Kansas City Royals: Where did it all go wrong in 2019?
By Cody Rickman
Bullpen (ranked #26 in MLB with a 4.99 ERA)
The bullpen for the KC Royals has been an absolute nightmare. The Royals late inning bullpen was a revolving door of futility early in the season until Ian Kennedy found himself reinvented as a capable closer. Kennedy with his high salary and reliever role, left Royals fans wanting a trade deadline deal to remove his remaining salary from the ledger.
Wily Peralta, Brad Boxberger, Brian Flynn, Scott Barlow, Jorge Lopez, Kevin McCarthy, and Kyle Zimmer have all provided ERAs above 4.50 in their relief appearances. To a fanbase conditioned with recent shutdown bullpens, the Royals have had to many games end in disaster when they entered into the later innings with a lead or tight score.
The Royals’ 11 – 21 record in 1 run games as of 8/30/19, details this woeful trend.
Starters (ranked #24 in MLB with a 5.18 ERA)
The starters have found some gems along the way, but haven’t been able to produce any consistent long stretches of success. Jakob Junis, Glenn Sparkman, Homer Bailey, Jorge Lopez, and Danny Duffy have all had rough seasons toeing the bump.
Statistically these performances are typical of a #5 starter not your #2, #3, and #4. The Royals have to find some consistency with their starters or they could try the “opener” strategy utilized by the Tampa Rays.