Is Brandon Lowe a target for the Royals? | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Is Brandon Lowe a target for the Royals? | Kansas City Royals Podcast

You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. You are tuned in to another edition of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I am your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find me on Twitter, Johnny_15. That is Jonyj_15. You also 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 follow button and subscribe. For you firsttime listeners wondering about this channel, how it works, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minute episodes in length. During the season, we also have the lockdown Royals postcast which is hosted by Chance Lebo and he goes live for about 15 to 20 minutes after each and every game. Tomorrow will be a mailbag Friday. So, if you want to be included in our episode, leave a comment below on this video or any of our previous ones this week. Title your comment mailbag Friday and then leave your question and I’ll be sure to answer it in tomorrow’s episode. Before we get started, I 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, we’re going to continue our series of finding free agent targets and trade targets for the Royals. Uh, this will likely continue at least a few times a week until we get to the winter meetings. And there is some some smoke to those rumors out there right now with the season still going on. We’re in the LCS between the Dodgers and the Brewers and the Mariners and the Blue Jays. We’re not going to get much free agent talk unless it’s a very minor signing. Uh maybe the Royals could hand out an extension before the season’s done, but for most teams, you’re going to wait till everything plays out. Then players are posted in free agency and you’re actually able to see who you can get and who will be available. But with the trade targets, this is always a little bit more fun for me because I truly believe the Royals are going to go the trade route over the free agent route. Not to say they won’t sign anybody in free agency. I believe they will. But for their big fish, their big acquisition, it always seems more likely that the Royals are going to go the trade route. and we’ve brought up Brendan Donovan and we’ll probably start tailoring more of these topics toward outfielders because at the end of the day that’s what the Royals desperately need. But they can’t turn away from acquiring a good player based off where they play unless that’s shortstop. And if they are a shortstop only player, you know, tough tough stuff, right? I know I can’t curse on this podcast, but you know what I’m hinting at. They’re not going to move Bobby Wood Jr. for anybody they would bring in, they would have to move that player. And I’m just not for the Royals playing three to four guys out of position. So, I look to second base again and I look at a guy who if he’s not traded in the off season, if this team is out of it by the deadline, he will 100% be moved and that’s Brandon Laauo of the Tampa Bay Rays. Lao’s coming off of an all-star season, 30 plus home run season, ops plus nearly 20 points above the league average. uh had about a two war. So, he’s not an elite defender, but he’s a really good hitter and somebody you can put just about anywhere in the lineup. We’ve we’ve said that multiple times with the guys that we’ve brought up as trade targets or free agent targets. It’s not necessarily their middle- of the order bat. They could be, but you can hit him pretty much anywhere. Brandon Laauo can hit at the top of the order. You could put him fifth. You can put him seventh or eighth. But for 30 home run potential, I’d rather have him in the middle of the lineup or hitting, you know, third or or second in that lineup for Kansas City. But he’s going to be a free agent after 2026. And there’s another part to this. He was signed to a seven-year deal coming up on seven years ago. So he has been array his entire career. And it feels unlikely that they are going to reup any sort of contract that they’re going to hand him another two to threeyear deal. I mean, that was a big seven-year deal. It tried to capitalize on a young player. The Rays did get to the World Series in 2020, but other than that, they weren’t able to win any meaningful postseason games while Brandon Laauo was there, unless of course they make a run in 2026. But this is about will they move him before the season begins. We should all note that they’ve got new ownership in place. Um, that may play a factor. I don’t know if that will mean, you know, we’re going to put more of the chips in, we’re going to sign more players, or if they’re going to continue going about the Tampa Bay Ray, uh, Tampa Bay Ray way, um, and keeping these guys and then also just trying to improve in the margins, right, and trying to get better, uh, in very small areas of the team where overall you can still be a very competitive playoff bunch. The Royals though need to be aggressive in areas like this. Yes, Brandon Laauo will be a free agent after this season, but who’s to say you couldn’t acquire him and then give him a two to threeyear deal to finish off your infield that can be one of the better infields in all of baseball? I mean, to think that you would have Vinnie Pasquantino as your home run threat and your second home run threat uh could either be a Brandon Laauo or a Bobby Wood Jr. Now, Bobby is not coming off of a 30 home run season like Brandon Laauo, but to have that type of offensive production from four guys in the infield, that can do wonders for the lineup. The push back would be we