Pitching Optimism in Kansas City

Going into the season, fresh off the loss of Zack Greinke, things did not look positive for the Kansas City Royals pitching staff. Indeed, before the season started, I would have called a rotation featuring Luke Hochevar, Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis, Kyle Davies and Sean O’Sullivan easily the worst rotation in the American League just based on the eye test. After all, Kansas City did have the worst pitching staff ERA of any AL team last season and the worst starter ERA by almost .6 runs per game WITH Zack Greinke giving the club 200+ innings.

The numbers give a decent indication as to why the Royals were so bad. They were 10^th in K/9 with 6.5 K/9, 12^th in BB/9 with 3.5 BB/9, and tied for 13^th in HR/9 with 1.1 HR/9. I picked these stats to look at because they are fielder independent and therefore give the best assessment of the pitching staff’s actual performance. If you will notice the Royals had the lowest ERA by a considerable margin despite not finishing last in any category. As you might suspect, their defense was rated among the worst by a few different measures. With the absence of Zach Greinke, one would probably suspect that the Royals staff would not need the help of the defense to finish last in staff ERA once again while bringing up the rear in almost all fielding independent pitching statistics. After all, their only significant addition in the off-season was to sign the recovering Jeff Francis.

Royals Sign Pedro Feliz

The Royals have plenty of money to spend with the contracts of Zack Grienke and Gil Meche no longer on the books. Today the decided to spend a little bit of it to sign third baseman Pedro Feliz to a Minor League deal.. Feliz had some solid offensive seasons in 2003 and 2004 with the Giants, but his offensive game fell off a cliff thereafter and he hasn't posted an OPS over .710 since 2005. Given that he'll be 36 in 2011, there is also essentially zero chance he turns that around.

Feliz's calling card however has always been his defense. Indeed, he may have been the best defensive third baseman in the game between 2003 and 2007. His defense too has fallen off which is what's expected of someone as they head into their mid-to-late thirties. He's still a solid option at the position however and he can provide depth and maybe serve as a defensive mentor to top prospect Mike Moustakas.

Wilson Betemit remains the likely opening day starter for the 2011 season.

The Greinke Trade

Brewers Get:

Zack Greinke (5.2 WAR)
Yuniesky Betancourt (0.6 WAR)

Royals Get:

Lorenzo Cain (1.5 WAR)
Alcides Escobar (0.6 WAR)
Jeremy Jeffress (0.1 WAR)
Jake Odorizzi (A-)

Much more after the break.