Development Lab
First Round
Danny Petty- Strength & Conditioning
- No Improvement
Billy Mumaugh- Quality of Contact
- Outstanding
- Improvements to BABIP: Current 50 (+5); Potential 65 (+5)
Jeremy Rogerson- Quality of Contact
- No Improvement
Tim Storer- Quality of Contact
- Successful
- Improvements to BABIP: Current 50 (+5)
Ramiro Cepeda- Secondary Pitch Improvement
- Successful
- Improvement to Slider: Current 50 (+<5); Potential 70 (+5)
Marcos Paz- Strength & Conditioning
- No Improvement
Second Round
Jimmy Goodman RF
- Successful
- Outfield: Range <5; Error <5; Arm +5
Billy Mumaugh LF
- Successful
- Outfield: Range 5; Error <5; Arm <5
Jake Adolphus- Base-stealing
- Poor
- Leg Proneness Normal to Somewhat Normal
Will Gasparino LF
Nick Loftin 2B
- Successful
- Infield: Range 5; Error <5; Arm <5; Turn DP 5
Jeremy Rogerson 3B
- Successful
- Infield: Range <5; Error <5; Arm <5; Turn DP <5
Awards
The Royals finally had some players to celebrate over Awards season.
Wyatt Langford won a Great Glove in LF,
Hunter Owen a Platinum Stick at DH.
Bobby Witt Jr. and
Owen received MVP votes while
Angel Perdomo was rewarded for his stellar regular season with the Reliever of the Year Award. He was a unanimous choice with
Wen-Hui Pan also receiving votes.
AL Great Gloves (LF
Wyatt Langford KC)
NL Great Gloves
AL Platinum Sticks (DH
Hunter Owen KC)
NL Platinum Sticks
AL Manager of the Year David Kelton CWS
NL Manager of the Year Charles Kulle COL
AL Reliever of the Year Angel Perdomo KC
NL Reliever of the Year Yeijiro Ando SF
AL Rookie of the Year Mike Miller SEA
NL Rookie of the Year Steve Melendy PHI
AL Cy Young Dan Nichols CWS
NL Cy Young Yu-min Lin ARI
AL MVP Julio Rodriguez SEA
NL MVP Steve Melendy PHI
Pre-Arbitration Extensions & Trades
The big contract move in the off season was securing
Jimmy Goodman to a 10-year contract. The final two years of the contract are Team Options and it peaks at $13m. With the potential to be the next homegrown star, this deal potentially taking Goodman through his age 34 year was well received by fans.
- Signed SP Chase Burns to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,500,000.
- Signed RP Wen-Hui Pan to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $3,650,000.
- Signed 2B Gregory Barrios to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,100,000.
- Signed SP Drew Beam to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $3,600,000.
- Signed RP Raimon Gomez to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,600,000.
Wednesday, November 27th , 2030- Traded 28-year old CF Enrique Bradfield Jr. and 33-year old minor league 2B Nick Madrigal to the Washington Nationals, getting 26-year old CF Cristhian Vaquero (retaining 25%) in return.
- Traded 34-year old minor league RHP Spencer Howard and 32-year old minor league RHP Joan Adon to the Arizona Diamondbacks, getting 22-year old minor league LF Luis Gotay in return.
The Royals only made two trades during the offseason and got their business done early. Centrefield had been flagged as a weakness defensively in 2030 with
Enrique Bradfield Jr. the likely casualty.
Christian Vaquero was identified as a stop gap upgrade after a AAA season where he had a wRC+ in the 94th percentile of AAA Centerfielders to go with 70 Range. Minor League Free Agent upper Minors depth piece Nick Madrigal was the sweetener for the deal for the Nationals, who retained 25% of Vaquero’s league minimum salary.
The second trade was opportunistic as the Diamondbacks came calling for pitching depth piece Spencer Howard. Adding in Joan Adon, another pitching depth piece, netted the Royal
Luis Gotay, a 2029 7th round pick with 70 range to go with potential plus contact and gap power. He will start in AA and could be the longer term answer in CF.
The early Royals moves meant there were no Arbitration decisions or Qualifying Offers to be considered.
International Free Agents
In what was a weak International Free Agent class, the Royals chose to pass on making any offers.
Rule 5 Draft
Ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, the Royals added three players to the 40-man roster; SS
Jake Adolphus (2027 10th Rd), and pitchers
Juan Caraballo (2027 14th Rd) and
William Schmidt (2024 2nd Rd).
The draft itself was a lot more active for the Royals with some losses. They did pick up Jack Leiter from the Astros who may have the chance to earn a bullpen spot during spring training.
Draft Log
- Lost CF Alek Thomas (2030 MiL FA) to the Toronto Blue Jays.
- Lost 2B Austin Martin (2030 MiL FA) to the Los Angeles Angels.
- Drafted SP Jack Leiter (Round 1, Pick 29) from the Houston Astros.
- Lost SP Colin White (2026 7th Rd) in the Rule 5 Draft to the San Francisco Giants.
- Lost CL Myung-joo Kim (2029 Trade from SF) in the Rule 5 Draft to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Royals were disappointed to lose White and Kim as both seemed a stretch to pencil into the Big Leagues this year. They have both enjoyed strong Springs though and seem likely to stick in San Fran and Toronto.
International Amateurs
After successive years of multi-player classes, the Royals reverted to using all of their International Amateur pot on a single (hopefully) future superstar.
Jorge Tejeda is an adaptable, intelligent (probably corner) outfielder from the Dominican Republic who profiles to have plus contact, gap power, and eye with 80 power. He will turn 17 during the season but will begin in the International Complex.
