Weekend in Review: Not What the Royals Wanted

Going up against a team that had announced intentions to sell was supposed to be an easier weekend for the Royals.

It sure seemed like things were setting up for the Royals to have a big weekend with a big Friday night win against the Chicago Cubs. But two losses later, and fans are in a tizzy with many thinking the Royals need to be selling. I think you all know that I do not agree with that.

Making the Playoffs Isn't Nothing

But they do need to get their act together. Losing two of three to the Diamondbacks, who are playing good baseball right now and are coming off a World Series appearance, is one thing. But the Cubs weren’t playing especially well, and, again, they’d already announced that they were looking to 2025 and beyond. That’s a series you need to win, especially when you’ve got one in the bag and the lead in each subsequent game with your one and two starters on the mound.

I sort of understand the “sell” talk, especially after we saw both John Schreiber and Hunter Harvey have injuries after yesterday’s game. It seems like Harvey’s is temporary, though we’ll know more later. Schreiber hopes his is, but we’ll know more on that as well. An already thin bullpen can’t afford injuries, especially with the prices that some of these relievers are costing on the trade market. And with the Mariners making moves to move into striking distance of either the division or the Wild Card, it’s a close race. Sure, the Red Sox didn’t gain ground, but the Mariners are just a half-game behind them. The Rays have traded half their roster, it seems, but they’re only three back. And then there’s the Tigers, lurking at around .500. I don’t think they’re a real threat, but you never know.

Deadline Chatter

I’m going to admit that I may have been wrong about the return for some of these players. Back strain aside, I also think the Royals may have just paid the market rate for Harvey. Carlos Estevez was a target of mine for the Royals. He brought back the Phillies number five and number seven prospect, according to the Baseball America mid-season update. Estevez will be available for the final 57 Phillies games. They traded two top-seven prospects (at least according to one list) for 57 games plus the playoffs. Is it worth it if they win the World Series? Sure. That’s just a lot, especially when some legitimate closers were going for a prospect package that included a prospect in the late-teens in organizational rankings and another in the 20s.

So I may have been off here and I still don’t believe the Royals should be giving away huge pieces of their farm system for rental help. Now, the prices may calm a bit at the last minute. Or they may surge. We really don’t know. But I will say that I appreciate their restraint. The Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. over the weekend. He wasn’t one of my favorite options for the Royals, but they were absolutely in on him. I don’t think anyone would have been happy with the package I had heard they offered for him. They were outbid and did not come back with something better.

The Royals were also in on Estevez. I don’t know if they made an offer, but you’re looking at something like Ben Kudrna and Chandler Champlain to acquire a closer for two months. For the Phillies, they have designs on playing deep into October. Not that the Royals don’t, but it’s certainly possible that they get into the playoffs and then get two games. I just wouldn’t give up that sort of cost for a rental player.

They were also in on Randy Arozarena, who was dealt to the Mariners. That return, according to the rankings was pretty light, but the Rays like what the Rays like. Public rankings differ from team rankings. I’ve mentioned before that I know a scout from one team who loves the Royals system. Okay, loves is a strong word but they like it a lot more than the industry. I’m guessing the Rays aren’t in that same boat, but there might be a player or two they like in another deal. And a rental bat may be a different story. Jesse Winker is having an excellent year and the Mets acquired him for their 23rd ranked prospect by BA. That’s a palatable return for a rental bat who has flaws.

So what does that mean for the Royals?

They’re still going to be active. I can absolutely promise you that. They’ve been rumored to be interested in Lane Thomas, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo as far as bats go. They’ve been listed among the teams trying for Luis Garcia out of the bullpen and even Scott, though the price could be nuts. I’ve also heard through the grapevine that they’re in on basically all the remaining Marlins relievers and have asked the Nationals about Kyle Finnegan. I haven’t heard they’ve talked to the Rays about Pete Fairbanks, but I’d assume they have if they were in on Arozarena.

In the bullpen, I still think they have some interest in Michael Kopech and Mark Leiter Jr., among controllable relievers, and maybe even in Hector Neris as far as rental closers go. I haven’t heard them connected with Tommy Pham for awhile, but don’t be surprised if they circle back there and he requires even less of a return than Winker. Brent Rooker is another name to watch. I think the Arozarena return may have soured the A’s on moving him, but you never know there. The trade deadline is tomorrow at 5pm CDT. I’ll imagine the Royals have at least two new players. But if they don’t, I think I agree with the restraints as much as I want them to be buyers.

