Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

It’s another Friday in the off season. 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 tuning in to another edition of Locked Ony and the Locked On Podcast Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find me on Twitter, Johnny_15. That is JHNYJ_15. And you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. That can be Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit that subscribe button. If you’re a new listener and you want to know what this channel is about, what content you can expect, well, even during the off season until about January into February, uh we bring you five episodes a week, 30 minute episodes in length and in season. We do the exact same thing. And we have the Lockdown Royals postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo. He did a great job of it last year and you can count on him to do it again in 2026. Before we dive into our questions, want to tell you that today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download the FanDuel app today. And a reminder that if you ever want to be included in this Mailbag Friday episode, leave a comment on YouTube, leave a comment on Twitter, just title your comment Mailbag Friday, so it’s very easy for me to find. Let’s kick things off here with Logan’s question. Two questions from him. Could Javier Vos’s skill set, contact speed, and plate approach make him a sneaky candidate for a utility role in the near future? And Q’s biggest managerial strength and weakness in your opinion? For the first one on Javier Vase, I like Javier Vos a lot. He’s a great story. Had a chance to talk with him last spring training. Uh seems to be an incredibly motivated guy. He was a 16th round pick, I believe. 15th or 16th out of Vanderbilt. Not a very big guy. 56 about a buck 55, a buck 60. Can play everywhere though. Uh is a very mature hitter when it comes to double A and then probably AAA with having a good eye at the plate. Can see a lot of pitches. I do, you know, fear for his that or that ability to translate to the big leagues when you’re 56 above 60. some of those uh pitchers in the league are going to be able to expose that. Not that all small hitters are going to be poor performers at the big league level. Just look at Jose Altuve. But this is still a guy who was a late round draft pick. Um you know, he didn’t have as great of a year last year as he did in high a doublea in the previous year. So I have to see a little bit more. I’m not going to go as far to say that he’s going to win a utility job because one of the goals of the Royals this off season is counting on more sure things even if that means a bench player and unfortunately we don’t know enough about Javier Vos uh because he hasn’t broke into the league just yet. As for Q I believe that his managerial strength is you know being able to have a team that loves playing for him. I mean that sounds very cliche but you know that hasn’t always been the case in Kansas City. Uh, I’m not talking about Ned Yoast that the players love Ned Yos, but in the past and really over the course of history, this isn’t just the Royals either. There’s been plenty of managers that the team just doesn’t love playing for. Whether they can’t relate to them or there’s just a, you know, huge disconnect of what the manager wants and the player wants. But I can tell you with 100% confidence, the players love Matro. And that does go a long way because when you deal with grown adults for what was seven, eight months of the year, you need to be able to enjoy being around them or you’re not going to have that cohesiveness. So that is a big managerial strength of him. And then his biggest weakness at times there has been some overmanaging in my opinion. Uh even though I’m very big into you know playing the matchups trying to get advantages there. I think from time to time there has been moments where it’s overmanaging, right? Where you got to get a right-hander in to face a lefty when maybe that right-hander isn’t as great of a hitter or even that great against lefties. But that’s how he plays the matchups. That’s what they do in Tampa Bay. They’re going to continue to do that moving forward. So, as long as you’ve got the right players in place and you can raise the floor of that bench, I believe those numbers are going to turn a little bit in 2026. Uh, this one is coming from Matt. What is your ideal and realistic trade deal that JJ could make? Who do we get and who do we give up? Um, I would probably look toward it. Here’s for starters here. I believe the Royals are going to be pretty aggressive this off seasonason. So, I don’t see it being uh last year where their biggest fish was Carlos Estz and their biggest bat was Jonathan India. I see them being pretty aggressive uh even more so than that and maybe even more aggressive than they were in 2023 going into 2024, but this