Why the Royals will still make a big move | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Why the Royals will still make a big move | Kansas City Royals Podcast

We have reached the end of the week, so it’s time to get to some questions from the listeners. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Thank you for tuning in to another edition of Locked On Royals and the Locked On Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. That is joyj_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 the follow button and subscribe. For you first-time listeners wondering what to expect from this channel. Well, we are about to enter our offseason period, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be done doing episodes each week. For about 10 and a half months out of the year, we do our typical five episodes a week. But beginning next week, we will drop down to three episodes a week. Give ourselves a little bit of an off seasonason. And then once we get to the early part of February, we’ll be jumping back up to five episodes a week, pretty much in time for pitchers and catchers reporting. And we’ll be taking you all the way until, you know, February of 2027. So that’s what you can usually expect. But again, want to remind everybody next week, uh, we are going to be doing three episodes a week, and my plan unless there’s breaking news on another day. It’ll be Tuesday morning, Thursday morning, and Friday morning to keep our mailbag episode intact. Before we get started though, want to tell you that 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. Let’s not waste any time because we have more than 40 questions to get to beginning with the Twitter questions and you can always reach out to me through the direct messaging. You can just look for my tweet on Thursday nights when I ask for the questions and you will be included in this episode. First one is going to be coming from Jefferson. What should we offer Lane Kein? Well, as long as Kansas City’s got a couple of good hot yoga places and um you know they they’ve got the money to spend then then why not? I know it’s more of a comical joke there. Uh, but there was another lane that did sign with the Royals yesterday, so I’m sure we’ll get more questions on that. But hey, as long as you got places with hot yoga and a lot of money, I’m sure Lane Keifin will be happy to show up to your city. This one’s from MaxJack. Why haven’t we done anything? Well, this was obviously before the signing of Lane Thomas last night, but maybe to spin your question a bit differently on, you know, why they haven’t made a big move. These things take time and as we discussed in yesterday’s episode, you know, if the Royals do a three team trade route, that’s going to take even longer here. Now, are they going to wait until February to get that done? Very unlikely. Uh you’re probably looking within the next month. Some big move will happen that gets them their everyday left fielder. That’s always the tough thing to predict in the off season is, you know, this was a relatively quiet winter meetings. had a couple of bigname free agents signed, but when you think about it, how many teams made a big splash? It was less than 10. And sometimes in the winter meetings, you got 20 teams that at least make one notable move. Uh, but for the Royals wanting to get that everyday bat, they know it might take some pitching and they want to take their time with it. And since all of their options are still on the board, there’s not really a big need to to rush just yet. This one’s from uh Jay Shocker. Just like last off seasonason so far, all talk and nothing has happened. So, I’m assuming, again, this was before the Lane Thomas signing, uh, which that Lane Thomas signing didn’t break until around 6:00 last night. I can understand why people are impatient. Uh, but here’s the thing. Last off season, and I feel I’ve expressed this before, they needed a leadoff bat. They got Jonathan India around Thanksgiving, and then the hope was that they could land that middle-ofthe-art bat. But last offseason, I still feel it was a we want an offseason bat. this off seasonason it’s we have to have it there is not going to be a spring training where they just let Lane Thomas be the big signing that they’ve had been rumored all offseason long that that everyday bat is going to be via trade and as I’ve said before I’ll say it again you can’t force teams to trade with you know you really got to get on a same playing field everybody’s got to be feel happy about their value it’s not like MLB the show where you can turn off you know declining trades and then you can get whoever you want there it’s It’s tough to to do business, especially when you’re acquiring top level talent. If they were swapping guys that were blocked, fourth outfielders or long relievers, yeah, they could get five deals done in in a matter of five hours, but when you’re getting an everyday player, those things can take a little bit more time. This one is from Chase. Hey Jack, does the deal change your perspective on the free agent outfield market? Seems like others available might be more expensive than previously thought. Also, if so, does this