Kansas City Royals All-Time Team

Let's head to the heartland for a look at the Kansas City Royals All-Time Team.

 

Kauffman Stadium has been the Royals' home for nearly their entire existence, including World Series title-winning seasons in 1985 and 2015. Amazingly, this stadium still bears the name of the club's former owner thirty years after his passing*.

*I've probably just jinxed this, and tomorrow they'll announce a naming rights deal with Hobby Lobby or something.     

 

 

The winningest manager in Royals history has a losing record with the club, but Ned Yost managed more than twice as many games as Kansas City's other Series-winning skipper, Dick Howser.

Let's see the lineup Yost can boast:

Full disclosure: Salvador Perez was batting seventh in the original lineup, but breaking the single-season record for home runs by a catcher and tying the single-season team record triggered a bit of a shuffle. Freddie Patek is the lightest-hitting starter we've seen so far. Kansas City has to have a better option, right? Welll...

The good news is, 12 of the top 50 players in Royals history (by WAR total) are shortstops.

The bad news? Five of them don't qualify. One of them (Jay Bell) needed just one season to compile more Royal WAR than Brian McRae and John Wathan. Another one (Mike Aviles) played 301 games over four seasons.

	Royals stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	GP w/KC
	*Freddie Patek	20.5	0.241	0.309	0.321	0.630	78	1245
	Alcides Escobar	8.1	0.259	0.292	0.344	0.636	73	1245
	U L Washington	8.5	0.254	0.316	0.347	0.663	84	757
	Angel Berroa	2.2	0.263	0.305	0.384	0.689	78	627
	Kurt Stillwell	6.9	0.256	0.318	0.373	0.691	93	524
	Bill Pecota	8.1	0.254	0.330	0.370	0.700	94	445

There's your starting shortstop battle. Yuck. Escobar has a Gold Glove and an All-Star nod, but Patek has three All-Star appearances and nearly 400 stolen bases. He'll stay -- for now.

Yost has some more palatable options for his bench bats, including a new middle infielder (unfortunately not a shortstop).

Whit Merrifield has led the league in stolen bases three times, led the league in at-bats and games played three consecutive seasons, and turned 34 years old in January. You'd think a player like that would have stolen at least 300 bases by now. Yet Whit has not even reached 200 steals, nor has he swiped as many career bags as catcher Jason Kendall.

Porter and Mayberry are safe, but what about the rest of the Royal infielders?

	Royals stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Billy Butler	12.5	0.295	0.359	0.449	0.808	119
	*Kevin Seitzer	17.3	0.294	0.380	0.394	0.774	115
	Eric Hosmer	15.4	0.284	0.342	0.439	0.781	111
	Whit Merrifield	17.1	0.286	0.332	0.425	0.757	103

Billy Butler is basically a backup DH, but Merrifield isn't enough of an upgrade at the plate - and his speed isn't needed when the Royals can run with Patek, Otis, and Willie Wilson.

I know what you're thinking...

 

where's Bo Jackson?

	Royals stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Willie Wilson	42.4	0.289	0.329	0.382	0.711	95
	Lorenzo Cain	24.7	0.289	0.342	0.421	0.763	106
	David DeJesus	18.1	0.289	0.360	0.427	0.787	108
	Bo Jackson	7.0	0.250	0.308	0.480	0.787	115

If Alex Gordon wasn't such a tremendous fielder, Yost could swallow the strikeouts and start Bo in left. Alas.

Can this squad surprise opponents by winning with pitching and defense? Probably not, but the Royals' rotation just got a whole lot better.

Zack Greinke returned to Kansas City in 2022 and is now beginning his ninth season in Royal blue. I can't possibly keep him on Arizona's all-time team, so he'll slide in behind Bret Saberhagen here. But who does that push out of the rotisserie: Paul Splittorff, Mark Gubicza, or .. both?

	Royals stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP
	*Paul Splittorff	22.4	3.81	101	1.36	1.340
	*Mark Gubicza	38.0	3.91	110	1.74	1.356
	Danny Duffy	20.2	3.95	110	2.43	1.316
	Larry Gura	18.7	3.72	107	1.26	1.253

If Danny Duffy's ERA were a bit lower, I could use this Camo card. Mark Gubicza gets the 5th starter spot.

At least the Royals bullpen is rock-solid. Two of the team's top ten players at all positions (Quisenberry and Montgomery) are closers, while the other four All-Time Royals relievers rank 15th, 19th, 20th, and 21st in WAR for the franchise.

Looking ahead, Bobby Witt Jr. - the best young player Kansas City has seen in at least a decade - doesn't have to work too hard to become the Royals' all-time greatest shortstop. Brady Singer and Scott Barlow have a longer road to making this squad, but they're on the right track.



TL; DR: One change from the original roster. Splittorff out, Greinke in.

 

Come back Thursday for our next All-Time Team, the Minnesota Twins.

 

Thanks for reading!

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