2024 Pre-Season Profile: Kansas City Royals

 #20

The Kansas City Royals had a sneaky good off-season.  Does it have them set up to contend in 2024?

2023 Predictions

#25 - 4th in AL Central

MIH - Vinnie Pasquatino

MIP - Daniel Lynch

PTW - Drew Waters

FP - Bobby Witt Jr. will be the starting shortstop for the AL in the All Star Game in 2023.

2023 Results

#29 - 56-106, 5th in AL Central

Highest WAR (Position) - Bobby Witt Jr.

Highest WAR (Pitcher) - Cole Ragans

The Royals struggled in 2023 despite having one of the most dynamic young players in the game.  Their young first base slugger was hurt most of the season, their young pitching stumbled...  It was almost all bad.

Additions / Subtractions

The Royals off-season was defined by a bunch of smaller signings that make you say, "Oh, that's a sneaky good move."  They brought in starters Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to stabilize their rotation.  They brought in relievers Will Smith, Nick Anderson, and Chris Stratton to stabilize the bullpen.  They brought in veterans Adam Frazier and Hunter Renfroe to stabilize the lineup.  Not one of these moves moves the needle, but the combination of them all is impressive.

Most Important Hitter

Bobby Witt Jr.

I don't know if another team is tying its entire success over the next decade to one player quite like the Royals and Bobby Witt Jr.  Entering his third season, Witt has shown he is everything that his potential promised.  Somehow he didn't make the All Star Team last year, but he did finish 7th in MVP despite being on a 100+ loss team.  He could be in the conversation as one of the best players in baseball in the next year or two.  All the small moves the Royals made only work if Witt stays healthy and continues to play like a budding superstar.

Most Important Pitcher

Cole Ragans

Acquired at the Trade Deadline last season for Aroldis Chapman, Cole Ragans came to the Royals and quickly established himself as the ace of the young staff.  It was success he hadn't seen yet in the big leagues.  Now, with all the veterans on the pitching staff, the Royals are looking to Ragans to continue his dominance he showed at the end of last season and emerge as a true ace.

Prospect to Watch

Nick Loftin

The Royals currently have the 28th best farm system in baseball with only one prospect ranked in the Top 100, and that prospect won't be ready for at least another year.  Their second best prospect, though, started the season on the Opening Day roster.  Nick Loftin was drafted in 2020 as a top shortstop, and now he is entering 2024 as the go to utility man in Kansas City.  It takes a true athlete to thrive in a role like that, and the Royals believe he is that kind of athlete.  He could be yet another sneaky good addition to this roster.

2024 Prediction

2nd in AL Central

I know it would be quite a jump, but the Royals have two things going for them.  First, their roster may have seen more turnover than any other roster in the league, mainly with proven veterans.  Second, the AL Central is the weakest division in baseball ... by a lot.  The Royals are poised to make a leap like this in 2024.  They won't have much of a shot at the Wild Card, but they could make a push for the division crown.

Fearless Prediction

Salvador Perez will be traded before the start of next season.

The one constant in Kansas City over the highs and lows of the last decade has been Salvador Perez behind the plate.  He was on the team before their run in the mid-2010's, and he's the last one left after that run ended.  Now, he is in the last two seasons of his contract, and the Royals have a catcher as their top prospect.  It's not very likely, but there's a chance the Royals decide to finally move on from Sally, see what they can get for him, and move forward with their young prospect next year.  It's probably more likely that Perez is a lifelong Royal, but the possibility is there.

2015 Pre-Season Profile: St. Louis Cardinals

There are few things that are certain in sports, but one thing that has become a certainty over the last decade is that the St. Louis Cardinals are going to be really, really good.  Will 2015 keep consistency in the NL Central?

Last Season

90-72, 1st in NL Central, Lost to Giants in NLCS

For the fourth straight year, the Cardinals made the playoffs.  They have garnered a reputation of being fairly unstoppable in the postseason, but if there is anything more unstoppable than the Cardinals in the postseason, it's the Giants on an even numbered year in the postseason.  So they lost out to the eventual champions, but looked geared up for another run in 2015.

2015 Additions / Subtractions

The Cardinals front office had to deal with a very delicate situation this offseason.  During the World Series, their 22 year old phenom and rightfielder of the future Oscar Taveras was killed in a car accident.  They felt a need to honor the memory of their fallen teammate who had so much still in front of him, but they also needed to make accommodations for the hole his death left in their 2015 lineup.  So in a year where their lineup looked set, they pulled off a blockbuster trade, bringing over Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden from the Braves, giving up starting pitcher Shelby Miller and prospects.  On a personal side, this was a move the Cardinals didn't want to make.  On a baseball side, they replaced one of baseball's top prospects with an established borderline All Star.  By trading Miller, they took advantage of the stockpile of pitchers they have stored up in their system.  So they gained Heyward without really losing anything.

Most Important Hitter

Matt Carpenter

In 2013, Matt Carpenter burst on the scene as the latest Cardinal to come out of nowhere and be amazing.  He hit .318 and was a 6.0 win player according to WAR.  In 2014, they moved him to third base and his production dipped some.  His batting average fell to .272 and his WAR total was cut in half.  He went from being one of the best hitting middle infielders in the league to an average hitting third baseman with none of the traditional power we have come to expect from third basemen.  The Cardinals need Carpenter to be the steady consistent hitter in that lineup that is always on base.  He needs to return to his 2013 form for the Cardinals to be elite.

Most Important Pitcher

Michael Wacha

In any deep postseason run, there is always a young prospect or two that come out of nowhere to be impact players in the stretch run before their first full season in the league.  Last year, it was Brandon Finnegan for the Royals and Joe Panik for the Giants.  In 2013, it was Michael Wacha for the Cardinals.  The way he pitched in the postseason had everybody buzzing, winning NLCS MVP.  He was to become a two-headed monster with Adam Wainwright at the top of the rotation in 2014.  I predicted him to win Rookie of the Year in the NL last year.  His 2014 instead became an injury-shortened season that never lived up to any of the hype he had built for himself.  Now that he is healthy, he is being counted on being that phenom that announced his presence with authority in 2013.

Player to Watch

Carlos Martinez

Like I said earlier, the amount of talent the Cardinals have stockpiled in their system should not be allowed.  The pitcher that seems destined for a breakout year this time around is Carlos Martinez.  Short in stature but mighty in power, many compare his stuff and style to recent Hall of Fame inductee Pedro Martinez.  He spent most of the 2014 season in the bullpen, but he is competing for a rotation spot this year.  If he makes the rotation, he could be one of the players everyone is talking about by mid-season.

Prediction

2nd in NL Central, WILD CARD, lose in NLDS

One certainty in baseball right now is the Cardinals are going to be very good.  I have them just short of winning their division this year, but they do make the playoffs once again and cause trouble on their way through.  The Cardinals right now remind me some of the Atlanta Braves teams of the 1990's.  They were so good so often, it was easy to take them for granted.  I am probably vastly underestimating them with this prediction.  It will be interesting to see what happens as core pieces like Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta, Adam Wainwright, and Yadier Molina continue to age, what the front office decides to do.  It looks like those decisions are still a couple years off.  Right now, they will continue to be one of the consistently best teams in baseball.