The Royals focused mostly on adding veteran pitching, while clearing some space on the position-player side for new younger talents to get a larger big-league opportunity.
Major League Signings
- Jordan Lyles, SP: Two years, $17MM
- Zack Greinke, SP: One year, $8.5MM
- Aroldis Chapman, RP: One year, $3.75MM
- Ryan Yarbrough, SP/RP: One year, $3MM
2023 spending: $23.75MM
Total spending: $32.25MM
Option Decisions
- None
Trades & Claims
- Acquired RP Josh Taylor from Red Sox for IF Adalberto Mondesi
- Acquired minor league RPs Evan Sisk and Steven Cruz from Twins for OF Michael A. Taylor
- Acquired cash considerations from Orioles for 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn
- Acquired cash considerations from Cardinals for RP Anthony Misiewicz
- Acquired minor league RP Jacob Wallace from Red Sox for RP Wyatt Mills
Notable Minor League Signings
- Jackie Bradley Jr., Franmil Reyes, Matt Duffy, Johan Camargo, Nick Wittgren, Jorge Bonifacio, Mike Mayers, Matt Beaty, Ryan Goins, Kohl Stewart, Cody Poteet, Brooks Kriske, Jose Briceno, Jakson Reetz
Extensions
- None
Notable Losses
- Taylor, Mondesi, O’Hearn, Misiewicz, Sebastian Rivero, Brent Rooker, Jake Brentz (unsigned)
Heading into J.J. Picollo’s first winter as Kansas City’s general manager, the executive was pretty forthright about the team’s plans. With an eye towards sticking to roughly the same $88MM payroll as last season, the Royals intended to add one or two veteran hitters (one of them a right-handed bat if possible), at least two starting pitchers, and some additional bullpen and rotation depth.
On the pitching end of that wishlist, it was mission accomplished. All of the Royals’ guaranteed spending went towards the mound, as the club bolstered the rotation with free agents Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough, while also bringing back a franchise icon in Zack Greinke. On the relief end, the Royals brought in one of the most accomplished closers of recent years by signing Aroldis Chapman for a late-game role, if not necessarily as the team’s next ninth-inning man.
Of course, there was a reason why Chapman was available for a modest one-year, $3.75MM deal. Chapman is now entering his age-35 season, and his effectiveness has diminished over the last two seasons as his walk rates have skyrocketed. While the southpaw’s control has long been inconsistent, Chapman’s 11.5% walk rate over his first 11 MLB seasons was substantially lower than the 16.4% walk rate he has posted in 2021-22. His once-elite fastball has lost effectiveness and some velocity (down to “only” 97.7 mph in 2022), and batters also made far more hard contact against Chapman’s pitches in 2022 than at any other point in the 2015-22 Statcast era.
If that wasn’t enough, Chapman also spent close to nine weeks on the injured list last season due to an Achilles injury and an infection related to a recently-added tattoo. After Chapman skipped a team workout prior to the start of the Yankees’ ALDS matchup with the Guardians, the writing was pretty clearly on the wall that his time in New York was through.
Ideally for the Royals, Chapman would regain his old form in a new environment, and help incumbent closer Scott Barlow solidify late-game leads (and perhaps even grab a few saves ahead of Barlow in certain situations). That scenario would make Chapman an interesting trade chip heading into the deadline, assuming that K.C. isn’t in contention by midseason.
That short-term-asset mindset could apply to some of Kansas City’s other winter acquisitions, possibly any of their minor league signings who rebuild their value at the MLB level. Greinke could potentially be flipped to a contender, but probably only if he approves such a move, assuming the Royals take the same approach with Greinke as they did prior to last year’s trade deadline. While it wouldn’t be shocking if either Lyles or Yarbrough were also dealt for the right offer, the Royals at least obtained some extra control with those signings, since Yarbrough is arbitration-controlled through the 2024 season and Lyles was inked to a two-year guarantee.
In an era of pitching specialization, Lyles is a bit of a throwback as a classic innings-eater, tossing 359 frames with the Rangers and Orioles in 2021-22. Between durability and an increasingly solid walk rate, Lyles brings some pluses to the K.C. rotation, and Lyles’ numbers over his career have unsurprisingly been generally better when he has played in more pitcher-friendly venues (which bodes well for a move to Kauffman Stadium). With low strikeout totals and an unspectacular 4.76 ERA since the start of the 2019 season, Lyles isn’t a frontline starter, but the Royals are only asking for him to hold the fort.
Over five seasons with the Rays, Yarbrough was a more of a modern take on the “innings eater” model, working as both a bulk pitcher (behind an opener) and as a traditional starter. New Royals manager Matt Quatraro is very familiar with Yarbrough from his past role as Tampa Bay’s bench coach, and he’ll now try to get the left-hander on track after Yarbrough posted a 4.90 ERA over 235 innings since the start of the 2021 season. Despite elite soft-contact rates and solid-to-excellent walk rates, Yarbrough’s lack of strikeout ability and lack of velocity has started to catch up with him, and batters are teeing off on his once-solid cutter/changeup combination.
