Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Might explain why he ran out of gas so quickly last night. Seems like he was hurting.
Michael Wacha was wearing a boot on his left foot tonight to take as much pressure off it as possible after a ball hit it in the first inning. Said it's "definitely a little tender right now" and that he'll get scans tomorrow. #Royals
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
If the Royals want to improve the bullpen this year, they will have to be willing to part with some of the more wanted prospects. Blake Mitchell will need to be on the table. If they want to stay with the shit talentless relievers they have then they will just need to deal with that.
I don't think the Royals have the potential to win the World Series so I don't want them to make any big trades. [Reply]
Timing along with quality supply may be an issue. This early in the season what teams with decent bullpen pieces are so far out of it that they would want to sell off some of those good pieces? This bullpen needs multiple quality arms to make the Royals actual contenders. Swapping out Chris Stratton (just to pick a name) for Chris Stratton Adjacent doesn’t make tons of sense. And who are we trading? I agree with what others have said in that relievers don’t necessarily cost a lot but who is trading a good reliever for some Royals lotto ticket prospect in early June. And we needed BP help stat. The BP collective ERA was over 5 in May. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
If the Royals want to improve the bullpen this year, they will have to be willing to part with some of the more wanted prospects. Blake Mitchell will need to be on the table. If they want to stay with the shit talentless relievers they have then they will just need to deal with that.
That’s not the type of prospect you need to trade for bullpen rentals, though. Unless you’re buying a guy who is elite AND controllable, significant prospects don’t trade hands.
The last bullpen guy who got elite prospects back in return for a rental that I can remember was Aroldis Chapman, and that was a pretty unique situation … that also was almost a decade ago.
Now, would I trade Blake Mitchell for the right return? Sure would. Same with Gavin Cross. And anyone else in the system. [Reply]
Blake Mitchell has a .410 wOBA and a 151 wRC+ in his first full pro season with low Single-A Columbia. That's with a 33.3% strikeout rate.
The A's are shopping Mason Miller for a big time position player prospect. Their reasoning is that Miller has ace upside and can be moved back into the rotation in 2025. But his injury track record is so bad that I can only see a team like the O's, that has an embarrassment of riches of position players, taking that chance. [Reply]