Kansas City Royals

Starting pitcher Zack Greinke is reportedly "expected to return" for a 20th MLB season in 2023.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Thursday the Kansas City Royals are "interested" in re-signing Greinke, who compiled a 3.68 ERA across 26 starts for the club this season while playing on a one-year, $13 million contract.

The 39-year-old right-hander said after his final start of the season he wasn't sure whether he'd be back next year.

"I don't really know for sure what's going to happen," Greinke told reporters in early October. "We'll figure it out eventually, but I don't know at the moment."

He posted solid overall numbers in 2022 despite a low strikeout rate (4.8 per nine innings) basically unheard of in the modern game. He was able to remain effective thanks to limiting walks (1.7 per nine) and keeping the ball in the park (14 home runs allowed in 137 innings).

Greinke was drafted by the Royals in 2002 and made his major league debut for the club in 2004. His first stint in K.C. ran through 2010.

The Florida native proceeded to make stops with the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros before returning to the Royals ahead of the 2022 campaign.

His career resume includes the 2009 AL Cy Young Award, six All-Star selections and six Gold Glove Awards.

Baseball Reference shows him having a fringe Hall of Fame case, including a career WAR (76.4) that's slightly above the average Hall of Famer.

Coming back for at least one more season will give him an opportunity to keep building the case that he deserves a place in Cooperstown.

If Greinke returns but doesn't re-sign with Kansas City, it's possible he could generate interest from contenders in free agency as an option for their back end of their rotation.

Another one-year deal with the Royals seems like the most likely outcome, though.

The Kansas City Royals hired Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro as their next manager, the team announced Sunday.

ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported the news.

Quatraro will take over for Mike Matheny, who was fired after the Royals finished 65-97 in 2022. Kansas City also extended its postseason drought to seven seasons.

"We are extremely excited to have Matt leading our club and core of talent," general manager J.J. Picollo said. "Matt has great experiences throughout his career that have prepared him for this. He thoroughly impressed us all during our interview process and is clearly respected across the industry."

The organization has already undergone some major changes to atone for its recent futility. In addition to moving on from Matheny, the Royals fired pitching coach Cal Eldred. Dayton Moore was ousted as president of baseball operations before the regular season ended.

It wasn't just that Kansas City's fortunes took a sharp downturn after it made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015. Moore's plan to rebuild around young pitching hasn't worked out, and there aren't a bevy of top prospects to generate optimism for the future.

Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez both made their MLB debuts in 2022, and neither is older than 23. Kansas City's pitching staff was also tied for the second-youngest (27.3) in the league, per Baseball Reference.

Although the cupboard isn't totally bare, this isn't like in the early 2010s, when Kansas City had a farm system brimming with potential.

Quatraro's top priority will be helping to see Picollo's long-term vision through.

Given his experience in Tampa and before that with the Cleveland Guardians, the 48-year-old is a natural fit. He knows what it's like to work within a small-market team that needs a steady flow of homegrown talent to thrive.

Selecting Quatraro also sends a message that ownership isn't expecting an immediate turnaround. The Royals are likely years away from contention, so the new manager should get plenty of time in the dugout to establish a new culture.

The Kansas City Royals fired president of baseball operations Dayton Moore. J.J. Picollo will take over as general manager and executive vice president.

Moore provided a comment to The Athletic's Andy McCullough and Ken Rosenthal.

"I’m really thankful for the opportunity," he said. "I’m proud of our culture and what we accomplished in Kansas City. I’m disappointed we weren’t able to see it through. But I have confidence in John Sherman, J.J. Picollo and the entire baseball operations department to finish it off."

The Royals hired Moore as their general manager in May 2006. At the time, Kansas City was on its way to a 62-win season and a 21st consecutive year of missing the playoffs.

By the end of 2015, the franchise claimed an American League pennant (in 2014) before going all the way and winning its second World Series title the next year. Moore was the architect of those squads and built the roster through a variety of means.

