Righty starting pitcher Dennis Leonard pitched his whole career (12 years) with the Kansas City Royals. He was a bulldog of a starting pitcher for the Royals as he liked to battle opposing teams the whole game. He pitched in 312 games (302 starts) for the Royals in his career and he was 144-106 with a 3.70 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. His best year with the Royals was in 1977 when he finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. He pitched in 38 games (37 starts) for the Royals in 1977 and he was 20-12 with 1 save, a 3.04 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Leonard is all over the team record book for the Royals. He is #1 in Royals’ history in both complete games (103) and shutouts (23). He is also #5 in games pitched (312), #2 in wins (144), #3 in strikeouts (1,323) and he is #3 in games started (302). It’s a shame he couldn’t have pitched a little longer but his gun just ran out of bullets.

23-year old righty swinging Billy Butler will be starting at 1B again in 2010 for the Royals. He had a breakout season last year for the Royals but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. He played in 159 games for the Royals last season and he was 183 for 608 (.301 avg, .854 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 21 homers and 93 RBIs. The thing that really stands out to me on his stat line is the fact that he thumped 51 doubles last season. That makes me think that he is more than capable of turning 10 or more of those doubles into homers in 2010. It that happens the Royals will be ecstatic with him. Butler is not a good defensive player however as he made 10 errors in 145 games at 1B last season and that’s way too many. But, he has time to get better as long as he works hard at it.

27-year old righty swinging Josh Fields will probably be Butler’s back-up at 1B if he doesn’t beat out Alex Gordon for the starting job at 3B. Fields played 17 error-free games at 1B for the White Sox last season so he could get a lot of P.T. as a defensive replacement for Butler late in games.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: B+

The Royals have designated 25-year old righty swinging SS/3B Mario Lisson for assignment to make room on the roster for Rick Ankiel. Lisson played in 131 games in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 108 for 475 (.227 avg, .656 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 14 homers, 60 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Lisson has now played in 672 games in his minor league career and he is 610 for 2,403 (.254 avg, .737 OPS) with 367 runs scored, 63 homers, 344 RBIs and 144 stolen bases. The Royals shouldn’t miss Lisson too much in the future if at all.

The Royals have signed 30-year old lefty swinging outfielder Rick Ankiel to a 1-year, $3.25 million dollar deal with a mutual option worth $6 million bucks for the 2011 season. Ankiel played in 122 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 86 for 372 (.231 avg, .672 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 11 homers, 38 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He has now played in 342 games in his major league career and he is 262 for 1,044 (.251 avg, .763 OPS) with 155 runs scored, 49 homers, 157 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Signing Ankiel will have a domino effect on the team as Jose Guillen will now serve as the DH with Billy Butler now starting at 1B. Having Ankiel, DeJesus and Podsednik in the outfield should really improve the defense there as all three of them have been starting center fielders in the major leagues.

Gone are John Buck and Miguel Olivo. 35-year old righty swinging Jason Kendall will take over as the starting catcher in 2010 for the Royals. He played in 134 games for the Brewers last season and he was 109 for 452 (.241 avg, .636 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 2 homers, 43 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Kendall has been slumping for the last three years but the Royals hope he will hit close to his career average of .290 (.752 OPS). Kendall made 8 errors and he had 4 passed balls in 133 games behind the plate for the Brewers last season. He only threw out 17% of the base runners trying to steal on him last season and Brewers’ pitchers had a 4.96 ERA with him behind the plate. The Royals seem to be putting a lot of faith in Kendall whose career is looking like it’s nearing the end.

28-year old switch-hitting catcher Brayan Pena will back up Kendall in 2010. He played in 64 games for the Royals last season and he was 45 for 165 (.273 avg, .760 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 6 homers and 18 RBIs. Pena didn’t make any errors in 30 games behind the plate last season but he did have two passed balls. Pena threw out 19% of the runners trying to steal on him last season. The reason the Royals probably didn’t feel comfortable enough to give Pena a shot to start in 2010 is because Royals’ pitchers had a 5.56 ERA with him behind the plate.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D