The Hunt For Blue October: Kansas City Royals (OOTP 25)

[artoodeetoo]

MLB NEWS WIRE
Royals' starting rotation in flux; Marlins' Henriquez to miss season

By MLB.com staff
04/28/2025

New power rankings out: Despite going 3-3 over the last week, St. Louis held on to the top spot in ESPN's Power Rankings that were just released this morning.

Spoiler

Aside from the Cardinals staying atop the heap, the rest of the top five is brand new, with Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Kansas City rounding out the top five.

Yankees' Jackson to retire at season's end: He's off to a solid start in his age-37 season, but Yankees reliever Jay Jackson announced that he'll be retiring at the end of the 2025 year, per his Twitter account.

Spoiler

He signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees at the very tail end of the spring, and reported to the team's extended Spring Training complex, where he continued to build up his pitch count instead of reporting to Triple-A.

He was called up on April 16th from the extended Spring Training complex, and made his first appearance on the 19th. In 4 2/3 innings, Jackson has five strikeouts to just one walk, allowing one earned run that covers three total appearances.

Lugo, Ragans to miss significant time: The Royals' chances of returning to the postseason in 2025 took a direct hit this past week, as both of their All-Star starting pitchers from a season ago have landed on the injured list with ailments that will keep them out for multiple weeks, perhaps even months, in the span of a few days.

Spoiler

Left-hander Cole Ragans is expected to miss up to six weeks with what was termed as elbow tendinitis, per a report from Buster Olney of The Athletic. It's been an up-and-down season for the former first-rounder whom the Royals acquired just before the 2023 trade deadline from Texas for veteran Aroldis Chapman.

Ragans also signed a three-year, $13.25 million extension in the offseason that increased his base salary from $740,000 to $1.085 million for this season, and $4.6 million and $7.6 million in the 2026 and 2027 seasons, before arbitration will kick in for the 2028 season.

In the second year of a three-year, $45 million contract, Seth Lugo was placed on the 60-day injured list and could miss the remainder of the season after undergoing a procedure to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow, but that is the absolute worst-case scenario, also reported by Olney.

The usual prognoses for this type of surgery is three-to-four months, followed by a month of rehab work, so it is possible that he could return for the postseason or a late-season playoff push.

[artoodeetoo]

Team Roster/Records | Statistics | Standings

ROYALS HEADLINES
Royals' road woes continue; Caglianone to the outfield?

By artoodeetoo
05/02/2025

4/29 -- Offense struggles in defeat to Tampa: Making his first start of the season replacing the injured Cole Ragans, Daniel Lynch IV was solid, but unfortunately not good enough as the Royals dropped a 5-2 decision to the Rays in opening a three-game series on the road.

Spoiler

Lynch went five innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits, but all of the damage against him came in the span of just a few batters in the second inning as Jonny DeLuca's two-run double followed by a two-run homerun from Ha-seong Kim turned the game on it's ear in a hurry.

"Dan was pounding the zone pretty well, and aside from that second inning was outstanding," said manager Matt Quatraro. "He threw about seventy pitches, and by our count had fifty strikes. That's pretty remarkable and I don't think the final line that he had tells the entire story of how he pitched. We just didn't back him up offensively to give ourselves a better chance to win the game."

A big reason for that was Drew Rasmussen, who held the Royals' offense to just two runs over 7 1/3 innings before finally running into trouble in the eighth inning and getting replaced by Edwin Uceta. Rasmussen, now 5-0, issued consecutive walks to Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr with one out; but Uceta came in and induced a double-play ball from one of the few Royals' hitters that are currently doing much of anything in Vinnie Pasquantino.

The Royals scored a single tally in the third despite getting two runners in scoring position with just one out. India's sac fly scored Hunter Renfroe, but Witt (coming off a 2-for-23 homestand) flew out to deep left to end the threat. He'd later drive in a run with a sixth-inning single against Rasmussen, but it was far too little to make an impact.

