Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

It is another Friday, so let’s get to some questions from the listeners. You are Locked On Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. You are tuned in to another edition of Locked On Royals and the Locked On Podcast Network. I your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter or XJ_15. That is at joyj_15. You also can catch us on wherever you listen to podcasts. That can be Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe. For you first-time listeners wondering how we do this channel, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minute episodes at length. And we also have the Lockdown Royals postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo and he goes to you live for about 15 to 20 minutes after each and every episode. Now today’s show is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off on your first purchase. A lot of questions to get to, plenty from YouTube, plenty from Twitter, and we don’t want to waste any time as we always open up this show with saying. Uh, but if you do not have your question answered, I don’t have time to get to it. I feel pretty confident we should answer all of them today. But if I do miss it for whatever reason, just respond with your question again to this video and I’ll have it answered by the end of the weekend. Question number one begins with Corbin. Which three teams do you think it will be in the wild card for the postseason? This isn’t going to be a popular take with it uh being a Royals podcast, but I have to take the bias out of it here for my actual pick. I believe that Boston is going to have one of those spots. In fact, I believe they’re going to hang on to a top spot or second wildcard spot. And then I imagine that New York once Aaron Judge comes back, they’re going to be able to have a playoff spot. And then Seattle, I think, finally gets it done. They did so much at the deadline to bolster that offense. They’re so tough to beat at home. So, I’ll go with Seattle, New York, and Boston as the three teams there. Next one’s coming from Mint. What would an extension look like for Mike and Vinnie this off season? Good question. I almost wonder for my if they would do what they did with Cole Reagan’s, which was give him a little bit of a pay bump over the final years of his arbitration. That feels more likely for a guy that just had a breakout season. you probably want to see one more year where he plays like this before you were to give him a actual extension. But as for Vinnie, I believe he would be due for an extension. Maybe something along the lines of four years, maybe let’s go 15 million a year. So four year, 15 million a year sounds likely for Vinnie Pascantino if he would accept that. I don’t believe you’d have to overpay for Vinnie Pascantino and I could see him taking a little bit more of a hometown discount. Next one is coming from DJ Mack. Are you looking to go to any games that are coming up? If so, where is a good place to find you at the stadium? I will be there Monday night for the nationals. I will probably be at one of the games next week, maybe a few. I know for a fact I’ll be at at least one of the Rangers games. I have a couple of family members that are from Texas. uh and our Rangers fans. So definitely it’ll be there. Uh but I’ll reach out to you. Uh so if you just want to direct message me on Twitter, ask if I’m going to the game the same night you are. We can find a good way to meet up, you know, concourse area or just somewhere if we’re close by and sitting together. So uh yeah, just reach out to me and I’ll I’ll find a spot to meet up with you so we can stop by and chat for a little bit. This one’s coming from Wilson. If the Royals don’t make the playoffs, do you think the trades for our rental players were wasted or still worth doing? This is a great question. And I would say they were worth doing. Not to just make every same make everything seem optimistic and positive, but the Royals were so bad for so many years. I’m not talking about, you know, leading up to 2014, 2015. I’m not talking about a handful of those years. I’m talking really from 1985 to 2013. There were so many years where it was unwatchable product. And even after the World Series, there were times where it was unwatchable. and I can get behind a GM and front office trying to make moves to make things competitive in the second half. Uh rather than just say it’s not our year, we’re not going to do anything. Let’s tank the rest of the way. It’s fun to watch baseball that matters after the deadline. And that’s what you have with the Royals right now. They’re not in a perfect spot, but they’re still within striking distance, four games out of a playoff spot, which makes these final two months a heck of a lot more fun than they would be if they sold off everybody. Uh, this one comes from Parker. Would you like the idea of Jack hitting three hole and moving Vinnie Garcia Salvi down? I just think he would thrive in those situations. Keep up the good work. Thanks for the kind words, Parker. And I would say that Jack needs to hit at the bottom of the order. when he looks up on the jumbotron and sees 140 150 uh that’s just too much pressure to put at the three hole. They need guys that are consistent are run producers and yes he would get more protection but I would take all the pressure off and hit him seventh or eighth once he’s finally