If Brady Singer really is "their best pitcher" then it goes virtually without saying that the organization is in very, very deep doo-doo. If he ever does figure it out, it will probably be just before he becomes eligible for free agency.
He has three years before free agency after this year and was above average in 2020 and well above average in 2022. I don’t think it would be the least bit surprising if he got back on track sooner than later. If it takes three full years to figure it out, it won’t matter anyway.
I’d still wager that Singer figures it out. I’m not smart enough or spent the time to figure out why. The one thing that stand outs to me is that is average fastball is down 1 mph over last year. Is that a big thing? IDK, but for a guy that never had what I would call elite stuff, seems like that is a bit of a problem if hitters have just a split second longer to read fastball or slider. And Singer seems to be a bit of a hard headed dude….which has probably helped during his career. So him taking a little longer to make adjustments wouldn’t really surprise me. As long as they find the solution. This tough stretch does question a little bit if you can even count on him as a #2 starter though on a competitive team. The royals just need pitchers, so it doesn’t matter.
The velocity is something I don’t really know why it’s down. It could be a timing thing. It would make sense since it can impact everything. Maybe he’s also hyper aware of the bad command is trying to be more fine. Or maybe it’s a bigger issue! I’m not smart enough to know that, but I do wonder if they can clean up the timing if the velocity rebounds a little.
1. this year has been so frustrating because everything we turn to…..turns out to not be accurate. Lol. New coaching…..not helped….schedule easing up…..not helped….count on Singer…not working….at least we get to see if Lynch improves….not yet….But Bubic is looking good…..tommy john. I mean EVERY team has guys that overperform and it’s frustrating as hell that this team doesn’t seem to have that. Overperform, underperform…it’s the ebb and flow of a baseball season…but somehow NO guy is over performing right now. I didn’t know that was possible.
2. Offense will be ok. They won’t be a top 10 offense like some people may have been hoping…but they will be average. I concur on the pitching. I don’t know where they turn…and honestly….its a lot to expect to have people come up from the minors and have this team competitive next year even. They just need so much of it right now. You HAVE to start acquiring it somehow though. Even if you have to trade for a guy with 2 years of control left….Maybe that only leave 1 year of a “window”…but at some point you have to start getting competent pitching. IDK how, it’s quite the delima. Nobody should be 3 years away in baseball…but man it sure feels like the Royals are at least 2 right now with the amount of pitching they need to find.
3. The biggest egg on the face moment in JJ’s 15 years here is the comment that this isn’t a talent issue its a coaching issue at the big league level. It’s May 26th and I will go to my grave telling you this is a 100% talent issue. If those were the true beliefs, I have to question everything about the talent evaluation of this organization. I’m not saying move on from JJ, but changes HAVE to continue to be made to the scouting departments. They kept too much the same, more changes are absolutely needed this offseason. Again, its a though job…but this half foot in, half foot out commitment to a new direction will never work with the holdover people. JJ has to make more big overhauls to staff that stayed on this offseason for this to have a chance. 100% believe that right there.
Hernandez….Hernandez you could say is over performing I guess. Guy looks like a dude right now. Couple be just a couple inning dude…but at least it’s something.
I don't think your first point is true at all. I mean, things haven't gone quite as hoped, but I think we've seen the team be pretty much what we expected. The bullpen has generally been quite good for awhile now and the rotation has been an issue. I still wonder how much of the WBC is messing with Singer, which is super frustrating, but I think a lot of it is fixable. That said, I think they do have some guys overperforming based on the past. Hernandez is absolutely one of them. Bubic was one of them, but the injury stinks, yes. Taylor Clarke is pitching roughly better than ever. Jose Cuas getting these kinds of strikeouts and cutting his walks down is pretty great. You want to see some young starters take a step forward, absolutely, so Lynch is pretty important.
I also disagree that "nobody" should be three years away in baseball. I'm not sure this team should be given the history, but three years in baseball is actually probably about right. If you said four years, I'd be a lot more likely to agree.
