Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

It’s another Friday, so let’s get to some questions from the listeners. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. You are tuning in to another edition of Locked Ony and the Locked On Podcast Network. I your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. That is jhnyj_15. And you can check us out 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 tuning in, if you want to know more about this channel, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minute episodes in length. And during the season, we also have the Locked on Royals postcast which is hosted by a different host in Chance Lebo and he goes to you live for about 15 to 20 minutes after the game. Before we dive into these questions, 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. If I miss anybody’s question throughout today’s episode, just respond to this video. U ask your question again. Be sure to title it mailbag Friday. Um that is always a constant here on uh this channel where if you want me to use your question in this episode, you got to put mailbag Friday before you start commenting. Otherwise, it’s going to get buried in all the other notifications. So, if I did miss your question today, it’s not that I didn’t want to answer it, unless it had vulgar words that would get me in trouble, get me fined. Um, but if as long as you have that and it’s a question that we of course can answer on this podcast, uh, I will get to every single one of those. But if I do miss it for whatever reason, whether that be on Twitter or on YouTube, just respond to this video and I’ll try to answer it before the end of the weekend. Question number one is coming from Jeff. I believe, and I’m paraphrasing, you said the Royals will be aggressive this off season. How soon after the World Series will they make an announcement of a signing or a trade? I feel their first signing will happen before the GM meetings, which I believe are like November 10th through the 12th. That’s when I expect the first signing to happen. Is it going to be a massive signing? Likely not. Uh the gut feeling I have right now is that Adam Frasier would be one of those guys uh they would bring back on a cheap one-year deal just to fill one of those bench roles and also to have some stability and some depth at second base because that clearly was an issue for this team prior to Adam Frasier being reacquired uh during the trade deadline. But I would imagine that, you know, give or take two weeks after the World Series ends, uh, maybe three weeks tops, I would expect at least one signing to happen. Now, the big move, my prediction would be a little closer to the winter meetings, which would be in December. Maybe it would be during the winter meetings, or depending on how the market is, they could wait a little bit after that. But for their first signing, yeah, I’ll go about two to three weeks after the World Series ends. Uh, this one’s coming from Hoop and Elect. Who do you think is the best fit for a potential outfield acquisition in the off season? So, we get at least once of these uh every Mailbag episode, and it will be the biggest question going into the off season. Now, we have brought up a variety of names. We’ve talked about Cody Bellinger, we’ve talked about Harrison Bader, we’ve talked about Trent Gisham, Joe Adell, Taylor Ward. Uh, the list can go on and on and on. The reality is for the free agent side of things, the outfield market is pretty thin. You’ve got your big fish, and we continue to use that comparison throughout this off season. The big fish, the medium fish, and the small fish. There are three or four really big fish that I just don’t see the Royals being that in play for. The medium fish, I’m not sure if they move the needle as much. But if I was just going on fit alone, and if I can remember some of the times I did those past episodes on player fits and if this guy would make sense, if they’re a good target, the one I keep going back to is Harrison Bader. Harrison Bader screams being a Royal, really good defensively, really fast, can hit anywhere in the order, and I feel he would compliment Kyle Lisbell really well in center field. Catch would be he’s going to want to start every day and want starter money and not platoon with Kyle Lisbell. So, if you go with Harrison Bader, he would be your everyday center fielder and Kyle Isel would move into more of that fourth outfielder role. Next one’s coming from Beans. If you could only keep one player on the roster next season, who would it be? Michael Massie or Jonathan India? It’s such a good question because there are pros and cons to both sides of this. My gut would tell me Michael Massie better defense there, younger, cheaper, multiple years of control and, you know, seems to really mesh well with the main core guys in the clubhouse. Not saying Jonathan India doesn’t, but Jonathan India is coming off a year where he was banged up. He was well below average offensively. He was one of, if not the worst defender in the sport, and he’s worth near 10 million going into next year. So if you don’t tender him a contract, he’s going to be a free agent and somebody else can pick him up. So you could bring back Adam Frasier have Michael Massie and feel somewhat fine about the production. The downside to keeping Massie over India is that Massie is coming off of an even worse than Jonathan India. He was one of the worst hitters not only on the Royals but in all of the American League and all of baseball. Jonathan India