The Royals Addressed A Lot of Needs at This Year’s Deadline

When Baseball Prospectus released the annual PECOTA preseason record projections for the 2024 season, the Kansas City Royals were projected to win just 70 games.

But with offseason free-agent signings like Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha performing admirably, while the face of the franchise, Bobby Witt Jr., has posted an MVP-caliber season, the Royals find themselves with 61 wins through 110 games and in sole possession of the second AL Wild Card spot.

The Royals were in a position to buy at this year’s deadline, as they push to solidify themselves as a postseason team in 2024.

And they got their trade deadline started early, swinging a deal ahead of the All-Star Game with the Washington Nationals to bring in reliever Hunter Harvey and help shore up a lackluster bullpen.

Then on July 29, the day before the trade deadline, the Royals acquired SP Michael Lorenzen from the Texas Rangers to add depth to what has been one of MLB’s best rotations in 2024.

Late on deadline day, the Royals made a pair of trades to address more needs. They brought in right-handed reliever Lucas Erceg from the Oakland Athletics to join Harvey in strengthening the back end of the bullpen.

They also addressed their need for better infield depth by bringing in Paul DeJong from the Chicago White Sox.

Now that the Royals are fully focused on a postseason push in 2024, here’s what these recent acquisitions will provide for the team down the stretch.

Hunter Harvey and Lucas Erceg Join the Bullpen

Royals receive: RP Hunter Harvey — Nationals receive: 3B Cayden Wallace, No. 39 overall pick in 2024 draft

Royals receive: RP Lucas Erceg — Athletics receive: RHP Mason Barnett, RHP Will Klein, OF Jared Dickey

The biggest weakness for the Kansas City Royals in 2024 has undoubtedly been their bullpen.

As a unit, the Royals bullpen ranked in the bottom 10 in MLB in nearly every major statistic as of deadline day:

And the big issue has been the back end of the bullpen. Ángel Zerpa and John Schreiber have been passable as set-up men this season, but neither of them stands out as a guy you’d feel comfortable with in late-game situations in a postseason series.

Schreiber, who’s currently on the IL, sports a 0.6 fWAR. In 37.0 innings of relief this season, he’s posted a 4.14 ERA with a 1.40 WHIP.

Zerpa also holds a 0.6 fWAR. In 39.2 innings, he’s sporting a 3.40 ERA with a 1.36 WHIP.

Schreiber and Zerpa are the only two qualified Royals relievers who’ve posted positive fWARs this season, as many key bullpen pieces like Will Smith, Chris Stratton and, most importantly, the primary closer James McArthur have been far from convincing this season.

McArthur is really the one to hone in on here, considering he’s been the guy tasked with taking the ball in the ninth inning for a team well within the AL Wild Card hunt.

In 42.1 innings this season, McArthur has posted a 5.31 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a .302 AVG against with a -0.1 fWAR.

So, when it comes to Harvey and Erceg, they are immediately better options to take on the closing role in Kansas City down the stretch.

While prospect Cayden Wallace and the 39th overall pick in this year’s draft may have been a steep price to pay for Harvey, there is no doubt that he is a far better option overall than what the Royals had. And they also have an additional year of control with Harvey, meaning he can be a key (and affordable) piece of their bullpen next season.

In 45.0 innings with Washington before he was dealt, Harvey posted a 4.20 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, a 3.16 FIP, a .247 average against, 10.00 K/9, 2.40 BB/9 and a 0.9 fWAR.

Erceg also is a huge improvement on the Royals’ late-inning pitching options.

In 36.2 innings of work for Oakland this year, Erceg posted a 3.68 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 3.46 FIP, .225 average against, 10.06 K/9, 3.19 BB/9 and a 0.3 fWAR.

And while the team gave up a fair amount to get him, five-and-a-half years of team control over someone with his talent is an exciting opportunity for a small-market team like the Royals who appear to be on the cusp of being big-time players again in the AL postseason scene.

Michael Lorenzen Provides Veteran Rotation Depth

Royals receive: SP Michael Lorenzen — Rangers receive: RP Walter Pennington

Michael Lorenzen isn’t a blockbuster acquisition by any means, but the Royals didn’t need to make a huge move to their rotation considering just how dominant it’s been in 2024.

As a team, the Royals rotation ranked third in fWAR (11.3), fourth in ERA (3.55), fourth in WHIP (1.18) and fifth in FIP (3.70) on deadline day.

This has been in large part due to the Cy Young-caliber performance from Seth Lugo this season, All-Star (or All-Star-worthy) performances from Cole Ragans and Brady Singer, and an overall solid season from the veteran Michael Wacha.

