Comparing the 2014 Royals to the 1985 Royals

George Brett says the current team is better. Is he right?

The 2014 Royals are having the best season in franchise history since probably 1985, the only time the franchise has won it all. This has led to some comparisons between the two clubs, especially since both teams were built on great pitching and shaky offense. George Brett even went so far as to do a player-by-player comparison and conclude the 2014 Royals were better. Was he right?

First of all, let's disabuse ourselves of the notion that the 1985 team was a great team barreling towards a championship. The 1985 Royals had a pythagorean record of 86-76, were second-to-last in the league in runs scored, were dead last in on-base percentage, and were just 42-42 on July 12. Even after going on a nice second-half run, they won just 91 games, six games worse than the Yankees, who finished second place and out of the playoffs in the Eastern Division.

The 1985 Royals were a very good team, not a great one, who got hot at the right time, had a little help from Don Denkinger, and were clutch in October thanks to a funny-named shortstop named Buddy Biancalana and one of the greatest clutch hitters in baseball history - George Brett. Let's go position-by-position, as George did, and do the rundown. All 2014 statistics use current stats + ZIPS projected stats for the rest of the season (except Christian Colon and Bruce Chen, since their season is likely over).

Catcher - Jim Sundberg vs. Salvador Perez

Catcher		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Jim Sundberg	1985	407	.245	.308	.381	10	35	87	1.2
Salvador Perez	2014	595	.270	.303	.424	18	73	102	4.0

Sundberg was a six-time Gold Glove Award winner, but by 1985 he was past his prime at age 34. He was not a total slouch with the bat and provided key leadership during the Royals pennant run, including a big hit in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. But this is really no contest. Salvador Perez is just beginning the prime of his career, a career that could very well eclipse Sundberg terrific career. Verdict: Salvador Perez

First Base - Steve Balboni vs. Eric Hosmer

First Base		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Steve Balboni	1985	662	.243	.307	.477	36	88	110	1.2
Eric Hosmer	2014	542	.268	.314	.383	8	56	94	-0.1

Eric Hosmer certainly has a brighter future than Balboni ever did, but Balboni's franchise-record-setting home run season is a pretty underrated season. Balboni was not exactly the nimble Gold Glover Eric Hosmer is, but his tremendous power made up for the other deficiencies in his games. Hosmer is probably having a career-worst season with the bat and will see better days in the future, but for this comparison, I'll take Balboni's power. Verdict: Steve Balboni

Second Base - Frank White vs. Omar Infante

Second Base		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Frank White	1985	600	.249	.284	.414	22	69	88	2.0
Omar Infante	2014	565	.258	.295	.355	7	67	80	0.9

Frank was 35 years old in 1985, but still enjoying a fairly productive career. His 22 home runs were the second-most by a second baseman that year (behind Ryne Sandberg). He had lost a step on defense, but was still an asset on the field. By contrast, 32 year old Omar Infante has been a liability with the bat this year despite the gaudy RBI totals. He's still adequate defensively and an upgrade over Chris Getz, but Infante has not given the Royals the kind of production they should have hoped for after signing him to a four-year $30 million deal last winter. Verdict: Frank White

Shortstop - Onix Concepcion vs. Alcides Escobar

Shortstop		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Onix Concepcion	1985	349	.204	.255	.245	2	20	39	-0.8
Alcides Escobar	2014	610	.276	.309	.367	3	51	88	3.2

Buddy Biancalana was the starter in October when Concepcion went down with injury, but Onix was the starter much of the year. It is amazing the Royals were able to be as competitive as they were in 1985 with such a black-hole on offense. Alcides was nearly an All-Star this year, so this is a pretty easy call. Verdict: Alcides Escobar

Third Base - George Brett vs. Mike Moustakas

Third Base		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
George Brett	1985	665	.335	.436	.585	30	112	168	8.3
Mike Moustakas	2014	500	.211	.271	.379	18	59	80	0.9

Hahaha. I'm not sure its possible to have a wider gulf than this. Verdict: George Brett.

