- 6 days ago
Royals Insider Jaylon Thompson stops by to talk Royals.
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00:00insider interview on KFH and we welcome in that insider Jalen Thompson KC star Royals beat reporter
00:09handy well-known world-famous Atlanta Falcons fan proudly claiming that even before the game
00:17was played last night which is interesting bold move Jalen uh are the Falcons back
00:24the Falcons are back tell everybody you know they are back and yes I heard y'all talking about
00:32my tweet yesterday Falcons Saints must see TV next week and it is and I'll tell you why
00:38because 20 years ago Falcons went down there after Hurricane Katrina and the Saints ran all over
00:45them I mean there was no way they were gonna win that game it's payback time next week go down
00:51there
00:52they're gonna celebrate this anniversary and we are gonna quiet that entire stadium and I hope
00:58they run the score up like they did last night run the score up again you see would you would
01:03you have
01:03uh would you have taken the pick six back Jalen all the way all the way I'm dancing in end
01:09zone
01:11oh man well y'all happy for your Falcons I'm a Penix fan I don't know if I think he's
01:16gonna be good
01:17but I'm a fan so um I'm pulling for you hey as long as seven is running that football that's
01:22all
01:22that matters that's that's that's absolutely true uh let's talk Royals here Jalen any of the Royals
01:28back any tidying up to do here in the final series uh is anybody you know if a tree falls
01:35in the forest
01:36kind of a thing um anything the Royals can accomplish here in the last three games of the season
01:43don't let Cleveland clinch a playoff spot on their field like they let the White Sox do I mean I
01:50don't
01:50know if that's possible I think I mean I think they're probably going to clinch two in Kansas City
01:56but man that's got to be tough to see not only the White Sox but the Guardians potentially also
02:02clinch a spot I mean you gotta you gotta look at yourself in the mirror if you're a Royals fan
02:09and if you're the Royals and be like what can we do better next year what one night your offense
02:15was good against the White Sox you get a victory the next night you only score one run it's gotta
02:22be consistent it's it's the pitching has to be better that's what they want that's what they said
02:27they're gonna do this all season they're gonna spin on the pitching what does that mean what does that
02:32look like who is that pitcher or pitchers that come in and help they gotta figure that out and then
02:38on top of that they might have to make an uncomfortable move which they probably don't
02:43want to make which is either trade away some prospects but you got to get more consistent
02:48bats in the middle of that order okay uncomfortable trade Vinny Pasquantino
02:56no they can find someone that wants to take him on or do you trade Vinny Pasquantino plus you put
03:04on a top prospect or two and make a package to go get someone I feel like it's got to
03:11be for an
03:12outfielder if you're gonna do that but again the bullpen you gotta have somebody back there or a pitcher
03:16or you know pitcher or outfielder is the only thing they need to do this summer now if Lucas
03:21Ursaig looks like he did on Saturday where he well not Saturday let's say Saturday it's Friday
03:27Thursday um then yes that could be a really good piece for them it's true like Jalen we'll spend
03:34more time on this after the season is over uh but it's it's so funny that the Royals do in
03:42Royals
03:42fashion right they go win 14 of 16 and it's like there's a glimmer there's a light at the end
03:47of the
03:48tunnel they can see it it's impossible to get there but they can see the light and then I mean
03:52what are they now they've lost like 7 of 10 or something like that immediately following uh is that
03:57just what the Royals were this year right are the Royals we we talked ourselves into that the Royals
04:02were a good team that had a really bad start and they're just showing their flashes late and then they
04:07they lost the flash late too is that just what the Royals were this year yeah everybody has a
04:12streak in in the league if you're gonna play 162 games you're gonna have a good winning streak
04:18had a good couple of weeks that's just how it kind of just uh favors out so that was the
04:24Royals
04:24good two weeks right here um this team is it's just flawed it's a flawed team I mean we can
04:34go back
04:34and forth and say if this guy plays better if that guy plays better the bottom line is they haven't
04:41shown that they can play consistently for 162 games and that's why they're gonna be sitting at home
04:47watching the White Sox watching the Guardians watching teams that you should be able to beat
04:54in the playoffs and that that that can't happen you're the worst team in the AL Central
05:02and those other teams that you're looking up at Cleveland and and Chicago are going to go to
05:09the playoffs more than likely and then you have Minnesota that is going to only improve same with
05:15the Tigers going to be back in there uh next year what are you going to do if you're in
05:21Kansas City
05:21Royals how do you fix this team you talk about spending money on a top flight uh pitcher are you
05:29going to go by Scoogle I don't think uh the Dodgers so what's next what's after them who who's the
05:37guy
05:37that you earmark as we need that guy in our rotation and something that people aren't talking about
05:43either they're staking their clan to Michael Watkins and Seth Lugo well father time is undefeated what
05:49if those guys don't look like the guys that you think they're going to look like next year
05:52then you really don't have pitching you know you're back to where one it's a problem it's a big problem
06:00on what that staff looks like the Daniel Lynch experiment man that doesn't look good at all
06:07Lynch got shelled uh the other day he he came off his best start so far and gave you his
06:14worst
06:14so I don't know I mean I guess I'm still willing to try it next year but boy I'd also
06:25really like
06:26having him in the bullpen so I don't think I don't think he's going to be a starter next year
06:30I really
06:31don't I think he's probably going to be the reliever role it's probably what he's ticketed at doing next
06:37year and I say that because JJ Piccolo has already earmarked that 60% of the starting rotation
06:44is going to be Michael Watkins, Seth Lugo, and Noah Cameron that's what they're operating under right now
06:50so you got to be sure that the next two guys that you add to that rotation is going to
06:56be
06:56worth it and then on top of all of that we don't know what Cole Regis is going to look
