The Kansas City Royals are good for baseball, and not just because they’re a small-market team competing for a spot in the postseason or because Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the game’s brightest young stars.
No, the Royals are good for baseball because they are a shining example of what every organization in professional baseball should do: try.
The Royals, as you may recall, spent nearly $110 million on free agents this winter. The moves were well received, but didn’t exactly make national headlines. They didn’t spend half a billion dollars on two players like the Texas Rangers did that before 2022. They didn’t win the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last year, wanted to improve quickly. They realized that player development and amateur scouting wouldn’t be enough, so they filled out the roster in free agency, aggressively adding more than half a dozen players. With a winning season already under their belts, they are on the cusp of clinching a spot in the postseason, perhaps as early as this week.
Revolutionary? Hardly. Rare? Very much so in today’s match.
“Sometimes you need that hit on the head, right?” Royals owner John Sherman, who greenlighted the spending, asked reporters this spring. “We don’t know what will happen, but we cannot tolerate something like this again for our fans.”
Any owner can afford an offseason like the Royals had. They were aggressive without being foolish, adding again at the trade deadline and over the past month via the waiver wire. And yet few have done it.
While MLB has added measures to help combat the sport’s tanking epidemic, getting teams to consistently try, front offices to take risks and owners to open their wallets has been another problem.
JJ Picollo, executive vice president and general manager of the Royals, has made sure his operation stands out from other teams. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn images)
Witt’s otherworldly season (he’ll easily hit 10 fWAR) would make him a shoo-in for American League MVP, if not the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge. It also comes after a spring in which Sherman approved an 11-year, $288.8 million contract extension for the Royals’ young star, which could be worth as much as $377 million in 14 years when everything is finalized. It’s the most lucrative deal in franchise history.
Then again, if Kansas City – one of baseball’s smallest markets – can do it, why can’t everyone else?
While other teams are downsizing departments and cutting staff — last week alone a half-dozen teams made cuts to scouting and player development, according to league sources, or “restructured” in the nonstop efficiency talk of front offices — the Royals have added infrastructure. In the two years since Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations JJ Picollo took the reins, Kansas City has reshaped all three scouting departments with new leaders, modernized the organization and changed the culture. The Royals have placed an emphasis on data and added six new people to the research and development team, including a new director. They combined that by hiring people with traditional baseball resumes, but with an open mind.
Picollo, who was promoted internally when Dayton Moore was fired, has not hesitated to hire outsiders, even those he has no previous relationship with, such as manager Matt Quatraro. Quatraro, like Picollo, is widely credited with spearheading the turnaround and bringing with him a curious mind and willingness to innovate. This isn’t two young Ivy League students taking charge; both men played minor league baseball and are in their 50s.
Perhaps the new market efficiency means doing things a little differently: zigzagging while others are zigzagging, even if it is not always new territory. These Royals, for all their successful attempts at modernization, are also masters of the basics.
Only the San Diego Padres lineup has a lower strikeout rate, and Kansas City also has one of the league’s best defenses, further highlighting a solid pitching staff.
From Day 1 of last season, the Royals focused on pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, not because they were the best players available (they weren’t) or because both guys had wipeout experience (neither pitcher has until had a 200 strikeout season so far). ) but because they meet certain principles. Lugo was an All-Star this year who could get some Cy Young Award consideration despite a rare rough outing on Monday, while Wacha has gone 9-1 with a 2.67 ERA and a 71-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio since the match. early July.
With the score at 52-45 at the start of the second half, Picollo and company did not wait to see which route the team would take, like so many other clubs that were not leading their division. Instead, they moved quickly again, unafraid to double down after several of their offseason relief options didn’t pan out. Kansas City acquired Hunter Harvey from Washington two weeks before the deadline, and also added Oakland’s Lucas Erceg, along with swingman Michael Lorenzen and infielder Paul DeJong.
When first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino went down, Picollo added three players on waivers to fill the void: Yuli Gurriel, Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman. The costs were cash. The payoff was immediate. The Royals targeted Pham and Grossman at the deadline but were unable to secure either. The group had been able to assist several clubs with the social distancing order before Kansas City. No one else jumped.
Not every move the Royals have made has worked. But much like their lineup, the Royals’ front office has a pretty low whiff rate. And as they try to chase the Baltimore Orioles for the top wild-card spot, Kansas City’s model has proven to be a good one.
It’s good for the city, which hasn’t had a playoff team since the 2015 World Series champions. It’s even better for baseball.
(Top photo of Bobby Witt Jr. celebrating a win with teammates: Jay Biggerstaff / Imagn Images)