly improve the roster as we near the start of Spring Training. Craig Kimbrel seems possible, but it remains to be seen if the Braves would actually spend the money to make a reunion happen despite the front office’s lip service all winter. A closer can only move the needle so much.This isn’t to say the Braves won’t be able to contend in 2019. They absolutely can. This team won 90 games a year ago, added a potential impact piece in Donaldson and should see growth from the wealth of young players and prospects in the organization There is a reason the Nationals, Phillies and Mets were chasing the Braves last year. All three clubs have added impact pieces, though, and there are legitimate questions for Atlanta all around the diamond. Most projection systems and Vegas oddsmakers — for whatever it’s worth — will have the Braves finishing 3rd or even 4th in the East.We’ll see if the Phillies and Marlins are finally able to cross the finish line, but all indications are they will. This one is going to sting.