Kansas City Royals: Offseason primer, everything you need to know

Heading into the offseason, the Kansas City Royals will be looking to build around Jorge Soler, who had a breakout 2019 campaign.

For the Kansas City Royals, they will be entering the 2019 offseason following another 100-loss season. At the beginning of the season, they were projected to finish with a 63-96 record but their pitching staff made sure all hopes of doing so were immediately rejected. The team attempted to bring in free agents like Billy Hamilton, Chris Owings, and Lucas Duda last offseason and not one of them lasted longer than August 16 on the roster.

For as bad as they played in the first half of the season (30-61), the team showed remarkable improvement in the second half (29-42), which was primarily highlighted by the breakout season of Jorge Soler. The 27-year old managed to stay healthy for the first time in his career and led the American League in home runs. Whit Merrifield also continued his steady trend at the top of the Royals lineup and led the AL in hits for the second consecutive season, while eclipsing the 200 mark this year.

Hunter Dozier broke out this season as well, finishing with 26 home runs and 84 RBI’s in 136 games. He petered out towards the end and finished with an OPS below 0.900. Both he and Soler were looking to become just the third set of Royals’ teammates to finish with 0.900+ OPS seasons but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Dozier was clutch all year long and has locked down the third base job for the future with a struggling Cheslor Cuthbert failing to take the next step this season. The Royals will head into the offseason with a lot of work to do and likely won’t be able to accomplish it all this offseason. Combined with the development of their prospects in the lower levels, the Royals will need to be proactive in free agency to fill the holes on their roster if they want to avoid another 100-loss season.

Let’s dive into the offseason primer.

John Sherman’s first move as owner will be to hire a new manager.

Current Royals owner David Glass surprised everyone when news broke at the end of August that he was looking to sell the team and already had a person (or persons) in mind. That guy was Kansas City native and a minority owner for the Cleveland Indians, John Sherman. The time period the sale being announced and the news that Sherman would become the new owner of the team in November happened rather quickly, which makes me believe that a lot went on behind the scenes.

Glass, 84, has owned the team since 2000 and been the CEO since 1993. The reports of his declining health came to light and provided some clarity on why the sale happened so quickly. Sherman is expected to have full ownership of the team in November.

As if just owning a baseball team wasn’t stressful enough, Sherman’s first move will be to hire a new manager after Ned Yost announced last week that he would be retiring at the end of the season. Yost came back to the Royals on a one-year deal last offseason and stated that he was waiting to retire until he felt that the “worst was over” in terms of the rebuild.

A lot came from Yost’s retirement press conference, much being on his time here and what is planned for the immediate future. But he also said that he hopes that the next manager comes from within the organization. While it’s certainly understandable for Royals fans to collectively groan in unison, a couple of candidates have been discussed in Mike Matheny and Pedro Grifol.

Sherman should definitely do his due diligence outside of the organization but if he and Dayton Moore feel that someone from within is the perfect fit going forward, then at least fans can rest easy knowing some thought was given to the process.

Here are the areas the front office needs to address

As previously noted, the first move that new owner John Sherman will have to make is to hire a new manager. It’s so important for Sherman to get this hire right because a stop-gap hire doesn’t do anyone any good. The new manager should be someone who has ideally played the game, is big on analytics, and has a hands-on teaching approach. These qualities will be critical to the development of the younger players as they make their way to the big leagues while also continuing to develop players who are already here.

If I said pitching needs to be addressed, that would be a massive understatement. If the Royals had anything that resembled a competent pitching staff, they would have likely finished with a record better than what was originally projected. But alas, the team’s staff finished with the 10th worst ERA and the 5th worst FIP in baseball. Danny Duffy put together a strong month of September but could be a potential option for the bullpen next season.

Speaking of the bullpen, the Royals group finished with the 4th worst ERA and the 14th worst FIP in baseball, which likely means they should have pitched better than they did. Once a manager is in place, Sherman will need to be proactive in the free-agent market, acquiring as many as four new arms. Two for the rotation and two for the bullpen to avoid another disastrous season.

