Being a Kansas City Royals fan and blogger isn’t always the easiest of endeavors.
I started a version of this blog (The Roto Royal) in 2018 when the club went 58-104. The Royals Reporter officially began in 2019 when they went 59-103. Due to my coverage and passion for the Royals (and a slight bump in salary), I got season tickets in 2020, which ended up getting delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Being a Royals fan is a lesson in patience and optimism.
After a 26-34 shortened campaign with no fans in 2020, the Royals went 74-88 in 2021, 65-97 in 2022, and 56-106 in 2023. In-person at Kauffman Stadium, my wife and I watched a lot of losing baseball during our first few seasons as season ticket members, and I covered a lot of bad seasons on this blog. This will be my 915th post on the Royals Reporter for context, and that’s not counting all those posts for Farm to Fountains or Pitcher List, where I covered the Royals directly and indirectly.
It would’ve been easy to walk away from the Royals after 2022 or 2023. It would’ve been easy to cover Fantasy Baseball solely or spend my time, energy, and money on a different pastime. I have seen others do it and don’t blame them for taking that route (I commend them in many ways).
That said, there was always something intriguing and hopeful about the Royals in the second “rebuild.” When I started this blog, I got the feeling that this endeavor would help me be on the ground floor of something special, both on a team and community level.
The only issue was that I didn’t know when that “something special” would occur. We have seen MLB clubs go through rebuilds and emerge as more substantial organizations that win year after year. Examples include the Astros, Guardians, and Rays, three clubs that owner John Sherman wanted to model the Royals after when he took over as owner at the tail end of 2019.
Then again, though, we have seen how some “rebuilding” organizations continue to endure periods of long-term mediocrity. The White Sox, Angels, Pirates, and Marlins continue to dwell at the bottom of their divisions despite years of promise of “young talent” emerging in their farm system.
The Royals, however, have finally emerged from the “pit” of misery that plagues poor and small-market baseball clubs. On Friday night, thanks to a Twins loss, Kansas City punched their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2015.
In less than two seasons, Sherman, GM JJ Picollo, and manager Matt Quatraro have delivered their promises to a fanbase that has been long deemed one of baseball’s most curse and patient.
The Royals Made the Right Moves After 2023
After losing 106 games in 2023, Picollo was pretty realistic in the year’s end-of-the-season press conference with the media. Here’s what he told the press about the difficulty of the Royals record-tying campaign a year ago.
“This year was an eye-opener,” said J.J. Picollo, who took over as general manager and executive VP of baseball operations following the 2022 season. “I think what we showed is we weren’t ready to compete for our division this year. I don’t think the expectation was that, but the hopes were maybe ‘24. Right now, I can’t sit here and say ‘24′s the year when we’re gonna definitely win the division.’”
Royals fans didn’t want to hear that, especially after suffering through the club’s third 100-plus loss season in only six years. However, in a November interview with MLB Royals beat writer Anne Rogers, Picollo identified precisely where the Royals needed to improve roster-wise in the offseason.
“We’ve got to get depth with our pitching,” Picollo said. “One of our goals is to get starting pitching. And then we’ve got to remake our bullpen. We didn’t throw enough strikes in the bullpen. It’s going to be very difficult for us to acquire a guy that’s an established closer, so we’re probably looking at closer by committee and matchups. Who knows where the market will go, but the priority is going to be on the starting pitching, and then piece the bullpen together. …
Not too long after Picollo’s interview with Rogers, he completely revamped the rotation and bullpen.
Picollo traded for pitchers Kyle Wright, Nick Anderson, and John Schreiber. He also signed starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha and relievers Will Smith and Chris Stratton in free agency. It wasn’t just a “yeah, we’re going to get better this offseason” and accomplish that goal simply by getting marginal pitchers on cheap contracts (like in 2023 with Jordan Lyles and Zack Greinke). Instead, Picollo and Royals put their money where their mouths were and seriously invested in improving the pitching this offseason.
The Royals also invested significantly in the lineup this offseason.
Picollo added Garrett Hampson, Hunter Renfroe, and Adam Frazier to help boost the veteran presence in this lineup. However, the most significant move on the position-player side of the roster was the extension to Bobby Witt, Jr., which helped guarantee Bobby’s stay in Kansas City for a substantial period.
The vibes from this offseason produced a sensational start to the 2024 campaign.
The Royals started the year 35-24 from Opening Day until May 31st. It was a sensational start from a club widely known for rough performances out of the gate, especially since 2017.
However, the Royals did not sit on their hands when things plateaued in June (they went 12-15 that month). They didn’t simply accept a “surprising” start as a cause for celebration. Picollo improved the roster through wise moves that added depth to the lineup and pitching staff while not sacrificing the club’s long-term vision or farm system depth.
He added to the bullpen with trades for Hunter Harvey and Lucas Erceg. While Harvey has struggled to stay healthy, Erceg has excelled as the Royals’ closer in the second half.