back in the lineup. Uh this one is coming from Justin. Hey Jack, love the work you do on the show. What do you think next year’s lineup would look like? Not giving up on this year, but I’m curious what things will look like next year. I’m a little bit uncertain if Jonathan India is going to be back just because Michael Massie had such a down year and he’s had so many setbacks with the rehab process. I’m gonna say that he still is. Bobby will be at short, Mike will be at third, Vinnie at first, Salvi behind the plate. I’d imagine that they make a pretty big move for a corner outfielder. Maybe they like what Yremsky does the rest of the way and bring him back on a cheaper deal. Jack would be probably more of the DH and right fielder. Uh Kyle Isel is probably going to be the center fielder and then one big move in free agency would be their left fielder. Rotation, I’d imagine you’re going to have Reagan’s, Luga, Waka, Cameron, and then I’ll probably say Bubich still. Uh but maybe they look at his health over the last handful of years and say it was great what you did as a starter, but maybe we need to keep you a little bit fresher out of the bullpen. But I think they’re still going to give it another go as a starter bullpen. You could have, let’s see, Esta is back. Ersig, I would love to see them bring Hunter Harvey back on a one-year deal. Um, I’d imagine Daniel Lynch will still be there. Maybe a couple of smaller moves there. I would like to see a better left-hander uh that could get outs at a higher rate than Sarah Lynch and Sam Long, but we’ll see there. All right, I need to probably go over a list of all the free agents out there uh the Royals could be targeting uh in free agency. This one is coming from Logan. Garcia has been the most consistent hitter on the team all season. On the contrary, he was a sub average OPS and only one he has a sub average OPS and only one home run with runners in scoring position, which contradicts the role of a cleanup hitter. Thoughts on moving Garcia to the sec two-hole and Bobby to the third spot in the order? I’ve always thought Bobby would be better hitting third. That’s where I believe you put your best hitter. Um, but if the offense is clicking, which I believe it has been over the last handful of weeks, I wouldn’t toy with it too much. Uh, it just gives the Royals a little bit different of a look and doesn’t clog the bases with Vinnie and Salvi hitting back to back. So, I’d imagine that’s more so of why they do it. His numbers do need to improve though with runners in scoring position. This one is from William. What happened to Austin Cox and why? he just uh wasn’t healthy enough uh after he had the ACL tear, I want to say it was. Um that was when he had first made his debut in Kansas City, then had a couple of setbacks. He’s with Atlanta right now if I’m not mistaken. I know that he was pitching for them out of the bullpen. Uh but the Royals just felt more confident in the guys they had at the big league level and Austin Cox wasn’t a part of that future. This one’s coming from Camaro. Ideal playoff lineup against righties and lefties. Also, who leaves when Kaggs is coming back? That probably will be John Rave in my opinion. John Rave can give you some pretty good defense and he is quick on the bases, but that’s a lefty for a lefty and Nick Loftton being a right-hander offsets Adam Frasier a little bit. So that would be my pick when Kaggs comes back is that John Ray would go back down to Omaha. Against righties, I’d like to see Yaz leading off, Bobby in the two-hole, Vinnie hitting third, Salvi fourth. Um then I would go with who has been hitting fifth or I guess that would be yeah Garcia fourth, Perez fifth. I would go Adam Frasier sixth, India seven, Kags eight, Isbel nine against righties I would like to see Michael Garcia leading off then Bobby Vinnie Salvi Garcia Gritic I’ll go with Loftton Kags and then Isbel to round out that lineup. Let’s get to one more here before our break. Eric asked why does Q always pull the starter with two outs in the six? Seems to happen a lot. Burger was rolling. should have left him in. I have said before that in situations like that, it really does come down to the score and point in the game. That’s not a genius thing in saying, but if the Royals were up four to one, he probably leaves Ryan Burger because a two-run home run still keeps the lead intact. It’s not a great thing, but there’s less room for air, or there’s more room for error, I should say. The margin for error was so slim in that game. And Burger was at a careerhigh in innings. He was, I believe, also at a careerhigh in pitch count. and he was facing a lefty that crushes righties and you wanted to go to a lefty who’s been good against lefties against a lefty who doesn’t hit lefties. That’s why that move was made and I’d imagine he’s going to keep doing that moving forward. I know it’s frustrating but that has to go on the offense a little bit too to give the starter more to work with so that he can stay out there and battle through getting the final out of the inning. Let’s take our our first break of the show. When we come back, still a lot of questions to get to next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter or X at johnnyj_15. Want to tell you about the title sponsor in game time. Have you ever decided last minute to head to a ball game with friends or family? Maybe it’s game day and you suddenly realize you want to be in the stands. That’s exactly where game time comes in. It’s the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress. With the money you save on tickets, you can splurge on food, drinks, merch, or even invite a bigger group to come with you. Game time makes it possible. Game time makes buying tickets fast and simple. Prices on the app actually drop the closer you get to first pitch. And they’ve got incredible last minute deals, clear seat views, and a lowest price guarantee that takes the worry out of buying. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and redeem code lockdown MLB at $20 off for your first purchase. Those terms apply. So again, create the account and redeem code locked on MLB. L O C K D O N MLB for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Next set of questions is going to begin with, I believe, Steve. Is Zach Grankkey officially retired? What are the chances of making the Hall of Fame? I believe he’s got a really good chance to do so. And without doing the work for him and publicly saying it, yes, Zach Ranki is is not going to be coming back to to Major League Baseball. It’s been a few years now and somebody would have given him a shot and Kansas City would have given him a shot if I really believe they were interested in a reunion. So, I do believe Zack Grankkey is retired. And how fitting is that for Zack that the way he retires is just not saying anything at all and he’s not playing anymore. This one’s from Dean. If it was a must-win game, I think this would be the best lineup. Jonathan India, Bobby Wit, Vinnie, Mike, Salvi, Yas, Frasier, Loftton, and Isbel. Uh, with pitching being Seth Lugo. Wouldn’t hate that lineup. I would like to see maybe Randall Gritic in there instead of Nick Loftton just being a more polished and established hitter than Loftton would be in a playoff environment. Let’s jump things over now to Twitter. And if I missed anybody’s question on YouTube, again, just respond to this video and I’ll have it answered by the end of the weekend. This one’s from Paul. Do you see management going out and working any post deadline deals for anyone like they did last year? Trey Mancini has had a great year in the PCL and even Ben Gaml might be worth a gamble as an insurance policy against injury. Great work as always. Thanks again, Paul. And I would say it’s unlikely just because they already have a pretty crowded bench and they have a lot of guys that have been healthy all year in the starting lineup. So if you were to get Trey Mancini, where is he going to play with two first baseman on the roster and Vinnie Pasquantino and Jack Kaggle? You could bring up DH, but if you want to have both those guys in the lineup, I’d imagine that’s what you want to do because now that Yas and Gridic are playing right field. So, I would say it’s very unlikely unless they had another freak injury like Vinnie did last year when they were in Houston. This one is from Shannon. Did HGH break the brains of some Royals fans when it comes to managing a bullpen? Maybe a little bit. I believe that we did take for granted at times just how dominant they were. There was no off night for any of those guys. They were able to go one, two, three every single inning. And what the Royals have done this year at the back end of their bullpen has been pretty good by baseball standards. Like Carlos Estz is close to 30 saves, has a 2.5 RA. I know he deals with a lot of base runners. He has not been perfect, so don’t get it twisted, but he’s been what a lot of teams would want in the closer role. But because Greg Holland and Wade Davis were so dominant, it makes you nervous when he goes out there. Even Urs’s had off nights and Hunter Harvey’s not been as durable. But to have three lights out relievers like that, really three closers going in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, it was unheard of and really has not been done since the Royals were able to put together HDH. Jeff’s question, with 22 games left this month, what is the bare minimum we have to win to have a real chance at making the playoffs going into September? They’re going to have to be three games over 500. So, they are one game under. They got to play four games over, which means Oh, I was always so terrible at math. That would put them at what we be 12 and not 12 and 10. They would have to go a little bit better than that. 14 and eight. So, it wouldn’t match up perfectly unless I I’m just trying to do math off the top of my head. Let’s say they got to go 14 and eight over these 22 games. Six games over 500. That puts them five games over. That really puts you in a good position. So, I’ll change my answer to going 14-8, that kind of has to be the bare minimum because to leave it up to the last month to play extraordinary baseball. Uh, that’s just not a recipe for success. So, you got to be about five games over 500 when August comes to a close. Tony’s question, only thing I can think of is the Royals have professional hitters. Isn’t it way past time to start doing something against Joe Ryan? Boy, wouldn’t tonight be a good time a good a time as ever to finally break through off Joe Ryan who’s seven and0 in nine starts against the Royals, a 1.3 erra. And the only good news about tonight is that the Twins have a completely depleted bullpen and a completely depleted lineup. They did score some runs off Detroit, but Joe Ryan, man, what a dominant force. It is so hard