Salvador Perez and Kelvin Herrera signed with the Royals as teenagers. Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy and Greg Holland were drafted by the team. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain arrived in the Zack Greinke trade. And Kansas City had the last laugh on the 2012 trade of Wil Myers, which netted James Shields and Wade Davis, the latter emerging as one of MLB's best relievers.

As much as Moore did for the organization, credit for those two World Series trips only extended him so much goodwill. The Royals haven't had a winning record since 2015, and they haven't finished .500 since 2016.

Flags fly forever, but Dayton Moore mustered three winning seasons in 16 tries. This will be the 10th season his team has finished fourth or fifth in what is traditionally the game's weakest division. It was definitely time.

— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) September 21, 2022

Kansas City hasn't been able to develop homegrown talent. A recent report by The Athletic detailed how Moore's heavy focus on pitchers in the 2018 MLB draft has yielded a disappointing return so far. Royals pitchers are 28th in WAR (6.1) and 27th in FIP (4.47), per FanGraphs.

Moore addressed the story and posited "most of those comments come from somebody criticizing simply with a critical spirit." He added it "wasn't factual" and "left out a lot of important things that, I think, speak to the upside of where we are and where we're going with our pitchers."

Ryan Lefebvre asked Royals President Dayton Moore about this article on @610SportsKC earlier today. #Royals https://t.co/EoGk0XE89E pic.twitter.com/VxypZK7Uqk

— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier965) September 18, 2022

For some, his response illustrated why a change in leadership was required.

Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra of MLB.com ranked Kansas City's farm system 21st in MLB in August, so there isn't a wealth of young talent soon coming up through the pipeline. Bobby Witt Jr. has shown promise, but Nick Pratto struggled so much he earned a demotion to Triple-A.

Picollo has a tall task ahead to build another contender in Kansas City.

Kansas City Royals reliever Amir Garrett attempted to make amends after throwing his drink toward a fan at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

Following Monday's 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins, Garrett told reporters he contacted the fan and "had dialogue and stuff like that."

"There was no hard feelings there," he said. "I sent a jersey to him and his son, stuff like that. He was very grateful because it could have went south. But he was very kind to me, and I was letting him know how upset I was that in the moment I reacted like that."

While standing in the dugout during a 9-2 defeat to the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 2, the southpaw tossed his drink toward a fan in the first row.

Amir Garrett tossed his drink at a fan pic.twitter.com/rPzmLnBIfR

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 3, 2022

Garrett apologized the following day on social media.

. pic.twitter.com/FgQzL55fcj

— CountOnAG (@Amir_Garrett) August 3, 2022

MLB suspended Garrett for three games, which was originally slated to go into effect starting Monday. However, he's appealing the ruling, thus allowing him to remain eligible for the time being.

Garrett was also suspended seven games last season for his role in a bench-clearing brawl when the Cincinnati Reds played the Chicago Cubs. That suspension was ultimately reduced to five games after appeal.

The 30-year-old logged one inning of work in Monday's game. He has made 41 appearances this season, posting a 4.45 ERA and 34 strikeouts across 32.1 innings.

Kansas City Royals reliever Amir Garrett is facing the consequences after he was seen on video throwing a drink at a Chicago White Sox fan during a game earlier this month.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Garrett has received a three-game suspension and a fine for the incident.

In response to a tweet containing video of the incident, Garrett said "the disrespect is insane in these parks" from "grown men talking slick." He later issued an apology, saying he "[realized] my actions were uncalled for and that as players we are held to a higher standard and the chirping from fans is a part of today's game."

After spending the first five seasons of his career with the Cincinnati Reds, Garrett has struggled in his first season in Kansas City. In 40 appearances out of the bullpen entering Monday, the left-hander has a 4.60 ERA and 1.31 WHIP with 34 strikeouts and 25 walks in 31.1 innings.

