Royals’ lack of major offseason splash harshly exposed in painful loss to Guardians

After doing just enough to eek out a win in the opening game of their series against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday, the Kansas City Royals couldn’t repeat upon their winning ways on Tuesday afternoon.

In the frigid cold of the Great Lakes, the Royals were held to not only just one run, but Carter Jensen’s second inning solo shot was their only hit of the contest.

That being said, while luck wasn’t in their favor when it came to getting into the hits column, the Royals weren’t without their opportunities to score runs.

Thanks in large part to eight walks, Kansas City left 12 runners on base, and on multiple occasions they were in scoring position.

There were runners left on first and second in fourth, a runner on second in the fifth and second and third in the eighth.

And it wasn’t just as though one part of the order was underperforming, it was from the top down. The Royals’ core four at the top of the order in Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez left the same amount of runners on base as the rest of the order did.

Nobody was uplifting anybody.

This is where it may be time to revisit the Royals’ offseason startegy, which although was more active than it was ahead of last season, the one thing many fans and pundits alike thought was that they lacked a definitive splash to upgrade their offense.

After being linked to names like Boston outfielder Jarren Duran and now Seattle utility man Brendan Donovan there was hope that the Royals could’ve extended the length of their Silver Slugger-caliber top half of the order.

Instead though, they took the budget-conscious route with additions like Lane Thomas, Isaac Collins and Starling Marte that help, but didn’t definitively take this lineup up a notch.

And on games like today’s it really shows.

Royals’ offense is starving for consitency in early stages of new season

Apart from their 13-run outburst against the Twins last week, the Royals have only scored more than four runs just twice to start the season.

And it’s showing throughout their lineup.

Entering Thursday’s matchup, two of their prime offensive additions in Marte and Thomas have generated wRC+ plus totals under 35 (34 and 31 respectively).

And more notably, three of their four top hitters have been below average bats.

Bobby Witt Jr. looks far from the MVP hopeful many thought he could be with a .634 OPS and 77 wRC+. Vinnie Pasquantino hasn’t carried his World Baseball Classic form into the regular season with a .548 OPS and 64 wRC+. And Salvador Perez may be acclimating well to the ABS system, but at the plate he’s hitting below the Mendoza Line with a .639 OPS and 70 wRC+.

Now with Maikel Garcia acclimating the leadoff spot well, Jonathan India finally looking the hitter the Royals hoped for after dealing for him last winter, Carter Jensen riding a hot streak and Kyle Isbel embracing his strongside platoon role admirably, the Royals are able to stay afloat.

But eight out of 11 games with four or less runs isn’t exactly the definition of a thriving offense.

Now, to some degree this is esentially playing Monday morning quarterback, as there’s no guaranteeing that a Jarren Duran or Brendan Donovan-type hitter would change this offense. It’s completely hypothetical.

However, adding another top-level bat, in theory, would’ve only worked to improve their standing in making this lineup more consistent in capitalizing on run-scoring opportunities and likely worked wonders to help alleviate the pressure that 75% of your core underperforming creates.

They’ll look to not only slavage their series against the Guardians, but provide some hope offensively to match their starting staff’s stellar effort in Wednesday afternoon’s rubber match. First pitch is once again slated for 12:10 p.m. CT.