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]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
Only two players OPSing over .700 in Perez and Witt Jr. I have pretty good faith that Vinnie and Garcia will get to at least .750 though.
It's really amazing how bad all the free agents have been though in Frazier, Renfroe and Hampson. They projected to be alot better than they've been.
Frazier and Hampson are backup versatile utility players, nothing more. Massey was always gonna be the starting 2B unless he just was awful.
Renfroe has been pretty bad.
But I think you're forgetting the starting pitching additions and a couple of the bullpen guys that have been really good. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
One of the Royal Twitter guys posted Salvy and Johnny Bench's stats through this amount of games. Very, very close to each other.
Yeah, it's just the difference between teams. That Red's Machine was a monster. If Salvy played on teams like that and already had 2-3 rings this wouldn't even be a discussion. Not to mention all the offensive production around him setting him up for success. Something he hasn't had most of his career here.
Johnny Bench was a great catcher, but he was also in an ideal situation. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nightfyre:
A large number of regular bats are underperforming their xBA according to baseball savant. This is consistent with the eye test. MJ is.064 below - which I would expect given his hard hit outs this year. Next is Frazier at -0.055, Vinnie at -0.050, Renfroe at -0.048, and Garcia at -0.046. Every royal is negative on xSLG.
Overall, this would lead me to conclude that the royals should stay the course and wait for coin to flip. Maybe that's faulty logic, but it's worth discussing.
They are 28th in BABIP so hopefully some positive regression there. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
Salvador Perez returned this season rejuvenated, and has gotten off to a sensational start. He leads the league with a .355 batting average, and has the most RBI with 26. Only nine players in baseball have hit more than his seven home runs.
Here is a list of catchers who played at least 20 games in March/April and posted an OPS over 1.000 in their age-34 season or older.
Salvador Perez, Royals (2024) - .355/.415/.598 in 30 games
Gary Carter, Mets (1988) - .333/.432/.682 in 20 games
That’s it. That’s the list.
The last catcher to post a 1.000 OPS (min. 20 games started) in ANY month in their age-34 season or older was Jorge Posada in September of 2007.
This Salvy is one we haven’t seen before, he’s actually taking walks like wtf is this. He’s not swinging at literally everything. I don’t know what’s gotten into him but it’s incredible. He’s without a doubt a first ballot hall of famer at this pace. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!:
This Salvy is one we haven’t seen before, he’s actually taking walks like wtf is this. He’s not swinging at literally everything. I don’t know what’s gotten into him but it’s incredible. He’s without a doubt a first ballot hall of famer at this pace.
Its almost as if if he is more selective he's better. Take note Salvy. [Reply]
Ken Rosenthal wrote a little bit about the Royals and James McArthur in the Athletic.
Originally Posted by :
The transaction was the kind fans barely notice. One year ago today, the Kansas City Royals acquired right-hander James McArthur from the Phillies for minor-league outfielder Junior Marin and the $100,000 waiver price. Little did the Royals know, they were getting their future closer.
Actually, the Royals’ pitching braintrust — pitching coach Brian Sweeney, assistant pitching coach Zach Bove and bullpen coach Mitch Stetter — had an inkling of what McArthur could do. General manager J.J Picollo, who also had recommendations from his scouts to acquire McArthur, decided to trust his coaches, all of whom were in their first year with the club.
“This was our first chance with new people, different ideas,” Picollo said. “I thought, you know what? I’m going to pursue this. It was a little bit of an experiment from a front-office perspective. It was the first time our pitching coaches were as adamant, saying, ‘Get this guy.’”
McArthur, the Phillies’ 12th-round pick in 2018, was available on waivers after the team designated him for assignment. Picollo could have simply lodged a claim, taking the chance that every team with a worse record would pass on McArthur. But to separate the Royals from other potential suitors, Picollo also offered Marin, a 20-year-old outfielder in rookie ball.
Picollo said the Royals’ coaches specifically thought they could help McArthur by changing the shape of his breaking ball. McArthur, 27, reported to Triple A and started to make adjustments. The Royals promoted him on June 28. In his first outing, against the Cleveland Guardians, he gave up seven runs in one inning. Back to Triple A he went.
Gradually, things started to click. Paul Gibson, the Royals’ director of pitching performance, told Picollo, “This is starting to look a lot different.” McArthur returned in August and posted a 2.01 ERA the rest of the way, completing his season with 16 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
The Royals didn’t intend for him to be their closer, signing free agent Will Smith to fill that role. But when Smith faltered, they switched to McArthur, with spectacular results. Since April 5, McArthur is 7-for-7 in save opportunities with 12 strikeouts and two walks in 10 2/3 scoreless innings. He is throwing his curveball about 35 percent of the time, nearly as often as his sinker.
Picollo said McArthur’s success has made him more likely to act on the suggestion of his pitching coaches again.
“They’re not all going to work out,” Picollo said of such additions. “But if you can get one every year or two, it makes you a lot better.
