Reviewing the Kansas City Royals’ offseason

The Royals reunited with the most effective homegrown pitchers in franchise historical past on the tail finish of his Corridor of Fame profession however had been in any other case quiet, as they’re banking on an more and more MLB-ready set of prospects to drive a return to competition within the AL Central.

Main league signings

Trades and claims

Extensions

• Signed CF Michael A. Taylor to a two-year, $9M extension (technically simply earlier than the tip of the common season; Taylor would have been a free agent)

Notable minor league signings

Notable losses

The Royals received their first couple of orders of offseason enterprise executed earlier than the common season had even ended. Longtime normal supervisor Dayton Moore was promoted to president of baseball operations, whereas longtime assistant GM J.J. Picollo was elevated to the title of normal supervisor. It’s nonetheless Moore atop the baseball ops hierarchy, however the pair of promotions made it all of the harder for different groups to lure the Royals’ high executives away. Kansas Metropolis additionally signed all-world defensive heart fielder Michael A. Taylor to an inexpensive two-year, $9M extension on Sept. 29 — maintaining him from the market and guaranteeing a continuance of the superb protection that has been a trademark of Moore’s finest Royals groups.

Though the Royals completed the 2021 season with a 74-88 file, they’d made it clear even relationship again to the 2020-21 offseason that the crew was intent on transferring out of a quick rebuilding part and shifting to a win-now mindset. Moore had plainly said as a lot, and the 2020-21 offseason signings of Mike Minor and Carlos Santana had been clear bets on previously productive veterans that they might return to kind and assist to mentor an in any other case extraordinarily younger Royals roster.

Sadly, neither deal paid dividends. Minor posted a second straight ERA north of 5.00, whereas Santana hit simply .214/.319/.342 via 659 plate appearances. Each former All-Stars might have had some sage recommendation for the Royals’ up-and-coming prospects, however they every shortly went from rebound candidates to struggling veterans now a number of years faraway from productiveness.

For a Royals membership with a deep assortment of younger beginning pitchers and a number of other MLB-ready high prospects on the position-player facet of the depth chart, the presence of Minor and Santana shortly grew to become a roadblock. That’s to not say there wasn’t room for a veteran anchor to the rotation, however the Royals clearly felt Minor wasn’t as much as the duty of shepherding the group in 2022, as they traded him to the Reds in a straight-up swap that introduced hard-throwing lefty reliever Amir Garrett to Kansas Metropolis.

The commerce gave the Royals two years of management over Garrett, a clearly proficient however extremely inconsistent lefty who, if he can proper the ship at Kauffman Stadium, will give supervisor Mike Matheny a viable high-leverage arm. Command points have plagued Garrett prior to now, however from 2019-20 he pitched to a mixed 3.03 ERA whereas hanging out one in all each three batters he confronted. House runs had been a problem in 2021, however the transfer from Nice American Ball Park to Kauffman ought to assist him in that regard.

As importantly — if no more importantly — the Minor/Garrett swap trimmed greater than $7M from the Royals’ payroll. Kansas Metropolis agreed to pay the $1M buyout on Minor’s 2023 possibility and in addition chipped in $500K to assist cowl wage. The Reds in any other case surprisingly took on $7.3M in extra wage for a 34-year-old lefty with a 5.18 ERA over the previous two seasons and a shoulder subject that Cincinnati knew would have him not on time in camp. (Minor opened the season on the injured checklist however was despatched on a rehab project on Wednesday.)

That bit of additional payroll house proved very important. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported not lengthy earlier than the commerce that the Royals had been hoping to shed payroll in an effort to herald some rotation assist. They each saved cash and created a rotation emptiness in a single swoop, setting the stage for a reunion with Zack Greinke, who received a Cy Younger Award with the Royals again in 2009. Greinke, the No. 6 total choose in 2002, returned to Kansas Metropolis, spurning related gives from the Twins, Tigers and others in deference to a full-circle homecoming.

Swapping out Greinke for Minor needs to be an improve, nevertheless it wasn’t the one beginning pitching avenue the crew explored. Even after signing Greinke, the Royals continued to pursue Oakland’s Frankie Montas, however the reportedly exorbitant asking worth on the 29-year-old righty was an excessive amount of for Kansas Metropolis — or any membership, for that matter — to fulfill. Montas stays in Oakland, and Greinke is now charged with serving because the veteran chief of a rotation that enters 2022 with the identical questions it did in 2021.

Kansas Metropolis has a formidable assortment of younger arms, together with Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar, Jonathan Heasley and Carlos Hernandez, however up to now that sextet has had solely scattershot success. Each member of the group has proven flashes of mid-rotation potential (if no more), however consistency hasn’t been there. That makes a rebound from 26-year-old Brad Keller, who pitched to a career-worst 5.39 ERA in 133 2/3 frames final 12 months, all of the extra essential. Greinke is not an ace, but when he and Keller can present serviceable bulk innings and even one or two of the group’s touted younger arms can take the following step, it’s straightforward sufficient to see a top quality beginning employees coming collectively.

