The Kansas City Royals are great in baseball, and not just because they are a small-market team competing for a playoff spot, and not just because Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the brightest young stars in baseball.
No, the Royals are good for baseball because they are a shining example of what every organization in professional baseball should do: try.
You may recall that the Royals spent nearly $110 million on free agents this winter. The moves were popular but did not make national headlines. They didn’t spend half a billion dollars on two players like the texas rangers Did it before 2022.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last year, are hoping to get better soon. They recognized that player development and amateur scouting weren’t enough, so they replenished their free-agent roster, aggressively adding six more players. Now, with a winning season in hand, they’re on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, perhaps as early as this week.
Revolutionary? Hardly. Rare? In today’s game, very.
“Sometimes you need a little bang on the head, right? Royals owner John Sherman, who gave the green light to the spending, asked reporters this spring. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we can’t tolerate anything like this happening to our fans anymore.”
Every owner has the ability to spend the offseason like the Royals did. They were aggressive, but not stupid, and added funds at the trade deadline and again over the past month via waiver wires. However, few do.
While MLB has taken some steps to try to help combat the tanking epidemic in the sport, keeping teams trying, management taking risks, and owners digging into their pockets is another issue entirely.
Royals executive vice president and general manager JJ Picollo’s operation stands out from other teams. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
Were it not for the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, Witt’s otherworldly season (he would have easily finished with 10 fWAR) would have made him a sure-fire winner for American League MVP. This spring, Sherman extended an 11-year contract worth $288.8 million with the young Royals star. When the contract is fully completed, the 14-year contract may be worth as much as $377 million. This is the most profitable trade in franchise history.
Then again, if Kansas City — one of baseball’s smallest markets — can do it, why can’t everyone else?
As other teams downsize departments and cut personnel — six teams last week alone cut scouting and player development, according to league sources — or amid the front office’s incessant efficiency talk. Restructure”—The Royals added infrastructure. In the two years since executive vice president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo took over, Kansas City has reimagined all three scouting departments with new leadership, modernized the organization and changed the culture. The Royals are taking data seriously, adding six new people to their research and development team, including a new director. They solved this problem by hiring people with traditional baseball resumes but open minds.
Piccolo was promoted internally after Dayton Moore was fired, and he has not hesitated to hire outsiders, even those with whom he had no prior relationship, such as manager Matt Quatraro ). Quatraro, like Picollo, is widely praised for leading change, bringing curiosity and a willingness to innovate. They were not two young Ivy League graduates setting the pace; Both played minor league baseball and are in their 50s.
Maybe new market efficiencies are doing something different, swaying when others are swaying, even if it’s not always new territory. Despite their great efforts to modernize, these royals were also masters of the basics.
Only the San Diego Padres have a lower strikeout rate, while Kansas City also ranks among the league’s best defenses, further bolstering a solid pitching staff.
From Day 1 last offseason, the Royals targeted pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, not because they were the best players (they weren’t) or because any of them One has knockout ability (neither pitcher has had a 200-strikeout season so far) but because they fit in with certain principles. Lugo is an All-Star this year and will likely get some Cy Young Award consideration despite his poor performance on Monday, while Wacha has gone 9 since the season with a 2.67 ERA and a 71-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio. A win-1-loss record.
The score was 52-45 at the start of the second half, and Piccolo and company weren’t waiting to see which route their team would take, like so many other teams that weren’t ahead of them. Instead, they moved quickly again, unafraid to double down after some offseason relief packages didn’t work out. Kansas City acquired Hunter Harvey from Washington two weeks before the deadline and also added Oakland’s Lucas Elceg as well as swingman Michael Lorenzen and infielder Paul DeJong.
When first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino went down, Picollo added three players off waivers to fill the void: Yuli Gurriel, Tommy Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman. The cost is cash. The rewards are immediate. The Royals targeted Pham and Grossman at the deadline but fell short. On waivers, the organization could have helped several clubs before Kansas City. No one else jumped.
Not every move the Royals makes works. But, like their roster, the Royals’ front office has a fairly low error rate. Kansas City’s model proved to be a good one as they tried to catch the Baltimore Orioles for the No. 1 spot in the wild card.
That’s good for the city, which hasn’t had a playoff team since the 2015 World Series championship. It’s even better for baseball.
(Bobby Witt Jr. celebrates victory with teammates, above: Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