make you more confident in a trade happening? Well, I won’t back down on my stance on a trade happening. That’s how I I feel they’re going to get their everyday bat uh just because of the way the outfield market has looked from the beginning. I will say this, the Mikey Stremsky deal really makes a lot of sense of the Lane Thomas deal. The Royals wanted the platoon back. Mikey Stressky, he still wanted to be an everyday player and wanted the multi-year deal. Atlanta was able to give him that in left field. The Royals were not willing to make Mikey Stressky their everyday left fielder because they would like to have somebody you don’t have to sit against lefties. For Lane Thomas, he can crush lefties. Always has in his career. And since he’s coming off a down year where he only played in 39 games and had plantar fasciitis, well, he was going to be cheaper than Austin Hayes and probably cheaper than Rob Refder. and because of their payroll and what they’re wanting to spend, that felt like it was going to fit the budget and they’d still have room to go get a left-handed reliever like they’ve said they’ve wanted to as well. So, yes, I would say the Estreky deal did change my mind in the market because now think about Harrison Bader. I mean, Mikey got a deal that I thought Harrison Bader would get. You know, two years, 24 million. That felt exactly like what Harrison Bader was going to be going for. Now, if you’re Harrison Bader, ask for 18 million a year. I mean, if Yaz can get that at 35 years old, Bader can get way more than that at 30 years old. So, I feel that’s really going to, you know, uh, play up his contract. So, yes, it it’s going to change the landscape for a lot of outfielders out there. This one’s from Blue Dream. Sign Adoulis Garcia, Piccolo. I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen now. The only way I saw a Doles Garcia signing happen is if, you know, they wanted him to be the platoon bet. The push back on it though was that he can’t really hit lefties all that well. So, with Garcia being a right fielder and that’s where he shines and he wants to be an everyday player and he’s going to be probably more expensive than Mikey Stressky, the Royals aren’t going to be doing that move. I I still feel incredibly confident that move is going to come uh via trade. This one’s from Eli. Also, have you seen the Royals front office exec burner account? seems to be ahead of a lot of the trade signings the Royals make, especially on the Fine deal. I did see that um it is, you know, very very interesting to follow. I’m always trying to support accounts out there that have found ways to break news sooner than than the national reporters. I know we talked about that before the Yaz deal. So, anytime somebody gets a deal right and they’re able to put that rumor out into the air, I saw David Le in his newsletter today talk a little bit about it. I’m more than happy to pump those accounts out because they need the following. They need the support. And if you keep getting those things right, then you’re going to be somebody a lot of people turn to. This one’s from Jason. What do you think the Dodgers would want for Tioscar Hernandez? Has there been any talk about what they would want from him? Uh, they pretty much have everything as it is. Yeah, they do have everything as it is, but to me it comes down to if they really feel they have a good chance of landing Kyle Tucker. If they land Kyle Tucker, then it kind of puts Tay Oscar Hernandez on the outskirts of that lineup because of how loaded they are. But if they do go after Kyle Tucker and they trade Hernandez, I don’t believe it would take a ton. Uh even if you did have to eat, you know, 50% of the contract or 60%. I feel that Chris Bubich would be enough to get it done. If you didn’t want to do that, maybe Steven Kick could get it done, but I feel you rather keep the younger arms that have multiple years of control. I mean, Kick and Bubich are around the same age, but Kick has multiple years of control where Bubich is going to be a free agent at season’s end. Um, I still don’t know if Hernandez is the perfect fit. He’s a bat first left fielder, and the Royals are going to need to be uh pretty sure that the guy they get can handle left field, you know, 150 to 155 times this year. And that might be pushing it a bit with Hernandez. This one’s from Ned. What’s the likelihood where we have to repeat of last off seasonason where we were in on a bunch of players but nothing really materialized. See, that’s the thing. I feel there was this misconception that the Royals were in on a ton of guys last year. They were interested in a few, but the last time I remember the Royals being linked to this many players was the 2023 offseason where they got Lugo and Waka and Will Smith and Stratton and um I’m blanking on a few others. on a Renfro too. So they had had been able to cash in a little bit more. I don’t see it being similar to last offseason cuz last off season they got their trade done singer for Jonathan India and then it was how can we improve the smaller areas of this this team. And the reason I do feel it’s going to be different is last offseason they were coming off the