Whether it's more by choice or happenstance the White Sox have taken on a heavy Kansas City influence throughout their organization the past couple of seasons.
But over in Kansas City, a Ken Rosenthal story has reinforced my thinking that the Royals are emulating the White Sox, at least of a specific vintage.
Rosenthal led a story about the Royals' offseason with the way reliever WIll Smith has been a chief recruiter for a Royals team that has imported a fair amount of veteran talent. He was able to help Kansas City land Seth Lugo, after which they signed Chris Stratton, Michael Wacha, Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier.
Frazier sees in the Royals the same potential as his previous two clubs, the 2022 Seattle Mariners and 2023 Baltimore Orioles, both of which made the playoffs. His role is to be determined. Some second base with Michael Massey, who also bats left-handed. Some corner outfield. In a three-way call with Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro, Frazier said, “I just want to win.”
“All the signings they made before me, I was like, ‘All right, they’re committed,’” Frazier said. “I felt we had a chance to be something.”
They help, because after a 56-win season in 2023, basically any signing would provide a boost. FanGraphs sees a 20-win improvement, while PECOTA projects a more modest 14.
They still have a long way to go, but the rhetoric surrounding the acquisitions of OK players (with an emphasis on the bullpen) continues to remind me of the 2014-15 White Sox offseason, when they traded for Jeff Samardzija, signed David Robertson, Adam LaRoche, Melky Cabrera and Zach Duke ... and they improved from 73 to 76 wins, because none of them were that good.
But the Royals can avoid similar pitfalls if 1) David Sandlin doesn't turn into the equivalent of Marcus Semien, and 2) they're able to spend past any of their free agents contracts that don't work out. We still don't know John Sherman's true appetite for spending, because if he were only trying to ramp up public interest in the Royals to increase the chances of getting a stadium deal closer to his terms, this is what it would look like.
(Speaking of which, Jerry Reinsdorf is heading to Springfield to meet with legislative leaders about his aim for $1 billion of public funding for a new South Loop ballpark.)
Spare Parts
Other owners are playing a harder ball than Reinsdorf. Ken Kendrick is threatening-not-threatening to explore sites outside of Phoenix if they're not able to get more public funding to update Chase Field.
Kendrick said he was not trying to issue a threat to the state about moving, saying multiple times the Diamondbacks were not currently engaged in discussions with other markets about leaving town.
“There is likely to be, in time, an expansion of our sport to a couple of additional cities,” Kendrick said. “Cities are letting MLB know their interest; their interest in getting a team is specific. They would be happy with a brand new franchise, but they would certainly be very happy, you know, with, frankly, a successful, existing franchise.
On the other side of Missouri, this quote from St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak caught my eye, because it's something I could've easily heard Rick Hahn or (more likely) Kenny Williams saying.
A quality the Cardinals sought in each free agent before exploring what contract they wanted in order to play in St. Louis was whether they wanted at all to play in St. Louis.
“Guys who want to be here usually have good outcomes,” Mozeliak told an audience of fans at the team’s annual Winter Warm-up. “Guys we’re begging to come here — don’t.”
Chris Getz and Josh Barfield are prominently featured in Ben Lindbergh's story about the return of the former-player GM. Now that just about every player is conversant in metrics and the modern concept of value, this might not be a blip.
Liam Hendriks, who's likely out until the second half unless he overcomes Tommy John surgery the way he returned from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Red Sox that can be worth up to $20 million with incentives. I like the way his former and now current teammate found out about it:
Lucas Giolito got a text from former teammate Liam Hendriks this morning that said, "Where are you?"
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) February 19, 2024
Puzzled, Giolito replied he was getting dressed.
"I'm in the breakfast room," Hendriks replied.
That's when Giolito learned the Sox had signed him.
With the Angels responding to the departure of Shohei Ohtani by spending only on the margins, Mike Trout is no longer sanguine about an eventual postseason payoff.
While White Sox fans knew Keynan Middleton as a cologne connoisseur and expert bomb-thrower, he's being introduced to Cardinals fans as an assistant high school basketball coach. He contains multitudes.
The Lerner family has been exploring a sale of the Washington Nationals for nearly two years, but the team is declared to be off the block. It doesn't help that they're still in court with the Orioles over television rights.
