Mailbag Saturday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Mailbag Saturday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

This week we’re one day late for our mailbag Friday, but we’ll still get to all your questions next on Locked on Royals. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. You are tuned in to another edition of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I am your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. That is jhnyj_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 firsttime listeners wondering how this channel works, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minute episodes in length. And we also had the lockedown Royals postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo. If you want to know a little bit more about Chance, we did an episode on Thursday together previewing this series against the Tigers. But Chance usually goes live to you about 15 to 20 minutes after each and every game. Before we get started, I want to tell you that today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code lockdown MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Well, I do want to apologize that we are coming to you a day late. Uh, I had gotten up early yesterday morning uh to record a mailbag Friday. Got through the entire episode, answered everybody’s questions, and then when I went back to edit, realized for the entire 30 minutes of that episode, audio was cutting in and out. Connection seemed to not be very good, even though I didn’t get any alerts here on StreamYard that I did have poor connection. Uh, so instead of just re-recording that all again, thought I’d give some people more time to uh, send in questions. So, I am answering the same questions I just did, but I do feel that we got a few more uh, from yesterday because I do know I put out that tweet pretty late on Thursday night for those to get their questions in. But, let’s kick things off here. Question number one from Carson. Can we talk about Houston? The Mariners are two games back of first place and the Astros have a fairly competitive last month of the season. I did see a few people wondering about Houston and I certainly think it’s possible. Um, anything is possible here in the final month of the season. I just don’t know if I’m going to put my chips on Houston to bottom out like I would Seattle. Why? We’ll go over Houston’s success over the last decade. I mean, no matter who they have lost, they always seem to come through. They always seem to to go on a winning streak in September. They always seem to survive and get their foot in the door the postseason and be able to make a run. Now last year they got swept by Detroit in the wildard round and they still are leading Seattle. The Mariners fortunately lost last night for the Royals because the Royals had just a lackluster performance after the first inning. But the Mariners they also blew a four to nothing lead. So the Royals blew a three nothing lead that they built in the first inning. Mariners blew a four- nothing lead that they built against Cleveland. So no change in the wildard race. Uh but Houston, yes, they could bottom out here. They just got Yordon Alvarez back though. I just would rather put my chips on h or on Seattle to bottom out because Seattle has shown to do that more than one time before. Houston, very few times have they shown that in the month of September they just bottom out and they don’t make the postseason as a result of it. Uh next one here is coming from Jeff. If you had to guess who will be the bobbleheads next year, bonus points if you can uh pick some specific moments and poses. You know, I have to out myself a little bit here. I’m not a huge bobblehead guy. I definitely have had my my fair share of them. Um, but if I had to pick some bobblehead guys, I would say that, you know, Michael Walka might get one like a Pac-Man version. Um, since he’s going to be back, of course, and he’s turning in right now the best, you know, season of any starter in the Royals rotation. Maybe you can make a case for Noah Cameron. But Waka’s got that, you know, nickname with Pac-Man and stuff, so I’d imagine he could get one. Jack Kaggleó feels like a safe bet. Easy way to promote him. He’s got the lumberjack nickname, so maybe a a lumberjack shirt that he has on with an axe. And the third one, uh maybe let’s go with Mike. Mike probably deserves one. I just don’t know which pose he would do. Uh maybe one of his home run poses or bat flips. I feel that that would be pretty sweet to see. So, I’ll go with those three players there. two of them with nicknames that you can use for the bobbleheads. For Garcia, I would just use uh maybe a home run pose that he’s got. Next one here is coming from Justin. What is your favorite moment this year? Mine is Jonathan India’s walk-off blast against