Post by Commissioner Erick on Jul 31, 2023 16:09:27 GMT -5
Kansas City has been a force for nearly a decade now, a fact made impressive given that the core of the team has turned over so much from the beginning of Kansas City’s run to their 2030 championship. Daniel Kent has consistently had a clear ideology in constructing his teams—pitching that limits walks and keeps the ball on the ground, hitters that draw walks, and position players that play defense. That ideology even extends to the coaching staff, where teaching matters less than focus.
Kent has done meticulous work acquiring the core of his team via trade. Most of the roster has been assembled via constant churn, with Kent consistently out-evaluating opponents and grabbing solid performers, usually for prospects who haven’t done much in the PBA. His free agent signings have been on the cheap, or for bit pieces, and his draft picks have generally been relief arms. It’s a success strategy that hasn’t been seen in the PBA yet, with San Francisco and Milwaukee building draft pick empires, Los Angeles flexing free agent might, and prior teams making bigger trades and not having as many free agents.
It's been a unique path, but one Kent has shown he could win with.
Players
Draft Picks
Roger Airhart (2022, 1st round, 28th overall. $600K contract in 2030)
Jonathan Bakos (2022, 5th round, 153rd overall. $6.0 million contract in 2030)
Frank Aguilar (2023, 5th round, 171st overall. $800K arbitration contract in 2030)
Kyle Sidebottom (2024, 2nd round, 55th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Mark Harris (2025, 9th round, 303rd overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Joe Padgett (2026, 5th round, 165th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Bryce Zettel (2026, 1st round, 26th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Vicente Corado (2027 1st round, 1st overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
With the exception of Corado in 2027, Kansas City has won despite not having elite draft picks on its roster. Kansas City had a ton of early picks before Kent arrived, but most of them turned into serviceable players, not stars. Jaden Ancrum was the lone exception, but he was traded away, reacquired, then traded again for J.P. Crawford.
None of Kansas City’s first round picks between 2020 and 2027 have accumulated more than 2.66 WAR, with most not seeing PBA play. Roger Airhart has become a useful reliever, and Bryce Zettel had a bit role on this year’s team.
What Kansas City has done well with the draft is finding useful relievers below the first round. Frank Aguilar, Kyle Sidebottom, Mark Harris, and Joe Padgett all contributed to Kansas City’s bullpen. With the timing of his injuries, Vicente Corado also was merely a reliever during Kansas City’s title run.
Kansas City did get good fortune with Jonathan Bakos blossoming into a plus Left Fielder and an extra base machine that plays well with Kansas City’s park. However, the Royals supplemented their team with the draft, rather than building through it.
Free Agents
Addison Reed (1/18/24—Signed 3-year, $14 million contract. $2.0 million contract in 2030)
T.J. Zeuch (3/7/28—Signed 3-year, $30 million contract. $10 million contract in 2030)
Rafael A. Gomez (1/28/30—Signed 3-year, $15 million contract. $4.8 million contract in 2030)
Leodys Taveras (2/16/30—Minor League contract. Minimum contract in 2030)
Jesus B. Sanchez (3/29/30—Signed 1-year, $8.4 million contract)
Only five players were significant pieces during the Royals title run and signed via Free Agency. Addison Reed signed an eternity ago as an elite arm on a below-market contract. A strong arm with the Mets, Reed has been an elite reliever with Kansas City, pitching extremely effectively into his 40s. Kent has always wanted an elite pen, and Reed has been one of the staples during the Royals run of success.
The other four free agents have been more recent signings. T.J. Zeuch was an excellent pitch-to-contact righty with Toronto, boasting an elite walk rate and strong WHIPs. After a down year with the Phillies and Indians, Kansas City signed him for a paltry $10 million a season late in 2028’s offseason. Zuech’s home rate has cratered playing in Kansas City, his walk rate has become more impressive, and Kansas City has worked around the underwhelming strikeout numbers. He’s one of the best pitchers who fits the archetype Kansas City wants, and with his lack of strikeouts making him a bargain, Kansas City has been able to deploy him without taking up significant budget space.
Rafael A. Gomez was signed earlier this year to a contract right around $5 million. Aside from an anomalous 2028, Gomez has been a strong reliever since 2024. Kansas City signed him to be another weapon and he had a 3.14 ERA this year, and worked three scoreless postseason games. Kansas City won’t pay huge money for elite relievers, but they’ll pay good money for that next tier of relievers to ensure their pen is stocked with weapons, instead of featuring a great arm and a bunch of questions.
Jesus B. Sanchez was a bargain signing late in free agency. Sanchez hadn’t had a significant role two of the past four years with injuries wrecking his 2026 and 2028 campaigns. Injury concerns a flooded market depressed his contract demands and Kansas City pounced, getting a good starting bat for under $10 million.
Finally, Leodys Tavares plays good defense and can hit lefties. A rough 20209 reduced him to a bat willing to sign a minor league contract, but despite spending all year in the minors and appearing in only five PBA games this year, he hit close to .400 for Kansas City during the postseason.