07:02like
07:03is he even going to be a starter again when he comes back I don't know he might have to
07:07be a bullpen
07:07guy and then Stephen Colick Linda Ravala how do they come back off of injuries Ryan Berger what
07:14does he look like I mean you have guys that are just hurt and are coming back off these major
07:20injuries
07:20that you don't know they're going to look the same so you have all this going into this offseason
07:27where Tony Gonsolin and John Means might be two guys that you see in your starting rotation if you
07:34can't get anyone else because there's no guarantee you can sign someone that wants to come to Kansas
07:38City either that's another thing so that's when I say fixing the pitching growth staff is it's going
07:44to be difficult it's not an easy just picks people off a cherry tree and and call it a day
07:50people
07:51got to want to come here there's a salary cap how does that look I don't even play it's just
07:57it's a
07:58best best part about it there's not going to be a baseball next season Jalen uh going back to where
08:03we are right now uh we saw the Royals as we were talking about kind of sprint to having a
08:08chance
08:09and then you know obviously got eliminated uh you followed closely uh more close than other people
08:15uh what has anything changed since they have been eliminated are they experimenting just what's the
08:20biggest difference of watching the eliminated Royals they're playing it straight up
08:26like if they weren't eliminated they haven't really seen guys come in and out of lineups
08:32come in out of games take some days off yeah they're they're they're playing it straight up
08:38and I don't necessarily know what what can happen with them going forward and I just look at the standings
08:46and I did see Cleveland did already clinch a playoff spot so we don't have to worry about them
08:50do that in the Coffman Stadium but there you go you have those two teams that are going to be
08:55there
08:55but yeah they're playing it straight up they were going to play spoiler this week looks like they
09:00didn't get that done so now it's the last three games how do you maybe you see Bobby be a
09:05DH one of
09:05these games to be take him off his legs or um might see Carter sit a couple of games he
09:11played all all
09:12these games in a row just depends you know but they're not going to like dramatically take people
09:18in and out of the lineup but on your Dr. Phil hat here Jalen for a second I think something
09:24that
09:24carries over and is important is how do you feel about the energy the vibe of some of these star
09:32players are they are they locked in are they excited about the future are they discouraged do you get any
09:39sense of anything when we're talking about the young superstars on this team with Cags Jensen mostly
09:46or do you feel like they're ready for a clean start and excited about the future I think they are
09:53excited about the future I think you talk to everyone in there like we're ready to get back
09:57and play next season and try to make it but that's what you expect them to say right they're supposed
10:03to
10:03say that because they're looking to make the postseason again and Derek and Pedro and that's
10:09just kind of all that goes into it but you got to do it in April and May yeah that's
10:15when you have
10:16to do it April May June when everyone is still bundled up together and those games matter you can't get
10:23off to a 10 and 18 start you can't get off to being 15 games under 500 when it's June
10:3015th you got to
10:32win those early games those games matter because when you get down to the end of the season you want
10:38to have enough pushing that if you do start to fall you can right the ship just before you go
10:43to the
10:43playoffs and 2024 I think that spoiled a lot of the fan base that spoiled probably the organization
10:51you make a dramatic leap from 56 wins to 86 wins and it's like they've arrived right and everybody was
10:58happy to see that but then they've fallen back the last couple of years so when you look at the
11:04four-year run and Matt Petrero's tenure as the manager only has two he has two winning seasons but
11:12one playoff perk is that enough does he need to have this team make the playoff next year to secure
11:18his job security I mean I know he's getting a contract extension but these are things you got to ask
11:24yourself you're a Royals fan and you look at the state of the Royals yeah uh it is a good
11:28question
11:29Jalen because it it's fascinating because it was I mean he was getting talks about manager of the year
11:34that year uh they made the playoffs and then it you know as you said it kind of spoils us
11:39because we
11:39look at that roster now that did that and say that's a playoff roster and then they haven't done
11:45it since and they haven't had a winning season since they did that so are they a playoff roster or
11:50was
11:50that the outlier right you're right showing you that that's the outlier it's the same players the
11:55same players in 2024 are still there in 2026 the main guys the only two differences are Jack
12:02Caglione and Carter Jensen so let me ask you guys this if that's the same roster that they had
12:09in 2024 when they made the playoffs and it was essentially now we're going to 2027 three years
12:16later and they haven't made any significant growth do you run it back with that same roster I just
12:22don't think you can you gotta make a big move to show when the two biggest reasons they did that
12:29year were Waka and Lugo those guys are older now like yeah that's that's the biggest problem with the
12:36with the logic for me is their age like it is it was barely good enough in 24 not good
12:43enough in 25
12:43not good enough in 26 not close quite frankly and now these pitchers that led you there in 24 are
12:49four years older and they were already old when they did that in 24 that's to me the big problem
12:56now the Royals are at minimum still spending they're still doing those things so there's a bunch of guys
13:03this offseason the Royals aren't going to be in any danger of going over whatever salary cap
13:08ultimately gets placed in baseball does John Sherman have the stomach to go get in the market
13:15for some of these there's a lot of pitchers in the class they look just like Lugo and Waka did
13:22when
13:22they went and signed them so the last 15 or 20 seconds here Jalen did they go get one or
13:28two of
13:28those guys make your prediction you gotta go do it you have to do it spend the money Jalen we'll
13:35have
13:35our post-mortem next week uh good luck to your Falcons we'll have a Falcon Saints preview next
13:40week too that's right uh all right we're coming back we got more sports daily headlines