One has to wonder if Buddy Bell is the right man to manage the Royals.  This will be Bell’s third season for the Royals as manager and he has a 105-169 (.383) record so far.  Buddy Bell has 8 years of experience as a major league manager and he has a career record of 450-631 (.416) and he’s only had 1 season (2000) with a winning record.  He also has never had a team that he’s managed finish above third place.

The Brewers had designated Ben Hendrickson for assignment to the Royals offered up Max St. Pierre which is pretty much like taking a free roll on Hendrickson as St. Pierre only hit .202 in 78 games in AAA ball and had no future with the Royals.  Hendrickson is a 26 year old righthanded starting pitcher.  He was 0-2 in 4 games (3 starts) for the Brewers last season with a 12.00 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP.  He pitched pretty well in AAA ball last season though as he was 9-8 with a 3.36 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 23 starts.  This was a good trade for the Royals as they gave up absolutely nothing to get Hendrickson.

The Royals have brought in 4 relief pitchers to help fix one of their most glaring weaknesses from the 2006 team.  The Royals gave Octavio Dotel the big bucks to be the closer this season and they signed David Riske, lefty John Bale and claimed Ken Ray off of waivers from the Atlanta Braves.  The signing of 33 year old righty Octavio Dotel was a surprise and it’s a big risk, but one the Royals were willing to take.  He has only pitched 25.1 innings over the last two seasons in the majors as he had Tommy John surgery in 2005.  He pitched in 14 games at the end of last season for the New York Yankees and things didn’t go too well for him.  He was 0-0 with 1 hold, a 10.80 ERA and a 2.90 WHIP!  He allowed opposing hitters to bat .383 against him and he walked 11 batters in 10 innings.  Still, Dotel will be a good stopper for the Royals if he’s healthy as he’s been a solid pitcher over his 8 year major league career.  He has pitched in 395 games in his career and he has a 37-31 record with 79 holds, 71 saves, a 3.75 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.  Over his career, batters have only hit .216 against him and he has whiffed 732 batters in 610.1 innings.  Look for Dotel to save 25-30 games with a 2.75-3.25 ERA if he stays healthy all season.

30 year old righty David Riske was brought in as insurance for Dotel’s elbow and to pitch in the 8th inning if he stays healthy.  He was 1-2 with 2 holds, a 3.89 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 41 games for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.  Batters only hit .241 against Riske last season but he gave up 6 homers and walked 17 batters in 44 innings and that’s too many.  Royals fans should be nervous if Riske somehow winds up closing games because he’s very poor under pressure as he’s only 16 of 30 in his career save opportunities.  He also has only 36 holds in 328 career games which further demonstrates and inability for him to handle pressure situations.

32 year old lefty John Bale was brought in to handle the situational lefty role late in games for the Royals this season.  He pitched in Japan last season and he was 1-2 with 6 saves and a 2.93 ERA there last season.  Bale has 27 games (9 starts) of major league experience and he was 2-2 with a 4.69 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.  The Royals better hope he learned some new tricks in Japan.

25 year old lefty Jimmy Gobble will be back in the bullpen this season.  He was 4-6 with 11 holds, 2 saves, a 5.14 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP in 60 games (6 starts) for the Royals in 2006.  Gobble struck out 80 batters in 84 innings and it appeared that he threw much harder out of the bullpen so maybe he will improve this season. 

31 year old righty Joel Peralta had a decent first season for the Royals as he was 1-3 with 17 holds, 1 save, a 4.40 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in 64 games in 2006.  Batters hit .263 against him but he minimized the damage by only walking 17 batters in 73.2 innings last season.  If the Royals just let him pitch against righthanded batters he could be really good as he held them to a .234 batting average while lefties pounded him to the tune of a .338 clip.  Look for him to do a good job for the Royals again this season.

32 year old righty Ken Ray pitched in the majors for the first time since 1999 last season for the Braves.  He was 1-1 with 7 holds, 5 saves, a 4.52 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 2006 for the Atlanta Braves.  Batters hit .259 against him last season and he walked 38 batters and allowed 9 homers in only 67.2 innings.  The American League is much less forgiving of walks and homers so don’t expect much from Ray this season.

29 year old righty Todd Wellemeyer was 1-4 with 3 holds, 1 save, a 4.14 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP in 46 games for the Florida Marlins and Kansas City Royals last season.  Batters only hit .241 against him last season but he walked an amazing 50 batters in 78.1 innings last season and he will not get away with that.  If Wellemeyer would just trust his stuff and throw strikes he would be a good major league pitcher.  Will he do that this season…..who knows?

32 year old righty Joe Nelson wound up being the stopper for a while last season and he did a decent job for the Royals.  He was 1-1 with 5 holds, 9 saves, a 4.43 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP in 43 games in 2006.  Nelson whiffed 44 batters in 44.2 innings and held them to a .226 batting average against him, but he got hurt by walks (24).  Sadly, Nelson will miss the first couple of months after he hurt himself in Spring Training.

