I've had plantar fasciitis. My PT explained it as a broad spectrum from inflammation to tears (think similar to elbow problems). Having surgery isn't great but still like the signing. I knew about the heel issues but I didn't realize Thomas got hit on the wrist during the 1st week of the season. I'm a big fan in looking for bounce backs from hand injuries (I'm really interested in Willi Castro for that reason).
Hand injuries are some of the easiest to predict a bounceback on, I feel like. Maybe that's just anecdotal, but it feels that way anyway.
I kind of feel like having surgery *could* be better than just recovering. They fixed the problem. Maybe that's naive of me, but I think of someone like Vinnie. He had shoulder issues. They knew the surgery was a possibility and now that he's had it, they feel like his risk level for re-injury is very low. I'm not a doctor, obviously, but I feel like actually fixing something is important.
It's bizarre, but he was legitimately good this year. I wouldn't convert him back to a starter, but we've also seen him be successful starting, so who knows?
I connection to Keller's bounce back 2025 season, I don't know whether to credit the Cubs or lay fault with the Red Sox and White Sox for giving up on him too early.
The amount of scorn on social media for the Lane Thomas signing made me realize how little the average commenter actually knows about Royals baseball, baseball in general, and this winter signing process. I don’t know that much myself, which is why I read blogs like this one, but at least I can grasp the concept of depth at the right price.
I suspect the same folks would be unreasonably excited about Teoscar Hernandez. Thanks for the breakdown. I didn’t realize he was such a dud defensively. That’s an issue if you play half your games at the K.
There was an offseason years ago when the Royals were horrible and I was writing on probably Pine Tar Press where I wrote how the Royals needed a utility infielder. They needed everything, but I'd written about pretty much all of it. And included in everything was a utility infielder. So I wrote about the fit and all that and the amount of backlash I got for suggesting they needed anything other than a superstar was insane. So yeah, no surprise to me.
I might be being generous here, but at least 50% of Royals fans on social media think the biggest move the Royals can make is firing Matt Quatraro. I'll stick with David Lesky's opinions thank you very much.
Right. Q took a 106-loss team to the playoffs the following season, but because he didn’t do it twice, he’s garbage. That’s about the depth of analysis I’m seeing.
And JJ. It doesn't matter what that guy does, they want him fired. They could make it to the world series next year and people would claim it all happened in spite of Q and JJ. People just want to hate everything and complain.
Wasnt too keen on thomas before, but actually seems like a pretty high potential for bounce back and a smart bet.
Do you think they have much more money to spend? Piccolo sure doesnt seem to indicate they will be stretching budget as days go on. Also have seen MLBTR mention they are pretty close to max, but i know the calculations vary
As I've said so many times, nobody benefits from the Royals saying they have whatever amount to spend. For round numbers, if you say you have $50 million to spend and you spend $30 million, the fans are pissed. Players and agents can take advantage of that too. If you make vague statements and don't commit to anything, but then go above and beyond, everyone's happy.
I've got them at $85.3 million roughly in guaranteed contracts for 10 players. I've got them at about $33.8 million for arbitration-eligible guys. The rest are pre-arb right now, so if we call the other 20 players on the 40-man $800k each, that's $16 million. So they're at about $136 million for the 40-man and $125 million or so for the 26-man. I am not privy to the payroll, but I'd wager they have about $20 million to spend and can stretch if the right opportunity came along.
I have no issue with Lane Thomas. One year deal, perfectly reasonable. The only real question I have is if they did that signing having a trade lined up or not and if that means Yaz is probably not back.
Ah I’m not up on the latest. He must have gotten his 2 year deal then I take it? If only some other team would sign Frazier and take that off the table as well. Please….Braves…help us out with that one too.
The Braves basically gave him 3 years. And each of the first two are more than he was projected for one. I'll miss him, but he got his bag and good for him.
