Are We Pumped about the 2009 Kansas City Royals yet?

I am REALLY looking forward to the coming Royals season--call it blind optimism, but I think this team has a shot this year. Moore is putting together a team with a little more pop, while still building a pitching staff that will continue to improve....

Hey, did anybody hear the hot stove show on 610 Sports locally here in KC a couple of weeks ago? Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre hosted the show, discussing the 2009 Royals. Interesting stuff-- what surprised me the most was both of them are true Mark Teahen fans. Yep, you heard me-- Denny and Ryan both like Mark Teahen as a ballplayer, and see a very bright future in who I consider the most disappointing player on the team. Why do they like the kid, you ask? Well, they see him as the next Michael Cuddyer. Cuddyer, of course, has turned into a pretty fair 4-hole or 5-hole hitter for the Minnesota Twins, and Teahen's numbers matchup to Cuddyer's stats in his first few years in the bigs, prior to his breakout years. They also think that it may be time to put Teahen back at 3rd base, where he was the most comfortable last season, in their view. I cannot say that I disagree with them--Teahen did play very well at 3rd while Alex Gordon was out with an injury, and we all know that Gordon is a pretty fair 1st baseman. Apparently Teahen's shoulder is completely healed from the surgery a couple of years back. Gordon moving over to 1st would solve a LOT of issues, such as the Billy Butler Experiment, and the Ryan Shealy Hoax. It would also slot Mike Jacobs to a more productive spot in the lineup-- DH (we KC Royals fans know all about where former catchers need to be in the lineup!).

Moore did his thing fixing the top of the lineup, and with all of the spots in the middle of lineup starting to taking shape, I think the 2009 Royals are starting to come into focus:

Crisp cf

Aviles ss

DeJesus lf

Guillen rf

Gordon 1b

Jacobs dh

Olivo c

Teahen 3b

Callaspo 2b

The starting rotation of Greinke, Meche, Davies, Ramirez and Bannister or Hochevar looks solid, considering how they finished last season. The bullpen, despite losing a few guys in trades, has the makings of another fine group for this season, especially with the Mexicutioner at the back end. Mahay and Bale are still there, and Farnsworth could surprise all of us with "effective nasty", rather than just nasty. I trust Moore knows what he is doing with that signing.

Let's be optimistic, Royals fans-- if the Rays can make it all the way to the World Series with their young core, then why couldn't the young core that Moore is continuing to assemble make it as well? Admittedly, we could be another couple of years away-- Moore needs a couple of more draft crops to load up the farm system adequately. You have to like how he is infusing some decent vet talent around the young core to help them along.

It sure is nice to have a GM with a plan....