Kansas City Royals

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Salvador Perez
• C – Mike Sweeney (1B)
• 1B – John Mayberry
• 2B – Mike Moustakas (3B)
• SS – Angel Berroa
• 3B – George Brett (1B)
• MI – UL Washington (SS)
• MI – Whit Merrifield (2B/CF/RF)

Outfielders:

• LF – Hal McRae
• CF – Johnny Damon (LF)
• RF – Jorge Soler
• OF – Jermaine Dye (RF)
• OF – Danny Tartabull (RF)
• CF – Amos Otis (LF/RF)

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Zack Greinke
• SP – Bret Saberhagen
• SP – Dennis Leonard
• SP – Kevin Appier
• SP – Mark Gubicza
• SP – Danny Duffy

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. There are a few brilliant players who made significant contributions to multiple teams, and it’s our job to decide where they made the biggest impact.

Kansas City has to fight for Carlos Beltran and Johnny Damon:

Carlos Beltran

Kansas City: 7 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 24.8 WAR, .287 AVG, 546 Runs, 516 RBI, 123 HR, 164 SB

New York: 7 seasons, 5-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 31.1 WAR, .280 AVG, 551 Runs, 559 RBI, 149 HR, 100 SB

Johnny Damon

Kansas City: 6 seasons, 0 All-Stars, 0 MVPs, 17.3 WAR, .292 AVG, 504 Runs, 352 RBI, 65 HR, 156 SB

Boston: 4 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 16.5 WAR, .295 AVG, 461 Runs, 299 RBI, 56 HR, 98 SB

New York: 4 seasons, 0 All-Stars, 0 MVPs, 14.4 WAR, .285 AVG, 410 Runs, 296 RBI, 77 HR, 93 SB

Looks like Beltran goes to the Mets but Damon stays with the Royals.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t help us out much here – if you go to www.baseballhall.org and enter “Kansas City Royals” you get…George Brett.

With just one player coming from Cooperstown, WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us find the rest.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Amos Otis, Willie Wilson, Alex Gordon, Frank White, Hal McRae, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Sweeney, Salvador Perez, John Mayberry, Freddie Patek, David DeJesus, Johnny Damon, Kevin Seitzer, Darrell Porter, Eric Hosmer, Joe Randa, Whit Merrifield, Mike Macfarlane, Danny Tartabull, Billy Butler, Al Cowens, Mike Moustakas, Jermaine Dye, Alcides Escobar, U.L. Washington, and Bo Jackson.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Salvador Perez, Mike Sweeney
FIRST BASE: John Mayberry, Mike Sweeney (sometimes), George Brett (sometimes)
SECOND BASE: Mike Moustakas, Whit Merrifield, U.L. Washington (sometimes)
SHORTSTOP: Angel Berroa, U.L. Washington (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: George Brett, Mike Moustakas (sometimes)
LEFT FIELD: Hal McRae, Johnny Damon (sometimes)
CENTER FIELD: Johnny Damon, Whit Merrifield (sometimes)
RIGHT FIELD: Jorge Soler, Jermaine Dye, Danny Tartabull

I know that looks like a lot of outfielders, but Danny Tartabull will spend most of his time at designated hitter. That leaves inactive roster options for David DeJesus, Amos Otis, Eric Hosmer, Bo Jackson, Willie Wilson, Alex Gordon, Joe Randa, Mike Macfarlane, Kevin Seitzer, and Frank White.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive. With 23 players on the total roster we have room for 17 more pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Royals) we came up with: Kevin Appier, Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, Zack Greinke, Dennis Leonard, Dan Quisenberry, Charlie Leibrandt, Paul Splitorff, Jeff Montgomery, Larry Gura, Danny Duffy, Steve Busby, Tom Gordon, Al Fitzmorris, and Joakim Soria. Quality relievers Steve Farr and Greg Holland are candidates as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Zack Greinke, Bret Saberhagen, Kevin Appier, Charlie Leibrandt, Dennis Leonard, Danny Duffy
RELIEVERS: Kelvin Herrera, Ted Abernathy, Dan Quisenberry, Greg Holland
SET-UP: Joakim Soria
CLOSER: Wade Davis

That’s a serious bullpen – Montgomery, Quisenberry, Holland and Soria. The inactive pitcher options are Larry Gura, Steve Busby, Steve Farr, Jeff Montgomery, and Dick Drago.

So how did we do?

Is Davis the right choice for closer?

How would you divide up the right field at-bats?

What batting order would you suggest versus lefties and righties?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Royals for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals by Erik Drost
• Oct. 14: Clincher by Karl Johnson
• Kauffman Stadium Fountains by Jeramey Jannene