Royals will explore free-agent pitching market, plus other takeaways from GM meetings
Acquiring major-league caliber pitching clearly sits atop the list of offseason priorities for the Kansas City Royals.
Constructing a staff deep with quality arms capable of consistent performance in the rotation and bullpen will be crucial to pulling the club out of the malaise of three consecutive losing seasons and back-to-back 100-loss seasons.
The rules of baseball mimic those of real estate with a slight twist. Instead of location, location, location being the mantra, it’s pitching, pitching, pitching.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore and the baseball operations staff aim to address a pitching staff that ranked near the bottom of the majors in opponent’s batting average (.273, 28th), WHIP (1.48, 29th), ERA (5.20, 27th), and opponent’s OBP (.348, 29th) and strikeouts per nine innings (7.8, 29th).
The Royals have potential bullpen help in the former of like Jorge Lopez and Glenn Sparkman, both who’ve spent time in the starting rotation, as well as fireballer Jesse Hahn coming back from injury. Their targets in free agency will be starting pitchers, and there will be an abundance of options.
“There’s a lot of championship-caliber starters on the market,” Moore said this week at the MLB general managers’ meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona. “We’re certainly going to explore that market. I can’t sit here and tell you that we’re going to be in a position to execute anything, but we’ll explore that market.”
In recent years, the Royals have established a willingness to take fliers on veteran pitchers on low-risk short-term deals, such as Homer Bailey last offseason. They signed him to a one-year deal, knowing he’d serve as a potential trade chip late in the season.
Will they aim this offseason to sign more stop-gap type remedies or might they go after a free-agent worthy of a multi-year deal?
Moore has left the door open for either or perhaps both.
“A value-based signing like Homer Bailey, you always have room for that,” Moore said. “But we’re going to look, and we’re going to try to add a starter or two if possible.”
Other Royals takeaways from the GM meetings:
Easing in Salvy
Multi-time All-Star and Gold Glove Award winning catcher Salvador Perez remains on schedule with his recovery from Tommy John surgery in order to be ready for spring training. He’ll work go through his usual offseason workouts in Miami with catching coach Pedro Grifol and several of the young catchers in the farm system such as Meibrys Viloria and MJ Melendez.
Don’t be surprised if the Royals give Perez more days off or get him in the lineup at designated hitter or first base early in the season as he gets re-acclimated to the routine of playing daily.
Manager Mike Matheny, Grifol and head trainer Nick Kenney will collectively manage Perez’s usage during the season.
Keeping Soler in-house
American League home run champion and franchise single-season record setter Jorge Soler reportedly switched agents this past week to the same agency, Excel Sports Management, that represents Alex Gordon.
Soler can opt for arbitration this offseason, which will increase his salary significantly. He’ll still have two more seasons remaining under control with the Royals after having hit 48 homers, collected 117 RBIs, scored 95 runs and posted a slash line of .265/.354/.569 in 2019.
While Moore wouldn’t speak specifically to any negotiations future or otherwise regarding Soler, it’s clear he’d be a candidate for an extension before he hits free agency.
“Historically, we’ve always shown a willingness to sign our young players to long-term contracts, and we’ve had our share of success doing that,” Moore said. “I don’t anticipate not trying to lock up some of our young players long-term. We were successful last year with Whit Merrifield, and that proved to be beneficial not only with Whit but for us. We’ll explore those opportunities with the players who are currently on our roster.”
Depth in the middle
Dynamic shortstop Adalberto Mondesi has been rehabbing in Kansas City this offseason with the team’s physical therapist Jeff Blum. Mondesi had shoulder surgery Oct. 2, but remains on pace to be ready for opening day. All indications thus far have been encouraging.
While the Royals signed Chris Owings last season in part as insurance at shortstop in case Mondesi’s injury history cropped up again, they feel they’re better suited with internal candidates to cover the position if he misses extended time next season. Nicky Lopez and Humberto Arteaga give the club options to handle the position defensively.
The Royals may look this offseason for minor-league depth at the spot.
Still believers in O’Hearn
First baseman Ryan O’Hearn has had wildly variant results in the majors since late in the 2018 season. Through his first 49 games, the left-handed hitting slugger racked up 34 RBIs, tied for the second-most in franchise history to start a career. He also had 26 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs, in that span.
This past season, he struggled to the point that the club demoted him to Triple-A mid-season. He returned to the majors in late July. Overall, he batted .195 with a .281 on-base percentage and a .369 slugging percentage to go with 14 home runs in 105 games.
He showed signs of improvement in the season’s final month when he slashed .250/.283/.536. The Royals are not ready to give up on him being a contributor to the big-league club, and have seen him make strides defensively.
“I believe in him as a hitter,” Moore said. “He works too hard. He’s too smart. He’s extremely competitive. There’s no reason for us not to believe in Ryan O’Hearn.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Royals will explore free-agent pitching market, plus other takeaways from GM meetings."
