The 2023 takeaways fueling KC's offseason

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals held their postseason press conference earlier this week, and much of the 40-minute Q&A with general manager J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro focused on turning the page to 2024 instead of looking back at what happened in ‘23.

That’s what 106 losses tends to do. What the Royals learned in their “evaluation season” is that they have a long way to go, and there needs to be several additions to the homegrown core for the Royals to get there.

That means a busy offseason should be on tap. Let’s look back at how we got here:

Defining moment

The Royals made the first trade of the Deadline season on June 30, not wanting to wait on trading their best asset in reliever Aroldis Chapman. They sent the 35-year-old reliever to Texas for lefty Cole Ragans and Dominican Summer League outfielder Roni Cabrera, and on paper, it looked like a solid trade given Chapman’s age and expiring contract for a 25-year-old starter in Ragans and a lottery ticket in Cabrera.

It ended up being a massive win for the front office. Ragans made 12 starts for Kansas City and posted a 2.64 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. He added a slider that opened his arsenal with the help of the Royals’ pitching development team. He emerged as a viable rotation piece for the future -- a rotation in need of reliability.

What we learned

The Royals stuck with many of their young players through struggles over the course of the year to see whether they could turn things around. Some did, others didn’t. What we learned is that the Royals need help, and conversations with executives over the past month is that they won’t continue to look only internally for that help.

“The level of patience we’ve shown, the opportunity we’ve given guys, is adequate, but we need to start thinking more about what we need to do to enhance this roster and not be as cognizant of who’s on the roster right now,” Picollo said. “If we can get better, we’re going to get better, and that’s ultimately the goal of our front office.”

Best development

One of the biggest questions the Royals had entering the year was what kind of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was going to be, and the 23-year-old showed he can be a very good one. After recording -11 Outs Above Average between shortstop and third base last year, Witt finished ‘23 with 14 OAA. FanGraphs gave him a little less credit with its Defensive Runs Saved metric, as he posted -18 DRS last year and -6 this year. But Witt, who appeared in 158 games this year, passed the eye test and will be counted on as the Royals’ everyday shortstop moving forward.

Area for improvement

To no one’s surprise, it’s the pitching. The Royals staff posted a 5.17 ERA this season, third worst in the Majors. Starting, relieving, bulk innings, high-leverage -- you name it, the Royals must acquire better pitchers this offseason. Specifically, they need several bullpen arms to be able to close out games. When the Royals traded Chapman and then Scott Barlow at the Deadline, they handed the closer role over to Carlos Hernández and gave him every opportunity to show that his future on this team was pitching the ninth inning.

The 26-year-old had a 7.82 ERA after the All-Star break and allowed 11 runs in 6 2/3 innings in September, when the Royals held more leads than they had all season.

“We were trying to get exposure and experience to certain guys in leverage situations against certain parts of the lineup to see if they were ready for that role,” Picollo said. “But as we sit here today, we’re going to have to find somebody. Or it may be a group of guys, closer by committee.”

On the rise

Maikel Garcia showed a lot in his first full season, including his ability to play a solid third base (13 OAA) and settle in as the leadoff hitter. The 23-year-old slashed .272/.323/.358 across 123 games, and his 77 leadoff hits ranked second among baseball’s rookies. Garcia’s versatility to move around the infield helps the Royals out this offseason, too, when targeting hitters to acquire. He can play second and filled in at short when Witt got a day off.

Team MVP

Witt’s historic season, becoming the first Royal with a 30-homer, 30-stolen base season and finishing one stolen base shy of 30-50, earns him Royals MVP honors here. He dug himself into a big hole at the start of the season with a .677 OPS through nearly two months. But then he dug himself out of it and finished with a .276/.319/.495 line with 96 RBIs and a 17.4% strikeout rate, along with 115 wRC+ and 5.7 fWAR.

Witt emerged in 2023. Now it’s up to the Royals to rise along with him.