Royals GM J.J. Picollo addresses fan frustration amid team’s struggles
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- Royals GM J.J. Picollo said he didn’t foresee staff changes during the season.
- Picollo said the team feels losses deeply and endures sleepless nights.
- The Royals are 11 games back in the AL Central with a 35-51 record and 15,014 attendance.
After the Royals’ three-touchdown defeat last Friday against the White Sox in Chicago — the most lopsided loss in team history — fans vented in response to the team’s social-media accounts.
That 22-1 blowout came one day after a 13-2 defeat to the Rays, and that aggregate 35-3 score looks bad, regardless of the sport.
Royals fans called for firing one or more of the coaching staff and asked if there was any accountability in the organization. But general manager J.J. Picollo said Tuesday that he didn’t foresee making any changes to the staff during the season.
I asked Picollo if he had a message for frustrated Royals fans.
“I don’t know if I have a message for them,” Picollo said, “but you know, we feel the losses every night we go home as much as anybody. You know, I’m not trying to take away, but you know there’s sleepless nights on our end, and that’s part of our job. But I understand what it is, and how much it means to our fans, so we don’t want to overlook that.
“I don’t think our staff or our players should be overly concerned with that. They’re inherently aware of that. But from my perspective and our front office, we understand the bigger picture when you’re trying to get people in the seats and you’re trying to drive revenues and trying to create excitement, and you give fans an escape to come to watch a great product on the field. We feel the responsibility of that, and that’s what we want to do. That’s part — it’s a big motivator for us. There’s nothing better than coming to Kauffman Stadium with 35,000 people that are excited to watch the team play, so we want to get back to that.
“And I guess my message would be, we’re very aware of it. We want that as much as they do.”
The Royals had 15,014 fans at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night as the Rays cruised to a 10-4 victory. Now 11 games back in the American League Central, the Royals are also 8 1/2 behind in the wild-card race.
At 35-51, the Royals have the worst record in the American League and only the Colorado Rockies’ 33-53 mark is worse in baseball.
After speaking with the media, as is Picollo’s custom at the start of each homestand, he walked through the tunnel at Kauffman Stadium with team CEO and chairman John Sherman. A few minutes earlier, I had asked Picollo about his conversations with Sherman.
“He’s frustrated,” Picollo said. “He’s the owner of the team, but he enjoys watching good baseball as well. So he’s a very honest evaluator, he’s very open, he’s very curious as well. He likes to talk about what’s going well, what’s not going well, but he’s been a great supporter, and we have very productive conversations.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Royals GM J.J. Picollo addresses fan frustration amid team’s struggles."
