Royals Receive Surprising Grade For 2025 Hot Stove Moves From The Athletic
In this story:
The Kansas City Royals certainly didn't sit still this winter. But did their offseason moves go far enough to improve their pennant odds in 2025?
Clearly, there's a lot to be excited about for the Royals as a franchise. They've found a superstar shortstop who still hasn't turned 25 yet, and their rotation has come miles farther than anyone could have expected in the last couple of seasons.
It was an active offseason for the Royals, but the moves they made didn't address what many perceive as their biggest roster hole.
Kansas City traded for infielder Jonathan India, re-signed starting pitchers Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen, and brought in possible closer Carlos Estévez. But with all respect to Joey Wiemer, the throw-in in the India trade, they didn't add any impact outfielders.
Based on their failure to improve their lineup at an obvious position of need, The Athletic slapped the Royals with a fairly harsh "C" grade when ranking all 30 Major League Baseball teams' offseasons on Tuesday.
"Carlos Estevéz should pair nicely with 2024 trade deadline pickup Lucas Erceg as the new late-inning bullpen duo and Joey Wiemer could emerge as a second valuable piece of the Singer return from the Reds, but it feels like the Royals missed a prime opportunity to add another capable veteran bat (or two) to an outfield that ranked 28th out of 30 teams in collective OPS last season," the authors wrote.
If Opening Day were tomorrow, the Royals would likely roll out an outfield trio of MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, and Hunter Renfroe, who combined for 1.0 rWAR last season. For a team with division title and World Series aspirations, that's an undoubtedly disappointing trio.
Could any of those outfielders improve? Perhaps, and Melendez is the most obvious candidate, as a 26-year-old former top prospect. But it would have been refreshing to see the Royals add at least one middle-of-the-order bat at a position known for sluggers.
All that's left now is to find out whether trusting the group the Royals had last season will pay off or come back to bite Kansas City in the standings.
More MLB: Royals Urged To Follow Cole Ragans Extension With Lucrative Deal For Fan-Favorite
Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
Follow jrobertsbsbl