Increase your hand if you happen to had the Royals being one of many top-five spenders in free company in your offseason bingo card again in November. Kansas Metropolis is targeted on enhancing within the right here and now, and their offseason displays that.
Main League Signings
- Seth Lugo, RHP: Three years, $45MM (opt-out after 12 months two of the contract)
- Michael Wacha, RHP: Two years, $32MM (opt-out after 12 months one of many contract)
- Hunter Renfroe, OF: Two years, $13MM (opt-out after 12 months one of many contract)
- Chris Stratton, RHP: Two years, $8MM (opt-out after 12 months one of many contract)
- Will Smith, LHP: One 12 months, $5MM
- Adam Frazier, 2B/OF: One 12 months, $4.5MM
- Garrett Hampson, INF/OF: One 12 months, $2MM
- Austin Nola, C: One 12 months, $1MM
2024 spend: $53MM
Complete spend: $110.5MM
Possibility Selections
Trades and Claims
Extensions
Notable Minor League Signings
Notable Losses
- Zack Greinke, Brad Keller, Matt Duffy, Bubba Thompson (waivers), Tucker Davidson (waivers), Max Castillo (waivers), Collin Snider (waivers), Samad Taylor, Edward Olivares, Dylan Coleman, Taylor Clarke, Jonathan Heasley, Jackson Kowar
The Royals’ second season beneath common supervisor J.J. Picollo, who changed longtime president of baseball operations Dayton Moore after his firing, took a markedly totally different tone than the primary. Kansas Metropolis spent more cash on one particular person signing, right-hander Seth Lugo, than they’d in the whole 2022-23 offseason. Lugo proved to be certainly one of two notable additions to the rotation, becoming a member of righty Michael Wacha in what must be a much more aggressive pitching workers than the Royals ran out in 2023.
Lugo and Wacha will largely exchange outgoing franchise icon Zack Greinke and non-tendered righty Brad Keller, who mixed for 36 begins final 12 months (27 from Greinke, 9 from Keller). They’ll be a part of final 12 months’s deadline prize Cole Ragans and returning right-hander Brady Singer in a Kansas Metropolis rotation that must be far, much more secure than the 2023 group. Final 12 months, solely 4 Royals — Greinke, Singer, Ragans and Jordan Lyles — even began greater than 9 video games.
Whereas Lugo and Wacha aren’t precisely aces, the Royals hope they’ve unearthed one within the 26-year-old Ragans, who starred for them following his acquisition within the Aroldis Chapman swap with Texas. Ragans’ 2.64 ERA, 31.1% strikeout charge, 9.4% stroll charge and 45.5% grounder charge have the look of a top-end starter. Lugo thrived in a transfer to the rotation in San Diego final season, notching a 3.57 ERA in 146 1/3 frames. Former and once-again teammate Wacha delivered a second straight strong season in San Diego and joins up with Lugo once more. If the Royals can get one thing nearer to the 2022 model of Singer (versus the 2023 model), the rotation could possibly be a power. Lyles will eat innings within the fifth spot, however in-house names like Daniel Lynch IV and Alec Marsh may finally push him for that spot.
Lugo and Wacha weren’t the one starters the Royals acquired, however they’re the one ones who’ll pitch for Kansas Metropolis in 2024. The Royals purchased low on injured Braves right-hander Kyle Wright, delivery change-of-scenery candidate Jackson Kowar to Atlanta as a way to choose him up — understanding full effectively that shoulder surgical procedure will price Wright the upcoming season. He’ll spend the 12 months on the 60-day IL, however he has two remaining seasons of membership management past the 2024 marketing campaign. Including him at the price of a now twice-traded former first-rounder, Kowar, is a pleasant little bit of long-term enterprise for a staff that has been plagued up to now by an absence of pitching depth.
Kansas Metropolis’s bullpen additions won’t have generated as a lot consideration however represented an excellent broader-reaching overhaul of the workers. Free brokers Will Smith and Chris Stratton deliver closing and setup expertise — to say nothing of a pair of 2023 World Collection rings — to the 2024 Royals. They price a mixed $13MM in ensures, with Stratton coming aboard on a two-year cope with a shocking participant possibility (extra on that in a bit).
Proper-hander Nick Anderson was a buy-low addition who has been dominant at occasions however hardly ever wholesome. Righty John Schreiber had a giant 2022 in Boston and took a step again in 2023 thanks largely to a spike in stroll charge. However Schreiber misses bats at above-average ranges, retains the ball on the bottom effectively and hadn’t struggled along with his command previous to the 2023 season. Anderson is controllable via 2025 and value solely money. Schreiber has three years of management and value the Royals right-hander David Sandlin, a 2022 eleventh-round choose who’s considerably improved his prospect standing since being chosen.
