MLB Spring Training: Kansas City's Five Royally Burning Questions

In baseball, spring training brings a sense of excitment. You look at your team again after a long winter to see how they got better. However, every fan has questions.  These are my five for the Royals.  I don't answer them here, but this is what needs to be addressed if the Royals want to make that next step into baseball conversations.

1.  Who will play first base?

The Royals traded away a fairly good reliever in Leo Nunez for slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs of Florida.  That means the Royals have to find a way to get Jacobs, Ryan Shealy, Ross Gload, or Billy Butler into the offense. 

In a league where you love to have options, none of these options seems like a great fit.

Offensively, Jacobs makes the most sense.  First base, with only a few exceptions, has become a power position. Gload proved last year he is not a power option, and after an eternity of playing that backup role/ fourth outfielder, he doesn't seem like the "comfortable" option to put there. 

Butler has been a mild disappointment since he has arrived, having left his power in AA ball, and is not defensively sound enough to play first (think Ken Harvey defense). Shealy, the once power prospect limited to AAA ball with Colorado because of Todd Helton, seemed to lose his bat when he came to KC.

Even if Jacobs wins the job, think of this: No player for the Royals has hit more than 25 home runs for a long time. It just doesn't happen at this stadium.

Whomever wins the job, the other three will compete for the DH spot, but again, who do you sit? Try not to read ahead, but what if Mark Teahan enters the year as the third baseman.  Does Alex Gordon get a shot at being DH? He played a few games last year at first base. Is he thrown into this conversation?

2.  Where does Teahan play?

Teahan's natural position is third base, and he should be given the third base job. Gordon had it handed to him the day he was called up. Gordon has since put up less than expected numbers. Maybe open competition would jump start him a little.

Recently Royals' manager Trey Hillman has had him practice at second base. This move comes two seasons after Teahan was asked to move into the outfield, learning right field, then left field after Jose Guillen joined the team. Ultimately, Teahan will decide the infield positions more than the outfield.

3.  The staring rotation is...?

Gil Meche and Zack Greinke put up good numbers, but who pitches after them? Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies, Luke Hochevar, Horacio Ramirez and others will compete for the last three spots.  Bannister needs a year like 2007 to help the pitching staff out. Davies needs to show Dayton Moore that he is capable of pitching like he did for the Atlanta Braves' organization.

The Royals just need one more solid pitcher to help stabilize this group of guys.  The ballpark should be a pitchers paradise, especially with Guillen, David DeJesus and Coco Crisp patrolling the outfield to run down the gappers.

4.  And who do we block in between the starter and Joakim Soria?

Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez were awesome work horses for the Royals last year.  They are gone now. Brandon Duckworth, Ron Mahay, and (ugh) Kyle Farnsworth now fill the primary set up and middle relief roles. Jimmy Gobble is serviceable, mostly because he is left-handed. 

Every other relief job is open, although the talent to pitch the late innings just may not be there.

5. If the Royals don't have losing streaks like last year, where will they finish in the AL Central?

The Royals started strong in '08, having a winning record in the month of April.  Then came May, and later in the year, August had to follow July. Those two months added nearly 40 losses to the record.

The team finished strong in September, though, and hopefully that carries into this new season.

If the Royals can right the ship after a few tough losses, something Hillman and a young team should be able to do, those losing streaks should end sooner. They are still young, and may still be streaky.

Optimism and fanaticism wants me to place them high, but reality can bite back sometimes.

The Tigers can't lose that much again, can they? The Indians have to break through again soon, right? In an AL Central where everyone may be good, but not great, the Royals could finish as high as third and as low as fifth. They are just not ready to contend yet.