Kansas City Royals: What needs to happen for Royals to make playoffs

FIND A LEGITIMATE OPTION AT DESIGNATED HITTER

This could be looped in with the trade rumors, but I decided to make it its own entity, as the Royals have in-club options to throw in at designated hitter. KC can’t keep depending on Brandon Moss to get hot or for Jorge Soler to figure it out offensively. They need a better option as their DH moving forward.

Without a legitimate designated hitter, the 2017 Royals will fall short of being a playoff team.

Now this could come in the form of a trade whether it be actually acquiring a “DH” candidate from another team or switching some guys around to different positions to get the hottest bat in as the designated hitter.

For instance, Jorge Bonifacio could be moved to designated hitter if the Royals felt confident enough in Ramon Torres to put him at second full time (with Whit Merrifield then being moved to right field). No, Torres isn’t an every day starter, but he’s hitting better than Moss and Soler.

Part of why the 2015 Kansas City Royals were so good was because of Kendrys Morales, their designated hitter that year, coming through at the dish time and time again. Morales was a key part of that team winning it all two years ago and without a legitimate designated hitter, the 2017 Royals will fall short of being a playoff team.