Saturday, June 4, 2011

Kansas City Royals

1B  Mike Sweeney – Five-time All-Star; drove in a bunch of runs (144 in 2000) for some bad KC teams.
2B  Frank White – Excellent range; won eight Gold Gloves; hit a few HRs late in his career.
SS  Freddie Patek – Good glove; stole 30+ bases 8 times for KC (led league with 53 in ’77).
3B  George Brett – One of the best 3B ever; 3,154 hits, 317 HRs, three batting titles; Gold Glove; came through in the clutch.
OF  Willie Wilson – Incredible speed; led AL in triples five times; stole over 600 bases for KC; won AL batting title in ’82.
OF  Amos Otis – A complete player; could field (three Gold Gloves), hit, and steal bases (52 in ’71).
OF  Danny Tartabull – RBI producer who hit 26+ HRs three times for the Royals.
C  Mike Macfarlane – Decent hitting catcher with power; penchant for getting HBP boosted his OPS numbers; Porter played only four seasons in KC.
DH  Hal McRae – The first great DH; finished with nearly 1,100 RBI and a .290 lifetime BA.
Bench  Carlos Beltran – Power and speed; drove in 100 runs in four of his five full seasons in KC.
Pitcher  Bret Saberhagen – Two-time Cy Young Award winner; 1985 World Series MVP.
Pitcher  Dennis Leonard – Workhorse who won 20 games three times for the Royals.
Pitcher  Paul Splittorff – Holds the franchise record with 166 wins; won 15+ games four times.
Closer  Dan Quisenberry – Led the AL in saves five times; provided the missing piece KC needed to reach the World Series.

The Royals won or contended for the AL West title nearly every year between the mid-1970s and late 1980s. Since then, not so much. Why did Schuerholz have to leave?

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