Namely, find good relievers virtually off of others scrap heaps.

Kick Soria out of the Bullpen and promote Ramon Ramirez to Closer with Mahay and Nunez as primary set-up men.

Trade Greinke for a major league ready COF/1B with a big bat + solid prospects.

Replace Greinke in the starting rotation with Soria.

Offensively, the best thing you can do is addition by subtraction, and Royals proved that toward the end of the season when they took at bats away from Gload, Gathright and Pena. If these guys are gone or at least relegated to bench status and replaced with merely average players, you have instant improvement.

Pray that Shealy, Kila or both are for real.

Pray that Gordon, Butler and Hochevar realize their potential.

I wouldn’t jump into the FA market too heavily as I think they will be priced out of most of the top talent and the left overs will be overpaid. Save that money for when your core is developed, then make a splash.

If I’m the GM, first thing is I realize that this team is still at least a year or two away from contention, and that this year’s FA crop is not going to get me there. Stick to the plan and wait for assets from the solid drafts of recent years to yield solid returns.

Work as hard as possible to sign Greinke to a long-term extension, and only consider dealing him if someone offers a knockout deal - at least two top-tier, close to MLB ready prospects (one being a power corner OF guy) and one other solid prospect at lower levels. Leave Soria as the closer. Period. At least four rotation spots are set - Meche, Greinke, and two of the Davies/Bannister/Hochevar group. Assuming he’s healthy, give Carlos Rosa every opportunity to win a spot as a spot starter/long-man. I think he will thrive if the Royals take the Greinke/Billingsley route with him.

In the field, work with what you have and continue to give young guys a chance to turn their potential into stardom. Leave Gordon at 3B, Butler at DH and hope they get there. Don’t sign Furcal or Hudson, who are guaranteed to be overpaid this offseason. Leave Aviles at SS and hope he does not regress too much. Give Callaspo a chance to be the regular 2B. Don’t let Ross Gload be your regular 1B - give Shealy and Kila a chance to prove they can provide the missing power in the middle of the order. Explore dealing DDJ for prospects, otherwise keep him in CF. Ditto for Guillen, though I think in reality the Royals are stuck with him. Sign Raul Ibanez to a one or two year deal to man the other corner OF spot. Maximize Teahen’s value as a versatile supersub who can play any OF spot and both IF corners - kind of like a Chone Figgins with more power but less speed. This will up his value to the Royals as well as his trade value.

Cut ties with - Miguel Olivo, Jimmy Gobble, Tony Pena, Joey Gathright.

In the minors, explore trading some of the many promising arms at lower-levels for hitting. Only Moustakas and Hosmer are untouchable at this point.

This is a transition year, a year to move from “below average” to “mediocre.” This needs to be an evaluation year, to find out who can be part of a future contender, and who is dreck that can be cleared.

-Sign Greinke to a long-term deal. If he is unwilling, listen to offers for him, but don’t accept anything less than a Dan Haren-type deal. They should get at least one prospect who looks like an impact player, and probably at least 2-3 other solid prospects. Otherwise, keep him and listen to offers over the next year.

-Release Ross Gload. He clogs the roster

-Non-tender Jimmy Gobble, Joel Peralta, Joey Gathright

-Look to trade Jose Guillen. Be prepared to not get full value for him. Atlanta (for Jeff Franceour?), Washington (for Austin Kearns and a minor leaguer?) and the NY Mets (for Luis Castillo and Nick Evans?) could be possibilities. Be flexible with a deal and be prepared to eat some money if necessary.

-Sign OF Juan Rivera

-Sign a backup OF who can hit lefties like Bobby Kielty

-Look for a deal for Mark Teahen. Jason Kubel for Mark Teahen makes some sense. Michael Cuddyer would be even nicer.

