New KC Royals earn good grades, bad grades at one-third mark

Long before his KC Royals barely avoided setting a new club record for losses by winning the last game of the 2023 season, general manager J.J. Picollo's offseason agenda was clear and complicated — he needed to drastically improve the team, and couldn't do it without bringing new blood to Kauffman Stadium.

Amazing is the best way to describe what Picollo accomplished in only his second baseball winter at the helm of Kansas City's baseball operations. Recrafting the Royal roster with a combination of trades, free agent signings, releases, and nontenders, he transformed his club from hapless to contender — despite losing to Tampa Bay Sunday, Kansas City is 34-20 and standing tall in the American League Central, a mere 2.5 games behind division-leading Cleveland with exactly one-third of the season in the books.

Picollo brought aboard almost a dozen new faces before this season started, some who've succeeded and some who haven't. Just how have those players fared, and how should they be graded with two-thirds of the campaign left?

Two offseason acquisitions get DFA'd

Kansas Ci recently designated two new Royals for assignment; as of this writing, one is gone, and one could be soon. We'll give them Incompletes.

Rule 5 Draft selection Matt Sauer received the first DFA a week ago after giving up 14 runs and 23 hits in 16.1 innings. Under Rule 5, the Royals could keep Sauer and send him to the minors only if they couldn't work out a trade for him, he cleared waivers, and the Yankees, who held his rights before the draft, didn't want him. The Yanks took him back Sunday.

The Royals signed Duffey in January but didn't use him often; DFA'd Friday, he'd allowed five runs and walked eight in nine innings.

Moving on...

Four KC Royals make up the middle

Garrett Hampson. Signed in late November for his versatility and big league experience, consider Hampson a nice addition to the roster. He's spelled Kyle Isbel in center 16 times, including Saturday when Isbel left KC's game against Tampa after taking a foul ball in the face, and Sunday when Isbel sat out. Hampson has also played left and every infield position. His OBP is a nice .373; he's hitting .310.

Hampson gets a B.

Will Smith. Smith's return to Kansas City, where his major league career began, has been disappointing. The club's presumptive closer as soon as he signed in December, Smith struggled and lost the role long before April ended.

Fortunately, he's getting better — he's been charged with runs only three times in his last 16 appearances, and his 4.60 ERA over that span is high primarily because he gave Baltimore four runs April 19. Should his improvement continue, he'll hopefully enhance his trade deadline value.

Because he seems to be coming around. we'll give Smith a C-.

Nick Anderson. Quatraro thrust Anderson, who came to the Royals via a November cash-for-player deal with Atlanta, into unfamiliar territory Saturday, handing him an 11th-inning save opportunity against Tampa. Although he hadn't been asked to save a game for Kansas City before, and despite being saddled with the extra-inning runner and walking Randy Arozarena to begin the inning, he came through by retiring the next three Rays.

The save may be the highlight of Anderson's otherwise mundane season: neither spectacular nor flashy, he isn't a high-leverage situation pitcher and had, before closing out Tampa, allowed both runners he'd previously inherited to score. His 3.93 ERA and 13.6 BB% suggest he gives up a few too many runs for a reliever and walks too many.

But Anderson also hasn't yielded a run in 15 of his 20 relief appearances and seems to be filling his role satisfactorily. We'll give him a B-.

Chris Stratton. Back on April 27, the Royals asked Stratton to protect a two-run seventh-inning lead against Baltimore. But the reliever the club signed in December failed miserably. The Orioles took a lead they never relinquished by rocking Stratton for three singles (including two that scored runs), a walk, and a three-run homer.

Take that one inning away, though, and Stratton's unsightly 5.06 ERA becomes a far more palatable 3.15. He's 2-2 in 20 games and only one of the 10 runners he's inherited has scored.

Stratton gets a C.

Moving to the top...

The trio of Royals at the head of the class

Michael Wacha. Fans who wanted to see Wacha in Royal Blue got their wish when Picollo signed him in December. His has been an up-and-down season — he's 4-5 with a 4.31 ERA — but he has six quality starts and had won three straight games before losing to Tampa Bay Sunday.

Notable about that loss, however, is the five perfect innings Wacha threw before the Rays nicked him for a hit and a walk in the sixth. Then, clearly tiring, he allowed two hits to begin the seventh before giving way to John Schreiber, who gave the Rays four runs, two of which were charged to Wacha. Still, it was a good outing for Wacha, especially considering he struck out seven, walked only one, and pitched those five scoreless frames.

We're giving Wacha a B.

John Schreiber. Speaking of Schreiber, a late addition to the roster when KC traded David Sandlin to Boston to get him in February, Sunday's troubles were his first of the season. He entered the game 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA, and had given up runs in only three of his 22 appearances.

One rocky game isn't enough to spoil Schreiber's stellar season. We're giving him an A.

Seth Lugo. Lugo, another of Picollo's December signings, is the KC general manager's best acquisition. Just how good has the veteran righty been?

Quite good. Lugo leads the American League in wins (eight), ERA (1.74), and innings pitched (72.1). His WHIP is a minuscule 0.97. He's walked only 5.3% of the batters he's faced, and has failed to rack up a quality start only twice in 11 tries.

He gets, and deserves, an A+.

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