The following article was published in the Topeka Capital-Journal on June 16, 2018 – you can read it here.

For the past several months, discouraged yet loyal Royals fans have set their sights on 2021 as the year the Royals will again be competitive.

While that means a long, bleak wait, it isn’t unusual in today’s game. The league has embraced the philosophy of building in cycles. The Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs are two recent examples of clubs that tolerated stretches of extreme failure in order to allow a wave of talent to matriculate to the major leagues on a schedule.

So expecting fans to accept a couple of rotten seasons on faith isn’t out of the ordinary. While Royals’ team officials may not specify the 2021 deadline, they practically shouted that expectation from on high on June 4, when they drafted an overwhelming number of college players. With two to three years being a natural period of development for most college draftees, sights are set squarely on 2021. That season was already the ETA for a number of top prospects currently in the Royals’ lowest levels of the farm system.

When looking at minor league player development, it’s no longer meaningful to pay attention to age. It’s all about service time and player control. When a player reaches the big leagues, he is generally under team control for five years. Thus a wave of talent reaching the big leagues in 2021 could potentially stay in tact until 2026.

So, a logical question would be, who on the current Royals team will be available in 2021 to serve as the established veterans, the foundation for the youth movement to build upon?

Perhaps the key Royal moving forward is catcher Salvador Perez. His exuberance and toughness make him a fan favorite one can hardly foresee being traded. He may be the one player crucial to maintaining fan loyalty through the bleak years. His contract runs through 2021, when he will be 31. Unfortunately, catchers don’t age well. Unlike catching greats like Joe Mauer or Johnny Bench, a move to first base isn’t a great option for Perez. He’s just not quite good enough with the bat. The best-case scenario would be for Perez to remain one of the top defensive catchers well into the next decade. But time is particularly cruel to catchers. Keeping Perez or trading him while he has value is one of the toughest decisions facing the Kansas City front office.

Dealing veterans in the last year of their contracts before the trade deadline is key to acquiring prospects, and the Royals collected a few inexpensive trading chips in the offseason for just that purpose. Jon Jay was the first short-timer to be dealt, and several others must be swapped before July 31. Kelvin Herrera, Jason Hammel, Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda will be shopped extensively, because their contracts are up. Drew Butera might also fetch something on the market. Unfortunately Alcides Escobar probably holds zero value, but certainly the Royals anticipated that when they resigned him for this season. Blaine Boyer also won’t bring any value.

Of those on the roster who have one or two years remaining after 2018, the contracts of Ian Kennedy and Alex Gordon make them untradeable. The Royals will just have to build around them as veteran clubhouse leaders who won’t be around in 2021. Ryan Goins, Abraham Almonte and Justin Grimm are nothing more than placeholders. Nate Karns is the one player whose contract is up in 2020 who might be a part of the youth movement.

That makes 13 2018 Royals who most certainly will be gone come 2021. While that seems like the core of the roster, there are actually quite a few players in Kansas City now who could constitute a talented foundation for the future.

The Royals could have Whit Merrifield (signed through 2022) and Hunter Dozier (2023) to fill spots in the infield, as well as Cheslor Cuthbert (2021), who has yet to prove his worth. Still awaiting his shot at shortstop is Adalberto Mondesi, who is still just 22 years old and under team control through 2023. A versatile backup could be Ramon Torres, also a Royal through 2023.

Outfield options in 2021 look promising with Jorge Soler (signed through 2021) and Jorge Bonifacio (2022). Backups could include Paolo Orlando and Billy Burns (both signed through 2021) who have logged a lot of time as emergency call-ups from Triple-A Omaha. That group is not good enough, obviously, but could prove supportive to new additions.

Essential to building a winner is pitching. Long the Royals’ biggest failure, the team must assemble a premier starting rotation. Hammel and Kennedy will be gone, but the prospects are actually encouraging looking forward.

The sudden emergence of rookie Brad Keller gives the Royals a small collection of starters to build around. Jakob Junis has been the Royals best starter for more than a year now, and he’s under contract through 2023. Eric Skoglund has flashed signs of potential, and he’s also a Royal through 2023.

Duffy, signed through 2021, wants to be a Royal for life. It may prove preferable, however, to deal him sooner rather than later and bank on younger starters. If some solid starters can be produced from the recent draft, they might supplement some combination of Duffy, Keller, Junis and Skoglund for a quality rotation well beyond 2021.

Any member of that group of starters might also wind up reinforcing a bullpen with many youthful candidates. Bryan Flynn (under contract through 2021), Burch Smith (2023), Kevin McCarthy (2023) and rookies Tim Hill and Scott Barlow are already earning their stripes in the majors and should form a solid core for years to come.

Losing a lot of games the next couple of years will be hard to accept for a fan base whose expectations suddenly went through the roof in 2014. But by keeping an eye on 2021, optimism isn’t impossible. The current Royals signed through that season won’t be good enough on their own. A new wave of talent must arrive, on time and equal to its billing. But if you squint, you can see the beginnings of a return to competitiveness on the horizon.