when healthy and maybe when just focusing on playing second base and not third and left, he can be that league average bat you’re looking for at second base. But that’s a big if and I’m done with the Royals playing the if game, the hypothetical game. If this guy can turn it around, they could be really good. I want more sure things. And truthfully, the best sure thing option of the three is Adam Frasier. At least in my opinion. I feel that Adam Frasier can pretty much replicate what he did last year and that would be great production for the Royals at second base. This one’s from Bryce. Would you rather sign a bigger name like Bellinger or would you rather trade for a bigger name like Joe Adell or Jiren Durant? If they put the money toward Cody Bellinger, I would be all for that. Jiren Durant I have some concerns for uh just because he had that year where he burst onto the scene in 2024, was pretty good in 2025, but you know, I I do wonder about the long-term success of him as a player. I feel he’d be fine in Kansas City, but what you’d have to give up to get him, it would be a halt. Maybe the Red Sox have a smoke screen going and they’re really not asking for as much as they say they are. But I still feel for Jiren Durant having multiple years of control being one of their top players. It ain’t going to be cheap, right? I don’t see it being a Raphael De situation because Devers was making a lot of money and they wanted the Giants to take on that contract. Jiren Durant’s not making much. So, they would try to really take on all of your top prospects, which maybe you would be fine with that, but I would rather be tied up in the money with a Cody Bellinger uh than to trade for Jiren Durant. Joe Adele, I kind of put him in that same category as Jiren Duran of he’s coming off of, well, actually, I take that back. Joe Adell is coming off of a career year where Jiren Durant is two years from two two years removed from his career year. Uh Joe Adel, though, has only done it once. Jiren Durant has done it for a couple of years. Joe Adell was fantastic last year, was not on a great team, was not in a great lineup and still produced. Uh, but I do like the upside uh as a middle- of the order bat that the Royals have been searching for. The Angels seem to be really tough to negotiate with and with first year manager Kurt Suzuki, not sure they’re going to want to strip away all his talent and set him up for failure in year one. So, I would rather go big with Cody Bellinger than make those trades for Jiren Durant or Joe Adele. But, there are absolutely two schools of thought there. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would rather go get a Jiren Durant or Joe Adele than spend $25 million a year, maybe even more than that, on Cody Bellinger. This one’s from another Bryce. Uh, who’s an under the radar prospect/minor leager that could turn some eyes next year in spring training that maybe some Royals fans haven’t talked or heard about? Very good question. I would probably want to wait until we get the official invite list to spring training, but looking at some guys uh that I feel pretty confident will be in surprise. Eric Sarinola is somebody that didn’t put up good numbers last year. Steven Zobach kind of in that same category, but I still believe in their stuff. I feel that they really uh can pop in spring training. Some of them have highowered stuff. you got to work with them a little bit more. But those are two guys I’m watching for because with a really strong spring, who knows, maybe they could break camp with the team. If you aren’t as familiar with Drew Beam, he’s maybe my third favorite pitching prospect in the organization behind David Shields and Kendry Churio, but David Shields and Kendry Churio likely aren’t going to be in big league camp. Maybe David Shields would be, but not Kendrick Chio. He’s far too young to be out there. Uh, but I would say Drew Beam is one, if you haven’t heard about him, you know, in the draft class that Jack Kaggleó was in, that David Shields was in, came out of Tennessee, really powerful breaking stuff. Um, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he had a chance to compete in spring training and maybe even get in a couple of games late, uh, probably closer toward the regular season. But he’s somebody that I would watch. And those other two, they’re not really prospects anymore. They’re age prospects. And uh they might have a chance in Kansas City next year at some point because they do have that high-powered bullpen stuff, but they got to put it all together. That’s for sure. Let’s take our first break of the show when we come back. Still a lot of questions to get to next on Lockdown 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 our first sponsor today in Rugette. Let’s be real, making excuses doesn’t solve anything. We’ve all heard them before. It’s just stress, I’m tired, or it happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rouette comes in. Rouette.com offers offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Visit rugit.com/lockdonmlb to get 15% off on your first order. That’s r ug.com/locktonmlb. And don’t forget to use our code locked onmlb so they know that we sent you. Rouette, stop making excuses and start making moves. Next round of questions is going to begin with Aiden. Who is a surprise player the Royals could trade and who do you think they would be packaged for? Continue the good work. Well, I try as always, Aiden. I know you’ve been a loyal listener from day one. uh some surprise