time for offensive help. Um so, I’m going to turn to Boston here. I feel that a realistic target would be a Jiren Durant if they are to go maybe allin and maybe not all in that this is the final year of contention but having an off season they just have never had before in Kansas City because I feel that Boston is wanting to move one of those outfielders they’re looking for pitching the Royals have an abundance of it and you could look to a guy like Jiren Durant now maybe if it’s not Cameron or Bubich would we be opposed to trading Michael Waka and and paying some of that contract and packaging a prospect like a Blake Mitchell and maybe a Ben Cerna to send to Boston. Boston gets the stability of Michael Walka, two big prospects, and the Royals get Jiren Durant in return. It’s going to cost a lot, but to me without any knowledge so far with what teams are talking about, there’s really no rumors just yet. That’s going to be one that I throw out there because if they are to move an outfielder, I would imagine it’s Duran or Masataka Yoshida. And Masataki Yoshida is making a lot of money and wasn’t that great last year. Jiren Durant, I think, would fit more in Kansas City. This next one is coming from Jared and Julie Smith. What are your thoughts on Shawn Gamble and his true potential in Kansas City? Also, what are some sleeper chief free agents for the Royals to sign this off seasonason? Keep up the great work. Uh, thanks for listening along as always. As for Shawn Gamble, we talked about him last week. I believe Shawn Gamble and Josh Hammond, of course. U, I believe that Hammond’s a better prospect, but I believe Shawn Gamble can be that outfield prospect the Royals haven’t had in a long time. He’s got the speed. He’s got the glove. I believe his his bat can play up at some of the lower levels of the minor leagues. But I need to maybe reserve my judgment until both of those guys get to double A because I feel they’re not going to have too many issues with Low A Colombia and then high A Quad Cities where I’m going to be able to tell just how great of a prospect they are will be in double A. And I feel Shawn Gamble can translate into being that center fielder the Royals have been searching for in their minor league system for a long, long time. He’s a second baseman center field. I believe there’s more value in center field, so I’d rather Sean Gamble play there. As for cheap free agents, I mean, you could bring back an Adam Frasier. That’s one that I could absolutely see. They love him as a clubhouse guy. He put up good numbers after being acquired from Pittsburgh. Uh Mike Estrensky is another one that I don’t believe would break the bank. That’s a one-year deal. Maybe 7 to 8 million. Um but that’s going to be uh what I’m looking for with giving out cheap deals. I’m not for giving out cheap deals for a starter. I would only give out cheap deals for a bench player or a platoon player, and that’s what both those guys would be. Good questions, though. This one’s coming from female Casey Royals fan. Who do you think they will be protecting in the rule five draft come December? I’m thinking maybe Gavin Cross or Javier Vos and then Ben Cudan and maybe Frank Mosicado. Of those, I’m just going to stick with that because I feel those are great options to bring up. I’m going to go uh look a little bit deeper into who they all have to protect and have it in an episode next week. But of those four, I don’t think they’ll protect any of them other than Ben Cuderna. Uh truthfully, I don’t believe they’ll need to protect Gavin Cross, Javier Vase, and Frank Mosicado. I believe Ben Kerna is that guy they have a lot of stock in. The other guys I feel they can probably, you know, take their chances. If they get scooped up, they get scooped up. But Ben Cerna to me is the only one that has some legitimate upside as a prospect. Let’s get to one more here before our first break. This one’s from Bryce. Rotation pen trade Bubich Burger Kick. Also, would you rather have Bailey Falter, Sam Long in the bullpen? Unfortunately, neither. I wouldn’t want to have Sam Long or Bailey Falter in the bullpen. I would rather them uh take a chance on somebody in in Triple A going into the year. If that means having one less lefty in the bullpen, so be it. Without the the luggies anymore, the the left-handed only guys, I I just I feel you only need two lefties and Daniel Lynch and Anhel Serap out there. For Sam Long or Bailey Falter, not sure. They’re just good enough over someone like maybe Luender Avala or a Jonathan Bolan. I’d rather have a right-hander like those two than Sam Long or Bailey Falter. As for the other question, I would go with uh Bubich as a starter. I would go with I’d go with Burger in the pen and then Kick trade. Uh just because Kick’s, you know, nearing 30 years old. We forget that that Ryan Ber’s 25. Steven Kolk’s 28 or was 28 and is going to be 29 this next