Kansas City has been willing to risk waiting until the very end of Spring Training to sign impact players and has gotten value as a result. They’ve struck earlier on relievers, making sure their pen is always stocked with top notch arms.
International Free Agents
Jorge Parra (7/1/21—Signed out of Dominican Republic for $5.2 million. Minimum contract in 2030)
Kansas City gave Parra a lucrative signing bonus back in 2021, then were extremely patient with him as we worked through the minors. He had a cup of coffee as a third Catcher in 2028, settled into a backup role last year, and took the reigns this year. Not an offense star by any means, he’s patient, hits for doubles, and his a good framer. He’s another example of Kansas City showing discipline and going after their kind of player, and getting good results out of it.
Trades
Jorge Vargas (4/18/22—Traded from Chicago White Sox, along with Jaden Ancrum, a 1st round pick, and a 2nd round pick, for a 1st round pick. $15 million contract in 2030)
Tyler Alexander (7/18/22—Traded from Detroit for Ken Stockwell and Hector Pineda. $8.5 million contract in 2030)
Humberto Camacho (12/2/24—Traded from Cincinnati for Tanner Rainey, Jorge Guerrero, and Oscar Olvera. $11.3 million in 2030)
Xavier Edwards (1/6/25—Traded from Cincinnati for Rich Roberts and Doug Syversen. $13.8 million contract in 2030)
Jaquan Chassagne (12/30/25—Traded from Cleveland for Saul Valenzuela and Alvero Paz. $1.2 million contract in 2030)
Harland Guenette (3/1/27—Traded from Cincinnati for Greg Scott, Olaf Kohn, John Jamison, and Felix Trevino. $11.5 million contract in 2030)
Taylor Lehman (4/26/27—Traded from Tampa Bay for Orlando Aguilar, Barrett Suggs, and Tim Grove. $9.8 million contract in 2030)
Ryan Beyer (11/22/28—Traded from New York Mets for Jose Pineda, Jaak Bos, Adrian Uribe, Hui-ying Xiong, and Mike Gifford. $11.7 million contract in 2030)
Roderick Dalton (11/26/29—Traded from Detroit for C.J. Hoover and Ivan Johnson. $22.2 million arbitration contract in 2030)
Quadir Murriel (12/3/29—Traded from Milwaukee for Danny Weatherwax. $7.6 million contract in 2030)
Calvin Greenfield (3/4/30—Traded from St. Louis, along with Gregoria Sonera, for a 7th round draft pick. Minimum contract in 2030)
Jeff Payton (6/3/30)—Traded from Minnesota for Bob Rosales. $2.5 million arbitration contract in 2030)
Luis Nunez (6/24/30—Traded from New York Mets for Oscar Rivera. $3.8 arbitration million contract in 2030)
T.J. Hardman (7/15/30—Traded from Seattle for Xamida Kagwa and a 3rd round pick. $3.2 million arbitration contract in 2030)
This is where Kansas City has shined. They’ve often made trades early in the offseason, identifying their targets early, and this year, they were able to fill in some gaps, midseason.
The most important trade they made was early in Kent’s tenure, trading the first overall pick in 2022 for a pair of picks, Jorge Vargas, and a reacquired Jaden Ancrum. They acquired that pick by fleecing Seattle, trading Jeifry Nunez for a host of assets, then traded the pick for the two future superstars, the pick that would become Roger Airhart, and a second round pick that didn’t work out. Ancrum turned into J.P. Crawford, who helped the team in the middle of the decade, while Vargas became a superstar. Vargas has led the league in homers, RBIs, runs, doubles, walks, and slugging percentage in his career, and has four Silver Sluggers to his name. He’s been the superstar who has fueled Kansas City’s success the last half decade.
The Royals made another trade early in Kansas City’s tenure, highlighting their ideology. They acquired Tyler Alexander for Ken Stockwell, a fruit of the trade that netted Kansas City’s first overall pick used to acquire Vargas, and Michael Pineda. Stockwell would eventually be reacquired by Kansas City in the Rule V draft before crippling shoulder woes sabotaged his career, while Pineda never played above Double-A. Alexander was making the minimum with reasonable success for Detroit, only putting up poor superficial numbers because Detroit was rebuilding. Stockwell never helped their rebuild, while Alexander has produced at least 2.7 WAR every full year of his Royals career. He limits walk, he limits homers, and combined with Kansas City’s defense, limits BABIP, and he’s used that formula to become the 12th best pitcher all-time in terms of WAR. His acquisition set in motion most of Kansas City’s future success.
The Royals acquired defense-first Center Fielder Humberto Camacho, and young star infielder Xavier Edwards from Cincinnati prior to 2025. Camacho hasn’t been a consistent offensive player as he can’t hit lefties, so he’s never accumulated a ton of plate appearances in a season. He’s had some huge years though, including a 4.7 WAR 2028, and he produced 3.4 WAR this year, fueled by strong defense and 35 doubles. For $11.3 million, when he’s hit the high range of his possible outcomes, Kansas City has soared. And when he hasn’t, he’s been a good defender. All he cost was reliever Tanner Rainey and two prospects that never developed.
