SURPRISE, AZ — Seth Lugo’s first question to Will Smith was not one a free agent often asks a potential new teammate:
Does anyone else on the team have children?
Smith, 34, was recruiting Lugo, also 34, to join him with the Kansas City Royals. Lugo’s wife, Amanda, knowing the team was young, had said to him in a near-panic: “We’re going to have the only kids!”
The Lugo children are 3 and 1. Smith, texting rapidly with Lugo as the two families tried to get their kids to sleep, relayed that he understood Amanda’s concern.
“You don’t want to be the only wife there with a kid,” Smith said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’m married. Yeah, we have a son (less than a year old). Your wife won’t be out there solo.’”
With that, the Royals’ offseason began to accelerate, featuring Smith, a respected, popular veteran who has played for three straight World Series champions, as lead recruiter.
The Royals ended up spending $109.5 million on seven free agents, then signing shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year, $288.8 million extension and adding reliever John Schreiber from the Red Sox on Saturday in a trade. The projection systems to this point are unimpressed. Fangraphs has the Royals winning 76 games, PECOTA 70. But the club’s new additions offer a singular vision, saying they expect the team to contend.
The present, the future, and the largest contract in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/LpcUGPpzkj
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) February 5, 2024
Playing in the weak AL Central, who’s to say they’re dreaming?
“It’s important for a team to set goals,” right-hander Michael Wacha said. “That starts with winning the division. I think that’s very much possible.”
If the Royals indeed engineer a turnaround from last season’s 56-106 nightmare, at least some of the credit will go to Smith, who signed a one-year, $5 million free-agent contract on Dec. 10, eagerly accepting the Royals’ offer to return to a late-inning relief role.
The deal was barely complete when Smith began firing a series of questions at general manager J.J. Picollo.
“Now what are we going to do?” Picollo recalled Smith saying. “Who do we need to talk to? Who do we need to go get?”
Picollo, full of ideas, asked Smith for help.
That night, Smith called fellow reliever Chris Stratton, his former teammate with the Rangers last season and the San Francisco Giants from 2016 to ‘18.
“C’mon, let’s do this,” Smith recalled telling Stratton. “I know how good you are. We can help turn this bullpen around.”
The Royals had traded the previous month for reliever Nick Anderson and signed free-agent infielder Garrett Hampson. But now their push was on.
Two days after Smith’s deal became official, Stratton finalized a two-year, $8 million agreement and Lugo signed a three-year, $45 million contract with an opt-out after two years.
Lugo told Picollo the first congratulatory text he received was from Wacha, his teammate with the San Diego Padres last season. Picollo then enlisted Lugo to call Wacha, who was surprised the Royals were still interested in him. Wacha figured once the Royals signed Lugo, they were done adding starting pitching.
Nope, Picollo was still looking. He could sign Wacha to a two-year, $32 million deal with an opt-out after one year or trade first baseman/DH Vinnie Pasquantino to the Miami Marlins for left-hander Jesús Luzardo. Owner John Sherman authorized him to sign Wacha, enabling the Royals to keep one of their most promising young hitters.
The addition of Lugo actually made Picollo more comfortable proceeding with Wacha three days later. Lugo threw 146 1/3 innings last season, his first as a full-time starter. He figures to increase that number this season. The Royals, who also have veteran Jordan Lyles, bounceback candidate Brady Singer and second-half breakout star Cole Ragans in their rotation, should not need 180 innings from Wacha, who threw 134 1/3 last season, his highest total since 2017.
The day the Royals came to terms with Wacha, they also agreed on a two-year, $13 million contract with outfielder Hunter Renfroe. Here, too, connections made a difference. Renfroe and Stratton in the early 2010s were one year apart at Mississippi State. Their wives are friendly, and Stratton said they remained in constant contact throughout the free-agent process.
Wacha and Renfroe made it five signings in five days. Picollo then waited six and a half weeks to land his final free agent, infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Frazier, too, was a Mississippi State product. Renfroe, his road roommate in college for three years, recommended him to Picollo. The three new Mississippi State Royals share the same agent, Bo McKinnis.
Frazier sees in the Royals the same potential as his previous two clubs, the 2022 Seattle Mariners and 2023 Baltimore Orioles, both of which made the playoffs. His role is to be determined. Some second base with Michael Massey, who also bats left-handed. Some corner outfield. In a three-way call with Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro, Frazier said, “I just want to win.”
“All the signings they made before me, I was like, ‘All right, they’re committed,’” Frazier said. “I felt we had a chance to be something.”
Spring training talk, to be sure. The Royals face an uphill climb. The 70 wins projected by PECOTA would represent a 14-game improvement. But the AL Central consists of two teams, the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians, that were hampered this offseason by the uncertainty over their future local television revenues; another, the Detroit Tigers, that is trying to pull off the same type of surprise as the Royals; and one more, the Chicago White Sox, starting over under first-year GM Chris Getz.
The Royals went 15-12 after Sept. 1 last season, marking their only winning month of 2023. Smith, returning to the organization that gave him his first major-league opportunity 12 years ago, senses momentum building.
“There’s no telling, if September was the first month of the season, how well they would have done the rest of the year,” Smith said. “They just needed a couple of other pieces to put it all together. I think we did that this offseason.”
Smith’s use of “we” was proper, considering the role he played in helping persuade others to play in Kansas City. He is accustomed to the title, “World Series champion.” He had never experienced the role of, “lead recruiter.” He relished selling the team’s vision, easing fellow parents’ concerns, twisting every arm.
“There are no recruiting rules in Major League Baseball,” Smith said, flashing a broad smile. “It’s not like we’re in college anymore.”
(Top photo of Seth Lugo: Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