Nice call on Lane Thomas! Now we just need one of your others to hit (Suzuki or Donovan). I agree not in love with those low OBP guys (A.Garcia and Hernandez) although wouldn’t be mad if they got them reasonably priced either. But if no trades come together, just curious what some names are you would prefer? On a side note, I was scrolling Baseball Savant last night and ran across Kepler, was surprised how positive his page looked and hadn’t heard anyone talk about him at all. He has warts and would also be a let down all things considered but found that interesting.
The problem with Hernandez is there is no reasonably priced. If the Dodgers pay down the contract, they're giving up more to get him. If they don't, the Royals are paying him a lot of money to be pretty meh. Garcia is interesting to me in the sense that maybe he ends up getting down to the Thomas price.
Kepler is kind of interesting, but he's had solid metrics for years and has been above league average offensive exactly three times. And one of those was 2020 in 196 plate appearances. At some point, a guy is what he is, I guess. My concern is that he wasn't even that good against righties last year. I'm fine if he's a fallback option, but I don't love the idea as a strong side platoon bat.
I appreciate you helping put things into perspective and reminding us of those dates. That does make me feel better, I suppose. I don't know why I'm so impatient this year. Maybe it's because it seems we've been looking for a corner outfielder for 3 full seasons. I just hope we don't see Massey playing meaningful innings in left this season. Anyways, I should be more patient and trust the process. Go Royals.
How quickly we forget Steven Cruz! Yes, he was hurt towards the end of the season...and yes, he's NOT a lefty, but he struck guys out, right? I think Avila could be a key part of the back-end of the BP (along with a healthy Cruz), which is another reason I suspect they didn't want to ride the Harvey roller coaster again.
Seems like the big deal didn't happen this week, but there appears to be a LOT of smoke around an upcoming 3-team trade. I suspect we will end up happy with whatever happens there. Maybe next week!
JJ mentioned that he's working on a lot of deals and some are multi-team. I don't know that I'd put a whole lot of stock into that account on Twitter everyone seems to be loving right now.
I remember talking to my friend who works in Royals front office the Saturday following the 2023 winter meetings. He tipped me off that Royals had made offers to Lugo and Wacha and felt they would sign both. Said they made offers for Tyler O’Neill but Cards went with Boston offer. Also was laughing at how huge the Gaylord hotel was lol.
Lane Thomas is a fine complementary signing. I like him as the platoon partner/pinch runner fourth outfielder.
Yaz got WAY more money and years than I thought was going to happen. Good for Yaz. Glad it was not the Royals making that committment. I am glad the Braves took Yaz off the table because I think we were looking way too hard at him as the fall back plan. Analysis by Craig Brown on his skewed stats convinced me I didn't want a reunion.
I read (somewhere, can't find it again) OF Jasson Dominguez AKA The Martian - of the Yankees may be a trade candidate as the outfield is getting full with 2 positions going to Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge. Are you hearing anything that Dominguez may be avaialabe? What would a potential trade look like? I would LOVE to plug Dominguez into LF for the next 5 years. Switch hitter and had a 107 WRC+ (I think that is what I read) at 22 years old. This would be a HUGE get if he is really available. Thoughts?
Dominguez is interesting because he’s looked like a typical overhyped prospect so far. Contact rates aren’t good. He chases too much. He’s been a really bad defender. Yes he’s young, which means there’s room for growth. And he’s a switch hitter, which means no platoon splits. But from the sounds of things, the Yankees want the value that a top-20 prospect would bring and I think there’s an argument to be made that ranking was heavily inflated. The guy had a sub-.800 OPS in AA two years ago. All that to say, if the price is right, sure. But if they’re asking for something that hasn’t been realistic for two years, hard pass.
I've had plantar fasciitis. My PT explained it as a broad spectrum from inflammation to tears (think similar to elbow problems). Having surgery isn't great but still like the signing. I knew about the heel issues but I didn't realize Thomas got hit on the wrist during the 1st week of the season. I'm a big fan in looking for bounce backs from hand injuries (I'm really interested in Willi Castro for that reason).
Hand injuries are some of the easiest to predict a bounceback on, I feel like. Maybe that's just anecdotal, but it feels that way anyway.
