The Winter Meetings open in style; will the Royals arrive to the party?

There's big movement on the first night in Dallas as the Royals look to continue to improve on their breakout season. Plus, some random Royals thoughts.

Baseball’s annual gathering in a non-descript hotel convention center got underway with a shout on Sunday night. The New York Mets outbid their crosstown rivals to secure the services of Juan Soto. The winning bid? How about a cool $765 million for 15 years? Whooooooooah. The runner-up bid? A less cool $760 million for 16 seasons according to Bob Nightengale. Steve Cohen gets his man for the Mets. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the Yankees are doing, but I think I love it.

Preceding Sunday’s action, Willy Adames, the best position player available not named Juan Soto, signed a seven-year deal with the San Francisco Giants who were finally able to land a big free agent bat. Roki Sasaski will be available soon. Garrett Crochet is available now. And the Dodgers are still deferring money to people you never even heard of.

With signings aplenty as the Winter Meetings get underway in Dallas, rumor season likewise shifts into high gear. We know the Royals have checked a couple of items off their winter wish list in the re-signing of starter Michael Wacha and the trade of Brady Singer for their new leadoff hitter, Jonathan India. That leaves a middle-of-the-order bat as the remaining big-ticket item on JJ Picollo’s shopping list.

I’m not sure the Soto signing has any impact on the Royals’ approach this week in Dallas. I don’t need to tell you that the Royals weren’t playing in the Soto end of the free agent pool. I’m not sure they’re even putting on a swimsuit and getting one of those drinks with an umbrella in it at this point. As the Royals look to add to their lineup, a trade feels much more likely. Mentioned in a few rumors over the last few weeks and at the higher end of the spectrum would be someone like Alec Bohm. A lot is always made of guys playing close to their roots, but come on…that’s largely eyewash. Sure, Bohm is a Wichita State guy and grew up in Omaha and that makes you as Midwestern as you one can possibly be. Maybe he would be more comfortable in Kansas City, but who’s to say he’s not comfortable now in Philly after a rough couple of moments early in his career?

In many ways, no matter where he played his amateur ball, Bohm is an ideal candidate to ply his trade in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. He’s seen his doubles production increase each of the last three seasons—going from 15 in 2021 to 24 to 31 to last season’s career-high 44. He’s done that while bashing double-digits in home runs in each of the last three seasons. The middling power is fine, but the gapability (I know that isn’t a word, but it should be. At least while The K still exists.) is something that most definitely makes him a candidate. That’s also something that would elevate the cost. Think the upper reaches of the Royals farm system.

There’s also someone like Angels outfielder Taylor Ward, a player the Royals have been linked to previously.

Personally, I like Ward for the simple fact he’s an upgrade and one that wouldn’t take a Brinks truck full of prospects to make that deal happen. The flip side to that is that the Angels have somehow been early players in the Hot Stove which means they would be unlikely to deal a player like Ward as they would depend on him to solidify a lineup as they position themselves for relevance.

Or how about the Cubs’ Cody Bellinger? He exercised a player option for $27.5 million and holds an option for next season as well. If the Royals took on the bulk of that salary, the cost to pick him up would presumably be manageable and, should things work out, provide a one-year stopgap in the outfield. Yet his Statcast metrics are wholly unappealing, with low Hard-Hit rates and exit velocities even though he’s one of the better hitters at squaring up pitches.

Those are three names, but I expect the Royals and Picollo to be active this week checking on the availability of a number of outfielders who could solidify that middle of the order.

It will be interesting to continue to follow the starting pitching market as names continue to come off the board, if only to view the moves from the perspective of the Royals following their early signing of Wacha. Wacha came under contract for three years (with a player option for a fourth) at a total of $51 million. Performance bonuses can add an additional $8 million to the deal in the third and (presumably) fourth season. Should all the bonuses be realized, Wacha would average $18 million a season. As it stands, the current average annual value of his contract is $17 million.

Compare his deal to the ones Yusei Kikuchi signed with the Angels (three years at $63 million, a $21 million AAV) and Luis Severino inked with the Nomadic Athletics (three years at $67 million, a $22.3 AAV). It sure looks like the Royals came out as winners in this market, even before other A-listers such as Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty have yet to sign. All three of them could further lift the salaries of the next tier of free agent starters.

