Debating who wins the final bench spot

Who is going to grab that final spot

on the bench for the royals?

We'll give you our thoughts next on Lockdown Royals.

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Let's dive right into it for our first segment,

involving the bench for the royals.

And in our discussions about Starling Marta yesterday,

it's really the perfect time to pivot

and to what this bench might look like for the royals

and how the roster construction

has going to go down over the final couple of weeks.

They can go a couple of different ways here.

They could carry 13 and 13,

13 position players, 13 pitchers.

They could do 14 position players and 12 pitchers.

They'd have one less man in the bullpen,

but they could not do nine pitchers in the bullpen

and five starters.

So you can either have a extra guy on the bench

or you can have the same amount of position players

and same amount of pitchers.

I would like to see the royals break camp with 13 on each side.

It's even that way that kind of goes

into my prediction as well.

So of course, I want them to go 13 and 13

because that's what I have on my preseason prediction list.

And if that is the case,

the royals already have three spots on their bench

that are solidified and unless an injury happens,

that's not changing.

They're going to have Michael Massey on the bench.

They're going to have Starling Marta on the bench

and they're going to have Lane Thomas on the bench.

Of course, Lane Thomas and Isabel will be platooning.

We'll see Starling Marta quite a bit

and I would say the same for Michael Massey,

but that brings us to our final bench spot

and who would be deserving of it.

There's a couple of different ways

that you can evaluate this.

I think the first way of going about it

would be, okay, you're looking for an extra utility guy.

You want to have somebody who can play all around the infield,

can play one or two spots in the outfield

and you'll feel satisfied with it.

Cause truth be told, this final spot on the bench

is going to be the guy who plays the least in my opinion.

And the options would be Josh Rojas,

minor league deal guy.

I've expressed my positivity around him making the roster.

John Rafe would be another option.

Nick Lofton maybe has as good of a chance as Josh Rojas

and some would tell you out there

that Nick Lofton has a better chance over Josh Rojas

cause Rojas is a minor league deal guy after all.

You also can look at Drew Waters.

I thought that it was going to come down to Waters

and Blanco to be DFA for Marta turns out

it was Blanco who was DFA.

And I would say that's because of age

and I would say it's because of Drew Waters ability

to switch hit.

That's why they went with waters over Blanco

and fingers crossed that Blanco could clear waivers

and still be another pinch running option

at some point throughout the season.

But utility is going to be the focus on that final spot

and where you have two right-handed bats on the bench,

you've got Lane Thomas and you've got Starling Marta

you've got a lefty and Michael Massey

it would make sense to me to get an extra lefty on the bench.

Now they do have a lot of lefties in the starting nine

so it wouldn't be out of the question

to put Nick Lofton there

so you can have three righties on the bench

and if you're going to run up a tune lineup

you've got three options right there

to replace three lefties in the lineup.

And we're going to talk about this

in the final segment today as well.

Spring training numbers are not numbers

that you should fall for.

They are not numbers that you should judge a player on.

They could go hit 500 and spring training.

It's not going to matter.

You may be asking yourself

well didn't Jack say that spring training matters

for a couple of different people.

That is the case, right?

If I'm looking at Josh Rojas

his numbers matter

but I will say that doesn't mean

he's going to be great in the regular season

which is why this is a tougher decision

for the Royals coaching staff

in evaluating Josh Rojas, Nick Lofton, John Rave, Drew Waters,

Tyler Tolbert, another one.

I didn't bring him up in the initial conversation

but Tyler Tolbert gives them another right handed look.

He also can play multiple spots

and he has what none of the other guys do

an ability to steal bases at an elite rate.

That can give him the nod over everybody else there.

And then you get to the next part of this.

What do the Royals really need with that final bench spot?

We know that Lane Thomas can play all three outfield spots.

We know Starling Marta is probably only going to play

left field and right field in D.H. when he's in there.

Michael Massey can play second and left field.

He is in right field today

and he might get more run out there

because all these guys at the World Baseball Classic

are going to open up some opportunities

for a guy like Michael Massey to move around.

They have a bunch of outfielders there

or guys that can play in outfield position.

That brings me back to Josh Rojas and Nick Lofton

because I would say Nick Lofton predominantly

stays in the infield.

You might want to have somebody who can play

every single spot in the infield

with that 26 spot on the roster.

You want them to play first base.

That's where Rojas is today.

We've seen Nick Lofton play first base.

We know they both can play third base.

I'm sure if you put them up to it,

they can play shortstop,

but how often do they go into play shortstop

over Bobby with Junior?

I would go on record of saying,

anytime Bobby with Junior's not playing shortstop,

he's got an off day.

Michael Garcia is in the lineup

and he's playing shortstop.

Second base is where you could see the most rotation

but Michael Massey is the best option

to put there at second base.