CF David DeJesus
2B Alberto Callaspo
DH Billy Butler
RF Jason Kubel
LF Juan Rivera
3B Alex Gordon
SS Mike Aviles
1B Ryan Shealy (Kila Kaahiue could take this job by mid-season if Shealy fails to hit)
C John Buck

Bench: C Brayan Pena, IF Tony Pena, IF Esteban German, OF Mitch Maier, OF Bobby Kielty

SP Zack Greinke
SP Gil Meche
SP Luke Hochevar
SP Kyle Davies
SP Brian Bannister

Other rotation candidates later in the year: Carlos Rosa, Dan Cortes, stock up on some minor league free agents too

RP Ron Mahay (look to trade for minor leaguers)
RP Leo Nunez
RP Robinson Tejada
RP Neal Musser
RP Ramon Ramirez
RP Joakim Soria

I’d like some more info on him. Why does everyone in this thread think he should be moved to closer when Soria showed last year that he is one of the best in the game? This guy can’t possibly be better than Soria. And I’m not so sure about moving an elite-level closer like Soria to the rotation. Seems he likes the closer role.

Chris Davis, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, John Mayberry Jr, Eric Hurley, Marcus Lemon for Greinke and Ramon Ramirez

Do you do it?

Looks like to me that the Royals need two powerbats without losing effectiveness in the pitching staff in order to be .500 or better.

If Greinke can get two young ML power bats (and a potential replacement for Greinke), that has to be considered the quickest route to raising the team to a respectable level the next few years while they have Meche and hope to break in the likes of Rosa/Cortes/Gutierrez.

Best trade partners for Greinke (or Meche?) will be the Dodgers, Rangers, Boston, Colorado?, Nationals? If Drayton is really good, he would get a bidding war going on between Dodgers, Boston, and Texas for Greinke. We all know Texas covets Greinke.

What to get from a trade of Greinke?
Boston: Lars, Masterson (or Bowden), Ellsbury (or Lowrie)
Texas: Davis, Hurley (or Harrison), Cruz (or Boggs)
Dodgers: Kemp (or Ethier), LaRoche, Meloan
Colorado: Holliday, Stewart (or Nix), Jhoulys Chacin
Nationals: Zimmerman, Milledge, Jordan Zimmerman

Short of that, it’s hard to see how the Royals would improve by moving Greinke.

If that doesn’t happen, a package of Kila and Rosa or Cortez or Duffy will have to be used to bring in a young OFer or maybe a C with some upside in his bat. If Drayton were able to do this, he would be worth way more than he’s paid. So, it’s hard to see how the Royals will be able to round out their ML team without moving Greinke.

Let’s say one of the big deals go down. I’ll pick one at random. Boston. Shealy sticks around but it’s hard to imagine Lars not knocking down the door mid-season.

Ellsbury
DeJesus
Callaspo
Guillen
Gordon
Butler
Shealy/Lars
Aviles
Buck

Meche
Masterson
Hochevar
Bannister
Davies

Still have some trade chips in Kila, Shealy, Cortes, Rosa, Duffy, Blake Wood, Guttierez for a possible deadline deal if a magical season happens.

but, one of the advantages of being at the bottom is that you can take a chance on some prospects who were once highly regarded, but whose star has faded somewhat but are young enough to be resurrected (e.g. Navarro, Jackson, etc). Plus, I would engage in the practice of flipping assets. Teams are always on the lookout for relievers and role players for the stretch run and you might be able to get a couple good prospects in return. Should you come across a Josh Hamilton type of player, you obviously keep those ones.

Other than that stick to the plan and continue to draft well. I would always be open to trading a player who probably won’t be on the team when it’s ready to contend.