Left-field - Lonnie Smith vs. Alex Gordon

Left Field		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Lonnie Smith	1985	613	.257	.332	.358	6	48	93	1.5
Alex Gordon	2014	648	.278	.354	.456	22	76	128	6.9

Lonnie was a pretty talented player offensively, but he suffered a down year in 1985. His defense was a big liability, earning him the nickname "Skates." Alex Gordon has been one of the best players in baseball, particularly on defense, so this is no contest. Verdict: Alex Gordon

Center Field - Willie Wilson vs. Lorenzo Cain

Center Field		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Willie Wilson	1985	642	.278	.316	.408	4	43	95	2.0
Lorenzo Cain	2014	484	.294	.334	.398	4	49	105	3.9

I was a bit surprised by this, as I seem to remember Willie Wilson having a better year than he did. Willie stole 43 bases in 1985, but that season marked the beginning of his decline from an elite player to just-above replacement level player. Verdict: Lorenzo Cain

Right Field - Darryl Motley vs. Nori Aoki

Right Field		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Darryl Motley	1985	408	.222	.257	.413	17	49	77	-0.6
Nori Aoki	2014	542	.266	.331	.338	2	39	91	1.7

Motley caught the game-clinching out in Game 7 and had a key home run in that game to get the blowout started, but overall he was a pretty limited player whose only skill was bopping it out of the park once in awhile. As bad as Nori Aoki has been this year, he gets on base a lot more than Motley, and is even a better defender. Verdict: Nori Aoki

Designated Hitter - Hal McRae vs. Billy Butler

Designated Hitter		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Hal McRae	1985	369	.259	.349	.450	14	70	118	0.1
Billy Butler	2014	643	.273	.328	.387	11	69	100	0.0

Hal had his swansong in 1985, as this would be his last productive season. He was still a fairly decent hitter in 1985, but his numbers would be dwarfed by any other Billy Butler season. However, this is easily Billy's worst season, making it all the more amazing the Royals have contended despite his lack of production: Verdict: Hal McRae

Benches

1985 Bench		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
John Wathan	1985	165	.234	.319	.324	1	9	81	0.9
Buddy Biancalana	1985	160	.188	.277	.261	1	6	52	-0.2
Dane Iorg	1985	138	.223	.268	.331	1	21	59	-0.3
Jorge Orta	1985	330	.267	.317	.383	4	45	87	-0.4
Pat Sheridan	1985	234	.228	.307	.335	3	17	76	0.1
Lynn Jones	1985	169	.211	.261	.257	0	9	43	-0.9
2014 Bench		PA	AVG	OBA	SLG	HR	RBI	wRC+	fWAR
Erik Kratz	2014	142	.229	.262	.407	6	17	88	0.1
Christian Colon	2014	47	.302	.348	.442	0	8	122	0.5
Jarrod Dyson	2014	311	.282	.337	.344	1	26	93	3.5
Josh Willingham	2014	394	.221	.350	.417	17	49	117	1.3
Raul Ibanez	2014	328	.179	.266	.310	7	33	66	-0.9

John Schuerholz assembled a very motley crew of punch-and-judy hitters for the Royals bench in 1985. Although a couple of them ended up having key hits for the Royals that October, overall it was a pretty crummy group of hitters. Josh Willingham and Jarrod Dyson give today's Royals a clear advantage. Verdict: 2014 Royals

If you don't like position-by-position comparisons, here is a look at the 1985 and 2014 Royals position players compared with hitters lined up by fWAR.




Click to enlarge.

George Brett towers over everyone as far as value, but the 2014 Royals have far more value from their position players with a much deeper roster. The 2014 Royals position players combine for 25.9 fWAR combined to just 14.1 for the 1985 Royals.