This will likely be their postseason four-man rotation if they keep pace and are able to hold onto their current AL Wild Card spot.

But Lugo has never been in a situation where he’s performed like this, Ragans and Singer are still relatively young in their major league careers and at 33 years old, Michael Wacha isn’t getting any younger, so having an experienced reliable piece like Lorenzen at the bottom of the rotation to provide protection will be very beneficial.

The 10-year veteran has certainly been around the major league block and is still performing well in his age-32 season. In 101.2 innings of work for the Rangers this year, he sported his best ERA (3.81) since converting back to a starter in 2022.

He paired that with very respectable output in both WHIP, 1.28, and AVG against, .224.

The Royals likely feel a lot more confident knowing that Alec Marsh no longer needs to be the lone man sitting behind the top four in that rotation anymore.

Marsh has performed well though, posting a 1.2 fWAR this season across 101.1 innings of work, so credit to him. But adding a veteran like Lorenzen to alleviate some of that pressure off a 26-year-old with only 27 major league starts under his belt should be considered a smart move.

And Lorenzen could provide more than just an arm to get through the regular season. His extensive career as a reliever means that he could be an option to stick on a postseason roster in the bullpen, especially knowing how poor a bulk of the Royals’ bullpen has been in 2024.

Paul DeJong Gives Royals Better Options in the Infield

Royals receive: SS Paul DeJong — White Sox receive: RHP Jarold Rosado

Out of the four moves the Royals made, bringing in Paul DeJong definitely ranks the lowest in importance, but it’s not insignificant.

DeJong hasn’t set the world on fire by any means this season with the White Sox, sporting a .228 average, .275 OBP and 95 wRC+. But what he has done is provide a fair bit of pop in the middle infield. With 18 home runs, DeJong ranks is tied for seventh among middle infielders at the deadline.

Now as a primary SS, DeJong won’t be challenging the Royals’ current option at short, Bobby Witt Jr., for his starting spot. But he does offer intrigue at both 2B and 3B.

As a right-handed bat, DeJong could complement the left-handed bat of Michael Massey very well, as both have fairly solid slug rates this season and are on a similar home run pace (DeJong has nearly double the at-bats that Massey does).

Overall, they are quite similar hitters, but the Royals now can have the same production from both sides of the plate and even sport a platoon if they want.

And in his first game as a Royal on July 31, DeJong was in the lineup as a starting 3B, which puts a bit of pressure on the 24-year-old Maikel Garcia to keep performing.

I’m not advocating that DeJong should take the spot of Garcia, but some healthy competition in the midst of the Wild Card race might be a good thing to motivate the second-year 3B in the early stages of his major league development.

It also allows Kansas City to feature more pop at the position should they desire it on any given night, since Garcia is only slugging .345 with 6 home runs in 462 plate appearances in 2024.

DeJong also adds a fresh face to a bench that has been struggling in the infield department. Garrett Hampson has been solid, hitting .252 this season. But with his ability to play the outfield, they’d likely rather get him more reps there considering Kansas City’s outfield is hitting .216/.279/.362 with an fWAR of 0.4, fourth worst in MLB.

And DeJong is an immediate improvement on Adam Frazier, who’s hitting just .193 with a .552 OPS, a 56 wRC+ and a -0.8 fWAR.

Did the Royals Do Enough?

The Royals won 56 games last season, so it’s not a lie to say they are ahead of schedule in their rebuild considering they’re already in the AL Wild Card hunt.

But that also means they’re still very young in their competitive years, and selling the farm wouldn’t have been the wisest move; they’re still not within the upper echelon of postseason contenders alongside teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles.

These four moves will benefit the team not only now but in the future.

Moves like acquiring talent with team control, like Harvey and Erceg, fit into the longer-term plans for this team.

And smart rental acquisitions, like Lorenzen and DeJong, don’t break the bank financially for the rest of 2024 and put the team in a good spot competitively to keep up with the likes of the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox, and the Seattle Mariners.

One of the Royals’ needs that was not addressed at the deadline was their need for an outfielder.

As already touched upon, the Royals outfield has been one of the worst in baseball this season. And with reports saying they were in the group of finalists trying to land now-Yankee Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Marlins, and other names being floated around them, like now-Pirates outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, the fact that they weren’t able to re-enforce that area is disappointing.

But outfield aside, the Royals did a solid job ensuring that they have the potential to stay ahead of the teams currently sitting behind them, who were also buyers at the deadline.

However, games aren’t played on paper or through hypotheticals, so only time will tell if the Royals did what they needed to do to once again have a chance at chasing postseason glory.