Class A. It’s a good pick and that would be a lot of people’s good uh or probably selections. Uh, I would say that mine would I would go to the the game in Seattle uh when it was Carlos Estz against Cal Raleigh to end the game. That’s just power on power. And as a baseball junkie myself, I love seeing power on power. My favorite at bat ever would be Eric Gier versus Barry Bonds. Just 100 100 and Bonds ends up homering off Gier. But that to me was the most incredible pitcher hitter duel that, you know, you can go back and watch. Even I know I’ve got a couple of of younger listeners that are even younger than myself, but I don’t even know if you need to see it in person or to see it on TV to truly appreciate how awesome that was, uh, just go on YouTube and look it up. Uh, so for that type of power on power, not quite the same. Rally’s not Bonds and Carlos Estas, not Eric Gier, but Estas was pumping upper 90s. Cal Raleigh was the home run leader at that point and a ste got him to ground out uh to end the game and that was a I’m going right at him. We’re not pitching around him. There was a base open and that moment was just really cool to me. So that would probably be my favorite moment in game of the season. Jonathan India though absolutely be a close second for me. This one’s coming from Steve. Great show Jack. Appreciate the kind words. Do you think that the Fine trade for Burger will be one of the great trades in Royals history? Maybe it could be a top five if both Kolic and uh Burger turn into something special. I know Koolic will be starting tonight. I’m going to be out there. Fingers crossed that he can pitch much better than Seth Lugo did yesterday. Uh but they’ve got the the chance to do it. For JJ Bakolo, maybe that’s a better question for it is will this be JJ Bako’s best trade? I mean, right now it’s Cole Reagan’s for the best trade that he’s made. Mikey Stressky seems to be somewhere in that top five, but Burger and Kolic have multiple years of control. If they turn into middle of the the pack rotation guys, then yeah, you could make that case because you traded a backup catcher for both of them. And as much as I love Freddy for me, uh it was the right time to make a deal like that. So, for all time in Royals history, I’d still put it outside of the top five because I don’t see any of those guys being number ones like Cole Reagan’s was, but I could see them being middle of the rotation guys. And that would be pretty dang good for trading away Freddy Fine. So, I’ll say that it’s got a chance to be top five, but I would still put it in the the 10 to 15 range because there still have been some really good trades uh for the Royals, not just in the JJ Bakola era. You go back to the Dayton Moore era and guys he was able to bring in during a pennant chase and those have to be in the top five. And then you know you go back to the 90s as well. Great trades that happened too. Uh but for Burger and Col, the juryy’s still out is what I should probably say on that. This next one is coming from RT. I know we don’t want to go with the six-man rotation, but does it make sense in 2026 with how deep we are at starting pitcher and how hard it is to keep guys strong and healthy for the entire season? I don’t know if I would get on board with a six-man rotation in April and May. Not saying it’s never worked before. I would just wait to save my six-man rotation until September. I have no issue going with a six-man rotation here in the last month of the season. Seth Lugo clearly isn’t right. Noah Cameron is surpassed his, you know, workload basically that he’s ever had before at the professional level. And you just called up Stephen Co. September call-ups are happening. This feels like the time you can give everybody just one extra day of rest. Maybe it helps you out, maybe it doesn’t, but this is a nice way to keep your guys refreshed if you do pull a miracle out of your hat and get into the postseason. But in April and May, these guys need to be starting every fifth day and building up their arms. And you don’t really have a good opportunity to build up your arms in April and May if you’re getting that extra day of rest. This next one’s coming from Franen. If Vinnie, Bobby, Salvi, and Mikey can all get hot at the same time, and if Cags can come back and be a solid contributor, is this a legit top tier offense? If we’re talking about top tier, would it be top five in all baseball? Is it top 10 in all baseball? I’ll go with top five here. Uh that’s, you know, two allstars and Bobby Wood Jr. and Mikel Garcia from this past year. Bobby’s got MVP potential. Mel Garcia is going to be a a five to six war player this season. Vinnie’s going to run into 35 to 40 home runs this year. Salvi still has that 30 home run potential. He’ll probably get to 300 career home runs this year and a thousand RBI’s. Jack Kaggleó. We