Remember a couple years ago, the Reds were lifting up, the Royals were lifting up, and they decided to trade Jonathan India for Brady Singer, and it made sense at the time because it honestly helped both clubs equally, and then India got hurt and became a .199 hitter with no defense, Singer became a routine fifth starter and now both teams are in last?
This is why...you vet your trades. Do you NEED pitching help? Do you NEED infield depth? Do you WANT to risk trading Brady Singer to a team that already has like 8 starters bobbing around waiting for the other 7 to get hurt?
I'm not saying this is the only reason both the Reds and the Royals have struggled, I mean injuries are more the point. But I go back to that deal and while the Reds did make the playoffs last year, they don't look like they're on the way up, and neither do the Royals. Both teams might need to rebuild, which is an odd thing to say when one of them has Bobby Witt Jr. on it.
I think the Royals were just unlucky this year, not only that a lot of key pieces got hurt, but that even healthy they probably wouldn't have been able to catch the Guardians or White Sox. Most of the goodwill this team has was made up in the last few months, thanks to Nick Loftin, Tyler Tolbert, Carter Jensen, Noah Cameron and Michael Massey getting more starting time. Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino, Kyle Isbel and Bobby Witt missed large swaths of the season, and the team suffered. Pasquantino in particular has been such a factor in whenever this team succeeds or fails. The 2024 team needed his bat coming off the IL, but even then he's a relatively average power hitter. He's got 9 homers and 42 RBIs in 94 games, which is kind of underwhelming. Last year he had a 30-homer/100-RBI year and even that felt like something of a letdown honestly. I'm not sure if the Royals have a 30 homer guy this year, and I say that knowing Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone are at 23.
I'm very happy with Noah Cameron making up for lost time though, he's got his ERA down to 4, has 9 wins, 138 Ks, and his last few starts have been incredible. If he'd been that good from the start, this Royals team would be alright, but like last year, he needed to wait a while to come into his own. The Royals have two guys who pitched complete game shutouts and neither have been that dominant the whole year. Otherwise, an average Seth Lugo season, another lost Cole Ragans year, and Randy Dobnak saving the day with craftsmanship. What a way to rake 'em in.
The Reds have much less going on, and the lineup is essentially Elly de la Cruz, Sal Stewart and a prayer at this point. Stewart already crossed 30 homers and 100 RBIs, and is a lock for Rookie of the Year at this point. Elly's having a much lighter season than usual production wise, but he's still got a 4 WAR and 24 steals, so he's doing his thing. Hector Rodriguez has burst onto the scene, he's got 5 homers and 11 RBIs, so he could be fun to watch going forward. Plus, Eugenio Suarez has started hitting again, and all it took was getting naturalized.
With the injury merry-go-round that is this team, though, it's never gonna be especially pretty all of the time. They have landed on 6 guys who are healthy, which is nice, but Brandon Williamson's still not 100%. Lodolo and Abbott are both having down years, and Brady Singer, despite having some nice recent starts, leads the league in losses with 13. Without Chase Burns, I really don't know what to say about this group. Hunter Greene was supposed to be the start of a nice lineage of young, homegrown flamethrowers, and literally none of them have stayed healthy. So we're sort of back to where we were.
I don't expect either team to compete next year, and if anything I expect the Reds to really go all in on the rebuild effort. The Royals will be okay if not passable, though they could catch fire if the others aren't careful. And hopefully neither team makes a weird trade they regret in 2 years.
Coming Tonight [?]: A guy who was rejected by a dynasty for a fluke season, bounced around, and now starts for a team with no better options. And he just took the Yankees deep earlier this week.
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