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  • Rockies Journal: 106-loss Royals went bold, made playoffs. Will Colorado?

    Rockies Journal: 106-loss Royals went bold, made playoffs. Will Colorado?

    The 2023 Kansas City Royals were embarrassed. A 106-loss season can — and should — do that to a major league team.

    Royals owner John Sherman said something about it. Then he did something about it.

    “It sucked,” Sherman told MLB.com at the end of spring training. “But that’s what motivates you. Sometimes, you need that slap upside the head, right? We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we cannot tolerate something like that again for our fans.”

    So the Royals went big and bold.

    Their aggressiveness stoked a remarkable 30-game about-face (56-106 last season to 86-76 this season), a two-game sweep of the Orioles in the American League wild-card series, and a berth in the ALDS before they fell in four games to the Yankees.

    By beating the Orioles, Kansas City became just the second team to win a postseason series one year after losing at least 100 games. The other was the 2020 Marlins, who snuck into the playoffs in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season.

    Rockies fans should hope owner Dick Monfort was paying attention.

    Monfort’s club, which lost 103 games last season and 101 this season, is making some strides toward a turnaround with some young talent on the roster and in the system. But does the will and the wherewithal exist at 20th and Blake to put the Rockies in position for a playoff swing?

    General manager Bill Schmidt and manager Bud Black, who just agreed to return for the 2025 season, are optimistic about the future but not making any promises.

    “Our talent base is getting better,” Schmidt said at the end of the season. “Our depth is getting better. I’m not going to say we’re going from this year to win 95 next year. Our record this year might be similar (to 2023), but we’re going to be a better club.”

    Asked if Colorado can mimic the Royals and the Tigers (who went from 78-84 to 86-76 and the playoffs), Black answered: “Kansas City? Detroit? Anything is possible. When I got here in ’17 … what happened in ’16? (Colorado was 75-87 under Walt Weiss.) And then we made the playoffs. I’m going to say yes. I’m optimistic.”

    But the Rockies aren’t the Royals and Monfort is not Sherman.

    During the offseason, K.C. committed $109.5 million to free agents, the most money in any offseason in franchise history, including free-agent starting pitcher signees Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. They also signed their star shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr., to a contract extension that could add up to $377 million over 14 years.

    The Royals’ first big roster move was signing free-agent pitcher Will Smith for the back end of their bullpen. Smith had been on the roster of the last three World Series champions, with the Rangers, Astros and Braves.

    During the season, when they sensed success was on the horizon, they acquired closer Lucas Erceg and outfielder Tommy Pham.

    The Royals, who had not been to the playoffs since winning the World Series in 2015, created an effective roster mix. Their postseason roster featured 12 homegrown players, including draftees and international signees. The other 14 players came from trades and free agency. Of those 14 players, 11 had previous postseason experience.

    The Royals are far from a powerhouse franchise. Last season, they averaged just 16,136 fans per game at Kauffman Stadium, ranking 27th in the majors, ahead of only the Marlins and the A’s. This season, the Royals drew 20,473, ranking 26th.

    According to Spotrac, Kansas City’s total payroll this season was $122.5 million, ranking 20th. Last year, it was $96.1 million (23rd).

    After the 106-loss debacle, GM J.J. Picollo immediately began reshaping the front office. He hired Brian Bridges as the new scouting director, promoted Jim Cuthbert to director of pro personnel and strategy, and beefed up the preseason and development department by hiring six new people.

    And so the seeds of a playoff team were planted.

    The Rockies, meanwhile, have some distinct advantages over the Royals. They drew 31,360 fans per home game this season, ranking 15th. Their payroll was $147.4 million (17th).

    The problem is not the Rockies’ failure to spend money; it’s how they’ve spent it. This season, $28 million (19%) of Colorado’s payroll went to the perennially injured Kris Bryant, who played in just 37 games with 155 plate appearances. For the record, that amounts to about $757,000 per game.

    Monfort courted Bryant, who has played in just 33% of the Rockies’ games since signing a seven-year, $182 million contract before the 2022 season, the biggest free-agent deal in franchise history.

