3 Royals players who are no longer worth defending as KC's contention dreams wither away

The Kansas City Royals are floundering more than many MLB teams can say right now. They've lost 11 of their last 14 games and have fallen to the fifth worst record in baseball at 20-30. Their offense and bullpen are both below average units and the starting rotation is being plagued by the injury bug and overall is just average despite the strong efforts from veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha.

With such a slow start, there's been plenty of underperformers that have been nothing but frustrating to the fanbase this season. While many might point to names like Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, the fact remains they're past track records are worth some sort of faith, even if it's dwindling by the day. And struggling starter Noah Cameron has enough previous prospect pedigree to not lose all hope in him being a name to build their future staff around.

But there are three names in particular who don't check either of those boxes and have been just as underwhelming this season. These are Lane Thomas and Michael Massey in the lineup, as well as Bailey Falter in the pitching staff. Without much to fall back on, the Royals' recent struggles to find answers to their downward spiral have made this trio not worth defending whatsoever.

Lane Thomas' lefty splits aren't doing enough heavy lifting for Royals

While Matt Quatraro might be quick to defend his newly signed outfielder, the stats show that this season hasn't been worth the Royals investment in the 30-year-old Thomas.

Primarily brought in to be platoon option in the outfield against left-handed bats, Thomas has fulfilled that role so far. In 52 plate appearances against southpaws this season, Thomas is hitting .256 with an .808 OPS, 23.1% walk rate, just a 13.5% K-rate and a 135 wRC+.

However Thomas has pretty well just as many plate appearances against righties and for a weak-side platoon player, his righty splits don't nearly come close to making him a worthwhile big league bat. He's hitting just .170 with a measly .456 OPS, a 28.6% K-rate and 38 wRC+ in 56 plate appearances against them this season.

On top of that, he doesn't offer them much in way of defense despite being able to play the corners and center field. Across the entire outfield this year he's supplied exactly zero DRS and has a -3 DRS and -2 FRV.

He's a .209 and 85 wRC+ hitter with a poor glove. The Royals would be better served just letting Jac Caglianone figure out hitting against lefties, as he is someone who projects to be a building block for the future after all and is their second best qualified hitter in terms of OPS and wRC+ this season.

Michael Massey's best years might already be behind him

If we're just looking at Massey in 2024, the postseason that year or spring training the past few seasons, he'd be a great name for the Royals. However, when it's come to playing in the regular season the past two years, Massey has been nothing short of a liability for the Royals at the plate.

After his injury-ridden season in 2025 that resulted in a 57 wRC+, Massey hasn't come close to redeeming himself this campaign. After starting the year on the IL, the second baseman has returned to slash just .217/237/.402 with a 69 wRC+.

With Jonathan India down for the season, the Royals second base situation has come under the microscope even more. And with a combined .597 OPS at the position this year, besides DH, it's the worst position on the Royals roster offensively this season.

If the Royals are serious about turning things around and contending in 2026, this has to be the place they look to upgrade first, making Massey obsolete as Nick Loftin can comfortably be the backup in a utility role. And it's not as if there isn't potential options available around the league for them to bolster that spot.

Royals' Bailey Falter experiment has failed in every way

When the Royals acquired Bailey Falter last season at the trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the thought of having a versatile left-handed starting arm with a handful of appearances out of the bullpen was intriguing. However, regardless of where Falter has been on the mound, in his handful of appearances in a Royals uniform, he's looked ineffective.

Making only two starts and two relief appearances after the trade deadline in 2025, before hitting the IL for the rest of the year in August, Falter posted an extremely inflated 11.25 ERA, 2.25 WHIP and .370 BAA.

Then, after suffering two earned runs in his spot start against the Red Sox on the May 19 and putting the Royals behind the eight-ball early, this just solidified how useless he's looked in any role he's been given this season. In 7.1 innings across four outings, Falter has thrown to a 9.82 ERA, 2.86 WHIP and .429 BAA - and has already had a lengthy IL stint once again.

He's underperformed and has been injured more than he's been available since joining the Royals. The fact he's a lefty in a bullpen devoid of southpaws shouldn't be a saving grace from him at this point whatsoever.

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