The Royals spent the first half of the season trying to figure out how to win in 2026. With the team far back in the standings and the season effectively lost, the final two months should be about figuring out how to win in 2027.
The team still has nearly 40 games left to play, and they aren’t totally meaningless. These games will help the Royals determine what course of action they need to take to truly compete in 2027. They are an extended audition for young players, an opportunity to answer questions about this roster, and a chance to identify which problems can be fixed internally and which will require outside help.
So what should the Royals be evaluating over the final two months?
Cobbling together a bullpen
Royals relievers have a 5.31 ERA, second-worst in baseball, giving them perhaps the worst bullpen in club history. This comes despite the front office spending a lot of resources on the pen, both in salary and in trade assets. Owner John Sherman said this week he thinks the team can “cobble” together a bullpen without spending too much money. This will mean identifying and developing pitchers who could improve their performance with a move to the bullpen or through tweaking their arsenal.
The Royals have already begun implementing this plan, perhaps in desperation, by acquiring any cheaply available arm they can find. Pitchers like Connor Seabold, Jose Cuas, Easton McGee, Nate Pearson have already gotten opportunities in the bullpen (and Randy Dobnak in the starting rotation), and you could see recently acquired pitchers like Carlos Duran and Luke Little called up soon.
More puzzling however, is the decision to bring in 38-year-old Craig Kimbrel. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but there are pitchers under the age of 35 available all the time – Cody Lawyerson, Matt Sauer, Konnor Pilkington, Elieser Hernández, and Ron Marinaccio are just some of the pitchers let go in the last week.
The point isn’t that any of these pitchers would necessarily be a good addition. It’s that the Royals should be constantly searching for talent, rather than assuming the only way to improve the bullpen is to add established veterans. Cade Smith, Brent Headrick, Juan Morillo, Paul Blackburn, and Michael Petersen have all been among the best relievers in baseball this year, and all were picked up by their teams after someone else let them go. The Royals need to go shopping in the bargain bin to see if they can find a hidden gem.
Can young players help out?
The Royals are playing games that aren’t meaningful in terms of winning a pennant, but could be very valuable to evaluate talent. The farm system may not be top-ranked and what talent they do have is mostly in the low minors, but baseball is full of non-prospects – guys like former Royals All-Star Whit Merrifield – exceeding expectations when given playing time.
And yet, the Royals are limiting their opportunity to evaluate players by their roster decisions. The hitting equivalent of Craig Kimbrel is 37-year old outfielder Starling Marte, who is batting just .247/.303/.320 with poor defense. Why give him playing time when you could evaluate 25-year-old Matthew Lugo, who was picked up off waivers and is hitting .263/.320/.532 with 11 home runs in 48 games for Omaha? Why not see if the hot streak by former first-round pick Gavin Cross is for real before you have to make a decision on whether or not to protect him from the Rule 5 draft? Why not call up Carson Roccaforte, whose 29 home runs are more than all but eight players in all of the minors? The Royals need to find out if any of these players might be useful pieces before they spend money or trade prospects to fill those same roster spots.
Are there redundancies on the roster?
Putting together a roster means putting pieces that will fit on a baseball diamond. Having several players who can do roughly the same thing isn’t necessarily a bad problem to have, but the Royals need to figure out whether some of their players are competing for the same roster spot rather than filling different needs.
The final two months should give them a chance to sort through some of those redundancies. Is Jac Caglianone the better option at first base, or should they stick with Vinnie Pasquantino with Cags in right? At second, is Michael Massey the guy going forward, or does Nick Loftin deserve more of a look? Is Kyle Isbel entrenched as a starter or is Tyler Tolbert an option for centerfield?
Players like Massey and Isbel are at pivotal points in their career where their salaries will begin to be more expensive, so they will need to do more to justify their spot on the roster. Even Pasquantino, who is under contract for next year, could become a trade piece if the Royals want to turn to Caglianone at first. One goal for the final two months should be to figure out which combination of players makes the most sense together.
Who is the leadoff hitter in 2027?
Royals leadoff hitters have a .305 on-base percentage, fourth-worst in baseball. Maikel Garcia opened the season in the leadoff spot, but when he slumped, the Royals turned to Carter Jensen, who has a .299 on-base percentage. The table-setter has been a problem for the Royals the last few years, and it doesn’t appear they have found the answer. They spend considerable resources to bring in Jonathan India, only to see it blow up in their face. Before they go out and seek another external option, they need to exhaust their in0houes possibilities.
The last stretch of games could be an opportunity to see if someone like Isaac Collins – whose .332 on-base percentage is second on the team only to Bobby Witt Jr. – can handle leadoff duties. And if not, it could signal that the team needs to look outside the organization to find a better option.
Can the Royals rebuild their starting pitching depth?
The team came into this season thinking their starting pitching depth was a strength. By mid-season, injuries had depleted their pitching staff. Now, Kris Bubic is with the Dodgers, Cole Ragans is likely out at least the first half of next season, and Luinder Avila, Ryan Bergert, and Stephen Kolek are all likely to miss most of next season.
The team held onto Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, for better or for worse, and they will anchor next year’s rotation. Noah Cameron has turned his season around after calling his own pitches. But the Royals will have to figure out not just how to fill the final two spots in next year’s rotation, but finding another 4-5 pitchers that can serve as depth when pitchers inevitably get hurt.
Randy Dobnak has gotten off to a sensational start with the Royals with a 2.00 ERA in his first seven games. The Royals will get an extended look at him to see if his low strikeout rate (12.4%) and high xERA (4.79) mean he’s doing it with smoke and mirrors, or if he is able to exceed expectations.
The Royals are also making the right call to see if Daniel Lynch IV can transition back to being a starting pitcher after a successful run the last two years in the bullpen. The 29-year-old lefty is posting a career-high 49 percent groundball rate, and he has made some notable adjustments this year that may give him better success than when he was a starter to begin his career.
The team should also be on the lookout for more available young starting pitchers. Newly acquired Lucas Braun could get some starts down the stretch, and if there other opportunities to pick up arms as depth, the Royals need to seize upon them.
The Royals have a lot of questions to answer before they can figure out how to fix this roster. The final two months won’t provide all the answers, but they should give the front office enough information to know which problems it can solve from within and where it needs to go shopping this winter.