have, as we said this with Brandon Donovan, you have second baseman that are already on the roster. You have Jonathan India, you have Michael Massie. And I could see the Royals saying we still need an outfielder. And it might be safer for us to bet on Jonathan India staying healthy and performing closer to 2024 than 2025 than cut ties with him and acquire somebody else who’s going to be a free agent at the same time as Jonathan India. Maybe this is something where you don’t acquire him in the off season, you don’t acquire him at the deadline and then you can revisit it in the off season going into 2027. that can absolutely be the plan of attack here. But if you let somebody get to free agency, it’s going up against some other teams out there that might want that player more than you. If you are going to be aggressive and acquire somebody in the off season, you’re going to have to understand that you’re giving up some some high price talent. The Tampa Bay Rays are not going to be giving up Brandon Laauo for nothing. I mean, this is somebody that was a key piece to that lineup all of last year and has been a key piece of that lineup for the last six to seven seasons. And I I just feel that if the Royals are to target a few of these players in the off season, even if it did cost them a couple of highlevel prospects, if you’re acquiring somebody who is a impending free agent, then obviously the price is going to go down a little bit more. The Royals probably do want to acquire someone in in this same conversation that does have multiple years of control which works against this Brandon Laauo type deal. I thought the Royals should have entertained it last off season when you could have gotten him for a year and a half. I don’t know if the Rays were seriously considering moving him though and that’s what we all need to find out. That’s truthfully what it all comes down to. The Royals could have an abundance of guys that they are truthfully interested in that they really want to go for. They are, you know, all listed in the top five of their, you know, wishlist prospects or their wish list players. But if those teams are not willing to move a player or there’s not a log jam, then you’re going to have to bump that player down a little bit. I mean, you could pick up the phone and call Tampa Bay and say, “What’s the asking price for Brandon Laauo?” And they’d say, “We’re just not wanting to move him in the offseason. we’d rather wait till the deadline to see if we’re in it and then we can make that decision. Then there’s also the risk with that. If you are a team like Tampa Bay and you have Brandon Laauo coming off a season like this past season where he was an all-star and had 30 plus home runs, you can capitalize on that value. And he’s already going to be a free agent. So it’s boomer bust year for the Rays and Brandon Laauo. he’s going to have to perform to that same level if the Rays are to get close to the postseason again. And that’s where front offices and ownership, they always try to take a look at their team and say, is it realistic that even with that production, are we going to be a team that can win the AL East when you have the Blue Jays and the Red Sox and the Yankees? It’s possible. And teams are always going to have that that hope for their roster all coming together. But there are teams out there that want to have a youth movement. They want to capitalize on good seasons from the previous year. I mean, the Royals are going to have to look into that with a handful of guys they have. I mean, if you went to Tampa Bay and you said Brandon Laauo for Noah Cameron, is that a move that you make? I know a lot of you would say no because Noah Cameron was coming off a phenomenal rookie season. Pitching is something you can’t take for granted and Brandon Laauo is going to be a free agent. If you move down the list a little bit, Chris Bubich for, you know, Brandon Laauo, is that a move that you would want to make? Many of you would say yes, many of you would say no. Uh, but I do feel when it comes to this position, the Royals are not going to be willing to mortgage a lot because they have guys at those positions. They have guys under contract and they do believe in those guys. If a deal did start to materialize though and there was a real world possibility that Brandon Laauo could be a Royal, I’ve always thought he’d be a perfect fit in Kansas City, you do need to entertain it cuz that would be one of the better second baseman that you’ve had in the last decade plus and there hasn’t been great second baseman on this roster many times before. But it was a glaring hole for this team in 2025. I certainly do not want it to be the same problem in 2026. Do you believe the Royals should target Brandon Laauo through the trade route? Let us know in the YouTube comments below. We’ll take our first break of the show. When we come back, let’s continue our trade talk, but I want to go over a Bleacher Report article that mentioned the Boston Red Sox for an intriguing reason. That’s 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 listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. 