postseason. You know though they did want to upgrade the team they felt they didn’t need to upgrade a ton. But coming off this past season where the offense was horrific, the outfield was horrific. They know that, you know, at some point push comes to shove and they need to be, you know, getting some of these big time bats, these above average bats. And I feel over 90% confident, probably over 95% confident. They’re still searching for that everyday left fielder, and that will be their their big get of the offseason. But no, I don’t see it being like last off season where they struck out a few times cuz the middle of the order bat they tried to go through free agency. This year it’s far more plausible they’re able to get that bat via trade and they’re willing to go the trade route. All right, let’s take our first break of the show. When we come back, still plenty of questions to get to next on Lockown Royals. You are tuned in to Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. Want to tell you about the title sponsor today in game time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. 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Oh man. See, I I definitely saw the tail end of Alex Gordon’s career that he was past his prime and he was already declining at the very end. Uh, Beltron probably had the best career post 40 of that bunch. Melky would be tough to play every day. De Jesus, that’s an interesting one, too. But I also would wonder, I mean, he was kind of past being an everyday player in his mid30s. So, I doubt that he could be an everyday guy, at least on the team in 2026. I would maybe go more of the pitching route here. And I guess I will say, you know, I feel somebody that could still have some role. Let’s go Jason Vargas or Jeremy Guthrie. Uh, you know, Jeremy Guthy’s been up in the booth. You know, he’s somebody that I feel could still run it up there in the high 80s, uh, in good shape as well. So, some of the guys that relied on on better control and secondary pitches, though, that was strange for Guthrie because he had that Guthrie power fastball in his his early career. But I do feel those two guys I would take them over 40 maybe and Mike Sweeney could swing it a little bit post 40 years old. I know he’s in really good shape as well. So I would go with the the fifth option there and other among the guys that you had uh picked there but love that question. RB’s question. One more. Can Mount Castle or Mayo play left field and be targets for Kansas City? Now the polar bear is in Baltimore. I just don’t know if those moves would do it for me. Uh Mount Castle or Mayo. I feel those are both guys that are first baseman and you already got a first baseman playing right field. So to me, uh though I would be maybe okay and come around to those additions, I feel they need to shoot a little bit higher than those two out of Baltimore. This one’s from Jacob. What do you have more faith in in 2026, the Chiefs or the Royals? Well, it’s pretty hard to have any faith in the Chiefs. You just have to go back on previous seasons. But if my my question is who do I expect to make the postseason in 2026? Well, at this point, I’d probably have to say the Royals cuz the Chiefs have a 15 to 16% chance of making it, but you never want to count out the Chiefs. They always find a way to to rattle off a couple wins in a row, find that magic. It just doesn’t feel like it’s going to be this team this year because you have more hope and optimism in in December for baseball. And right now, it’s just spiraling downward for the Chiefs. You know, I I’m a host of a lockedown Royals podcast. I feel I kind of have to answer the Royals. This one’s from Spoons. Mailbag trade proposal. Royals send Boubbage to Seattle. Seattle sends Randy Rosaran to the Royals. Luis Castillo goes to the Red Sox. Red Sox send Durant to Seattle. Maybe this is close. I don’t know. Let me know. That’s a fascinating one. I was just about to say before I saw Durant to Seattle that Seattle would be getting the short end of the stick there, but they get Bubic and Jiren Durant and you only have to send Luis Castillo. Boston, they’re going to be able to get the pitcher. They’re wanting to pair with Garrick Crochet and the Royals get a guy like Randy Rose Arena. You know, truthfully, Spoons, I would say that I’m having a hard time coming up. Who would say no? I feel Seattle gets a really good deal there. Uh Boston, you get a very high-end reliever or high-end starter, excuse me. And not that Bouvage can replace the production of Castillo, but you know, the Mariners didn’t get a replace of Rosena with Duran. I don’t feel like the Royals would say no to Rosena either if all they had to give up was Bubich. I mean, Ro Randy Roseno would be a very good get for left field based on what he did last year. I like that trade proposal. I’m really having a hard time coming up with who would say no. So, I would hope to see something like that and that would absolutely be the blockbuster of the Major League Baseball off season. Caleb’s question, are you worried about us not getting the middle of the order bat and instead getting two barely league average guys for the bottom