The Royals were so upset at how Angel Berroa was playing this Spring that they traded one of their best young pitchers, Erik Cordier, to the Atlanta Braves for Tony Pena Jr.  Pena played in 40 games for the Braves last season and he only hit .227 with a .602 OPS.  He also played in 81 games in AAA ball and he hit .282 with a .671 OPS.  Pena had the reputation of being a good defender, but he’s never been a good hitter as last season was the first time in 7 years that Pena hit over .260 in a minor league season. 

21 year old righty pitcher Erik Cordier will miss the entire 2007 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery last fall.  He started 10 games in the minors for the Royals last season and he was 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.  This trade could look very, very bad for the Royals in a couple of seasons.

Not sure if the Royals will have a better rotation than they did last season but at least they are trying to get better.  The Royals gave Gil Meche a gigantic 5 year contract to be their ace this season.  Meche definately has the arm to be a top end starter in the majors but he hasn’t converted it into results yet.  Part of the reason why Meche hasn’t been a big winner in the majors is because he walks too many batters (4.01 per 9 innings over his career).  Meche was 11-8 with a 4.48 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP last season for the Seattle Mariners.  Look for Meche to win 13-15 games with an ERA of around 4.50 for the Royals.

30 year old lefty Odalis Perez looks like he’ll be the #2 starter for the Royals and that’s not a good thing.  Perez was 6-8 with a 6.20 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP in 32 games (20 starts) for the Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers last season.  The Royals are hoping that Perez can return to the form that he showed before last season as he was a decent pitcher.  Look for Perez to win 8-12 games with a ERA from 4.90-5.30 in 2007.

29 year old righty Luke Hudson will probably be the #3 starter for the Royals this season.  He was 7-6 with a 5.12 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP in 26 games (15 starts) last season.  Hudson has always had a good arm but he never could get good results but maybe that is about to change this season.  Look for Hudson to win around 10 games with an ERA around 5.00 in 2007.

26 year old lefty Jorge de la Rosa has a great arm and he pitched better for the Royals than he ever did for the Brewers in his first 2.5 seasons in the majors.  He was 5-6 with a 6.49 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP with the Royals and the Milwaukee Brewers.  de la Rosa pitched much better for the Royals as he was 3-4 with a 5.18 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP in 10 starts for them.  He has to learn how to pitch as he was hurt by the longball (14 homers) and walks (54) in only 79 innings last season.  He needs to learn to trust his stuff and not try to strike everyone out as he whiffed 67 batters last season. 

23 year old righty Zack Greinke will try to win a spot in the rotation this season after spending most of the season in the minors as he was dealing with depression.  He did well in AA ball last season as he pitched in 18 games (17 starts) and he was 8-3 with a 4.34 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.  He then came up and went 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP in 3 relief appearances for the Royals.  Look for Greinke to have a good comeback season for the Royals.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he won 10-15 games with an ERA under 4.00 in 2007.

26 year old righty Brian Bannister was brought to the Royals in a trade with the Mets in the off season.  He was 2-1 with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP in 8 games (6 starts) for the Mets in 2006.  He missed a large chunk of the season but he’s a tough guy that knows how to pitch.  He walked too many batters as he allowed 22 walks in only 38 innings and he’ll need to improve on that to be successful in the majors.  If Bannister doesn’t make the team he will be the first player re-called by the Royals but I think he’s going to make the team out of Spring Training.

31 year old righty Scott Elarton will miss a little bit of time as he’s recovering from shoulder surgery but the Royals need him back.  Elarton was 4-9 with a 5.34 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP in 20 starts last season.  Elarton has decent stuff and he knows how to pitch which is a needed quality on the Royals.  Look for Elarton to be around a .500 pitcher for the Royals this season as long as the improved bullpen can hold his leads because he’s little more than a 5 inning pitcher at this point in his career.

22 year old righty Joakin Soria was a Rule 5 Draft Pick that has an outstanding shot of sticking with the Royals.  He was mostly used as a reliever last season but he was a starter in Winter Ball and he was fantastic.  Last season between A ball and the Mexican League, Soria was 1-0 with 15 saves and a 3.51 ERA (1.13 WHIP).  Look for Soria to be in the bullpen to start the season for the Royals but don’t be surprised if he eventually gets a shot in the rotation for them.

31 year old righty Brandon Duckworth is a long shot to make the Royals after how he pitched for them last season.  He was 1-5 with a 6.11 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP in 10 games (8 starts).  He really got blasted by hitters who appeared to be running up to the plate against him as they hit .332 against him in 2006.  He will likely pitch in the minors while awaiting another chance in the majors.

29 year old righty Zach Day is a longshot to make the Royals rotation but he’s had some success in the majors before.  Day missed most of last season as he only started 5 games for the Washington Nationals in 2006.  He was 1-3 with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP for the Nationals.  He has a career major league record of 21-27 with a 4.66 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP in 86 games (60 starts).