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...

Bottom of the class: 2 players who've struggled with the Royals

Hunter Renfroe. Kansas City signed Renfroe in mid-December to do three things — play right field, hit homers, and drive in runs. He's been manager Matt Quatraro's right field choice 46 times this season, but failed at the plate. His .161/.248/.285 line is abysmal and his four homers have him on pace to finish the season with 12, a disappointing total considering he's missed hitting at least 20 only in 2016, when he played just 11 times, and in the pandemic-truncated 2020 season.

Yes, Renfroe is historically a slow starter. But not hitting a lick with a third of the season gone is worse than slow. We'll give him an F.

Adam Frazier. Frazier's rather curious late-January signing is perhaps best explained by offseason questions surrounding Michael Massey's bat and the Royals' seemingly insatiable desire for defensively-versatile players. The club may have been concerned about the former and focused on getting more of the latter.

Although Massey's excellent hitting since escaping from the Injured List last month cut into Frazier's playing time, the club didn't miss him at the plate. But with Massey back on the IL as of Sunday, he'll probably share time at second with Nick Loftin, which means he must improve his .210 average.

Frazier gets a D.

Moving to the middle of the pack...

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...