25 years? Wait, what?
Recently, esteemed baseball writer Jayson Stark complied his First Quarter Century baseball team for a story which ran in the Athletic. Has it already been 25 years since Y2K? Crazy how time slips away.
I didn’t see much to argue about with Stark’s selections. The team is loaded with Hall of Famers and all-time greats as you would expect. Stark had some tough choices and left off guys like Ichiro Suzuki, Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey. It’s easier to argue with some of the picks than it is to make the picks. I would have selected Posey at catcher in place of Yadi Molina. Molina was a fine ball player, maybe a bit overrated, especially in St. Louis where he was viewed as a demi-god but come on. Posey was a far better hitter and not far behind with the glove. Stark gave the DH slot to David Ortiz, whereas I might have gone with Cabrera or Ichiro. The outfield spots were solid with Barry Bonds, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge. No Royals made the team though Zach Greinke should have had one of the starting pitching slots. Stark’s team went like this, around the horn: Albert Pujols, Jose Altuve, Derek Jeter, Adrian Beltre, Yadi Molina, Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge. David Ortiz (DH). On the mound, he had Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, Max Scherzer, Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera.
The Athletic then polled the fans, who came up with some different picks. The fans did select Posey over Molina (they also had Sal Perez as their 5th pick with 5% of the vote!). Former Royal Carlos Beltran came in 2nd at the Center Field vote behind Trout. The fans also voted in Ichiro over Judge and in a surprise, took Shohei over Big Papi at DH. I have no argument with either selection. Zach Greinke was first man out on Stark’s staff. The fans didn’t give Zach as much love as he finished 7th in their vote with 22%.
Since no Royals made the team, we’ll run our own First 25-year team. Most of the positions had pretty clear-cut candidates. Centerfield was the toughest position as the Royals have been blessed with several first-rate centerfielders. Right field and second base, as you might expect, were the weakest positions, but more on that later. Over the first 25 years of this century, the Royals had five winning seasons, 19 losings seasons and one breakeven.
Let’s start with the infield. At Catcher, we have Sal Perez. This should come as no surprise. Sal was worth 25 WAR during the first quarter century and there was no other Royal catcher even in the same zip code. Sal is a future Royal Hall of Famer and the greatest catcher in team history, which is tough for me to say because that means Darrell Porter is now #2.
At first base it’s Eric Hosmer. Like many of the positions, there is the near unanimous choice. Hosmer was the spiritual leader of the Royals championship run and his sprint home against the Mets in the 2015 World Series remains one of the franchises signature plays. He was drafted to be a cornerstone of the franchise (along with Mike Moustakas) and he delivered.
At second base we have Whit Merrifield. Whit was wrongly viewed as an organizational player and the Royals front office was loathe to give him a shot. When they finally relented, Whit was a revelation. He made two All-Star teams, led the league in hits twice and stolen bases three times. I’ve always thought the Royals should have called him up earlier, which may have prevented the Omar Infante debacle. There wasn’t much competition at 2nd base with Whit being the landslide choice.
At shortstop, it’s Bobby Witt Jr. There were several other viable candidates, primarily Alcedes Escobar. Rey Sanchez was a sleeper from the early 2000’s and Mike Aviles had a couple of good years, but it’s Bobby today and every day. Witt is the best shortstop the franchise has ever had.
Third base was kind of a soft spot, but the clear choice is Mike Moustakas. Moose had a terrific career, helping the Royals win a World Series title and set the club single season home run record, since broken. Joe Randa was a strong competitor for the spot. People forget that the Joker was a very solid player during his second stint with the club.
The Designated Hitter went to Mike Sweeney. An argument could be made for Sweeney at first, which would have bumped Hosmer to DH, or possibly Billy Butler. It was hard to leave Country Breakfast off the team. Butler was a solid hitter, plus my wife’s favorite player, so that had to be considered.
Left field was the easiest of all choices. It’s Alex Gordon hands down. Gordo is a Royals icon. He and Salvy have had the best careers of any Royals in the first 25 years. Gordon slipped with the bat late in his career, but he remains one of the best fielding outfielders I have ever seen, and not just with the Royals. He’s one of the best with the glove I have ever seen with any team. Ever.
Center Field was the toughest choice. My initial thought was Carlos Beltran, but at the end of the day it goes to Lorenzo Cain. LoCain had a terrific career with the Royals and it’s a shame the club let him get away to Milwaukee. It always felt like Cain was overlooked during his time with KC, but the numbers don’t lie. The guy was a helluva ball player.
Right field has always been a weak spot for the franchise and the 2000’s have been no exception. Jermaine Dye had a few excellent seasons, and Jarrod Dyson merited some consideration, though Dyson primarily played center. At the end of the day, I pulled some managerial license and selected David DeJesus. DeJesus was a vastly underrated player who toiled for some terrible teams. He still managed to put up over 18 WAR during his Kansas City tenure and had the ability to play all three outfield spots, so he’s our right fielder.
I selected five starting pitchers, and the competition was surprisingly strong. Zach Greinke easily pulls the number one spot, which is no surprise. Greinke deserved to be on Stark’s team, but we’ll gladly name him our ace. The second spot goes to Danny Duffy. As the years pass, it’s easy to forget how electric Duffman’s stuff was when he was in his prime. I fully expected him to throw a no-hitter at some point. When he was on he was that good.
My third starter is Brad Keller. Keller was a cash trade steal from the Reds and was the leader of the Royals staff for several seasons. His Kansas City tenure only last six seasons but he’s still pitching.
The fourth spot goes to, drumroll, Brady Singer. Yeah, I hear your screaming. At the end of the day, the numbers don’t lie. Love him or hate him, Singer had the fourth highest WAR of all Royal starters in the first 25 years. Should the Royals have held onto him?
The fifth spot goes to Cole Ragans, who pitched his way onto this team in a couple of short, electric years.
There were several others who merited strong consideration including Yordano Ventura (one of my emotional choices), Jason Vargas, Kris Bubic and Seth Lugo.
The bullpen was cut and dried. The Royals have mostly been blessed with strong bullpen arms, and I’ll take these five any day, any year:
Joakim Soria, Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Scott Barlow. If you had those five guys together in their primes, I’m not sure the other teams would have ever scored.
Looking over the first 25 years, you are reminded of some of the teams’ players who didn’t work out as hoped, guys like Luke Hochever, Kyle Zimmer, Christian Colon, Hunter Dozier and Bubba Starling. Hochever did reinvent himself as a formidable bullpen arm late in his career, so kudos to him.
The team also had some fun guys, who I considered for bench pieces, guys like Terrance Gore and Brett Phillips. Maybe they never play, but damn, I’ll take Phillips on any team. Maverick always looked like he was having a great time.