This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers¡¯ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY ¨C Once the holiday season is over and January settles in, it¡¯s almost time to think about Spring Training. You can start to dream about the sunshine of Arizona. Royals pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 12 at their facility in Surprise, after all.

Baseball teams use the last month of the offseason to put the finishing touches on their roster, add depth through Minor League signings and get prepped for spring. This year, there are several free agents still unsigned, so there¡¯s plenty of intrigue for the next month or even two.

Kansas City's offseason thus far has been measured. General manager J.J. Picollo was aggressive with the things he and his front office deemed as the top priorities very early on ¨C re-signing starter Michael Wacha and finding a leadoff hitter in Jonathan India, acquired via a trade with the Reds before Thanksgiving. The rest has been slow because the Royals are waiting on markets to develop.

Their one big question they need to answer before spring, though, has to be centered around the offense. Have they done enough to address the lineup?

¡°Our offense was, if you look back on the year, acceptable,¡± Picollo said in October after the Royals¡¯ season ended. ¡°The runs per game that we scored over the course of the year was acceptable, but there were too many ups and downs. We got to be a little bit more consistent. It starts not so much with slug ¨C we always want slug ¨C but it starts with getting guys on base. That¡¯s going to be an area that we¡¯re going to not only address in looking at players we can acquire, but how can we be better offensively? How can we develop hitters better at the Major League level and get them to meet expectations? It all starts with getting guys on base, and we¡¯ve got to do a better job.¡±

Picollo went on to say he believes the young hitters will continue to mature, and that will ideally lead to more on-base ability. But it was clear that finding hitters who could get on base was going to be a priority this offseason, and no spot in the lineup better exemplifies the Royals¡¯ problem in that area than leadoff. Kansas City's leadoff hitters slashed .228/.270/.334 this past season. Bobby Witt Jr. had 709 plate appearances in the No. 2 spot in 2024 and came up with the bases empty 433 times. He still managed 109 RBIs during an incredible season, but he was vastly underutilized.

India seems to fix that problem, at least on paper. He has a career .352 on-base percentage, including a .357 OBP this past season. He has experience in the leadoff spot. He knows how to get on base and will slot immediately into the leadoff spot in 2025. India makes the Royals¡¯ lineup deeper just by pushing others ¨C Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, etc. ¨C down in the lineup.

But is that enough?

The Royals¡¯ lineup was good enough in ¡®24; their 735 runs ranked 13th in baseball, which calculates to about 4.5 runs per game and is about middle of the pack. Their 170 homers were in the bottom third, but that¡¯s a little to be expected because of Kauffman Stadium. But their team on-base percentage (.306) ranked 19th in baseball, while their 429 walks were the third-fewest among all Major League teams. If the Royals want their offensive identity to be the athleticism of the roster and putting pressure on opposing pitchers, both of those numbers need to be better.

So working deep counts and getting on base should be a priority in 2025. Whether the Royals rely on internal improvements for this area or bring someone new in to help the lineup remains to be seen. Do the Royals think homegrown players like Garcia, Massey and MJ Melendez will show enough improvement to be the upgrade they seek offensively? How much belief do they have in Hunter Renfroe having a bounce-back year? Or will they swing another trade or sign a free agent to add an already proven player in the middle of the lineup and have the returning players platoon or fight for a spot in spring?

The next month or so will give us an answer to these questions and more.