candidates. We know we’ve talked about uh Chris Bubich and Noah Cameron before. I still would be pretty surprised if they did move those players uh just because they want to keep the rotation intact and they definitely have high expectations for both Noah and Chris going into 2026. Some sleeper guys that maybe they would entertain some offers with. Uh Michael Waka I feel is one just because you have Burger, you have Kick, they’re cheaper. You might want to move on from that Michael Waka contract. You might see some of that regression happening if Seth Lugo wasn’t signed to a three or fouryear deal. I’d imagine he would be one of those guys they could shop as well. But Waka, even though he signed that extension last off season, I could see him being one of those players they entertain. if it was a you take on this contract, we’ll take on another player’s contract. Carlos Estste is somebody maybe you could entertain because he’s coming off a year where he led the league in saves, but he’s not a super overpowering closer. He racks up the number of saves. He racked up the the workload, basically the inning workload. Had a ton of appearances for the most part. was very durable, was very healthy, battled through, you know, not being able to pitch in spring training due to a back injury. But sometimes you got to go back to the theme with a bullpen. You maximize the value out of a reliever and then you move on from him. And Estz, it’s maybe unlikely that he just duplicates what he did in 2025. So you move on from that contract, somebody that really wants that, you know, successful closer. and the Royals could put ERS in that role or Stephven Cruz and maybe get just fine production or not detrimental production and trading way or closer. I still would say both those are unlikely though because they love Carlos, they love the way he fits in that bullpen and he is coming off of a great year and they’re still in a win now mode. And when you’re in a win now mode, you don’t really trade away uh some of those guys that you feel are a part of the core. And I feel for the pitching staff, they view Carlos Ostste as one of those guys in the core. But those will be two names I’ll throw out there for right now. Maybe Kyle Isel could be linked in a deal if you brought in someone like Harrison Bader. What they could get in return, that’s much tougher to answer because I don’t know yet which teams are looking for a closer, which teams are looking for a guy like Michael Walka or a center fielder like Kyle Isbel. But I’ll just give you those names for now. uh that if they were to trade Estste or Waka, it would probably be for a bat that has a similar contract that you would be paying anywhere from, you know, 10 to 15 million a year, which could very well be fine, but I don’t know if it would be worth it if that player really isn’t that much of a differencemaker. Good question, though. This one’s coming from Brian. Who replaces Vance Wilson if he leaves for Minnesota? Have an awesome weekend. This is another great question. Uh Vance Wilson’s been around the organization for so long. Mike Gersley just retired uh for Omaha. So I don’t know if it would be an internal promotion. You might have to go outside the organization, bring somebody back uh because you are just trying to fill that third base coaching role and then just to have another coach on the staff. So it’s not that you need to overthink it. They absolutely need to take their time with the pitching coaches uh with bringing or not the pitching coaches, excuse me, the assistant hitting coaches to pair with Alex Zumalt. For Wilson’s job, if he leaves, you might be able to bring back a former player, somebody that could really relate to the the younger guys, maybe somebody that’s, you know, in their 30s, maybe early 40s because I know baseball’s going in that direction. I still have my my uh hesitation though with saying that Vance Wilson’s going to take that Minnesota job. I believe he was one of the top candidates that they have and he probably gets a job at some point. Uh but when if he does, I would say if he does get that job in Minnesota, that’s when we can really start evaluating the candidates. But since Mike Gersley retired in Omaha, I don’t really know if they would go with an internal option. They might need to look outside the organization yet again. This one is coming from Justin. Fun question. Who are the Chiefs equivalents for our infielders? Okay, I’ll say uh Pat Patrick Mahomes of course for Bobby Jr. was that Chiefs receivers. Notice Chiefs equivalent here. So Bobby Wood Jr. Patrick Mahomes uh Xavier Worthy, Mike Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino. Let’s go Travis Kelce. I’m trying to keep it very broad here. And then second base, uh, if it’s Michael Massie, maybe a a Nikico Ramio, maybe. Uh, same goes for Jonathan India. Like does play that position, but also helps on special teams, can move around a little bit. Uh, so maybe that would be uh my pick there. If I was to throw Salvador Perez in that because technically he is on the infield, maybe a Chris Jones type, one of the leaders of the team, one of the guys who’s been around for a long, long time. But you could also make a case that he’s Travis Kelce as well. But if I wasn’t including Salvador Perez, those would be the four that I go with. That is a fun question though. I did enjoy um kind of thinking outside the box a little bit. This one’s from Blue in Missouri. What’s the forecast for Gamble to make it to the big leagues? Well, you’re talking about a prep