Edwards required a steeper price, Doug Syversen and Rich Roberts, a busted prospect. Syverson was a strong reliever, who developed into an elite Closer in Cincinnati. In recent years, it’s come at a steep salary, but Kansas City needed a Shortstop more than a Closer, and preferred deeper bullpens than having one elite stopper. Edwards was an elite defender, a good base stealer, and he carried a decent average most of his career. His offense really fell off this past year, but the defense remained strong, which was a priority for Kent.
Jacquan Chassagne was picked up from Cleveland prior to 2026 and has become a useful power arm in the pen. He was acquired for two very young prospects, one of whom, Alvaro Paz, has a chance to be good, but who wasn’t on Kansas City’s timeline.
In 2027, Kansas City acquired a couple of more important players. The Royals once again did business with Cincinnati, and acquired Harland Guenette, a strong defensive Third Baseman who club doubles. Guenette had a massive 2028 that has resulted in arbitration cost being a little higher than what the Royals would prefer, especially as his bat has been league average the past two years. He cost the Reds two okay starting arms in John Jamison and Olaf Kohn, and a good reliever in Greg Scott, but the Royals needed a strong Third Baseman more than they needed more arms. Especially considering they got another arm in Taylor Lehman very early that year.
Lehman is another prototype Royals arm, limiting walks and homers at the expense of missing bats. He has a stellar playoff track record, was excellent in 2030, makes less than $10 million, and only cost Quad-A slugger Barrett Suggs and 2028’s loss leader Tim Grove.
Kansas City acquired a pair of superstars to take its team to the next level prior to 2029 and 2030. First, they obtained Ryan Beyer from the Mets. Similar to another former injured Met Noah Syndergaard, Beyer is an elite arm who cannot pitch deep into games. He had a down year after rotator cuff surgery, and Kent gambled that Beyer would emerge on the other side of the surgery as a top flight arm. The bet paid off as Beyer has been fantastic, leading the league with a 2.17 ERA and winning 17 games this past year. He went 2-0 with a 2.64 playoff ERA. He did cost five prospects, but Jaak Bos appears the only decent one, after Mike Gifford led the NL in homers allowed this past year.
Kansas City then turned good, but non-elite Ivan Johnson, and C.J. hoover coming off an outlier season into MVP-candidate Roderick Dalton. This deal turned Kansas City into a juggernaut as they were able to field a second elite bat to Vargas. Dalton led the league in OBP and produced 120 RBIs, and 6.1 WAR as a terrorizing force. Johnson was plenty good this year with 3 WAR, and Hoover was a good swingman, but Kansas City needed a superstar and Dalton provided it. The Royals aren’t the offensive force without him.
Suddenly needing a Second Baseman, and having a bit of budget space, the Royals traded spare outfielder Danny Weatherwax to Milwaukee for Quadir Murriel. Murriel didn’t hit at all, and he whiffed far more likely than Kent would prefer, but he drew walks and played exceptional defense. The team tried Dustin Oakes and Juan Moreno early in Center Field, living the results of not having a standout right-handed backup outfielder for awhile, but the issue only arose against left-handed starters, and Murriel was very effective at shoring up Second Base for Kansas City.
The Royals gave up a seventh round pick to obtain Calvin Greenfield to be backup Catcher. Greenfield was poor defensively, and terrible offensively, but played the least important role on the team. Kansas City also got a minor league Catcher who played eight games for them this year. That trade—did not work out.
Kansas City made three final trades in-season to shore up some weak points—backup right-handed hitting outfielder to fill the gap of Weatherwax, swingman pitcher to provide pitching depth, and backup, right-handed hitting Second Baseman to take over for injured Joey Young. The Royals picked up Jeff Payton, Luis Nunez, and T.J. Hardman, each with their salary paid for by the trading teams. Kansas City sent away fringe Second Base prospect Bob Rosales, long-term Catcher prospect Oscar Rivera, and fringe Catcher prospect Xamida Kagwa, plus a third round pick to obtain the trio.
Payton held his own in the playoffs and followed Kansas City’s pitch-to-contact strategy capably in the regular season, Nunez was fine in the regular season but got hurt prior to the playoffs, and Hardman was replacement level, but not catastrophically bad in the regular season and playoffs. It’s possible Kansas City rues the Hardman and Nunez deals in the future based on how the prospects turn out, but it was worth it to plug holes on the roster.
The trades as a whole show the discipline of Daniel Kent of identifying a style, identifying players who match that style, and getting good value by targeting players who pull in the same direction, a direction different to most of the rest of the league. They’ve also identified a couple of chances to take big swings in recent years, and like all successful teams, needed that one pinch of good luck that came in the Vargas deal. As a result of that discipline and good fortune, Kansas City was able to build an elite team that was able to win a championship.
