Charting The Competition: Kansas City Royals

The Royals made a huge move to keep their core intact last week by re-signing free agent Alex Gordon on a four-year, $72 million deal. It comes as a surprise weeks after it was reported that the team had "no chance" of retaining him. Gordon's solid offense and premium defense have been critical to Kansas City's success over the past two seasons, and he would have been a big loss had he signed elsewhere.

It's a contract that might not look too great on the back end, when Gordon is 35 and making $20 million, but it certainly boosts the club's short-term outlook.

Gordon rejoins a lineup keyed by prime-aged hitters such as Eric Hosmer (26), Salvador Perez (26), Mike Moustakas (27), Alcides Escobar (29) and Lorenzo Cain (29). Things are looking quite promising on the offensive front.

The rotation is one area where the Royals do appear vulnerable. Johnny Cueto is gone, and they've done little to improve a unit that was frequently shaky in 2015. Re-signing 36-year-old Chris Young to a two-year deal with hopes that he can repeat last year's magic seems less than prudent. Yordano Ventura has all the tools to be a quality No. 1 but will he continue to be such a volatile asset?

Unfortunately (for the rest of the Central), Kansas City's weakness in the rotation hasn't held them back much. Their starters ranked 12th in the AL in ERA and 14th in WHIP last year, but the team won 95 games and cruised through the playoffs nonetheless.

That is in large part because, as we all know, the Royals lean heavily on a dynamite bullpen that has given them an enormous edge. There are no signs of that changing.

Signing Joakim Soria makes up for the losses of Ryan Madson and Greg Holland. Wade Davis might be the best reliever in the league. Kelvin Herrera is only 26. Luke Hochevar and Franklin Morales will return. Top prospect Kyle Zimmer, who finished at Double-A last year, could be a factor.

In other words, the Royals aren't poised for much of a drop-off, so the Twins are going to need to take big step forward to get over the hump and recapture the division crown. That is, of course, not even accounting for the rest of the teams in the division, which have improved to varying degrees in efforts to leapfrog the Twins and take their own shots at KC.

You can argue that Minnesota hasn't really improved much on paper this winter. They don't appear built to overcome the Royals, especially when you look at the bullpen disparities. Will the Twins rely entirely on what they currently have or is a big splash still in store?