The Games

Friday - Royals 6, Cubs 0: Singer’s Great Tune

Brady Singer just went out and had another great game in giving the Royals seven shutout innings for the second straight start. He was masterful in allowing just two hits and walking two batters to lower his ERA to 2.82. He only gave up six hard-hit balls all night long out of 18. I would say that this is the closest he’s looked to 2022 Singer since, well, 2022.

His velocity was up on his sinker, averaging 92.9 MPH and he maxed out at 94.8 MPH. That’s different than what we’ve seen from him. He mainly used his sinker and his slider, which is fine when they’re working like that. My complaint about Singer isn’t that he uses his two best pitches too much. It’s that he hasn’t ever had anything else to turn to when they’re not working. With the four-seamer and the sweeper starting to come through for him, he does now. But when your best two pitches are working, there’s not a lot of reason to go to three and four.

In this one, his success was on command. His sinker only generated two swings and misses and his slider actually only got five, which is low for him when he’s on. But he was putting pitches in basically the perfect spot all night long and he was able to work both sides of the plate with both the sinker and the slider. He had a little trouble a couple of times, but the only real threat came in the top of the fifth when he had a runner on third with one out and gave up a shallow fly ball to Kyle Isbel, who made a great throw home to end the inning and preserve the scoreless tie.

That leads to the offense, which was quiet for innings one through four and then six through eight, but exploded in the fifth.

It didn’t look like they were going to explode, though. Hunter Renfroe struck out and Nick Loftin hit a weak grounder to the mound for two outs. But then the hit parade started. Garret Hampson singled to right. Isbel rolled one through a vacated hole on a hit and run. Then he stole second and Adam Frazier drove them both home with a little bloop to right. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a hard single up the middle to get Frazier to second. Then Vinnie Pasquantino singled to score Frazier. With runners on first and third, the captain stepped up.

That was absolutely crushed. Salvador Perez has continued to struggle. Since June 1, he’s hitting just .218/.269/.388, but the power has come back at least. He’s hitting .247/.371/.483 with seven homers since June 28. So that’s something and these types of home runs are huge.

That was pretty much the last bit of excitement in a game that just marched to its conclusion from that point. But it was an exciting win in general because it was their 57th of the year, which means they passed last year’s total BEFORE THE END OF JULY.

Saturday - Cubs 9, Royals 4: Not What You Want

Seth Lugo has had better days. He started things off by walking a batter with one out and then giving up a home run to the next batter. A 2-0 hole isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s certainly not something we’ve seen Lugo give up much. He’s only allowed five first inning runs this year, and that’s including this sone. Heck, he’s only allowed 19 runs in the first three innings of games this season. Over 22 starts, that’s less than one per game.

So when he gave up another in the third, it was really strange times. But he settled in nicely. The Royals had gotten one back in the bottom of the second when Hunter Renfroe continued his excellent offensive work.

I keep using an arbitrary date of May 12 with him, but that’s the day after he hit rock bottom. Since then, he’s hitting .299/.379/.513. He has 12 doubles and seven home runs in that stretch with 18 walks and 27 strikeouts. Since the break, he’s hitting .308/.438/.577. He really has gone from a quick DFA to a guy who maybe should hit fourth instead of Salvy.

After giving up the third run in the next inning, I mentioned Lugo settled down. The Cubs were nine up, nine down in the fourth, fifth and sixth. And in the bottom of the sixth, the Royals struck for three. Maikel Garcia and Witt doubled him up (but got caught rounding second and was thrown out). After Pasquantino grounded out, Perez singled, Freddy Fermin doubled and then Renfroe drove in two more with a single to give the Royals the lead.

But Lugo, back out for the seventh with just 73 pitches, couldn’t get outs. He gave up two singles and then walked Dansby Swanson. Well, sort of.