The acquisition of Michael Lorenzen has allowed Alec Marsh to retool and add flexibility to his role on the Royals’ pitching staff. The bullpen, once seen as a weakness of this team, now seems to be a strength heading into the postseason.
Furthermore, Picollo didn’t settle with the roster, even after the loss of Vinnie Pasquantino to a broken thumb injury at the end of August.
He picked up Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman off of waivers and signed Yuli Gurriel on a Minor League contract (he was on the Braves’ Triple-A roster). Granted, the moves have had mixed results, but it showed that Picollo and the Royals weren’t just going to “settle” during this particular year. They would do as much as possible to help the Royals seal the deal on a postseason berth.
And on Friday night, the moves paid off.
Picollo and Quatraro promised that things would be different in Kansas City from the Dayton Moore and Mike Matheny era.
They certainly delivered on their promise this season and then some. A .500 record would’ve been satisfactory enough.
Instead, the Royals will be playing meaningful baseball in October.
The Farm System Took A Step Foward in 2024
Losing at the Major League level wasn’t the only thing that gnawed at Royals fans during the second “rebuild” after 2017.
During that time, the farm system’s lackluster rating and reputation also added salt to the wounds of frustrated Royals fans.
This season, however, the Royals took significant steps in player development and farm system performance.
Three of the four Royals full-season affiliates had winning campaigns in 2024. That included an 89-win regular season from the Omaha Storm Chasers, who won the International League championship and will play Sugar Land (the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate) in the Triple-A National Championship on Saturday.
On a prospect end, the Royals significantly added in this most recent draft, with first-round pick Jac Caglianone becoming the top prospect in the Royals system. Furthermore, catcher Blake Mitchell, utility man Javier Vaz, infielder Austin Charles, utility man Tyler Tolbert, outfield Carson Roccaforte, and pitcher Steven Zobac all had solid seasons and earned organizational awards, which also boosted the depth of the Royals farm system.
There is still work to be done on this Royals farm system. They need to effectively transition talent to the Major League level. Additionally, they need to continue making the right moves in identifying which talent can be traded away and which ones need more patience and development.
The Royals showed improvement in that area in 2024, which wasn’t always the case during the Dayton Moore era (he often held onto prospects for too long).
However, for the Royals to be a healthy organization in the long-term, like Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Houston, the farm system must continue to be a priority and be developed this offseason and beyond.
This Season Is a Sign of Positive Things to Come in Kansas City
It’s hard to imagine what kind of run the Royals can go on in the postseason.
The loss of Vinnie still hurts. However, he is showing some progress in healing, as Jaylon Thompson showed Pasquantino taking batting practice in Washington, D.C., in the pregame during the last series.
The Royals may lose quietly in the Wild Card round, whether in Baltimore or Houston. The Royals are 10-13 this month and struggling to do much in the run-scoring department. They have only scored 69 runs in September, and it’s unlikely they will touch the 100-run mark this month with just two games to go.
With this group, it’s not just about postseason performance, even though Royals fans will cheer hard for Kansas City when the Wild Card begins on Tuesday.
It’s the fact that they made the postseason despite most projection systems expecting them to win between 70-75 games. It’s the fact that they have made one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern baseball history after such a poor season in 2023. It’s the fact that Royals baseball is fun and a priority again in September when, typically, this time of the year is strictly Chiefs-focused.
The fact that we could have a “Blue Friday” in September instead of the typical “Red Friday” shows how vital Royals baseball has become again in the Kansas City metro.
The Royals have come a long way, not just in the past nine years but since Opening Day.
The attitude and vibes of this team have dramatically changed since the beginning of the season when a failed stadium vote seemed to bring out the worst in frustrated Kansas City sports fans. On social media, it was common to see Kansas City folks villainizing Sherman as an owner like John Fisher of the Athletics, who is on full blast after the A’s finished their final game in Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.
(By the way, anyone justifying the A’s move and supporting Fisher can stick it.)
Sherman has paid the money to make this club competitive, even after the stadium vote fell flat in April. The team is fun and endearing to people in Kansas City, even those who aren’t traditionally baseball fans (can’t wait for Royals games to return to hipster dive bars in the West Bottoms or Strawberry Hill again). The team can do something special in October and the long term.
No more “the Royals are moving to Nashville” talk.
Instead, “The Boys Are Playing Some Ball” in Kansas City…
As a Royals fan who’s seen so many ups and downs with this club (primarily downs) since starting this blog five years ago, I couldn’t be happier and more hopeful about the future of baseball with this organization and in this city that has become my home.
Photo Credit: Jason Allen | AP
As you have seen, hitters are streaky, and pitching is not. If we were to pick when to have our bats go cold, the last month ofvthe season could be as good a time as any. Pitching held up. Now, if we are lucky, the bats should start to come out of their slumber.
If I had to choose, I’d rather play Baltimore.
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