4/30 -- McClanahan, Rays blank Kansas City: The Royals' offense continued to sputter with Tampa southpaw Shane McClanahan on the mound, as he tossed a five-hit shutout in whitewashing Kansas City by a 7-0 score. The Royals collected just five hits, with Vinnie Pasquantino hitting a double, and Mark Canha making his first appearance since late March, going 1-for-3 with a triple.

Spoiler

The Royals went with an opener/follower situation on the mound, with Steven Cruz getting the start. His first inning was rather uneventful, but a couple of walks in the second brought out Jonathan Bowlan, who was solid through the next four-plus innings until running into serious problems in the sixth inning, largely of his own doing. The only blemish on Bowlan's stat line until the sixth was a two-run homerun from Jonathan Aranda in the third.

The sixth inning started easily enough for Bowlan, as he worked around a leadoff hit-by-pitch on Curtis Mead with a pair of fly-outs, but then another hit batsman and walk loaded the bases before a Ha-seong Kim single scored a run, and then another walk to Christopher Morel brought in yet another run finally chased Bowlan from the contest. Chris Stratton was not any better, as he allowed all three of the inherited runners to score.

Questioned after the game as to why he didn't go with someone like John Schreiber or Lucas Erceg to try and get the final out of the inning, manager Matt Quatraro mused that both of them have "had heavy workloads" lately, while Stratton had not pitched in almost a week.

"You know, we have confidence that Chris can come in and get those outs, but just didn't execute in that situation," he said. "It was a matter that he needed some work, and a lot of the other options out there have had heavy workloads lately, so we went in a different direction."

Bowlan's stat line ended up being pretty ugly as he was charged with all seven earned runs in 4 2/3, but Quatraro praised him in the post-game anyway.

"He looked solid through sixty pitches in his last Triple-A outing, so the reports we received from them were pretty positive as to being able to go further," he said. "We asked him if he felt good going out there in the sixth, and he said 'I'm good', so we decided to give it a go. It didn't work out, but he did some good things, just ran into some command issues."

4/30 -- Marsh set to make rehab start: After featuring as one of the Royals' five main starters a season ago, the Royals are expecting to see Alec Marsh make his first rehab assignment appearance tonight against Tulsa in a Double-A contest. He's been throwing simulated games on the side, with expectations being that he'll throw somewhere between 75-to-80 pitches.

Spoiler

"It's been a slow burn from what I've been told," manager Matt Quatraro mused when the question about Marsh's return from the injured list was brought up. "There's been a small setback or two, but the training staff all feel pretty good about where he's at now. We're looking forward to getting him back up here and helping out our club."

Marsh was one of the best starters in the AL through the first six weeks of last season before stumbling in the middle portion of the season, but still ended up with a respectable 4.53 ERA in twenty-five starts (twenty-six total appearances) after a strong finish in returning from a short IL stint. However, despite that, he was left off both the Wildcard and ALDS rosters entirely for the postseason.

He was worth 1.0 bWAR and 1.1 rWAR in 2024, in addition to sporting an FIP of 3.86 and SIERA of 4.34; both marks that surpassed his actual ERA, meaning that his surface numbers didn't tell the entire story about his success from a season ago.

5/1 -- Rays get out the brooms: Tampa put up a touchdown's worth of runs in the first inning against Michael Wacha; aided on by an error from Cavan Biggio that led to five unearned runs as the Rays ran the Royals out of the stadium by a 12-3 final score. Wacha then made it through the next two innings unscathed before finally getting chased from the game in the fourth, as he was hit with a pair of earned runs in a three-run inning.

Spoiler

It has been the worst three-game stretch of the season for the Royals, as they were out-scored by Tampa 24-5 and were never competitive throughout any point in the series. They went eighteen innings, the equivalent of two full games, scoreless between the first and third games before finally breaking through with a couple of runs in the seventh inning against Ryan Pepiot before adding a tally in the eighth. But it was too little, too late.

Freddy Fermin was 3-for-5 with an RBI; and Michael Massey homered for the first time since April 7th, but those offensive highlights were few and far between outside of that.

The loss puts the Royals at 17-15, as they continue their up-and-down performance to begin the season. Prior to the current three-game losing skid, the Royals had won seven of their last ten; and prior to that, had lost six of the ten before that.

