It is one of the very few downsides to winning a World Series. You will not get top billing in the following year’s draft, and this is especially true for the Kansas City Royals, as last season’s trades for Ben Zobrist and Johnny Cueto, combined with the January signing of Ian Kennedy, leave the World Champions looking to restock its pitching depth, but without early picks to do so.
The 2016 draft opens for business at 6 o’clock tonight (Thursday night), with live coverage on MLB Network, and the top 77 picks being streamed on MLB.com. Day 2 starts at 11:30 on Friday morning, with coverage of Day 3 starting at noon on Saturday.
As it pertains to the Royals, the early part of the draft will be quiet, as Kansas City lost its first-round pick after singing Kennedy to a five-year deal. Over the past year, Kansas City traded away five young pitchers, in Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, Cody Reed, Sean Manaea, and Aaron Brooks, so adding pitching, and in particular, left-handed pitching, appears to be a priority for General Manager Dayton Moore.
While the Royals play a game of “hurry up and wait”, the cross-state rival St. Louis Cardinals have the picks to continue the strong level of both major league success and minor league depth that has been the major contributor in the Redbirds winning ways. The Cardinals are one of two clubs with three first-round selections after netting additional picks as compensation for the free-agent departures of John Lackey and Jason Heyward.