Royals relievers in 2023 ranked twenty ninth within the large leagues when it comes to ERA and had been twenty fifth or worse in FIP and SIERA. Solely two groups noticed their bullpens stroll relievers at the next charge, and Kansas Metropolis’s 22.8% strikeout charge from the ’pen was tied for twenty second in MLB. All of that features a sturdy three months from the aforementioned Chapman along with contributions from Jose Cuas and Scott Barlow, each additionally moved on the deadline.
Usually talking, it was a bunch that wanted work, and the additions of Smith, Stratton, Anderson and Schreiber ought to go a great distance towards serving to the unit general. The Royals can even hope that they struck gold on righty James McArthur, whom they acquired in a DFA commerce with the Phillies final Could. McArthur posted underwhelming numbers in each Philly and Kansas Metropolis … at the least till a September call-up through which he fired off an unimaginable 16 1/3 innings of shutout aid with simply 5 hits and no walks towards 19 strikeouts. McArthur has additionally dominated in a small pattern of 6 1/3 spring innings (one run) and is a transparent identify to observe for this staff.
The additions on the position-player aspect of issues had been much more modest. Hunter Renfroe acquired a considerably shocking two-year pact after a pedestrian exhibiting with the Angels and a really rocky end with the Reds. He’s a transparent 20-homer bat who’ll add some wanted punch to the Okay.C. lineup, however Renfroe’s once-elite defensive scores and his energy output have each dropped off not too long ago. A transfer to Kauffman Stadium most likely gained’t assist the latter, and his profession .300 OBP (.297 in ’23) is a curious match for a membership that ranked twenty eighth within the majors with a collective .303 OBP final season.
Adam Frazier joins Renfroe as one thing of a buy-low play on a veteran who’s seen higher days. An All-Star with the Pirates, Frazier’s bat hasn’t been the identical since being traded from Pittsburgh to San Diego on the 2021 commerce deadline. He’s taken 1268 plate appearances with the Padres, Mariners and Orioles however mustered solely a .244/.305/.345 slash in that point. Frazier’s $4.5MM assure with the Royals isn’t a lot by at present’s requirements, and his wonderful bat-to-ball abilities mesh with a Royals membership that has tended to prioritize contact over energy. Even throughout his tough stretch since that ’21 commerce, Frazier has fanned at only a 12.9% clip. He gained’t be the starter at second or in left subject — that’ll be Michael Massey and MJ Melendez, respectively — however he provides the Royals some depth at each spots and a contact-oriented bat off the bench.
Talking of the bench, that’s been overhauled as effectively. Gone are Samad Taylor, Edward Olivares and Matt Duffy, amongst others. Frazier will be a part of superutility man Garrett Hampson as a free-agent pickup for the bench. Hampson posted roughly common offensive numbers in Miami final season — effectively forward of his beforehand middling profession marks — and may play nearly wherever on the sector. He’s not an elite defender at anyone spot and is a candidate to regress with the bat (.379 BABIP, 26.6% strikeout charge), however the Royals love velocity and Hampson clocked into the 98th percentile of MLB gamers in dash velocity final 12 months, per Statcast.
Kansas Metropolis additionally picked up Austin Nola on an inexpensive one-year deal late within the offseason after the Padres minimize him free. He has a minor league possibility remaining and will thus be ticketed for Triple-A, however Nola has expertise taking part in a number of infield positions along with catcher and the Royals have thought of carrying him together with each Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin on the roster. Perez is best suited as a DH at this level however nonetheless figures to catch his share of video games. If the Royals select to hold all three, Nola provides them a viable backup on days they need to DH Perez and begin the defensively superior Fermin behind the dish. In the event that they don’t, he’ll give them an skilled backup possibility in Omaha.
The largest piece of enterprise for the Royals, nonetheless, was their franchise-record-shattering extension for shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. The $288.777MM deal greater than tripled Perez’s $82MM pact, which had stood because the earlier high-water mark for the franchise. Witt improved throughout the board as a sophomore in his age-23 season, with positive factors in batting common, on-base proportion, slugging proportion, stroll charge, strikeout charge, energy output, defensive grades, exit velocity, hard-hit charge and barrel charge. He completed the season one steal shy of the exceptionally uncommon 30-homer, 50-stolen base marketing campaign.