Wacha fell to 1-6 on the season, his ERA ballooning to 7.08. The Royals and Wacha agreed to a four-year, $64 million contract over the offseason, but he's gotten off to a horrific start.

"Right now, the command just isn't there," said the veteran right-hander after the game. "I don't know if it's something that opposing hitters are seeing on tape that I'm not picking up, or if it's just a bad stretch, but either way I need to figure it out quickly."

The Royals will look to halt their skid tonight in Baltimore, starting a three-game series with the O's.

5/2 -- Caglianone to begin working in right field: Perhaps in a nod to him being up with the club later in the season, top prospect Jac Caglianone will begin working in right field beginning tonight. With Vinnie Pasquantino and others taking the vast majority of reps at first base, the outfield seems to be the quickest way to get to the majors at this point.

Spoiler

The 2024 first-rounder got off to a slow start with Double-A this season after getting a taste with High-A Quad Cities a season ago, but has hit homeruns the last two nights and sports a 124 OPS+ in Double-A through seventy-eight plate appearances, all while playing first base. Caglianone worked some in the outfield during the spring in very limited, scripted action.

With the Royals experiencing some of the worst offensive production in the league from their outfielders, Caglianone could be an inexpensive option to help supplement the offense while continuing to look elsewhere for additional offensive help.

While his limited action in the outfield in the spring showed him to be a bit awkward and clunky with his footwork, the plus-plus arm is undeniable -- he threw out several runners at third base with relative ease, including one on the fly from roughly 175 feet away from the target.

"The physical tools are there to play the outfield at a pretty high level," said manager Matt Quatraro back in spring training. "Of course, there are some technical things to clean up, but he has an eraser for an arm and that's something that's hard to teach. It's strong, but also quite accurate."

[artoodeetoo]

MLB NEWS WIRE
April awards announced; key injuries strike Rays, Nats

By MLB.com staff
05/02/2025

Awards for the month of April announced: The league handed out awards today for the month of April, and the Central divisions in both leagues comprised 75% of the recipients.

Spoiler

Tampa's Drew Rasmussen was the lone non-Central winner, taking home the hardware as the AL Pitcher of the Month. He was a perfect 5-0 when you factor in the tail end of March as well as the entirety of April, pitching to a 2.25 ERA, with five of his six starts in that same span being quality starts.

Milwaukee's Freddy Peralta (NL Pitcher of the Month), Nolan Gorman (NL Batter of the Month) of St. Louis, and Jose Ramirez of Cleveland (AL Batter of the Month) rounded out the other monthly honorees. Peralta went 3-1 in late March and through April, posting a 2.36 ERA and a superb strikeout rate of 30.6%. Better yet, his walk rate was a paltry 5.6%, by far a career best at this point of the season in any of his previous seasons.

Gorman, the league's leading hitter though the first month and change with a .370 average, looks to finally be delivering on the immense promise he had when he was drafted in the first round by the team back in 2018. His eleven homeruns are also tied with Aaron Judge and Shea Langeliers for the league lead.

One of the most feared hitters in the American League for the better part of a decade, Ramirez continues to put up big numbers in a HOF-caliber career to date. His nine homeruns is the most that he's had after April in his whole career, and he's on pace for a career high in bWAR (7.1).

The White Sox' Sean Burke, a right-handed pitcher, and Bernie Martinez, also a right-handed pitcher for the Marlins, won the AL and NL Rookie of the Month awards. Burke is a top prospect with a solid pedigree (leads MLB in strikeouts), but Martinez's story is remarkable -- he was released by the Mariners this past offseason and signed a minor league deal with Miami in late March.

Despite that, he was called up within the first few days of the season and ended up entrenching himself in the rotation. He went 3-1 in April, including not allowing an earned run since the 11th, covering sixteen straight innings.

Nats' Crews goes on IL: After getting several second opinions, Washington outfielder Dylan Crews has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a back injury, reportedly being a herniated disc suffered during the third inning of Monday's 7-4 loss to the Mets. The move was made retroactive to Monday's game.

