Tweety

Great read, just a quick nit - Puerto Rico isn't another country.

So is the free 40-man spot gonna go to Park?

I absolutely agree that this could be a solid team with an average rotation. Problem is, the version of the rotation that took the field last year was a LONG way from average. They were historically bad. I have zero faith in Hughes or Santiago, Santana won't be around after the next couple years (plus he's getting up there in years), and Gibson is only under team control for a couple more years, as well. The only really high-upside arm in the high minors is Berrios, so there's not a surfeit of help coming soon.

Here's what I'm worried is going to happen: A hot early season will obscure the massive hole that is basically our entire pitching staff, convincing the front office to not sell high on our couple short-term veteran assets, and ride it out. Our young lineup blossoms, but the lack of any high-upside pitching depth means that we're on the edge of contention for 5 years, and then our promising young offense ages out leaving us back where we started. Thoughts?

It seems like he may well be the right choice, but it makes me nervous, because TINSTAAPP.

Hate to be the skeptic, but I'm pretty sure this is just a case of the Royals' pitching being unable to locate the strike zone. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

While you're right that Perkins' discrepancy is somewhat larger than one might expect, the stats that you choose to back up that assertion are misplaced I think. We're talking about the difference in strikeout rate for a single player, not all starters vs. all relievers. This is a bad comp for a large number of reasons, not least among which is the fact that, on average, starters are simply better pitchers. A way better comp (albeit a much harder one) would be pitchers who did significant time in the majors as both starters and relievers. I know that it's not terribly uncommon for failed starters to become lights-out relievers, and even closers. What reason do we have to disbelieve in Perkins' K numbers as a reliever? After multiple full seasons in the role, the sample size isn't exactly miniscule.