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. 3: Make staff changes if necessary.

Let’s face it. J.J. Picollo may be Kansas City’s new general manager, but because he’s now president of baseball operations, Dayton Moore will likely have no less influence on major decisions than he did as GM, and he’s still Picollo’s boss. That means no overhaul of the Royals’ field personnel.

Moore has displayed a consistent reluctance to make changes in the dugout. Nothing proves that more than the infrequent changes to the coaching staff during his tenure and the fact that, despite winning two pennants and a World Series, Ned Yost won only three times in the 10 seasons he managed the club and lost over 100 games twice after winning a Series title. Whether the players were consistently so bad, or Yost benefitted more from a couple of superbly talented teams than he did from his own managing acumen, is a question for another day.

The jury is still out on Manager Mike Matheny and will be for at least another couple of seasons. But questioning the performance and qualifications of hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and pitching coach Cal Eldred has become, not without at least a little justification, a regular practice of fans and some media.

The bottom line is this: Kansas City hasn’t been stellar at the plate or on the mound under Bradshaw and Eldred, which means Moore needs to be willing and ready to watch them closely, scrutinize their work and results, and make changes if necessary.