3 underrated needs J.J. Picollo and the Royals can't afford to ignore this offseason

The Kansas City Royals are just days away from entering the most chaotic stage of the offseason. Every major brain trust in baseball will congregate in Orlando for the Winter Meetings on Sunday.

J.J. Picollo and Co. have their work cut out for them when it comes re-vamping their floundering outfield, jazzing up their stagnant second base situation and determining which starting pitchers will be in their 2026 rotation and which can be used to strengthen other areas of the roster.

But offseasons are never as straightforward as just three needs. Sure those might be the most pressing ones, but contenders always have a variety of additional tweaks and alterations they need to make to get better between the margins.

And for the Royals there are three underrated needs in particular that they cannot afford to forget this winter if they truly want to be legitimate postseason contenders again in 2026.

3 underrated needs the Royals can't afford to ignore this offseason

Royals need a variety of additional sparks in the bullpen

Between the 2024 trade deadline and the 2025 offseason the Royals now have a formidable one-two punch in the backend of the bullpen with set-up man Lucas Erceg and closer extraordinaire in Carlos Estévez.

After that though is where the question marks start to compile.

After a season where now free-agent Hunter Harvey found himself stuck on the IL more often than he found himself on the mound, the Royals had to cycle through arms to pair alongside Erceg in the set-up roles throughout the year. Finding that stable third-wheel in the backend in 2026 could propel them from a really good bullpen to an elite entity.

Then, there's the middle of the bullpen, where they have to navigate the losses arms like Taylor Clarke, after he was surprisingly non-tendered following a breakout season, find ways to upgrade Sam Long, who's now in NPB, and potentially hedge their bets on surprise breakouts like Steven Cruz.

There's several different avenues they could go about addressing all of these questions this both internally and externally. However, the fact remains, no matter how good their 'pen looked last season, if they want a contending-caliber relief corps, they have to address some volatilies that simply can't go unchecked.

Royals need to better their baserunning

With a team that features the likes of immense speed threats like Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia and Tyler Tolbert, baserunning likely doesn't come to the top of mind in terms of needs for the Royals.

That being said, this isn't an issue the Royals faithful are hearing for the first time, as 2025 was not a great year on basepaths at all for Kansas City.

Despite their speedy trio, they fell from the 11th highest stolen base total in 2024 of 139, down to the 17th best mark of 111 in 2025.

And it wasn't just sheer speed they lacked in, it was baserunning prowess in general. After ranking within the Top 10 in BsR in 2024 as team (7th at 8.8), they fell into the bottom third of the league in 2025 (21st at -4.1).

The Royals could do with more speed, but they need to have smart baserunning in the back of their minds when looking into new talent.

After all, if it's the postseason they want, then they need to be able to take that extra 90ft, as it could make all the difference in the world.

Royals cannot forget the value of a veteran clubhouse presence

Every great contending team knows the value behind having a veteran voice in the clubhouse to help promote poise and bring both a sense of calm as well as competitive intensity to light a fire among the younger core.

Just look at the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers and what a name like Miguel Rojas means to them. Or how about even looking back at the 2015 Royals World Series squad with names in their mid-30s like Omar Infante or even Johnny Gomes, who weren't the most pivotal pieces on those teams, but brought that wisdom only experience can.

In 2025, the Royals felt they needed extra voices like that back in the clubhouse and went out and addressed that need mid-season with acquisitions of utility man Adam Frazier and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski ahead of the trade deadline.

However, while the Royals will never be completely without this thanks to the presence of captain Salvador Perez and a vocal Vinnie Pasquantino who will be a year wiser in 2026, they had both of them all of last season as well and still felt the need to add those two veteran voices to the roster.

So, now that Frazier and Yastrzemski are free agents, there is undoubtedly a culture void they need to address this winter - even if means simply bringing back those two for another season.