Go Royals?

As I type this, the Royals are an inning away from being tied with Cleveland for first place.  I honestly dont know what to think.  All pre-season, all we heard in KC was how great our farm system is, how great we'll be in the future, and many rumblings about how this year would be tough to watch but worth it once our young players are over their growing pains...  

Interestingly enough, nobody has told this years team that they arent supposed to be this good?  Our bullpen has been one of the best in the league, the veterans we signed to help provide leadership, but little else expected, are playing as well as they had in their prime (Jeff Francoeur, Melky Cabrera, Matt Treanor, Jeff Francis).  We've also had something very exciting happen, Alex Gordon has finally found his swing at the plate, and looks like a natural in left field despite being a 3rd basemen his entire life.  With the emergence of forgotten talent like Gordon, and the veterans that have been added to help bring the young players along, this team is going to be very exciting to watch on offense and in the field this season.  

I'm still torn about whether I should start getting excited yet or not.  This team has shown signs of being a good team, their never quit attitude is something that we've been lacking for years.  This team honestly has a chance to win every night, which is another thing that we've not seen in years.  The argument could really be made that their only downfall is terrible starting pitching, a prime example is innings pitched.  The starters have only thrown about 25% more innings this year than the bullpen.  You can attribute part of that to the multiple extra inning games that the Royals have played this year, but the majority of it is the fact that the starters are averaging less than 6 IP per game!  Its a proven fact that overworked bullpens will eventually fall apart.  What does offer encouragement is how great our young pitchers are pitching.  Aaron Crow, already in the bigs, has been almost unhittable out of the pen, and Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy, and John Lamb all looked fantastic throughout spring training causing management to put serious consideration into bringing them up earlier than they were really anticipating.  

My advice...  Proceed with extreme caution.  This years Royals have the ability to really make some things happen this year, we are loaded with young talent in the minors and in the big show.  We have the best farm system in baseball including a young pitching staff that has the potential to rival the great young pitching talent that carried the Braves throughout the 90s.  Try not to get too high or too low on this years team.  They have the talent and really appear to be headed in the right direction for the first time that I can remember, but are still very young.  The most encouraging sign is that this team is fighting through every game and are actually having fun out there while maintaining their focus.  Proceed with caution, but I'm saying they are fair game to get excited about.  

One last thought, do you think Greinke is regretting leaving just yet?