Slow and steady at the Winter Meetings

JJ Picollo and Matt Quatraro hobnob with the media on a slow first day of the meetings.

We’ve been conditioned to think of baseball’s Winter Meetings as some magical scene where it’s non-stop deals, deals, deals. While plenty of action does happen at the annual baseball confab, it’s often more about the people. Every club is obviously represented and team officials and players are swarming the hotel. It’s an opportunity to take stock of where every team stands with spring training just over two months away.

For the Royals, General Manager JJ Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro both had multiple sessions with the media on Monday. While it would be a stretch to say we learned anything specific about the team (although one thing was mentioned that I’ll note below) and their intentions this winter, it’s still good to review what was said.

The main headline to come out of Monday was that pitching remains a priority for the Royals. Both in the rotation and the bullpen. That should elicit a tremendous response from you, along the lines of, “No kidding!” (It helps if you can pull off major sarcasm.)

Yes, the Royals need pitching. But after the grind of 2023 where starters continue to see their workloads reduced while arm injuries only climb, it’s safe to say that every team needs pitching. The Royals are not alone in their quest.

Flickr/Brent Moore

This presents a problem. The Royals have limited resources, both in real dollars available to spend and in trade capital. If you’re competing with basically the entire league to find pitching, you have to find an edge if it’s the quality you’re searching for.

“We’re really trying to address our pitching...The starting rotation needs a little bit of help. We’ve gotta rebuild our bullpen,” Picollo told MLB Network.

Again…we know.

As the Royals are on the prowl for pitching, I think it’s important to remember that the two most impactful trades in franchise history both happened after the Winter Meetings. The hotels were where the groundwork for the Zack Greinke and Wil Myers trades was laid. They were executed once teams returned to their home base.

The question, however, is do the Royals have a player with the star power of a Greinke they are willing to deal? They’re certainly not trading Bobby Witt Jr. at this point. Do they have a prospect as highly regarded as a Myers who could be part of a package to net a couple of quality starters? With a farm system generally regarded as one of the worst of the game currently, that wouldn’t seem likely. It makes sense that even on the typical limited budget for the Royals their first option would be to pursue free-agent pitching. Here’s what Picollo told Anne Rogers:

“The advantage of the free-agent market is that you’re not giving up players to get someone…From where we are, we still have a lot of players with years of control and options, and you want that depth, so if we can go through free agency, that’s better. But when it’s all said and done, if we have to give up something to get something that makes our team better, we’re going to do it.”

Jaylon Thompson reported the Royals have around $30 million in cash to spend on free agents. I believe this is the first time we’ve heard a number mentioned in this context this winter. Not only that, Picollo noted that if the “right player” is involved, there is room to maneuver over that budget.

Color me intrigued.

Obviously, that doesn’t put the Royals in the hunt for the top tier of free agents, but this kind of money at least moves them out of the normal dumpsters they’ve been diving into to find free agents. Let’s put them comfortably in the “second tier” range of free agents. It would probably push them past the $100 million mark for their Opening Day payroll. That’s not a bad place to be for a smaller market team like the Royals, especially given their recent history where wins have been difficult to come by.

Now they just have to spend wisely.

Other notes from Picollo’s media sessions:

• Picollo characterized Monday’s session as “slow” which I think everyone will agree with.

• MJ Melendez will stay in the outfield. Not a surprise given how he’s looked in his brief stints behind the plate along with the factor that Salvador Perez still figures for a majority of the catcher innings and that Freddy Fermin emerged as a more than capable backup.

• Vinnie Pasquantino has healed up from his surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and is ready for “normal baseball activities.” The 2023 season was such a slog and Pasquantino was truly missed. But the team did show improvement over the season’s second half, so it would’ve been interesting to see how things would’ve gone with a plus bat like Pasquantino’s in the lineup over that stretch. The Royals desperately need him to be healthy.

• Zack Greinke still hasn’t made up his mind if he’s going to play in 2024.

A few items of note from Quatraro’s rounds with the media.

• He feels better about the job now than when he first started. The way things improved as the season went along, coupled with some behind-the-scenes happenings, makes Quatraro happy and feeling good about the future. (I’ll interject here that I think Q showed some increased comfort in the role as the year evolved. That wasn’t easy given the loses. He still seems to me to be the right guy to lead this team.)

• Quatraro called out infield coach José Alguacil as a reason for the improvement of the infield defense in 2023. He said that to watch those guys grow as the year went on—the athleticism, the communication, the pride they took into that—that was fun to see.

• Witt has been with a speed coach this winter. A speed coach! I guess he’s looking to score a 90 on the 80-20 scale. Q noted that if Bobby does something, others want to do it as well. He’s got that magnetism about him, he’s going to lift everyone. (Just another reason for the Royals to get that extension done, pronto.)

• Based on a strong second-half performance, Quatraro mentioned Melendez as a potential breakout candidate for 2024.

Tuesday brings the draft lottery. A reminder that the Royals, A’s and Rockies have the best odds for picking first. The worst-case scenario for the Royals is if they land the eighth overall selection.

The draft is at 4:30.

Yesterday’s dump of Bluesky codes was a success, so here are five more.

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bsky-social-lkohd-rkhcf
bsky-social-f7f5e-ejvtf
bsky-social-vnb6l-gwfse
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As long as they’re claimed, I’ll continue to drop them here.