Loser: Kansas City Royals
The Giants, Blue Jays, Mets, and Rangers all had bad Aprils. Those bad Aprils may be nothing more than a bump in the road or they may lead to bad seasons. But at the end of the day, those bad starts shouldn’t have much impact beyond 2017.
For the Royals, though, the bad start is different. It has a distinct end of an era feeling to it.
Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain are all set to be free agents at the end of the year. It would be hard for any team too bring back that many players. For a small market team like Kansas City, it’s essentially impossible.
A strong start was vital to the Royals this year. If nothing else, it would buy the team a few extra months with those core players. It’s hard to be a trade deadline seller when you’re winning. In a perfect world, another good season could generate enough revenue to bring some (or even all) of those guys back.
But at 7-16, Kansas City has baseball’s worst record. With that, it just feels like the end is near. Eventually, Dayton Moore and the Royals are going to realize that if they’re going to lose these players, they need to get something back. That’s when the trades are going to start. One shouldn’t bet on Hosmer being moved but the others are prime trade candidates.
This is an era players that brought Kansas City great memories. They helped the Royals make two straight World Series, culminating in the 2015 championship. But with a slow start to the season, it’s hard to imagine many of them will be in Kansas City for a lot longer.