KC Royals will be sellers if these 5 players don’t step up

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Wow, that was not a fun road trip for the KC Royals.

The Royals' road struggles became abundantly clear, thanks to a nine-game trip to the West Coast and Texas. Kansas City once had a double-digit gap between their wins and losses, but that evaporated quicker than an Oklahoma shower.

According to FanGraphs, Kansas City now sits outside the playoff picture, sporting a 28.8% chance of making the postseason. It is a far cry from where this team sat just this time last month. Yet, there is a lot of baseball ahead and an All-Star break for players to catch a breath.

Yet, there is still pressure on the front office to decide their trade deadline approach. July 30 is closer than you may think. That is less than 30 games for Royals executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo to define his view of the word "aggressive."

Kansas City went from borderline buyers to possibly being sellers at the upcoming trade deadline. It is an unfortunate reality that Kansas City fans must accept at this juncture of the season. We all want the team to turn things around, force the issue of being buyers, and make a postseason push in 2024. For the Royals to turn things around and make a postseason push in 2024, these five players must step up quickly.

3B Maikel Garcia

The Royals have already begun resetting third baseman Maikel Garcia's role in the lineup, but there is no denying he was the worst everyday hitter over the past two weeks. If he wants to regain his leadoff spot and semblance of success at the plate, he needs a strong homestand.

The Venezuelan native did not start in the June 20 contest and has been pulled out of the lineup's top spot in the last two Texas games. He was one of three players to play in 14 games across the past two weeks, but his abysmal .344 OPS and .193 OBP were not getting it done for a leadoff man.

Royals fans know what Garcia can do, such as his promising May at the plate. He performs notably better in Kauffman's confines this season, where the Royals will play their next 10 games. Garcia has everything to prove and nothing to lose with his recent demotion from the lineup.

P James McArthur

We used to call him The General. He used to ride a white horse out of the Kansas City bullpen. But now James McArthur is a scarcely used reliever looking to find himself again in the Royals relief pecking order.

The reliever hasn't truly regained the closer moniker he once held, with a spattering of meltdown performances this season. He has only allowed two earned runs this month, but both came in a game-losing effort against the Seattle Mariners on June 9. Since the performance, he only has three appearances, and all are in below-average leverage situations.

The Royals bullpen issues are abundant, with no reliable, high-leverage option standing out. Kansas City is hoping McArthur can be that option for 2024 and beyond. But he will need to prove himself if the lineup starts scoring runs again. A save or two against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians would go a long way, or perhaps flashing his strikeout stuff for an inning or two.

McArthur also needs to rebound for an off-field reason as well. When Picollo traded for the Philadelphia Phillies castoff, it was a head-scratching move. Yet, by season's end, Royals fans couldn't stop praising the adept move. If McArthur can be a stable bullpen presence for Kansas City without breaking the bank, it will help regain fans' trust in impactful low-level player acquisitions.

C Salvador Perez

It was this time last month that Royals fans discussed having not one, but two MVP candidates. Catcher and team captain Salvador Perez had seemingly rebounded from a rough 2023 season back into elite form, staking his claim once again as the game's top catcher.

Yet, like that 15-game buffer above .500, those memories disappeared quickly.

Perez is slashing .156/.224/.222 across the last 13 games, while collecting a team-leading 13 strikeouts in that same span. His four strikeouts saw him appropriately sport the golden sombrero in Globe Life Field. The 34-year-old veteran's calling card earlier this season was his plate discipline, no longer being burdened with the entire offensive output in the Royals lineup. Now, that plate discipline has waned and drug down the Royals with it.

Perez remains above-average behind the plate, but his powerful bat is where his real value lies. He only has one extra-base hit across the last 15 days, a three-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 14. The lineup above him is not doing their part to put men on base, but Perez certainly isn't doing his part to drive them in either.

While there are many other issues in this lineup, the team captain will have more expected of him down the stretch. This homestand marks the beginning of the Royals' journey to right the ship. Perez is a vocal leader, and that didn't change during the road trip. But he and Kansas City's other clubhouse leaders need to find the fight and fire this team displayed earlier this season if any hope remains for 2024.

P John Schreiber

Time and time again, I have lauded pitcher John Schreiber as Kansas City's savviest offseason acquisition. This team needed to improve in the margins and win in minor trades, and the reliever's strong start to the season looked like such a win. But the veteran's pitching the last two weeks has been anything but a win.

The 30-year-old righty has allowed 11 earned runs across his last 11 games, dating back to May 26 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Heading into that contest, Schreiber was a stingy reliever, allowing just two runs across his first 20 appearances for the Royals. His sudden downturn was sharp enough to cause whiplash, leaving Royals fans wondering where the bearded bullpen arm that stifled opposing lineups went.

Schreiber flashed elite strikeout stuff across his three seasons in Boston, but that hasn't materialized in Kansas City. His 5.93 K/9 is among the lowest marks in the league and only looks worse considering he has walked more batters than he has struck out since June's beginning.

This could be the 2024 game-level results evening out for Schreiber, but his value earlier this season was unmatched in Kansas City's bullpen. If the Royals are to avoid completely tearing their bullpen down to nothing and restarting, like they did this offseason, Schreiber is one player who needs to turn things around fast.

SS Bobby Witt Jr.

As shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. goes, so do the Royals. He may be just one man in the lineup, a cog in the baseball machine. Undoubtedly the most impactful young player in Kansas City, Bobby Witt Jr.'s hitless performance in Texas marked a new low for the Texas native.

Everything regarding the phenomenon will be graded on a curve. Many would take his team-leading 15 hits and .263/.288/.386 line as a win, but it is a far cry from Witt's production much of this season. The road trip wasn't kind to Witt, seeing his .330 batting average fall to .311 within nine games, capped off with three hitless appearances against the Rangers.

Looking at the overall month-to-month trend, Witt hasn't considerably cooled off. Yet, we Royals fans know how far Witt can take this team when he is hot. His home run against Oakland on June 20 was the game-winner, and his triple against the Mariners on June 7 capped off a furious comeback. Witt can keep the offensive churning out runs in multiple ways, so his value will always be, well, invaluable.

Witt almost certainly misses his running mate at second base, Michael Massey, but life goes on. Witt has not looked as sharp at shortstop recently, but not much of the Royals squad has in that same span. A reset at home must be the respite Witt needs to regain his form.

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