Scouting Discoveries
None
Rule V Draft
Joey Young (2025, 5th round, 148th overall from Baltimore. $4.4 million contract in 2030)
Elijah Hines (2030, 1st round, 20th overall from Cleveland. Minimum contract in 2030)
The Royals had a pair of Rule 5 picks on their team. Joey Young was picked up in the 2025 Rule V after previously being drafted by Kansas City and traded for Jared Lakind. Kansas City then tossed a sixth rounder to Baltimore to allow the Royals to demote Young to the minors. Young still came up that year, and has had a big role since then, playing at least 80 games in three of the four years between 2026 and 2029. An oblique and a labrum injury wrecked most of his 2030, but he’s been a valuable utility player for the Royals the last half decade.
Hines was taken from Cleveland this year and allowed just one homer all season. He’s a little bit wild and may only be a lefty-specialist going forward, but he had an impressive showing his rookie year.
Staff
Team Trainer: Bobby Harmon
Pitching Coach: Bryce Florie
First Base Coach: Ben Johnson
Third Base Coach: Shawn Jeter
Harmon, Florie, Johnson, and Jeter have all been with Kansas City since at least 2027, with Florie, Johnson, and Jeter on the club since 2026.
Harmon has generally been one of the league’s better trainers. More geared towards prevention, he really specializes in arm injuries, both preventing, and especially rehabbing. He doesn’t have great marks anywhere else, but Kent has been more willing to protect his pitchers than his hitters.
The Royals did tie for the second most players on the IL, and were fifth in IL days, with the irony that most of that was comprised of arm woes. Roger Airhart missed some of the season with a spring training arm injury, and Taylor Lehman strained his shoulder in May, missing more than a month. Second Baseman Joey Young tore his labrum in June, and Vicente Corado suffered shoulder tendinitis, costing him the final stretch of the season and essentially forcing him to the bullpen for the playoffs. Jaquan Chassagne missed the playoffs with shoulder inflammation, and Tyler Alexander’s postseason was cut short with forearm inflammation.
Most of Harmon’s previous work in Kansas City doesn’t see an overwhelming number of injuries, just the one or two serious arm woes that every team ends up dealing with. Very few position players have had serious injuries in the time. Xavier Edwards has been nicked up, but mostly with arm woes he’s recovered well from. Jesus B. Sanchez joined the team with a history of elbow, back, shoulder, and upper body injuries, but he had a clean bill of health in 2030, a key part of keeping Kansas City’s offense humming.
Florie has been a part of Kansas City’s system since 2019. He was there for Daniel Kent turning around the Wilmington Blue Rocks, turning them into a force in the middle of the decade, and he’s made the playoffs every year with Kansas City. He’s only decent at teaching pitching, but specializes in ground balls, gets along well with the staff, and has an easygoing personality that works well with veterans. Kansas City’s staff is older so they don’t need someone to show them the ropes, just someone to make sure their grounders are still getting good plane.
Johnson and Jeter haven’t been good at teaching running, as the Royals had the fewest baserunning runs in the league. What they are good at is teaching defense. With the Royals running a pitch-to-contact, ground ball-oriented staff, they need good defense, and Johnson and Jeter have helped provide tutelage.
Assistant GM: Jeff Luhnow
Bench Coach: Freddy Sanchez
Hitting Coach: Kenny Socorro
Scouting Director: Brett Merkley
Luhnow, Sanchez, Socorro, and Merkley are recent additions to the team, joining in 2029. Luhnow hasn’t done too much to build the staff yet, but he has excellent bona fides as a scout, fueling Tampa Bay’s strong run of four playoff appearances from 2018-2022, then he joined the Pirates and has been responsible for identifying their young core. He’s a normal guy, that works well for a staff that doesn’t want to rock the boat.
Freddie Sanchez is another guy who doesn’t rock the boat. New to coaching, his job as Bench Coach was his first professional coaching job. He’s not great at anything except teaching defense, something Kent belongs strongly in. He also has a normal personality who keeps Kansas City’s players happy, especially the pitchers. He doesn’t have a great relationship with Kansas City’s three sluggers, but Zettel is adaptable, Vargas has always had a bit of prickly personality, and Dalton didn’t let the relationship affect his performance.
Socorro was also new to coaching, but he came highly regarded. He’s a Hitting Coach who focuses on patience, key for a Royals team that wants to control the strike zone. He’s extremely adept at showing hitters the ins-and-outs of hitting, and he gets along well with a bunch of normal guys. The patient hitters got along well with him, and helped the Royals lead the league in on-base percentage despite being 11th in average.
Finally, Brett Merkley has done a solid job as Scouting Director the last two years. Another first time coach, he’s good at scouting the majors, and outstanding at the minors and the draft. He identified Eliott Overton and Juan Reyes in the Brendan Tinsman trade, plus he drafted Jayden Harris late in this year’s first round, and Caleb MacClellan early in last year’s second round, and both are Top 100 prospects despite not being selected in a premium position. At the major league level, he helped identify Sanchez, Murriel, Hardman, and Tavares as players who provide the defense and patience Kent wants from his team, and Rafael A. Gomez as an elite arm who could bolster the bullpen.
