2008 Kansas City Royals

In 2007 the Royals didn’t lose a 100 games for the 4th straight season, but they did manage to finish in last place in the Central yet again. So even though the team showed improvements they didn’t look like a team ready to seriously compete in this division. They hired a new manager in Trey Hillman to come in and make this team a winner again. The Royals last winning season came back in 2003, when they finished third with an 83 -79 record. The last time the Royals made the playoffs was in 1985 when they won the World Series. While the Championship capped off a great run in the late 70’s and 80’s of winning in Kansas City, they have had 16 losing seasons since that win. 2008 doesn’t give much promise for a turnaround, as they are stuck at the bottom of a division and league full of great teams.

Pitching:

While the pitching isn’t great, they do have three solid pitchers at the top of their rotation in Gil Meche, Zack Grienke, and Brian Bannister. One thing to note is right now none of these guys are any better than a number 2 starter on a contending team. Bannister was probably the best pitcher of the three last year going 12 – 9 with a 3.87 ERA. The bottom two spots of the rotation are expected to be filled by Kyle Davies and Jorge De La Rosa. Both pitchers have yet to perform well and will most likely have another long year in 2008. The bullpen should be decent with Joakim Soria as the teams closer and Jimmy Gobble and Joel Peralta as the main setup men. The team also added Yashuhiko Yabuta from Japan and Ron Mahay from free agency.

Offense:

The Royals scored the second fewest runs in the American League last year just ahead of the White Sox. One reason was they just didn’t have many players hitting the long ball. In an attempt to help out those numbers the team added OF Jose Guillen, but Guillen only hit 23 homeruns last year so we aren’t sure if its that big of upgrade. 2B Mark Grudzielanek is the best hitter on the team, but doesn’t have much power at all. So the team will expect their young players to come up big in 2008. We don’t think that will be the case as this will probably be the worst run scoring team in the league this year.

Defense:

The defense will most likely struggle again in 2008 with all the young players expected to play. They gave up a lot of extra out in 2007, and will probably do the same in 2008. C Joe Buck might have struggled at the plate, but he was exceptional behind the plate. The Royals were among the best in the league in past balls and opponents stealing percentage.

Prediction:

This is going to be another ugly year for Royal fans who have grown accustomed to losing. We see them finishing easily in last place in the Central, and might fight for one of the worst records in all of baseball. Hopefully things get better in Kansas City sometime soon.

2008 Kansas City Royals Odds to Win World Series 100 – 1

For every team’s odds head over to Sportsbook.com and check them out. You can also go to Sportsbook.com to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.

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