KC Royals Rewind: The worst club in franchise history

The KC Royals have suffered two straight terrible seasons. But the teams that lost over 100 games apiece weren’t the worst in franchise history.

Sometimes lost in the misery of two consecutive 100-plus loss seasons is that the 2018 and ’19 KC Royals teams that reached such lows were not the most dismal in franchise history. That dubious distinction belongs to the 2005 Royals, losers of 106 games in a season lost almost as soon as it began.

Serious and casual observers of the game can debate how best to assign “best” and “worst” labels to big league teams, but in the end, most wins determines the former and most losses determines the latter. Who wins the greatest number of games wins baseball championships, whether they be divisional crowns, playoff series titles or World Series championships. Glory never belongs to the team that suffers more losses than any other.

The 2005 KC Royals were the epitome of a bad team. There was little star power, not a great deal of offense, poor pitching, and a leaky defense. Many players were relatively unknown then and remain so now. The manager who began the season, Tony Pena, resigned in mid-May, thereby escaping (perhaps intentionally) a certain firing. His successor, Buddy Bell, finished the season but the club he took over lost 26 more games than it won under his watch.

That the Royals lost so many games wasn’t shocking. They were beaten 104 times in 2004, an odd calamity considering they won 83 in 2003. Not much changed in the 2004-05 offseason, making a poor 2005 almost inevitable.

The Royals just couldn’t find the right mix. They had three managers–Pena was first and resigned and coach Bob Schaefer took over temporarily until Bell took the “permanent” job. And almost 50 players (46 to be exact) found the field.

So how did the 2005 version of the KC Royals fare so poorly? Let’s take a look.

The KC Royals didn’t have a powerful offense in 2005. The defense left much to be desired.

Offensive and defensive inadequacies contributed heavily to the 106 losses the 2005 KC Royals suffered. “Inadequacies,” though, may describe the maladies too generously –the club was near the major league bottom in too many critical categories.

Rarely known for team power, the Royals home run output was still dismal–they hit only 126 (exactly a sixth of them provided by Mike Sweeney) to rank 29th among the 30 big league teams. Their .320 on-base percentage and 87 wRC+ were better than only two teams and their .396 slugging percentage ranked 24th. (The “bright” spot was a 16th best .263 average).

The Royals, usually a speedy team, finished 27th in stolen bases, perhaps a statistic owing more to a collective inability to get on base than a lack of speed–stolen bases require, of course, having baserunners.

This isn’t to say the club didn’t have serviceable hitters, at least for average. It did. Six of the nine regulars, led by Sweeney’s .300, hit .270 or better, including outfielders David DeJesus (.293), Emil Brown (.286) and Terrence Long (.279). But their failure to draw walks–the Royals were 27th in the majors–drastically reduced their steal opportunities.

Brown led the club in RBIs with 86, but only designated hitter Butler among the other regulars eclipsed 80; first baseman Matt Stairs was next with 66 and no other Royal had more than 56. Kansas City’s 701 runs trailed 20 other teams.

Defensively, the 2005 Royals simply didn’t measure up to Kansas City standards. The team committed more errors than any team in baseball; FanGraphs rates the defense as next-to-last in the majors.

The stats bear out that rating. While fielding percentage isn’t the most precise measure of defensive aptitude, it’s sufficient here to gauge the general quality of the club’s glove work. The Royals fielded .979 as a team, enough evidence to say the team was uncharacteristically porous. The left side of the infield was especially suspect: rookie third baseman Mark Teahen posted .947, shortstop Angel Berroa .965 and second baseman Ruben Gotay .980. (First baseman Stairs held up his end with .993). In the outfield, Brown struggled at .958.

And then there was the pitching.

The KC Royals expected their pitching to be good in 2005. It wasn’t.

The KC Royals had reason to believe their 2005 starting rotation would help them improve on their 58-104 record of the season before. Pitching for a bad 2004 team, rookie Zack Greinke had impressed with an 8-11, 3.97 ERA and displayed excellent control. The Royals were high on Runelvys Hernandez, who missed ’04 with an injury but won 11 games across 2002-03. D.J. Carrasco was being counted on to successfully transition from the bullpen to the rotation.

And Jose Lima was back in Kansas City. A 21-game winner for Houston in 1999, he was 8-3 for the surprisingly good Royals in 2003 before leaving for Los Angeles and going 13-5 for the Dodgers in ’04. Free agency brought him back to the Royals.

But without results, expectations are just expectations, and the 2005 results fell astonishingly short. Greinke won only five times and his 17 losses led the American League; his ERA increased by almost two runs to 5.80. Lima was arguably worse–he matched Greinke’s five wins, his 16 losses almost equaled his league-leading teammate’s total and his ERA was 6.99.

Hernandez’s eight wins were, disappointingly, the best of any Royal; he lost 14 and posted a 5.52 ERA. Carrasco’s six victories were second only to Hernandez but he lost eight.

Mike MacDougal saved 21 games and his 3.33 ERA was second best among regular KC pitchers. (Andy Sisco posted a 3.11 in 67 relief appearances).

The KC Royals used 22 pitchers in all. They combined for a 5.56 ERA, the worst in baseball. Their 6.1 WAR ranked 29th; 24 teams issued fewer walks and 27 struck out more hitters.

Greinke took time away from the game for part of the next season, then returned full-time in 2007 and utlimately developed into one of the game’s great pitchers, albeit primarily for other teams. Lima became a free agent after 2005; he signed with the Mets but pitched just four times for them in ’06, his last major league season. Hernandez was 6-10 for the KC Royals in 2006 and pitched in ’08 for the Astros before leaving the big leagues. Carrasco didn’t pitch in the majors again until 2008 for the White Sox and finished his career with the Mets in 2012.

Pitching failed the Royals in 2005. But in the final analysis, losing 106 games required a team effort.

The 2005 KC Royals lost a franchise worst 106 games. Hopefully, it’s a record that won’t be broken.