of the order? I’m starting to think that is possible with the moves for maybe Jake Myers and Austin Hayes instead of a true middle of the order guy. I would say my confidence has not been shaken. Uh they got Lane Thomas to fill the platoon role last night. Uh and it is at the end of the day December 12th, there’s still plenty of time to get something done. And since all of their top options are on the board, there’s not this sense of desperation or rush. So I really have not dropped any confidence in them getting that middle of the order bet. To me, it’s more so about who than if they’re actually going to get that that everyday left fielder. This one’s from Eli. Out of all the likely available options, who would you prefer, Tayasca or Elliot Ramos? I’d say Elliot Ramos, younger, has that that powerful bat played in the ballpark that is tough for right-handed hitters to really shine with that power. Hernandez, 33, has the contract tied to him. Poor defender. Ramos isn’t a great defender either, but he also can play all three outfield spots as well where you’ve penciled in Hernandez to only play left field at this stage in his career. So, I don’t feel I have to overthink this one too much. I’ll go with the younger, more controllable bat, and that would be Ramos. This one’s from Aiden. What moves would you want to see the Royals make if they could pull them off? The Royals trade for both Tioscar Hernandez and Brennan Donovan, or the Royals sign Odolas Garcia and trade Jiren Durant? Well, if they got Hernandez and Donovan, I’d be over the moon. But I’m starting to wonder what all they would have to give up. Uh, so if they got Donovan and Hernandez, I would say Cameron’s gone. I would say Bubich is gone. Uh, maybe even someone like Burger or Kolic, and then you’ve just wasted all of your pitching depth there. So, option A wouldn’t be the most likely, but also option B, now they’ve signed Lane Thomas, there’s no need to sign Adoulles Garcia. I still would hope that their trade will be Brendan Donovan. I feel that will be the best possible fit for left field. Jiren Duran feels too expensive. Hernandez has his red flags. Brennan Donovan seems like the perfect fit for the Royals. I know I put out a Twitter poll yesterday. Still feels that the majority want Jiren Durant. I feel it’s because he’s a bigger name than Brennan Donovan, but I really do feel Donovan would be the best possible fit for the Royals. And I would hope they could find a way to get a deal done with St. Louis. Uh Jay-Hawks Royals Steelers country. Which of the free agent outfielders would benefit the Royals most in your opinion? I’m not sure if this was before or after the Lane Thomas signing. I’m not saying Lane Thomas was the perfect signing. They needed the platoon bat. They needed a right-handed bat that was going to be affordable and does exactly what they need him to when facing left-handed pitching. Austin Hayes felt like the best fit, but Austin Hayes was going to be more expensive than Lane Thomas. As I said, Mikey Strimpy gets a two-year deal worth 11.5 million per year. I’m imagining Austin Hayes is going to get more than that. And that’s just not what the Royals wanted to do for a guy they didn’t expect to play every single day. But I felt on paper Austin Hayes was the best fit coming off a pretty good season. But I could understand why the Royals went the cheaper route and still get somebody who for his entire career has absolutely matched lefties and can play all three outfield spots. That was the one thing too with Austin Hayes. He hasn’t played center field in in five seasons or four seasons. So Lane Thomas has a little bit more of that ability. comes down to how his heel and foot are feeling coming off a surgery. This one’s from Sam with the left-handed bullpen market almost sold out. Who could the Royals turn to? Couple options come to mind. Andrew Chaffens, maybe my favorite. Has the power slider, a lot of swing and miss, just struggles with command a bit. Um I also like Caleb Ferguson. Um Shawn Nukem of the Athletics felt like a really good fit. I know David Leky had brought up a few guys in the trade route they could go to. Um, it was Garrett Clevenger of the Rays. Could turn to former Royal Matt Strom. I feel they’ll go with a one-year deal though on a left-hander. And any of those previous guys, the first three I mentioned, those feel like really good fits for the Royals. This one’s coming from Casey Predzan. Obviously, still a lot of time for this question to be considered, but what do you think the Royals go after with the six pick next year? Do you think they try to add another high school bat or maybe go with a highlevel college arm? Um, I would say it depends on how the the college season goes. If there’s a couple of guys that are rising, then I could see a world in which the Royals want to go more of the the college route where the floor is very high and they can get to the big leagues rather quickly. I I feel the best option though would be a a prep arm. If you get a top two prep arm available at six, you haven’t taken um a high level arm in the last couple of drafts, in the first round, I should say. You took Hammond and Gamble last