-Sign Kevin Millar - good veteran bat, good grit
-Sign David Eckstein - they don’t get any grittier; he can teach our young kids “how to win”
-Sign Josh Fogg - good innings eater
-Trade Zack Greinke and insist on a low-ceiling, MLB-ready shortstop and catcher
-Keep Soria as closer
-Reassure David Glass that “The Plan” is still working

-Signed, Allard Baird

Well, with Peavy officially on the market I think the Royals could benefit by dangling Grienke as a runner-up prize or to a team looking to make a prempitve strike like the D-Backs made last year with Haren. You’d have to think any team interested in Peavy would also be interested in Grienke and both the Padres & Royals have similar needs. Texas, LAA, LAD, Atlanta, Boston and the Cardnials all come to mind as potential suitors with young offensive talent available to deal. For the sake of argument lets stick with the Texas theme and say he goes there along with DeJesus for Salty, Davis, Hurley or Harrison & Cruz .

Next, I’d trade Teahan to the Phillies who will need a platoon partner for Jenkins/Stairs with Burrell leaving for Jason Donald who I would move to 2B and a low level pitching prospect with some promise like Sampson or Naylor.

Trade Guillen if you can find the right deal (B level prospect or better) but more likely I’d hold onto him and hope to spin him off midseason to a team in need of a bat.

Sign a low priced CF (Kotsay) to hold down the fort until a better option comes along.

As stated before, get rid of Gload, Gobble & Gathright

Line-up:
SS - Aviles
CF - Kotsay
1B - Davis
DH - Butler
LF - Cruz
RF - Guillen
3B - Gordon
C - Buck
2B - Callaspo (Until Donald is ready mid-season)

Bench:
Oliva
Shealy
Ka’aihue
German
Pena

Rotation:
Meche
Hochevar
Harrison/Hurley
Davies
Bannister

Pen:
Soria
Ramirez
Nunez
Bale
Duckworth
Tejada
Mahay

Trade DDJ, Rosa, and Cortes for Peavy. That gives us a solid starting pitching line for several years. We then need to replace DDJ in the OF with someone. However, a FA OF is going to look and say, they just got one of the best available pitchers. I’ll give that team a shot.

Thoughts?

Bingo.

Trade Greinke, don’t even try to sign him to an extension. Deal him for the best available package, hopefully it includes a corner OFer with a good bat.

Try to find someone who’ll take Mahay and his $4 million salary off your hands.

Turn around and sign Oliver Perez to a 4 year deal plus an option. Probably cost $13 million annual with a $4 million buy-out.

Bump Soria to the rotation. A front 3 of Soria, Meche, Perz is pretty solid. Look and see what Jon Garland is going to cost. Sign him if you can get him on the cheap.

1a. STAY AWAY FROM FREE AGENTS (at the major league level). There is one exception, which will be discussed later. The Royals will NOT contend in 2009.

1b. Shop Greinke, but do NOT trade him unless you are getting an absolute steal of a package, all in either young, MLB-ready players or top prospects in return. See: Dan Haren deal. Anything less is an abomination. And yes, I’m trying to sign him to an extension.

2. Trade Ron Mahay for a solid prospect or two. Mahay at 4MM/yr is a great deal monetarily for a team needing to upgrade their bullpen, and it doesn’t come with that long-term commitment. The bullpen is the thing you fix right before you contend, not when you’re 2 years or so away. DFA Jimmy Gobble though. He’s sickening dead weight.

3. Move Soria to the rotation. He is MUCH more valuable in the rotation. Greinke-Meche-Soria is a beast at the front of the rotation. Davies is a young solid 4. Hopefully, Hochevar comes through, or Bannister, and takes care of that #5 spot. Condition Ramon Ramirez to be the closer.

4. Try to trade Guillen. I see him as tradable. The Royals might not really get much in VALUE, but getting rid of him is valuable in itself.

5. Trade David DeJesus. He is the Royals’ number one trade chip. Somebody will be looking for a solid CF, and he should net a decent return. Focus on prospects and young, MLB-ready players.

6. Monitor waivers and the Rule 5 draft. Try to pick up bullpen pieces and role players through there. DFA the dead weight that has no future with the team. I’m also trying to sign Dallas McPherson or Rocco Baldelli as a FA. As stated before, stay away from all big name FAs, pick up guys who might have been nontendered on the cheap and/or minor league FAs.