3 disasters the KC Royals can't afford in 2023

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One season after ending an agonizingly long playoff drought before losing the first World Series they'd played in since 1985, the KC Royals won the 2015 Fall Classic by beating the Mets in five games. Those two straight Series trips sparked talk of a Royal dynasty, or at least two deep postseason runs before the expected and dreaded post-2017 campaign, free agency-driven departure of the team's Hosmer-Moustakas-Cain core.

The dynasty and deep runs never materialized, and little has gone right for the Royals since 2015: they've lost 100 games twice and 97 once, finished last in the American League Central twice, and watched their talent diminish and pitching and hitting crumble.

Now, a new regime gives Kansas City hope. J.J. Picollo took over baseball operations from Dayton Moore last September, dismissed the embattled duo of manager Mike Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred as soon as the season ended, and after two thorough searches hired Matt Quatraro and Brian Sweeney to take their places. Then he retooled the roster.

But a trip to the 2023 World Series those changes won't make; the Royals should be better, but will have to wait another year or two to contend.

What, however, could go wrong and give Kansas City another awful season? Let's look at three potential disasters.

To be better this season, the KC Royals must avoid more injuries

The Royals would welcome a season without the significant health issues that so often plague them. A string of maladies (two shoulder injuries in 2019, a pair of quad strains and a hamstring issue in 2021, and a torn ACL last year) cost Adalberto Mondesi too many games in three of the last four seasons. Josh Staumont's neck strain and biceps tendinitis forced him to the sidelines for over two months in 2022. A UCL issue and corrective surgery have prevented reliever Richard Lovelady from throwing a big league pitch since late in the 2021 campaign.

Last season, arm problems robbed starter Zack Greinke of almost six weeks, reliever Jake Brentz's flexor strain allowed him to pitch only eight times, and Salvador Perez, who missed the entire 2019 season recovering from Tommy John Surgery and had vision problems in 2021, missed almost two months with thumb problems.

Those are the kinds of injuries the Royals can't afford this year if they hope to improve significantly.

What's the second disaster KC must avoid?

Brady Singer regressing is something the KC Royals simply can't afford

Following the first two seasons of his big league career, and as an unimpressive 9-15, 4.62 cumulative record proved, Brady Singer wasn't the dominant starter the Royals expected him to be when they made him their first pick in the 2018 amateur draft. Many blamed Singer's underperformance on his much-maligned choice to rely primarily on his sinker and slider while eschewing the changeup that could provide a much more effective pitch mix.

But things changed for the better last season, his third in the majors, following a short trip back to the minors. It was after spending time at Triple-A Omaha that he appeared to have overcome his aversion to the changeup.

He was a different pitcher. Singer went 9-5, 3.26 after returning to the Royals and finished the season 10-5, 3.23. And it's probably no coincidence that his best season yet coincided with throwing the changeup more. Per Baseball Savant, he used it over twice as much (7.7% of the time) as he did in 2021 (3.8%), and hitters managed just a .235 average against it.

So, it seems Singer finally has a better arsenal. But if he returns to his previous norm of sinker and slider with an occasional four-seamer, and an even more rare changeup, thrown in, he'll likely lose what he found last year. That could be disastrous for a team hoping to be competitive again but lacking many hurlers ready to pick up the resulting slack.

And what's the third disaster to be avoided?

Their new pitching coaches must meet the expectations of the KC Royals

The departure of pitching coach Cal Eldred was long overdue. Not much improved on his watch, a five-year mentorship of ever-struggling starters and relievers that last season had detractors increasingly clamoring for the dismissal that came only a few hours after Kansas City's final game of the year.

The lengthy search for Eldred's successor ended just short of two months later when the Royals hired Brian Sweeney, then Cleveland's bullpen coach and a former minor league pitching coach. The club then brought aboard Twins' assistant pitching coordinator Zach Bove as Sweeney's assistant.

The combined thrust of the moves is obvious: the Royals want the more analytic and data-driven approach to pitching that Sweeney and Bove seem poised to deliver. Sweeney is by all accounts a keen student and teacher of data and pitching mechanics and Bove, also a former minor league pitching coach, is known for relying on data and helping hurlers develop new pitches. Also telling about Bove is his official Kansas City title: not only is he Sweeney's assistant, he's also Director of Major League Pitching Strategy.

The good resumes, then, are there. But what if the two new coaches' collective performance doesn't match the promise those resumes evoke? Simply put, and considering the expectations sure to be running high on Kansas City's pitching staff after several substandard seasons, the Royals will be in considerable trouble.

Gone and replaced by frustration and anger will be the new hope hiring Sweeney and Bove ignited. Searching for answers will be the club's rotation and bullpen. Back to square one will be Picollo.

The Royals can't afford the disaster Sweeney and Bove failing will spawn.

Next. KC's big designated hitter puzzle. dark

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To be better this season, the KC Royals must avoid more injuries

Brady Singer regressing is something the KC Royals simply can't afford

Their new pitching coaches must meet the expectations of the KC Royals

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