Spoiler

He stayed in through that inning before being replaced by James Wood in right field. Manager Dave Martinez reported that Crews felt a 'twinge' in his back making a throw to second base from right field as his momentum carried him toward the foul line.

"It's tough to say where he's at currently," Martinez said of Crews after the game. "Right now, he's day-to-day, but that could obviously change as more information comes back to us."

It was later revealed that Crews will end up missing the next five to six weeks, but no surgery will be required to correct the problem.

Rays' second baseman to miss several months: In a big blow to the Rays, Brandon Lowe could be out through the All-Star break with a torn labrum after falling awkwardly trying to avoid a slide at second base with Padres catcher Ethan Salas. He missed the entire series with the Royals as he was being re-evaluated, but the decision was made to put him on the 60-day injured list this morning.

Spoiler

They re-called top prospect Junior Caminero from Triple-A Durham to replace him on the roster, just a handful of days after being sent down following a .601 OPS in eighty-six PA up until April 20th.

While the Rays have an upper-crust offense in the league, the loss of Lowe is still going to have a pretty big impact on the lineup, as that leaves Jonathan Aranda as the only productive lefty bat in the lineup. Manager Kevin Cash is hopeful that the return of Caminero after a short spell in the minors jump-starts his season.

"Junior's a lot better than what he's shown so far," Cash said last week following Caminero's demotion. "We're hopeful sending him down for the foreseeable future can get him back on track."

[artoodeetoo]

Team Roster/Records | Statistics | Standings

ROYALS HEADLINES
K.C. wins series with offensive explosion; Marsh to make additional rehab appearances

By artoodeetoo
05/05/2025

5/2 -- Lorenzen shines as Royals cruise in series opener: Re-signed for just $5.5 million in the offseason after being acquired at the trading deadline last season, Michael Lorenzen came into the season as a candidate to either be the team's fifth starter or a long-relief option out of the bullpen.

Spoiler

However, with injuries to both Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo, Lorenzen has taken on a lot more importance and has risen to the occasion, moving to 3-0 with a workman-like 6-2 win over the Orioles on the road to open a three-game series in the Charm City.

Making his first start since April 23rd, Lorenzen bamboozled the O's into just two hits and a couple of walks, striking out six over 6 2/3 innings. He threw just eighty-seven pitches, giving way to Evan Sisk in the seventh to get the final out. He even battled through a 68-minute rain delay, with manager Matt Quatraro sticking by his starter after the delay was lifted in the fourth inning.

"I wasn't willing to hold out much longer to keep him in the game, but we really needed to get some innings out of our starters," manager Matt Quatraro said after the game. "His last start was also cut short by a rain delay, ironically. Just glad that it ended up not going any further."

Salvador Perez also popped a couple of homeruns to give him nine for the season, and Bobby Witt Jr also fell just a homerun short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with his first triple of the season to go along with a stolen base.

5/3 -- Marsh promoted to Triple-A; expected to make 'several' appearances: Right-hander Alec Marsh took the next step in returning to the Royals, as he's expected to make several appearances before heading back to Kansas City, per GM JJ Picollo in a recent radio interview.

Spoiler

"We're pleased with Alec's progress, even with a few setbacks in the rear-view mirror," Picollo noted during the interview. "We think he should be back with the club perhaps in mid to late-May; which is a bit behind where we thought, but it's not too far off."

In 6 1/3 innings with NW Arkansas over the past few days, he allowed five hits, three earned runs, and three walks while striking out four. After making two relief appearances in that stretch, he's expected to appear on the mound as a starter with Triple-A Omaha.

"The expectation is that we're going to ramp him up to join the rotation and hit the ground running with no restrictions if all goes well," Picollo went on to say. "Alec has a proven record of success from last year, so we're excited to see him try and build on that."

5/3 -- McClanahan, Rays blank Kansas City: In spite of a strong performance from starter Kris Bubic, the Royals couldn't overcome a stagnant offense as they managed just one run on ten hits in a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Baltimore in the second game of their series.

Spoiler

Cavan Biggio's RBI single in the first inning was the last time the Royals held the lead, as a triple from Adley Rutschman in the following inning tied the score at one each. Bubic went 6 2/3 innings, striking out six with just one walk and scattering five hits, falling to 2-3 on the season.