I kind of feel like having surgery *could* be better than just recovering. They fixed the problem. Maybe that's naive of me, but I think of someone like Vinnie. He had shoulder issues. They knew the surgery was a possibility and now that he's had it, they feel like his risk level for re-injury is very low. I'm not a doctor, obviously, but I feel like actually fixing something is important.
Agree on TOHernandez. Doesn’t seem like a fit. I don’t like the feel of a Marte deal either.
I'd love Marte for the first two or three years. It might be a problem on the back end.
I have to admit, seeing Brad Keller on that list of relievers is a little jarring.
It's bizarre, but he was legitimately good this year. I wouldn't convert him back to a starter, but we've also seen him be successful starting, so who knows?
I connection to Keller's bounce back 2025 season, I don't know whether to credit the Cubs or lay fault with the Red Sox and White Sox for giving up on him too early.
The amount of scorn on social media for the Lane Thomas signing made me realize how little the average commenter actually knows about Royals baseball, baseball in general, and this winter signing process. I don’t know that much myself, which is why I read blogs like this one, but at least I can grasp the concept of depth at the right price.
I suspect the same folks would be unreasonably excited about Teoscar Hernandez. Thanks for the breakdown. I didn’t realize he was such a dud defensively. That’s an issue if you play half your games at the K.
There was an offseason years ago when the Royals were horrible and I was writing on probably Pine Tar Press where I wrote how the Royals needed a utility infielder. They needed everything, but I'd written about pretty much all of it. And included in everything was a utility infielder. So I wrote about the fit and all that and the amount of backlash I got for suggesting they needed anything other than a superstar was insane. So yeah, no surprise to me.
I might be being generous here, but at least 50% of Royals fans on social media think the biggest move the Royals can make is firing Matt Quatraro. I'll stick with David Lesky's opinions thank you very much.
Right. Q took a 106-loss team to the playoffs the following season, but because he didn’t do it twice, he’s garbage. That’s about the depth of analysis I’m seeing.
I think you're low. I don't get it at all, but whatever, I guess.
And JJ. It doesn't matter what that guy does, they want him fired. They could make it to the world series next year and people would claim it all happened in spite of Q and JJ. People just want to hate everything and complain.
Wasnt too keen on thomas before, but actually seems like a pretty high potential for bounce back and a smart bet.
Do you think they have much more money to spend? Piccolo sure doesnt seem to indicate they will be stretching budget as days go on. Also have seen MLBTR mention they are pretty close to max, but i know the calculations vary
As I've said so many times, nobody benefits from the Royals saying they have whatever amount to spend. For round numbers, if you say you have $50 million to spend and you spend $30 million, the fans are pissed. Players and agents can take advantage of that too. If you make vague statements and don't commit to anything, but then go above and beyond, everyone's happy.
I've got them at $85.3 million roughly in guaranteed contracts for 10 players. I've got them at about $33.8 million for arbitration-eligible guys. The rest are pre-arb right now, so if we call the other 20 players on the 40-man $800k each, that's $16 million. So they're at about $136 million for the 40-man and $125 million or so for the 26-man. I am not privy to the payroll, but I'd wager they have about $20 million to spend and can stretch if the right opportunity came along.
I have no issue with Lane Thomas. One year deal, perfectly reasonable. The only real question I have is if they did that signing having a trade lined up or not and if that means Yaz is probably not back.
I'd say Yaz isn't coming back, what with the contract he signed with the Braves.
Ah I’m not up on the latest. He must have gotten his 2 year deal then I take it? If only some other team would sign Frazier and take that off the table as well. Please….Braves…help us out with that one too.
The Braves basically gave him 3 years. And each of the first two are more than he was projected for one. I'll miss him, but he got his bag and good for him.
Yeah, two years with an option for $7 million that comes with a $4 million buyout, so it's basically three years and $26 million total.
