Do the Royals have a second half push? | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Do the Royals have a second half push? | Kansas City Royals Podcast

you are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network I your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter Johnny J_15 That’s Jonyj_15 And you can catch us on wherever you listen to podcast That can be Spotify Apple Podcast Amazon Music Google Podcast Odyssey and YouTube Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe If you want to know how our channels work if you are that firsttime listener we bring you episodes Monday through Friday 30 minute episodes as well as some 60-cond YouTube shorts after the games And now we have a brand new Royals postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo so different than me of course And he comes to you live after each and every Royals game that continues into the weekend And he’ll go live for about 15 minutes giving you his thoughts on the game you ever want to reach us again just comment on this YouTube video or any of our YouTube videos Tomorrow will be our mailbag Friday and then you can also just reach out to me directly on Twitter Um Twitter is probably the easiest way to reach me if you really have an urgent question but I still get the notifications uh here on YouTube if you do have a pressing question for tomorrow which I imagine a lot of you do Uh and depending on what this team does this afternoon it could be a very somber mailbag segment um at the end of this week And I don’t blame anybody for giving up at this point I don’t blame anybody for being overly negative uh you really don’t have anything over the last four games or really you know with this being the 81 game mark today you don’t have a ton of of positives to talk about at least you know the tail end of this first half stretch has not been very pretty I mean as early as last week we were talking about a team that had won four in a row uh had just taken game one in San Diego and you know felt they could maybe take a series against the Padres’s before coming back home for a very difficult series or home stand I should say against the Rays and the Dodgers They haven’t done that and the offense has disappeared yet again And I was out there um at Kaufman Stadium I was there to cover the game last night and there was only one inning where either team did anything and it wasn’t anything flashy The Rays used three infield singles and two bunts that were executed perfectly Walk told us in the postgame afterward they’re two of the best bunts that he’s ever seen Maybe that was just a little bit of recency bias involved because they both scored runs but the Rays just used small ball in the way the Royals used to to scratch across their three runs and Drew Rasmmanson and the Rays bullpen were able to shut down the Royals and only hold them to three hits And it’s just so it’s becoming common I should say I shouldn’t say it is so common It’s becoming so common that this inconsistency is becoming a major crux of this team’s success Now what I meaning by that is this All season long the offense has struggled but we’ve seen those spurts of they have four games in a row where the offense starts to play pretty well and then they disappear for four games then they might show up for a game or two then they disappear for five more And that inconsistency as we talked about in yesterday’s episode it’s just never going to be a recipe for success You can’t do that for 162 games and expect to be a playoff team when it’s all said and done And the second segment of today’s show is going to be centered around do they have time right 38 and 42 four games under 500 and they have a three and a half game deficit from a playoff spot So do they have time in these final 82 games to make something happen and that’s going to be something that we dive into But for this first segment the big question is what can they do you know we were down in the clubhouse last night It was a very quiet clubhouse there wasn’t a lot going on and you don’t expect them to after you’ve been shut out three to nothing It’s a team you’re chasing in the American League wildard race and you know I would say that there are certain things you can do and there hopefully can be some things that you can do over the next few weeks to better this team But we know that we are still about a month and a few days away from the trade deadline And I’m not saying the Royals have to make all of their moves by then because once the calendar flips to July that’s when some teams might be a little bit more aggressive That’s when some of those teams that might be on the fence of buying or selling will go into a full sell mode And for the Royals position and where they’re at right now they’re not the White Socks and they’re not the Rockies where there’s nothing you can do in the next month to change the fact that you are going to be a seller They are one of those teams though that are on the fence and JJ Beako said two days ago that they will be open to absolutely everything You know if they’re going to be a buyer then they’re going to try to go out there and acquire some bats for this lineup to help them get to the finish line If they’re a seller they’re going to have to look into moving some of those pieces to acquire some offensive help And as we discussed in one of our episodes last week there is that gray area too There’s that middle ground of doing what the Tigers did last year where they sold Jack Flity and got Trey Sweeney another prospect in return And no Trey Sweeney has not been what the Tigers had hoped for but that type of logic is not a bad way of of of thinking at all That logic can still give you a little bit of a push into the second half And that’s what should