Bubic's counterpart on the other side, Charlie Morton, continued his hot streak with his third straight start in going six innings, allowing just the one earned run and striking out seven. He's allowed three or fewer earned runs in at least five innings in four of his last five starts.

Biggio went 2-for-4 in the contest, with Salvador Perez also picking up a trio of singles to help pace the Royals' offense. However, they left eight men on base, including five of them in scoring position.

"Yeah, we really shot ourselves in the foot with some poor AB's in scoring situations," manager Matt Quatraro lamented. "Some of the batted balls we put in play in a few of those key at-bats were six inches or more off the zone, so we have to clean that up some."

5/4 -- Royals emerge the victor in offensive fireworks show: After nearly five hours, thirty-six runs, and forty-six hits (including eight total homeruns), the Royals held off a furious ninth-inning comeback to escape Baltimore with a series victory, claiming a 19-17 football-like final score in the series finale.

Spoiler

The total number of both runs scored and total hits are by far the highest single-game totals in the league this season, and marks the third-highest scoring 9-inning game in league history. Two other games accounted for thirty-eight runs, and the highest scoring game was a Cubs-Phillies game over 100 years ago in 1922 that accounted for a whopping forty-nine runs.

The forty-six combined hits also smashed a Royals single-game record for most hits combined by the two teams, with 40 being the previous record, twice accomplished in the early 1970's with the last being on August 27th, 1972. Their 10-run outburst that set the stage offensively was the first time they've scored ten or more runs in an inning since May 8th, 2018.

The thing is, however, that the game appeared to be headed towards being a 19-8 blowout snoozefest in K.C.'s favor as late as the bottom of the ninth. That's when the Orioles ripped off nine runs without an out, going against both Carlos Estevez and John Schreiber. Estevez was charged with five earned runs, and Schreiber four before closer Hunter Harvey came in to pick up the unlikely save.

"Yeah, that wasn't something I was expecting to have to do at that point," said manager Matt Quatraro in a very curt tone. "It's great to see our offense finally break out of its slump; but yikes, I'd rather not see what I saw out of the pitching tonight. We'll just have to flush this one and move on."

Vinnie Pasquantino also made Royals history, becoming the fourth player in franchise lore to record a six-hit game, going 6-for-6 with a couple of homeruns, three doubles, and a single. The last to do it was Joe Randa in 2004, with the other two instances coming in the 1969 and 1987 seasons.

Additionally, MJ Melendez also broke out of a lengthy skid with a three-hit game, including a pair of two-run homeruns and a walk, scoring twice with four RBI. Since April 14, he had gone 4-for-34 (.117) before yesterday's game.

5/5 -- Columbia's Russell named Carolina League POTW: A late-round draft pick out of the prep ranks back in 2023, Single-A Columbia infielder Stone Russell was named the Carolina League Player of the Week, going 12-for-23 with a pair of homeruns, three doubles, four walks, and a pair of stolen bases.

Spoiler

Additionally, he also earned himself a promotion to High-A Quad Cities, where he'll be one of the youngest players on the squad (20y, 322d) with only infielder Erick Torres and catcher Blake Mitchell beating him in that regard. Russell was leading the Carolina League in OPS (1.177) and hits (27) at the time of the promotion.

Other prospects earned promotions with infielder Chris Brito making the jump to Double-A from High-A; and fellow infielder Peyton Wilson, who has an OBP north of .500 with Double-A NW Arkansas, making the move to Triple-A Omaha. Brito. 25, also produced excellent results at the High-A level, posting an .897 OPS with a positive walk-to-strikeout ratio (18-to-14). He was signed to a minor league contract following the 2023 draft after going unselected out of Rutgers.

[artoodeetoo]

MLB NEWS WIRE
Dodgers down a slugger; Cutch signs with new team

By MLB.com staff
05/05/2025

Dodgers' Hernandez out: The Dodgers have plenty of depth in their lineup, but it's never good to lose one of your top performers for an extended period of time.