to do that like backtoback starts against the same team. to do it for nine starts and be undefeated in those starts. Just ridiculous stuff. So, not looking forward to seeing Joe Ryan, but I guess if you want to be an optimist at some point, they’re going to have to break through off him. I don’t see him going his entire career going undefeated against the Royals. Who knows? Maybe it gets snapped tonight. This one’s from Bryce. Should Kag spend more time in the minors to get right after his IIL stint? I would say no. uh at this point in the season, it’s kind of do or die time for the Royals. And it’s better for this lineup to have him up here and playing with this type of pressure than to go back down to Triple A and just play without that pressure. Uh when he’s healthy, when he’s ready to go, he needs to be in the lineup. I wouldn’t hate seeing him get platooned where he’s only facing right-handed pitchers, but for the long-term plan, he’s also got to know how to hit lefties, and he’s done it a few times this year. So, I would like to see Kaggs being an everyday player when he comes back, and that’s for better or worse. He needs to be ready to go and a main stay in that lineup next year and have much better numbers than he’s produced in his rookie season. This one’s from Chief’s Calculus. What will we do when Kags comes back? I’ll just refer back to my previous answer. I believe John Ray is going to go down unless somebody gets hurt. If somebody gets hurt, makes that decision a little bit easier. But I would imagine that John Ra will be the odd man out being a left-handed outfielder with Kags coming off of the IIL. Uh, this one’s from Joel. Barring any setbacks with Lorenzan and Reagans, what does our rotation look like come September? If Cole Reagan is healthy, I believe he jumps back into the rotation. If Ryan Berard and Bailey Falter are pitching well, I know Baya Falter needs to work his way back up, but I could see them going to a six-man rotation to give Cole Reagan some extra rest, Seth Lugo some extra rest, Waka and Noah Cameron. So, I’d go Reagan’s, Lugo, Waka, Cameron, Burger, Falter. Those would be my six. Lorenzan goes to the bullpen to be more of that swing guy to give you a little extra length out of the bullpen. But that would be my plan. And I wouldn’t hate to see Steven Kolic up either, but if he stays down in Omaha the rest of the way, maybe he can win a job in camp uh coming up in spring. This one’s from Royals Jay-Hawk Steelers country. Who are some players you want the Royals to target this off season? Great question. I said earlier about what the lineup would look like. They need to make a pretty big splash to really help this lineup. I believe a great splash they could make though it feels very much unlike the Royals is Kyle Schwarber. It’s gonna take a lot to move him away from Philadelphia. He’s become a fan favorite there. They would have no problem forking over the money. But if you went into next year with Kyle Schwarber in the middle of that order, I really believe that changes a lot. Uh Kyle Tucker probably going to be outpriced there. It’s also not going to surprise me if they trade for somebody because that seems to be the way the Royals want to go about things instead of giving a lot of money to somebody who’s nearing their mid30s. And Kyle Schwarber, too, doesn’t really play the outfield anymore. So, he’s a DH only, but the Royals were also interested in giving Anthony Santandere, a DH only a chunk of money this past offseason. This one is coming from Talos Master. Could you see Kaggs playing left field when he returns? Very unlikely. I remember when I was in St. Louis and talking to Muero about Jack Kagleion, they did not make it seem that left field was going to be a part of his rookie season. They were going to have him just worry about right field and when he’s not playing right field, he’s going to be dhing. So, I would say Ystrimsky or Gritic has a much better chance of moving over there than Jack Kaggle would. This one’s from Colt Jones Sports. Who do you think the Royals could get in free agency this winter? Again, going back to my previous answer there about Schwarber, uh, that’s always a possibility. They don’t need to target any pitching in my opinion. I believe they could stay with the rotation they got and they really could just promote within with the bullpen because you’ll have Estz coming back. You’ll have Urs coming back. Um you will be losing John Shriber unless you give him a one-year deal. But if it came down to Shriber or Hunter Harvey, I’d rather give Hunter Harvey a one-year deal coming off of this season where he wasn’t that available. Could probably get him on a bit of a discount just due to some of those injuries. Offensively though, I would need to do another deep dive into spo track and everything on who would be available. I know Kyle Schwarber is going to be a gem though and I just I’ve fallen in love with what he’s done post Allstar break. He had the home run derby showcase and then he’s just been dominating and been one of the best pure hitters in all of baseball in 2025. This one is from C Money. Do you see the Royals making the postseason? Unfortunately, I just don’t. I think it’s going to come down to maybe the final couple weeks of September. It’s just an uphill battle, though. There’s so many teams they’re chasing and some of these teams are playing great baseball. The Royals are getting to go