When the Royals opened spring training last year, they listed 11 candidates for the rotation. This year they have six viable starting candidates plus a couple of back-burner contenders.
Right-handers Gil Meche and Zack Greinke will take the first two slots. If right-hander Kyle Davies pitches like he did in September, 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA, he would likely be the No. 3 starter. That would leave right-handers Brian Bannister and Luke Hochevar and lefty Horacio Ramirez, who pitched strictly out of the bullpen last year, competing for the final three spots.
"You look at the options we have in camp, it is pretty be safe to say our starting rotation will be very similar to what it was," general manager Dayton Moore said.
"Certainly, Gil Meche and Zack Greinke have proved they can be dominant pitchers in our league. I think they both finished fifth in the American League in strikeouts (183 each). They keep getting better.
"Kyle Davies emerged. Brian Bannister has been somebody who has proved he can pitch quality innings. Luke Hochevar is emerging. Horacio Ramirez has had some success in the past. The last couple of years he had to battle through injuries and what have you (and) he hasn't really performed that well, but we think he will."
Meche made 34 starts last season, while Bannister and Greinke each made 32. Hochevar, the first pick in the 2006 draft, made 22 starts, going 6-12 with a 5.41 ERA before a right rib cage contusion ended his rookie season on Aug. 19. Davies, who began the season with 11 starts with Class AAA Omaha, was recalled on May 31 and went 9-7 with a 4.06 ERA in 21 starts.
The key might be whether Bannister can return to his 2007 numbers, when he was 12-9 with a 3.87 ERA and finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting. He regressed as a sophomore, finishing 9-16 with a 5.76 ERA.
The Royals are hoping Ramirez claims one of the vacancies.
"We're bringing him with the anticipation he presses his way into that starting rotation," manager Trey Hillman said. "It would be nice to have a starter that is left-handed, especially being in the American League Central.
"We'll see how that goes. The top candidates are obviously the five we had last year along with Horacio."
The other two dark-horse candidates are Robinson Tejeda, who has made 47 starts in the majors, and Brandon Duckworth. Tejeda made a spot start in a doubleheader on Sept. 13 at Cleveland and picked up a victory, allowing one run on two hits in five innings.
"We don't know exactly what route we're going to go with Robinson Tejeda yet," Hillman said. "It's a possibility (he is a rotation candidate). We'll see once we get to spring training. We still have plenty of time to lengthen him out. A guy like Robinson has the ability to pitch out of the 'pen or in the rotation if there is a need or if he wins a job."
Duckworth, a non-roster invitee for the second consecutive spring training, replaced Hochevar in the rotation as the end of last season and went 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA in seven starts. He had started 84 games in the majors, including 18 with the Royals over the last three seasons.