I wonder a little, looking back, if JJ's comments were an example of words meaning less than actions. They weren't going to make moves (and I'm not sure they were wrong to not try to supplement this team), so he said something to justify it. I also think he's been proven wrong in a lot of ways. The real question is what they do to answer this in the offseason.
Huh, you think this team has been pretty much what we expected? I guess when you go through each department of the team they are getting to pretty much what was expected to start the year. Only pitching has been more of a dumpster fire that though. IDK though, for an evaluation year….and knowing they weren’t going to be competitive going into it…for some reason this year has been a kick in the nads to me. Maybe it was the mid 70’s win hope, maybe it was the hope that maybe it really was just a coaching issue, shoot maybe its just the realization that Washington, Detroit, Cincy, and Colorado are all ahead of your organization is the part I wasn’t expecting. IDK why, but I came to the realization early last week that this was a 100 loss team. Maybe that realization is adding to the feeling because I really wasn’t expecting that this year. But that’s just me, I could be way off from everyone else’s perspectives.
I mean that the offense has shown to be good at times and inconsistent at others, the bullpen has leveled off to be a strength while the rotation and defense have been bad. We expected a bad rotation and it’s been worse than that, but I’d still say it’s what we thought would happen.
One your three years point. I was thinking about this the other day. If we are talking three years away now. Let’s just say we are looking at 26 as a playoff year. I’m not sure you sign Witt, or Vinny, or MJ, or Singer for that matter to a long term deal. You let them continue to play and develop and get the talent up around them and then trade one in 24 for prospects, and one in 25 for another group as the talent in A ball right now develops and comes up the system. If we truely are 3 years away, maybe the guys here now are now the pieces we need to use to be good in 3 years and longer if they finally do it right. Just a thought.
I think you absolutely are looking to trade some guys if that’s the case, but let’s use Witt as an example. Say he’s willing to sign right now for 8 years and $120 million. Forget if it’s reasonable or if it’s smart or whatever. If you sign Witt today for that deal, don’t you do it over trading him? You think you’ll win in 2026, which means you probably think it’s possible to be a year early. That puts Witt at age-25/26 and signed for five to six years beyond that. So while I think they will need to trade multiple guys, I don’t think it takes extensions off the table.
Ok, yes. You sign him in that situation. Also, it’s reasonable and smart regardless of people say. I’m going off the assumption you are never signing Witt anyway and the only long term deal you can get is Vinny. Could be 100% wrong. It’s just an outside impression I get.
Part of what interests me as a fan is ok….now what is the plan fellas. I understand this is a “evaluation” year. But let’s say your evaluation says you have 4 legit big leaguers in the lineup, 1 legit starting pitcher. That’s 4 hitters, and 4 starters you still need to find. So what are you calling next year now? If JJ came out and said, look we are farther behind that we thought and 26 will be the year. As a fan, I understand you are just moving the goalposts on me again. But at least that’s a concrete plan. If you aren’T a playoff team in 26 JJ isn’t here anyway, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t just divulge that plan at the end of the year. And JJ has been more honest than DM, so that’s at least been refreshing. Getting way ahead of ourselves here. But it’s interesting anyway.
In honor of Memorial Day and a holiday weekend. Can we commemorate the greatest trade JJ Picollo might possibly ever make? Aldaberto Mondesi and Angel Pierre for Josh Taylor. For years, nobody wanted to listen to trading Mondesi. After 3 years of injuries, one would think….this could be a long term problem. But I digress, because at the end of the day Picollo did trade him and found a taker. Since then Mondesi has played 0 games. Taylor has not been good…but he has played actual innings for the Kansas City Royals. Yes, Pierre may turn into something….but guess what. This trade needed to be done and something like this needed to be done two years earlier. A genuine congrats JJ on a nice move!
I’d maybe argue for getting Drew Waters in exchange for a draft pick. Also, MAT for legit big league relief prospects. Maybe getting Chandler Champlain for an injury-prone singles hitter with two months left. He’s done some good things.