year. Uh, but I also could see Steven Kick’s stuff playing up in the bullpen. I really can. He was fantastic as a starter for the Royals. That might be the best uh you can get out of him as a starter. Remember, the numbers were not that great coming over from San Diego. Uh, but he’s got that power change. Uh, he was starting to to run it up a little bit more with his fast ball about 95 to 96. And, you know, that that really could play nicely in the bullpen. I don’t want any of those guys to be included in a trade, but at the end of the day, if they are to get a big-time bat, like I mentioned, Jiren Durant, not sure Michael Walker would be enough to do it, maybe you would have to move someone like a Ryan Bert or a Chris Bubich. We’ll take our first break of the show. When we come back, still plenty of questions to get to next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I your host Jack Johnson and you can follow me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. want to tell you about our first sponsor today in prize picks. Playing prize picks is such a fun and simple way to add more excitement to football. You just pick more or less on player projections like Josh Allen’s passing yards or Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown and you are in the game. Download the prize picks app today and use code lockdown MLB. That’s L O C D O N MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on MLB for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It is good to be right. Next set of questions is going to begin with Bob. Love your show, Jack. Thanks for the kind words. My question is, how did our infield rank in the AL and MLB in fielding? Well, I do this on the fly, so I’m trying to remember off the top of my head where they were in defensive run saves. I want to say they were seventh or tied for seventh. So top 10 in all of baseball where that ranks in the American League, I remember it being top five where they took a big step back. Uh they were not good defensively whatsoever at second base. They were not good defensively in right field. They were not good defensively in left field. And really until Mike Ystreky got there, they were well below average at those positions. I mean, Jonathan India was the worst defender in all of baseball in terms of defensive run saved, whether he was in left, second, or third base. And I thought that was putting too much on the guy. They probably should have just left him at second and you wouldn’t have had all those defensive miscues. But they’re still a top top 10 defensive team. I haven’t checked fielding percentage. That always doesn’t matter to me or doesn’t really matter to me. I’d rather look at outs above average and defensive run saves uh to really determine how good the defense would be. But that’s where I have them or I can remember them having them at uh before the season came to an end. This one’s from Parker. Do you have any predictions about the new City Connect jerseys? Yeah, that’s something we haven’t had the chance to talk about. They’re going to have to have new City Connect jerseys. And I thought they did such a great job with the the dark navy blue. It looked so sharp with the powder blue. It wasn’t everybody’s favorite. I truly enjoyed them. I thought for a little bit they would have some form of a powder blue City Connect, but now they have those powder blues that they wear on the road, they wear on Saturday nights at home, there’s not a need to have another powder blue city connect uniform. So, my guess is they run it back with a navy uniform, you know, have it basically similar to this because it was such a big hit or they would go with a black uniform. We remember they used to have those back in in 200 Oh gosh, probably just the mid 2000s I should call because I know it was a couple of years they had those those black uniforms in the vests. Uh so I could see them having a black uniform with maybe some powder blue numbers, but the navy blue in my opinion looks a little bit sharper cuz black’s not really a part of the Royals uniform scheme. Uh never really has been other than those weird jerseys in the mid 2000s. So that would be my guess there. Wouldn’t see them doing any gold jerseys. I’m not sure that would look good whatsoever. So, I’ll say navy blue uh or some form of a black uniform for their City Connect unis. This one’s coming from Giovani. I have been re-watching some of Kag’s old college highlights. Why can’t he be a high-powered lefty out of the Royals bullpen? Why not bet on his 99 mph fast with a nasty change and tried at least? Well, if the Royals had issues in the bullpen, they could do that. Uh they could try to make him a two-way player. The focus for Kaggs though is improving offensively. That needs to be the number one goal even over his his learning of the outfield, right? His defensive ability. You need to figure it out offensively. That’s going to be the focus for him this off seasonason over the next couple of months. And here’s the thing at the big league level. 