3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Kansas City Royals
Finishing the 2021 season with a record of 74–88, the Kansas City Royals continued their stretch of only making the playoffs twice in the 2000’s. With a 4th place finish in the AL Central, it should be easy to find 3 things the Royals can do to improve upon their record from last year. Let’s dive right in and get started.
1. Call Up Bobby Witt Jr.
With the 2nd pick of the 2019 draft the Kansas City Royals selected Bobby Witt Jr. Now at the age of 21, he has quickly risen through the minor leagues and was just named the best prospect in baseball. The 5 tool player every manager dreams of, Witt should be just as good as advertised once he gets the call.
Throughout his professional career, he’s carried a line of .283/.350/.520 with 34 home runs over 661 at bats and 160 games. In AAA last year, Witt put up a slash line of .285/.352/.581 with 17 homeruns over 253 at bats. As he’s gotten older, which is generally the case, he’s gotten much stronger and he could have enough power to have a 40 homerun season as early as 2023. He just has to be called up first.
With 661 minor league at bats under his belt, the Royals could have him on the Opening Day roster and that should be fine. However, they should give him 100 more at bats in AAA and have him up to the big squad by mid may to make sure he’s dialed in for the long haul. Once Witt is called up, expect him to win the AL RotY and provide an extra 4 wins for the Royals.
2. Bring In One More Veteran Starting Pitcher
The 6 starters that made the most starts for the 2021 Kansas City Royals combined for an ERA of 4.81. The Royals had a team ERA of 4.65. Mike Minor has since been traded to the Reds, Danny Duffy is a free agent, and Zack Greinke was brought in on a 1 year “retire where you started” deal. But the Royals shouldn’t be satisfied just yet. Outside of Greinke, the oldest of their remaining starters is currently 26. The Royals should bring in 1 more veteran starting pitchers out of the following 2 leftys.
Chris Archer made his debut on June 20th, 2012 for the Tampa Bay Rays. Since that time, he has 7.5 years in Tampa and 1.5 years in Pittsburgh, over which he has a career line of a 3.87 ERA, 3.66 FIP, a 103 ERA+ and 1,370 strike outs over 1,254.1 innings and 215 starts. Coming into his age 33 season, his age shouldn’t be an issue for the Royals since they just signed Greinke, and with Archer’s recent struggles they should be able to get him on a 2 year deal (2nd year a club option) worth $24 million.
Debuting on May 12th, 2006 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cole Hamels has been in the league for quite some time. He has spent time with the Phillies, the Rangers, the Cubs, and most recently the Braves, and he holds a career line of a 3.43 ERA and an ERA+ of 123 over 2,698 innings and 422 starts. The one time workhorse has had his share of injuries as he’s gotten older so he should also be available on the cheap. At the age of 38, a 1 year, $7.5 million deal should do the trick.
Neither of these guys would make the difference in a World Series chase, but they would both be huge leaders in the clubhouse for the Royals young pitching staff. Should they sign either of these guys, expect 1 more win.
3. Don’t Lose Merrifield With Nothing To Show For It
The Kansas City Royals drafted Whit Merrifield in the 9th round of the 2010 draft. Whit is what some might call a “late bloomer” as he did not make his Major League debut until May 18th, 2016. He is still under team control for this year, and his current deal included a club option for 2023. If the Royals are out of contention come July, they need to pull the trigger and get some prospects in return for Merrifield.
Coming into his age 33 season, Whit currently holds a career line of .291/.337/.434 with an OPS+ of 105 over 3,389 plate appearances and 768 games. Whit definitely isn’t cut out to be the star player on a team, but he is definitely a great role player and can improve any contender’s chances at a title with his bat, glove, and his durability.
To praise a player for their durability for once, Whit has had an opportunity to play in 832 career Major League games. He’s played in a total of 768. That’s a rate of 92.3% of potential games played, or 149.5 (150) a year. This also includes him playing 158 games in 2018, 162 in 2019, all 60 in 2020, and 162 again in 2021. Whit is this generation’s Cal Ripken.
Trade rumors have floated around involving Whit over the last few years but nothing has come of it. Should the Royals find themselves out of the playoff hunt by July 1st, they should capatalize on his team friendly deal and get a nice return from a team that has World Series hopes. It would be much more beneficial to the Royals to go this route than to let him ride out his contract and then leave in free agency leaving the Royals nothing to show for it.
Should the Kansas City Royals call up Bobby Witt Jr and sign Chris Archer or Cole Hamels, expect another 5 wins added to last year’s total. That would give them a 2022 record of 79–83. This still wouldn’t get the Royals to the post season, but it would be one more step in the right direction. Maybe next year.
This has been the 12th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and see if we can point out 3 things that they could improve upon so that their 2022 is better than their 2021. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, and the Houston Astros. Follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for updates and other sports musings. Next up is the Los Angeles Angels!
