KC Royals: Does this team need a blockbuster deal?

Give the KC Royals credit for improving last season. Although the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign made losing 100 games and fulling assessing the club impossible, Kansas City suffered over 100 losses in 2018 and 2019, so winning 74 games and losing 88 was better.

But 2021 left the Royals with work to do. Although they led the American League Central for much of April and into early May, legitimate contender status isn’t something they had then or achieved before the season ended. The roster just wasn’t built for it.

And the club clearly knew that. The Royals took full advantage of their ability to sign minor leaguers during the lockout by adding a slew of minor league free agents, including several new bullpen pieces, and didn’t discount the possibility of beginning the 2022 season with top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. in the big league lineup. They brought back potential Hall of Famer Zack Greinke to bolster a starting rotation plagued by the growing pains of its young but uber-talented members.

But now, with Opening Day less than two weeks away, does Kansas City need a blockbuster deal to improve, or is it ready to take another step or two forward without further additions?

Let’s see.

Behind the plate is one place the KC Royals don’t need to tinker for 2022.

Nowhere is this Kansas City team deeper than at catcher, where it needs to leave well enough alone. After all, no one else has Salvador Perez: entering his 11th major league season, the seven-time All-Star who boasts five Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards is one of baseball’s premier catchers. The backbone of the team and owner of the richest contract in club history isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Backing Perez up is Cam Gallagher, one of the better defensive reserve catchers in the game. And knocking on the door (or beating it down?) is MJ Melendez, a power-hitting on-base machine (41 homers and a .386 OBP in the minors last season) and MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 KC prospect who’ll get some time behind the plate and elsewhere this year as the club searches for ways to fit him into an already crowded lineup.

So, as far as deals go, the Royals don’t need to make one involving catchers.

For now, the KC Royals should probably rely on the pitchers they have.

Kansas City’s pitching must get better. Although Carlos Hernández solidified it in last season’s second half, the starting rotation lacked a true ace and the bullpen, strong at the back end with Scott Barlow and Josh Staumont, wasn’t the best in the middle.

That’s why President of Baseball Operations Dayton Moore and General Manager J.J. Picollo busied themselves strengthening the Royals’ pitching staff over the winter. They brought aboard at least five relievers to offset bullpen weaknesses and offseason attrition and, in a roster-building free agent coup, reunited with starter Zack Greinke, an established veteran who’s expected to add wins and mentor and guide the club’s youthful hurlers.

But is there more the Royals should do? Although recent reports tied the club to Oakland starter Frankie Montas and the A’s are apparently shopping former Royal Sean Manaea, it’s time for Kansas City to stand pat with its rotation. Yes, Mike Minor is gone, the price the Royals paid to the Reds for Amir Garrett, but Greinke should more than compensate for the loss of Minor’s eight 2021 wins.

But development is the bigger reason to leave the rotation as is. The Royals need to find out if rota candidates Hernandez, Brad Keller, Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch, and Jackson Kowar can pitch more consistently and effectively this season. Greinke is a lock—who should join him regularly needs to be determined from what appears to be the core of future rotations.

And the bullpen? With all their new relievers and incumbents Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Jake Brentz, Dylan Coleman and Domingo Tapia, the Royals should see how they pan out before tinkering any more.

Simply put, the club can wait to swing a game-changing, big pitcher deal until it’s closer to contention.