Talkin Royals

Since signing with Kansas City this past offseason, Jordan Lyles has had a pretty bad start to his Royals’ career. According to Joseph Summer's of Kings of Kauffman: "Thus, these are not opponents of the same quality. Lyles, for his part, has held his opponent to three or fewer runs just four times in his last 16 outings. The Royals lost 15 consecutive starts by Lyles before last week with 13 of those losses coming by multiple runs." Did the Royals possibly overpay for Lyles services? Yes, however, he is the type of starting pitcher that a team like the Orioles and Royals would sign if they are in the middle of a painful rebuild. Royals General Manager J.J Picollo said during an interview shortly after the Lyles signing: "The reason we’re excited about Jordan and Ryan,” Picollo said, “is when we look at their track record, they’ve been able to pitch significant innings. We’re going into this season thinking between the two of them we can secure or stabili...

Heading into this past offseason, Kansas City looked to boost the bullpen, and they certainly did that by signing Aroldis Chapman. Kansas City signed the former all-star and flamethrower to a one year deal worth $3.75 million and $4 million in performance bonuses, and he has certainly earned every penny of the bonus. The Royals reasoning for signing Chapman was an obvious one. They  hoped for a bounce back year from the former Yankees closer and then flip him at the trade deadline. And that’s exactly what happened—the team traded Chapman before July 1st. Multiple teams were mentioned as possible suitors including the Rangers, Dodgers, Reds, Mets to name a few. The Rangers were the team to pull the trigger for Chapman. What did the Royals get in return for Chapman? The team got a pair of players from Texas—outfielder Roni Cabrera and left-handed pitcher Cole Ragans. Ragans looks to be the main piece heading back to Kansas City. Ragans was a former first round selection o...

Entering the 2023 season, the Royals made multiple "big name signings" by bringing in Aroldis Chapman, Jackie Bradley Jr, Ryan Yarbrough, and Jordan Lyles. Kansas City entering this past off-season was looking to add a veteran starter to a youthful rotation, aside from Zack Greinke. According to MLB Trade Rumors, the right hander was able to stay healthy throughout his career before signing his deal with Kansas City, and he has continued to stay healthy in his first season with the Royals. In terms of a player that can stay healthy and make quality starts for the team, they made the right decision to sign him; however, they haven't been exactly great quality starts. During an interview with AP News before the season started, JJ Picollo said they had hopes Lyles could be an inning eater for the team: " The reason we’re excited about Jordan and Ryan,” Picollo said, “is when we look at their track record, they’ve been able to pitch significant innings. We’re...

Kansas City baseball this season has been a disaster for the most part; however, there have been some young players that have had good starts to the season like Vinny Pasquantino, Nick Pratto, and a few others. The bullpen has been up and down this season, but Taylor Clarke has been a bright spot in the pen. Clarke returned to the Royals on a major league contract. During the 2022 season with Kansas City, the right hander posted an ERA of 4.04. Clarke's 2023 season to this point has seen him cut his ERA nearly in half to 2.89. Sometimes a change in off-season training routine can help players improve their game, but Clarke didn't change anything with his off-season routine: "Pretty normal off-season, just my usual regiment of working out and playing catch to get my arm and body in shape for the season." The right hander in that same interview said one change he has made this season is more off speed pitches thrown: "I don’t think I’ve changed anything...

In 2013, Kansas City selected Hunter Dozier out of Stephen F. Austin State University in the first round with the eighth pick. According to an article from Royals Rundown in 2013: "Dozier was a multi-sport star at Denton High School. He was the shortstop and ace right-handed pitcher on the baseball team and also quarterbacked the football squad. He was a 2008 all-area selection and the district Newcomer of the Year. After suffering a football injury as a junior, he came back to hit .400 during his senior season and earned all-district honors." Dozier was obviously a star coming out of high school and college, but it didn't carry over to the big leagues. During his time with the boys in blue, he batted 2093 times collecting 498 hits. Of those 498 hits, the Texas native panned out to a career line of 258 runs batted in; and of those 498 hits, 73 of them were home runs. Dozier's contract extension came shortly after his breakout season in 2019. Dozier posted ...

Since the Royals entered the league in 1969, the Royals have had three owners: Ewing Kauffman, David Glass and now John Sherman. The Royals were purchased by John Sherman and his group for $1 billion dollars. Glass put the team up for sale due to his failing health, and he would pass away on January 9, 2020 due to pneumonia. Almost immediately after Sherman bought the team, he started to clean house, starting with the firing of Dayton Moore. Following the end of the World Series runs in 2014 and 2015, the Royals had struggled to put a playoff contender on the field but it's only gotten worse since Sherman and company bought the team.  During an interview in 2022 Sherman told reporters: "The objective is to return to form, to compete for a championship on behalf of our great fans, to be playing meaningful baseball at this time of year. Our objective is to compete consistently and on a sustainable basis.” Unfortunately Royals fans are getting the complete opposite fr...

Following the departure of Michael A. Taylor, the Royals are looking to find someone to play center field rather than fill the void with players already in the organization or free agency.  Kansas City brought in former Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. on a minor league deal following the departure of Taylor.  Although some fans may say the signing of Bradley Jr. is taking a roster spot from one of the team's outfield prospects, it's a low risk, high reward type of signing in my opinion. With the Red Sox, Bradley Jr. was a star from 2011 to 2018. While in the Boston minor league system, he was named the Minor League Defensive Player of the Year by the organization in 2012. The signing of Bradley Jr can and should be a head scratcher for Royals fans as they are hoping to get good looks at young outfielders in the organization such as Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, Edward Olivares, and Nate Eaton. A few of these outfielders are locks for the team. During Bradley Jr....