5 things KC Royals fans can be grateful for this Thanksgiving

Although Kansas City Royals fans are anxiously waiting for more Hot Stove fireworks after the re-signing of free agent Michael Wacha and recent swap of Brady Singer to the Cincinnati Reds for Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer, don't expect the Thanksgiving holiday to yield any franchise-changing moves. Major holidays like Thanksgiving rarely produce much big market action.

Royals fans can, however, pause this Thanksgiving to be grateful for several key things about their favorite team. Here are five.

The KC Royals are relevant again

It took far too long, but the Royals are back. Rejuvenated by the surprisingly aggressive but well-calculated offseason moves general manager J.J. Picollo began making almost as soon as his club's miserable 2023 season ended, Kansas City made it back to the playoffs this year before losing the American League Division Series to the New York Yankees.

The Royals' postseason berth-clinching 86-76 record brought their ugly streak of eight straight non-winning seasons to a welcome end (they went 81-81 in 2016 before suffering through seven losing campaigns). Now loaded with talent and one of the best starting rotations in the business, they've returned to the relevancy they lost after winning the 2015 World Series.

Bobby Witt Jr. is a Royal

With apologies to 2024 MVP winners Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, Witt Jr. is arguably the best all-around player in the game. Playing in all but one of KC's regular season contests, his .332 average and 211 hits led the majors, and his 32 homers and 31 steals made him the first player to post two 30-30 seasons in his first three big league campaigns and the first shortstop to enjoy two 30-30 seasons. His 10.4 fWAR speaks for itself.

Witt Jr. also won his first Silver Slugger and first Gold Glove this season, and was nominated for the Hank Aaron Award and two Players' Choice Awards.

In a nutshell, he's a superstar and the best player the Royals have.

Royals fans don't have to worry about losing key free agents

Unlike past winters — most notably the 2017-2018 offseason when Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and Jason Vargas moved on to more lucrative surroundings, and Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar almost did — Kansas City won't suffer any big free agent hits before the 2025 season begins on March 27. The club's early November, stress-relieving re-signing of then-free agent starter Wacha saw to that.

And the Royals can certainly survive even a mass exodus of their remaining free agents. Paul DeJong, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Tommy Pham, Robbie Grossman, Will Smith, and Michael Lorenzen all contributed in varying degrees to their team's 2024 success, but losing any or all of them won't make or break KC's prospects for 2025.

Salvador Pérez is still Salvador Pérez

Perhaps no Royal other than George Brett is as beloved by fans and the Kansas City community as Pérez. A captain on and off the field, he does everything the Royals could ever ask from him and fortunately shows no significant signs of slowing down.

Pérez earned his ninth All-Star Game berth in 2024 while completing one of the best seasons of his 13-year big league career. His .271 average, .330 OBP, 115 wRC+, 27 homers, 104 RBI, and 3.2 fWAR led to his fifth Silver Slugger. He won the ultra-prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, an annual honor given to "...the player who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field."His involvement in a variety of causes is legend in and around KC.

The five-time Gold Glover also recently won a Stan Musial Award in recognition of how he famously played backyard Wiffle ball with a group of area youngsters earlier this year.

Kansas City is lucky to have the truly one-of-a-kind Pérez.

The Royals aren't afraid of making bold moves

Kansas City fans rue those not-so-long-ago days when the club seemed perennially reluctant to take big roster risks and too often blew the big deals they did make. Fortunately, those days appear be gone, or at least waning.

The club proved that last winter when it uncharacteristically threw open its coffers and signed Witt Jr. to a club record long-term contract, then brought in game-changing pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. The moves continued during the season with the trade deadline acquisition of reliever Lucas Erceg from the Oakland Athletics and the stretch run signings of Tommy Pham and Yuli Gurriel.

And the beat goes on — undoubtedly with principal owner John Sherman's blessing, Picollo secured Wacha's return for 2025 and traded Singer to snag India, who should solve the team's shaky leadoff situation. What Picollo accomplishes between now and Opening Day remains to be seen, but expect something big.