know that the scouts have said that’s 40 to 50 home run potential if every single one of them is thriving at the right time. That’s a lot of runs. That’s a lot of home runs and that’s a lot of valuable hitters at the top of your lineup. I would still say to be a top five offense, you need to be well-rounded at the bottom. Kyle Isbel is giving the Royals that. If Michael Massie next year, if they bring back Adam Frasier, if you’re if your Stressky’s here, maybe that can be the well-rounded lineup that you’re looking for. But you can’t just be a top five offense with five really good hitters. You need about eight in my opinion. And not, you know, you don’t need your eight whole hitter hitting 30 home runs, but they need to be serviceable. Just go look at, you know, the the Padres’s lineup. Look at the the Red Sox lineup. Look at the Dodgers lineup. It’s it’s so wellrounded from top to bottom. And to be top five and compete with those teams, yeah, you need to be pretty loaded about one through six and then your seven, eight, nine, still have to be pretty serviceable. Um, let’s take our first break of the show here. When we come back, still a lot of questions to get to next on Lockdown 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 at johnnyj_15. 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Go to upside.com for terms and conditions today. Our next set of questions is going to begin with looks like Steve. Love the show, Jack, and thanks for the kind words, Steve. Listening to Major League Network on Sirius Radio where Farah and Bowden are talking about Kyle Tucker’s next contract at 400 million or 500 million. Do you think the Royals are going to be in the mix for Kyle Tucker? As of right now, I would say no. Uh Kyle Tucker has had a really rough second half for the Cubs. He’s played through injury. I want to say it was a finger or a hand injury, was hitting under 200. The Royals give a big contract to Bobby Wood Jr. and not that they’ll never give a big contract to somebody else again. But I do believe that if you’re the Royals, when you’re shelling out 400 and 500 million, you need a legitimate five to a player. Now, Kyle Tucker when healthy is phenomenal. But the reason the Royals gave Bobby Wood Jr. his contract is that A, he was 223. B, he actually is a 52 player. There’s not one part of his game that is below average. He’s got a strong arm. He’s one of the best fielders in the game. He’s got power. He hits for contact. He hits for average. You know, all these things combined. And that’s why you give a player like him that type of money for Kyle Tucker at his age. Yes, he would be a tremendous upgrade for the Royals outfield and he would be one of the better outfielders they’ve had in history. But is it worth the 400 to 500 million? I I just don’t know if the Royals are in that spot. They probably need to spread around the money a little bit better to round out this this lineup and this team as a whole. Not a bad question though at all. Steve, this one’s from Drew. My good friend Noah was wondering, do you think Steve Physio would be a good head coach? If not, how about Rex Hudler? Noah says Rex, but he doesn’t even know what a plan it is. Um, I would say I am surprised Hud was never any form of a coach, but also with his personality and his style, it’s better suited for the booth. Uh, but I don’t think that either one of them would get a managerial gig. Uh Hudler though, it just kind of come down to what team it would be and what era he’d be managing in. This current era probably not. Um just cuz those are two older school guys and I don’t believe that the old school ways are really what you know baseball managers are now. Most of them are this new school that are very involved in analytics and are are pretty fresh out of the game. So, unfortunately, if you were looking for me to say yes on either one of them, I’m going to have to go uh no on that. If I missed anybody’s question, actually, I do know that it was Shane that I had missed the last couple of weeks. I did want to point out that if you do want to ask question for Mailbag Friday, uh please just um please title your question mailbag Friday so I don’t miss any of it. you have, you know, a couple things you’re saying and then you bury your question at the bottom. I It’s kind of tough for me to go through every single comment to find that question, but I do recall that you were talking about JJ and keeping MJ and Renfro, how that was a failure on his part this year. I’m sure if you asked JJ and he talked about MJ and Renfro and what they should have done, I mean, it’s there’s no denying it. It was a bad decision to keep both of those players on the roster and for both those guys to be starters, but the market just was not following in the Royals favor. They gave a contract to Santon Dere. They gave a contract to