Grading J.J. Picollo and the Kansas City Royals front office at the season’s midway point
Acquired or traded
It’s hard to say much about Picollo’s dealings with executives of the 29 other big league franchises because he barely had any. Under the leadership of Picollo, the Kansas City front office brought in only one player via a trade, purchase or waiver claim with another club.
That lone player was veteran minor leaguer Josh Taylor, a 30-year-old who came to Kansas City from the Boston system in January in exchange for Adalberto Mondesi and minor leaguer Angel Pierre.
Taylor’s previous major league experience consisted of 102 innings spread over three seasons in Boston, the last of it coming in 2021. He spent the 2022 season pitching for Boston’s Triple-A team, where he had a 6.00 ERA in 13 games.
In Kansas City, he had an 8.15 ERA in 17 games before being sidelined with back problems. The Royals announced this week he will undergo surgery with no announced timetable for his return.
And there is it, ladies and gentlemen, the sum total of the return obtained by Picollo in all his transaction with other teams since the end of the 2022 season.
The Royals were somewhat more aggressive in shipping players off to other clubs. They sold Anthony Misiewicz to Arizona, waived Luke Weaver to Cincinnati, traded Michael A. Taylor to Minnesota for two minor leaguers, traded Cam Gallagher to San Diego for Brent Rooker then turned around and waived Rooker to Oakland, sold Ryan O’Hearn to Baltimore, and waived Richard Lovelady to Oakland.
Free agency
Picollo’s free agency strategy focused on established players who would give the Royals credibility with their fan base, even if those players might be past their prime.
Thus did Zack Greinke return for one more season with his original franchise, this time for $8.5 million. Thus did Aroldis Chapman accept a $3.75 million offer to become the team’s closer … not that the Royals were likely to need a closer very often.
Chapman has saved just two games in 30 appearances, basically ceding what there is of the job to journeyman Scott Barlow. Greinke is 1-8 with a 5.31 ERA in 16 starts. Their combined WAA is a nice +0.5.
Almost without exception, the other free agent additions — Matt Duffy, Ryan Yarbrough, Jordan Lyles, Jackie Bradley Jr. — have been fill-ins. Lyles (-1.9 WAA) has gotten a starter’s role, but it’s been by default; he’s 1-11 with a 6.68 ERA in 16 starts.
Free agent Franmill Reyes was given the starting DH job, but he hit just .186 with only two homers and seven RBI. By mid-May, Picollo had seen enough; Reyes was released onto the open market. He has since been signed by Washington, but has yet to play a major league inning for his new team at the time of this writing.
The cumulative impact of the 10 free agents brought to Kansas City by Picollo is -3.2 WAA.
Farm system
The Royals perfectly fit the profile of a team that would be expected to be building from its home-grown talent. In his first year on the job, Picollo promoted touted prospects of the stripe of Bobby Witt Jr., M.J. Melendez and Vinny Pasquantino.
Halfway through the season, the Royals rookie Class of 2023 is less glamorous, although its four members have for the most part accomplished their generally small tasks with efficiency. The irony is that the stars of the Class of 2022, notably Melendez and Pasquantino, have gone into full sophomore slump mode.
The star of the group is probably third baseman Maikel Garcia (+0.5). Inheriting the corner infield spot when Hunter Dozier failed to deliver, Garcia is batting .267, although his power stroke is not yet up to the level generally desired of big league third basemen.
Freddie Fermin (+0.2) is the Royals’ backup to All-Star catcher Salvador Perez. That sounds like light work, but since Perez is 33, there could be a future in it. Fermin is hitting .260 and delivering satisfactory defensive stats.
Since his callup in May, left hander Austin Cox (+0.5) has fit nicely into the team’s bullpen. He’s covered 16 innings with a 2.25 ERA.
Overall
At 23-58, the Royals are so obviously terrible that Picollo’s assessment cries out for grading on the curve. Sorry, that’s not the way it works in the big leagues.
In fairness to him, save for those misguided free agency-driven attempts to recapture the lost youths of players such as Greinke, Chapman, Reyes and Jackie Bradley Jr., Picollo’s numbers aren’t all that bad. In fact, his rookie class, collectively at least, shows promise.
Here’s the first half report card on the Picollo front office. Note that grades for players departing the organization are based on the reverse of those players’ WAAs with their new teams.
Mode WAA Grade
Acquired -0.8 C
Traded -1.4 B
Signed -3.2 F
FA Lost 0.0 C
Rookies +1.6 B
Overall -1.0 D
Picollo has made 22 personnel moves since the end of 2022 involving a player with 2023 major league experience. Those decisions have split evenly: 10 in his favor, 10 against him and two neutral.
It is a point well taken that the established core of the Royals team has not delivered in 2023. Such contractual holdovers as Perez (-0.5), Witt (-0.4), Pasquantino (-0.7), Melendez (-2.2), and Brady Singer (-0.8) have played poorly.
So even if Picollo had injected fresh talent into this franchise, the likelihood is that it would still be going nowhere. For a team to win, it is almost mandatory that the nucleus perform.
The problem is that Picollo hasn’t injected fresh talent. Well, he may have injected some with Fermin, Cox and Garcia, but that isn’t good enough.
Next. Staying in the division, grading the Chicago White Sox. dark