Predictions '09: Kansas City Royals

After finishing dead last in the AL Central 4 years in a row, the Kansas City Royals managed to break that trend last year...by finishing in 4th place above the disappointing Detroit Tigers. The Royals have had a rough time finding their groove in this decade, hurt by lackluster starting pitching and a weak fan base. $250 million in renovations to the stadium hope to bring in more of those Kansas City football lovers. Seeing this commitment from a franchise that has been poor over the last handful of years in encouraging. I can definitely see signs of improvement from their pitching staff and their lineup is fairly good. They locked down 25-year old pitcher Zack Greinke to a 4 year deal, and still retain Gil Meche as their ace. 25-year old Kyle Davies (who hasn't given up a run thus far in spring training) has been given the third spot in the rotation. In those three pitchers they have a solid top of the rotation, but the rest of the rotation is the question. On the offensive side, they added Coco Crisp to take over center field duty and give them a solid leadoff man. They also added Mike Jacobs, who hit 32 HRs and 93 RBIs with the Marlins last year. To add to that, they still have Jose Guillen and breakout candidate Billy Butler. The bullpen features young allstar closer Joakim Soria, but it falls off after that. They re-signed Kyle Farnsworth, but he is a mediocre setup man at best.

Highlights: Gil Meche and Zack Greinke did a great job last year, both posting sub 4.00 ERAs. Kyle Davies found success in 21 starts last year and hopes to build on that success with a full year of work. The rotation looks promising.

Question Mark: The bullpen is weak. Almost every baseball fan should know the importance of a strong bullpen, something the Royals don't have. Joakim Soria will continue his dominance in the closer role, but how will they get the ball to him in the 9th?

Keys to success: The Royals will obviously have to stay healthy to succeed. The top of their lineup is impressive and will really help, especially if Billy Butler has a breakout year. The back end of the rotation will need to step up. Horacio Ramirez, Sidney Ponson, and Brian Bannister will be fighting for the last two spots of the rotation. And of course, the bullpen will need to hold up. The Royals will have a rough time climbing the AL Central this year. The division isn't particularly strong, but teams such as the Tigers and Indians expect to have bounce-back years after a terrible 2008. Where does this leave the Royals? Probably the cellar, but expect them to improve on last season.

Prediction: 5th place