ProFar. They gave a a look at Randall Gritic at the time. I mean, Tyler O’Neal was in the mix and none of those guys really turned out to be much. Now, Britick’s in Kansas City and they didn’t give up much to get him. But for the other three, multiple years, big- time money, and they’re not living up to that contract whatsoever. Uh, but to go with MJ and Renfro, I would have liked to see some other options, even if they were cheaper. I mean, imagine if the Royals went after Raone Lauraniano and instead of going to Baltimore, he comes to Kansas City. you’re talking about a much different outfield and probably a much different offense because you went through the first month of the season with two of the worst hitters in the entire league just statistically at that point. But again, Shane, if I missed any other of your questions, I would just say for the next round next week when we do it, just title mailbag Friday when you have that direct question so it’s easy for me to find that notification um and make sure I don’t miss anything that you send my way. Uh let’s jump over to Twitter here. Braden’s question, what are the odds they use Bailey Falter on Saturday? I hope they don’t, but he wasn’t a starter or he was a starter, excuse me. Zero chance. He’s hurt. Has the bicep contusion from last weekend in Detroit when he just got blown up in relief. Got hit by a line drive that led to the the deep bruising on his bicep. So, I would be pretty surprised if he’s back at all this year. The Royals have a pretty crowded rotation now with Steven Kick who will be starting tonight and then also their bullpen could be adding, you know, Linda Avala on the September call-ups. We’ll see though. Uh because Waka is coming off the paternity leave on Sunday and so he’ll be starting there. Congratulations to him and his family. Uh but I would say when September rolls around, Kolix’s probably coming back up now that we know he’s starting. That feels like a pretty easy pick. though I would need to double check on that cuz if you get sent back down before the September calls, which is also why maybe they pick somebody else like Bolan to send back down. Uh though Bolan was great yesterday for the September calls, I don’t know if you have to be down for a certain amount of time. I know in the the regular season before the call-ups, you have to be down in the minor leagues for a set amount of days before you can return, but I would imagine Kick would be that extra guy for the Royals in September. And for Falter, I just don’t see a world in which he’s coming off the injured list and he’s pitching in big spots for the Royals. Uh, this one’s coming from Future Dude. How likely do you think Mikey Stressky getting extended is if he keeps up good production like he has so far? Feels like he could be a cheap outfielder option if JJ wanted to. The Royals should absolutely have conversations with him after the season. He has been one of the best trade deadline pickups of the year. I put out this stat a few days ago that in terms of runs created plus, you can look that up on fan graphs. He had the second best of all deadline pickups that he was only behind Raone Lauraniano. And after last night when he went three for five, though I’m still sick about swinging three 0 in that spot where he grounded into a double play, he knows that if you’re going to swing three 0, that can’t happen. I feel that when you’re three for four, you kind of have that confidence of give me a cookie right here and I’m gonna tie the game, but not in that spot. Not with Bobby Wood Jr. behind you. Not that changes anything about the production that he’s had. Uh three for five still great and he probably now has the top W wrc plus of anybody that was acquired at the deadline. The Royals need to be in on that. I think he’s been a phenomenal player, a great fit. There’s going to be suitors because of how great he’s been here in the second half, but he is a mid-30s outfielder. The Royals just have had zero outfield production from their corner outfielders the last two years. They need to be able to jump on that and I feel they can with Mikey Stressky. This one’s coming from Sam. Of the three teams in the wild card, who do you see possibly falling if the Royals sneak in? My pick is still Seattle. I know that we’re we can talk about Houston and and really my better answer would be the second place finisher in the American League West. That is probably the Royals best chance. Boston, they’re thriving and they’re five to six games up on Kansas City. The Yankees not far off of that. It’s still counting on Boston and New York to just crumble down the stretch. Boston has been phenomenal since Trade Ends. The Yankees have the reigning MVP. That lineup is still loaded. Uh and they’ve got a rotation that can fix things and a bullpen that’s pitching better. Now, Seattle, they’re