Frustrating loss exposes pair of Royals players who’ve overstayed their welcome

The Kansas City Royals entered a weekend series against their bitter rivals in the Detroit Tigers riding the high of an 8-2 record on their latest 10-game home stand.

However, back-to-back losses on Friday and Saturday suddenly has Royals fans wishing for that euphoric winning feeling from Thursday.

In their latest 4-2 loss on Saturday evening in Detroit, among all the frustrating aspects that a two-run losing effort brings, their were two players in particular, who were already struggling entering the contest, who proved that they don’t offer enough to warrant sticking around any longer.

Nick Loftin and Sam Long, both came in during the loss in a reserve role – off the bench and out of the bullpen respectively – and immediately failed to make plays in crucial moments that can directly point back to why the Royals came up short yet again.

Nick Loftin and Sam Long have overstayed their welcome on the Royals’ active roster

Loftin was the first of the two aforementioned underperformers to come in the game and make a critical mistake.

Pinch-hitting for Kyle Isbel in the sixth-inning, after the Tigers called for lefty Tyler Holton out of the bullpen, Loftin had runners on first and second with just one out in a 3-2 ballgame.

In a huge run scoring spot, Loftin could not come through whatsoever for the Royals, promptly grounding into an inning-ending double play to leave a runner stranded in scoring position.

Plays like this happen to every hitter at some point or another and it’s certainly not the sole reason as to why he seems to have overstayed his major league welcome this year. What this play was though was a perfect culmination of the ineffective bat he has been for the Royals in 2025.

Once considered a bench bat challenging for an everyday role earlier this season, Loftin has cooled off of late. Entering today’s action, since the All-Star break, the utility man is slashing just .222/.345/.311 with an 89 wRC+.

Looking at things from a wider lens, he came into Saturday’s matchup hitting just marginally over the Mendoza Line with a .204 AVG, a very mediocre .640 OPS and well-below average 74 wRC+. So, his latest 0-for-1 performance with a GIDP will only weaken his case.

With Adam Frazier, and to a lesser extent Tyler Tolbert, able to accupy that utility role, there are definitely names in Triple-A Omaha that would offer more for the Royals in a bench role than he currently does.

Then, in bottom of the eighth, Matt Quatraro oddly opted for the struggling southpaw in Sam Long out of the ‘pen to replace Taylor Clarke.

Tigers skipper A.J. Hinch would promptly opt for the right-handed pinch hitter in Andy Ibáñez as counter-move to get a more favorable hitter’s matchup and Ibáñez did not let his manager down, as he wasted little time depositing a solo home run into the left field seats to make this a two-run game in the late going.

Long would then immediately walk the next hitter before working out of a jam, but the damage was already done, as the already scuffling Royals offense was not up to the task of scratching one more run across the board, let alone two to tie it.

Long’s potential departure from the active roster has seemed like an inevitability for some time now. For the season, he now sports a 6.44 ERA and 1.74 WHIP in 29.1 innings of work.

While he has value as one of the few lefties in his bullpen, a mid-6.00 ERA at the this late stage of the season is doing Kansas City no favors, regardless of what hand he may throw with.

Now that lefty Bailey Falter has transitioned to the bullpen, the Royals would still have multiple southpaws in their relief corps, with Ángel Zerpa still available for them.

With no minor league options remaining, Long’s departure isn’t as simple as Loftin’s option to Triple-A Omaha would be. However, at this point, would it really be a travesty if they were to lose him to another team due to DFA’ing him?

In such a tightly contested postseason race, the margin for error on any given night is razor thin. This means the Royals will have to deploy the best possible roster on a nightly basis if they hope to surmount the steep odds currently stacked against them in order to have any shot at reaching their second consecutive postseason.

And these two names simply aren’t cutting it anymore.