Yarbrough is ticketed to begin the season as a starter, but Greinke, Lyles, and Brady Singer are the only locks for a full-time rotation job. Between Yarbrough’s ability to work as a reliever and the fact that Brad Keller lost his starting spot last year, the Royals have some flexibility in deciding what they want to do with the last two rotation slots. With injuries, performance, or perhaps trades factoring into the Royals’ decision-making process, former top draft picks like Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, or Jackson Kowar could get some starts as the season develops.
These highly-touted young arms have yet to show much at the MLB level, which explains why Kansas City has had to target veteran fill-ins for the rotation. To that end, the hirings of Brian Sweeney as pitching coach, Mitch Stetter as bullpen coach, and Zach Bove as an assistant pitching coach and director of Major League pitching strategy are perhaps more important than any roster move, since Picollo is overhauling the Royals’ approach in developing and managing pitchers. It certainly seems as if K.C. will be putting a new focus on analytics, and Quatraro (Tampa Bay) and Sweeney (Cleveland) are both coming from teams with a strong track record of getting the most out of their pitchers.
If the fixes can take hold quickly, the Royals might see some significant improvement from their pitching side, which would be a huge step forward in their plans to finally break out of rebuild mode. Naturally the club would also love to see development from its core of position players, and yet while the situation around the diamond didn’t need quite as much immediate help as the rotation, the Royals certainly put a lot more emphasis on adding pitching than hitting this winter.
Finances could’ve been a factor, given the rising prices for pitching throughout the sport. The market allowed for Lyles to land a two-year deal, and for Greinke to land at least $8.5MM on a one-year contract, though Greinke’s deal has plenty of easily-reachable innings incentives that could boost the value to as much as $16MM. This contract represented something of a middle ground between the $13MM guaranteed Greinke received last season, and the Royals’ desire for a more incentive-heavy deal with the 39-year-old this time around.
Without much leverage to boost the payroll, the Royals’ desire to upgrade the lineup didn’t really materialize, as the team is hoping to strike paydirt on at least one of its minor league signings. Such veterans as Franmil Reyes, Jackie Bradley Jr., Matt Duffy, Jorge Bonifacio, Matt Beaty, and Johan Camargo are in camp as non-roster invitees, and Reyes probably represents the best chance for Kansas City to land that desired right-handed hitting upgrade.
The Royals saw plenty of Reyes during his time in Cleveland over the last four seasons, and it certainly looked as if Reyes had broken out as a fearsome power bat following a 37-homer season in 2021. However, Reyes’ production completely cratered in 2022, to the point that the Guardians (a team themselves in sore need of power) designated him for assignment in August.
Reyes’ numbers only slightly improved after joining the Cubs on a waiver claim, and the 27-year-old now returns to the AL Central looking for a bounce-back season. Kauffman Stadium isn’t exactly the ideal setting for a power-only player to rebound, yet since the Royals finished 26th of 30 teams in home runs in 2022, they’ll take whatever slugging potential they can get from Reyes as a DH and occasional outfielder.
The other minor league signings give K.C. some veteran depth behind their plan to let the kids play in 2023. Duffy, Beaty, and Camargo will support the projected infield plan of Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, Vinnie Pasquantino at first base, one of Michael Massey or Nicky Lopez at second base with the other in a backup role, and Hunter Dozier likely to get most of the third base work. There’s some fluidity in this plan, as Dozier can play other positions and (more pointedly) hasn’t hit much in any of his last three seasons, so Nate Eaton or Maikel Garcia could eat into the playing time at the hot corner.
While non-roster players are a part of every team’s Spring Training, the Royals have a particular need after moving some position players over the offseason. In keeping the payroll stable, spending a bit extra to sign pitching meant that some salary had to be cut elsewhere, which certainly factored into the club’s decisions to trade Michael A. Taylor (owed $4.5MM in 2023) to the Twins, Adalberto Mondesi ($3.045MM) to the Red Sox, and Ryan O’Hearn ($1.4MM) to the Orioles.
None of the three deals were a real surprise, since Taylor’s name had been floated in trade talks since last year’s deadline, and it was perhaps unexpected that Kansas City even tendered O’Hearn a contract. Mondesi was once one of baseball’s elite prospects, yet as the years went by and Mondesi was sidelined by one injury after another, the Royals were ready to move on.
Josh Taylor (coming to K.C. in the Mondesi trade) is no stranger to the injured list himself, having missed all of 2022 due to back problems. But, the left-hander also brings a live fastball, lots of strikeouts, and three years of team control to Kansas City’s bullpen, so Taylor might be a very nice addition if he can stay healthy.