year. You took Kagleon the year before. Feels like they’re trending toward getting a pitcher that they could really craft and mold alongside David Shields and Kendry Churio. So, that would be my pick as things stand on December 12th. Let’s get to our last two here on Twitter. Chris’s question. With guys like Yas getting what is widely considered an overpay, does talking or taking on Oscar Hernandez contract make relative financial sense for the Royals, especially if the prospect MLB talent cost is cheap? I feel it would. That’s kind of the tricky thing about his contract. He’s only making 12 million toward the payroll in in 2026. So, you’re getting around what Mikey Strepsky is making for Tayaska Hernandez. Now, the buyout I believe is like 6.5 million or something like that. So, it is a funky contract, but it’s not anything the Royals couldn’t afford. I feel when you look at that contract on paper, you say no way the Royals could afford that. They absolutely could and they’re going to be evaluating that option. This one’s from RV Carr. With the free agent closers all getting scooped up so quickly, should the Royals check the market on Estz? Mets and Toronto both need back of the pen arms and pieces the Royals can use. I don’t think they’re going to shop him. Uh they might at the deadline if they’re out of it because then he has the opt out at the end of the year. You got the guy that that led the league in in saves last year. And even though it wasn’t always pretty, the Royals expect to compete and that just feels like such an anti-Royals move where they’re trying to compete and then they trade away the guy who led the league in saves last year. It’s not a bad thought by any means, but just kind of knowing the way the Royals have operated the last few years. It’s a big reason they shut down any idea of trading him at the deadline because they want him to be around and they want Ersig and Steven Cruz and the left-handed arm they get to be the guys that bridge the gap to the ninth inning. Let’s take our final break of the show. When we come back, we’ll wrap it all up with our final set of questions on Lockdown Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals in 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 two things, beginning with the Everydayer Club. Has Locked on Royals been your first listen every day? If so, well, thank you for making Locked on Royals the number one sports podcast network. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Lockdown Royals with no interruptions. Members only Discord access and more for all for just $5 a month or $50 a year. You can go to the URL that we will post in our show notes below. Uh that way you can just find it with ease. Go right there and sign up if you want to. Uh so it should be very easy to get that type of access. And I know for a lot of you, you’re tired of seeing the ads. So that’ll be one easy way to get that done. Also want to tell you about FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so very exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place live bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets on FanDuel. The game moves fast and so can you. Let’s jump uh over to our DMs real quick just so we can answer the final question actually on YouTube. This one’s from Jerry. You talk about three team trainings. I did some re research and came up with two ideas. Washington’s Mackenzie Gore an average RA but strikes out a lot of hitters in multiple years of control. Gore to Boston, Duran to the Royals and Blake Mitchell and Steven K to or Bouvage to Washington. The lesser of the two ideas happening is Freddy Peralta of Milwaukee. I’ve read they may be wanting to trade him. One year of control, but amazing stats. Not sure the Royals could give Milwaukee what they needed if they gave Boston Freddy Peralta. Perhaps we give Milwaukee Blake Mitchell and Bailey Falter. And then Boston throws in a top minor league player to give to Milwaukee and Royals get Durant. I like the move, but doubt it happens. Yeah, I’ve been loving all these hypothetical three team trades because you guys have put a lot of thought into them and I feel a lot of them make sense. If I was to pick, I feel the first trade proposal there would make more sense than Milwaukee because the Brewers, we know they’re you reigning champs. they were the one seed in the National League. Uh they’re not going to be taking on any prospects. They’re going to want some big-time players. So, I feel the Washington deal makes far more sense for everybody involved there. And we’ll see if they’re one of the teams that pops up there. Good question there, though, Jerry. This one is from Shane. Why doesn’t John Sherman use deferred money to sign bigname talent like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger? Couple reasons. I mean, you got to get the the guys like Bellinger or Kyle Tucker to get want deferred money, right? Show Otani was able to have the deferral money because he’s making, you know, hand over fist in Japan, right? He’s just making endless amounts of money in advertisement over Japan. So, you can have the deferred money. As good as Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger are, they don’t have that type of money rolling in. So, they’re not going to want deferred money. Even if the Dodgers or Yankees came calling, they’re going to want all that money up front. And they’re going to want 30 plus million dollars a year. And we just know the Royals are very rarely, if ever, going to be on a player like that. That’s just too much. You know, they gave Bobby Wood Jr. the big time extension. They want to build around him. I know people would want to see a move like that, but those players I just do not think are going to take deferred money there. That comes from the player and really Otani was able to do that because he’s making far more money in Japan on on advertisements alone. It feels like uh this one is going to be coming from Ricky. Do you think the ro should go for Elliot Ramos? Yeah, we talked a little bit about Ramos last week and also one of our previous answers in this episode. I feel he’d be a fine fit, but at this point, I’m starting to believe the Giants just aren’t even shopping him, and I’m not sure they were to begin with. He’s a good right-handed bat, can play left field, he’s got multiple years of control, but that won’t be cheap. And I’m not sure the the Giants would really want anything the Royals have to offer, unless it would be a Noah Cameron type, and we know the Royals are very hesitant to move a guy like Noah Cameron. So, I I don’t think that deal would be very likely. And until we get reports the Giants are actively shopping him, I’m just not sure it’s in the cards this year. Duffel’s question, you have already talked about it, but the Royals class of 2026 is open to voting now. Among the candidates, who do you think are the most deserving? This is one I do want to put a little bit more time into. U going back to the original post that the Royals made about the 2026 class. You know, I’ve always felt in the future that um you know, Lorenzo Kane deserved to be in it. Beltron, I mean, it didn’t end the best in Kansas City, but I feel that he deserves to get some votes there. Greg Holland was just so ridiculously underrated. I felt Wade Davis overshadowed him a bit, but can you put Holland and Davis in? Maybe you could. Might as well put all of HDH in there. But my vote, I think, would be Lorenzo Kane above them all. And I’ll probably stick with that answer there. I just feel he was the best player on one of the greatest Royals teams of all time. This one’s from Clinton. Um, I recognize they want to build up Kags, but isn’t it a little early to platoon him? You know, maybe I’ve misspoke a few times. They’re not going to make him a strict platoon. It’s more so to give him some comfort there and some insurance that, you know, hey, if they’re if you’re struggling against lefties early on in the season, we can turn to Lane Thomas. But I feel that Lane Thomas is far more of a platoon for Kyle Isbel than he is for Kaggle Leone. They want Kaggleó to take that job and run with it and they’re going to give him every opportunity to do so. But JJ Bakolo did say he wants to get a right-handed bat to compliment him. That would be the addition last night of Lane Thomas. Jersey Jay-Hawks question, where would you put Lane Thomas in the lineup right now? I’d only put him in there against lefties and I would just swap him out for Isbel, which would be hitting ninth uh in the order. This one’s from Andrew. What is the ceiling and floor for Lane Thomas? I’m thinking it is faster than Hunter Renfro and the ceiling is Mikey Stressky or righty Mikey Stressky. I feel that’s fine. Um I’m not sure he’s going to have the power that Mikey Stressky did. I feel he can be a fine defender. Uh if his foot and heel feels just fine, he can steal you 15 to 20 bags. I feel that he could hit anywhere from 255 to 260, get on base at a 315 clip ops plus around 105 to 110 and much higher against lefties. That’s the best case scenario there. And clearly the Royals have some hope that he’s going to be able to do that. This one’s from Bryce. Assuming Lane Thomas fills the right-handed platoon option, then who can Casey target in free agents to fill a spot in the outfield. Uh I just don’t think they’re going to go the free agent route for an everyday outfielder. I just I feel it’s going to be the trade route. I know you bring up Harrison Bader. Bader is now going to be incredibly expensive. And somebody’s going to overpay for Harrison Bader. I wish him nothing but the best because I do root for guys that get big-time contracts for the first time in their career. But based off what Yaz got, Harrison Bader is going to get a lot of money as well. This one’s from Braden. With all the potential trade packages when acquiring an outfielder, usually the Royals would have to offload pitching. Would it be any different if they tried to acquire Jeff McNeel? It’s a good uh trade candidate to bring up here. I know Chance Lebo did on one of our our collab episodes a few weeks ago. McNeel’s a little bit older. I feel he would be an upgrade over what the Royals have, but he’s a second baseman at this point. The Royals have Jonathan India there. If they’re going to get a second baseman that can play around