99 with the power change up can be hit. I mean in college that it couldn’t be. And he didn’t even have that great of numbers in college as a pitcher. Now, would it be awesome to see him pitch? Sure. But the Royals ditched that a while ago. And I believe Jack Kaggleon ditched that a while ago. They’re not going to throw him out there in high leverage spots just because he could throw hard. There’s a lot of guys in the bullpen that can throw hard and they get hit around. Uh look at Anel Sera for for that comparison. I mean, Anel sits about 97 to 98 or 96 to 98 and it’s a sinker and he’s got a plus plus slider and a change up and there’s times that we have people complaining about Anhill Sera in the game. Jack Kaggle Leone’s no longer a polished pitcher. He hasn’t worked on it in a long time. So, his goal will be just worrying about his offensive numbers there because it’s one thing to throw 99 in college from the left side. College hitters don’t see that that often. It’s a totally different thing to throw 99 to big leaguers because they can hit that and they can hit that with ease if it’s not located properly. Fair question though. This one’s coming from Brad. Is JJ Blade still on the table? I feel we did answer. I might be dipping into last week’s mailbag here. Um, but just to reiterate that in case anybody missed it. I don’t see JJ Blade being a great target for the Royals. had a really down year last year, which is also another thing I’m looking for with Kyle Sters, who we talked about last year. Somebody that was a late blooming prospect, really popped one year, became, you know, talked about with trade discussions, and then fell off the next year. I don’t see that with Kyle Sters, but JJ Leet really fell off this past season. I don’t see him being a target for the Royals this year. Uh, let’s jump over to Twitter here. This one’s from Matt. Not really a question, but another player to add to the possible trade list is Catel Marte. Arizona has some big-time infield prospects, and there were rumblings that Arizona might not be that happy with him. A change of scenery might do him wonders. If there was a possibility the Royals could get Catel Marte, I would be doing back flips on this podcast. I mean, we would do a week straight of episodes on Catel Marte. That’s how excited I would be to add a player like him. And truthfully, I don’t care what it would cost. That’s the type of player that Catel Marte is. I had this this fun time at the All-Star game last year, two years ago I should say, now that this season is complete, when it was in Arlington, had the chance to go out there for the home run derby for the All-Star game and I remember watching batting practice before the Derby and Catel Marte was in it and I was doing something on my computer, but all of a sudden I could hear the crowd, you know, really marveling at what was going on on the field and I thought it might be Pete Alonzo. I thought it might be Gunner Henderson. I thought it might be Bobby, though I knew it wasn’t going to be Bobby actually because I was always trying to wait and see when Bobby was going to take BP. And this guy up at the plate and I couldn’t see from where I was. I couldn’t see the number and they didn’t put, you know, the camera on him up on the screen, but he was hitting the ball from the right side, you know, out the door in left field. So at Global Life Field, you’ve got the bullpen, you’ve got a set of seats, and then you’ve got these this little gap, and then you’ve got two more, you know, second and third levels that are above this gap. He was clearing the bullpen and the first set of of bleachers and the ball was rolling to the door. I mean, you’re talking about 400 probably 50 to 60 feet to left field and it was Catel Marte. And then he flips over to the right side and he’s doing the same thing to right field. And not that that does everything for me about Catel Marte, but he’s such an underrated player, so much power, does so many things well, and he would transform that Royals lineup. So, we haven’t talked about him yet. I’m glad you brought him up, Matt. I would be all for it. And if Arizona is willing to move him, even if that asking price is high, that would be a home run type of deal for the Royals. Mike Garcia, or excuse me, this one’s from Colton John. Uh, do you think that Mike Hill could place some more center in 2026? I’m not sure there’s a need to if they brought in someone like Alex Bregman. We talked about this. I’d even be okay with Bregman moving to second base and keeping Garcia at third. I mean, he’s a gold glove finalist at the hot corner. If he was a bad defender there, maybe you look into center field again, but I’d keep him there. And if you are going to move him, I would only move him to second