be seen as a good thing for the Royals where if they are acquiring talent I don’t see them acquiring guys that are in high A or in double A It’ll be guys that are right on the cusp at the big league level or they are at the big league level and they’re ready to contribute right now And for these moves they can make to try to help out the lineup I mean this goes handinhand with the you know deductions from your roster when you bring in talent you’re going to be looking to move some guys on out and I I’m seeing the lineup get posted every single day And you know you have your constants out there You know that Jonathan India is going to be out there You know Bobby is Vinnie Salvi Jack Kaggleon and Mikel Garcia The rest of those guys it’s coming down to crunch time here I mean how much longer can you go with Drew Waters in the lineup or John Raven in the lineup or Nick Loftton in the lineup or Mark Cana playing against right or left-handed pitchers how long can you go using those players and I understand they are playing a good team in Tampa They played a good team in San Diego They played a good team in Texas They have a really good team in the Dodgers that are coming up who we’re going to talk about in the final segment And after that doesn’t end there You’ve got Seattle you’ve got Arizona there are a lot of challenges ahead of you And if those guys don’t turn it around well to me you have your answer To me you have your answer that those guys can no longer be the the permanent the permanent players at that position you know and I understand right now that there’s nobody in AAA that you could call up to really solve things And the John Rave situation should you know give you your answer on if Cam Deainy can be a fit if Joey Weame can be a fit if Tyler Gentry can be a fit It’s not those guys can’t become average to slightly above average big league players But for where this team is at for what they need they are not the solution And if you were somebody pounding the table for coaching changes I can understand that It is a results-based business and it’s what have you done for me lately and the offense has not done it all season long I mean even Bobby Wood Jr said last night you know we can keep saying that we’re on the cusp of breaking out but it’s been 3 months right it’s been a long long time since the last time we felt that this offense could hit its stride And I go back even to last year in Houston when Vinnie Pascantino had his thumb fracture That was probably when it all trended in the wrong direction If you went back to that game and then translated it all the way to now you would not have good numbers as a team You would not have a high average a high OBP a high slug a high OPS a good walk rate Uh the only thing you would be doing well is not striking out a lot But that’s always been a philosophy for the Royals And so if you go out there and buy or sell and you are bringing in talent I feel you have your answer as to what you need to do And we teased that a little bit the tail end of yesterday’s episode of you need to have a permanent left fielder and somebody that is not a below average bat Kyle Lisbell’s defense is very very solid He is a top 10 center fielder when you just talk about defense He’s also opsing under 500 in the month of June He has one of the worst WRC pluses in the month of June And as much as I would love to say well it is one month He was hot in the month of May He’s been cold in the month of June If you are going to get this offense rolling you can’t have that you know volatility You have to have consistency offensively at numerous positions You go look around all the playoff teams right now they have more than three hitters with an OPS plus north of 100 in their lineup They’ve got five or six And the Royals have to try to either add to that through buying if they feel they’re close enough JJ Bakola said that right now 500 is kind of that trajectory of getting into the postseason But if you sell I still believe you need to find your answers for the outfield If you trade Seth Lugo and Lorenzan and a couple of bullpen arms I’m looking for outfield bats that are blocked or just ready to make a debut at the big league level And you put them there in the outfield for the rest of the year You got to start planning to better this outfield not just for the now but for the future Now the next thing we’re going to be diving into is if the Royals have enough time in the second half of the season to overcome all these struggles and become a playoff team that’s not really worrying about a spot We’ll tell you about it next on Locked on Royals You are tuned in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network I your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter at johnnyj_15 Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades That’s supply house Whether you’re in plumbing HVAC or electrical work Supply House is the reliable way to order products online Their easytouse website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right Plus with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands you’ll find exactly what you need delivered fast from coast to coast Need help with an order supply house offers expert support and industry-leading service so you’ll always talk to a real person And for the trade pros looking for an extra edge their free Trademaster program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order Thousands of skilled professionals are already taking advantage Now it’s your turn Join the Trademaster program today at supplyhouse.com/tm and start ordering plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies with just a few clicks Plus use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order That’s supply.com Well it felt that