The 2023 Kansas City Royals were embarrassed. A 106-loss season can — and should — do that to a major league team.
Royals owner John Sherman said something about it. Then he did something about it.
“It sucked,” Sherman told MLB.com at the end of spring training. “But that’s what motivates you. Sometimes, you need that slap upside the head, right? We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we cannot tolerate something like that again for our fans.”
So the Royals went big and bold.
Their aggressiveness stoked a remarkable 30-game about-face (56-106 last season to 86-76 this season), a two-game sweep of the Orioles in the American League wild-card series, and a berth in the ALDS before they fell in four games to the Yankees.
By beating the Orioles, Kansas City became just the second team to win a postseason series one year after losing at least 100 games. The other was the 2020 Marlins, who snuck into the playoffs in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season.
Rockies fans should hope owner Dick Monfort was paying attention.
Monfort’s club, which lost 103 games last season and 101 this season, is making some strides toward a turnaround with some young talent on the roster and in the system. But does the will and the wherewithal exist at 20th and Blake to put the Rockies in position for a playoff swing?
General manager Bill Schmidt and manager Bud Black, who just agreed to return for the 2025 season, are optimistic about the future but not making any promises.
“Our talent base is getting better,” Schmidt said at the end of the season. “Our depth is getting better. I’m not going to say we’re going from this year to win 95 next year. Our record this year might be similar (to 2023), but we’re going to be a better club.”
Asked if Colorado can mimic the Royals and the Tigers (who went from 78-84 to 86-76 and the playoffs), Black answered: “Kansas City? Detroit? Anything is possible. When I got here in ’17 … what happened in ’16? (Colorado was 75-87 under Walt Weiss.) And then we made the playoffs. I’m going to say yes. I’m optimistic.”
But the Rockies aren’t the Royals and Monfort is not Sherman.
During the offseason, K.C. committed $109.5 million to free agents, the most money in any offseason in franchise history, including free-agent starting pitcher signees Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. They also signed their star shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr., to a contract extension that could add up to $377 million over 14 years.
The Royals’ first big roster move was signing free-agent pitcher Will Smith for the back end of their bullpen. Smith had been on the roster of the last three World Series champions, with the Rangers, Astros and Braves.
During the season, when they sensed success was on the horizon, they acquired closer Lucas Erceg and outfielder Tommy Pham.
The Royals, who had not been to the playoffs since winning the World Series in 2015, created an effective roster mix. Their postseason roster featured 12 homegrown players, including draftees and international signees. The other 14 players came from trades and free agency. Of those 14 players, 11 had previous postseason experience.
The Royals are far from a powerhouse franchise. Last season, they averaged just 16,136 fans per game at Kauffman Stadium, ranking 27th in the majors, ahead of only the Marlins and the A’s. This season, the Royals drew 20,473, ranking 26th.
According to Spotrac, Kansas City’s total payroll this season was $122.5 million, ranking 20th. Last year, it was $96.1 million (23rd).
After the 106-loss debacle, GM J.J. Picollo immediately began reshaping the front office. He hired Brian Bridges as the new scouting director, promoted Jim Cuthbert to director of pro personnel and strategy, and beefed up the preseason and development department by hiring six new people.
And so the seeds of a playoff team were planted.
The Rockies, meanwhile, have some distinct advantages over the Royals. They drew 31,360 fans per home game this season, ranking 15th. Their payroll was $147.4 million (17th).
The problem is not the Rockies’ failure to spend money; it’s how they’ve spent it. This season, $28 million (19%) of Colorado’s payroll went to the perennially injured Kris Bryant, who played in just 37 games with 155 plate appearances. For the record, that amounts to about $757,000 per game.
Monfort courted Bryant, who has played in just 33% of the Rockies’ games since signing a seven-year, $182 million contract before the 2022 season, the biggest free-agent deal in franchise history.
Giving former closer Daniel Bard a two-year, $19 million deal for the 2023-24 season was also a big misstep. Bard, derailed by injuries, did not pitch a game in ’24.
Schmidt is right when he says the Rockies’ talent is getting better. They have two budding, perennial All-Stars in shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle.
With pitching prospects Chase Dollander, Carson Palmquist, Sean Sullivan and Gabriel Hughes nearing their big-league debuts, the starting rotation has a chance to be better and deeper than it’s been since 2018. We know that free-agent starters aren’t going to come to Colorado, so the Rockies will need their youngsters to make the big-league grade.
But even if they do, as soon as next season, the Rockies’ tepid offense has a huge strikeout problem that must be solved. For all of the optimism about the bullpen during the season’s final month, it remains a huge question mark. Plus, the Rockies lack a middle-of-the-lineup slugger.
After their 106-loss season, the Royals faced similar dilemmas. Their offseason blueprint included finding two quality veteran starting pitchers, a trio of tested relievers, and a big bat. They acquired all of the pieces and more.
The Rockies, in the hole with a losing record for six consecutive seasons, believe they’ve moved into the on-deck circle. Now it’s time for them to prove they’re serious about stepping up to the plate.
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