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 four 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 FanDuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. For my picks, I’m going to look to tonight’s game, Thursday Night Football, Steelers and Bengals. Steelers at 4- one. Bengals have lost four in a row without Joe Burrow. I will take the under for that total of 45 a half. And I will take the Steelers to cover that five and a half point spread. And I’m going to do so over on FanDuel. Around this time of the off season, I always try to scavenge through ESPN, Bleacher Report, The Athletic, and find any article that might have something interesting for even just a paragraph. It doesn’t have to be an entire article. It can be a 10 bold predictions. It can be free agent landing spots. I always love reading those because it gives you something to play with. It gives you something to work with. And this Bleacher Report article I thought was pretty interesting on uh it was basically a bold predictions list. The title of the article if if anybody wants to go out there and read it was early 202526 MLB offseason predictions for free agency trades and more and it’s coming from Carrie Miller. Now they list nine options here. Uh the examples rapidfire predictions on big contract options also has a landing spot for Kyle Tucker. the salary cap debate, which we’ll probably get into a little bit later on in the off season, but this one stood out to me because I do feel that it could impact the Royals in a major major way. Um, it’s about the Red Sox and their outfielders. And this was a conversation that we had in season when we were discussing the potential Jiren Durant trade possibility. Will you’re Brayu? It is no secret to anybody in baseball that the Boston Red Sox have a plethora of outfielders. And as great as that is for Boston, they’ve got five or six starters out there and guys that they need to get into the lineup and it just can’t work when you’ve got six outfielders. I mean, the ones they list in this article, Jiren Durant, who’s got an $8 million club option for 2026 and he’s arbitration elig eligible through 2028. William Breu, he’s pre-ARB in 2026 and arbitration eligible through 2029. Sadon Raphaela, who we said is going to win the Gold Glove in center field. He’s signed through 2031. You’ve got Roman Anthony who signed through at least 2033. And you have Masataka Yoshida who is making nearly 19 million in 2026 and 2027. That’s five outfielders. And we know that in a perfect world, they would want to start Sadon in center. They would want to have Roman Anthony in right and or excuse me, Roman Anthony in left. And then you’d have Will Breu in right field. To me, those are the three best outfielders for the Boston Red Sox, which leaves Jiren Durant and Masataki Yoshida. Now, the reason they’re mentioned in this Bleach Report article is they’re saying they predict Boston to trade a big bat for a big R. And that’s where I believe the Royals can come into play here. The Red Sox have exactly what you are looking for. They have good outfielders that would start every single day in Kansas City. We can cross off, by the way, Roman Anthony. They’re not moving Roman Anthony. Everybody else, though, it might come down to who the Royals would be willing to offer. And that’s why I feel this is a team that can strike on that type of value. You have seven to eight starters out there. And as much as it would pain all of us to see Noah Cameron or Chris Bubich being included in a deal, if you brought back a Jiren Durant or, you know, you could probably get Mazataki Yoshida for cheaper than Noah Cameron or Chris Bubich. So maybe you look into that. But Yosha is also more of a DH than an outfielder and he’s making nearly 19 billion. So unless the Red Sox were going to be paying a chunk of that contract to get a bigger prospect and a pitcher in return, I don’t know if that would be the best option. So that’s why I look to Jiren Durant as, you know, maybe that top option of the bunch. In my opinion, I would rather take a will. I believe his defense is phenomenal. I believe his bat would play nicely in Kansas City, but if you ask the Red Sox who would they’d be willing to move, I’d imagine it’d be Jiren Durant over Willure Bray. That the three I mentioned as the starting outfielders, that feels like what they’re going to roll with going into 2026. And they’re going to need that big arm, that that pitcher with multiple years of control, that guy you can plug into the rotation to be a number two or a number three. And that’s where the Royals and their endless talent of pitching can maybe step up to the plate for lack of a better, you know, term there. I know it’s no pun intended either, but you can approach Boston and trying to acquire one of these players. And maybe you you go big here. Maybe you try to go get Raphaela. Maybe you try to go get Willard Breu and you offer up one of your top arms. But if the the prices match up, I could see a world in which Boston would want that deal. The Royals have become that team that I’d imagine a lot of teams are looking to for for pitching help. You know, they had a bunch of guys come up through the organization. They had a couple of guys that were acquired at the deadline that succeeded in the second half. And when you do that time and time again, these organizations are going to look to you and try to ask about some of those players. It’s what teams did with Cleveland and Tampa Bay. You know, they’re just a pitching factory. They they constantly pump out that highlevel talent for their rotation. And now we’re even seeing with the Royals, they’re doing it through their bullpen. At some point though with Kansas City, you are going to have to trade one of these arms to acquire a good above average bat. Pitching was not the issue for the Royals in 2026. It was this offense and it was this outfield. And we would all love the Royals to keep every single arm they have on the roster currently and take them into 2026. It’s just not that realistic. In the same way, it’s not realistic for Boston to keep all five of those outfielders