Kent has done meticulous work acquiring the core of his team via trade. Most of the roster has been assembled via constant churn, with Kent consistently out-evaluating opponents and grabbing solid performers, usually for prospects who haven’t done much in the PBA. His free agent signings have been on the cheap, or for bit pieces, and his draft picks have generally been relief arms. It’s a success strategy that hasn’t been seen in the PBA yet, with San Francisco and Milwaukee building draft pick empires, Los Angeles flexing free agent might, and prior teams making bigger trades and not having as many free agents.
It's been a unique path, but one Kent has shown he could win with.
Players
Draft Picks
Roger Airhart (2022, 1st round, 28th overall. $600K contract in 2030)
Jonathan Bakos (2022, 5th round, 153rd overall. $6.0 million contract in 2030)
Frank Aguilar (2023, 5th round, 171st overall. $800K arbitration contract in 2030)
Kyle Sidebottom (2024, 2nd round, 55th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Mark Harris (2025, 9th round, 303rd overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Joe Padgett (2026, 5th round, 165th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Bryce Zettel (2026, 1st round, 26th overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
Vicente Corado (2027 1st round, 1st overall. Minimum contract in 2030)
With the exception of Corado in 2027, Kansas City has won despite not having elite draft picks on its roster. Kansas City had a ton of early picks before Kent arrived, but most of them turned into serviceable players, not stars. Jaden Ancrum was the lone exception, but he was traded away, reacquired, then traded again for J.P. Crawford.
None of Kansas City’s first round picks between 2020 and 2027 have accumulated more than 2.66 WAR, with most not seeing PBA play. Roger Airhart has become a useful reliever, and Bryce Zettel had a bit role on this year’s team.
What Kansas City has done well with the draft is finding useful relievers below the first round. Frank Aguilar, Kyle Sidebottom, Mark Harris, and Joe Padgett all contributed to Kansas City’s bullpen. With the timing of his injuries, Vicente Corado also was merely a reliever during Kansas City’s title run.
Kansas City did get good fortune with Jonathan Bakos blossoming into a plus Left Fielder and an extra base machine that plays well with Kansas City’s park. However, the Royals supplemented their team with the draft, rather than building through it.
Free Agents
Addison Reed (1/18/24—Signed 3-year, $14 million contract. $2.0 million contract in 2030)
T.J. Zeuch (3/7/28—Signed 3-year, $30 million contract. $10 million contract in 2030)
Rafael A. Gomez (1/28/30—Signed 3-year, $15 million contract. $4.8 million contract in 2030)
Leodys Taveras (2/16/30—Minor League contract. Minimum contract in 2030)
Jesus B. Sanchez (3/29/30—Signed 1-year, $8.4 million contract)
Only five players were significant pieces during the Royals title run and signed via Free Agency. Addison Reed signed an eternity ago as an elite arm on a below-market contract. A strong arm with the Mets, Reed has been an elite reliever with Kansas City, pitching extremely effectively into his 40s. Kent has always wanted an elite pen, and Reed has been one of the staples during the Royals run of success.
The other four free agents have been more recent signings. T.J. Zeuch was an excellent pitch-to-contact righty with Toronto, boasting an elite walk rate and strong WHIPs. After a down year with the Phillies and Indians, Kansas City signed him for a paltry $10 million a season late in 2028’s offseason. Zuech’s home rate has cratered playing in Kansas City, his walk rate has become more impressive, and Kansas City has worked around the underwhelming strikeout numbers. He’s one of the best pitchers who fits the archetype Kansas City wants, and with his lack of strikeouts making him a bargain, Kansas City has been able to deploy him without taking up significant budget space.
Rafael A. Gomez was signed earlier this year to a contract right around $5 million. Aside from an anomalous 2028, Gomez has been a strong reliever since 2024. Kansas City signed him to be another weapon and he had a 3.14 ERA this year, and worked three scoreless postseason games. Kansas City won’t pay huge money for elite relievers, but they’ll pay good money for that next tier of relievers to ensure their pen is stocked with weapons, instead of featuring a great arm and a bunch of questions.
Jesus B. Sanchez was a bargain signing late in free agency. Sanchez hadn’t had a significant role two of the past four years with injuries wrecking his 2026 and 2028 campaigns. Injury concerns a flooded market depressed his contract demands and Kansas City pounced, getting a good starting bat for under $10 million.
Finally, Leodys Tavares plays good defense and can hit lefties. A rough 20209 reduced him to a bat willing to sign a minor league contract, but despite spending all year in the minors and appearing in only five PBA games this year, he hit close to .400 for Kansas City during the postseason.
Kansas City has been willing to risk waiting until the very end of Spring Training to sign impact players and has gotten value as a result. They’ve struck earlier on relievers, making sure their pen is always stocked with top notch arms.
