2010 Rewind: The Royals have had just one winning season since George Brett retired in 1993. After a couple of 4th places finishes they found themselves back at the bottom of the AL Central. After a slow start Trey Hillman was replaced as manager by Ned Yost. He managed to breathe some life into to team. But even the best managers would struggle to win with the lowest payroll in the game.

The Good: The Royals finished with the second-best team batting average last season - .274 to the Rangers .276 average. Unfortunately they were in the bottom half of the league in runs scored and only two teams hit fewer homeruns. That brings up Billy Butler. The Royals' first baseman batted .318, but hit just 15 HR and had 78 RBI. Three of his teammates also finished the year above .300, including infielder Mike Aviles. After a great rookie year at shortstop in 2008, Aviles bounced back at second base last year with a .304 average. He looks to open this season at third base. The best pitcher on the staff finished the games for the Royals last year – Joakim Soria. With 43 saves a 1.78 ERA Soria is not just the pitcher in Kansas City, he is one of the top closers in the game.

The Bad: The Royals finished the season with the highest staff ERA in the AL (4.97). Of the 10 pitchers that started games only four had an ERA under 5.00 for the season. Zach Greinke and Bruce Chen tied for the team’s best ERA at 4.17 and Chen led the way in victories with 12. What made the pitching even worse was a league leading 121 errors by the defense.

Biggest Loss: Although he is not coming off of a very good season, Zach Greinke will be sorely missed in KC. He took the ball every five days, logged another 220 innings and struck out 181 batters. Sure, a 4.17 ERA isn’t good enough for another Cy Young Award, but he still has an award winning arm. What is worse for the Royals is that they did very little to replace him.

Best Addition: The Royals are attempting to improve their defense with the additions of Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera. Both have pretty good gloves and some experience to share with the young team. Francoeur could provide some power and will likely hit in the middle of the lineup. The Royals also swapped shortstops in the Greinke deal with Milwaukee and added a better glove in Alcides Escobar.

Fantasy Slant: The first member of the Royals to go off the board in nearly every fantasy draft this year will be Soria. He was second in the AL in Saves last season and has a good chance to finish in the lead this year. The Royals have some guys that can help on offense with a solid batting average but little else. Butler is a solid corner infielder who won’t hurt a fantasy squad. The same can be said for Aviles, who should be eligible at CI and MI.

Final Take: The Royals still have a lot of question marks but they have a lot of young talent ready to answer those questions. They can already hit but need to produce runs. They improved their defense which will help a young staff. And they have a great closer to avoid late inning melt-downs. If everything goes well they will be a much improved ball club from 2010. They still are not ready to contend but may make some noise...2011 record: 70-92, fifth in the AL Central

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