‘We expect to make the playoffs’: Royals raised expectations with aggressive offseason
The guys in the big offices for the Kansas City Royals aren’t waiting for 2022 or 2023. They’re not interested in treading water until this prospect or that prospect eventually establishes himself in the big leagues.
While many teams seemed willing to sit on their laurels this winter, Royals CEO/chairman John Sherman and general manager Dayton Moore — both of whom addressed the entire team this week during camp — raised the bar as far as expectations this offseason with the club’s aggressive moves to acquire free agents like first baseman Carlos Santana, starting pitcher Mike Minor, left fielder Andrew Benintendi and re-acquiring relief pitcher Wade Davis on a minor-league deal.
Players like Royals star catcher Salvador Perez certainly received the message. Perez interpreted that message in one word this week in Arizona: “Win.”
“They made the moves,” Perez said. “They spent the money. We’re going to play hard for them, for us and for them. We’ll see what happens.”
Following back-to-back 100-loss seasons in 2018 and 2019, the Royals made strides and brought up some of the young pitching talent that had been viewed as pivotal to the franchise’s future success. Former top draft picks right-hander Brady Singer and left-hander Kris Bubic made the jump from Double-A and Single-A, respectively, to the majors.
The Royals finished the truncated 2020 season 26-34, below .500 but on a pace that would’ve equated to their highest win total since 2017. Down the stretch in 2020, they tied the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in the American League over the last 18 games (12-6, .667).
“I think for this team we just want to win,” Perez said. “We’re going to compete. Dayton and Mr. Sherman, they’re doing a pretty good job. They brought in some great players, players with a lot of experience in the big leagues and the playoffs too. So we just want to win. We’re going to prepare ourselves to be ready everyday.”
On paper, the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox appear to be head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the AL Central Division. Preseason predictions and projections likely will slate the Royals as the fourth-best team in the division for the third consecutive season.
The Royals, however, aren’t shying away from the fact that they expect to contend in the division this year. They have no intention of settling for being the plucky little also-rans.
“We expect to make the playoffs,” Royals All-Star outfielder Whit Merrifield said. “We expect to be in the playoffs. We expect to be playing into the fall. You get to the playoffs and anything can happen. We expect to compete in our division, have a chance to win it.”
The fact that the Royals acquired established veteran players in their 30s like Santana and Minor, who’ve been All-Stars and played in the postseason, only bolsters that sentiment.
After multiple rebuilding seasons in which they brought up players from their farm system and afforded them the opportunity to play regularly and take their lumps, they’ve now moved to a different phase as evidenced by their willingness to trade away potential pieces of their future in Khalil Lee and Franchy Cordero for Benintendi.
“We feel like we’ve signed some really good players, guys that are really going to help our team,” Merrifield said. “We feel like some of these young guys are at the point where they’re ready to help us, and we’re ready to see what they got. We saw that with Singer. We saw that with Bubic, last year. It’s time to worry about the development less and worry about winning games more.”
As Merrifield pointed out, the front office signaling a desire to compete for the playoffs this season certainly renews the fire inside veterans like Perez and Merrifield, but it also serves notice to youngsters as well.
“We’re all on the same page,” Singer said. “Heck of an offseason for all of us. With the signings and stuff like that we’re excited. I think the buzz around the team is we’re here to play and we’re here to win.”
For manager Mike Matheny, who loathes the notion of conceding even a single loss before the final out, the increased excitement, enthusiasm and reinforced roster gives him all he needs to push his team even harder.
Before the start of camp, Matheny pointed to the front office’s offseason additions as making it easier for him to stand up in front of the group of players and coaches and demand more out of them because they now feel they’ve got a chance.
“When you feel like all pieces are all in the same mindset, that we’ve got a chance to do something really special here and we just keep making that investment from the top level, it’s just so encouraging,” Matheny said. “It’s hard for us not to be excited. We’re being realistic here. It’s not just dreaming.”