International Free Agents
Jorge Parra (7/1/21—Signed out of Dominican Republic for $5.2 million. Minimum contract in 2030)
Kansas City gave Parra a lucrative signing bonus back in 2021, then were extremely patient with him as we worked through the minors. He had a cup of coffee as a third Catcher in 2028, settled into a backup role last year, and took the reigns this year. Not an offense star by any means, he’s patient, hits for doubles, and his a good framer. He’s another example of Kansas City showing discipline and going after their kind of player, and getting good results out of it.
Trades
Jorge Vargas (4/18/22—Traded from Chicago White Sox, along with Jaden Ancrum, a 1st round pick, and a 2nd round pick, for a 1st round pick. $15 million contract in 2030)
Tyler Alexander (7/18/22—Traded from Detroit for Ken Stockwell and Hector Pineda. $8.5 million contract in 2030)
Humberto Camacho (12/2/24—Traded from Cincinnati for Tanner Rainey, Jorge Guerrero, and Oscar Olvera. $11.3 million in 2030)
Xavier Edwards (1/6/25—Traded from Cincinnati for Rich Roberts and Doug Syversen. $13.8 million contract in 2030)
Jaquan Chassagne (12/30/25—Traded from Cleveland for Saul Valenzuela and Alvero Paz. $1.2 million contract in 2030)
Harland Guenette (3/1/27—Traded from Cincinnati for Greg Scott, Olaf Kohn, John Jamison, and Felix Trevino. $11.5 million contract in 2030)
Taylor Lehman (4/26/27—Traded from Tampa Bay for Orlando Aguilar, Barrett Suggs, and Tim Grove. $9.8 million contract in 2030)
Ryan Beyer (11/22/28—Traded from New York Mets for Jose Pineda, Jaak Bos, Adrian Uribe, Hui-ying Xiong, and Mike Gifford. $11.7 million contract in 2030)
Roderick Dalton (11/26/29—Traded from Detroit for C.J. Hoover and Ivan Johnson. $22.2 million arbitration contract in 2030)
Quadir Murriel (12/3/29—Traded from Milwaukee for Danny Weatherwax. $7.6 million contract in 2030)
Calvin Greenfield (3/4/30—Traded from St. Louis, along with Gregoria Sonera, for a 7th round draft pick. Minimum contract in 2030)
Jeff Payton (6/3/30)—Traded from Minnesota for Bob Rosales. $2.5 million arbitration contract in 2030)
Luis Nunez (6/24/30—Traded from New York Mets for Oscar Rivera. $3.8 arbitration million contract in 2030)
T.J. Hardman (7/15/30—Traded from Seattle for Xamida Kagwa and a 3rd round pick. $3.2 million arbitration contract in 2030)
This is where Kansas City has shined. They’ve often made trades early in the offseason, identifying their targets early, and this year, they were able to fill in some gaps, midseason.
The most important trade they made was early in Kent’s tenure, trading the first overall pick in 2022 for a pair of picks, Jorge Vargas, and a reacquired Jaden Ancrum. They acquired that pick by fleecing Seattle, trading Jeifry Nunez for a host of assets, then traded the pick for the two future superstars, the pick that would become Roger Airhart, and a second round pick that didn’t work out. Ancrum turned into J.P. Crawford, who helped the team in the middle of the decade, while Vargas became a superstar. Vargas has led the league in homers, RBIs, runs, doubles, walks, and slugging percentage in his career, and has four Silver Sluggers to his name. He’s been the superstar who has fueled Kansas City’s success the last half decade.
The Royals made another trade early in Kansas City’s tenure, highlighting their ideology. They acquired Tyler Alexander for Ken Stockwell, a fruit of the trade that netted Kansas City’s first overall pick used to acquire Vargas, and Michael Pineda. Stockwell would eventually be reacquired by Kansas City in the Rule V draft before crippling shoulder woes sabotaged his career, while Pineda never played above Double-A. Alexander was making the minimum with reasonable success for Detroit, only putting up poor superficial numbers because Detroit was rebuilding. Stockwell never helped their rebuild, while Alexander has produced at least 2.7 WAR every full year of his Royals career. He limits walk, he limits homers, and combined with Kansas City’s defense, limits BABIP, and he’s used that formula to become the 12th best pitcher all-time in terms of WAR. His acquisition set in motion most of Kansas City’s future success.
The Royals acquired defense-first Center Fielder Humberto Camacho, and young star infielder Xavier Edwards from Cincinnati prior to 2025. Camacho hasn’t been a consistent offensive player as he can’t hit lefties, so he’s never accumulated a ton of plate appearances in a season. He’s had some huge years though, including a 4.7 WAR 2028, and he produced 3.4 WAR this year, fueled by strong defense and 35 doubles. For $11.3 million, when he’s hit the high range of his possible outcomes, Kansas City has soared. And when he hasn’t, he’s been a good defender. All he cost was reliever Tanner Rainey and two prospects that never developed.
