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The Hot Stove is heating up, and it could be a very eventful off-season for the Royals. Already they have dismissed club president Dayton Moore, manager Mike Matheny, and pitching coach Cal Eldred, given the reins to General Manager J.J. Picollo, and hired Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro to be their manager.
The organizational has talked about being more transactional, so we could see a busy off-season for the Royals. What would be your off-season plan for the team?
The Royals have three players under contract for next year - Salvador Perez, Hunter Dozier, and Michael A. Taylor - costing a total of $32 million, all guaranteed. They also have ten arbitration-eligible players you can decide to tender (at the listed salary estimate) or non-tender (making them free agents), totalling just under $30 million. The rest of the current roster will make around $11 million. According to Picollo, the Royals are “operating right now near capacity with what we want to spend” at $73 million.
Royals 2023 projected payroll
| Player | Salary |
|---|---|
| Player | Salary |
| Salvador Perez | $20,000,000 |
| Hunter Dozier | $7,500,000 |
| Michael A. Taylor | $4,500,000 |
| Arbitration | Salary |
| Brad Keller | $7,000,000 |
| Scott Barlow | $4,900,000 |
| Nicky Lopez | $3,400,000 |
| Adalberto Mondesi | $3,000,000 |
| Brady Singer | $2,900,000 |
| Amir Garrett | $2,600,000 |
| Kris Bubic | $1,800,000 |
| Ryan O'Hearn | $1,500,000 |
| Taylor Clarke | $1,500,000 |
| Josh Staumont | $1,000,000 |
| Other players | $11,000,000 |
| Total | $72,600,000 |
The Royals are said to be looking for one or two starting pitchers and a veteran right-handed bat. David Lesky at Inside the Crown has profiled some free agent starting pitchers here, and I listed some veteran free agent right-handed bats here. I also predicted some contracts for free agents you can find here. A complete list of free agents is available here.
The Royals could be pretty active in the trade market with some positional redundancies. They have depth at catcher, first base, and shortstop, and may seek to move other players to give them a change of scenery and pick up new talent. You can use the Trade Simulator at Baseball Trade Values to get an idea of what would be a fair trade.
Let’s hear your idea for the Royals’ off-season? How do we get this franchise back on the right track? You make the call!
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