AL Central: A mid-season front office assessment of the division
By Bill Felber
Kansas City Royals front office, -2.5
Like the Twins, the new Moore-Picollo team plunged into its remake of the Royals with vigor. The swapping out has already involved 30 players with major league time this season, 11 of whom produced positive value for Kansas City.
The net impact, however, is -2.5 games of WAA.
The most impactful move, and really the only one of consequence, was the kind of decision that teams attempting to rebuild simply are not allowed to make. The Royals gave up on a young pitching product of their farm system who went on to find success in a new home. Good pitchers are simply too valuable to be given up on.
Here are the five most impactful moves.
Nov. 5: Jakob Junis was a 28-year-old product of Kansas City’s system who in five seasons had managed nothing more impressive than a 29-35 record and 4.82 ERA. So perhaps it’s understandable that the rebuilding Royals decided to cut their investment in him. Turns out they picked the wrong time. In March Junis signed with San Francisco, where he is enjoying a 4-1 record and 2.63 ERA in seven starts. His +1.5 WAA ranks third among Giants pitchers and is nearly double the best WAA of any current Royals pitcher.
May 2: The idea was to ease rookie callup M.J. Melendez into a cushiony role backing up All Star catcher Salvador Perez and taking some at bats as DH or in the outfield. Then Perez got hurt. Inheriting the regular job, Melendez has found it a challenge. His big league career is off to a .217 start with 46 strikeouts in 200 plate appearances, netting the team -0.9 WAA.
April 7: Rookie Collin Snider got his callup on opening day, the plan being to use him as bullpen depth. But in 27 appearances encompassing 21 innings, Snider could not consistently retire hitters. He did win four of six decisions, but the real story was wrapped up in his 7.71 ERA and 1.762 WHIP. On June 10, Snider and his -0.7 WAA were returned to Triple A Omaha for further work.
April 7: Following a brief 2021 introduction to the majors, outfielder Kyle Isbell made the team out of spring training. Optioned to Omaha two weeks later, he was recalled a week later and has so far stuck. But Isbell, too, has suffered adjustment pains. He’s batting just .222 with a .581 OPS as a fourth outfielder, and carrying a -0.7 WAA.
April 7: Like Snider, Gabe Speier was a system product who won a spring promotion to the big club. Before being returned to Omaha 10 days ago, Speier had actually performed relatively well, with a 2.33 ERA and 1.09 WAA in 19 innings of work. That worked out to a +0.6 WAA.