The KC Royals are earning good midwinter grades

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(Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports) /

The KC Royals usually don’t make much offseason news, but they’re earning good grades so far this winter.

The KC Royals, notoriously quiet and somewhat immovable during most baseball winters, have been conspicuously active since the World Series ended and the game moved into an offseason rendered uncertain by the pandemic that turned the 2020 campaign into the most unique in the game’s history.

It isn’t the number of moves the Royals have made, or the money they’ve spent, that makes this edition of baseball’s annual rite of winter transactions different. Instead, it’s the quality of the club’s major transactions, and their potential impact on a team edging ever-closer to emerging from its painful rebuild, that sets this one apart. and warrants a good report card.

The Royals’ latest major move was unquestionably their least surprising. Little more than a week before Christmas, the club re-signed Greg Holland, one of a pair of 2020 pitching salvage projects that proved to be two of the best ever authorized by General Manager Dayton Moore.

In an ideal world, Kansas City would bring back both subjects of those projects, but San Diego’s deeper coffers and better chances to contend next season make it unlikely Moore can lure Trevor Rosenthal back. Rosenthal convincingly took the closer’s job away from Ian Kennedy before the season’s first pitch, but his late August trade to the Padres opened the door for Holland to reclaim the spot he filled so completely during KC’s 2013-2015 return to glory campaigns. He didn’t disappoint, finishing the short season 3-0 with a vintage Holland ERA of 1.91.

Holland will enter spring training as the Royals’ presumptive closer…unless, of course, Moore manages to coax Rosenthal back to Kauffman Stadium. If that happens, he’ll earn an “A+” for offseason bullpen moves; if he doesn’t, re-signing the savvy veteran Holland deserves an “A-.”

How about the other three major moves?

Cleveland has been willing to shed payroll this winter, and that’s fortunate for the KC Royals.

Kansas City hasn’t completely recovered from the loss of Eric Hosmer, the popular first baseman they carefully nurtured from first-round draft pick to four-time Gold Glove winning All-Star and Silver Slugger by the time he left for free agency after the 2017 season. Lucas Duda tried and failed to replace him, Ryan O’Hearn looked like he might but didn’t, and Hunter Dozier was making a good case for himself before the Royals looked to Cleveland this winter for their first base solution.

Fortunately, Dozier survived the deal and heads back to third base unless Dayton Moore’s search for a lefthanded bat lands another third sacker and Dozier moves to left field. Because the Royals will find somewhere for Dozier to play next season, KC’s acquisition of Carlos Santana is of more immediate import.

Kansas City took advantage of the Indians’ cost-saving roster trimming by signing Santana to a two-year, reported $17.5 million contract just days before the club secured Greg Holland’s return.

The deal closes the door on any notion that O’Hearn and Ryan McBroom might compete again for Hosmer’s old job. Santana is an established switch-hitting power hitter (240 home runs in 11 seasons) with an adequate glove; although he’ll be 35 in early April, he didn’t miss a game last season, so there’s something left in the tank.

And his .199 average in 2020 shouldn’t detract from the quality of his acquisition—he led the American League with 47 walks (he’s drawn over 100 in four different seasons) and posted a .349 OBP. He earned an All-Star berth and Silver Slugger in 2019 with 34 homers, 93 RBIs and a .281/.397/.515 slash.

Santana is the best the KC Royals have had at first base since Hosmer. Getting him earns Moore and the front office an “A.”

The KC Royals’ most unexpected move may have landed them their next center fielder.

That Kansas City would find another outfielder this winter was a given. Who they sought and signed, however, certainly wasn’t.

Michael A. Taylor joined the club on the last day of November with Dayton Moore strongly suggesting he’d get “first crack” at the center field job. Because little talk of Taylor preceded the deal, his acquisition was surprising; even more so, perhaps, was the not-so-subtle hint that he’ll be the starting center fielder.

Although he brings to the Kansas City table key attributes the franchise loves—speed and good defense—he’s not entirely the quintessential center fielder.

For one thing, Taylor has inconsistent power. He hit 19 homers in 2017 and 14 two years before that, but didn’t hit more than seven in any of his other five big league campaigns with Washington. He also doesn’t hit much. He has a suspect .237/.291/.424 slash; it’s the middle element—the .291 OBP—that is remarkably inconsistent with the premium the Royals place on getting on base.

Taylor, however, is relatively productive when he does get on base. He stole 24 bases for the Nationals in 2018 and reached double digits in steals three other times. His base path acumen will be welcome on a Mike Matheny-managed club and, should he improve at the plate (the Royals obviously think he can, or they wouldn’t have signed him), he’ll be a welcome offensive addition to the KC Royals.

The uncertainty surrounding Taylor’s bat precludes too high a grade for this deal. But all things considered, it’s still a “B.”

(Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports) /

An old friend completes the KC Royals’ starting rotation for the 2021 season.

It’s been almost five years since Mike Minor, a steady starting pitcher for five seasons with the Atlanta Braves, signed a two-year free agent deal to pitch for Kansas City. It was a risky move for the Royals—shoulder issues forced Minor out of the entire 2015 season—but he’d won 38 games for the Braves and had decent control.

Minor spent the 2015 campaign building himself back up in the minor leagues, then became a key fixture in the KC Royals’ bullpen in ’16. Although he’d pitched only two games in relief before, he posted a 2.55 ERA in 65 appearances with a1.017 WHIP and 10.2 SO9. He moved on to Texas after the season and won 12 games for the Rangers in 2018, then 14 in ’19. He was only 1-6 in 12 starts for Texas and Oakland last year, but it’s hard to rely on 2020 for future projections.

The Royals fulfilled their goal to find a veteran starter when they signed Minor in December. Barring something unforeseen, Minor won’t find himself in the Kansas City bullpen—his years in Texas reestablished him as a starter and, at age 33 and entering his 10th major league season, Minor, whose deal covers two years with a club option for a third, fills the bill as the veteran mentor the club needs for the talented young starters already on the big league roster, and those whose arrivals are imminent.

And Minor’s acquisition could soon become even more important. Fellow lefthander and veteran rotation member Danny Duffy is entering the final year of his current KC contract, making him a possible trade deadline target and, in any event, a free agent when the campaign ends.

Minor, then, has good upside. Give the Royals a “B+” for the signing.

Next. Why Kyle Schwarber wasn't KC's answer. dark

The KC Royals deserve good grades for the four major deals they’ve swung so far this winter. Let’s hope their final grades are as just as good.

Home / KC Royals News

The KC Royals usually don’t make much offseason news, but they’re earning good grades so far this winter.

Cleveland has been willing to shed payroll this winter, and that’s fortunate for the KC Royals.

The KC Royals’ most unexpected move may have landed them their next center fielder.

An old friend completes the KC Royals’ starting rotation for the 2021 season.

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