In his annual “I love this team” statement (today's Kansas City Star), Royals captain, DH, slugger and hypochondriac said that this year’s Royals “are going to surprise a lot of people.”
Of course, Sweeney says the same type of thing before Opening Day every year. But, he insists that this year is different.
“It’s a different feeling in this clubhouse, for sure,” he said. “In the past, there wasn’t this same feel like you’re in a special big-league clubhouse. We have that this year.”
Apparently, the chemistry is strong this year. That is a vast departure from years past when there was an obvious split between groups of players. This year’s team seems to be a more cohesive unit.
Perhaps the Royals will be better this year. The defense must be better, since the 2005 Royals were terrible on defense. (Breaking 100 will break down the improved defense in an upcoming article).
“Look at our lineup,” says Sweeney. “We’re going to hit better, and we’re going to play better defense.”
The big question in 2006 is the starting rotation, but Sweeney is bullish on his pitchers. “We had seven guys who could have been in our top four. Mike Wood is in our bullpen. The last three or four years, if Mike Wood comes in and has the type of spring he had, it would have been a given he would be in the starting five. Probably in the top two or three.”
Unfortunately, three of the Royals projected starters are not available. Zack Grienke is still in Florida, Mike Redmond is rehabbing his knee, and Runelvys Hernandez is hoping to get on “The Biggest Loser.” That causes some concern for us here at Breaking 100. Fortunately, it looks like by the end of April Redmond will be back and Grienke will hopefully be working his way back.
We’re running on faith that Scott Elarton finished sucking in Surprise and that Jeremy Affeldt can finally figure out how to be a consistent starter. Not to mention the spry Denny Bautista. Hopefully he can stay healthy while throwing such heat and Joe Mays’ arm is all the way back. That’s a lot of “hopefully’s” and “if’s.”
As long as they're 7 games better than last year, we’ll be happy.
Let’s go get ‘em.
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