last night uh there were a lot of people that felt this this might be the rock bottom right you have eight consecutive home losses You have not won a home game in the month of June and they have four more opportunities against the Rays today at 110 and they have the Dodgers coming into town over the weekend So the odds would tell you those aren’t very good Uh to snap this home losing streak and baseball’s random Maybe they do You know they’ve got four shots here to win just one game And the record I believe for uh a losing streak at Kaufman Stadium is 11 So if they were to lose all four of those games they would set the new record And the only team that was worth a darn that overcame a home losing streak that was over eight games was the 2013 Royals but they did not make the postseason None of these teams that went on a losing streak that was eight or more were able to make the postseason But 2013 did finish 86 and 76 and they were in it all the way up until the very end So do they have the time do they have enough in the tank to get rid of these struggles to add talent to this roster to have some of these guys break out over 82 games and I know what a lot of people are thinking and there are two ways of going about this The first one being 82 games is a long long time We’ve had an entire first half where there were plenty of ups and downs And last year it was pretty much the same thing Now the Royals had far more ups in the first half than they did in this first half But still by the end of that first 81 game stretch the Royals were starting to crumble a little bit And there was the concern of do they have enough in the tank to get to the finish line And it’s a team in a different spot right now 38 and 42 three and a half games back of a playoff spot And last year’s team you know I I think the furthest they were out of a playoff spot at this point was maybe a half game I mean they were pretty much always in the hunt And there were less teams fighting for a playoff spot than they are right now And me the the for me I should say the optimistic point of view would be that man it takes a good week to really put yourself back into the competition to put yourself into the heat of the race I mean going into Saturday’s game we’re talking a few days ago the Royals were a half game out of a playoff spot And I get people can be frustrated with that and say “Well we’ve done this now for 81 games where well they’re really close and now they’re only three games back and they’re really close and now they’re only four games back.” And the only thing that’s been constant is they’ve been very far from first place in the American League Central But there is a point in time too to look at the opposite point of view and say you have 81 games here after today It’ll be 81 games and they’re either going to be 38 and 43 or 39 and 42 And I don’t believe that’s much of a difference The only thing you’d be feeling good about is hey we snapped the home losing streak and we didn’t get swept by the Rays and we won the season series against the Rays But record-wise it’s about the same thing to me They’ll be three games back of a playoff spot or four games back of a playoff spot it feels like But if you’re going to go on the pessimistic side here you’ve got a large sample size And often times in baseball even though there’s an entire half of of season to play you look at that first half and say how much can they really improve without adding much talent right we can believe that Bobby Wit Jr is going to be much better than a 280 hitter We can believe that Jonathan India can getting back get back to a league average bat We can believe that Salvador Perez will turn things on that Jack Kaggleó will become that bat that we all expect him to be long term But there’s also that world in which it doesn’t happen And a good buddy of mine Joel Penfield he does the One Royal Way podcast He did a piece weeks ago about is this just who they are is this the 2025 Royals they are going to pitch well but they are never going to have a good enough offense to truly be within striking distance Striking distance is a term that can be defined in a few different ways Striking distance for some people is like five games five or six games Again a good week can put you into that wheelhouse of oh we’re only two to three games back But for a lot of people striking distance is a game or two out where a series can change the perception of where you are really at And I don’t want to say that oh the the schedule softens right they’re gonna have a really good chance in August and September to just beat up on some bad teams That might be the case but when they got swept by the Athletics they kind of lost that that ability to say that of once we get through this gauntlet we’re really going to have a good opportunity to beat up on some bad teams cuz their tough stretch of games does not end after this week They will get Seattle they will get Arizona they’ll get the Pirates for three on July 7th through the 9th but then they’ll wrap up the first half against the Mets and in Kansas City After that they will get the Miami Marlins right out of the All-Star break but then you have to go to Chicago and take on one of the best teams in the National League and the Cubs Uh you get the Guardians after that That can’t really be a focus of well we got to get through the rough stretch and then we’re going to have a good opportunity to go on a tear I remember last year we talked about the Gauntlet one and Gauntlet two and once the Royals were able to just survive it and the first Gauntlet they really didn’t survive it They got beat up pretty good The second one they were able to weather the storm a little bit because the other teams around them were losing I don’t really see a true