Photo by Richard Harbaugh - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images It was an evaluation year for us, too. The 2023 season may be one Royals fans would like to forget, but remember, it was an evaluation year! The ending was...

Photo by Richard Harbaugh - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images

It was an evaluation year for us, too.

The 2023 season may be one Royals fans would like to forget, but remember, it was an evaluation year! The ending was perhaps better than the baseball season, as the team finally splurged on some free agents and gave fans some hope going into 2024.

Best opinion articles

PrestonFarr wondered if Brady Singer could succeed as a two-pitch pitcher.

The Nicky Lopez trade brought back bad memories of the Yuniesky Betancourt trade for sterlingice.

Matthew LaMar wrote how the Royals were a hot mess.

He called for more front office shakeups after a terrible season.

He also wrote that John Sherman had no choice but to spend his way out of this mess (they did!)

Hokius criticized Royals owner John Sherman’s press conference on his push for a new stadium and labor issues with stadium employees.

Bradford Lee questioned whether the Royals could actually leave Kansas City.

Max Rieper did not like how the Royals were not fully valuing playing time as an evaluation tool.

He liked how active J.J. Picollo was at the trade deadline, but noted he had yet to put his stamp on the club.

He also noted that Bobby Witt Jr. was taking a leap to superstardom.

Best analytical articles

Max Rieper had some lessons to learn from the Hunter Dozier contract.

He also wondered what it would take to sign Vinnie Pasquantino long term.

He also wrote about how much taxpayers have subsidized recent baseball stadiums.

Matthew LaMar found some intriguing trends in the Royals’ minor league pitching.

And he thought Maikel Garcia was a monster-in-waiting.

Hokius wasn’t buying excuses from owners that they had no money to spend.

RoyalTreatment thinks the Royals might have the best defensive infield in baseball.

Greg Walker questioned how many more productive seasons Salvy has left.

Preston Farr wrote about Frank Mozzicato’s new slider.

He found reasons for optimism in the Royals’ new draft strategy.

He also suggests the Royals’ offense might be better than you think.

Best history articles

Bradford Lee looked back at some of the biggest brawls in Royals history.

He also wrote about two players named John Donaldson who both had ties to Kansas City baseball.

And he profiled Barry Bremen, a master imposter.

RoyalTreatment looked at the best seasons from Royals shortstops.

On the 50th anniversary of Kauffman Stadium, Max Rieper wrote about the top 50 moments in the stadium’s history.

He wrote about the most exciting off-seasons in Royals history.

He also penned a salute to Lorenzo Cain, who returned to retire with the Royals.

Preston Farr gave a salute to Zack Greinke.

Best humor articles

Ryan Heffernon assembled a football team full of Royals players.

Matthew LaMar collected his favorites from Royals photo day.

Greg Walker imagined Royals players as alcoholic beverages.

And he evaluated Nate Eaton as a two-way Ohtani-esque superstar.

Hokius asked AI to help the Royals.

Best game recaps

Greg Walker’s alliteration got meta after a bad June loss.

Hokius applauded Samad Taylor for his heroics in his MLB debut.

Matthew LaMar recapped a game where the Royals were hosed by a terrible check-swing call.

Jack Johnson covered a walk off balk against the Mets.

Hokius wrapped up the season with Zack Greinke’s last start of the year.

Best fanposts

Suff76 wrote about how to deal with the fact that the team you love is terrible.

kcfan85 evaluated whether a random number generator would outperform Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg in the draft.

GrizzlyWatson wrote about what Kauffman Stadium meant personally.

Max Wasson tried to imagine what the next contending Royals team looks like.

TexLeaguer wrote an open letter to owner John Sherman.

ThunderStreetWorkshop wrote about the real lessons from Moneyball.

BHWick took a deep dive into the Royals after the season.

RoyalRising wrote about his plan to get the Royals back to contention.

Best GIFs/videos/photoshops/social media

The Royals asked fans to submit their favorite Vinnie Pasquantino pic for a chance at a signed baseball from Vinnie.

These Salvy impressions are pretty good.

Betty is the Royals fan of the year.

Brady Singer is learning what it means to be Royal.

Spotify knows my listening habits.

Best comments

TheeJMVE got poetic when discussing how bad Hunter Dozier was playing.

low_leverage_situation and other Royals fans were amused by the Cardinals’ misfortunes this year.

SwingLough found the pun potential in Royals prospect Javier Vaz.

By June, the losing was having Seussian effects.

Max Rieper couldn’t keep these random players’ names straight, but low_leverage_situation put it in proper context.

Other

Our 2023 season predictions were, of course, wrong.

A few of Max Rieper’s predictions for this year turned out to be true.

We surveyed Royals fans at the beginning of the year on how they felt about the team and a new stadium.

Max talked to fans of other teams that had lost 100 games but improved, to see how they got through it.

Preston Farr listed his top 30 Royals prospects.

sterlingice explained the process he goes through to compile his Friday Rumblings.

Matthew LaMar explained his controversial moves as Royals GM in the annual simulation. You can see what Shohei Ohtani and other free agents received in our simulation here.

Thanks to all our readers for another terrific season, and here’s to less evaluation and more winning in 2024! Have a Happy New Year!

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