Yeah, but here’s the thing. Those were done with DM still around. So if DM gets all the blame…JJ can’t pick and choose those even if he had more power to make them at that point. I agree I like them, but the cut line gets blurry real fast. The MAT one wasn’t, that was a solid one. The others were still under “DM” watch regardless of who was making them at that time.
After an abysmal offensive month to start the season, seeing the team turn it around in May is very optimistic. Especially since it’s been fairly consistent for the month, not just a few games here & there. (Haven’t we averaged roughly 5 runs/game this month). Definitely enough to win more games than we did. So I’ve given up looking at W/L this season. Our rotation was suspect b4 the injuries & whatever is going with Singer, so it’s going to be tough to get the W’s right now.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I do see a lot of talent & really like the look of the team we’re fielding right now, aside from the rotation. They’re young and need a chance to jell, which looks like is happening now that they have stopped moving players around so much. And the ‘Pen is solid.
I’d like to see us get at least one experienced starting pitcher this season for depth, and to help land a few more W’s that the offense has earned. Long winning droughts wear on fans - but to young players can do some damage mentally.
Thanks for the insight & making this season a bit more enjoyable!!
They're at 4.6 runs per game this month, but that's enough to get some wins that the pitching just hasn't supported. The hope is that they'll go out and get the pitching they need to supplement an offense that has at least shown it *can* be good enough. There are a few guys out there who could be interesting this winter, so that'll be a fun conversation to have at that time.
Just occurred to me.... did the Royals bring Maikel Garcia in time for him to get credit for a full year of service time this season? If so, that mistake may not cost them a thing. OTOH it may end up costing them dearly. It will be a few years before we know.
They would have had to bring him up on April 18th or sooner to lose that year and he came up on May 2. But also, while I like Garcia, worrying about service time for him is energy better spent on just about anything else.
I'm not worried about it, really I'm not. But I am definitely aware of how this organization has screwed that up in the past. It would be easy to say that was all DM's fault. But I'm reasonably confident that JJ was a part of that decision-making process as well.
I would love to trust JJ the way I trust Chiefs GM Brett Veach. But I'm a VERY long way away from that.
If Brady Singer really is "their best pitcher" then it goes virtually without saying that the organization is in very, very deep doo-doo. If he ever does figure it out, it will probably be just before he becomes eligible for free agency.
He has three years before free agency after this year and was above average in 2020 and well above average in 2022. I don’t think it would be the least bit surprising if he got back on track sooner than later. If it takes three full years to figure it out, it won’t matter anyway.
I’d still wager that Singer figures it out. I’m not smart enough or spent the time to figure out why. The one thing that stand outs to me is that is average fastball is down 1 mph over last year. Is that a big thing? IDK, but for a guy that never had what I would call elite stuff, seems like that is a bit of a problem if hitters have just a split second longer to read fastball or slider. And Singer seems to be a bit of a hard headed dude….which has probably helped during his career. So him taking a little longer to make adjustments wouldn’t really surprise me. As long as they find the solution. This tough stretch does question a little bit if you can even count on him as a #2 starter though on a competitive team. The royals just need pitchers, so it doesn’t matter.
The velocity is something I don’t really know why it’s down. It could be a timing thing. It would make sense since it can impact everything. Maybe he’s also hyper aware of the bad command is trying to be more fine. Or maybe it’s a bigger issue! I’m not smart enough to know that, but I do wonder if they can clean up the timing if the velocity rebounds a little.
Couple random thoughts.
1. this year has been so frustrating because everything we turn to…..turns out to not be accurate. Lol. New coaching…..not helped….schedule easing up…..not helped….count on Singer…not working….at least we get to see if Lynch improves….not yet….But Bubic is looking good…..tommy john. I mean EVERY team has guys that overperform and it’s frustrating as hell that this team doesn’t seem to have that. Overperform, underperform…it’s the ebb and flow of a baseball season…but somehow NO guy is over performing right now. I didn’t know that was possible.