your best chance just cuz history has told you. They’ve done it before, but they also made some great moves at the deadline. My only concern would be for them if you’re a Mariners fan. Long road trip, you got to face the Royals again in Kansas City. The Royals don’t get to face Houston again. I would just probably go on record to say the second place finisher in the West. That’s the Royals best chance at surpassing a team for a playoff spot. Let’s take our final break of the show. When we come back, we’ll wrap it all up next on Locked on Royals. You are tuned in to Locked on Royals and the Locked On podcast network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. Few things I want to tell you about. Beginning with the survey promo that we have here. We have an important request and Lockdown wants to hear from you. 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Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you’ve put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all of your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on MLB. The next round of questions and our final round of questions begins with Caleb. Are you still confident Kagg is a September callup? I hope he is, but I was wondering what are the chances it would be someone like Rave Waters or Jensen instead? Um, my confidence level is about 77 to 75%, it was 90 not too long ago, but JJ Bakola spoke to the media yesterday kind of hinted at, well, it’s not going to be a shoe in. It’s not just an obvious pick. They could go with Rafe, they could go with Waters. Those are two guys that play all three outfield spots where Kaggs plays one. And now the lineup has changed. When you’ve got Yremsky playing every single night in right field against righties and you have Vinnie at first base, I guess you could DH Kagg Leone and coming up and that would be my pick. But I could see a world in which the Royals want Rave back up or maybe they want Waters just to have the defensive flexibility and Kags can finish the year on a high hitting very well in AAA Omaha. But my confidence level is probably down to about 75%. Could also be a smoke screen. You know, not trying to put too much pressure on Kaggs again, just hey, we we might call call up whoever, but they’re just not going to be playing every day because our lineup has changed since Kaggle Leone went on the injured list. This one’s from Tom. Who are the two additions to the roster come September? So, kind of a a similar question here. My pick will be Steven Kolick. He’s going to be starting tonight and then maybe they could find a world to just keep him up here because Monday is the callups and they could demote him after the game tonight or tomorrow morning when Michael Walka comes off the paternity list. That probably would be the move is my guess just because you want to have a a healthy bullpen, a fully available bullpen against Terk Scooel and if you keep Kool-A because he threw the day before. But if it’s not Kolic, I think Luenda Raval is the pick. As of as as for the position player, I would say it’s going to be Jack Kagleion. If it’s not Jack Kagleion, I believe it’s going to be John Raith. Next one’s coming from Royals Rundown. Do you think Carter Jensen gets a call up before the end of the year for me? Probably not. I just don’t see a need to rush Carter Jensen. They rushed Jack Kagleon. I understand where they were in the season and what Jack was doing in Triple A. For Carter, it’s a little bit different. He’s already moved up a level this year. I don’t think there’s a rush to make him the backup catcher. He can go into spring training next year, which will be his third big league camp, have him fight for a a catching spot. I’d imagine he can win one. But my hope is that when C or when Carter Jensen comes up, he’s the everyday catcher. And that brings in a bigger question of what he do with Salvador Perez and his, you know, contract going into the off season. Do you decline that option or do you find a way to restructure it to bring him back? Regardless, I believe that it’s time to get Carter Jensen behind the plate more and for him to be a backup catcher to Salvador Perez, not sure that’s the best role for him. Luke Mey though, he does a good job catching multiple guys, Ryan Bert being one of them. So, I would say no. I I don’t see a world in which Carter Jensen does get called up um here on Monday. I just I don’t see a need to rush him. have him finish out the year in Triple A and then go into the offseason feeling really good about what he did in 2025. Bernie’s question, if Alberto Montisy was the star he could have been, do you think the Royals would have ever drafted Bobby Wood Jr.? Love this question. I was a huge Mandisy guy. I have a jersey in my closet right to the right of me. Um, but I don’t believe it would have deterred them really because going