Royals followers have legit trigger to have a good time Witt’s extension, although it’s maybe not the career-long dedication to the franchise most would imagine at first look. The opt-out provision after the contract’s seventh season has a powerful probability to be exercised, at the least if the 2 events don’t revisit his contract standing nearer to that call level. After the 2030 season, Witt shall be assured (ahem) “simply” 4 years and an extra $140MM as he enters his age-31 season. It’d be a simple name for a participant along with his potential to set off that decide out even in 2024, and salaries in MLB will presumably solely have moved ahead additional by that time. The 2 events may all the time look to renegotiate an extended pact at that time — one which decisively retains Witt in Kansas Metropolis for his total profession.
Even when they don’t achieve this and Witt finally takes the opt-out route, there’s nonetheless a lot to be completely happy about for the Royals. It’s true that the opt-out and massive assure create extra damage draw back than legit contractual upside for the Royals, however that was the price of shopping for out at the least three prime-aged free-agent seasons on a 23-year-old famous person who appears to be like more likely to be a bona fide MVP candidate a number of occasions over the seven seasons through which the Royals have full management over him.
Decide-outs had been a standard theme for the Royals this winter, not solely of their extension with Witt however in practically each free agent contract they doled out. Lugo can decide out after the 2025 season. Every of Wacha, Renfroe and even Stratton positive factors the flexibility to decide out after the upcoming season. Not way back, opt-out clauses had been typically reserved for the sport’s elite free brokers, however the Royals joined a rising variety of smaller and mid-market groups which have used them as leverage to lure second- and even third-tier free brokers. Stratton securing a 2025 participant possibility as a 33-year-old reliever who averages simply over 93 mph on his heater and has narrowly saved his ERA beneath 4.00 over the previous 4 seasons was significantly shocking.
For the Royals, the opt-out provisions might have been one thing of a crucial evil, although. Free brokers are likely to need to sign up profitable conditions, and the staff misplaced a whopping 106 video games through the 2023 marketing campaign. Even when providing multi-year offers, the Royals’ current run of futility within the AL Central — certainly one of baseball’s weakest divisions — is a troublesome promote to free brokers who’ve an honest market. Providing the leverage of a aggressive year-one wage with the attract of a return to the market subsequent winter if issues go effectively is a powerful sweetener — one at which many golf equipment would doubtless balk.
There’s actual draw back to the gambit. If Wacha had been to maintain a significant damage or regress to his 2019-21 type, as an illustration, a staff with the Royals’ usually modest payroll could be on the hook for a major sum. The Padres gave Wacha a collection of opt-outs when signing him final offseason, however that was successfully a mechanism to duck the luxurious tax. Wacha was assured $26MM on his “four-year” deal however was by no means more likely to set off a collection of $6.5MM participant choices. In essence, the participant choices simply tamped down the contract’s AAV as a result of they’re thought of assured cash.
The Royals’ collection of opt-outs is way totally different; they’re guaranteeing market-rate salaries and pairing that with rapid alternatives to return to the market (or, in Lugo’s case, a chance two years down the road). If any of Wacha, Stratton or Renfroe train that participant possibility, it’ll be as a result of the 2024 outcomes weren’t there, and that’ll be a notable and certain undesirable wage on the books for the 2025 Royals.
It’s a big gamble the Royals most likely desire to not make however one that may have been essential to result in one of these change in a single offseason. And, make no mistake about it, that is an unequivocally improved and deepened Royals roster. The query is whether or not they’ve performed sufficient to earnestly contend. A full season of Ragans may go a great distance towards enhancing the outlook, if he can maintain his post-trade breakout. Ditto McArthur, although his success was in an excellent smaller pattern. The remainder of the Royals’ pickups had been largely centered on elevating the ground, however few include star-caliber upside.
Any such enhancements might want to come internally. A totally wholesome, breakout season from first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino appears believable. Nelson Velazquez gained’t maintain homering on the tempo he did in ’23 (14 homers in 147 plate appearances), however he makes gobs of laborious contact and appeared like a possible middle-of-the-order bat after coming over from the Cubs. The Royals will want comparable strides from Melendez, Massey and/or first baseman/DH Nick Pratto in the event that they’re to realize the required floor to compete for a postseason berth. They completed 31 video games again of the Twins and 33 video games out of a Wild Card spot in 2023, and the AL Central has solely seen the Tigers get higher.
There’s little question the Royals are higher, however even with so many additions, they may face an uphill battle as they search for not solely their first journey to the playoffs since profitable the 2015 World Collection — however their first profitable season since that fateful 12 months.