The Royals need a lot of work after losing 93 games last year. There will likely be a flurry of action this month before the labor deal expires in December. What would you do if you were running the Royals this offseason?
The Royals currently have 35 players on the 40-man roster.
Catchers (2): Carter Jensen, Salvador Perez
Infielders (6): Maikel Garcia, Nick Loftin, Michael Massey, Vinnie Pasquantino, Tyler Tolbert, Bobby Witt Jr.
Outfielders (5): Jac Caglianone, Isaac Collins, Kyle Isbel, Matthew Lugo,
John Rave
Pitchers (22): Ryan Bergert, Spencer Bivens, Noah Cameron, Steven Cruz, Jose Cuas, Randy Dobnak, Carlos Estévez, Carlos Durán, Lucas Erceg, Tony Gonsolin, Anthony Gose, Nolan Hoffman, Ben Kudrna, Seth Lugo, Daniel Lynch IV, James McArthur, Nate Pearson, Mitch Spence, Connor Thomas, Michael Wacha, Beck Way, Steven Zobac
Luinder Avila, Stephen Kolek, Nick Mears, and Cole Ragans will be activated from the 60-day Injured List and will join the 40-man roster soon. Carson Roccaforte and Lucas Braun need to be added to the 40-man roster, and you may want to add Brett Squires, Gavin Cross, Felix Arronde, and/or Daniel Vazquez, among other players. Do you add any of them and who do you remove?
The Royals have a $13 million club option on closer Carlos Estévez with a $2 million buyout, and a $2.5 million club option on Tony Gonsolin. Do you exercise either of those?
The Royals have nine players eligible for arbitration with the following projected salaries.
- Randy Dobnak $2,300,000
- Lucas Erceg $2,300,000
- Anthony Gose $1,100,000
- Kyle Isbel $3,500,000
- Daniel Lynch IV $1,800,000
- Michael Massey $3,200,000
- James McArthur $800,000
- Nick Mears $2,200,000
- Nate Pearson, $2,000,000
Do you non-tender any of them?
The Royals have seven players under contract for next year.
- Seth Lugo $21.5 million
- Bobby Witt Jr. $20.111 million
- Michael Wacha $14 million
- Cole Ragans $7.583 million
- Maikel Garcia $7.26 million
- Vinnie Pasquantino $6.9 million
- Salvador Perez $6.5 million
Those salaries total just over $83 million. Combine them with your arbitration-eligible salaries, any buyouts, and the salaries of pre-arbitration players. Owner John Sherman projects around $30 million for the team to spend this offseason. Here is a list of eligible free agents. Who do you pursue?
Would you have the Royals active on the trade market? You can use the Trade Simulator at Baseball Trade Values to get an idea of what would be a fair trade.
What does your offseason look like to get the Royals back to contention?
