Sanders and Mays

The signing of Reggie Sanders was a big one for the Royals. At the age of 38, he can still hit for power (he's hit at least 21 home runs in 6 of the last 7 seasons), he still drives in runs, and he still steals bases. He's not the long term answer in right field, but it'll be nice seeing him there for the next two seasons. I'm already envisioning Sweeney's numbers going up since we now have a legitimate clean up hitter behind him.

My only concern about Sanders is that he strikes out too frequently. The Royals already have too many free swingers in the line up, but to be fair, I'm not nearly as bothered by a clean up hitter taking his hacks. Now, Ruben Gotay and Angel Berroa—that's a different matter.

The signing of Joe Mays was a bit of a surprise since we already signed Redman and Elarton, but Mays is a proven starter and will fit nicely in a rotation that has hardly resembled a major league rotation in recent seasons. Mays is injury prone and has never recaptured the success he had in 2001 when he was 17-13 with a 3.46 ERA and went to the All-Star game. His career numbers aren't all that impressive: 48-65 with a 4.85 ERA, but let's be honest, they look good enough to be in our rotation.

Assuming that Redman, Elarton, Mays, and Hernandez are guaranteed four of the five spots, it looks like Greinke and Affeldt may be in competition for the fifth spot. It would be a blow to his ego (and that would probably be a good thing), but I wouldn't mind seeing Greinke pitch most of the year in Omaha. We clearly rushed him to the major leagues. In his first two seasons, he's a combined 13-28 with a 4.99 ERA and he's already given up 49 HR in 328 innings of work.

Well, the majority of the roster changes are complete. Now comes the anticipation of Spring Training. I'm already looking forward to it. How about you?