Nashville is not kind to the Royals. Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco have a lot of ground to cover this week! News is pouring from Nashville, but where do the Kansas City Royals stand after the Winter Meetings? Plus, did they win or lose the Rule 5 Draft? All that and more! You can follow the team on Twitter with Jeremy Greco at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@hokius⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Jacob Milham at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JacobMilhamKC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and Greg Walker at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Gregnotcreg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow the podcast itself on Twitter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RoyalRundownPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The ..read more

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announces Frank Mozzicato as the seventh overall pick for the Kansas City Royals during the 2021 Major Leauge Baseball Draft at Bellco Theater at Colorado Convention Center on Sunday, July 11, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. | Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images No talent, poor track record, bad combo In its second year of existence, the MLB Draft Lottery did to the Kansas City Royals what it did in its first year of existence: shafting the beleaguered franchise with a much worst draft pick than they expected. This year, the Royals matched a team record fo ..read more

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images Happy Pearl Harbor to those who celebrate (this sounds very insensitive to anybody who didn’t go to school in Rolla). Vinnie Pasquantino was in attendance at the Winter Meetings in Nashville: Pasquantino met with Royals brass for a bit before talking with reporters and then appearing on MLB Network. He stays fairly locked into transactions and rumors around the game in the offseason, which is why he wanted to check out the scene. “I would say, in terms of being a big league player, I probably follow it more than most,” Pasquantino said. “Just because I li ..read more

Photo by Jennifer Stewart/MLB Photos via Getty Images The Royals add to the organization. The Royals selected pitcher Matt Sauer from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday, adding him to the 40-man roster. He must remain on the active MLB roster all season or be offered back to the Yankees. The 24-year-old California native was a second-round pick by the Yanks out of high school in 2017. He has consistently put up strong strikeout numbers in the minors as a starter, but has also battled injuries. This year he was limited to just 74 innings, posting a 3.42 ERA in Double-A with 10.9 strik ..read more

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports Would O’Neill be an upgrade to the outfield? The Royals are reportedly interested in trading for Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill, according to Jeff Jones, a Cardinals beat writer for the Belleview News. Also on the front: I believe Ben Fred mentioned this in his chat yesterday, but count the Kansas City Royals among the teams with interest in Tyler O’Neill. — Jeff Jones (@jmjones) December 6, 2023 The 28-year-old outfielder is a former Gold Glover who was a 6 WAR player as recently as 2021 when he hit .286/.352/.560 with a career-high 34 home runs, finishing ..read more

Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports The Royals open up a spot on the 40-man roster for the Rule 5 draft. The Royals have traded reliever Dylan Coleman to the Houston Astros, according to reporter Anne Rogers. The move opens up a 40-man roster spot, allowing the Royals to make a selection in the Rule 5 draft. In return, the Royals receive pitcher Carlos Mateo, a 19-year old pitcher who spent last year in the Florida Complex League. The 27-year-old Coleman had spent parts of three seasons with the Royals, with a 3.88 ERA in 92 1⁄3 innings. He had an electric fastball and a sweeping slider, but had a lot ..read more

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports The Royals currently have a full 40-man roster. The Rule 5 draft will be held at 1 p.m. CT today at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, presenting an opportunity for teams to acquire talent blocked in other organizations. Players can be selected if they are not on a 40-man roster and meet eligibility requirements, outlined here by MLB Pipeline. For this year, that means an international or high school Draft pick signed in 2019 had to be protected. A college player taken in the 2020 Draft was in the same position. Teams must pay $100,000 to make a selection. Playe ..read more

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images He has missed the last two years with injury. The Royals have signed veteran reliever Dan Altavilla to a minor league deal, according to reporter Jon Heyman. Altavilla is a 31-year-old right-hander who has spent parts of six years in the big leagues. He has a career 4.03 ERA in 116 career innings, although he has never made more than 50 appearances in a season. Veteran reliever Dan Altavilla agreed to terms with Royals on a minor league deal with a spring invite. He’s coming back from two lost seasons due to injury. Altavilla was up to 98 mph in the Dominican ..read more

Winter Meetings Edition Anne Rogers got reactions from a frustrated J.J. Picollo after the Royals fell to number six in the draft lottery: “There’s frustration,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “There’s disappointment. You go into it thinking you might get the first pick, which is a little bit of a dubious honor, but the season’s over, you want the best opportunity to select the best players. Now we’ve dropped four slots. So it’s frustrating. It’s the system in place. There’s nothing we can do about it. There’s been a lot of good players taken in the top 10, so it’s not going to change th ..read more

Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images Will the Royals make a selection? The Winter Meetings this week will conclude with the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday. The Royals currently have a 40-man roster, but could still drop someone before the draft to make a selection. The team is starved so pitching, so there could be some good opportunities to add talent to the organization. The polished products Tanner Burns, Guardians The Guardians are always a great organization to poach pitching from, and Kevin Kelly was one of the better picks from last year’s draft. Burns is ranked #19 in their ..read more