2007 Kansas City Royals season

The 2007 Kansas City Royals season was the 39th season for the franchise, and their 35th at Kauffman Stadium. The season began with the team attempting to win the American League Central - a task not achieved since the division was formed in 1994.
In trying to improve on their 62–100 record in the 2006 season, the team avoided a fourth straight 100-loss season. Buddy Bell returned for his second and final full season as manager, while Dayton Moore began his first season as the team's general manager.
Anticipation surrounded the Royals' newfound approach to once again become a playoff contender with rebuilding the roster. Roster moves generated much interest in the Kansas City area, including the big-budget signing of starting pitcher Gil Meche, and the arrival of young, new talent—such as rookie third baseman Alex Gordon and designated hitter Billy Butler. The team's payroll for the 2007 season was increased to $67 million.

Free agency and roster moves

The biggest free-agent pickups for the Royals in 2007 included RHP Gil Meche—who was signed to a 5-year, $55 million deal—and RHP Octavio Dotel, who quickly became trade bait to the Atlanta Braves.

= club option for 2007
= mutual option for 2007
= player option for 2007

'''Color Code Key'''

Regular season

Season summary

April

The Royals began the season with expectations of improvement from their fans, and the team never ceased to impress in their home opener against the Boston Red Sox. The Royals defeated the Red Sox 7–1 in front of the sold-out home crowd. The magic did not last, however—Kansas City was just 3–7 through the first ten games of the season, and 8–18 by the end of April.

May

The Royals hit minor spots of winning when the team won 8 of 10 games from May 13 to 23, but finished the month of May on a seven-game losing streak with series sweeps by the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles. Kansas City went 11–17 in May and finished the month with an overall record of 19–35.

June

In the 2007 MLB draft held on June 7, the Royals selected shortstop Mike Moustakas at No. 2 overall. The team went 15–12 in June, their first winning month since July 2003. Pitcher Brian Bannister won the American League Rookie of the Month Award.

July

Gil Meche was the only Royal selected to represent the team at the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in San Francisco. At the All-Star break, the Royals had a record of 38–50 and the lowest team ERA in 13 years. On July 31, the Royals traded pitcher Octavio Dotel to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Kyle Davies. The Royals went 13–12 in July, giving the team its first consecutive winning months since June and July 2003. Billy Butler won the Rookie of the Month Award.

August

On August 1, manager Buddy Bell announced his intention to resign following the 2007 season before a game against the Minnesota Twins. Also, about an hour before the first pitch, the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis collapsed with a death toll of at 13. Before the game, a moment of silence was held for the victims of the collapse. The team rescheduled their August 2 game against the Twins to the afternoon of August 31 for a double-header. Brian Bannister won his second Rookie of the Month Award for the season. The Royals went 13–15 in August, completing a three-month stretch in which the team compiled a record of 41–39.

September

On September 12, the Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6–3 to win their 63rd game, guaranteeing that they would not lose 100 games in 2007. The victory ended the team's string of three consecutive seasons of 100 losses of more from 2004 to 2006. While the Royals struggled with a 9–19 record in September, their overall record of 69–93 was the team's best finish since 2003.

Statistical team leaders

Pitching

''Stats as of September 30, 2007''

Royals among league leaders

Pitching

''Stats as of September 30, 2007''

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
David DeJesus	157	605	101	157	29	9	7	58	10	64	.260	.372
Mark Teahen	144	544	78	155	31	8	7	60	13	55	.285	.410
Alex Gordon	151	543	60	134	36	4	15	60	14	41	.247	.411
Tony Peña Jr.	152	509	58	136	25	7	2	47	5	10	.267	.356
Mark Grudzielanek	116	453	70	137	32	3	6	51	1	23	.302	.426
Emil Brown	113	366	44	94	13	1	6	62	12	24	.257	.347
Esteban Germán	121	348	49	92	15	6	4	37	11	43	.264	.376
John Buck	113	347	41	77	18	0	18	48	0	36	.222	.429
Billy Butler	92	329	38	96	23	2	8	52	0	27	.292	.447
Ross Gload	102	320	37	92	22	3	7	51	2	16	.288	.441
Mike Sweeney	74	265	26	69	15	1	7	38	0	17	.260	.404
Joey Gathright	74	228	28	70	8	0	0	19	9	20	.307	.342
Ryan Shealy	52	172	18	38	6	0	3	21	0	13	.221	.308
Jason LaRue	66	169	14	25	9	0	4	13	1	17	.148	.272
Shane Costa	55	103	13	23	6	1	0	12	0	5	.223	.301
Jason Smith	40	85	9	16	2	1	6	14	0	3	.188	.447
Reggie Sanders	24	73	12	23	7	0	2	11	0	11	.315	.493
Fernando Cortez	8	14	3	4	1	0	0	1	0	1	.286	.357
Paul Phillips	8	14	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	1	.143	.214
Ángel Berroa	9	11	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.091	.091
Justin Huber	8	10	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.100	.100
Craig Brazell	5	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250
Pitcher Totals	162	22	2	4	1	0	0	2	0	0	.182	.227
Team Totals	162	5534	706	1447	300	46	102	660	78	428	.261	.388

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Gil Meche	9	13	3.67	34	34	0	216.0	218	98	88	62	156
Brian Bannister	12	9	3.87	27	27	0	165.0	156	76	71	44	77
Odalis Pérez	8	11	5.57	26	26	0	137.1	178	90	85	50	64
Jorge De La Rosa	8	12	5.82	26	23	0	130.0	160	88	84	53	82
Zack Greinke	7	7	3.69	52	14	1	122.0	122	52	50	36	106
Joel Peralta	1	3	3.80	62	0	1	87.2	93	39	37	19	66
David Riske	1	4	2.45	65	0	4	69.2	61	19	19	27	52
Joakim Soria	2	3	2.48	62	0	17	69.0	46	20	19	19	75
Jimmy Gobble	4	1	3.02	74	0	1	53.2	56	23	18	23	50
Kyle Davies	3	7	6.66	11	11	0	50.0	63	41	37	26	40
Brandon Duckworth	3	5	4.63	26	3	1	46.2	51	30	24	23	21
Juan Carlos Oviedo	2	4	3.92	13	6	0	43.2	44	21	19	10	37
John Bale	1	1	4.05	26	0	0	40.0	45	18	18	17	42
Ryan Braun	2	0	6.64	26	0	0	39.1	46	32	29	22	24
Scott Elarton	2	4	10.46	9	9	0	37.0	53	44	43	21	13
Billy Buckner	1	2	5.29	7	5	0	34.0	37	20	20	16	17
Neal Musser	0	1	4.38	17	0	0	24.2	32	13	12	14	19
Octavio Dotel	2	1	3.91	24	0	11	23.0	24	11	10	11	29
Todd Wellemeyer	0	1	10.34	12	0	0	15.2	25	19	18	11	9
Luke Hochevar	0	1	2.13	4	1	0	12.2	11	4	3	4	5
John Thomson	1	1	3.38	2	2	0	10.2	13	5	4	3	3
Jason Standridge	0	1	8.22	4	0	0	7.2	11	10	7	5	6
Luke Hudson	0	1	18.00	1	1	0	2.0	2	5	4	4	0
Team Totals	69	93	4.48	162	162	36	1437.1	1547	778	716	520	993

Source:

Awards and honors

Mike Sweeney, Hutch Award

2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Gil Meche, pitcher, reserve