My Royal Christmas list

Phil Cobb

What more could you want as a Major League Baseball general manager than to win the World Series title?

Well, what’s better than a World Series title?

The answer: two World Series titles.

Obviously, Dayton Moore would love to take the Kansas City Royals to their third consecutive World Series, win their second straight title, and capture the franchise’s third overall.

But what will it take to put the Royals back in that position again so soon?

Let’s take a look at how the 2016 team could stack up against what the best Royals player in history, George Brett himself, declared as the best Royals team in history.

Taking a look at the World Series roster, this is where they stand.

Gone for sure: Ben Zobrist, Johnny Cueto, Alex Rios, Ryan Madson.

Maybe gone: Alex Gordon, Franklin Morales, Drew Butera.

Back for sure (pending any unforeseen trades): infielders — Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales, Omar Infante*, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas, Christian Colon, and Raul Mondesi Jr.; outfielders — Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson, and Paulo Orlando; starting pitchers — Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura, Kris Medlen, Chris Young, Danny Duffy, Jason Vargas*; relief pitchers — Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera, and Luke Hochevar.

New to the team: pitcher Joakim Soria and catcher Tony Cruz.

*Not on the World Series roster due to injury, but most likely will start, at least at some point, in 2016.

Of course, a lot of that can change between now and the April 1 home opener.

But based on that, there are some glaring needs to be filled.

So, here’s what I hope Santa brings Moore and the Kansas City Royals for Christmas — understanding of course, that Santa is busy and might not get to all of this before Dec. 25.

No. 1: starting pitching — I have no problem with Edinson Volquez being the Opening Day starter. He was by far the steadiest starter for the Royals a season ago.

But after him, my confidence level falls off quickly.

Yordano Ventura projects toward taking over that top spot and eventually living up to the “Ace” nickname, but we’ve only seen glimpses to this point.

After him, I feel like we have two guys — Kris Medlen and Chris Young — who can slot in as four-to-five inning guys.

And with the Royals bullpen, that’s just fine.

I just don’t know if that is a good plan for a full season.

Then, Danny Duffy.

Duffy is very much like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.

You know the rest.

What I would like to see is for the Royals to sign one pitcher who could slot in ahead of Volquez and Ventura — say a Wei-Yin Chen or Yovani Gallardo and another to be the No. 4 guy — maybe someone already in the system, like Miguel Almonte or Kyle Zimmer.

Keep in mind, Vargas will most likely return after the All-Star break, and Kansas City signed former New York Met Dillon Gee, who could compete for a spot in the rotation.

This would allow Medlen to become the No. 5 starter, and Young and Duffy to move to the bullpen for long relief, where they both seem to be better suited over the long term.

No. 2: outfield — Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando are fine players, but I don’t believe they are major league starting outfielders over a 162-game season for a World Series contender.

There are some minor league options, but probably not any who are a significant upgrade over those two.

I could be completely wrong, but I’m feeling like Gordon is coming back.

And the further we go into the offseason, I think the more likely that becomes.

If you have Gordon in left and Cain in center, I do know so much that it matters who the right fielder is — to a point.

I still think we need an upgrade, pushing Dyson and Orlando to back-up status where they belong.

I’ve heard the Royals associated with Denard Span and Gerardo Parra.

I think either of those guys would be adequate.

Old friends David DeJesus and Jeff Francouer are out there.

I think it would be kind of cool if DeJesus came back to finish his career.

No. 3: second base — I’m pretty sure the Royals are going to roll with Infante at second, so my wish here is that he is 100 percent healthy. If so, he’s plenty good enough, especially on defense.

While I absolutely hate the idea of him nearly getting voted into the All-Star Game, I do think that he tends to be underrated.

So that’s it.

Surely that’s not asking too much.

When Dayton Moore wakes up on Christmas morning — or really any morning in the next three months — I’d like him to see at least one new starting pitcher, at least one new outfielder, and a healthy Infante under his tree.

If those seemingly minor events take place, I think the 2016 Royals stand a better than even chance of once again competing for the American League Central Division title, if not back-to-back-to-back World Series appearances.