base. Let’s get to one more here from Michael. Uh, Bubich or which pitcher gets traded and for which outfielder? Boston and the Cubs seem like logical trade partners. Kyle Tucker signed as a free agent. Yeah, I know. Dreaming. And wouldn’t Harrison Bader be a fit for the outfield? Okay, so a couple ones to answer, Michael. And don’t worry, I’m more than happy to answer all of them. Uh, I would say Bubich uh is not the likeliest to be traded. Noah Cameron is a name that comes to mind. I would say that u Kolic or Burger would be likely as well. I’ve changed my opinion on that. I just I do not think the Royals want to move Chris Bubich and they would rather keep their younger pieces in place, but he is coming up on a contract year, so I could absolutely see it. I’m not sure the value would be there, though, because teams know that he’s going to be a free agent and coming off of, you know, a season ending injury the year before. Uh the next one, Boston or Cubs seemed like a logical trade partner. I’ll go with Boston. I said that earlier in the episode. Kyle Tucker, don’t see it at all. I don’t believe the Royals will even be in the running for Kyle Tucker. And then lastly, Harrison Bader a fit for the outfield. Yeah, we actually did an episode on that not too long ago about Bader being a candidate. I believe that he could patrol center field just as well as Kyle Isabel and give you better numbers and I believe would be very affordable for the Royals in free agency. Let’s take our final break of the show. When we come back, we’ll get to our final set of questions 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. Want to tell you about the title sponsor in FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer that you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. For my pick, I’m going to go to Sunday for an awful football game that probably nobody’s going to want to watch. The Browns and Dolphins, two one and five football teams, an offense that can somewhat score in Miami. And then you have the worst scoring offense in the NFL in Cleveland. I’m going to take the under with the total in this game. It’s supposed to be like 40 to 50 mph winds. It’s supposed to be rainy. You add that to two struggling offenses, I don’t see there is any chance in the world of this taking the over or anybody taking the over. Maybe I’m wrong though. I haven’t always been right. But for this game, a bad football game. I’ll play it safe here and go with the under. Final set of questions is going to begin with Aiden on the latest Kaufman Corner pod. David Leky said the Royals would be willing to trade Kags if it brought them a legitimate bat. Just wondering how intriguing do you find that to be? I find it very intriguing. Now, the bat would have to be a pretty legitimate bat, right? You know, you bring up in your question, just a a legitimate bat. Is that league average, above league average? You know, you want to really upgrade this team in 2026. And Jack Kaggleon’s numbers last year simply were not good enough. And if somebody is going to take a chance on Jack Kaggle Leone, they would have to have confidence that what the Royals viewed in him coming out of the draft is going to happen, not just soon, but this next year. Because if the Royals were to move him, you need to get somebody that can give you that production now as well and give you that production the next couple of years. Because if you trade away Jack Kegleion and bring in somebody that is just a league average bat, but Kaggs goes on to hit 40 home runs a year for that team and he’s only 22 years old and has all these years of control, that would be one foolish move for JJ Pico, which is why this year, coming off of the year that Cagleon has, I give it less than a 10% chance that he’s moved, unless it’s some massive blockbuster deal that includes multiple players. uh just because I don’t believe the Royals are in that position to be moving your number one prospect and 22-year-old player. Uh this was the final year of the uh contention window and you really wanted to put all the chips in, you know, a Johnny Quaido like deal, a Ben Zuslike deal, then yeah, you can entertain it. But they’re not in that position. So I still give it a very low likelihood. But found it very interesting that Ley did say that. I was liking everything that he wrote today in his newsletter, which by the way, if you guys aren’t reading Leky’s newsletter, it’s phenomenal. Um, and he does uh bring out some really great content. And every time it pops up in my email inbox, I’m I’m just fascinated to read it. This one’s coming from Justin. More likely, trade for an outfield bat or sign a third baseman. I would say trade for an outfield bat. The Royals don’t have to sign a third baseman. Uh they they do have Mike El Garcia. they could run it back with Jonathan Indie at second base and put all that focus on the outfield. But