2. Offense will be ok. They won’t be a top 10 offense like some people may have been hoping…but they will be average. I concur on the pitching. I don’t know where they turn…and honestly….its a lot to expect to have people come up from the minors and have this team competitive next year even. They just need so much of it right now. You HAVE to start acquiring it somehow though. Even if you have to trade for a guy with 2 years of control left….Maybe that only leave 1 year of a “window”…but at some point you have to start getting competent pitching. IDK how, it’s quite the delima. Nobody should be 3 years away in baseball…but man it sure feels like the Royals are at least 2 right now with the amount of pitching they need to find.
3. The biggest egg on the face moment in JJ’s 15 years here is the comment that this isn’t a talent issue its a coaching issue at the big league level. It’s May 26th and I will go to my grave telling you this is a 100% talent issue. If those were the true beliefs, I have to question everything about the talent evaluation of this organization. I’m not saying move on from JJ, but changes HAVE to continue to be made to the scouting departments. They kept too much the same, more changes are absolutely needed this offseason. Again, its a though job…but this half foot in, half foot out commitment to a new direction will never work with the holdover people. JJ has to make more big overhauls to staff that stayed on this offseason for this to have a chance. 100% believe that right there.
Hernandez….Hernandez you could say is over performing I guess. Guy looks like a dude right now. Couple be just a couple inning dude…but at least it’s something.
I don't think your first point is true at all. I mean, things haven't gone quite as hoped, but I think we've seen the team be pretty much what we expected. The bullpen has generally been quite good for awhile now and the rotation has been an issue. I still wonder how much of the WBC is messing with Singer, which is super frustrating, but I think a lot of it is fixable. That said, I think they do have some guys overperforming based on the past. Hernandez is absolutely one of them. Bubic was one of them, but the injury stinks, yes. Taylor Clarke is pitching roughly better than ever. Jose Cuas getting these kinds of strikeouts and cutting his walks down is pretty great. You want to see some young starters take a step forward, absolutely, so Lynch is pretty important.
I also disagree that "nobody" should be three years away in baseball. I'm not sure this team should be given the history, but three years in baseball is actually probably about right. If you said four years, I'd be a lot more likely to agree.
I wonder a little, looking back, if JJ's comments were an example of words meaning less than actions. They weren't going to make moves (and I'm not sure they were wrong to not try to supplement this team), so he said something to justify it. I also think he's been proven wrong in a lot of ways. The real question is what they do to answer this in the offseason.
Huh, you think this team has been pretty much what we expected? I guess when you go through each department of the team they are getting to pretty much what was expected to start the year. Only pitching has been more of a dumpster fire that though. IDK though, for an evaluation year….and knowing they weren’t going to be competitive going into it…for some reason this year has been a kick in the nads to me. Maybe it was the mid 70’s win hope, maybe it was the hope that maybe it really was just a coaching issue, shoot maybe its just the realization that Washington, Detroit, Cincy, and Colorado are all ahead of your organization is the part I wasn’t expecting. IDK why, but I came to the realization early last week that this was a 100 loss team. Maybe that realization is adding to the feeling because I really wasn’t expecting that this year. But that’s just me, I could be way off from everyone else’s perspectives.
I mean that the offense has shown to be good at times and inconsistent at others, the bullpen has leveled off to be a strength while the rotation and defense have been bad. We expected a bad rotation and it’s been worse than that, but I’d still say it’s what we thought would happen.
One your three years point. I was thinking about this the other day. If we are talking three years away now. Let’s just say we are looking at 26 as a playoff year. I’m not sure you sign Witt, or Vinny, or MJ, or Singer for that matter to a long term deal. You let them continue to play and develop and get the talent up around them and then trade one in 24 for prospects, and one in 25 for another group as the talent in A ball right now develops and comes up the system. If we truely are 3 years away, maybe the guys here now are now the pieces we need to use to be good in 3 years and longer if they finally do it right. Just a thought.
I think you absolutely are looking to trade some guys if that’s the case, but let’s use Witt as an example. Say he’s willing to sign right now for 8 years and $120 million. Forget if it’s reasonable or if it’s smart or whatever. If you sign Witt today for that deal, don’t you do it over trading him? You think you’ll win in 2026, which means you probably think it’s possible to be a year early. That puts Witt at age-25/26 and signed for five to six years beyond that. So while I think they will need to trade multiple guys, I don’t think it takes extensions off the table.