gauntlet the rest of the way It’s just going to be about rattling off wins It’s going to be about getting hot when everybody else is cold And they’ve been fortunate that in some really ugly stretches of baseball some other teams have not buried them No Seattle has not buried them Uh Toronto and Tampa Bay are doing a good job of staying ahead of everybody else in the wildard race but the Mariners the Twins the Guardians the Red Sox the Royals they’re all right there the Rangers too And nobody is buried from that group So to ask the question do they have time well you have those two answers You have those two sides there Either you are on the side of we know enough about this team and I don’t care if there’s 140 games left They are not going to be as good as they were last year Or you were going to take the other approach and say that this team can make up four games in 82 games They can make up that type of ground It’s not that simple right because teams catch fire and there might be a time where Seattle really gets hot or Cleveland really gets hot and those three playoff spots are really solid for the better part of a month and a half or two months and then the Royals are just scrambling just to to remain in that conversation But where things stand right now I’m not sure that we can be talking about them as a buyer We can talk about them as a playoff team It really comes down to them just focusing on who’s a who’s ahead of them in terms of opponent Um we can worry about the wildard race and the wild card standings when they’re a game out if they ever get to that point or a half game out Right now it’s about snapping a losing streak Right now it’s about getting to a level of consistency where you’re taking at least one game even in your worst series You’re not losing four or five games in a row every other week Because if you do that like I said there doesn’t matter if there’s 140 or 150 games left They’re not going to have enough time to overcome that because that team would just simply not be that good And the deadline will give you a true answer as to if there is enough time If they trade away Seth Lugo and Michael Lorenzan and multiple bullpen pieces well even if they’re four to five games back they’re not going to have the firepower to get to the finish line at that point So do you believe there’s enough time left are you the optimist are you the pessimist let me know in the YouTube comments below We’ll take our final break of the show When we come back we’ll preview the upcoming series against the Los Angeles Dodgers That’s next on Locked On Royals You are tuned in to Locked Ony and the Locked On Network I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter Johnny_15 Summer sports are in full swing And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting You’re already following the action Why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach If you’re new to FanDuel well new customers can get $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins So open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com to get started For my pick since this episode will be out before the game I’m going to take the over on hit total for Yandi Diaz assuming that he will be in the lineup I will take the over on hits for Vinnie Pasquantino and I will take the under on strikeouts for Michael Laorenzan Well the series on deck is not a series coming at a good time Uh the Los Angeles Dodgers who have just been pounding teams left and right Their record um really doesn’t say how great they’ve been and it’s not a bad record by any means I want to say they’re 18 games above 500 last time I checked Uh they just beaten the Rockies 8 to1 last night And uh ESPN’s not loading for me right now So I actually don’t know if that is correct of the 18 games over 500 They’re roughly around that Um but they’ll be coming into Kansas City at a time where the Royals are just not playing good baseball whatsoever And baseball’s weird Baseball has its ways of surprising you I don’t know if the Royals lose today if I can go into this series and and truly believe that I always love to be proven wrong Again if you’ve listened to me long enough you would know that I have no shame whatsoever in being incorrect on a pick I will have no shame whatsoever in saying one thing and then something else you know completely different happens And so for this Dodgers series sure the Royals could go out there and take two of three and shock everybody even though it wouldn’t be as big of a shock as it was when the Athletics went into Dodger Stadium and swept LA But with the way the Royals are playing with the offense that the Dodgers have man it’s going to be incredibly tough to find a way to win even one game in that series Now maybe you get some momentum going into this series You you win today with Michael Lorenzan on the bump and you find a way to get the offense going and then tomorrow night you turn around hand the ball to Noah Cameron who has pitched well in front of big crowds and he’s now pitched well in front of three big crowds I believe he’ll get another one tomorrow night This game will be on MLB Network by the way But Noah Cameron will be going up against Dustin May And then you have a bit of uncertainty in this series Seth Lugo and Chris Bubich are going to be going for the Royals on Saturday and Sunday So if you wanted to feel like you had any shot of winning a series winning Friday becomes very important If you win on Friday you hand the ball over to Seth Lugo who’s arguably been your hottest pitcher and you try to go for a series win there If you don’t win that one at least you can turn to Chris Bubich on Sunday Like I said I’m not going in there really even expecting one win with the way the Royals have been playing