back to that 2019 draft, there were two camp miss guys. It was Adley Rutman and Bobby Wood Jr. If the Orioles went rutman again and the Royals still had a star in Montisy, you take Bobby Wood Jr. Uh just because you’re not going to reach on any of these other guys. He was gifted to you. I mean, he fell right into your lap. And the good thing about Bobby at the time was, I mean, he’s a high school shortstop. Mike Mustakis was a high school shortstop and moved over to third. Bobby Wood Jr. made his big league debut at third base. When you’ve got a high school shortstop and one as talented as him, he was going to be able to move anywhere. You could put him in the outfield, you could put him at second base, he was going to have that athletic ability to do so. And if Montisy was this gold glover and MVP finalist, then yeah, they would have worked around Mandisy. And honestly, they did to begin his rookie season. I mean, Mandisy was their starting shortstop and Bobby was over at third base. That’s how much they valued Mandi. But he just was never healthy and once he got traded to Boston, he never played baseball again. Um, so I’m hoping the best for him wherever he is now. But yeah, he was one of those guys I just always thought was going to figure it out, but to me will be one of those big whatifs in Royals history. RJ’s question, seeing a lot of negativity on X. I’m a lifelong Royals fan. As frustrating as some losses are, we are coming into September and still in the playoff hunt. It can be frustrating, but let’s try and enjoy having a competitive team in the hunt. Love the podcast. Thanks for the show. And as always, thanks for the kind words, R.J. I would say on the negativity and what I’ve just kind of come to understand is when you’re given expectations, people are going to get frustrated when you don’t live up to them. Right? So, as much as I could sit here and say, “Well, this team lost 106 games two years ago.” Well, it’s no longer that team, right? This team made the postseason a year ago, and now you’re expecting to get back to the postseason, and the Royals still need a miracle to happen for that to occur. Uh, but I would also say this, if you’ve been a Royals fan for your entire life, as you said, R.J., you’ve witnessed some pretty awful years and even years where there was expectation the Royals didn’t live up to it. You don’t even have to go back that far. I mean, the 16 and 17 Royals were disappointments coming off of back-to-back World Series appearances. The 2021 Royals were a disappointment. They went out and spent money to get Mike Miner, Andrew Benendi, Carlos Santana, and lost nearly 90 games. The 2003 Royals were a disappointment, right? They had a great first half, completely bottomed out in the second half. And if you don’t make the postseason, but you have a winning record, I don’t see that as a bad year. I mean, are the 2013 Royals a failure? No. They set the course of 14 and 15 and they finished, you know, what was it? Five or maybe it was exactly 10 games over 500. I want to say they were 86 and 76. So, no, it won’t be a failure. But I I believe that you’ll look back at this month of June and go, man, if they just played average baseball that month, you’re not even worried about a playoff spot right now. That’s how good they’ve been in the second half and how bad they had been in the month of June. But this I I could see sparking the front office to be maybe a little bit more aggressive offensively than they were in the last off seasonason. But I I hear you. I mean, the negativity is always going to be there. If the Royals were, you know, a hundred win team and they, you know, lost a big series. I mean, that that’s every fan base, though, right? It’s not just the Royals. Every there’s there’s fan bases right now that have a team in the the top spot in their division that will still be complaining about certain games, certain moves, certain decisions. That’s just, you know, baseball 101. It’s hard to to stay uh the course with it when you play every single day. Uh this one’s coming from Tom. Is there a good option for relief helpa from September call-ups? Feels like the bullpen has been absolutely gassed lately. did like what they showed last night and that was just after one off day. They also get another day on Monday where they can relax a little bit, but no, there’s no good relief help. Jonathan Bolan’s the best option. He’s already in Kansas City and pitched well last night. Tom also asked 16 games between now and Seattle series. Do you think they need a 10-6 record to keep them within two games of Seattle? I’d imagine that can get it done. If you are four games over 500 after losing last night, you still feel that this team being at that point seven games over, maybe eight games over 500, that keeps you within striking distance of Seattle unless the Mariners go