Wacha may have left money on the table, but he obviously was comfortable with the Royals and vice-versa.

Maikel Garcia underwent surgery on his right elbow last week to remove a bone spur. He is expected to be ready for Spring Training. He had been preparing to play winter ball in Venezuela before the injury. He tore up the Venezuelan Winter League last year, hitting .424/.543/.576 in 129 plate appearances for Tiburones de La Guaira.

Garcia is a guy thought to generate some trade interest this winter. If the market exists, I doubt a bone spur would cause any hesitancy.

I understand it’s sort of a cool thing to not care about the Baseball Hall of Fame, but sorry…I’m not going to be one of those guys. Is the Hall of Fame flawed? Absolutely. Yet it still serves as a shrine to the game and for that reason, I can’t quit Cooperstown. The voting for the induction class of 2025 is underway with a handful of ballots already released (follow @notmrtibbs.com on Bluesky for the latest updates of the Hall of Fame Tracker) and the Veterans Committee met on Sunday in Dallas to consider a slate of eight candidates. If you’re a watcher of the process of the Hall of Fame, you know these committees are always a bit sketchy. A little too heavy on “I like this dude and he was a good teammate” kind of vibes.

So I was thrilled on Sunday to learn Dick Allen and Dave Parker had been chosen for enshrinement in Cooperstown.

I feel like if I being entirely honest with myself, Dave Parker is a bit of a borderline case for enshrinement. When The Cobra was at his best, he was an absolutely incredible all-around player. He finished in the top five in the MVP voting on five different occasions from 1975 to 1986, winning in 1978. Yet there were three consecutive seasons in there (from 1981 to 1983) where he was less than stellar due to a plethora of injuries. Using Jay Jaffe’s JAWS to rank Hall of Famers, Parker resides well down the list, between Rusty Staub and J.D. Drew. Yet the peak of Parker’s career…what a peak. However, I will note…with Parker in, Dwight Evans shouldn’t be far behind.

Allen’s story is one that has been told frequently over the years and often included heartbreak—twice he fell just short of induction through a veteran’s committee. He’s a guy, in my mind, who is a deserving Hall of Famer. I’m delighted he’s finally in but wish he was alive to revel in the honor. James Fegan of Sox Machine was on the scene with Allen’s family as the outcome was announced.

Al Fitzmorris, a member of the Royals from 1969 to 1976, passed away last week.

Fitzmorris came to Kansas City from the Chicago White Sox as the 40th pick in the expansion draft prior to that ‘69 season. He made his big league debut that year, appearing in seven games in relief. He spent the next four seasons as something as a swingman, bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen. Fitzmorris hit his stride in 1974 for the Royals, throwing 190 innings and finishing with a 2.79 ERA.

He was a mainstay of the rotation for the next two seasons and was the ultimate pitch-to-contact guy in an era that was full of them. Get a load of these strikeout rates.

An argument can be made that Fitz was the Royals’ best starter in 1976, their first season they made the postseason, yet he was bumped from the rotation by Whitey Herzog who felt lefty Larry Gura stood a better chance against a Yankee lineup that featured a bunch of left-handed thump. Herzog could kind of be that way. Fitzmorris let Herzog know how he felt in no uncertain terms. That winter, Fitzmorris was left unprotected by the Royals in the next expansion draft and was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays who then dealt him to Cleveland. He was out of baseball two seasons later.

In the early ‘90s, Fitz was a regular on Royals pre and postgame radio shows on 610 WDAF. I worked for the station one of those seasons, gathering interviews from the clubhouse for the shows. While the game was going on, I hung in the booth with Fitzmorris and whomever else happened to be around. (Steve Renko was also a regular on the radio shows that season.) Like most ballplayers, Fitz was a fantastic storyteller—there was one story he told about Rocky Colavito who was the hitting coach while he was with Cleveland that just killed me. He was also generous with his insight and knowledge of the game and kindly answered what I am sure were some dumb questions from yours truly. It was a long summer of baseball but it was a blast because of Fitz and his friendship. I learned a lot just sitting and watching those games with him.

Fitz was an active member of the Royals Alumni and participated in several of their charitable events over the years. He was generous with his time and certainly made an impact in the community after his playing days were over.

Condolences to his family and friends.