going into next year. They are going to move one of those outfielders in my opinion. Maybe that’s Yoshida because he’s the worst of the bunch. They’re tied up in money. They might be willing to pay a chunk of that salary just so that they can move him for an arm or two. That certainly is possible. The Royals also have to understand not all seven or eight of these starters are going to be great next year. That’s just not realistic. I would love to sit here in this chair speaking to this screen into the mic and say the Royals are going to have a Sai Young finalist and Reagan’s and Lugo and Cameron and Bou and and these guys are all going to be allstars. They’re bound for regression in the same way Luggo regressed in 2025 and the same way Reagan’s regressed in 2025. I mean, nobody could have envisioned this type of year for Cole Reagan. You you don’t predict injuries and guys having setbacks. You just look at the metrics and you look at the eye test and you say, “Can this guy continue his trend?” That’s where I look to Noah Cameron and Chris Buitch. They are the likeliest trade candidates of the bunch. maybe Ryan Berard and Steven Kick would be. They just haven’t done enough at the big league level to return a outfielder that we’re talking about here with Boston. So that’s why you have to maximize on that value. If you feel this is the best that Noah Cameron is ever going to be and he is going to be figured out because he doesn’t have great strikeout numbers, he doesn’t have overpowering stuff and you could bring back a Jiren Durant for that outfield or a willreu for that outfield. I feel that’s a great move for both sides. Uh if you feel that Chris Bubich, you know, has that upside, but he’s never going to stay healthy enough, you have to maximize on that value, and you have to see if Boston will be able to go the extra mile and give up one of those top outfielders for one of your arms. But the Royals do have guys that can replace guys in the rotation. And when you have that depth there, it’s when you can look into making trades like this. Do you feel the Royals and Red Sox should line up for a trade this off season? Let us know in the YouTube comments below. When we come back, how much stock should we put into a big 2026 for Jack Kaggleó? And maybe more importantly, what does a big 2026 look like for him? We’ll dive into it next on Locked Ony. You are tuning to Lockdown Royals in the Locked On Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can follow us on wherever you download your podcast. Our final sponsor we want to tell you about is Prize Pics. Playing prize picks is such a fun and simple way to add more excitement to football. You can just pick more or less on player projections like Josh Allen’s passing yards or Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown and you’re in the game. Here’s what you need to do. Download the prize picks app today and use code locked on MLB to get $50 instantly or $50 in lineups after you play that first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown MLB for $50 in lineups after you after your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It is good to be right. A few times this off season, we are going to revisit uh player projections for 2026, which guys think are going to have breakout seasons. But it’s much easier to do that the closer we get to spring training. the more we hear from the organization uh beat reporters out there, I have no doubt we’ll have a couple of interviews hopefully with some players and coaches in the off season. Uh but we got to wait till this season wraps up before we can make any of those those firm predictions. And so one guy that we absolutely will be looking into and hopefully could get onto the podcast would be Jack Kagle. And you’ve heard me say this on the podcast before that looking at uh the 2026 lineup, you want more sure things than bounceback guys. And I said, I don’t really want more than two bounceback guys in that lineup. If you wanted to roll with Jack Kaggleon and Jon Jonathan India as your bounceback players, I could live with it. I really could. But this is where the Royals need to be cautious about, you know, Jonathan India being a bounceback player and Jack Jack Haggleion being a bounceback player. Jonathan India has done it before at the big league level. He has had successful seasons before. He has been a rookie of the year. He has been a 350 to 370 on base guy. If you could get that again, you know, it would change that lineup dramatically to get that production from Jonathan India as opposed to last year’s production. I think with Jack Kaggleon, it is a bit of a dice roll to go into next season saying he is going to be that 250 hitter that can run into 35 home runs and be the power bat that we all expect him to be. It is dangerous though cuz what he showed in 2025 was an overmatched inexperienced level hitter. That that’s the type of talent that he was. He was a big-time prospect that got moved through the system rather quickly and debuted in June. I do feel that his struggles can be contributed to that and it should not dictate the rest of his major league career. I do not view him as a 160 hitter in the Royals lineup next year in part because I don’t believe the Royals would give him that long of a leash if he opens up in April hitting in the 100s. If he’s not running into to 10 to 15 home runs in April, then you can’t be hitting under 200. You’re going to have to be more of a well-rounded hitter. So, what does it look like for Jack Kegleion to be a good bet in 2026 and one you want to play every single day? I’d imagine the Royals want him to go