Starting Pitchers

1985	W	L	ERA	FIP	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	fWAR
Bret Saberhagen	20	6	2.87	2.89	235.1	6.0	1.5	0.7	.269	6.5
Danny Jackson	14	12	3.42	3.21	208.0	4.9	3.3	0.3	.293	4.9
Bud Black	10	15	4.33	3.55	205.2	5.3	2.6	0.7	.293	4.0
Charlie Leibrandt	17	9	2.69	3.59	237.2	4.2	2.5	0.7	.281	4.1
Mark Gubicza	14	10	4.06	3.98	177.1	5.0	3.9	0.7	.258	2.5

2014	W	L	ERA	FIP	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	fWAR
James Shields	14	9	3.43	3.75	223.0	7.1	1.9	1.0	.312	3.8
Jason Vargas	12	9	3.30	3.75	197.0	6.0	1.9	0.9	.301	3.5
Danny Duffy	9	12	2.59	3.71	158.0	7.0	3.3	0.7	.249	3.0
Yordano Ventura	12	10	3.46	3.71	173.0	7.8	3.4	0.8	.305	2.8
Jeremy Guthrie	11	12	4.33	4.43	205.0	5.6	2.2	1.1	.303	1.6

Holy cow that '85 pitching staff was good. Mark Gubicza is the only member of that rotation worse than the best pitcher - James Shields - on the 2014 pitching staff. What is really striking is how much lower the strikeout and home run rates and BABIP are for the 1985 club. It was a different time, man. Verdict: 1985 Royals

Bullpens

1985 Bullpen	W	L	ERA	FIP	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	fWAR
Dan Quisenberry	8	9	2.37	3.05	129.0	3.8	1.1	0.6	.296	3.0
Joe Beckwith	1	5	4.07	3.34	95.0	7.6	3.0	0.9	.315	1.1
Steve Farr	2	1	3.11	3.22	37.2	8.6	4.8	0.5	.308	0.6
Mike LaCoss	1	1	5.09	4.18	40.2	5.8	6.4	0.4	.346	0.1
Mike Jones	3	3	4.78	4.73	64.0	4.5	5.5	0.8	.263	-0.2
2014 Bullpen	W	L	ERA	FIP	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	fWAR
Wade Davis	9	3	1.38	1.82	78.0	12.3	3.1	0.2	.283	2.4
Greg Holland	2	2	1.69	1.97	66.0	12.8	2.9	0.5	.304	1.8
Kelvin Herrera	4	2	1.63	2.74	70.0	8.2	3.4	0.1	.278	1.3
Jason Frasor	4	1	2.95	3.48	48.0	9.0	3.7	0.7	.312	0.4
Bruce Chen	2	4	7.45	4.57	48.1	6.7	3.0	1.3	.380	0.1
Francisley Bueno	0	0	4.50	3.99	38.0	5.6	2.1	0.9	.310	0.0
Aaron Crow	6	2	3.89	5.24	60.0	5.5	3.5	1.5	.258	-0.8

The 1985 bullpen was basically Dan Quisenberry, Joe Beckwith, and a bunch of guys to throw in slop time. Quisenberry's 3.8 strikeouts per nine innings looks even more amazing today. Today's pen is much deeper and more talented, although it should be noted Quisenberry is more valuable than any current Royals reliever due to a much, much heavier workload. Verdict: 2014 Royals

Its a pretty simplistic way to compare the two teams, but to sum up, the edge at each position goes to:

	1985	2014
Catcher		X
First Base	X
Second base	X
Shortstop		X
Third Base	X
Left Field		X
Center Field		X
Right Field		X
Designated Hitter	X
Bench		X
Starting Pitchers	X
Bullpen		X

That's seven positional edges for the 2014 team, five for the 1985 team. Of course, if you break out the starting pitchers individually against each other, each 1985 Royals starter outperforms his 2014 counterpart, and the 1985 team would get the edge overall.

But the two teams are pretty comparable. We may not see the same result as in 1985, but maybe Hall of Famer George Brett knows what he's talking about when it comes to baseball after all.





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