Financial Situation
After the disappointment of the 2031 budget, it was a relief for owner Sherman to make no changes to the budget during his January review.
Preseason & Spring Training
The Royals went 13-13 in Spring Training while warming their starters up and getting some reps for potential fringe players. They were injury free until the penultimate game of the Spring when CF
Sheng-En Lin strained his rotator cuff throwing the ball. He will miss the first 7 weeks of the season.
Around the League
The big offseason news was John Fisher selling out Oakland fans and taking the team to San Antonio, renaming them the Avalanche.
Retirements
- 2B Jose Altuve retired from professional baseball.
- 3B Nolan Arenado retired from professional baseball.
- SP Walker Buehler retired from professional baseball.
- SP Corbin Burnes retired from professional baseball.
- 3B Matt Chapman retired from professional baseball.
- RP Seranthony Dominguez retired from professional baseball.
- CL Pete Fairbanks retired from professional baseball.
- SP Lucas Giolito retired from professional baseball.
- RF Luis Gonzalez retired from professional baseball.
- 2B Nick Gordon retired from professional baseball.
- C Cooper Hummel retired from professional baseball.
- RP Brooks Kriske retired from professional baseball.
- RP Alex Lange retired from professional baseball.
- 2B Brandon Lowe retired from professional baseball.
- RP Phil Maton retired from professional baseball.
- 3B Ryan McMahon retired from professional baseball.
- 3B Yoan Moncada retired from professional baseball.
- CF Brandon Nimmo retired from professional baseball.
- LF Tyler O'Neill retired from professional baseball.
- RP Connor Overton retired from professional baseball.
- C Logan Porter retired from professional baseball.
- LF Zach Reks retired from professional baseball.
- SP Kodai Senga retired from professional baseball.
- RP Jeffrey Springs retired from professional baseball.
- SP Zach Thompson retired from professional baseball.
- CF Mike Trout retired from professional baseball.
Colorado Rockies: Retired #28 in honor of
Nolan Arenado.
Houston Astros: Retired #27 in honor of
Jose Altuve.
Los Angeles Angels: Retired #27 in honor of
Mike Trout.
Contract Extensions
- Arizona Diamondbacks: CF Druw Jones 5 years $112,800,000.
- Chicago White Sox: SP Noah Schultz 1 year $21,200,000.
- Detroit Tigers: RF Max Clark 5 years $48,400,000.
- Houston Astros: SS TJ Pompey 8 years $178,900,000.
- Los Angeles Angels: 2B Zach Neto 5 years $104,000,000.
- Miami Marlins: SP Eury Perez 7 years $241,500,000.
- Oakland Athletics: LF Chase DeLauter 5 years $49,400,000.
- San Diego Padres: C Ethan Salas 1 year $34,500,000.
- San Diego Padres: CF Jackson Merrill 8 years $252,000,000.
- San Francisco Giants: CL Yeijiro Ando 1 year $33,500,000.
- St. Louis Cardinals: C Kevin Bazzell 5 years $35,480,000.
- Washington Nationals: SP Sergio Narvaez 1 year $21,800,000.
Free Agent Signings
- Houston Astros: SP Kyle Hurt 5 years $137,000,000.
- Los Angeles Angels: 1B Edouard Julien 6 years $120,800,000.
- Los Angeles Dodgers: 3B Elly De La Cruz 6 years $109,200,000.
- Los Angeles Dodgers: SP Ricky Tiedemann 7 years $238,500,000.
- New York Yankees: 1B Nolan Schanuel 8 years $198,400,000.
- Seattle Mariners: 2B Noelvi Marte 7 years $200,200,000.
- St. Louis Cardinals: SP Paul Skenes 5 years $158,500,000.
- St. Louis Cardinals: SS Masyn Winn 8 years $288,000,000.
- Texas Rangers: 3B Oneil Cruz 4 years $87,200,000.
- Toronto Blue Jays: 2B Matt McLain 6 years $156,000,000.
- Toronto Blue Jays: SP Seth Johnson 5 years $37,000,000.
Major Injuries
Pitchers
- Andy Squires CIN diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, will miss 12-13 months.
- Zander Mueth PIT diagnosed with a ruptured disc, will miss 8 months.
- Liam Norris ARI diagnosed with a torn labrum, will miss 12 months.
- Logan Workman BOS diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow, will miss 4 months.
- Shane Sdao COL diagnosed with shoulder inflammation, will miss 7-8 months.
- Sadiel Baro LAA diagnosed with a torn meniscus, will miss 3 months.
- Michael Kennedy LAD diagnosed with a torn meniscus, will miss 3 months.
- Domingo Acevedo SA diagnosed with shoulder inflammation, will miss 3 months.
- Hunter Greene SA diagnosed with a forearm strain, will miss 3 months.
Hitters
- 3B James Triantos ARI has suffered a setback in his recovery. He is not expected to recover for another 11-12 months.
- 1B Andruw Monasterio PIT diagnosed with a concussion, will miss 6 months.
- SS Thomas Saggese PIT diagnosed with a fractured fibula, will miss 4 months.
- RF River Town SD has suffered a setback in his recovery. He is not expected to
- recover for another 7 months.
- 3B Ruben Santana TB has suffered a setback in his recovery. He is not expected to recover for another 6 months.
Hall of Fame
After the glut of invites handed out to the Hall of Fame over the last three years, January 15 saw the news released that there would be no new Hall of Famers in 2031 with only two players,
Craig Kimbrel and
Paul Goldschmidt gathering over 60% of the vote.
Next up, the 2031 Roster Preview