Garrett had developed a reputation for not being afraid to mix it up with opposing players. Fans might remember him most for charging the entire Pittsburgh Pirates bench by himself during a game in 2019. He had also formed a rivalry with Detroit Tigers shortstop Javier Baez, who was then with the Chicago Cubs. The two had multiple exchanges, with Garrett once receiving a five-game suspension for his involvement in a benches-clearing incident.

Garrett's latest fracas with the White Sox fan could be the result of frustrations boiling over amid a disappointing season. Kansas City is fourth in the American League Central with a 48-68 record and is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight year.

Kansas City Royals pitcher Amir Garrett was apparently tired of a fan at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago during Tuesday's game and threw his drink at the heckler.

Garrett replied to a tweet featuring video of the incident that happened during the Chicago White Sox's 9-2 win and said "the disrespect is insane in these parks" from "grown men talking slick."

Listen the disrespect is insane in these parks. I really wish I could go to someone’s work and run my mouth. These are grown men talking slick. How miserable do you have to be with your own life?

— CountOnAG (@Amir_Garrett) August 3, 2022

Garrett later apologized for his actions, per TMZ.com:

I owe the fan from last night's incident an apology. I realize my actions were uncalled for and that as players we are held to a higher standard and the chirping from fans is a part of today's game. I hope he can forgive me.

With that being said, I'm a human that makes mistakes. I will continue to grow and learn from any and all mistakes I make and appreciate everyone's support while doing so.

Again, I sincerely apologize to last night's fan and all fans who were around. This is a beautiful game that we share, as fans and as players. Let's continue to cherish our beautiful game together.

The southpaw pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the loss, allowing two walks.

He has struggled during his first season in the American League following five years with the Cincinnati Reds and has a 5.27 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 28 strikeouts in 27.1 innings. It is more of the same after he posted a 6.04 ERA last year, though he was excellent during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season with a 2.45 ERA.

Garrett has something of a reputation as someone who won't back down. That has been with fellow players, however, and not fans.

He famously charged the entire Pittsburgh Pirates bench during a 2019 game, and the photograph of him fighting his National League Central rivals was chosen as one of CNN's photographs of the year.

Amir Garrett vs. The Pirates.
#Reds @Amir_Garrett pic.twitter.com/o3o1brNdiL

— Sam Greene (@SGdoesit) July 31, 2019

The 30-year-old also had multiple run-ins with Javier Baez when the latter was a member of the Chicago Cubs. The two exchanged words multiple times, and Garrett was even suspended for five games for his role in a benches-clearing incident.

He was back in the headlines with another Chicago team Tuesday, though his frustration was apparently with at least one fan this time.

Garrett and the Royals are playing out the string at this point of the season with a 41-63 record, which is good enough for fifth place in the American League Central.

Kansas City Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi is reportedly a potential target if the Philadelphia Phillies dip in to the trade market to help replace Bryce Harper, who's out indefinitely after suffering a broken left thumb on Saturday.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported Wednesday that Benintendi is a "name to watch" given the limited financial impact of his expiring contract and his connection to Phillies president Dave Dombrowski after four years together with the Boston Red Sox.

A single trade isn't going to fill the massive void left by Harper. The reigning National League MVP was putting together another terrific season with a .318/.385/.599 slash line, 15 home runs and nine stolen bases through 64 games before the injury.

That said, Benintendi could provide a stabilizing force for a Phillies lineup that lacks depth.

The 27-year-old Cincinnati native posted his best season with the World Series-winning Red Sox in 2018 when he compiled a .830 OPS with 16 homers and 21 steals in 148 games en route to a 5.0 WAR, per FanGraphs.

He's lacked that type of all-around production with the Royals this season, tallying just three long balls and one swipe in 72 appearances, but he's maintained a .303 average and .368 on-base percentage.

Benintendi could slot in nicely in the second spot in the Philly order behind leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber (.344 OBP) to give the club a pair consistent on-base threats ahead of Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto.

