Kansas City Royals are further away from contending than we thought

Adding more top end talent will be the moment the Kansas City Royals are truly able to contend.

The first ‘run’ was built not from being fans of players, but from trading away pieces that didn’t fit (Grienke comes to mind) along with drafting high-end hitting prospects. Thus far, the organization has shown no willingness to move veteran players or draft hitters.

As the Royals currently sit within striking range of the top draft pick in the 2021 draft (ironically enough, it’s a draft that appears likely to have college pitchers go 1 and 2, lead by Kumar Rocker of Vanderbilt) the organization needs to load up, build up, and make a run for the long haul.

Simply hoping veterans are ‘good enough’ by the time the young players figure it out isn’t a long-term strategy, but rather hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

There is a roadmap and path toward respectability and winning. The Royals are attempting to blaze their own path. It isn’t working, at least not right now.

We will see where it leads and when, because the fans are hungering for success and the Kansas City Royals aren’t giving that to us.