Royals (and Others) Waiting Patiently
The offseason has had a heroes first, sidekicks second feel and the Royals are looking at sidekicks.
Every offseason is different. In some of them, the star players wait for awhile to get their deals and the rest of the league struggles to determine how they should react. Should they supplement their roster with free agents from the third and fourth tier or should they wait too? And then the entire winter gets bogged down. Sometimes, like this one, teams focus on the stars, and the next group is forced to wait. The Royals are kind of being forced to wait. While the league is signing Batmans (Batmen?) left and right, the Royals are looking for Robins.
It goes back to something I mentioned at the deadline. They don’t need a star. It’s not that they wouldn’t benefit from another one, but they’ve got the core of their lineup, their rotation and their bullpen. They need the pieces to build around them. Sure, adding a third ace would be nice, but it’s not necessary. It would be great to put an MVP candidate next to Bobby Witt Jr. in the lineup, but it’s not necessary. The only area where it feels like they at least have their star or stars lineup and another one may be necessary is the bullpen, but a) no star relievers have signed other than Clay Holmes who signed as a starer, and b) so many star relievers come out of nowhere that it’s not the best strategy to even shop at the top of that market.
People can be funny. I remember in 2023 when the Royals kicked off trade season at the end of June by trading Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers for a former prospect nobody was excited about and a lottery ticket. Days and weeks ticked by without another move and the question was why the Royals aren’t even participating in the deadline. They, of course, made some additional moves, but they’d already participated in a big way. They clearly weren’t sitting out. Last year, the Royals made a move for one of the more successful bullpen arms out there before the break, but then didn’t make another trade until July 29. In the interim, the question was if the Royals were going to do anything. They already had!
This offseason has sort of been similar to that deadline. Among 55 pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched the last three years, Michael Wacha has the 14th-best ERA. They signed him to a free agent deal that now looks like one of the biggest bargains out there. Their biggest need offensively was to add a leadoff hitter to get on base in front of three guys who can drive in a run. Out of 170 players with 1,500 plate appearances since 2001, Jonathan India is tied for the 31st-best OBP. They acquired him. The question remains whether the Royals will do anything this winter. The answer that I can tell you without even the tiniest bit of doubt is that they will, and I know that because they did. They’ll do more, too, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s important that it’s not just about what they’re going to do, but what they did still counts.