The 2021 Gold Glove Award winner may also be available at a reasonable cost since he's set to become a free agent at season's end and the Royals are already fading from playoff contention with a 26-47 record.

Philadelphia is in the thick of the playoff race as the campaign approaches the halfway mark with a 39-36 record, which is third in the NL East and three games behind the final wild-card spot.

The goal is trying to remain within striking distance of a postseason berth with the hope Harper can return at some point in the second half for a late-season charge.

Benintendi would help in that quest, though trying to find another power bat would still remain on the Phils' to-do list ahead of the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline.

On Monday, Kansas City Royals backstop Salvador Perez went where no catcher had ever gone before when he launched his 46th home run of the 2021 season.

Like many of the long balls Perez has hit this season, No. 46 was an absolute shot with a projected distance of 429 feet. Even Johnny Bench, who had previously held the single-season record for home runs by a catcher, took a break from awkwardly holding hamburgers so he could hand it to Perez:

Un hombre muy fuerte! A great man. Congrats @SalvadorPerez15. Most home runs by a catcher in a season. Catching Royal-ty. #MLB @Royals https://t.co/2lv5A6fftf

— Johnny Bench (@JohnnyBench_5) September 20, 2021

If you want to get technical, Perez has hit 31 homers while playing catcher. That's only tied with Mike Zunino for the lead in Major League Baseball in 2021 and well short of Javy Lopez's single-season record of 42 in 2003.

Nevertheless, a 46-homer season by a player who spends most of his time crouching behind home plate is, well, a 46-homer season by a player who spends most of his time crouching behind home plate. A big deal, in other words.

It's thus safe to ask a question that, while straightforward, can only lead to less straightforward answers: Home runs aside, where does Perez's season rank among the best ever by a catcher?

---

Perez Has a WAR Problem

As any discussion of baseball history pretty much has to at this point, this one begins with a look at wins above replacement.

Royals fans know all about how WAR can be a good thing. As Joe Posnanski argued for NBC Sports at the time, it was in part because of WAR that Alex Gordon heard "M-V-P!" chants at Kauffman Stadium in 2014 even though his traditional stats lacked the sheen typically seen on the back of an MVP's baseball card.

This, however, is a different story. Though Baseball Reference puts Perez's WAR at a career-high 5.2, that same figure ranks only 93rd all-time among players who logged 51 percent of their games at catcher in a given season.

For position players, WAR's fundamental offensive component is a stat called "batting runs," an all-encompassing hitting metric that is park- and league-adjusted. It rates Mike Piazza's 1997 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers (in which he hit .362/.341/.639 with 40 homers) and Josh Gibson's 1943 season for the Homestead Grays (.466/.560/.868 with 20 homers) as the two best offensive campaigns ever by catchers.

Perez's 2021 season? It's all the way down at No. 152 with just 21.6 batting runs.

Despite his home runs, the 31-year-old has an obvious weakness as a hitter in that he doesn't get on base with much regularity. No thanks to his 4.2 walk percentage—third-lowest among qualified hitters—he's rocking just a .317 OBP this season. That's better than the average catcher (.305) yet only as good as the league average. It's also not even inside the top 500 among individual catcher seasons.

Bear in mind that what Perez has done at the plate is only one of three major aspects of his WAR. There's also baserunning, where the 6'3", 255-pounder is unsurprisingly below water with a minus-two tally, and defense, where there's good news and bad news.

On one hand, Perez leads the majors with a 45.0 caught-stealing percentage. Yet such a high mark is only worth so much when stolen base attempts are falling. He's thrown out only 18 runners, or 19 fewer than the career-high 37 he nabbed five years ago.

There's also Perez's framing, which has never been his strong suit and is now a liability. Baseball Info Solutions' data rates 2021 as the worst framing season of his career. Statcast's metrics agree and further cast Perez as the worst framer of 2021.

---

Let's Look at This Another Way

Then again, what WAR can't gauge is the improbability of Perez's season.

