Nearly ten years ago, the Royals had just come off a crushing defeat in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. There was undoubtedly some pressure heading into 2015 to repeat that success, especially with the roster mostly staying intact with its young and exciting core of Salvy, Hoz, Moose, Cain, Esky, Ace, and Danny Duffy, among others. The players handled that pressure well, finishing with a 95-67 record and 1st place in the AL Central. With the solid performance of the team’s young core, plus aggressive trade deadline acquisitions of Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist, the Royals went on to win their first World Series title in 30 years.

Unless you are the Kansas City Chiefs, there typically is not a significant amount of pressure to go back and repeat as champions. No doubt the Royals had that goal in mind heading into the 2016 season, but ultimately, the season ended as mediocre as possible, with an 81-81 record to prove it. That off-season, the Royals traded All-Star reliever Wade Davis to the Chicago Cubs, and within a year and a half, most of the Royals’ young core had departed to other clubs. Since then, the results of an anticipated rebuild have been incredibly underwhelming. However, the Royals’ front office is trying to dig the team out of a hole in a way it has not in the past few seasons.

FINANCIAL INVESTMENT

Per Spotrac, the Royals are expected to have their highest payroll since the 2019 season. This is primarily due to the front office’s willingness to spend money in a way they have not for the past handful of years. The primary beneficiaries of this sudden change include Michael Wacha (2 years, $32 million) and Seth Lugo (3 years, $45 million), who signed as free agents this offseason. The Royals have been reluctant to spend money on free agents since they began their rebuilding phase five years ago, relying heavily on their farm system and player development to get the team headed in the right direction once again. It has not taken General Manager J.J. Picollo long to realize the past plan for the team was not getting them anywhere. The “evaluation seasons” have come and gone, and he seems to have evaluated the troubling situation correctly. As can be expected, with more financial investment comes more expectations. The Royals believe this is the year the team can start to compete in a weak AL Central, and they are putting their money where their mouth is. Oh, and Bobby’s 11-year, $288.7 million contract only adds to that financial investment.

YOUNG CORE

The organization has expressed incredible belief in its young core of players, and rightfully so. Only two-and-a-half years ago, the Royals had the #5 ranked farm system in all of baseball. Before the 2024 season, the Royals’ farm system consistently ranked as a bottom-five farm system. This is partly due to the Royals graduating top prospects like Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Michael Massey. Still, it also points to a lack of player development. A team with a top-10 draft pick nearly every year, like the Royals, should be able to produce more than one top-100 prospect (Blake Mitchell, #94). Up to this point, the young core has not performed as expected, excluding Witt Jr. Pratto has bounced back and forth between Omaha and Kansas City; Melendez has had to learn how to play in left field and has not seen his impressive power translate to the big-league level; Pasquantino has shown stretches of an advanced approach at the plate and the ability to hit to all areas of the field, but his shoulder issues have slowed him down in each of the past two seasons; Massey has been a solid defender and has above-average power as a second baseman, but has an inconsistent approach at the plate that led to a terrible on-base percentage in 2023 (.274). This is the year that the Royals need to see more of these players take a step forward, or there will have to be more drastic changes taken in the next couple of years.

STATE OF THE FARM SYSTEM

As I previously mentioned, the farm system is currently in rough shape. However, multiple players have the opportunity to make the jump into the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. With good seasons in 2024, these players all have the chance to become top 100 prospects: Frank Mozzicato, Blake Wolters, Carter Jensen, Javier Vaz, Gavin Cross, and Ramon Ramirez, to name a few. These players can all help the Royals move up the farm system rankings by the end of this season. The front office needs to prove this year that they can develop talent taken at the top of the draft, and that has not been the case for the past few years. One positive development in the system is a change in pitching philosophy that has led to a significant increase in K-BB% at all levels. In fact, Baseball America recently ranked the Royals’ minor league pitching as a top 10 system in all of baseball. If the hitting can come around, complemented by the Royals’ top-end minor league talent growth, we will feel much better about the farm system at the end of the 2024 season.

DOWNTOWN BALLPARK

This is pretty obvious, but the excitement surrounding a downtown ballpark will most likely correlate to the success of the on-field product this season. Since the vote on the new sales tax is on April 2nd, this has more to do with the excitement and general support of a new ballpark over whether it passes or not. There will undoubtedly be more support from the city and downtown area if the Royals can prove their growth as a team this season. If not, we could continue to see more and more negative aspects of the new stadium being discussed come August and September.

THE BOTTOM LINE

I am confident that the Royals will start putting things together this season. The financial investment has taken massive strides, the young talent is much closer to putting it together than in years past, and the Royals’ front office seems committed to making necessary moves to put a quality product on the field. I am eager to see how this turns out starting March 28th against the Minnesota Twins. It will be incredibly deflating if the Royals somehow remain a 60 to 70-win team and see little to no progress from their young core. This is the year to make it happen and end this never-ending rebuilding process. And hey, if a team that did not make the playoffs in 2013 can make a World Series in 2014, maybe a 56-win team can win the division the following year. The Royals have proven that crazier things can happen.