27-year old righty swinging Mike Aviles was outstanding last season as a rookie for the Royals. He played in 102 games for the Royals last season and he was 136 for 419 (.325 avg, .834 OPS) with 68 runs scored, 10 homers, 51 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Aviles made 10 errors in 91 games at shorstop last season while showing pretty good range. It will be interesting to see if Aviles’ 2008 season was a fluke or not as he never hit like he did in 2008 for the Royals in the minors.

27-year old righty swinging Tony Pena is just trying to hang on with the Royals after his awful 2008 season. Pena played in 95 games for the Royals last season and he was 38 for 225 (.169 avg, .398 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. His problems seemed to follow him into the infield as he made 9 errors in 94 games at shortstop last season while showing pretty poor range.

Willie Bloomquist will likely push Pena out of a major league job. He played in 12 games at shortstop for the Mariners last season and he didn’t make any errors while showing poor range.

25-year old switch hitting Luis Hernandez is a longshot for the 2009 season for the Royals. He played in 36 games for the Orioles last season and he was 19 for 79 (.241 avg, .548 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Hernandez is the best defensive shortstop on the Royals’ roster as he only made 3 errors in 30 games at shortstop for the Orioles last season while showing outstanding range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: B

The Royals have signed 31-year old lefty Bruce Chen to a minor league contract. Chen last pitched in the majors in 2007 with the Texas Rangers. Chen has pitched in 242 games (112 starts) in his major league career and he is 35-37 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Chen is pitching in the World Baseball Classic so he will be a really big longshot to make the Royals’ pitching staff out of spring training.

25-year old switch hitting 2B Alberto Callaspo really played well when Mark Grudzielanek was injured last season prompting the Royals to give him a chance to win the starting job there in 2009. Callaspo played in 74 games for the Royals last season and he was 65 for 213 (.305 avg, .732 OPS) with 21 runs scored and 16 RBIs. He also didn’t make any errors in 46 games at 2B last season for the Royals but he needs to improve his range some as it was below average. Basically Callaspo will win the starting job in 2009 as long as he hits the ball.

31-year old righty swinging supersub Willie Bloomquist was signed in the off season to provide depth and competition for Callaspo this spring. He played in 71 games for the Mariners last season and he was 46 for 165 (.279 avg, .662 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 9 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He didn’t make any errors in 7 games for the Mariners last season at 2B while showing off impressive range. Bloomquist would likely help the Royals more off of the bench as he can play every position except catcher and pitcher defensively.

If the Royals want to have a better bat at 2B then they might give 27-year old lefty swinging Mark Teahan a chance to win the job. He volunteered to give 2B a try due to the fact that he’s blocked at his natural position (3B by Alex Gordon) and he has been replaced in the outfield by Coco Crisp. Teahan played in 149 games for the Royals last season and he was 146 for 572 (.255 avg, .715 OPS) with 66 runs scored, 15 homers, 59 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. It would likely take Teahan all of spring training to learn his new position so he probably wouldn’t be the best defender there. But, if the Royals want to keep his bat in the lineup barring injury 2B is the best shot to do so.

26-year old lefty swinging Tug Hulett was claimed off waivers from the Mariners recently and he is a 2B. Hulett played in 30 games for the Mariners last season and he was 11 for 49 (.224 avg, .615 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. But, he looked overmatched at times whiffing 17 times for the Mariners. Hulett also played in 91 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 100 for 336 (.298 avg, .898 OPS) with 71 runs scored, 14 homers, 47 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: D+