Consider the frequency of 5-WAR seasons among catchers. They used to happen all the time, often with multiple catchers achieving that status in a single year. As recently as 2014, Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin and Buster Posey were worth 6.4, 5.7 and 5.1 WAR.

Yet the flow of 5-WAR seasons by catchers has slowed to a trickle. Only Posey and Perez have done it since 2015, and Posey did it five years ago.

Thing is, WAR is a counting stat, and catchers don't catch as much as they used to. Whereas it used to be common in the 1990s and even into the early 2010s for a single backstop to catch 100-plus games, it's become more of a rarity in the last few seasons:

Rather than an anomaly, this is a choice. Teams want to keep their catchers on the field, so they're resting them more. This has made everyday catchers a dying breed, so Perez should be celebrated simply for playing more games (117) at catcher than everyone except Christian Vazquez (119).

As a side effect, it's not as common as it once was for a catcher to be a prolific home run hitter. Though Perez is indeed one of four backstops to cross the 30-homer plateau in the last five years, there have been only six such instances since 2004. There were equally as many just from 2000 to 2003.

Regarding Perez's home runs, there is something to be said about how they're perhaps cheapened by baseball's modern offensive standards. Though 2021 isn't on par with 2019, it's still fourth on the all-time list for home runs per game.

Yet there's nothing cheap about Perez's actual home runs.

According to Statcast, only six of his homers qualify as "doubters," or clouts that would clear the fence at seven or fewer stadiums. He has otherwise crushed his long balls, so much so that Statcast estimates he should have 49 of them. If only, say, this one, this one and this one had gone out.

So in hitting 25 home runs in only 56 games since July 24, Perez hasn't been on an unsustainable tear so much as he's been making up for lost dingers. If he can keep it up for just a little while longer, he may yet win a home run race in which he's tied with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with Shohei Ohtani (45) hot on their heels.

Should Perez capture the lead, that would be another, perhaps no less important, historical achievement on top of his new record for home runs in a season by a catcher. He would join Bench (45 in 1970 and 40 in 1972) as the only catcher to ever lead the American or National League in home runs—though it is also worth mentioning that Gibson led the Negro Leagues in home runs 11 times during his 14-year career.

These things don't mean we should ignore Perez's shortcomings and proclaim his season to be one of the five or even 10 best ever by a catcher. The fact that he's rubbing shoulders with Bench and Gibson in this environment for players at his position, however, is fodder to at least argue for his season as the most unlikely great year by a catcher.

---

Where Did This Come From?

Of course, Perez is an unexpected home run-hitting superstar even in the context of his own career.

Suffice it to say he's been a different player since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2019. Previously, he homered in 3.8 percent of his plate appearances with a high of 27 (twice) from 2011 to 2018. Since returning in 2020, he's homered in 7.3 percent of his plate appearances and is still adding to his total this season.

He leads qualified hitters with an out-of-zone swing rate of 48.1 percent since the start of last season, so his ascent isn't being fueled by a sharper eye for the strike zone. Yet he has also upped his in-zone swing rate, and that's benefited him to the tune of a .766 slugging percentage against in-zone pitches over the last two seasons.

More so than against fastballs and off-speed pitches, the gains he's made have come against breaking stuff:

That Perez used to struggle against breaking balls even inside the strike zone should sound about right to anyone who regularly watched his pre-Tommy John self. Breaking stuff was his Kryptonite, as he racked up just a .217 average against it through his first eight seasons.

As for what, specifically, has changed in the last two campaigns, Perez is hitting breaking pitches higher in the zone. Which is to say he's become better at taking advantage of hangers, like so:

Derby ready.#TogetherRoyal pic.twitter.com/zww6zRsUhp

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 10, 2021

So, regardless of where the 2021 version of Perez belongs among his all-time catching peers, there's little question that this is the best he has ever been. And considering that he was a six-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glover just from 2013 to 2018, that is no small achievement.

---

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.