What's New In KC?

Royals General Manager Dayton Moore had two main goals over the winter, judging from what he accomplished.  First, he was to bring in a couple of free agents to flesh out the roster and to ensure his team was competetive.  Second, whoever was brought in couldn't be paid at the expense of blocking a potential prospect.  For the most part, Moore succeeded.  Coco Crisp came on board to provide reliable defense in center field, and Mike Jacobs now hits home runs wearing Royal Blue.  In the pitching department, Kyle Farnsworth, Doug Waechter and Juan Cruz are all parts of the revamped bullpen that was put together to lock down wins earned by top three starters Zack Greinke, Brian Bannister and Gil Meche.

Greinke, Bannister and Meche are joined in the rotation by Kyle Davies, Sidney Ponson.  It's certainly not a great rotation, but it's a good front three, so if they can get league average performances from Davies as the number four guy and Mullet Ponson as the number five, there could be some surprises out of Royal country this summer.

Swing by Royals Review to check out their very active site, it's one of the bigger ones for the division.

Probable Pitchers

Sidney Ponson:  I expect the Twins to thoroughly man-handle Ponson (is there any other way he'd like to be handled?), but I expect any team to hit him around.  He doesn't always fall into my happy pigeon hole, which is why it says this about him in MLB.com's scouting report for tomorrow:

The Royals are still trying to cautiously figure out what they have in starter Sidney Ponson.

Minnesota was asking themselves the same question two years ago.  The answer is simple:   a veteran who can eat innings if you ask him to, and might have one good start a month, but generally will be ineffective at best.  So far as a Royal, Ponson has alternated a poor start with a good one.  By that precedent, he's ready for another bad one.

Brian Bannister:  In two starts he's been wildly successful.  Pun intended.  Four hits and two walks in six innings during his 2009 debut; six hits and one walk in seven innings his last time out.  In spite of the baserunners, Bannister sports a 0.69 ERA, which is in stark contrast to his 4.56 FIP.  I said this about Aaron Laffey of the Indians last week, but if the Twins are patient with Bannister and wait for their pitch, they'll have their chances to score runs.

Gil Meche:  Currently slated to start the Sunday afternoon game, Meche's back may keep him out, in with case Horatio Ramirez may step in.  If Meche does pitch he's likely to be feeling himself out a bit, which is usually an advantage for the hitter.  Should he be healthy however, this is a guy who can be as effective as anyone when he's on his game. Finally, after ten years in the league Meche is finally 30.  He'll turn 31 in September.

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