Kansas City Royals Not Throwing in Towel Quite Yet

The Kansas City Royals have stumbled hard in April, posting a dismal 7-14 record through Thursday night. The front office isn’t panicking quite yet.

The Kansas City Royals don’t seem to be in panic mode despite being in last place in the American League Central and riding a seven-game losing streak. The Royals are just 2-11 on the road thus far and have only plated 54 runs in 21 games.

Kansas City has several players whose contracts are ending after the end of this season. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, and Jason Vargas might all have some value to some teams as injuries stack up around the league.

For instance, if Pablo Sandoval’s knee injury turns out to be serious and it looks like he may miss some extended time, maybe the Red Sox would be interested in Moustakas for the rest of this year while some of their top prospects continue to develop.

That is just an example of how the market for these players could improve over the upcoming months

Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports, however, that the Royals have not been shopping their players yet.

"One rival exec said, “They are very, very quiet so far.” But that exec also suggests they may simply have a date in mind to start the selloff, if things don’t improve."

Despite the crazy bad start, including a 0-6 start against other AL Central teams, the Royals are only five games out of first place.

Their offense has been putrid. They are last in the Majors in Runs (54), Batting Average (.203), On-Base Percentage (.266), Slugging Percentage (.320), and Doubles (17).

You aren’t going to win many ballgames hitting like that for nearly a whole month!

The good news is they can’t hit like that forever. Eventually, they will come out of that slump, and their pitching looks good enough to be competitive when they do emerge from the pits of hitting purgatory.

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It is nice to see the front office isn’t freaking out yet. That said, they can’t wait forever. If other general managers start calling, Dayton Morre will have to listen.

Maybe this long ten-game homestand will be what gets the Royals back on track offensively. Maybe they can get comfortable in their own homes, own clubhouse, and own dugout.

Five games out in April is certainly not an insurmountable deficit. If the Royals can go 7-3 or 8-2 during this stretch of homes games, there is a good chance they cut a couple of games off the lead, especially since all ten games are against the AL Central.

If the team is within three games of the divisional lead by mid-May, they will be right in the hunt for the playoffs. If, however, the offense continues to horrify, or if the pitching suddenly tanks and the Royals are falling further behind the leaders, Moore will have to make the decision to start shopping for the best deals he can find.

The Royals can certainly pull out of this tailspin and be a competitive team moving forward, but they need to do it very soon.

The Kansas City Royals need to turn things around this homestand. If they do, and they reverse this slump, they can still contend for the AL Central title. With ten games against the Twins, White Sox, and Indians, the time is now to make their move and stave off any more immediate rumors.

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