As spring nears, Picollo breaks down Royals' offseason

KANSAS CITY -- Back in October, fresh off the excitement of the Royals’ first postseason appearance in nine years and the disappointment for how it ended, general manager J.J. Picollo laid out his priorities for the upcoming offseason and what the Royals would do to try to improve.

They wanted to keep Michael Wacha in the rotation, which they did a short time later by signing the veteran righty to a three-year, $51 million deal.

They wanted to find a consistent leadoff hitter, which they did in November by acquiring Jonathan India from the Reds for Brady Singer. When Singer’s departure meant the Royals needed someone to cover those innings, they re-signed right-hander Michael Lorenzen.

And they wanted to pursue another bat that could fit in the middle of the order, one that would bring more power to the lineup.

That box hasn’t been checked off yet with 10 days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.

“That’s probably one area in the two years we haven’t been able to reach our goal, getting that, so it’s a little disappointing,” Picollo said Saturday at Royals Rally. “But we can’t force teams to make trades they don’t want to make. We were active in the free-agent market, we just weren’t able to land the guys. I think it speaks volumes to what Mr. [majority owner John] Sherman is doing and his commitment to allow us to continue to bump our payroll up a little bit and a willingness to exceed what the payroll was projected to be.

“All we can do is try -- we can’t force it. We made valiant efforts on the free-agent side and real concerted, direct efforts in a trade market and just weren’t able to pull it off.”

The Royals pursued several free agents, including outfielder Anthony Santander, which The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported over the weekend and sources confirmed to MLB.com. But when Santander signed a five-year contract with the Blue Jays, the Royals decided to pivot back to pitching, with the thought that improving the pitching staff even more might take more pressure off the offense.

That’s when discussions with All-Star reliever Carlos Estévez picked up, and the Royals were able to sign him to a two-year, $22.2 million contract with a club option for a third year. They introduced the reliever Saturday.

The signing bumped the Royals’ estimated payroll to $132 million, according to FanGraphs, up from an estimated $114 million at the end of 2024.

“To me, it’s about opportunity,” Sherman said about increasing payroll. “It’s about what makes our team better. … We tried hard on some, I would say, marquee outfield bats, and we’re continuing to talk to some guys. But it’s more about what makes our team better. Just like this Estévez add. That was a big add to our team. It made our team a lot better. We’re just smarter about roster construction.”

Royals officials didn’t rule out making more moves to help the offense as spring approaches.

“I like the team that we have right now,” Sherman said. “I’m not saying that there might not be another piece done here.”

A free-agent acquisition would be more of a move to round out the roster on the margins. Veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk has come up in discussions, sources said. A big-time impact bat could still come via trade.

“But you would have thought, if that’s going to happen, those discussions would have taken place already,” Picollo said. “We certainly made our calls to teams we thought had the type of player we’re looking for, and we didn’t have a willing partner, so it made it hard. I think right now, if something were to change, it would probably be because those teams that had the players that we were trying to get sign somebody else, do something, and now they feel like they have depth. I don’t anticipate that happening, to be honest.”

The Royals do believe their offense is better than last season with the India acquisition alone, giving them someone who gets on base ahead of All-Star and AL MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. while deepening the lineup.

Improvement from young hitters Michael Massey, Maikel Garcia and MJ Melendez, as well as a bounce-back season from Hunter Renfroe, would be all the better.

“If we were to start today, I’d be really excited about the lineup we have,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “If there’s an addition, I can’t imagine that it’s something that’s a 10-year deal for somebody or anything like that, but I think we’re happy with what we have. We need guys to continue to grow and understand that certain guys might not have huge years like they had last year, and we need a fully balanced lineup.”