The Royals have options.
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter looks at the contract options for Royals players.
While Wacha will undoubtedly opt out of his deal, it will be interesting to see what approach the Royals take regarding a possible Wacha contract offer/extension.
The Royals could offer Wacha a three-year deal, perhaps around the $60 million market value that Spotrac is circulating. Picollo could give him two guaranteed years and perhaps backload the contract with a player option for the third. That format would resemble what the Royals offered Seth Lugo last offseason.
If Kansas City isn’t confident in its outlook for retaining Wacha, Picollo could offer him a qualifying offer (roughly around $21 million). The Royals would receive a compensation round pick if Wacha doesn’t sign. While Wacha was excellent this season, he has an extensive injury history and is so reliant on his changeup being a premium pitch. If the changeup regresses in quality, he could get more exposure based on the pitch quality of his other offerings.
Preston Farr at Farm to Fountains takes a closer look at MJ Melendez’s swing.
Numerous times this season, there were swings from Melendez that saw a good chunk of his barrel come through outside the strike zone. He’d make hard contact with the bad part of the bat, resulting in pop-outs or groundouts. As Melendez “steps” into his swing, it creates far too much chance for inconsistency. Sometimes his front foot lands square with his back foot. Other times it lands behind it in a slightly open stance. Then other times it plants in front of his back foot in a closed stance. This small difference can create larger impacts on timing and balance in the upper half of Melendez’s swing.
His barrel seemed to land outside the zone at times simply because Melendez was off balance.
Jacob Milham at Kings of Kauffman writes about the worst front office decisions from this season.
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