The Royals have been the shock spender of the 2023-24 offseason, placing down a mixed $110.5MM on eight free brokers: Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Hunter Renfroe, Chris Stratton, Will Smith, Adam Frazier, Garrett Hampson and Austin Nola. A number of of the strikes did not pan out, however the ones that did paid of in spades. Lugo and Wacha helped anchor a robust rotation, which the Royals rode to a Wild Card berth within the American League. They shortly swept the Orioles out of stated Wild Card spherical earlier than falling 3-1 to the eventual AL Champion Yankees within the Division Collection.
Not each offseason spending spree produces such favorable outcomes. Most of the time, it appears to go the opposite path. “Successful the offseason” has change into one thing of an oft-cited punchline, given the frequency with which the staff that grabbed essentially the most headlines over a given winter in the end nonetheless falls shy of expectation.
That does not imply the Royals must be reluctant to take a equally aggressive strategy to the free agent market this winter, nevertheless. On the contrary, there are a number of explanation why they need to give severe thought to an much more aggressive winter — maybe even breaking their prior free agent precedents — particularly with an early strike to retain Wacha on a three-year contract already full.
It isn’t precisely a novel idea to counsel {that a} staff that simply accomplished a stunning playoff berth due to huge contributions from some on-the-rise stars ought to spend in free company, in fact. However the Royals are higher positioned than many may understand, and when you’re on the lookout for dark-horse candidates to make a major splash in free company, they’re amongst my favourite picks to take action. Let’s break down the explanations.
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