Another masterclass in umpiring was taking place here. You might see that pitch three and pitch four were both called balls. I probably complain about the umpires too much, but this is egregious, particularly two pitches in a row. Instead of two on and one out, the bases were loaded with nobody out. Lugo did coax a popup from Miguel Amaya, but then he made way for Sam Long and the Cubs countered with Patrick Wisdom. On the fourth pitch, he hit a ball 430 feet for a grand slam and that was basically it. Not great!

Sunday - Cubs 7, Royals 3: REALLY Not What You Want

This one started almost the opposite of Saturday’s game with the Royals plating two in the first and having a lead early. And Cole Ragans looked sharp. You might recall he had some troubles getting swing and miss early in his last start and his velocity was down. He still wasn’t lighting up the radar gun with near triple digits like we saw last year, but he had 10 whiffs through the first two innings in this one. He ended up with 17 whiffs and his changeup was outstanding.

But his velocity still ended up down again. He had five whiffs on 23 fastball swings and the Cubs hit it hard, which we’re not used to seeing .He did get plenty of chase on it, but he’s either worn down or is having some mechanical issues because that fastball plays better, even at slightly lower velocities. I guess we’ll see how it goes, but he got hit hard by some guys you certainly wouldn’t expect like Pete Crow-Armstrong. Ragans gave up two in the third to give up the small lead and then he ended up giving up two more in the sixth to give up another lead.

That second lead was provided by none other than Freddy Fermin, who hit a home run that led to a manager’s challenge, which everyone in Kansas City was dreading.

Has anyone ever seen a Cubs fan do anything like that down the left field line? Hard to say. But one did yesterday. I know I was holding my breath, but the review indicated that it was a home run. It was one of the softest home runs you’ll ever see. Only five have been hit softer than this one. But it still counts as a home run.

Unfortunately, that’s the last run the Royals could get. I mentioned that Ragans gave up the lead in the sixth. It was 4-3 heading into the ninth when James McArthur came out and got lit up again. That’s two straight games on this homestand. One blew a save and one made a comeback nearly impossible. I never thought I’d say this, but they have to send McArthur down. Of course, with Harvey and Schreiber both leaving with injuries in this one, that would mean replacing 37.5 percent of the bullpen, but is that really a bad thing?

Player of the Week

It was a 2-4 week, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great performances. Offensively, Isbel hit .385/.429/.615 for the week, which is good for a 189 wRC+. Pasquantino hit .435/.480/.478. That’s a 175 wRC+. Reliable Fermin hit .333/.375/.600 with a home run. That’s a 171 wRC+. And Renfroe hit .333/.400/.667 with a 194 wRC+. But the player of the week is boring because it’s the player of the year and the potential league MVP, Witt. He hit .417/.462/.750 with a home run, five RBIs, and six runs scored, and he continued to play stellar defense. That wRC+, by the way, was 234. He’s just a freaking incredible baseball player.

The Week Ahead

This is a huge week. They hit the road, but they do so by going to Chicago to play the White Sox, against whom they’re 9-1 this season. Now, I do hate playing a team on a long losing streak. They’ve lost 14 in a row and they’re bound to win eventually, you’d think. They have scored 17 total runs in 10 games since the break. They scored three total in Kansas City to start the post-break schedule. In total, they’ve scored 26 runs during their losing streak and allowed 80. That’s actually not as bad as I was expecting, but it’s still horrific.

You really hate to say a team has to sweep a series on the road, and two of three is probably fine, but getting three wins would be huge. Here are your projected pitching matchups:

• Monday: Alec Marsh vs. Chris Flexen

• Tuesday: Michael Wacha vs. Jonathan Cannon

• Wednesday: Brady Singer vs. Drew Thorpe

So the Royals are seeing the same group they saw at home to start the homestand. This is the time to get back on track. After this series, they head to Detroit where it’s hard to say what that team will look like. They’re scheduled to face Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty, but one or both could be traded by then. I’d guess Skubal stays, but you never know what happens when a team gets desperate. And I assume Flaherty is gone either way since he’s a rental. But they’re without Riley Greene, due to injury, and could easily move Mark Canha and maybe Gio Urshela before the deadline as well.

The Tigers have been playing some generally really good baseball, but they’re not more than an average team and the Royals need to bank some wins there too. It’s a four-game series, so no easy task on the road, but a split is the minimum they need here after their rough week at home.