    Giving former closer Daniel Bard a two-year, $19 million deal for the 2023-24 season was also a big misstep. Bard, derailed by injuries, did not pitch a game in ’24.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Justin Lawrence has right stuff to be Rockies’ closer — if he can harness it

    Justin Lawrence has right stuff to be Rockies’ closer — if he can harness it

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 13, 2023, Fenway Park, Boston. Rockies 4, Red Sox 4. Seventh inning. Justin Lawrence trots out from the bullpen and hikes the mound.

    “I came into a jam in a tight ballgame and I caught myself singing the ‘Sweet Caroline’ song,” the Rockies’ right-hander recalled Wednesday. “I was looking around and I thought, ‘This is kind of cool.’

    “Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, it’s a tie ballgame in the seventh inning, I’m coming in to get us out of a jam, and it’s my first time ever at Fenway.’ It didn’t matter, it was a fun moment.”

    Lawrence pitched 1 2/3 innings that night, and although he issued two walks, he allowed no runs, stranded two inherited runners, and kept Colorado in a game it eventually won, 7-6, in 10 innings.

    It wasn’t the singular moment of Lawrence’s career but it illustrates how far he’s come since being a raw prospect with a unique, sidewinder delivery, 102 mph fastball and frequent bouts of inconsistency.

    Justin Lawrence (61) of the Colorado Rockies warms up during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    “There are two main things about Justin,” manager Bud Black said. “On the fundamental side, he’s tightened up his stuff. Secondly, I’ve seen changes in his poise and maturity. In essence, he’s grown up to where his perspective and his mindset are of major league quality.”

    Lawrence, 29, is competing with friend and fellow right-hander Tyler Kinley for the closer job. Righty Daniel Bard, who will miss spring training after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, could be in the mix, too, when he returns.

    Black and his staff are going to take a hard look at both Lawrence and Kinley for the ninth-inning role.

    “We think (Kinley) is mentally built to handle the ninth inning,” Black said. “Stuff-wise, he’s got weapons. He can pitch with velocity with the fastball, has a swing-and-miss slider and he’s working on the changeup. The bread and butter is his slider. But like Justin, he’s not a secret anymore in the National League and in our division.”

    Lawrence’s road to the majors has been full of potholes but he’s always had tantalizing talent. Black became intrigued with Lawrence’s raw stuff in 2018 when the right-hander posted a 2.65 ERA in 55 appearances with High-A Lancaster. Lawrence wowed the Rockies in the Arizona Fall League and impressed again during spring training 2019. But then his control evaporated and his ERA soared at Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A Hartford.

    Then came the lowest moment of Lawrence’s career. He was suspended before the 2020 season for taking DHCMT, a substance banned by Major League Baseball. Lawrence said he didn’t know that the NSF-certified supplement he was taking contained DHCMT.

    “I wouldn’t wish what I had to go through on my worst enemy,” Lawrence said later.

    With those struggles behind him, he now has an opportunity to lock down his dream job.

    “I like the idea of going in to get the saves and the holds,” he said. “I don’t feel out of my element at all, and I don’t feel like the game speeds up on me or anything like that. I mean, this is what a competitor wants. As a kid, you want to be the starter, or the four-hole hitter, or the closer. It would be awesome to be the closer, but I came to camp ready to prepare for whatever role the team needs me for.”

    Justin Lawrence (61) jokes with Lucas Gilbreath (58) of the Colorado Rockies during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
    Justin Lawrence (61) jokes with Lucas Gilbreath (58) of the Colorado Rockies during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    Lawrence’s 2023 season was a mixed bag. He posted a 1.47 ERA in 15 appearances and moved into the closer role in June when Pierce Johnson (later traded to Atlanta) started walking batters in droves. In his first 17 games as the closer, Lawrence converted seven of eight save opportunities while posting a 1.86 ERA. But he slumped in the second half of the season and lost the closer job to Kinley in early September.

    Lawrence’s first- and second-half splits illustrate his inconsistency. In 38 appearances before the All-Star break, he had a 2.76 ERA and opponents slashed just .188/.284/.269 against him. In the second half, his ERA soared to 5.22 in 31 outings and opponents slashed .299/.400/.470.

    “I liked everything about last season — the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “I liked the bad and the ugly because I learned from those things. I also loved that I was healthy the whole year and that when Buddy asked, ‘Hey, are you good to go?’ I was available.”

    Lawrence is also aware that volitivity is part of a reliever’s life.

    Patrick Saunders

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