The last game of the 2017 season was the “royal” sendoff for the core of the club that reached two World Series. Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar and Jason Vargas were toasted as departing heroes. Tears were shed at the perceived end of an era.
How are those players doing today, and how does the Royals’ replacement plan look? This week, I’m taking a look at each of the five players celebrated on the last day of 2017 and what the Royals are doing at their respective positions:
Read Monday’s look at Eric Hosmer and the Royals’ plan to replace him.
Read Tuesday’s look at Alcides Escobar and the Royals’ plan to replace him.
Read Wednesday’s look at Mike Moustakas and the Royals’ plan to replace him.
Read Thursday’s look at Jason Vargas and the Royals’ plan to replace him.
Friday – Lorenzo Cain, CF: This one hurts.
You could argue that the Royals quickly adjusted to the departure of Hosmer and Vargas, and they brought back Escobar and Moustakas to start 2018. But they let Lorenzo Cain go. And there was just no way they could immediately replace what Cain meant to the team.
Cain was the 2015 Royals best player. His 7.2 WAR total, fourth best among position players in the American League, was by far the highest on the team. Losing him for much of 2016 is a big reason the team dropped off. He was back amongst the best in the game with a 5.3 WAR total in 2017.
The Royals certainly knew they had no one capable of taking up that kind of slack, but there was nothing they could do. Resigning a 32-year-old with a history of injury just didn’t make sense. So they bid Cain farewell and braced for the drop off.
There was a glimmer of misguided hope that minor leaguer Bubba Starling would step up and take some of Cain’s playing time. But Starling doesn’t look like he’ll ever fulfill his immense potential. So the Royals scrambled, playing Alex Gordon and Whit Merrifield some in center while searching for other options.
Playing Abraham Almonte in center was a waste of time. But the short employment of Jon Jay in the outfield did exactly what was intended. Jay played well enough in the first couple of months to be traded for prospects.
Next up, the Royals tried Rosell Herrera and Brian Goodwin, both formerly prized prospects with other teams. And finally, KC acquired Brett Phillips in a trade for Moustakas.
Each of the three has some potential. Herrera has speed, can play numerous positions, and is a switch hitter. Goodwin may have the best bat. And Phillips has an incredible arm to go along with speed. None of the three, however, will ever remind anyone of Cain.
Cain brought the kind of well-rounded performance to the Milwaukee Brewers that led the Royals to two World Series. This year, he was second in the National League in WAR with 6.9, and second in defensive WAR with 2.4. He was the perfect investment for a Brewers team loaded for a postseason run.
He was not, however, the perfect investment for a team in rebuild mode. And the Royals were smart to let him go. He made $14 million in 2018 and will see his salary escalate by a million each of the next four years. He probably won’t be worth $18 million as a 36-year-old in 2022. The Royals will have better ways to spend that kind of money.
The one good thing that came from letting Cain walk was a compensation pick in the 2018 amateur draft – pick 33. The Royals gladly snatched up college pitcher Jackson Kowar. The righty was instantly rated the Royals’ fourth-best prospect and impressed in a half season of A-ball.
The Royals must see Cain as the past, and Kowar as their future. They may not find a centerfielder as productive as Cain for a long time. The search for someone to do the job adequately is underway.