ESPN insider's brutally honest evaluation of Royals offseason is entirely valid

Stop me if you have heard this before: an ideal Kansas City Royals offseason meant a sizeable investment in the lineup. Whether that meant trading for a big bat or signing a notable free agent, the Royals entered the winter with glaring needs and now arrive at spring training with some of those holes still showing.

Fans dreaming of a Cody Bellinger or Harrison Bader ended up with Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas. Both additions have logic behind them, but on name recognition alone, they do not exactly move the needle.

Maybe that is why ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle was so blunt when asked, “Why the heck didn’t the Royals get an impact hitter?”

The veteran writer admitted he was torn on Kansas City’s offseason. He loves “the run prevention across the board.” But in the same breath, he said he is “not sold on the offense being markedly different with Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas on board and Jonathan India coming back.”

A lot of Royals fans probably land in that same uneasy middle when they look at this roster.

It is hard to argue with ESPN's evaluation of what the Royals didn't do this offseason.

To be fair, Kansas City did not sit on its hands all winter. The front office extended third baseman Maikel Garcia and gave first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino a two-year deal, moves that show a willingness to invest in its own core.

But the lack of an outside splash still lingers, especially after the club retained India when many expected a non-tender. At one point, the conversation even drifted toward Kansas City needing to shed payroll. That is not what fans want to hear when the team is in a window where adding just one more legitimate bat could matter.

The biggest move to improve the offense may not even be a player. It might be the outfield walls.

Kansas City’s decision to move the fences in was one of the loudest developments of the offseason, and it is a massive bet on Kauffman Stadium changing the shape of outcomes. The park has not historically been friendly to home run hitters, but modeling suggested the Royals of the past three years would have benefited more from the new dimensions than their opponents would have. Doolittle still worries the team is leaning too hard on that idea, and that the margin for error is thin.

"Ultimately, I fear that too much has been pinned on the effects of moving in the fences at the K. It will help hitters and hurt pitchers -- that is just physics. But the key is whether those effects shake out in the Royals' favor. Of that, I will believe it when I see it, so Royals fans have to hope that the math behind this bold decision proves to be spot-on."

Bradford Doolittle, ESPN

At the end of the day, the frustration over what Kansas City did not do is still mostly narrative. It may even end up being the right call.

Look back to last offseason, when the Royals desperately needed an outfielder and most of the available options struggled with their new teams in year one, one way or another.

Right now, it is hard to argue Kansas City missed out by not investing in Anthony Santander or Jurickson Profar.

Maybe that trend holds again, and the Royals look smart for staying disciplined. Or maybe Doolittle’s concerns come true in the most predictable way possible, with the offense once again asking the pitching staff to be perfect.