GM Interviews: Kansas City Royals

[Ken Rosenthal]

GM: Bill Warnke, Kansas City Royals


KANSAS CITY, M.O. - Continuing with my series of interviews of the league's General Managers, today we get to take a look at the Kansas City Royals.  As you will soon find out throughout the interview, the team has struggled with keeping up with the powerhouse teams of the American League, yet has been far above the rebuilding teams.  Consequently, I present you with an above-average team.  

The strength here for the Royals is continuously successful drafting.  The team boasts one of the best farm systems in baseball.  Their youth will have to be a key factor if the Royals are to ascend to American League dominance.

The team is at a crossroads this season, where a choice between rebuilding and reloading appears eminent.  Let's see what Mr. Warnke had to say about his team.

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KR: First off, thanks again so much for being willing to do this, Bill. First time being interviewed for this sort of a thing?

BW: Sure thing. Yes, first time for this...all of my social media trolling has finally paid off.


KR: How's free agency going or how has it gone for you so far? What were your goals coming in? Have you met them?

BW: My goal going into free agency was to add three solid starters and in adding Pineda via trade and Buehrle and Iwakuma via free agency, I feel like I've accomplished that. I really love Buehrle at $5M. Even though he's as sexy as flannel pajamas, he score just 20 fewer points last season than Carlos Carrasco and he outpointed guys like Gio, Jason Hammel and Gallardo, all of who were more expensive.


KR: When approaching free agency... do you generally try to shy away from the big names or go after them to make a splash?

BW: I generally target useful pieces rather than big names simply due to the economics of being a middle of the pack team. I'd love to go after a Kershaw or Greinke but I have too many holes to fill with too little money.


KR: Best signing thus far?

BW: I love both Iwakuma at $9M and Buehrle at $5M, especially when I see what guys like Shoemaker and Santana went for.


KR: How do you feel about the league's free agency system as a whole?

BW: The system is great but there are too many smart owners for any team to find much value in free agency. There are always a couple but for the most part you pay full value and then some.


KR: Can we expect any major shakeups with the Royals roster this winter or are you confident with what you have now and through free agency?

BW: Yes. The middle of the pack is no place to be. Even in a traditionally weak division like the AL Central where you can always make a run for the title if you want, mid-round draft picks normally don't give you the blue chip guy that can help bring your team to the next level. FA is too expensive so the draft is the way to go in my opinion and moving some big names to competing teams mid-season will be my plan this year.


KR: Back to last season, you finished 7th in points scored in the American League and missed the playoffs by just a few games, frustrating to be somewhere in the middle?

BW: Yes very frustrating. It can be very difficult to move out of the middle for reasons that I mentioned above. It really isn't that much better than having a really bad team.


KR: I mean where did the Detroit Tigers come from? The year before you're in a bloodbath with the Minnesota Twins and all of a sudden here come the Tigers.

BW: The Tigers did a great job of timing a rebuild and now those moves are paying off. I really hate Jake by the way. And because of traditional rivalries, I don't like the Twins much either; any twins, and that's put a strain on the relationship with my twin nieces.


KR: I've got to ask... you've been here since year one of the league, and your records for each year are as follows: 2011 (7-6), 2012 (11-8), 2013 (10-9), 2014 (10-9), 2015 (10-9). You've had one division title (2014) and one wild card (2012). Does it frustrate you that, while you're winning a majority of your games (barely) that you can't seem to break through to enter into the upper echelon of teams in the league?

BW: Barely? You cut me deep Shrek. Yes it really is aggravating. I drink a lot.


KR: What are your future plans? You have one of the better farms in the league, while maintaining a solid major league roster, will you move towards improving one or the other?

BW: I'm going to focus on building up my farm. Free agency is too expensive to build anything lasting so I'll be looking for prospects and draft picks as the season gets underway.


KR: You were in the top six in six of the eight positively scoring hitting categories last season, but your pitching was equally impressive, especially in the pen. Is it safe to say the Royals offense is its greatest strength, or the bullpen that was 3rd in holds and 6th in saves?

BW: The offense has been solid and the pen has been pretty good, but I'll be missing Holland for most of this year. Hopefully Strickland steps up during the year and maybe Jeffress takes the closer spot in Milwaukee. Adding the 3 SPs will hopefully shore up the weakest part of my team which was the rotatation

KR: Andrew McCutchen is clearly the big name for your ball club. Is he worth the 3 year 35m dollar contract you just signed him for, or did you overpay a bit?

BW: Yes I overpaid more than a bit, but he's been very consistent and is still pretty young. Locking in that anchor really helps to pick up the other pieces of the team though and having a top 10 guy in a 30 team league is a must.

KR: Buy or sell: Miguel Sano will be your best offensive player next season.

BW: Still like McCutchen better but I love the power and even though he strikes out a ton he still takes his walks. I don't know where he's going to play this year, but he's still my new boyfriend.


KR: How do you feel about this nickname: "The Abominable Sanoman"? Yeah? No? Maybe...?

BW: My mother always taught me that if I don't have anything nice to say....so I SAY NO. See what I did there?


KR: I think every GM is jealous that you have that guy on your team. He just mashes the ball.

BW: Yes he does. No let's see how jealous the other GMs are that I have John Lamb.

KR: You've been very adept at acquiring talented prospects through the drafts in your time as GM of the Royals. Has it been somewhat luck? Or do you put a lot of work into it?

BW: Lot's of geek work. I love the prospect part of the game even though most of them turn out to be busts.

KR: Who's the guy you're most excited about in your farm now?

BW: I really like Brett Phillips on the offensive side and Sean Newcomb on the pitching side especially since both of them came on the cheap...Phillips I got as my 4th pick in the 2014 drafr and Newcomb fell to me in the middle of the first round that same year.

KR: Just quickly about your division. Jacob has Detroit rolling after a 13-6 season. Austin is back in the league now with Minnesota after years of success in St. Louis. Clayton is slowly but surely improving Chicago, and Cleveland is under new ownership. Is this division poised to go beyond the usually low expectations for the AL Central this season?

BW: Probably not. The West is loaded and although Jacob's team is solid, Austin is used to competing in the very weak National League so it will take him a season to get used to the brutal competition in the AL. Who are the other guys again

KR: Would you consider the Twins your biggest rival? I mean... they did steal two division titles from you in back to back years.

BW: Yes, it's all about pounding the Twins back to the Stone Age.


KR: Last question for you, Bill. Give us a prediction of the Kansas City Royals 2016 campaign. Let's see a... record, points scored to the nearest 100, best hitter/pitcher, and whether or not you'll win the AL Central.

BW: I predict a 14-5 season for the Royals this year with about 5400 points due to the addition to some SP. Cutch will be my best hitter and I'm hoping that Pineda can stay healthy enough to take a step up on the SP side. This should be enough to win the AL Central and I do have some more moves in mind. Then I'll pull a Marlins and sell of the expensive assets.

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A special thanks to Bill for taking part in this interview.  There you have it.  It appears the Royals are headed for a rebuild.  

With Warnke's savviness in drafting, one would think this rebuild won't end up lasting very long.

- Ken Rosenthal