on a ridiculous tear and it has to start tonight in Minnesota. Charles asks, uh, we’ll get to this last one, then we’ll take a break. Uh, Charles question, how bad do we need our teams ahead of us, Red Sox, Yanks, Rangers, and Mariners to play in order for us to secure a wild card spot? I wouldn’t worry about four. I’d worried about one or two. The Guardians need to play poorly. The Rangers need to play poorly. And the Yankees or the Mariners. I don’t see the Red Sox playing poorly, though they do have one of the toughest schedules remaining in all of baseball. But I wouldn’t focus on five or six teams playing poorly. Maybe center around two or three that really need to play poorly. And the Royals need to play exceptionally well the rest of the way. We’ll take our final break of the show. When we come back, we will wrap it up with our final set of questions next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I your host Jack Johnson. Want to tell you about prize picks and with prize picks you can make some great picks going into football season. You make you can make a couple picks going into tonight as well. You’ve got the Royals and the Twins and you can get $50 in lineups after you just play those $5. So if you play those $5, you can get $50 in the lineup. I know it’s the perfect time to really start getting comfortable with price picks. So, you’ve got baseball still going on. We’re getting closer and closer to postseason. We just had preseason football the other night and then we’re going to be having college football here in I just believe about 15 days. Week zero is going to be happening. That’s got me amped up for college football and then NFL is going to begin not much longer after that. So, use our code of locked MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play $5. So much fun to get started with prize picks. If I was to throw something down in the Royals Twins tonight, let’s just take the under on runs given up by Joe Ryan. I’m not going to try to bet against him when he’s going up against Kansas City. Our final set of questions is going to begin with Madden. Does Minnesota have an MLB roster? Well, they did go into Detroit and take two of three from the first place Tigers, though the Tigers are really free falling at this point in the season. And I feel that Minnesota is getting some inspired play from guys that are now just becoming regular starters. But as I said in a couple of episodes this week, at some point that other shoe is going to drop and the guys that are getting extended playing time are going to be exposed a little bit. Tonight when you see that lineup, there’s going to be some players you just don’t recognize. It doesn’t mean they can’t do damage off Seth Lugo in the Royals bullpen, but it is a much different lineup than they just saw earlier in the week in Boston. They still have a big league roster. They’ve got some talent there, but it is a gutted roster from what the Royals last saw when they were in Target Field. This one is coming from Jerry. Odd question. What would you stop a team from or what would stop a team from faking a player injury so they could put him on the aisle for a few weeks and bring up someone from TripleA? Could MLB ever prove a player wasn’t hurt? Well, that’s the thing. You’ve heard us talk about phantom IIL stints before for pitchers where they’re struggling and you don’t want to, you know, just send him to Triple A where it becomes more of a a spectacle, becomes more public. You say, “Oh, well, the reason for his struggles is arm soreness. He’s got arm fatigue. He’s got elbow soreness.” Uh, so that does happen in baseball. Now, baseball would punish you for a player faking an injury, but for a lot of these guys, they just wouldn’t be willing to fake injuries. They want to be out there. They want to be playing. I’m not speaking for every player out there, but I’d be very surprised if a position player faked an injury just so that they could call somebody up and they could go on the injured list. This next one is coming from miserable Royals fan. What do you think we’ll have to go the rest of the way to get to 20 or to get in 29 and 18 or 30 and 17? The goal should be to get to 86 wins, which they are 57 and 58. So, wouldn’t that be 28-19 the rest of the way? You got to be No, that’d be a little bit over. You got to be 29 and 18, right? Which is one of the numbers you brought up there. So, I think 29 and 18 would be good enough to get it done. You’ve got a great opportunity here over the next couple of series if they can maybe go 10 and three or 11 and two. Now, you’re really talking. Now you’re getting out ahead of trying to reach that 29 and 18 mark. I mean, you’re playing nine games over 500. You would still need to play good baseball the rest of the way, but you wouldn’t need to play outside your mind to reach that 29 and 18 stretch. In fact, if you went 10 and three over these next 13 games, you would need to go 19 and 15 for that final stretch of games. Am I right on that? Yeah. 19 and 15 the rest of the way would sound just about right. And if you play really well in these next couple of series, that absolutely will be doable to get to 86 and 76. This one is from Sid. Feel like winning at least three or four in this spot is massively important. We’ve picked up zero ground in the wild card since the break. It has it has to come now. No doubt about it. We did an episode on that two days ago. You