It’s additionally attainable that any of these six younger hurlers may ultimately wind up within the bullpen on a full-time foundation. Singer is there proper now in a protracted reduction capability, however he has essentially the most massive league expertise of Kansas Metropolis’s younger arms and will get a glance again within the rotation ahead of later. There’s a good bit of uncertainty past Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont and the beforehand talked about Garrett, nonetheless. Lefty Jake Brentz had a pleasant 12 months in 2021 however wants to enhance his command, and righty Dylan Coleman has impressed to this point however in a really restricted set of innings.

It’s stunning, then, that Kansas Metropolis’s solely bullpen addition was righty Taylor Clarke, whom the D-backs non-tendered on the heels of a typically nondescript run in 2020-21 (86 2/3 innings, 4.67 ERA, 21% strikeout fee, 9.3% stroll fee). Maybe proprietor John Sherman merely wasn’t comfy pushing payroll previous the present $97M Opening Day mark, but when that’s the case, the choice to restructure Whit Merrifield’s contract to pay him extra in 2022 is uncommon. Some groups are hesitant so as to add gamers late within the offseason when their 40-man roster is full they usually worry dropping an honest participant, nevertheless it’s laborious to argue that the Royals’ 40-man roster doesn’t have a participant or two who may justifiably be jettisoned for some confirmed bullpen innings.

Practically 20 relievers signed one-year offers value lower than $4M, and there are even nonetheless just a few unsigned names who’d have seemingly made some sense for Kansas Metropolis (e.g. Yusmeiro Petit, Tony Watson). As with the rotation, although, it appears the Royals will hope in-house choices like Coleman, Collin Snider, Gabe Speier and others can step up and fill within the gaps. To their credit score, Barlow and Staumont are a pair of developmental success tales.

Turning the main focus to the lineup, the Royals are working out the identical group of hitters they did late within the 2021 season — with one notable exception. High prospect Bobby Witt Jr. obliterated Cactus League pitching, simply as he did Double-A and Triple-A arms in 2021, and compelled his approach onto the Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old, second-generation expertise was the No. 2 total choose in 2019 and is seen as a star within the making. He’s slotting in at third base early within the season, although he’s performed primarily shortstop within the minors. The Royals plugged Adalberto Mondesi again in at quick, nonetheless, and moved Nicky Lopez from shortstop to second base. As was the case in 2021, the Royals needs to be an amazing defensive membership.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty stunning the Royals didn’t discover a means to maneuver on from Santana on the heels of such a poor exhibiting. If the first-base cabinet past Santana had been naked, it’d be extra comprehensible, however that’s not the case in any respect. Somewhat, Kansas Metropolis has a pair of top-50 prospects who burst onto the scene with mammoth 2021 seasons between Double-A and Triple-A. First baseman Nick Pratto slashed .265/.385/.602 with 38 residence runs between these two ranges, whereas catcher MJ Melendez led the minors with 41 homers and posted a fair higher .288/.386/.625 line. Pratto is the heir-apparent at first base, and it’s a bit puzzling to see Santana getting taking part in time over him. Melendez isn’t going to unseat Salvador Perez behind the plate anytime quickly, however he may combine in at designated hitter and the infield corners — the Royals tried him at third base a bit final 12 months — had been extra at-bats accessible.

Santana, fellow first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and utilityman Hunter Dozier mixed for a .217/.297/.368 batting line in 1,456 plate appearances final 12 months. All three are on the key league roster proper now, whereas Pratto and Melendez are within the minors. Dozier is signed via 2024 with a 2025 possibility, so it’s comprehensible if the Royals are dedicated to getting him proper on the plate. However he’s additionally performed all 4 nook positions and might be dropped to a utility position due to that versatility. O’Hearn and Santana, in the meantime, appear extra like pure roadblocks to the Royals’ extra promising prospects. Maybe they’re each on quick leashes, nevertheless it’s a bit odd that Witt’s large spring coaching landed him an Opening Day roster spot whereas Pratto and Melendez had been optioned comparatively early regardless of excellent performances themselves.

If that looks as if a whole lot of concentrate on the Royals’ incumbent choices relatively than their new additions, that’s as a result of there merely weren’t any new additions on the position-player facet of issues, except for the promotion of Witt. The Royals firmly imagine the core of their subsequent contending membership is already within the group, however that solely makes it extra curious that two of their three finest prospects had been despatched out after large spring showings. Once more, in Kansas Metropolis’s protection, each Melendez and Pratto have struggled via a handful of Triple-A video games to date, so maybe that is the correct tactic for his or her improvement. If Santana continues struggling as he has early in 2022, nonetheless, it’ll be more and more tough to not dip into the farm.

In the end, it was a quiet offseason for the Royals, setting them as much as stay or die by the developmental strides of younger gamers like Lynch, Singer, Bubic, Kowar, Hernandez, Heasley, Pratto, Melendez and, after all, Witt. That group ought to get as many reps as attainable this 12 months as soon as the group deems them prepared, and whereas they received’t all pan out, a full 12 months of analysis ought to give Moore and his employees the prospect to find out the place they should complement subsequent winter. The Royals are a protracted shot to contend, but when sufficient of the youngsters step up, there’s no less than some wild-card potential with this group.