Wednesday, November 11

Welcome back to the Royals Beat newsletter. MLB.com digital content fellow Perla Paredes wrote this edition.

Despite finishing 69-93 and missing the postseason for the second consecutive year, Kansas City remains confident in its current group of players and believes it has the pieces in place to compete in 2027.

On Tuesday at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas, general manager J.J. Picollo pointed to the Royals’ slow start and the injuries that followed as factors in the team’s disappointing season.

Kansas City also entered the season with 14 players from their organization named to World Baseball Classic rosters, tied for the fourth most in the Majors.

“We didn’t play well early, and then the injury bug hit us,” Picollo said. “We’ve got to be realistic in our evaluation. … [And] we didn’t feel like this is a situation where we’re going to try to start over.”

That belief was part of the reason the Royals held on to veteran starters Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo at the Trade Deadline rather than moving them for prospects.

“Some of that is just forecasting what our rotation is going to look like in ’27, ’28. There is potential [that] both of those guys are here through ‘28,” Picollo said. “A lot of that’s just based around the core that we have in position players.”

Led by Bobby Witt Jr., that group includes Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia, Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen. Rather than breaking up that core for prospects, Kansas City is looking to build around it.

But while the Royals aren’t planning major changes to their position-player group, Picollo said that improvements are necessary, particularly on the pitching side.

“We don’t feel like we have to add a whole lot, but we’ve got to make some improvements on the margins for sure,” Picollo said.

Addressing the pitching staff remains Kansas City’s biggest offseason priority.

The Royals’ bullpen finished 2026 with a 5.07 ERA, the second highest in the Majors, while their starting rotation posted a 4.58 ERA, ranking 25th.

Injuries further depleted the club’s starting pitching depth, with Cole Ragans, Ryan Bergert, Luinder Avila and Stephen Kolek all undergoing elbow surgery during the season.

Ragans and Bergert are expected to return around midseason in 2027, while Avila and Kolek could return later in the year. That leaves Kansas City needing to add pitching depth to bridge the gap until those arms return.

The Royals have already made some decisions regarding their pitching staff, declining closer Carlos Estévez’s $13 million club option while exercising a $2.5 million option on right-hander Tony Gonsolin for 2027.

Gonsolin, who joined the Royals in August while recovering from right elbow surgery, made one Major League appearance in 2026, allowing five runs over 2 2/3 innings against the White Sox on Sept. 22 and striking out five.

Despite the results, Picollo was encouraged by what he saw from the 32-year-old.

“For his own sake, it was good to compete at the Major League level and feel good going into the offseason,” Picollo said. “We saw signs of swing and miss, which was great. He’s kind of got like a split-change that really works well. His slider looked good. His velocity was good. It was encouraging.”

Picollo acknowledged that Gonsolin showed signs of fatigue as he progressed into the second and third innings in the Minors, but viewed that as part of his recovery.

“He’s putting himself in a really good spot,” Picollo said. “Hopefully, we recapture a little bit of what he was in the past.”

Beyond Gonsolin, the Royals still have decisions to make about how to allocate their resources between the rotation and bullpen.

“We have to figure out creative ways with financing and how we’re going to handle this,” Picollo said. “Whether or not we put more money in the starting pitching or bullpen remains to be seen. Logically thinking, you can put a bullpen together less expensive than a starting rotation.”

As Kansas City looks to improve its bullpen, Picollo also emphasized the importance of being more willing to make changes throughout the season if certain options aren’t producing.

“We have to be more transactional in that perspective, and not be afraid to move on with the next guy,” Picollo said.

The organization will continue exploring the free-agent market, which Picollo expects to pick up in the coming weeks. It will involve targeting relievers based on handedness, favorite matchup splits and power. 

“There is no shortage of talent on the free-agent market,” Picollo said. “I think we’re probably going to see it speed up here in [the] next couple of weeks. … We’re potentially working with a shorter window, so we’re hopeful that things do start moving this month.”

Anthony Castrovince contributed to this report from Las Vegas. 

After a record-setting rookie season, Royals catcher Carter Jensen finished fifth in the American Rookie of the Year voting, announced Monday night. 

He earned 31 points, including four third-place votes, nine fourth-place votes and one fifth-place vote. Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle won the award with 204 points, including 28 of the 30 first-place votes. 

The Kansas City native finished with 27 home runs and a team-leading 81 RBIs in 149 games. His home run total surpassed Bob Hamelin’s franchise rookie record of 24, set in 1994. 

Jensen also collected 64 extra-base hits, breaking the Royals’ rookie record and surpassing Hall of Famer Mike Piazza’s Major League mark of 61 of a rookie catcher and added another franchise record from the leadoff spot, hitting six leadoff home runs, the most by a catcher in a single season since at least 1900. 

• Witt, Slavy, Wacha earn Royals 2026 team awards. Read More >>>

• Witt becomes first 3-time winner of Heart and Hustle Award. Read More >>>

• Bob Boone, former Royals catcher and manager, dies at 78. Read More>>>

To subscribe to Royals Beat, visit this page and mark "Royals Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Royals or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.