can’t be waiting around much longer for that great stretch of play. The Royals have to be dominant for these final two months here. They got to sweep a couple of teams. They got to leaprog a couple of teams. Should be a lot of fun, especially if the Royals do play that 29 and 18 baseball as we were just talking about. This one’s from Aiden. If and when Kaggs comes back against righties, do you bat Kagg sixth and India seventh? I think with India’s numbers with runners on, I think that will take a lot of pressure off of Kaggs. I would like to see it. I do have him hitting eighth in my hypothetical lineup just to take even more pressure off of him, but that would make it go lefty, lefty, righty. Uh, actually, no, go righty, lefty, righty because you’d have Perez hitting fifth against righties, then Kag sixth, then uh, India hitting in the seven hole. So, I wouldn’t hate it. I just would take even more pressure off of him hitting eighth because you’re not asking your number eight hitter to do as much damage. you’re as you’re asking your number six hitter to do. This one is coming from uh Tom. Loving the 25 season, but after the deadline, looks like they’ll be set with pitching. With free agent hitters, which free agent hitters would you target in the offseason? My top realistic targets would be Arise and Gisham. Hadn’t thought about Trent Gisham. I do really like that pickup. Hopefully, he plays more like he has this year than he did in 2024. Arise, I don’t know. I just I don’t know if I could see Luis Arise being in a Royals uniform, though. they were interested in him last last season uh at some point. I don’t remember if it was in the offseason or during the middle of the season, but sometimes that past interest does get brought up again. If you have a chance to target him in free agency, you can move him back to second base if you were to move on from Jonathan India. Not much change defensively. I know he’s played some first base for the Padres’s, but that would be a hitter you could put at the top of your lineup. And then for Gisham would give you more of an offensive upgrade in the outfield. would pair nicely with putting Jack Kegle and maybe a better version of him in right field going into 2026. And lastly, Craig’s question, who is responsible for the atrocious base running and what can be done to correct it at this point? A pickoff or sloppy running could be the difference between winning and losing a game? If I was talking about a high school team, I would put blame solely at the foot or the feet of the coaches. And I’d put it maybe at the first base coach or the third base coach. For big leaguers, if you’re getting picked off, that’s on you. There’s nothing a first base coach or a third base coach can do. They can yell to you, right? If Damon Holland’s at first base and there’s a guy leading off, you’re both watching the pitcher, hey, get back. Get back. Be careful. Watch for this move. But these are grown men that are getting paid to do a certain job. And that’s just a mental lapse out there. If you’re getting picked off and you weren’t planning to steal, there’s absolutely no excuse. Uh for some of the younger players, maybe it can be due to the coaching, but to me, it’s a little bit of the overaggressiveness. The Royals are just an aggressive base running team, and that has run them into a few issues. But I cannot stand for getting picked off. I cannot stand for, you know, stretching, you know, I’ll take that back. I can live with stretching a single into a double with the right circumstance. If it’s early on in the game and it’s a one earned game and you’re really just trying to get that extra 90 feet, I can live with it. If you’re down by four and you try to stretch a single into a double and you get thrown out, I can’t live with that. That is just not smart baseball. Uh so for the Royals, it’s more so about being smart in certain situations and dialing back the aggressiveness. But these are professional athletes here. I can’t blame all of the coaching when they’re the ones that are on the bases trying to get a good jump and reading the picture. Well, that’s going to do it for another edition of Locked On Royals and the Locked On Network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. Thank you for making Locked on Royals your first listen today. For your second, check out the allnew Locked on MLB Game Night. Every game, every night, all season long. Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. We’re going to be off this weekend, but back on Monday fully recapping the Twin Series and look ahead to the National Series. But until then, you take it easy, Kansas City.

We get to all the questions sent in from the listeners in this edition of a “Mailbag Friday” on “Locked On Royals”!

Host Jack Johnson gives you his answers next!

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-royals/

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/

#Royals #KansasCityRoyals #MLB

5-Hour ENERGY
Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders.

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONMLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
PrizePicks — Run Your Game.
Click Link Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB

Gameday Hue
Let your colors talk—because colors speak louder than words. Right now, you can get 15% off with code MLB15 at GamedayHue.com.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)