Kansas City Royals

Let's see, the Royals had the worst record in the league last season at 58-104, the third worst offense, worst pitching, and second most errors in the league last season. How have they looked to improve these stats? They signed Jose Lima, Kevin Appier has been invited to Spring Training, Terrence Long, and Eli Marrero were brought in to solidify the outfield and the starting third baseman will either be Mark Teahan, Chris Truby, or Chris Clapinski.

Another year of being in the cellar is in store for Kansas City.Good things going for the Royals this season are the depth at first base and solid middle infielders. Mike Sweeney, Ken Harvey, and Carl Pickering are all more than serviceable at this position, throw in emergency first baseman Matt Stairs and they are the deepest team in the league at first. Shorstop Angel Berroa and second baseman Tony Graffanino are both solid defensive players and should continue to show improvement in their offensive skills this season.

The pitching rotation is quite... well... weak. They have three starters pretty much in place, Zack Grienke (8-11, 3.97), Runelvys Hernandez, and Jose Lima (13-5, 4.07). After this it's a toss up between guys like the veteran Appier and rookie Denny Bautista, it's not looking good for KC.Losing Carlos Beltran in the offseason was going to happen, so the trade in July wasn't surprising. What may be surprising is how bad the team is going to be this year without him, and not having the prospects to replace him. Make a lot of other plans Royals fans, it's going to be a long season.