The next chapter: 2017 Kansas City Royals season preview
The next chapter: Royals 2017 season preview
We’re looking at the end of an era. Several players of the core group responsible for the Royals’ rise from despair to euphoria are set for free agency after the 2017 season. Some are already no longer with the club. But as Kansas City gears up for one last title run with this team, we look back at a remarkable class as well as introduce the next wave.
Crown Chasers: After long journey to the top, can the Royals reign again in 2017?
Amid questions about the future, Royals GM Dayton Moore is focused on today
Questions surround the 2017 Kansas City Royals. There are questions about whether a franchise that has won a World Series and transformed a city can weather change and build a bridge to the future. But general manager Dayton Moore is thinking about today.
Sam Mellinger: Royals owner David Glass wants to win while rebuilding and saving money? Good luck
Here is the fundamental conflict of David Glass and the 2017 Kansas City Royals: They are willingly, and now openly, choosing the more difficult and less efficient way of getting back to baseball’s mountaintop.
Loving family life in Lompoc, Calif., enabled Danny Duffy to be himself with Royals
Danny Duffy is halfway across the country from where he grew up, but the proud owner of a new, long-term contract with the Royals has fallen in love with Kansas City.
CLASS OF 2017
Forever etched in gold at Kauffman High
SCOTT ALEXANDER, LHP
I’d rather not go north on I-29 this year.
BILLY BURNS, OF
Did you know a Praying Mantis loves to eat moths?
DREW BUTERA, C
My ERA with the Royals is perfect.
LORENZO CAIN, OF
Quit touching me, Salvy!
CHRISTIAN COLON, IF
Enough with the Chris Sale draft talk.
CHESLOR CUTHBERT, IF
No, King Kong is not from Corn Island.
DANNY DUFFY, LHP
Does anyone know how to get champagne out of a bear suit.
ALCIDES ESCOBAR, SS
I’m swinging at that first pitch.
BRIAN FLYNN, LHP
Yeah, I’ve heard all the barn jokes, OK?
ALEX GORDON, OF
I love chicken. And broccoli.
TERRANCE GORE, OF
Who’s the fastest guy on the team now?
JASON HAMMEL, RHP
I just don’t see the resemblance to Luke Hochevar.
KELVIN HERRERA, RHP
Ready for the spotlight.
ERIC HOSMER, 1B
How you doin’?
NATHAN KARNS, RHP
Everybody likes the new kid in school.
IAN KENNEDY, RHP
I’d prefer to be called The Bearded One.
WHIT MERRIFIELD, IF/OF
Hey, Rex, quit calling me Whitley.
MIKE MINOR, LHP
No one is more ready to get back out there than me.
RAUL MONDESI, 2B
I’m just glad that I don’t have to ride the bus anymore.
BRANDON MOSS, IF/OF
The 2014 Wild Card Game sucked.
MIKE MOUSTAKAS, 3B
The Moose is loose.
PETER MOYLAN, RHP
I don’t talk funny. You do, mate.
PAULO ORLANDO, OF
Check out my sweet tat.
SALVADOR PEREZ, C
Hand me that Gatorade bucket.
JORGE SOLER, OF
Get it? Soler power.
JOAKIM SORIA, RHP
2017 is a new year!
MATT STRAHM, LHP
The movie ‘Fargo’ doesn’t do the city justice.
JASON VARGAS, RHP
Holy cow, I kind of do look like Jon Lovitz.
TRAVIS WOOD, LHP
I wish the A.L. didn’t have the designated hitter.
CHRIS YOUNG, RHP
People look up to me.
Sam Mellinger: What really went wrong for the 2016 Royals and what must change in 2017
The 2016 Kansas City Royals suffered many injuries, but general manager Dayton Moore says the team allowed that to be an excuse. This group has always been at its best overcoming hardships, not bowing to them.
Blair Kerkhoff: Royals hope to learn lessons from post-1985 years
When the Royals won the 1985 World Series, they believed the good times would continue. Instead, the team started a playoff drought that would extend until 2014. Can these Royals learn anything from the post-1985 Royals?
Lee Judge: Ned Yost and how he’ll manage the 2017 Royals
Ask Ned Yost about managing the 2017 Royals, and he’ll say he intends to lead the same way he always has: He’ll turn his players loose and let them play their game.
FACULTY AND STAFF
DAYTON MOORE,
GENERAL MANAGER
I put the pal in principal.
NED YOST,
MANAGER
You don’t like my decisions? Check out this ring I’m wearing.
DON WAKAMATSU,
BENCH COACH
What did I tell you guys about playing Pepper?
DAVE EILAND,
PITCHING COACH
You should’ve seen the home run I hit in ’92 with the Padres.
DALE SVEUM,
HITTING COACH
Only Robin Yount had a better mustache than me in Milwaukee.
BRIAN BUCHANAN,
ASST. HITTING COACH
I saw Dave Mathews Band play 131 times while I was at Virginia.
MIKE JIRSCHELE,
THIRD BASE COACH
I’m telling you for the last time, Gordo wasn’t scoring.
RUSTY KUNTZ,
FIRST BASE COACH
No joke, Patrick Swayze’s role in ‘Roadhouse’ was written for me.
DOUG HENRY,
BULLPEN COACH
In my playing days, they called me ‘Mean Mug Doug.’ Google it.
PEDRO GRIFOL,
CATCHING COACH
I played for Drew Butera’s dad at Class AA Hardware City.
Royals see upside for former Cubs prospect Jorge Soler in right field
When the Kansas City Royals traded for outfielder Jorge Soler, they envisioned that he could be a cornerstone for the team for the rest of the decade.
The next wave: As club looks forward, a glance at the next generation of Royals
Six years ago, the Royals had the best farm system in baseball. In 2017 the Royals rank in the bottom third of baseball.
After the (potential) exodus: How the Royals’ lineup might look in 2018
Should the Kansas City Royals lose everyone from this year’s group of free-agent stars, guys like Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas, this is how the team might look in 2018.
In face of tragedy, Raul Mondesi seeks to honor memory of Yordano Ventura
Royals second baseman Raul Mondesi and starting pitcher Yordano Ventura were inseparable off the field. Two months after Ventura’s death, Mondesi is still processing the loss.
REMEMBERING YORDANO VENTURA
Yordano Ventura’s final year filled with family turmoil, emotional distress
What happened to Yordano Ventura before he died in a Jeep crash in the Dominican Republic? His family, wife and friends talk about his final days.
Salvador Perez eulogizes Yordano Ventura from pitcher’s mound where he learned the game
The funeral procession for Yordano Ventura stopped at the place where it all began for him: at Estadio Municipal in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic, where a young Yordano learned to play baseball.
Vahe Gregorian: Royals share pain with Yordano Ventura’s family at funeral in Dominican Republic
Royals players and front-office personnel mourned alongside Yordano Ventura’s kin and countrymen during a tearful, miles-long procession through his Caribbean hometown and interment at the city’s small cemetery.
Royals hold private memorial service for Yordano Ventura before FanFest begins
Five days after his death in an early-morning car crash, and three days after his funeral, the Royals organization gathered together in a private service to remember the life of Yordano Ventura.
This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "The next chapter: 2017 Kansas City Royals season preview."