[Biggp07]

November 1, 2024 — Where The Blueprint Begins
(OOTP25 Royals Journey – Manager’s Log)

The morning after our season officially closed, the clubhouse felt hollow in that familiar way — the faint echo of cleats on concrete, the smell of pine tar still hanging in the air, and the sense that another year had ended short of where we wanted to be.

I walked past the locker rows and paused by the whiteboard, still displaying the last lineup from Game 162. It wasn’t failure that hit me; it was unfinished business. The bones of a good team are here — fast legs, emerging arms, and a core that finally started to believe it could win together. But I also see the cracks more clearly than ever. Several important decisions need to be made from today through spring training if I want us to improve on our 2024 season. It began with getting some of our players into the development lab as soon as possible. The good thing is I increased the budget for it and, consequently, the number of guys we could work with during the off-season to eight, up from six. I felt that getting a couple of young prospects into the development lab sooner could better our growth and team cohesion overall. Time will tell.

As a manager, my instinct is to think about chemistry, accountability, and growth. But when I sit in my office and open the offseason budget spreadsheet, the GM in me starts to whisper: “Make the hard choices now, before they’re made for you.”



John’s decision to raise our ceiling to $178 million — that’s trust. It also means expectations. He shared his expectations for the upcoming season, and honestly, not much had changed from his goals last year, except for one item. He wants our Runs Against to drop, and that number, staring back from the league ranking sheet at twelfth in the AL, is more than a stat — it’s a reflection of our defensive inefficiency and rotation depth. I know exactly where we’re bleeding runs, and I know it’s not just one position or one arm.



I spent the better part of the morning in the analytics room comparing our Defensive Efficiency (10th) and Zone Rating (8th) against the league’s best. The conclusion was uncomfortable: we weren’t bad — just inconsistent. Our bullpen ERA of 4.04 put us tenth in the AL, and that inconsistency often erased the progress our starters made in the first six innings.
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�� Figure 1. Kansas City Royals Pitching & Defensive Leaderboard — 2024 AL Rankings


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From the dugout, I saw it every week — a promising start unraveling by the seventh, momentum slipping because we were one reliable setup man short. The GM in me circled that stat in red ink. That’s where our first acquisition will need to happen.

Offensively, our numbers tell a more complex story. We were 5th in batting average (.251) and 1st in stolen bases (264) — and yet, we often left runners stranded. That’s not a failure of effort; that’s a failure of rhythm. I pushed too hard. I can see it now, how my aggression on the basepaths turned potential rallies into empty innings. It’s humbling to admit that. When you're playing against catchers like Murphy, Rutschman, and Alvarez, you're going to get caught stealing more often than you’ll succeed.
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�� Figure 2. Kansas City Royals Offensive Leaderboard — 2024 AL Rankings


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But humility is a good teacher — maybe the best one baseball has.

This offseason, my goal is to sharpen our discipline — not just at the plate, but in our entire team identity. We’ve proven we can create chaos on the bases; now we need to learn how to control it.



I’ll spend the next few days meeting with the player development staff about off-season assignments — which hitters go to the discipline lab, which pitchers get pushed into the velocity program, and who’s ready for that next step up the minor-league ladder. The GM part of me wants to forecast numbers; the manager in me wants to build trust. Both will have their say.

For now, though, November 1st feels like the first clean page of a new chapter — a chance to plan with purpose, to correct mistakes, and to keep faith in what’s growing here in Kansas City.
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Built for the Crown — OOTP25 Royals Journey
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