bat. Um, somebody that still needs to figure out a position, whether it be second base or center field. I would say that the best case scenario is that he’s up in 3 to four years. If he’s up in Kansas City at 21 or 22, that would mean that he’s been tearing it up in in high A and double A early on in his career, and then you move them rather quickly in year three. Uh, but if we were being realistic with those prep bats, I always try to, you know, give them four years probably at at minimum. I would say if you give them four years, they’re still 22 23. That feels like the right time to break him into the league. If they’ve been progressing each and every year, I mean, Carter Jensen was the 200, was he the 21 or 22 draft? I want to say that he was the 22 draft. Um because I want to say 21 was Moscado and Cerna, but Jensen was a third rounder. So I don’t remember if he was 21 or 22, but that kind of fits my timeline anyway. That’s around, you know, 3 to four years or four to five years before you get to the big leagues. You want those guys to progress. You want those guys to mature, really get seasoned, and then get their shot in the big leagues. So, I’m not expecting him to be up until 2029 2030. This one’s from the Mizzler. Do you think we should trade uh slashmove on from Daniel Lynch given the underlying metrics being a really bad high FIP whip pitcher and the only lefty in the pen I really trust right now is Serpa and think we need another one or two. I don’t know what the trade value would be for Daniel Lynch. I’ve thought about this though because last year Daniel Lynch was not as reliable as a reliever. He wasn’t put in those high leverage spots. He really popped late in the year in 2024 as we all know. But the metrics were not good for Daniel Lynch in 2025. He dealt with a lot of base runners. He got hit hard. He had a lot of fortunate luck. That’s for sure. I mean, to have a sub3ra with a whip that’s well above the league average. He didn’t strike out many guys. He didn’t throw that hard. You know, it’s it’s one of those situations where it goes back to that that theme of relievers. You get your value out of them and then you move on. Then you trade that reliever. I would rather them go with uh some lefties that have highowered stuff or funky angles on Helera gives you the hard sinker. Daniel Lynch really doesn’t give you any power pitch. He doesn’t limit the hard contact. He walks too many guys. he doesn’t strike out enough. I know I’m repeating myself a little bit, but I would look into that truthfully because I do feel there’s some value there. Some team would want to take on a lefty reliever that you just look at the ERA, though front offices aren’t that stupid. They don’t just look at the ERA. They look at the underlying metrics, what they could be next year. But it’s a lefty with multiple years of control and a reliever. Somebody would give you something for him. And I wouldn’t be shocked if the Royals tried to entertain that. But that would also mean you got to go out there and spend some money on bringing in another lefty that could give you better numbers than Daniel Lynch. Let’s take our final break of the show. Still a lot of questions to get to next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals in the Locked On podcast network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. Our final sponsor is our title sponsor in FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer that you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. For my picks, I’m going to go moneyline on two games that have large spreads. I’m going to take Virginia who is ranked 16th in the country. They’re 10 and a half point spread to win outright in Chapel Hill against the North Carolina Tar Hills and Bill Bich. And then I am going to take the money line, but also covering the spread for Texas Tech in their game against Oklahoma State. Uh Will Hammond will get the start, so their backup quarterback, but Tech coming off that lost Arizona State. Oklahoma State’s the worst team in the Big 12. 36 point spread in this one. I will take tech to win and cover that large spread. Final set of questions is going to begin with Jesse. Would it make sense for the Royals to see what the White Socks are wanting in return for Ben and Tendy? 17 million each of the next two se years is steep, but he was really good the last time he was a Royal and he’s only 31. Royals pay most of his salary and prospects wouldn’t cost much. I would take on Andrew Benendy’s contract if it wasn’t 17 million. 17 for the next two years. I’m not sure that production is worth it. I would rather them go give somebody 17 millions a year that can give you more than what Andrew Benendi did. He doesn’t have a lot of pop. I know he brought it back a little bit with the White Socks last year, but I just have my doubts he’s going to be able to do that the next two years. If he was around 10 million, I would entertain it, that’s for sure, because it’s a good name to to bring up here. The Royals did love Andrew Benendi and he was great in Kansas City. even was an all-star one of the years, but that’s just too steep for me. Uh 17 million to take on that production and you’d have to give up some prospects. I’m just not sure that’s a move that JJ Bakolo would be wanting to do. Uh this one’s from Prepsley. What if they try to get Kazuma Okamoto? He is an intriguing hypothetical to me regarding how he could fit with the Royals as he puts up respectable defensive metrics, is known as a power threat with the bat, and isn’t a