The Royals have the best farm system in all of Major League Baseball. As the young talent continues to come up to the big leagues, the Royals continue to try to find a solid player for each position. With Moustakas and Hosmer at the corners, Perez behind the plate, Escobar at shortstop, and a very solid bullpen, the only things left to decide is who will play in the outfield and what they are going to do with starting pitching.
Last season the Royals had the talent to compete. The only thing that brought them down was poor starting pitching. Before the off-season began the Royals had multiple options for what their five-man rotation would look like. The possible starters included Luke Hochevar; a former #1 pick who is extremely inconsistent and Bruce Chen, a consistent veteran. It also included Jeremy Guthrie, a inconsistent veteran pitcher with a good season last year and Felipe Paulino, an unproven pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery.
The Royals have somewhat addressed this issue already during the off-season. They did this by signing Jeremy Guthrie for another 3 years and trading for Angels pitcher, Evin Santana. Looking to next season, it seems to be that Santana is a #2 pitcher, Guthrie is a #3, Chen is a #4, and then Paulino or Hochevar will be at #5. This leaves the Royals with a decision to make: Do we keep the rotation how it is or do we go after a #1 guy and if so, then how?
With Hochevar being extremely inconsistent in the past I think that the Royals should get rid of him and his 4 million dollar contract. Not only that but I think the Royals should go after a #1 guy as soon as possible. The #1 guy that I would go after has proven himself in Kansas City and said that he would want to play in KC when there is talent filled roster. The Royals have a talent filled roster now and that guy is former Royals Cy Young Award winner, Zack Greinke.
I do not see any other #1 starter that the Royals can somewhat afford as more valuable than Greinke. One option brought up is that they could trade #1 draft pick, outfielder, Wil Myers to pick up a #1 starting pitcher. I see this as a short-term fix though and that is not what the Royals need. The Royals need to keep their young talent and owner, David Glass needs to open up his pockets a little for once and pay for a #1 pitcher.
The Royals need a guy who hits 30 home runs a year and Myers looks to be that guy. If they do decide to keep Myers and go get a #1 starting pitcher, then every fielding position is set, every bullpen slot is set, and every starting pitching slot is set as well. The Royals have the talent; they just have to make the right decisions during this off-season. Keep Myers, get rid of Hochevar, and go get Greinke.