Woke up in downtown St. Petersburg today, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this area is dealing with their suddenly great Rays.
Is this a full embrace, complete with knowledge and understanding, like maybe the Tigers' turn a few years back?
Is it happy and elated, but no real clue about what it all means, like maybe the Rockies or Kansas football last year?
Or is it an obnoxious entitlement, like they've always rooted for a team this good, like some think is going on with Missouri football now?
But in the meantime, I'm looking for your help.
I joined up in this historical fantasy/simulation baseball league that has all the possibilities of doing anything from being over my head to taking over my life.
Some of the others in the league include Joe Posnanski, Mike Vaccaro and even Curt Schilling -- so, yeah, I need your help.
Each guy takes over a franchise and the first step here is to create a 40-man roster with anyone who played for that franchise.
I've got the Royals, which means we might be up against it when we play the Yankees or something, but in the meantime means we need to build the ultimate, all-time Royals roster and I can't think of a better place to look for help than with the fine readers of this blog.
Anyway, all players who spent time with the Royals are eligible, but their stats and skill are only simulated from the time they were with the Royals.
So, for instance, if we took Harmon Killebrew as a Royal we'd get the 1975, .199-hitting version, not the the 1969, 140-RBI MVP and Hall of Famer that played for the Twins.*
* I wonder if whoever has the Marlins will use Mike Piazza as the catcher?
Now, a lot of these are pretty obvious, so I hope we don't spend a lot of time with suggestions that we take that George Brett guy at third base.
We need a full 40-man roster, but it might be easier to start with a 25-man and then fill in from there. All the stats will be neutralized.
Here are the slam dunks, at least as I see them while sitting in this hotel room hungry for breakfast:
George Brett
Frank White
Fred Patek
Mike Sweeney
Carlos Beltran
Willie Wilson
Amos Otis
Bo Jackson (even if he doesn't deserve it. Bo was my childhood hero, this one's non-negotiable.)
Bret Saberhagen
David Cone
Kevin Appier
Paul Splittorff
Larry Gura
Dan Quisenberry
Joakim Soria (it's not too early, is it?)
Jeff Montgomery
That's 16, so nine spots left. This was more or less off the top of my head, so I'm sure I'm missing some obvious ones. Like probably Jermaine Dye. And if you have beef with any of those selections, feel free to make an argument.
I'm not sure what to do with Zack Greinke, he was terrific this past year, but I think his simulation might get bogged down with the few years before this. Unless you can pick the season, which would also be sweet for some of Saberhagen's bipolar performances. I'll get back to you on that.
One thing that's been mentioned is that defensive positions do matter, even in the outfield. So this isn't like a traditional fantasy league where you can load up with three left fielders.
OK, I think that's about it. Let the GM-ing begin.
Without question, the Royals will activate and keep on their 40-man both Hochevar and Rosa. Although that puts them one over the limit, that is not really a problem as the current 40-man roster has the likes of Jeff Fulchino and Josh Newman on it.
Luke Hudson is surely going to be cut loose and likely will make it back through to the minor league roster after going unclaimed.
Coming off of an injury himself, I would think Ryan Braun might be able to do the same—it's probably worth the risk to try that and save a roster spot.
Shane Costa's time has probably run with the Royals, but all things being equal he might be worth keeping on the 40 man roster over a Jason Smith.
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