Edwards required a steeper price, Doug Syversen and Rich Roberts, a busted prospect. Syverson was a strong reliever, who developed into an elite Closer in Cincinnati. In recent years, it’s come at a steep salary, but Kansas City needed a Shortstop more than a Closer, and preferred deeper bullpens than having one elite stopper. Edwards was an elite defender, a good base stealer, and he carried a decent average most of his career. His offense really fell off this past year, but the defense remained strong, which was a priority for Kent.
Jacquan Chassagne was picked up from Cleveland prior to 2026 and has become a useful power arm in the pen. He was acquired for two very young prospects, one of whom, Alvaro Paz, has a chance to be good, but who wasn’t on Kansas City’s timeline.
In 2027, Kansas City acquired a couple of more important players. The Royals once again did business with Cincinnati, and acquired Harland Guenette, a strong defensive Third Baseman who club doubles. Guenette had a massive 2028 that has resulted in arbitration cost being a little higher than what the Royals would prefer, especially as his bat has been league average the past two years. He cost the Reds two okay starting arms in John Jamison and Olaf Kohn, and a good reliever in Greg Scott, but the Royals needed a strong Third Baseman more than they needed more arms. Especially considering they got another arm in Taylor Lehman very early that year.
Lehman is another prototype Royals arm, limiting walks and homers at the expense of missing bats. He has a stellar playoff track record, was excellent in 2030, makes less than $10 million, and only cost Quad-A slugger Barrett Suggs and 2028’s loss leader Tim Grove.
Kansas City acquired a pair of superstars to take its team to the next level prior to 2029 and 2030. First, they obtained Ryan Beyer from the Mets. Similar to another former injured Met Noah Syndergaard, Beyer is an elite arm who cannot pitch deep into games. He had a down year after rotator cuff surgery, and Kent gambled that Beyer would emerge on the other side of the surgery as a top flight arm. The bet paid off as Beyer has been fantastic, leading the league with a 2.17 ERA and winning 17 games this past year. He went 2-0 with a 2.64 playoff ERA. He did cost five prospects, but Jaak Bos appears the only decent one, after Mike Gifford led the NL in homers allowed this past year.
Kansas City then turned good, but non-elite Ivan Johnson, and C.J. hoover coming off an outlier season into MVP-candidate Roderick Dalton. This deal turned Kansas City into a juggernaut as they were able to field a second elite bat to Vargas. Dalton led the league in OBP and produced 120 RBIs, and 6.1 WAR as a terrorizing force. Johnson was plenty good this year with 3 WAR, and Hoover was a good swingman, but Kansas City needed a superstar and Dalton provided it. The Royals aren’t the offensive force without him.
Suddenly needing a Second Baseman, and having a bit of budget space, the Royals traded spare outfielder Danny Weatherwax to Milwaukee for Quadir Murriel. Murriel didn’t hit at all, and he whiffed far more likely than Kent would prefer, but he drew walks and played exceptional defense. The team tried Dustin Oakes and Juan Moreno early in Center Field, living the results of not having a standout right-handed backup outfielder for awhile, but the issue only arose against left-handed starters, and Murriel was very effective at shoring up Second Base for Kansas City.
The Royals gave up a seventh round pick to obtain Calvin Greenfield to be backup Catcher. Greenfield was poor defensively, and terrible offensively, but played the least important role on the team. Kansas City also got a minor league Catcher who played eight games for them this year. That trade—did not work out.
Kansas City made three final trades in-season to shore up some weak points—backup right-handed hitting outfielder to fill the gap of Weatherwax, swingman pitcher to provide pitching depth, and backup, right-handed hitting Second Baseman to take over for injured Joey Young. The Royals picked up Jeff Payton, Luis Nunez, and T.J. Hardman, each with their salary paid for by the trading teams. Kansas City sent away fringe Second Base prospect Bob Rosales, long-term Catcher prospect Oscar Rivera, and fringe Catcher prospect Xamida Kagwa, plus a third round pick to obtain the trio.
Payton held his own in the playoffs and followed Kansas City’s pitch-to-contact strategy capably in the regular season, Nunez was fine in the regular season but got hurt prior to the playoffs, and Hardman was replacement level, but not catastrophically bad in the regular season and playoffs. It’s possible Kansas City rues the Hardman and Nunez deals in the future based on how the prospects turn out, but it was worth it to plug holes on the roster.
The trades as a whole show the discipline of Daniel Kent of identifying a style, identifying players who match that style, and getting good value by targeting players who pull in the same direction, a direction different to most of the rest of the league. They’ve also identified a couple of chances to take big swings in recent years, and like all successful teams, needed that one pinch of good luck that came in the Vargas deal. As a result of that discipline and good fortune, Kansas City was able to build an elite team that was able to win a championship.