into spring training, take that job immediately, and never look back. They will have their acquisition. They will have their their trade piece or free agent acquisition in left field. In my opinion, you probably run it back with Kyle Isel, but then Jack Kaggleó needs to be the guy that takes the reigns of right field. He has to be the guy that improves defensively. The offensive numbers are the most important part to his game. I can live with subpar defense in right field. If you hit 35 bombs next year and you’re a, you know, top 20 power bat in the entire league, I can live with subpar defense because I can also see a world in which they DH him a lot next year. Maybe we see him a little bit at first base again even though Vinnie Pasquantino is going to man that position for the next handful of years. But to put stock into a big 2026 season, does that mean All-Star? Does that mean uh leading the American League in home runs? I mean, what really can it be? And on my end, I want him to hit at least over 225. If I’m just looking at the batting average, I would take a a 225 average. That’s still a pretty big jump from what he had last year, but this is why I wanted to start with batting average. With a guy like him though, it is nice to look up at the screen and see 280, 290, 300, right? Do what Nick Curts did with the athletics. I would love that for Jack Kaggleon. I’m not going to put that type of pressure on the guy because of what he did in 2025. But if you can be a 230 hitter, you can get on base at a 310 clip, maybe more than that because I do feel he’s got more patience. He’s got more of a mature approach than a 310 on base, but the slug and the OPS and the OPS plus and the home runs, that is what drives his season. And if the Royals can get a OPS plus of 110 out of Jack Kagleon next year, it transforms this lineup. In the same way I just said it dramatically changes it if Jonathan India has the 2024 production over the 2025. Jack Kegleion going from your worst statistical hitter to an above average bat period can change that lineup because I’d imagine you’re going to go out there and help the outfield with another above average bat. To go from three below average bats to two out of the three positions being above league average, that can add a little bit more power, a little bit more spice to that Royals lineup. And the question becomes, is he capable of that? The unfortunate reality is we don’t know. We don’t know the book yet on Jack Kagleion. The only thing we can fully understand is he doesn’t belong in the minor leagues, but there are plenty of guys in baseball that tear it up in double A and AAA and then never can do it at the big league level cuz it is a significant jump. It’s why every single year when we talk about Royals players thriving in Omaha, we have to take it with a grain of salt. John Rae was a 300 hitter in Omaha before he got called up to Kansas City. And aside from those first couple of games out of the All-Star break, he was a well below average hitter. I mean, that that stretch for him, that seven game stretch, you know, turned him into a near league average bat, but it wasn’t for an extended period of time. Drew Waters has always been a great hitter in Omaha, right? But it just never translated to the big league level. There are guys that are going to hit 330, 340 in Omaha the entire year. Maybe that’s overselling it. Closer to 300 and would hit a buck 70 when they got to the big leagues. More talent, better pitchers, tougher ballparks to hit it. And for Kaggle Leone, he has to show which JJ Beako said that. He said he’s got to prove to us that he can do this at the big league level. And they’re not going to go into camp just handing him the job. I don’t see that in any way, shape, or form. He’s going to have to win a position battle. They might bring back Mikey Stremsky and those two are the ones that battle it out in camp and Kagleó could start the year in Omaha. That’s just the reality of it. When you put up those numbers in 2025, you’re not handed anything. you are not going to be gifted a starting job because of your name and your prospect status. And he’s fully aware of that. The upside though is what I look to. Can we put stock into it? I’m going to go as far to say I don’t see him getting anywhere close to those numbers next year. Where I’m on the fence is, can he be that league average bat? He might be somebody that hits 215 but gives you 25 home runs. And yes, it’s an upgrade, but it might not be the league average bat they need in right field. Do you believe Jack Kaggleon can be an above average bat in 2026, or do you see it being another rough year for the Royals top prospect? Let us know in the YouTube comments below and leave your mailbag questions below uh on this video or any video that we’ve had so far this week. That’ll do it for another edition of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day. For your second, find the all night locked on MLB game night. Every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB game night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Tomorrow it’ll be that mailbag Friday. So get your questions in. But until tomorrow, you take it easy, Kansas City.

We debate if Brandon Lowe of the Tampa Bay Rays would be a good target for the Royals this offseason. Next, we go over an article from Bleacher Report on bold predictions for the offseason. Lastly, how much stock should we put into a big 2026 from Jac Caglianone?

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

0:00 – Lowe
11:48 – Bleacher Report
21:21 – Caglianone

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