liability on either side of the ball. Yeah. Yeah, whenever you go with those international prospects, I always try to entertain it a little bit. Here’s my push back. The Royals rarely dip their toe in the pool over in Japan. Uh even though those players uh can translate to the big leagues, we’ve seen it numerous times before. We’re in a different age now where I would say that every single international superstar coming from Japan will sign with the Dodgers. now that Otani’s there, Yamamoto’s there, Sasaki’s there, those were three mega stars in Japan. And so, if you’re just somewhat of a star, a good player, you’re probably going to go sign with the Dodgers, unless they just don’t give you that contract. But, in my opinion, I I would at least entertain it. I know the Royals were over at one point trying to scout Yamamoto Sasaki. At this point, though, just expect those guys to go to the Dodgers. And if not the Dodgers, I could see them going to Toronto. And I’m not just saying that because they’re both in the World Series. Toronto is a very attractive site for a lot of players coming over from Japan. Uh let’s jump over to YouTube here and get to a question from Braden. Mailbag question for you, Jack. When the Royals had brawls with the White Socks and others during the contending years, it made it seem like they weren’t going to be pushed around by anybody. Not saying they need to start brawls every night, but is it necessary to have that mentality when facing the toughest teams moving forward? And can they find anyone that can usher in that mentality in free agency or via trade this off season? Keep up the great work. Uh, thanks for the kind words as always. I I’ve gotten this more than a few times in the season of do they need to have more fire, right? Do they need to get ejected? Do they need to start these brawls? Brawls just aren’t as common anymore in baseball. As much as it pains me to say that because they are entertaining when you see these guys, you know, go back and forth. Somebody gets hit by a pitch and there’s a brawl. The reason that there isn’t, suspensions are hefty, fines are hefty, and somebody always looks like the bum in that situation. If you have players that are chirping, you know, a guy gets thrown up and in, he thinks it’s intentional. It’s really not. You know, guys just aren’t jumping the gun anymore. Whether that be there’s less fiery players out there, guys that don’t want to go throw a punch and then break their hand. Uh that those Royals teams, they had a reason to uh they definitely thought that they were being targeted. They had been hit by or they had had the most hit by pitches of anybody through like the first two months of the season in 2015. And the White Socks were hitting them a lot and they were sick of it. If the Royals got in a scenario like that, they probably would. Uh, but I just don’t know if I see anybody on that roster that would take getting plunked unless it was so obvious it was intentional that I don’t think they would jump to conclusions and try to charge the mound. I remember they got close when Bobby Wick Jr. was approaching the cycle against Arizona and needing a triple or it might have been a home run. Uh they plunked him on the first pitch and it was a soft 88 mph fastball, but it certainly looked a little suspicious. And Salvador Perez was really upset. Bobby Wood Jr. who rarely gets upset. He showed some emotion. He glared out at the pitcher. Uh but it would take a pretty obvious uh intentional hit by pitch or somebody spiking somebody to warrant a brawl. Uh, now more ejections, you know, showing more fire in certain situations, I’m all for it. But for brawls, you really got to be sure in what you’re doing because the last thing you want is a multiple game suspension or worse, you get hurt for an extended period of time. But it’s a fair question. I know those teams had guys like Mike Mustakis and and Lorenzo Kane and and even at one point Johnny Gomes that were not afraid to to express their opinion and let people know that they were not going to be pushed around. Uh, this one’s coming from Amy. Who do you think will win the World Series, Blue Jays or Dodgers? I’m going to roll with the Dodgers here. They’ve just dominated so far. That rotation is unstoppable. You’ve got the best player on the planet in Show Otani. You still have Bets. You still have Freeman. Two MVP winners right there. They seem to be an unstoppable force. And the Blue Jays, as great as they’ve been, um, you know, you look at the the seven game series they had to go into, they can’t be more rested than the Dodgers. The Dodgers are are completely fresh. They’re 100% a rotation that’s dominating, but you’re going to get this awesome clash, force verse force with that rotation in LA going up against a red hot Blue Jays lineup. But I’m going to go with the Dodgers in six. Casey United’s question, what is your favorite dinner to eat while watching a game at home? I’d probably say burgers on the grill. You know, just keep it very baseball traditional. I do burgers or hot dogs. Um get a couple of sides in there as well. Uh if I’m going to be watching somewhere, I love to go to Coach’s uh sports uh sports bar that’s near my house, go get a couple of beers, enjoy pretty much everything they have on the menu. U never been opposed to wings either. I’m more of a wings guy with football. I I don’t know why I don’t have them as much during baseball season, but when it comes to baseball, if I’m at home, throw a couple burgers on the grill and enjoy that. So, I