on a ridiculous tear between now and the time they come to Kansas City. Prepsley’s question, why does it seem like we usually don’t come through against the big boys? Well, it’s just a talent really. I mean, some of these teams they face that are the best in baseball, they’ve got superstars and multiple superstars on the team. The Royals have legitimately one superstar on the team. And if their pitching staff is not throwing well, it’s hard to go toe-to-toe with those teams offensively. And I believe that’s what it comes down to. The Royals need to have their their arms on their a day or a game, I should say, when facing the Dodgers or facing the Yankees or the Red Sox. And if they don’t, then you have to go pound-for-pound with them offensively and they just don’t have a good enough lineup to compete with some of those teams. That’s why I would say they don’t play as well against the alphas at least in 2025. And our last three questions are going to begin here with brother Bill. For Kaggs to have a good end of the year in your eyes in the big leagues once he’s back up, what kind of statline would he have to post? Uh if he gets up in September, you get one month of games there. I would like for him to hit 230, but maybe have a OPS around 750. Uh that would be great to see run into a couple of home runs, hit for power, do what he’s been needing to do all season long. Not asking for the world, but he hit 140. That a 230 jump 90 points, you know, higher than that. It’s a big ask, but I feel that would be a nice way of rounding out his rookie season and give him some confidence going into 2026. Uh Bosn question, will Reagans be back this year? The Royals seem confident. I just if they’re not in it anymore by midepptember, there’s no need to rush him back. So for right now, I’m going to say no. I’m still hopeful on it. I’m just leaning more toward the sub 50% side just because there’s not a lot of games left. And for the Royals, if you’re not in it, if you’re not a game out of of a wildcard spot, I don’t see a need to rush back a guy who’s basically been hurt for this entire season. And lastly, Alex’s question, a look ahead into the offseason. What do you think the Royals need to do to be as good as the Tigers or the Yankees in 2026 and beyond? I’m glad we’re not a 100 loss team anymore, but the Royals need to have a championship or bust mindset that take us to the top of the league. If I had to make a couple of moves, I mean, look at what they did at the deadline offensively. You had Adam Frasier, which was two weeks before the deadline, Randall Gritic, and Mic Stressky, and look at how they’ve played in the second half. Like just having league average bats in certain spots in the lineup turned this team from a 500 group to like 10 games over 500. Now, not overall on the record, but how many games they’ve won in the second half and what they’ve done in in July and August or the back half of July and August, they’ve been much better. So, you have to find a way to go get league average bats are better in right field and in left field and in second base. And if you’re able to do all three of those things, that is going to put them in that Tigers territory because the rotation is going to have the depth next year. The bullpen I’m not too concerned about. And you’ve still got your centerpieces and Bobby Wood Jr., Vinnie, Mike, and Salvador Perez to build around. They’ll maybe even take pressure off Salvi. He doesn’t need to be the the face of that lineup anymore. You’ve got guys that are more productive than him. But the corner outfield spots, you got to be able to hit on those and make sure that they can be those league average bats because the first part of this year, they didn’t just get poor production. They got some of the worst production in the entire sport in right field and left field and at second base. So, we’ll see what they try to target in the offseason, but I imagine they go pretty heavy and targeting those three spots. Well, that’s going to do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I have been your host, Jack Johnson. It’s another big moment on Locked On. College Football fans, Locked On and Fire TV present College Football Kickoff, your ultimate college football weekly preview. Drake Tol of Locked On Big 12 leads the conversation alongside two-time AP coach of the year Gary Patterson, former college stars Jesse Holly, and Locked On’s local experts. A College preview only locked on can do. Catch college football kickoff every Thursday throughout the season only on Fire TV. Well, I appreciate everybody waiting one extra day for our mailbag, but hopefully I got to everybody’s question. If I did not, respond below to this video and we’ll answer it by the end of the weekend. But until Monday, you take it easy, Kansas City.

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