Kansas City Royals Pitching Roster Tree In 2014 – World Series Edition: Shields Pivotal Despite Playoff Struggles

How All Of The 2014 Royals Pitchers Were Acquired:

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

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While James Shields has not had a banner postseason – however it is important to remember his influence on culture change in the Royals clubhouse for this successful franchise turnaround.

The trade that brought the RHP, also brought in Wade Davis, who may be the most important pitcher on the squad other than Greg Holland this campaign.

Dayton Moore has done a fantastic job of assembling this franchise’s roster over the last 5 – 7 years.  It came on the heels of a quarter century of futility yes, but the future definitely looks  bright.

As we have said before, teams residing in either league’s Central Division have a fair chance of competing in a season every year.

The highest payroll team is the Detroit Tigers, but they are not in the stratosphere of the Dodgers, Yankees, Rangers, Angels and Phillies, were there is a 2nd team in the division who can go buck wild in contracts.

The Nationals and Giants are able to spend in the $150 MIL range to join Philly and the Dodgers.  In the AL West, Texas and the Angels can mirror each other, whereas the Red Sox and Yankees own the AL East payroll leaders.

St. Louis is the highest NL Central club, and are always near the fringe of the top 10 for dollars spent annually only.  

The Tigers are the only franchise spending big cash in the AL Central, although the White Sox have delved into higher salaries in previous seasons – when they drew well following the 2005 World Series.  They have since scaled back.

The Royals should be able to field a nice team for the next 2 – 3 years, and it shouldn’t break the bank for the ownership.

  Detroit has aging and hefty contract problems coming up, and KC has more depth for the  1 – 25 Roster, when it comes to withstanding injuries

For the foreseeable few seasons ahead, you will bank on the emergence of Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy to continue their development as aces, and the Relief Core is the still the strongest asset of the equation.

Greg Holland has 2 years left of Arbitration, Herrera is under team control until after the 2018 season, and Davis was signed to a team friendly pact while a member of the Rays organization.

Davis has 3 straight Team Option of single years for 2015 – 2017, that work with $7 MIL, $8 MIL and $10 MIL respectively.

Aaron Crow is also on the book for 2 more years until he hits Free Agency.

Crow, Herrera and Holland were all draft picks by the franchise, as was Ventura and Duffy.

The Free Agent deals doled out to Jason Vargas (4 YRs.$32 MIL), and the re-signing of Jeremy Guthrie (who will make $19 MIL in the next 2 years) bodes well for the teams depth of the 1 – 4 rotation.

Guthrie was picked up from the Rockies for bust Jonathan Sanchez, after Kansas City was originally burned for trading Melky Cabrera for the LHP. Cabrera was a significant Free Agent deal prior to the 2011 year.

They were able to flip the OF, before the whole steroids crap hit the wall.

Brandon Finnegan, who was the 17th pick in the 2014 Draft, will give the team a great pitcher for year – who has just started his Arbitration clock.

Just like the offense’s tree, the two main deals that constructed the team – were the Rays trade, and the Zack Greinke deal that was before that.

Even if Wil Myers turns into a superstar, that deal couldn’t have worked out better for Kansas City, as the price tag for acquiring a #1 pitcher always costs organizations plenty of prospects.

James Shields only cost the franchise $22.5 MIL for the last 2 seasons, not bad for a 27 – 17 record, with a 3.18 ERA  and 1.209 WHIP.

Playoffs withstanding, he also provided the club 455.2 IP worth of work, which helped Ned Yost line up his Starting Staff, and shorten his Bullpen on a regular basis.  This team’s youngsters were not ready to have taken that workload in 2013 and 2014.

The last trade of note is the Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel deal that saw the team bring back Tim Collins.  Again, none of those guys made the franchise regret sending them away, and both were Free Agent acquisitions anyway.

The club doesn’t have Luke Hochevar under contract once the World Series ends, as he recovers from Tommy John Surgery this year, and will head to the open market.

Maybe the franchise will sign 1 or 2 – 2nd tier Starting Pitchers, and continue to use their Minor League System to aid their Relief Core.

Kansas City is not shy spending on the club either, as their Pitching Staff Payroll was 8th in the Major Leagues, earning about $55 MIL as a collective unit. Another reason why they won’t be able to sign Shields in the winter, (although they will grace him with the qualifying offer to receive a compensatory pick).

