This week, we have had some Royals-related news, and I decided that it would be appropriate to have a “Jottings” article recapping and sharing some thoughts on those items. It’s been a much more positive offseason so far for the Royals, which is to be expected for a team coming off an 86-76 season and an appearance in the ALDS.
Before going into this edition of the “Jottings,” I wanted to share some news that those who follow me on social media may have noticed.
Moving from Twitter (X) to Bluesky
Over the past couple of weeks, I have slowly begun to ease off of Twitter (now X).
I’m not going to get into the political aspect of things, but it has been something I’ve been mulling over for months, especially after “you know who” took over. The site has become incredibly toxic, more challenging to navigate, and, honestly, just a total drain on my time and energy.
I started a Twitter account mainly to promote my content, whether it was on Royals Reporter or other sites I have contributed to or created (never forget my short-lived European basketball blog “Euroleague Jam“). Over time, I began to follow and connect with many awesome baseball content creators. However, my experience has gotten away from baseball and other sports content over the past year, not by choice. Thus, I decided to step away and try something new.
I started a Bluesky account before November 5th, as I wanted to test it out with my new fantasy hockey-related blog, Goalie Streamer. I tried to create a new Twitter account with my fantasy hockey blog but found it incredibly frustrating, so I decided to pivot to Bluesky to see what the experience would be like. Over time, I began to use Bluesky more, and once many baseball content creators came over to make the switch, I decided to merge my baseball content with Bluesky. It’s been an incredibly refreshing experience on an interface and community end.
Here’s a link to one of my most recent Bluesky posts, including my latest Goalie Streamer article.
See how clean and fantastic it looks? If you want to be part of a more positive community without all the political stuff, I would encourage you to follow me at royalreportkev.bsky.social. If you’re going to continue to harass me or others with toxic behavior, you can stay on the other site and enjoy your experience there.
Anyway, I wanted to make that announcement since I hope to be fully on Bluesky once Opening Day hits. I will still share posts on Twitter, re-share posts I find interesting, and chime in from time to time. That said, my main social media focus will be shifting to Bluesky.
Thanks for following along, not just on social media but on this blog.
Now, onto the “Jottings.”
Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez Win Silver Sluggers
This afternoon, Major League Baseball announced this season’s Silver Slugger award winners, and the Royals had two who earned the hitting honor.
I discussed their candidacy in a previous post and felt good about Witt and Salvy’s outlooks for winning their first and fifth Silver Slugger awards, respectively.
Witt was head and shoulders above other American League shortstop candidates, so he felt more like a sure thing to earn his first Silver Slugger honor (and hopefully, many more are in store for him in the future). Salvy had stiffer competition from Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, who hit more home runs and had a higher wRC+ than Salvy. However, Salvy’s more well-rounded profile and reputation around the league seemed to catapult him over Raleigh and other AL catcher candidates.
By capturing his fifth Silver Slugger, Salvy joins a unique company as one of two catchers in MLB history to have earned five Silver Slugger and five Gold Glove awards in their career.
After JJ Picollo got snubbed in the AL Executive of the Year race, it was nice to see two Royals earn end-of-the-season honors, especially among challenging fields with plenty of competition from other clubs.
I don’t think anyone would’ve thought Witt would cruise to a Silver Slugger award so handily at the beginning of the season, especially with Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Texas’ Corey Seager as finalists.
Royals Represented in Three Key Award Races
Kansas City is also represented in three other critical end-of-the-season award races, a cherry on top of a surprising and encouraging 2024 season.
In the AL MVP race, Witt was named a finalist along with Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
This is the race I feel the least confident in of the three. There’s no question that Witt has had a better overall season than both Judge and Soto, with Witt’s glove being significantly better than the two Yankee sluggers.
However, when looking at their metrics via Fangraphs, Witt lags behind both Judge and Soto in wRC+ and Judge in fWAR. The better offensive outputs of Judge and Soto could hurt Witt in voting, even among old-school voters who are less “swayed” by more advanced metrics like fWAR and wRC+.
I think Witt’s defense and baserunning will propel Witt past Soto in the AL MVP race. After all, Witt is 2.3 fWAR better than Soto, and he also has 24 more stolen bases, and his Def (which measures defensive runs above average via Fangraphs metrics) is 23.6 runs better than Soto. Soto has plenty of hype for his upcoming free agency this winter, but Witt has been a significantly better overall player than Soto.