Pasquantino and Nick Pratto had already reduced O’Hearn’s role as a first baseman, and Taylor became expendable since the Royals have Drew Waters as their projected new center fielder. That plan is on hold for the moment, however, since an oblique strain will likely keep Waters on the injured list for the start of the season. Waters’ injury opened the door for the Royals to sign Bradley as center field depth, with Kyle Isbel as the first option up the middle while Waters recovers.
With a few weeks to go before Opening Day, K.C. might not be done making lower-level moves, or maybe even more significant trades involving in-house veterans. For instance, Lopez drew some attention from the White Sox in January, though that particular avenue might be closed since the Sox have since signed Elvis Andus to fill their need for second base help. If the Royals are confident in Massey as the starting second baseman and feel that the likes of Garcia or Duffy can provide middle infield backup, Lopez might still get shopped — the Dodgers stand out as an obvious possibility, since Gavin Lux will miss the season after tearing his ACL.
Picollo openly said that the Royals weren’t going to be too aggressive with their spending or roster-building during the winter, since the club first needs needs to figure out what they have in so many players who are lacking in proven MLB production, or even playing time at the sport’s highest level. Perhaps the most interesting development would be if the Royals were able to negotiate contract extensions with any of their more clear building blocks, like Witt or Singer.
How would you grade the Royals’ offseason? (Link to poll)
btw, the Royals-related live chat will take place in the late afternoon or evening on either March 11 or March 12. I will post a link a couple of hours prior to the chat, so fans will have plenty of notice and a chance to submit questions in advance.
This is a bizarre hodgepodge of young players and veteran players on a team thats not even on the fringes of contention. That said, i can certainly see Reyes, JBJ, and Duffy making the opening day roster.
Definitely..Shrewd NRI minor league signings for sure. I commented the same thing before seeing this.
Other than the Chapman signing, the changes make sense for a team that could surprise by outperforming. My concern with Chapman is a lack of leadership from a pitcher with 12+ years of service. Missing a team activity before the ALDS is unacceptable. Combined with the infection issue (that kind of stuff should be done in the offseason), I wonder what he brings to the clubhouse. Is he just phoning it in at this point? I hope Greinke offsets that.
Smart minor league signings. Duffy and the Franimal especially could play a big part in the roster this year and teach the young guys a lot. JBJ too for that matter.
I have my doubts about Reyes. If he couldn’t hit the ball out of the Wrigley Field bandbox, how is he going to hit for power at Kaufman?
I watched every Cubs game last year..He crushed the ball quite a few times. Even if they weren’t homers. I would give him a chance.
Kind of hard to build a contending team when the catcher takes up slightly more than 20% of the payroll. They should either increase payroll (not happening) or see if they can move Perez (again, not happening.
Maybe they surprise some people, catch some lighting and continue to build a competitive team but I’m just not seeing it.
The single biggest need for the Royals is meaningful contributions from Lynch, Kowar and Bubic.
Two years ago I wrote here that the AL Central would become one of the best divisions in MLB as the rebuilds of Detroit, KC, and Cleveland took hold.
o At most the Tigers have 5-6 players that look like they can play at the ML level – maybe one (Riley Greene) that looks like he can become an above average player….but who knows what the future brings.
o Last year I wrote that the Royals had to do something about their pitching philosophy and ML pitching coach as their rebuild was based on pitching, and from what I could see they were ruining their highly drafted pitching prospects.
o Cleveland was the only one of the 3 teams that panned out.
The Royals have some fine young position players: am not as high on Witt Jr. at this point as others, but believe MJ Melendez doesn’t deserve the knocks he’s getting and will prove to be an above average ML player. Pasquantino can hit, and Singer looks good….but a number of their pitchers looked good for one year – I thought Daniel Lynch could be Andy Pettite- lite after 2021….that coaching staff did a job on him.
Anyway, Royals fans are truly some of the best baseball fans in America as they stand by their team and have incredible patience (we don’t read much grousing on here from Royals fans as we do from say Red Sox and Yankee fans that will blister the board with negative comments about their team even if it makes the playoffs). I hope the new POBO takes hold, and it’s great that he went straight after the pitching including getting their new pitching coach from Cleveland. Hopefully the Royals are starting to move in a winning direction.
Solid 70 win team
KC spent all its guarenteed money on starting pitchers with no upside. Grienke is five innings of passable ball. Lyles gives innings but not much else and not much positive can be said about Yarborough. So how do the young starters get the opportunity to get better? Chapman is the only one with the potential to be better than he was last year. The minor league signings were fine, but if they don’t sign players with even the potential to get better, what do they expect from the team?
General Sherm and his cronies just want a subsidized downtown stadium, built on minority ownership’s own land, and will not spend on FA’s or meaningful extensions until it’s built. JJ is Deacon Moore Junior, and the Royals are a mess from top to bottom. Nothing to see here, carry on.
If you watch these guys play, you know. Good mojo is flowing in KC. 3rd place easy, 84 wins.