So a utility guy for the infield, though important,

we also can't acknowledge that there's not

going to be many times where Vinnie Pasquantino,

Jonathan India, Bobby with Junior and Michael Garcia

are out of the lineup.

Where are the most opportunities going to be

for utility guy?

It's going to be in the outfield.

And there's still going to be behind guys

like Lane Thomas, Starling Marte, and Michael Massey.

Maybe that's why it could be Tyler Tolbert.

Tolbert's not going to play a lot

but where he can get into the game

is pinch running in the eighth or ninth inning.

And he can steal second base for you.

And Diron Blanco could do that as well

but Tyler Tolbert's younger, he's cheaper

and he can play more positions than Diron Blanco.

That's why they made that choice to DFA him.

So if Tolbert is the guy,

there is something I do want to see from him

that I didn't really see a lot last year.

If your sole purpose of being on the roster

is to steal bases, you can't really be conservative

when you go out there.

You have to have that Gerard Dyson,

Terence Gore mentality of I'm going.

Everybody in the stadium knows I'm going

but I'm good enough to get the read,

I'm good enough to get the jump

and I'm good enough to have that perfect slide

where I get in there at a 90 to 95% success rate.

Like if he's going to take one of those spots

and I know that he hit 280 last year,

I know he can play multiple positions.

I would argue that Josh Rojas and Nick Loftick

can play better defense than Tolbert

but Tolbert can steal bases better than that.

And my only argument against Tyler Tolbert

would be if he goes out there

and he's on the roster to pinch run

and he's not running and taking off

every single time he's out there,

regardless of the situation,

then it might not be worth the roster spot.

Because as I said, Marte and Lane Thomas and Michael Massey

they're going to be the next in line

to be in the starting lineup

when somebody needs a day off.

Tyler Tolbert's going to be the third, fourth, fifth option

off the bench to get into the game.

But as I said, where he can get into the game

a lot more than anybody else is pinch running.

And if he goes out, I really,

I'm not going to fault the guy.

If his success rate is at 90 to 95%

what I can't live with

is if he's not even trying to steal second base.

And I thought there was a stretch of games last year

where he had been thrown out

and then when he'd go out there to run, he wasn't run.

And when you've got speed like that,

you need to be a difference maker.

Every single spot on this roster

needs to hold some sort of value.

And though I've said,

Rojas is my front runner.

I also can not even need to squint and see

I can absolutely see Lofton or Tolbert

getting that final spot over Rojas.

I said I'd go with Rojas

because I think that he could replicate

what he did in 2024

and he has gold glove defense when he's healthy

which he wasn't last year.

He's done it before at the big league level.

Lofton and Tolbert have not for an extended period of time.

But if they go with Tolbert,

Tolbert needs to be incredibly aggressive on the bases,

not to a fault

because you also have to be pretty successful

but I could live with being aggressive

maybe overly aggressive

than not even trying to run it all.

Because if you're gonna have that pinch runner,

that pinch runner needs to be able to steal second base

and perhaps third from time to time.

Who do you see grabbing that final spot

on the bench for the Rojas?

Let us know in the YouTube comments below.

When we come back,

I've been pleasantly surprised

with what I've seen from Daniel Lynch

and his increased velocity.

We'll dive into that next on Lofton Rojas.

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We are back here on Lockdown Royals

and the Lockdown podcast network.

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We are now the number one sports podcasting network out there.

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Going over to the pitching side of things here,

it has been more than noticeable

what Daniel Lynch is doing in camp.

And we're going to see more and more of him

while other pitchers are pitching

in the World Baseball Classic,

he's gonna get opportunities maybe to start,

but if not, we'll get to see him

for an extended period of time in relief.

And what's been noticeable is that increase in velocity.

And I've said it on the podcast before

that when I was talking to somebody

before spring training started,

they let me know that he spent time

at drive line in the off season.

And drive line and tread where Cole Reagan's goes to

really specializes in getting that increase in velocity,

getting that increase in spin,

and we've seen it with Daniel Lynch.

Sitting anywhere from 95 to 96,

topping out at 97,

that is going to get him a spot on the roster,

whether the ERA looks good at the end of camp or not.

Because that's what's been missing

from Daniel Lynch's arsenal, velocity.

If you're not going to have the sharpest command

at 92, 93,

you're not gonna have that true put away pitch,

you have to light up the radar got a little bit more.

I can live with spotty command,

I can live with maybe not being the big strikeout guy

if you throw hard enough to blow up past somebody.

And Daniel Lynch just didn't have that last year.

He towed the line many, many times

with tons of base runners coming in

in certain situations, he'd get hit hard,

but luck was on his side.

And now the focus this off season

and the focus in camp needs to be swing and miss,

but also making sure that with the increase in velocity,

you can have more deception to it.

