Position by Position: 1st Base

Mike Jacobs- so at first when the Royals traded for Jacobs I was sooo mad! Shealy won't get a chance, Kila is blocked, No Adam Dunn, and not to mention Leo Nunez was a pretty good reliever. Now let me start by saying I feel the same way about each of those, but I don't hate Mike Jacobs anymore. Why? Well at first when we got him I got all caught up in the sabermetrics people saying he sucks because he doesn't walk much. Then again he does hit for plus power. The 2nd reason I hated the trade was that it blocked Kila Ka'aihue. Kila had been tearing up the minors last year and looked like a bona fide power hitting, high on base percentage 1B. The third reason I hated the move at the time time was it killed any shot at adam dunn. Dunn is the typical obp/HR guy that I like and would have been a guarenteed value to our offense. At 10M per year though (he signed a 2 year 20M deal with the nationals) he's much more expensive than Jacobs. So what are the strengths of Mike Jacobs? He hits a lot of home runs.... that's it. His weaknesses are he doesn't walk, is slow, can't field. Now the speed and fielding of a 1st basemen aren't a huge, but walks are. This spring training though has given me hope in Jacobs in that maybe he can continue walking at a decent rate as he has so far and be valueable. After all shouldn't plate patience in spring be the one thing that carries over into the season? So projection time I'll say he goes .265/.345/.515 with 31 HR's. If this happens Royals win the trade.

Billy Butler- Billy is a hitter. That's just it. He smacks the ball. Butler is one of the prized Royal's prospects the team needs to step forward this year and for the future. Butler just raked everywhere he went in the minors. The only issue with him was can he field anywhere? Butler started as a 3B, then moved to OF for the majority of his time in the minors. This begs the question who saw Billy Butler run and thought he could EVER be anywhere in the field besides 1B. Butler has struggled in the field since coming to the majors, and also seems to have left his patience and some of his hitting in the minors with him. In stints back in the minors since being called up he's hit, but he'll need to bring his bat to the majors in full( he has to hit righties also) for the Royals to stay on track. His strengths are he hits for average and some power. His weaknesses are his fielding and questionable attitude. Projection is .300/.380/.500 with 18HR's. His batting style is like Sweeney's in that he's a line drive type hitter and thus more of a gap hitter than a slugger.

Kila Ka'iahue- Kila came from nowhere to become a fan favorite despite only a few at bats in the bigs. Kila represented hope that the Gload era was over. Many scouts are skeptical of him as he came from nowhere. Kila's strengths are his great patience and plus power. He lacks great bat speed though and is slow. Kila is okay in the field from what I've heard. A good comparison for him may be Carlos Pena. He'd go .250/.365/.500 with 25HR's in a years playing time in my opinion which may be optimistic. Expect him to start in AAA and come up after an injury.

Ryan Shealy- Shealy looked like he could hit in his first year in KC, then looked awful in his 2nd. Last year in September he hit HR's like crazy when called up. This once again peaked the curiousity of people, and made us wonder why Gload was the primary starter the whole year. Odd thing about him is he is a righty who hits righties and struggles vs. lefties. He'd go .275/.340/.490 for a whole season by my projection with 20HR's. I'm a shealy fan and think with him showing promise last spring its not the time to part ways with him.

Ross Gload- He does what Teahen does, but worse and with no upside or possibility for improvement. Find a farm for useless utility players and send Gload there to play with Desi Relaford and Luis Alicia.
.275/.315/.350 for a whole year projection with 5 HR's. Put this dog down.
*sidenote- my douchebag roomate likes ross gload.