4 key New Year’s Resolutions for the 2022 KC Royals

This writer isn’t in charge of the KC Royals, although there are times I’d like to have been (the 1985, 2014 and 2015 seasons come immediately to mind), and times to come when I’d love to be calling the shots at Kauffman Stadium.

If the decisions were up to me, I’d squelch talk of moving downtown and stay at The K. I’d ban the phrase “The Process” from the front office and The Wave from the stands, retire Whitey Herzog’s number, bring back Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach, find a way to responsibly unload Hunter Dozier’s ill-advised contract, make sure Bobby Witt Jr. is in next season’s Opening Day lineup, and demand proof that Cal Eldred is the right pitching coach to develop and lead the club’s corps of talented young hurlers.

And I’d make some New Year’s Resolutions for the club. Here are a few.

KC Royals New Year’s Resolution No. 1: Break open the franchise checkbook.

I know, I know, Kansas City is a small market, which naturally restricts revenue and consequently the amount of money the club can spend improving its on-field product. And, although Salvador Perez’s record-breaking contract is promising, the Royals don’t have the best track record when they do loosen the purse strings (think Danny Duffy and Alex Gordon, both of whom reaped more from their mega-deals than did the franchise).

But try again the Royals must do. Two critical roster spots must be filled—the shaky starting rotation cries out for a veteran winner, ideally a James Shields type who can mentor, lead and win 15 games, and a right fielder with a powerful bat and powerful arm.

Unless MJ Melendez can step in and claim right field, securing two such players will require big trades, big free agent signings, or a combination of both. It’s an expensive proposition, but something Kansas City needs to do, and the sooner the better.

KC Royals New Year’s Resolution No. 2: Make Brady Singer use a third pitch.

This is important—so important, in fact, that the Kansas City brain trust should consider sending Brady Singer down to the minors early next season if he won’t develop and throw the changeup the club clearly wants him to utilize much more frequently than the 3.9% of the time Baseball Savant says he did in 2021.

Simply put, it appears the Royals need to get their young starting pitcher’s attention. Third pitches expand a hurler’s repertoire, keep opposing batters guessing and off balance, and give their owners an alternative when their primary pitches aren’t working. Unfortunately, Singer didn’t have an effective extra pitch when he couldn’t get handles on his sinker and slider last season, and he and the club suffered from it.

Time and room to work on and refine a third pitch without risking big league losses, not punishment, are the reasons to send Singer to Triple-A Omaha if he doesn’t begin spring training throwing his change, or another secondary pitch, much more often. Maybe Singer will report to camp with such a pitch ready to go; let’s hope so.

If not, it will be time for the club to have a serious sit-down with their potential long-term pitching star.

KC Royals New Year’s Resolution No. 4: A moratorium on reclamation projects.

The term “reclamation project” is synonymous with Kansas City, a club frequently open to giving veteran players—especially pitchers—second chances other teams won’t. The Royals are an occasional refuge for ballplayers recovering from injuries, or who simply need a team to offer them the opportunity to recapture lost form.

Take the recent past, for example. For 2020, Moore signed Trevor Rosenthal, a former Cardinal who pitched in St. Louis and enjoyed some phenomenal success as a closer when Mike Matheny skippered the Cards, and old Kansas City friend Greg Holland, a hero of the Royals’ 2014 pennant season and 2015 march to the World Series. And he brought back Wade Davis, another ex-KC bullpen star, last season.

All three relievers were once masters of their trade, but injuries and ineffectiveness set them adrift on the free agent market. Moore and the Royals rescued them with mixed results.

Rosenthal wasted little time becoming Matheny’s closer in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign—he’d saved seven games when the Royals dealt him to San Diego at the season’s adjusted late-August trade deadline. Holland stepped into the closer’s role and finished with six saves and a 3-0, 1.91 record. But he wasn’t as good last season (3-5, 4.85).

Davis was the disappointment. He saved KC’s 2021 Opening Day win, struggled to a final 0-3, 6.75 slate, and retired in November.

Whether the Royals will initiate another reclamation project for 2022 won’t be known until the MLB lockout ends. But they shouldn’t. Although they’re typically low-cost, low-risk ventures, the club needs to focus entirely on developing the young pitchers and position players already in the Kansas City system. The payoffs will last longer.

Happy New Year!