if the market falls in the direction of getting an infielder over an outfielder, then yeah, that’s something that I would say is more likely, right? If we get to the midway point of the off season and all the big fish in the outfield market are falling off the board and the Royals can’t line up with a trade for anybody to get a corner outfield bat, then maybe you do have to pivot to an infielder and think about moving somebody around a little bit. Only guys that wouldn’t move, Bobby Jr. of course, and then Vinnie Pascantino. But for right now, I would say it’s more likely that the Royals go the trade route for an outfielder. This one’s from Hunter. Should the Royals bring in Nick Castanos? You know, I thought about this this morning. I’m glad somebody asked about this because when I saw it pop up on the the Twitter timeline, I want to say it was Fox MLB that the Phillies are either going to trade Nick Castanos or they are going to just release him. My gut tells me they’re going to have to release him. Nick Castanos is 33 years old. He’s coming off a negative war season. Not that’s the end all beall, but he also was not good offensively. He was 12 points below league average with OPS plus. He had a sub 300 OBP, only had 17 home runs. I mean, really, if we were to boil it down, it’s kind of the season that Jonathan India had minus the the on base numbers. I mean Jonathan India had around a 330 something OBP I believe or 327 but Nick Castianos hit in the 230s had 17 bombs. India had around 10 I want to say 10 to 12 uh ops plus that was around 88 to 92 and was a terrible defender. Nick Castanos is not a good corner outfielder. Jonathan India has not been a good infielder for the Royals. So that to me is more so of a release candidate. And then if you got to spring training and he still was without a job and you needed some depth of the outfield, maybe you could try to count on him for a bounceback year. But with that lineup that he was playing with and the numbers weren’t there, he had all that protection with Schwarber and Harper and Real Mutoo and and Trey Turner, I’m not sure it’s going to be a better situation for him in Kansas City. So I’m going to say no on that. I’d rather them look in other directions for a corner outfield bat. This one’s from DMB. Would it be easier to resign Yaz to play left field and platoon uh or find a platoon match for Isbel and try to upgrade significantly at second base? I don’t see getable outfielders that really make sense. Well, in the free agent market, I would say not a lot of them make sense, but they could always go the trade route and we don’t really know who would be available. But it would be easier to sign Yaz and have a platoon for him in left field than it would be for Isbel in center. Cuz when you’re trying to have that same type of defense in center field as Kyle Isbel, it’s going to be harder to find in the free agent market or through the trade route because he is a top 10 defender at that position. Where the corner outfield spot, it would be easier to find a platoon bat that can mirror Mike Stressky from the right side. So that’s the answer I would give you there. If they were to find a platoon for Kyle Isbel, it would be Harrison Bader. That’s the only guy to me that would make a lot of sense, but I would imagine Harrison Bader coming off the year that he had wants to be an everyday player and now a platoon bat in Kansas City. This one is coming from Tom. Have seen Scott Sharp is firmly in the running for the Colorado GM job. Can you provide some insight on his key responsibilities in KC and what would losing him mean for the Royals? This is somebody that has had, you know, a lot of influence in the Royals organization for a number of years. A very bright individual and I don’t know if I could give you his specific responsibilities other than when you’re the assistant GM, you work very closely with JJ Picolo and a lot of the moves that happen, a lot of the scouting that happens comes from voices like him. I mean, Scott Sharp was a very respected man in the Royals front office and all of baseball for that matter, which is why Colorado is looking at him. Uh you’ve got a Royals organization that at some point in time, even the last couple of years, have had kind of similar seasons to the Rockies. Not what they did in 2025, of course, but they’ve had many 100 loss seasons. And I respect Colorado for taking that approach of this was a team that lost 106 games two years ago and was in the playoffs the very next year and then had a winning record the year after that. Colorado wants to raise the floor and start a rebuild. And I believe that’s a good route to turn to with Scott Sharp. And it would be a big loss for the Royals for an office. And I don’t know who they would turn to in replacing that role. Maybe you go outside the organization. I don’t know if I’ve heard anybody that would be, you