Ok, yes. You sign him in that situation. Also, it’s reasonable and smart regardless of people say. I’m going off the assumption you are never signing Witt anyway and the only long term deal you can get is Vinny. Could be 100% wrong. It’s just an outside impression I get.
Part of what interests me as a fan is ok….now what is the plan fellas. I understand this is a “evaluation” year. But let’s say your evaluation says you have 4 legit big leaguers in the lineup, 1 legit starting pitcher. That’s 4 hitters, and 4 starters you still need to find. So what are you calling next year now? If JJ came out and said, look we are farther behind that we thought and 26 will be the year. As a fan, I understand you are just moving the goalposts on me again. But at least that’s a concrete plan. If you aren’T a playoff team in 26 JJ isn’t here anyway, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t just divulge that plan at the end of the year. And JJ has been more honest than DM, so that’s at least been refreshing. Getting way ahead of ourselves here. But it’s interesting anyway.
In honor of Memorial Day and a holiday weekend. Can we commemorate the greatest trade JJ Picollo might possibly ever make? Aldaberto Mondesi and Angel Pierre for Josh Taylor. For years, nobody wanted to listen to trading Mondesi. After 3 years of injuries, one would think….this could be a long term problem. But I digress, because at the end of the day Picollo did trade him and found a taker. Since then Mondesi has played 0 games. Taylor has not been good…but he has played actual innings for the Kansas City Royals. Yes, Pierre may turn into something….but guess what. This trade needed to be done and something like this needed to be done two years earlier. A genuine congrats JJ on a nice move!
I’d maybe argue for getting Drew Waters in exchange for a draft pick. Also, MAT for legit big league relief prospects. Maybe getting Chandler Champlain for an injury-prone singles hitter with two months left. He’s done some good things.
Yeah, but here’s the thing. Those were done with DM still around. So if DM gets all the blame…JJ can’t pick and choose those even if he had more power to make them at that point. I agree I like them, but the cut line gets blurry real fast. The MAT one wasn’t, that was a solid one. The others were still under “DM” watch regardless of who was making them at that time.
I suppose that’s fair though I liked all the trades other than the Rivera one last year.
After an abysmal offensive month to start the season, seeing the team turn it around in May is very optimistic. Especially since it’s been fairly consistent for the month, not just a few games here & there. (Haven’t we averaged roughly 5 runs/game this month). Definitely enough to win more games than we did. So I’ve given up looking at W/L this season. Our rotation was suspect b4 the injuries & whatever is going with Singer, so it’s going to be tough to get the W’s right now.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I do see a lot of talent & really like the look of the team we’re fielding right now, aside from the rotation. They’re young and need a chance to jell, which looks like is happening now that they have stopped moving players around so much. And the ‘Pen is solid.
I’d like to see us get at least one experienced starting pitcher this season for depth, and to help land a few more W’s that the offense has earned. Long winning droughts wear on fans - but to young players can do some damage mentally.
Thanks for the insight & making this season a bit more enjoyable!!
They're at 4.6 runs per game this month, but that's enough to get some wins that the pitching just hasn't supported. The hope is that they'll go out and get the pitching they need to supplement an offense that has at least shown it *can* be good enough. There are a few guys out there who could be interesting this winter, so that'll be a fun conversation to have at that time.
Just occurred to me.... did the Royals bring Maikel Garcia in time for him to get credit for a full year of service time this season? If so, that mistake may not cost them a thing. OTOH it may end up costing them dearly. It will be a few years before we know.
They would have had to bring him up on April 18th or sooner to lose that year and he came up on May 2. But also, while I like Garcia, worrying about service time for him is energy better spent on just about anything else.
I'm not worried about it, really I'm not. But I am definitely aware of how this organization has screwed that up in the past. It would be easy to say that was all DM's fault. But I'm reasonably confident that JJ was a part of that decision-making process as well.
I would love to trust JJ the way I trust Chiefs GM Brett Veach. But I'm a VERY long way away from that.