Scouting Discoveries
None
Rule V Draft
Joey Young (2025, 5th round, 148th overall from Baltimore. $4.4 million contract in 2030)
Elijah Hines (2030, 1st round, 20th overall from Cleveland. Minimum contract in 2030)
The Royals had a pair of Rule 5 picks on their team. Joey Young was picked up in the 2025 Rule V after previously being drafted by Kansas City and traded for Jared Lakind. Kansas City then tossed a sixth rounder to Baltimore to allow the Royals to demote Young to the minors. Young still came up that year, and has had a big role since then, playing at least 80 games in three of the four years between 2026 and 2029. An oblique and a labrum injury wrecked most of his 2030, but he’s been a valuable utility player for the Royals the last half decade.
Hines was taken from Cleveland this year and allowed just one homer all season. He’s a little bit wild and may only be a lefty-specialist going forward, but he had an impressive showing his rookie year.
Staff
Team Trainer: Bobby Harmon
Pitching Coach: Bryce Florie
First Base Coach: Ben Johnson
Third Base Coach: Shawn Jeter
Harmon, Florie, Johnson, and Jeter have all been with Kansas City since at least 2027, with Florie, Johnson, and Jeter on the club since 2026.
Harmon has generally been one of the league’s better trainers. More geared towards prevention, he really specializes in arm injuries, both preventing, and especially rehabbing. He doesn’t have great marks anywhere else, but Kent has been more willing to protect his pitchers than his hitters.
The Royals did tie for the second most players on the IL, and were fifth in IL days, with the irony that most of that was comprised of arm woes. Roger Airhart missed some of the season with a spring training arm injury, and Taylor Lehman strained his shoulder in May, missing more than a month. Second Baseman Joey Young tore his labrum in June, and Vicente Corado suffered shoulder tendinitis, costing him the final stretch of the season and essentially forcing him to the bullpen for the playoffs. Jaquan Chassagne missed the playoffs with shoulder inflammation, and Tyler Alexander’s postseason was cut short with forearm inflammation.
Most of Harmon’s previous work in Kansas City doesn’t see an overwhelming number of injuries, just the one or two serious arm woes that every team ends up dealing with. Very few position players have had serious injuries in the time. Xavier Edwards has been nicked up, but mostly with arm woes he’s recovered well from. Jesus B. Sanchez joined the team with a history of elbow, back, shoulder, and upper body injuries, but he had a clean bill of health in 2030, a key part of keeping Kansas City’s offense humming.
Florie has been a part of Kansas City’s system since 2019. He was there for Daniel Kent turning around the Wilmington Blue Rocks, turning them into a force in the middle of the decade, and he’s made the playoffs every year with Kansas City. He’s only decent at teaching pitching, but specializes in ground balls, gets along well with the staff, and has an easygoing personality that works well with veterans. Kansas City’s staff is older so they don’t need someone to show them the ropes, just someone to make sure their grounders are still getting good plane.
Johnson and Jeter haven’t been good at teaching running, as the Royals had the fewest baserunning runs in the league. What they are good at is teaching defense. With the Royals running a pitch-to-contact, ground ball-oriented staff, they need good defense, and Johnson and Jeter have helped provide tutelage.
Assistant GM: Jeff Luhnow
Bench Coach: Freddy Sanchez
Hitting Coach: Kenny Socorro
Scouting Director: Brett Merkley
Luhnow, Sanchez, Socorro, and Merkley are recent additions to the team, joining in 2029. Luhnow hasn’t done too much to build the staff yet, but he has excellent bona fides as a scout, fueling Tampa Bay’s strong run of four playoff appearances from 2018-2022, then he joined the Pirates and has been responsible for identifying their young core. He’s a normal guy, that works well for a staff that doesn’t want to rock the boat.
Freddie Sanchez is another guy who doesn’t rock the boat. New to coaching, his job as Bench Coach was his first professional coaching job. He’s not great at anything except teaching defense, something Kent belongs strongly in. He also has a normal personality who keeps Kansas City’s players happy, especially the pitchers. He doesn’t have a great relationship with Kansas City’s three sluggers, but Zettel is adaptable, Vargas has always had a bit of prickly personality, and Dalton didn’t let the relationship affect his performance.
Socorro was also new to coaching, but he came highly regarded. He’s a Hitting Coach who focuses on patience, key for a Royals team that wants to control the strike zone. He’s extremely adept at showing hitters the ins-and-outs of hitting, and he gets along well with a bunch of normal guys. The patient hitters got along well with him, and helped the Royals lead the league in on-base percentage despite being 11th in average.
Finally, Brett Merkley has done a solid job as Scouting Director the last two years. Another first time coach, he’s good at scouting the majors, and outstanding at the minors and the draft. He identified Eliott Overton and Juan Reyes in the Brendan Tinsman trade, plus he drafted Jayden Harris late in this year’s first round, and Caleb MacClellan early in last year’s second round, and both are Top 100 prospects despite not being selected in a premium position. At the major league level, he helped identify Sanchez, Murriel, Hardman, and Tavares as players who provide the defense and patience Kent wants from his team, and Rafael A. Gomez as an elite arm who could bolster the bullpen.