Royals offer sizzle, but where's the steak?

Billed as a “listening tour” for a new downtown stadium, it was more of a “sales pitch.” Plus, the Royals make a free agent signing!

Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman along with seven others met with the general public for the first time since Sherman’s open letter was released in mid-November, expressing his wishes for a new ballpark and entertainment village in downtown (or somewhere thereabouts) Kansas City. The panel that convened included four from the Royals front office (the business side, not the baseball part) along with a pair from local architecture firm Populous and a representative from HR&A, a company that advises clients on how to “increase opportunity and advance quality of life in cities.”

At the heart of Sherman’s pitch, a shiny new stadium at a cost of around $1 billion with an accompanying “ballpark village” at a similar $1 billion price tag.

While we have a cost of the project, important details are still extremely lacking. Sherman keeps emphasizing the use of both private and public funds, but how does that break down? He said on Tuesday that private money will fund the “bulk” of the project with a “significant investment.“ That’s not exactly specific enough for my tastes. How much of the tab will taxpayers be expected to pick up? Sure, the cost of the project can change as plans come together, it’s probably a bit too early to hang a solid dollar amount, so how about a firm percentage? Sherman did say private capital would be responsible for all of the ballpark village. That’s at least a start. And a very positive one, I might add.

Yet for a downtown stadium, Sherman continues to state that the team would merely ask for an extension of the three-eighths cent sales tax that was voted on in Jackson County in 2006 to refurbish both Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums. That tax runs for 25 years and will service bonds totaling $450 million that were used to finance the renovations. Overall, the tax is expected to raise $850 million.

The questions to ask here are how much money would be required from this tax to finance the new stadium and how long would the tax last?

Another, seemingly important question left unanswered pertains to location: Where, exactly, are they looking to build? This seems vitally important. We’ve learned they have looked at 14 sites, yet won’t name the locations or point to a favorite. Are all 14 still in the mix? If any potential sites were eliminated, where were they and why? If Sherman is his group is wanting to be transparent, this would be an easy place to start.

The meeting wasn’t all fluff. We did learn the new stadium would have a capacity of around 38,000. That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 34,000 to 35,000 seats with the remaining standing room. That seems like a lot set aside for standing. Kauffman Stadium’s current seating capacity is listed at 37,903. Game Seven of the 2014 World Series saw an attendance of 40,535, so that’s a little over 2,500 standing-room tickets available at The K. This seems important because, if the Royals ever get good again, fewer tickets available will drive up the prices. Ahhh, yes…scarcity of goods is now part of the ticket plan.

Maybe the most noteworthy item to come out of the first stop on the sales pitch listening tour is they have a website. Yes, a website!

KC Ballpark District features a video narrated by Paul Rudd that leans into both nostalgia and Midwestern hospitality tropes. It has some nice footage, a couple of renders of the new ballpark and plenty of light leaks.

There are the two artists’ renderings we’ve already seen from the open letter and a detailed section on how the Royals have given back to the community. That’s smart web design. There’s also a copy of Sherman’s open letter and a Q&A section with the same vague promises that have surrounded this project from the start.

I realize this is still very much in the planning stages. Although I wouldn’t say it’s in the early stages. The issue of extending the sales tax could be put before Jackson County voters in August of 2023. That’s in about eight months. There are drawings and money being paid to consultants and now sales pitches listening tours. Quite a bit of thought and effort has gone into this. The lack of concrete information can only continue for so long.

We need details.

While the Royals business leaders were conducting their meeting, attempting to justify their need for $2 billion for a new stadium and ballpark village, a press release from the baseball side dropped into my inbox, announcing the signing of left-handed pitcher Ryan Yarbrough to a one-year deal. He will earn $3 million next year with the potential to cash in $1 million in incentives. He’s the Royals’ first free-agent signing of the winter.

My friends, the optics aren’t great.

During a forum where pre-screened questions were allowed, someone asked why the Royals don’t spend more money on their team. Sherman reiterated that the team will spend when the time is right. We heard similar promises from David Glass and Dayton Moore and they did, in fact, step up when the opportunity was there. I do seem to trust Sherman on the baseball front, but the lack of movement this winter has been disheartening. Part of the positive in keeping J.J. Picollo and most of the front office staff around is there is less time needed to evaluate the situation. They are familiar with enough that they should be able to make some decisions and start moving in what would hopefully be the right direction. And when, as I noted earlier this week, that the rest of the AL Central is basically treading water in a sea of mediocrity, it’s a shame the Royals have done so little over the last three to four years to improve their lot. Given the economic structure at play in the division, no club should ever be on the outside for as long as the Royals seemingly are content to be.

Payroll is on track to be at 2022 levels. As things stand, the team isn’t going to be pushing for contention in 2023, even in a weak division. But the club is looking for some (How much? Who knows?) public financing for a new stadium.

Weeks after the final out of the World Series was recorded, we have the first move by the Royals to add someone to their roster for the upcoming season.

For a team that emphasized—and failed at—throwing first-pitch strikes the last couple of seasons, Yarbrough fits the ticks that box. Since he came into the league in 2018, his 64.3 percent first-strike rate ranks 19th among 53 pitchers who have thrown at least 550 innings. Last year, his rate was almost 68 percent, the highest of his career. In contrast, the Royals collectively threw a first-pitch strike 58 percent of the time last year, the worst rate in the league.

As you would expect from someone who is working ahead in the count with regularity, Yarbrough doesn’t walk many. Last year he walked 6.2 percent of all batters faced, a little above his career rate of 5.4 percent.

While Yarbrough is throwing strikes, the results haven’t been there for the last couple of years. That’s obviously behind the reason he was DFA’d by Tampa last month. (Tampa connection alert! Obviously, new manager Matt Quatraro is extremely familiar with the lefty.) His ground ball rate has dropped while he’s had an issue keeping balls in the yard. Maybe the new pitching coaches can help him find a little more sink on a couple of his pitches.

The upside is that when batters make contact, it’s generally weak. Yarbrough’s average exit velocity is about 4 MPH less than league average and posts a Hard-Hit rate of around 27 percent. Both those Statcast metrics are exceptional.

While the results haven’t been there the last couple of seasons, at $3 million, that’s some nifty free-agent shopping. Plus, he has less than five years of service time, so if he pitches well enough in 2023, the Royals have him for another year before he hits the free-agent market.

We’re used to these types of signings here, but the upside with Yarbrough is obvious.