Perhaps they will use that to Draft another late inning arm in the draft of 2015 in order to find Finnegan v. 2.0 for next campaign.

For those that have never seen one of our Roster Trees, we go over how all of the players were acquired.

It works like 6 degrees of separation. By searching back to the origin of all the way back until a player is signed, drafted or purchased, It totally gives you an idea on how the franchise has fared.

The Pitchers In 2014 (Date Of Birth Or Age) (Pitching Pos) Roster Tree

James Shields (12/20/81) 24:  December 9, 2012: Traded by the Tampa Bay Rays with a player to be named later and Wade Davis to the Kansas City Royals for Patrick Leonard (minors), Mike Montgomery (minors), Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi. The Tampa Bay Rays sent Elliot Johnson (February 12, 2013) to the Kansas City Royals to complete the trade.

Jake Odorizzi (24) SP: December 19, 2010: Traded by the Milwaukee Brewers with Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Alcides Escobar to the Kansas City Royals for Yuniesky Betancourt, Zack Greinke and cash.

Lorenzo Cain (28) CF:  Is currently playing regularly as the Starting CF in 2014 for the Royals.

Jeremy Jeffress (26) P: November 8, 2012: Purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Kansas City Royals.

Patrick Leonard (21) 1B/3B/DH:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 5th round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Mike Montgomery (25) SP:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (36th) of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Wil Myers (23) RF:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 3rd round of the 2009 amateur draft.

Elliot Johnson (30) SS/2B/OF:  August 21, 2013: Selected off waivers by the Atlanta Braves from the Kansas City Royals.

Yuniesky Betancourt (32) SS/3B/1B:  July 10, 2009: Traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Kansas City Royals for Derrick Saito (minors) and Dan Cortes.

Derrick Saito (26) P:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 16th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Dan Cortes (27) P:  July 24, 2006: Traded by the Chicago White Sox with Tyler Lumsden (minors) to the Kansas City Royals for Mike MacDougal.

Tyler Lumsden (31) P:  November 20, 2007, the Royals purchased Lumsden’s contract, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft. On November 20, 2008, Lumsden was designated for assignment, and claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros four days later.

Zack Greinke (30) SP:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 2002 amateur draft.

Wade Davis (9/7/85) RP:  Is currently mowing them down as the Royals 8th inning setup man.

Greg Holland (11/20/85) CL:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 10th round of the 2007 amateur draft.

Jeremy Guthrie (4/8/79) SP:  July 20, 2012: Traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Kansas City Royals for Jonathan Sanchez.

Jonathan Sanchez. (11/19/82) SP:  November 7, 2011: Traded by the San Francisco Giants with Ryan Verdugo to the Kansas City Royals for Melky Cabrera.

Ryan Verdugo (4/10/87) P:  July 16, 2014: Purchased by the Boston Red Sox from the Kansas City Royals.

Melky Cabrera (8/11/84) OF:  December 10, 2010: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

Yordano Ventura (6/3/91) SP:  Signed by the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent in 2008.

Danny Duffy (12/21/88) SP; Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 3rd round of the 2007 amateur draft.

Kelvin Herrera (12/31/89) SP:  Signed by the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent in 2006.

Aaron Crow (11/10/86) RP:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 2009 amateur draft.

Louis Coleman (4/4/86) P:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 5th round of the 2009 amateur draft.

Tim Collins (8/21/89) P:  July 31, 2010: Traded by the Atlanta Braves with Gregor Blanco and Jesse Chavez to the Kansas City Royals for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth.

Gregor Blanco (12/23/83) OF:  May 8, 2011: Sent to the Washington Nationals by the Kansas City Royals as part of a conditional deal.

Jesse Chavez (8/21/83) SP:  October 21, 2011: Selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Kansas City Royals.

Rick Ankiel (7/19/79) OF:  January 21, 2010: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

Kyle Farnsworth (4/14/76) RP:  December 13, 2008: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

Jason Frasor (8/9/77) RP:  July 16, 2014: Traded by the Texas Rangers to the Kansas City Royals for Spencer Patton.

Spencer Patton (2/20/88) P:  June 7, 2011: Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 24th round of the 2011 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 2011.

Brandon Finnegan (4/14/93) RP:  Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (17th pick) of the 2014 amateur draft.

Jason Vargas (2/2/83) SP:  November 21, 2013: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.  4 YRs/$32.5 MIL

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