Billy Butler

Billy Butler was supposed to be on the verge of breaking out for an awe-inspiring amount of home runs last year. Finishing the year at 15 was obviously extremely low compared to the hopes and expectations the Kansas City Royal fans had.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Billy Butler regressed to just 15 HRs in 2010 after whacking 21 the season before. His ISO power also dropped from .191 to .151, fifth-lowest among qualified first basemen.

One of the most interesting races in baseball should be the AL Central Division.  The Midwestern division isn't the sexiest in baseball, but it's highly underrated. 

ESPN will give more coverage to one Red Sox/Yankees series than they will to the combined seasons of the five teams in the division, but the fans of those teams know it's shaping up to be a great race in 2011.

Over the past three or four years, third base has been one of the shallowest positions in fantasy baseball—with only a few players worthy of an early-round pick.  

As the 2011 season quickly approaches and fantasy owners begin drafting their teams, many owners will be pleasantly surprised to see that the third base pool is no longer filled with just a small handful of players.

Last week we reviewed the sleeper that is Ryan Raburn (here).

I want everyone to take a deep breath. What I am about to say is nothing short of shocking, mind-bending and literally unbelievable.

Royals first baseman Billy Butler stole a base Sunday in the Royals' spring opener against the Texas Rangers.

I know—incredibly strange news considering Butler only has one career stolen base in 533 games in the majors, but manager Ned Yost told MLB.com that he wants to see his players running more this season.

Billy Butler recently signed a contract extension worth at least $30 million with the Kansas City Royals.

Butler could be with Kansas City for at least the next four years, one more if the Royals pick up the $12.5 million option for the fifth year.

Apparently, he thinks the Royals will become contenders within that time frame.

Fantasy owners continue to wait for Billy Butler to develop power.  After hitting 21 HR in 2009 (along with 51 doubles) there was hope that he had turned the corner.  There was hope that he was on the precipice of becoming one of the elite first baseman in the game.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.  In fact, it wasn’t even close.  The 2010 season, while solid in many ways, fell well short of expectations:

Billy Butler told MLB.com's Dick Kaegel that he and the Royals have agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract extension.

The deal buys out all three of his arbitration-eligible years plus one year of free agency. Butler is represented by Greg Genske of Legacy Sports.

Butler filed for $4.3 million in arbitration earlier this week while the Royals countered with $3.4 million. Kansas City recently picked up an extra $12.4 million when Gil Meche unexpectedly retired.

The Kansas City Royals franchise have produced many great players since their inception in 1969.

From Cy Young Award winners to Hall of Fame third basemen to speedy outfielders, the organization is seen a great amount of talent come and go.

In this feature, I have examined the best 50 players Royals that have played on the team over the course of the last four plus decades.

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