With Alex Gordon‘s option likely to be declined, the Royals will need to address the holes in the outfield. Left-field looks to be wide open and certainly, Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips could play center and left field, respectively. However, neither one of them exactly shined at the plate. I’m not ready to give up on either one of them but that doesn’t mean to just hope for the best.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in right field as well as that was a revolving door this year, with Whit Merrifield, Soler, Dozier, Starling, Phillips, Ryan McBroom all seeing time at the position. Similar to the centerfield situation, the Royals may need to potentially address the first base situation this offseason. Ryan O’Hearn did not look that great this season and there’s just simply too small of a sample size to make a determination on McBroom.

Both played well in the final month of the season, but it’s extremely risky to roll with both of them next year. I understand that O’Hearn is still 26 years old and it might take time, but I fear that doing nothing could result in lackluster play from both O’Hearn and McBroom over the course of a full season.

The Royals will have some financial flexibility this offseason

As it currently stands, Alex Gordon‘s contract is the only one coming off the books this offseason which will bring the Kansas City Royals end of season payroll from approximately $100 million down to a projected $80 million going into next year. If they decline Gordon’s option they can save an additional $20 million.

A closer look at the year-end payroll indicates the Royals have approximately $20 million in retained salaries from players they released or took on some of a contract in a trade. Billy Hamilton and Chris Owings have the highest retained contracts valued at $3.3 million and $3 million, respectively. Both of those will come off the books this season.

Not including arbitration-eligible or pre-arbitration eligible players, the Royals have approximately $55.7 million dedicated to contracts in Ian Kennedy, Danny Duffy, Salvador Perez, Whit Merrifield, and Jorge Soler. As previously noted, several of their players will see a jump from their 2019 salary in arbitration or pre-arbitration but there is no doubt that the front office will have the option to spend some money this offseason.

The Royals cannot make the same mistakes of allowing over $19 million in retained salaries to build up again next season. That figure alone is higher than any one player’s contract currently on this roster.

The Royals will hold the 4th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft

While not quite as good of an overall pick as last year, the Royals will officially have the 4th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. To this point, their prototypical player has been a speedy, slap hitter and while that’s certainly nice to keep the line moving and steal bases, they are lacking a couple of power bats in this lineup.

That being said, the Royals have several budding pitching prospects who are projected to make their way to the big leagues in a couple of years but you can never have enough pitching. Especially if one of the top prospects is available when the Royals make their first pick.

Let’s look at a few prospects that could be available with the fourth overall pick.

Spencer Torkelson, 1B/OF (ASU)

Spencer Torkelson is the real deal and many mock drafts already have him gone by the second overall pick but he would be an easy choice if he’s still available with the fourth overall pick. The Arizona Sun Devil slashed 0.353/0.449/0.702 with 17 doubles, 22 home runs, and 65 RBI’s as a sophomore. He also displayed an impressive 1:1 BB/K ratio.

Austin Martin, 3B (Vanderbilt)

While he doesn’t display as much power as Torkelson, Martin would be the next best thing. As a sophomore, he slashed 0.392/0.486/0.604 with 19 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs, and 46 RBI’s. Martin also took more walks than strikeouts last year.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Westlake High School

Consider to be the most polished high school prospect in the 2020 MLB Draft, Crow-Armstrong would be a welcome left-handed batter in the future Royals lineup. Scouts are raving about his defensive capabilities and the potential in his bat. He’s primarily a line-drive hitter entering his senior year of high school, but as he fills out the power should come as well.

Asa Lacy, P (Texas A&M)

Lacy came out of the bullpen during his freshman campaign but thrived as a starter last year for the Aggies. He made 15 starts while tossing 88.2 innings with 130 strikeouts and allowed opponents to bat just 0.162 off him. He’ll have to limit his walks as he allowed 43 of them but danced around them to the tune of a 2.13 ERA.