Spoiler

After being listed as day-to-day over the weekend, the veteran outfielder is expected to miss the next month with a mid-grade elbow strain; one that not only affected his throwing ability, but is causing 'significant' discomfort per manager Dave Roberts.

"The decision to put him on the injured list wasn't taken lightly," he said, "But at the risk of further damage and potential surgery down the road, we've decided that it would be best to let the injury completely heal before rushing him back out to play too early."

Michael Conforto, who just came off the injured list recently as well, has been starting in left field for the past handful of games; but has struggled in going 1-for-12 since returning. Youngster Andy Pages is also expected to see some time in left after being re-called to take Hernandez's spot on the active roster.

Tigers, Cardinals swap minor leaguers: Detroit and St. Louis agreed to a minor league swap of players, with infielder Jose Fermin heading to the Motor City in exchange for a pair of starting pitching prospects in Luis Gomez and Andrew Sears.

Spoiler

With a glut of highly-regarded infielders beginning to reach the upper minors; Fermin, who played parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons in the majors, became an expendable asset to pick up a pair of A-ball starters for depth. 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. Wetherholt is in Single-A Palm Beach (with a stint at Triple-A), and Thomas Saggese drank a cup of coffee with the Cardinals a season ago.

While not having a sterling track record at the plate in the majors (.504 OPS); Fermin does hold a 9.7% walk rate in MLB, and sports a nice triple slash of .252/.368/.400 in 763 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level. His calling card is positional versatility, with the ability to play second, third, and the outfield; with an occasional start at shortstop.

Cutch signs with AL East team: Free agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen has signed a one-year contract worth $2.92 million with the Tampa Bay Rays, with escalator bonuses that could push that up to an even $3 million.

Spoiler

His last game with the Pirates was on April 22nd, and was released seven days later after being designated for assignment by Pittsburgh on the 23rd.

One of the most consistent players in baseball over the last decade-and-a-half, McCutchen has only had one season where he wasn't at least a league-average player by OPS+ (2022), and even in that season he was very close with a 97 OPS+. However, the 38-year-old had struggled to a career-worst 79 OPS+ over ninety-six plate appearances as a DH which led to his release.

With younger outfielders like Jack Suwinski, Bryan Reynolds, and Oneil Cruz all enjoying solid offensive seasons, the reasons for keeping McCutchen around seemed to dwindle by the day.

"Pittsburgh felt like their outfield is set and they were willing to pay him to leave," said Buster Olney of the The Athletic in an interview. "He's going to a Rays squad that has struggled with offensive production in the outfield, and if there's a team that can get something out of him, it's them."

[artoodeetoo]

Team Roster/Records | Statistics | Standings

ROYALS MAILBAG
Offense at the front of mind of fans in the early going

By artoodeetoo
05/05/2025

It's that time again -- with a little over a month's worth of games under their belts, it's now time to take some initial stock of the Royals' season to date, and what could be in store down the road. Most of the consternation is about the offense, so keep in mind that yesterday's 19-17 offensive fireworks show isn't accounted for in the responses regarding the offense, as these were mostly written a few days prior.

Do we need a new hitting coach?

I think the Royals missed an absolutely golden opportunity to bring Kevin Seitzer back, but decided to stick with Alec Zumwalt; who has done an otherwise fine job of rebuilding the minor league hitting apparatus. However, the results as the main hitting coach at the major league level...? I'd put that as 'mixed', and that's being kind. The progress that he made in the minors with Bobby Witt Jr, Nick Pratto, and MJ Melendez was extraordinary, but the latter two have fallen off a cliff, and Witt was very likely going to hit no matter who the hitting coach is.

There's a chance, albeit small, that JJ Picollo could decide to go in a different direction mid-season, but it's still unlikely. My guess is that barring some miraculous turnaround, Zumwalt likely goes back down to the minors and oversees the minor league program full-time again. Drew Saylor took over for Zumwalt when he was promoted to the major league club, but before that, he and Zumwalt co-ran the program. They could do that again, for sure.

That said, there are too many good, professional hitters on this roster to be this bad. Salvador Perez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr, and to a lesser extent Jonathan India aren't going to be enough to carry the bottom of the lineup that looks like they couldn't hack it in Triple-A right now.