a little bit, I’d rather be Brennan Donovan. But since, you know, the Mets are still in a contention window, what the Royals have to offer is only on the pitching side. There’s not really an everyday position player they’re willing to move that they would send over to the Mets for Jeff McNeel. So, I just don’t believe it lines up that well, but if it did, it would still have to be somebody from that that pitching talent that they have. This one’s from Chiefs Freak. Can the Royals acquire Jiren Durant via three team trade? It’s possible. and probably likelier than just a straight up trade with Boston. You want somebody else to throw in that top level arm that can, you know, get the the ball rolling a little bit. But I do feel a three-team trade is is the better route and requiring Durant. That way you don’t have to send a Cole Reagan’s or a Noah Cameron and maybe you could send know pitching in a prospect or two to a team that’s trying to rebuild in that three-team trade. This one’s from Jesse. How do we feel about Steven Quan? I know it’s super unlikely coming from a division rival, but come on. What would the Royals be willing to give for him? It wouldn’t be more so about what the Royals would willing be give. It’d be what are the Guardians asking for? And to me, that would be, you know, Noah Cameron and then some. And I just I like Steven Quan a lot. I don’t know if he would be the absolute difference maker. He’s coming off a bit of a down year there, but you got a gold glove defender and left, top of the order bat, can hit north of 300. But in division, Cleveland would be asking more from the Royals than any other team out there. And I’m still not convinced that the Guardians really want to move Steven Quan, not coming off the they had this one. Let’s see if we have a couple more here. Steve’s question. Do you think of the draft lottery is legitimately fair for poor performing teams like Colorado? They were so bad without tanking the season. I really appreciate your insight. I would say there are unfair parts to it, but at the end of the day, Colorado picked 10th because they had to. They were top 10 in the lottery the last two years. It’s trying to force ownership to spend a little bit more money. And what I will say is this. It is tough to force owners to spend money every single year when your team might not be ready for contention. But look at the Royals. I know they built around Bobby Wood Jr. They lost 106 games, spent money, went to the postseason. The Rockies can be much better than 119 losses. That just shouldn’t happen in baseball. 108 is probably where I put the cut off there. If you get to 110 losses, you didn’t even try to win at any game at any point this season. So to me, I just do not feel that it’s going to be, you know, ever really tweaked that much. I feel there’s unfair parts to it, but it’s literally there to push teams to spend a little bit more money, even if you don’t have Dodgers type money. Matt’s question here, would it be worth a trade including a ste in a trade package? He would have some value if you’re leading the league in saves and Ursa can close them out. Yeah, I just I’ll refer back to my previous answer. When you’re trying to compete, you don’t want to trade the guy that led the league in saves. He’ll probably have some regression there, but if you’re going to move him, I’d imagine it’d be at the trade deadline. This one’s from Jackson. Do you think that because the Royals have a super high draft pick that the Royals might not trade for a younger stud outfielder since it’s a really strong um outfield class? Um I feel that it’s not really going to persuade them one way or the other just because they’re high draft pick. I do feel that they’re still going to get a young or may maybe not even young, a controllable outfield bat for the next couple of years. Um, if they want to go with an outfielder in the 2026 MLB draft, I’m okay with it as long as that guy’s really shot up the draft boards. I made my pick. I believe it’ll be a pitcher. At the end of the day though, I don’t think it’s going to change their opinion on what they want to do this off season. If I missed anybody’s question, it was not intentional. Uh, just respond below to this video. We kind of ran out of time and we had a ton of questions today, but I will try to answer them before the end of the weekend. That’s going to do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. Thanks for tuning in to Lockdown Royals today. We will be off this weekend and beginning next week, we’ll be dropping down to three episodes a week. And did Lockdown Royals make your Spotify rep? Prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everydayer Club. Just tag our national locked on podcast network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the Everydayer Club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly Discord channel. For those of you on video, we send you the first ever 247 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel and on audio. Make sure your second listen is locked on MLB. Until Monday, or actually until Tuesday, you take it easy, Kansas City.

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