I’ll probably give you that as my answer. This one’s from Bob. I think Bellinger uh is a great idea for a trade. Uh his mailbag Friday question though. I think to move our infield from top 10 to top one or two, it means that a gold glove type second baseman would have to be there. Do you think they can move to upgrade defensively? Well, Michael Massie, I feel can be a Gold Glove defender. Will the bat ever play to be an everyday starter? The juryy’s still out on that. And maybe we already have our answer, right? He’s been in the league for more than a couple of years now. This will be his fourth or fifth year in Kansas City. So, it’s not like he’s had one year under his belt. He would have to show something, not just in spring training, but immediately that he can be that starting uh second baseman. Fraser’s a fine defender, not gold glover. I’m not sure if there would be anybody out there that would make a ton of sense to trade for or sign that you’re just worried about gold glove defense. In my opinion, it’s all about the offense. And they can in mind a second base and that’s a league average bat that can be a top three infield in all of baseball. This one is coming from Brad. Could the Royals trade for Brian Reynolds? What would it take to get him? They were interested going into the trade deadline. It’s a big contract though and Brian Reynolds isn’t coming off of a great season. Maybe they’re going to count on that bounceback, but I’ll just keep echoing what I’ve said all off seasonason. I don’t want too many bouncebacks and certainly not guys that are making a ton of money over an extended period of time. Uh Brian Reynolds is one of those players and the Pirates, they should be in in sell now mode, try to get younger players, but they also need to make it seem enticing to Paul Ski, who at some point is going to make big time money. And I doubt it’s going to be in Pittsburgh, but what would it take to get him? If you took on a chunk of that salary, I’m not sure you’d have to give up anybody inside your top five for the farm system. But also, Pittsburgh is going to be looking for offensive help. That’s a place they really struggled last year. So, they’re going to want offensive help. Maybe they would be asking for somebody like Carter Jensen. And I wouldn’t even budge on that. I’m not trading Carter Jensen for a guy like Brian Reynolds. Very fair question, though. This one is coming from uh looks like Bryce and this will be our last one of the episode. I like the bold prediction. Maybe do an episode on bold predictions. Uh could be a special mailbag Friday type episode where you discuss all the fans bold predictions. Yeah, I’m definitely going to be open to that. Why not uh next week if I can remember? So Bryce, I’ll probably count on you to bring this back up next week. Why not next Thursday we could look into that being a bold prediction episode that I’ll go through. I’ll give you guys credit and I’ll give you the likelihood of that bold prediction coming true. Uh we actually have one more here. I missed this. This one’s from Steve. Do you think having Jonathan India playing multiple positions, the outfield, third base and second base hurt his performance both offensively and defensively? And also, what’s the chance of India being with the Royals next year? Keep up the good work as always. I enjoy your show and thanks as always for the kind words. Um I do believe that affected his defensive abilities. I’m not sure it affected affected him at the plate. I believe that was more so about the injuries he was going through. He got spiked. He got hit in the head. He had the quad injury. He had the knee injury. He was just the wrist injury as well. He was banged up all season long. But defensively, yes, having to learn the outfield playing third base, I think it just screwed with all of his footwork and his capabilities of playing second base. And so when you have the the output that he did in the outfield and at third, it just didn’t translate well back over to second base. But to me, the numbers at the plate were due to him just not being healthy. And maybe the Royals say he’s going to be healthy next year. We count on him being our everyday second baseman, and we expect better numbers. But absolutely, I do believe that moving around made him one of the worst defenders in the entire sport. Well, 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 Lockdown your first listen every day for your second finally all night lockdown MLB game night. every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on the national scale and find MLB Game Night on Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. We’ll be off this weekend, but back on Monday. Until then, you take it easy, Kansas City.

We answer all of the questions sent in from the listeners in this edition of “Mailbag Friday” on “Locked On Royals”!

Host Jack Johnson gives you his answers next!

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-royals/

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/

#Royals #KansasCityRoyals #MLB

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONMLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
PrizePicks — Run Your Game.
Click Link Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB

Rugiet
Ready to level up your confidence ? Head to https://rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for 15% off your first order.

Monarch
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at https://monarch.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)