Nice call on Lane Thomas! Now we just need one of your others to hit (Suzuki or Donovan). I agree not in love with those low OBP guys (A.Garcia and Hernandez) although wouldn’t be mad if they got them reasonably priced either. But if no trades come together, just curious what some names are you would prefer? On a side note, I was scrolling Baseball Savant last night and ran across Kepler, was surprised how positive his page looked and hadn’t heard anyone talk about him at all. He has warts and would also be a let down all things considered but found that interesting.
The problem with Hernandez is there is no reasonably priced. If the Dodgers pay down the contract, they're giving up more to get him. If they don't, the Royals are paying him a lot of money to be pretty meh. Garcia is interesting to me in the sense that maybe he ends up getting down to the Thomas price.
Kepler is kind of interesting, but he's had solid metrics for years and has been above league average offensive exactly three times. And one of those was 2020 in 196 plate appearances. At some point, a guy is what he is, I guess. My concern is that he wasn't even that good against righties last year. I'm fine if he's a fallback option, but I don't love the idea as a strong side platoon bat.
I appreciate you helping put things into perspective and reminding us of those dates. That does make me feel better, I suppose. I don't know why I'm so impatient this year. Maybe it's because it seems we've been looking for a corner outfielder for 3 full seasons. I just hope we don't see Massey playing meaningful innings in left this season. Anyways, I should be more patient and trust the process. Go Royals.
I think part of following a good team is expecting them to do good things. And when they don't, it feels like they won't ever.
How quickly we forget Steven Cruz! Yes, he was hurt towards the end of the season...and yes, he's NOT a lefty, but he struck guys out, right? I think Avila could be a key part of the back-end of the BP (along with a healthy Cruz), which is another reason I suspect they didn't want to ride the Harvey roller coaster again.
Nope, 20.1% strikeout rate. Amazingly below average.
Seems like the big deal didn't happen this week, but there appears to be a LOT of smoke around an upcoming 3-team trade. I suspect we will end up happy with whatever happens there. Maybe next week!
JJ mentioned that he's working on a lot of deals and some are multi-team. I don't know that I'd put a whole lot of stock into that account on Twitter everyone seems to be loving right now.
But but but... It's telling me what I want to hearrrrrrr
I thought JJ's comments were more strongly suggestive of a 3-team deal than you seem to think. So maybe I misinterpreted
I think any time you bring it up, it means there's probably a real possibility, so I might be downplaying it a bit.
I remember talking to my friend who works in Royals front office the Saturday following the 2023 winter meetings. He tipped me off that Royals had made offers to Lugo and Wacha and felt they would sign both. Said they made offers for Tyler O’Neill but Cards went with Boston offer. Also was laughing at how huge the Gaylord hotel was lol.
A couple of comments and a quick question:
Lane Thomas is a fine complementary signing. I like him as the platoon partner/pinch runner fourth outfielder.
Yaz got WAY more money and years than I thought was going to happen. Good for Yaz. Glad it was not the Royals making that committment. I am glad the Braves took Yaz off the table because I think we were looking way too hard at him as the fall back plan. Analysis by Craig Brown on his skewed stats convinced me I didn't want a reunion.
I read (somewhere, can't find it again) OF Jasson Dominguez AKA The Martian - of the Yankees may be a trade candidate as the outfield is getting full with 2 positions going to Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge. Are you hearing anything that Dominguez may be avaialabe? What would a potential trade look like? I would LOVE to plug Dominguez into LF for the next 5 years. Switch hitter and had a 107 WRC+ (I think that is what I read) at 22 years old. This would be a HUGE get if he is really available. Thoughts?
Dominguez is interesting because he’s looked like a typical overhyped prospect so far. Contact rates aren’t good. He chases too much. He’s been a really bad defender. Yes he’s young, which means there’s room for growth. And he’s a switch hitter, which means no platoon splits. But from the sounds of things, the Yankees want the value that a top-20 prospect would bring and I think there’s an argument to be made that ranking was heavily inflated. The guy had a sub-.800 OPS in AA two years ago. All that to say, if the price is right, sure. But if they’re asking for something that hasn’t been realistic for two years, hard pass.