Why is the offense so bad?

As I touched on in the previous answer, I don't think it is all Zumwalt's fault. There are players that are absolutely better, much better, than what they've showed and they just have to start hitting better. Full stop. I mean, Hunter Renfroe has an OPS in the single digits, and no matter how much money you're making, you can't stick around at that number. Michael Massey outside of his hot start in the first week or so, has been a mess both offensively AND defensively.

Others like MJ Melendez and Maikel Garcia at least can draw walks and put the ball in play, but at some point the ball has to find grass or the seats, and they're doing neither. I think what's making fan angst worse is that you have players in the minors that are tearing the cover off the ball, and they're not up without any chatter that they could be soon.

I'd absolutely send down Massey or Garcia down and get Nick Loftin up and playing him every day, even if just to send a message from the top that you're not guaranteed anything in this league, and what you did last year doesn't matter now. He's a god-awful defender outside of first base, but even if he's somewhat less effective with the Royals as a hitter compared to his Triple-A numbers, Loftin would still be miles better than what's being trotted out now.

It's also a bit early to consider a trade, but I wouldn't rule it out. The injuries to Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo are going to put a giant magnifying glass on Matt Quatraro and how he juggles the lineup with so many black holes in it right now. The panic button isn't ready to be pushed; however, it's blinking red right now.

Is the front office already regretting the Michael Wacha signing? If not, should they be?

It hasn't been good, that's for sure. Even when you take his advanced stats into consideration (more on that soon), it's still not great, but it paints a clearer picture as to what he's had to deal with in his handful of starts to date.

First, the bad -- too many walks (18) and too many hits (47). Now, hits are not fully under the control of the pitcher, which is why his xFIP is nearly a full run and a half lower than his actual ERA, but his SIERA, which is a better, more widely-used advanced metric, has him over two-and-a-half full runs better (4.32) than his actual ERA (7.08).

But his strikeouts are up (8.7 K/9), and his GB% is just a hair over 48%, both being improvements over the 2024 season, so just simple regressions to the mean will help out quite a bit.

If some of the raw numbers don't show some improvements, then there could be some narrowing between those and the peripherals as more data comes in, but it's a bit early to be hitting the panic button here, especially with others like Kris Bubic and Michael Lorenzen pitching well.

What's something that is getting overlooked with this team we should talk about more?

This team has shied completely away from the running game, and they are horrendous defensively. It's really strange to be talking about a Royals team that is bad defensively, but they're bad. Real bad. Maikel Garcia has no business playing shortstop, but you gotta give BWJ a break every now and then. Again, Michael Massey has been bad defensively, and you have to wonder if his offensive struggles have bled over into the field. They're still fairly strong up the middle, with Kyle Isbel, Witt, and both catchers giving the Royals varying levels of success, but the corners on both the infield and outfield have been average-to-downright bad.

There's also no reason why this team can't a top-five base-stealing team every year, and this year's squad has so much speed in the lineup and on the bench, there's no excuse. They're just a middle-of-the-pack team on the basepaths, and part of their struggles is they can't get their best base runners on base to do anything. Still, they need to run as much as they can when they get on. A team that is struggling for this much offense needs a spark any way they can, and they're not aggressive enough.

Who gets to the majors first -- Jac Caglianone or Blake Mitchell?

I know most will say Caglianone, and they're probably right, but Mitchell I think is closer than most realize. I don't know that he'll ever hit for a high average, but his defensive chops behind the plate are already very good and scouts around the league think his plate knowledge and discipline is major-league ready. The days of Salvador Perez catching 120+ games per season is well in the rear-view, so some playing time could open up for him perhaps later this year if the bat comes around any more.

Jac has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in Double-A, mainly due to more strikeouts than normal, but the exit velo's are still outstanding when he does make contact, and his defense at first base is coming along. With his plus-arm, the corner outfield is still his best future position (and his quickest path to MLB PA's); however, he is a bit clunky fundamentally, so if they're willing to let him learn a bit in the minors, he could end up as an average corner outfielder that can get a half-dozen assists per year or more.