Witt has also been a slightly better overall player than Judge, but the case is more complex due to Judge’s astronomical wRC+ (218) and somewhat higher fWAR (0.8 difference, to be specific). As poor as Judge was during the postseason, this is a regular-season award, and thus, I think Judge’s profile will end up getting him the MVP over Witt.
After the MVP finalist announcement, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) also announced their AL Manager of the Year candidates. Unsurprisingly, second-year Royals manager Matt Quatraro finished in the top shortlist.
After losing 106 games in his first season in Kansas City, Quatraro led the team to 30 more wins, a postseason series victory in the Wild Card round over Baltimore, and a tough series against the Yankees that was extended to four games. Some Royals fans sometimes have issues with Quatraro’s lineup and bullpen decisions. Those are minor concerns when looking at the overall picture of Quatraro’s job in 2024 with the Royals.
All three AL Manager of the Year finalists came from the AL Central, as Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt and Detroit’s AJ Hinch were also nominated after they led their teams back to the postseason in 2024. As great a story as the Tigers were, I think the award should come down to either Vogt or Quatraro, especially considering expectations were more modest for both clubs going into the season. After all, Vogt was replacing a legend in Terry Francona, who’s now the manager in Cincinnati.
A 30-win turnaround and a club’s first postseason since 2015 should be enough for Quatraro to win the AL MOY award. However, Royals fans were saying the same thing about Picollo winning AL Executive of the Year, and the award instead went to Milwaukee’s Matt Arnold.
Lastly, Seth Lugo was named a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award along with fellow AL Central pitchers Tarik Skubal (Detroit) and Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland).
Relievers being nominated for the Cy Young is always a tricky endeavor.
There’s no question that Clase was Major League Baseball’s most dominant closer and posted one of the most dominant reliever seasons in quite some time. While his 0.61 ERA was impressive, he only posted a 2.2 fWAR and pitched 74.1 innings. That paled to what Skubal and Lugo produced this season via Fangraphs.
As Royals fans can see in the table above, Lugo produced 2.5 more fWAR than Clase, and Skubal’s was 3.7 fWAR higher. Also, Clase’s 7.99 K/9 was only 0.11 points higher than Lugo, who is not known for being a massive “strikeout artist” by any means. Therefore, as lovely a story as Clase was in 2024 with the AL Central champion Guardians, Seattle’s George Kirby, or even the Royals’ Cole Ragans should’ve finished in the top three over Clase.
Speaking of Ragans, he will probably finish in the Top 10 of AL Cy Young voting when they unveil the Cy Young winner on November 20th.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he missed the cut by finishing fourth or fifth (behind Kirby, perhaps). Interestingly enough, Ragans produced a higher fWAR than Lugo at 4.9, and he finished second in that category in the American League, behind only Skubal.
For all the concerns that many in the baseball world had about Ragans’ durability and ability to repeat what he did in the second half of 2023 over a full 2024, he silenced those doubters and surpassed expectations significantly.
I still believe Ragans is more the Royals’ “ace” than Lugo, both in the present and long term, due to Ragans’ strikeout ability (10.77 K/9, which was better than Skubal). However, I understand Lugo getting the nod over Ragans in the AL Cy Young race due to Lugo’s 206.2 IP, which was the second-most in the league behind Seattle’s Logan Gilbert.
It will be tough for Lugo to overcome Skubal in the AL Cy Young race. Skubal led the AL in fWAR and strikeouts (228). Down the stretch of the 2024 season, it felt like Skubal carried a pretty “spotty” hitting Tigers club to the postseason and playoff success, including a Wild Card victory over the Houston Astros.
Skubal’s 2024 season was reminiscent of Madison Bumgarner’s 2014 season, as he led the Giants to a 2014 World Series championship.
Of course, Royals fans would’ve been okay with not being remembered about that Giants pitcher and the unfortunate World Series loss in this post.
What can I say? Game has to recognize game.
Besides, Royals fans knew what happened in 2015, a year after Bumgarner.
Maybe the same thing can happen in Kansas City 10 years later.
Photo Credit: Reed Hoffmann/AP
[…] In 2024, the Royals ranked 2nd in fWAR (16.7), ERA (3.55), 4th in FIP (3.68), and 8th in K-BB% (15.9%). Not only did the Royals win 86 games and make it to the American League Division Series, Seth Lugo was named a finalist in the AL Cy Young vote, and Cole Ragans likely finished in the Top 5… […]