know, the the next man in line, if you will, but Colorado is doing its due diligence and going to be interviewing a lot of candidates. And if Scott Sharp gets that job, that that’s wonderful for him. A very deserving person. him. I really do believe uh an incredibly bright person. He hops on a new day with SSJ. Of course, I work at 810 WHB, so I always listen to that interview and love what he has to say because you get that true insight on what goes on inside a Major League Baseball front office. This one is coming from Chris. Uh what is the biggest strength and biggest weakness of the Royals front office since JJ took over? Love this question because we got it from Aquatro to open up the show. So pretty fitting that we wrap up the episode or we have one more after this but right toward the end of the episode of course with the biggest strength I would say that they have an eye for for pitching talent. Uh they know what pitchers that Brian Sweeney, Zack Bo, and Mitch Ditter can really mold and I feel that they have done a lot with a little in terms of you know they’re not going out there and throwing you know 40 million a year at a certain pitcher. They’re kind of working between the margins there. And I didn’t want to take a shot at John Sherman because John Sherman is giving money to JJ Piccolo when he says we need to get this player. But I would also say that, you know, that can be the weakness of, you know, every GM is going to have great moves and they’re going to have poor moves. So that’s where the biggest strength and weakness would be. Uh if I was to say the biggest weakness though, it wouldn’t be on the free agent side. It wouldn’t be on the trade side for that matter. I believe that’s that’s an area that JJ Picolo has excelled in. His weakness though would be maybe finding that legitimate, you know, or multiple legitimate bats out of the draft. Uh, you know, you go with Jack Kagleion, he did make it to the big leagues rather quickly, but over the last handful of years, the Royals haven’t had an abundance of hitting talent at the minor league level. And maybe that’s JJ Bakolo, maybe that’s also the scouts because the scouts do a lot with with the draft, too, right? So JJ Bakolo, yes, is the one that’s making the call. He gets that final say, but the scouts are the ones that are doing the scouting and finding these players and he’s involved in that as well, but that’s maybe where I would go with it is finding multiple bats in a draft. You know, more than just one, right? You find three or four in a draft, and you can develop them in the top 100 players, but I believe he excels at having a great eye for pitching talent and knowing which guys would fit in Kansas City. Uh, this next one and our final one is coming from Michael. Opening day 2026, who is playing left field? Any chance we get Bregman? And if we stay with Indian Massie at second base, that means left field is the only way to improve the offense. Will Cags be the hope next year? Um, so that’s four questions there from Michael. I’ll wrap it up quickly. Uh, who is playing left field? I believe it’s going to be an acquisition. I don’t know who that’s going to be just yet. will continue to roll this off season trying to find guys that would be the best fit, but that’s my best guess as of now. Chance we get Bregman, I would still put it below 10% just because there’s going to be some other suitors that are willing to give him north of 30 million a year over multiple years. And then with Indian Massie at second base, uh yeah, that would probably mean that if they go with those guys at second, you can only upgrade a few spots and they would be in the outfield. And then lastly, uh, will Kaggs be the hope that we have next year? I said yesterday that I believe he is going to have an improved year, but I don’t know if I’m going to go as far to say a breakout year. He needs to be a league average bat, and I’ll leave that type of expectation where where it should be, right? We don’t need to go above and beyond to put unreasonable expectation on a guy that hit 160 last year. If he can be a league average bat, that’s just fine with me. That’ll do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I have been your host, Jack Johnson. If you ever want to be included in this episode, you just need to leave a comment on YouTube or on Twitter. And if I missed any of your guys’ questions, just respond to this one and I’ll answer it um on Sunday. Before we uh say goodbye for the weekend, want to tell you to make locked MLB game night your second listen of the day. every game, every night until the World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on the national scale and find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. You have a great weekend, Royals fans, and we’ll talk to you on Monday. You take it easy, Kansas City.

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