I want to be proven wrong I want that to be the series that sparks them because there’s nothing that should be able to spark you more than winning a series against the LA Dodgers and Freddy Freeman and Mookie Betts and Show Otani and Will Smith and that collection of all-star talent that they have A lot of it comes down to today in my opinion if they get swept how can I sit here and say they could rattle off a win or two in that series other than baseball’s weird and baseball’s unpredictable but as I said the unpredictable part of this is the Dodgers do not have a starter listed for Saturday or Sunday And that is one area they have really struggled And that kind of goes back to our point about Seth Lugo And I want to say we brought this up when discussing Seth Lugo and his his trade interest and who the Royals could look to to try to negotiate a deal with Well the Dodgers really need pitching and the Cubs really need pitching and Seth Lugo gets an opportunity to shine in front of the Dodgers and the Dodgers have some guys and some prospects that I feel would fit really nicely in Kansas City But for this Dodgers rotation you’re going to see and they might be able to stifle the Royals I mean a lot of bad rotations have been able to do so And the Dodgers fully understand that for them to be back-to-back champions they need a rotation and they’re going to be going allin They’re not going to be afraid to give up some some pieces to add to that rotation And the Royals this year have really struggled against teams that have a top 10 offense which the Dodgers are number one And it doesn’t really matter where their pitching staff is The Dodgers are bottom 10 in all of baseball and it’s been due to all of these injuries that they’ve suffered Even their bullpen has been a little bit hit and miss from time to time but their rotation is where it’s at And as you’ve seen me do these before I give you the starters for each of those games and I give you what they’ve done over their last three over their last seven We really can do a deep dive but the Dodgers have one starter listed and that’s Dustin May And Dustin May has devastating stuff I wouldn’t call him a top three pitcher in the rotation but really who is right now for the Dodgers they are so incredibly banged up And maybe they’re moving guys up They’re moving some pieces around to to find the right starters for this series But when they’re healthy they got Snell they got Glass Now they got Yamamoto they got Sasaki they have Kershaw they got May They’re throwing a lot of guys out there But that series will need to be one where the Royals pitching staff has to do the heavy lifting cuz if you can’t keep that Dodgers lineup in check it doesn’t matter what Dustin May does It doesn’t matter if their opener on Saturday or Sunday if they’re even going that route pitches well or not cuz this Dodgers lineup can hang eight or nine on you in all three games of this series And for the Royals I believe you have the guys you want going You’ve got two lefties throwing which helps you against Otani and Freddy Freeman even though those guys can hit both pitchers They can hit righties and lefties Um but it might help you out a little bit there Seth Luga is the righty going in that series but he’s been your hottest pitcher of late But a lot of it in my opinion is going to come down to today If you win today and you find a way to snap that home losing streak you can turn the page Maybe you feel you’ve got the pitching matchups in all three of these games Um I’m not sure you can do it with Noah Cameron and Dustin May though Dustin May was you know a a flash in the pan when he was a rookie He really burst onto the scene and has never stayed healthy since And Noah Cameron’s been very steady since debuting for the Royals this year And then without a starter listed for Saturday and Sunday I would like to think the Royals have the advantage with Luga and Bubich going on those two days as well But that’s a series in my opinion that’s just coming at the absolute wrong time You never want to face the Dodgers at any point even when you’re playing well But with the way the Royals have been playing four straight losses offense once again is nowhere to be found Not sure you want to be facing this Dodgers team with the hot stretch that they’ve been on It’s the same thing with Tampa Bay You caught them at a bad time But baseball’s a long season and I don’t really believe in the well you’re just running into a hot team You got to beat them You got to beat hot teams if you’re going to consider yourself a hot team and get hot at the right time Um and the Rays and Dodgers playing really good baseball The Royals not so much We’ll see what they do today And more importantly after today we’ll see if they can hang with the Los Angeles Dodgers in that three-game set over the weekend Well that’s going to do it for another edition of Locked Ony and the Lockdown Podcast Network I’ve been your host Jack Johnson Thank you for making Locked On Royals your first listen today For your second check out the allnew Locked On MLB game night every game every night all season long Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast Tomorrow it’ll be a mailbag Friday so be sure to leave your questions below and you can look for my tweet a little bit later on this afternoon and send in your questions there But until tomorrow you take it easy Kansas

We discuss if the Royals have enough in them to make a push in the second half. If so, how can they do it? Lastly, we preview the upcoming series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Host Jack Johnson goes over it all next on “Locked On Royals”!

0:00 – What to do?
11:59 – Enough time?
22:02 – Dodgers

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