You know, if you throw a hundred miles an hour,

but it's as straight as an arrow,

it's going to get clobbered at the big league level.

If you've got 97 with a couple other different pitches

to work with and you can put it for the most part

where you want it to,

you're gonna have a ton of success.

And that's what I wanted to see

from Daniel Lynch going into camp.

Bailey falter in him, I'm assuming are still battling

for one of those final spots in the bullpen

and whereas a couple of weeks ago,

I was on record of saying Bailey falter would be my pick

because he's out of options.

The Royals trade for him last year

and he's been working in the off season

on a variety of different things, fine tuning his stuff,

and he's gonna be pitching in a long relief role of the bullpen.

If you needed him to start, he could start as well.

Daniel Lynch's day, he's of starting

or behind him unless he's an opener,

but this is where I look at it and say,

if Daniel Lynch is sitting 95 to 97 from the left side

and Bailey falter is sitting 92 to 93,

it's not the velocities, everything.

But when I want to see a lefty on lefty matchup,

I'm going with Daniel Lynch's stuff over Bailey falter

and with the slider to go with a mid 90s fast fall,

that can play nicely in the bullpen.

That can be a really good weapon to have.

And the Royals over the course of the last three or four years,

they haven't had a ton of high powered guys in the bullpen.

They've had a couple.

Stephen Cruz is a high power guy.

Lucas Ersig is a high power guy.

When he's ramped up and when he's feeling healthy,

Carl Sistep is a high powered guy.

Then you have a ton of pitch to contact guys.

And I would say that Shriver and Nick Mears

and for the most part right now,

Lewanderov will be a pitch to contact guy

though he's got explosive stuff to become a swing and miss guy.

But Daniel Lynch was that guy last year of when he's in the game,

you're hoping that guys just aren't on it.

They're not seeing him well.

And if they do hit the ball hard, it's right at somebody.

Anytime you've got a noticeable increase in velocity,

you want to jot it down, remember it

and know that when they leave camp,

that's another weapon that you have in the bullpen.

If somebody goes from 94 to 95,

it's really not that noticeable.

It probably wouldn't even be registered

as an uptick in velocity, not to the human eye.

You might see from time to time

that they're sitting with more consistency at 95.

But Daniel Lynch going from 92 to 93 to 95 to 96,

that is going to alter what we think about him as a pitcher.

Completely alterate.

When I see him come into the game,

facing a tough lefty, I can have more confidence

that he is able to blow somebody away

with the stuff he now possesses than I did last year.

And the best that Daniel Lynch ever looked

was when he came up in September

or came back in September and 2024

and the roles are making their playoff.

But she was one of the more reliable relievers

out of the bullpen.

He was not the same guy last year.

And I thought it was due to the lack of true command

that he showcased at the end of 2024.

The bonuses in camp right now

is that the velocity is playing up

and it's more than just the gun being hot.

When I say that the gun is hot,

I'm meaning that it's a tick or two faster,

not four to five miles per hour faster.

And that's where Daniel Lynch is.

If this truly is who he is

and the command can stay as consistent as it's been,

it changes my perception of him as a pitcher.

It changes my perception of what the left-handed relievers

look like in the Royals bullpen.

I'm confident in Matt Strong.

I know that Matt Strong is going to be a reliable guy

they can turn to late in the game.

If Daniel Lynch can become that too,

better than Serpa last year.

Now you're talking about this bullpen

having a completely different ceiling

where if you had two or three guys in the bullpen

where you didn't think their stuff was explosive

and you couldn't really count on them in a close game,

then that ceiling is significantly less

than it would be if even one guy like Daniel Lynch

changes their entire arsenal.

And maybe that's too strong of a word to say

with changing the arsenal.

His pitches are the same, but they don't look the same.

They're coming out of his hands with more heat,

more movement, more spin.

And that's going to be something to watch

all spring training long.

Do you see Daniel Lynch making the bullpen out of camp?

Let us know in the YouTube comments below.

When we come back with all this talk about spring training,

I'm going to tell you why you shouldn't be fooled

by some numbers out there.

We'll talk about it next on Lockdown Royals.

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We are wrapping up this Tuesday edition

of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown podcast network.

I'm your host, Jack Johnson, and you

can follow me on Twitter at JohnnyJU underscore for 15.

For our final segment, want to speak to the numbers

in spring training and why you shouldn't be fooled

by batting average, home runs, RBI's, slugging,

whatever you're looking at, don't be fooled by it.

And really, this is how I try to go into every single spring

training so that I'm not dumbfounded when the regular season

is underway.

It is always better, so this is my first point here.

It is always better to have good numbers in spring training

than poor.

If you were to ask any player out there, and I have before,

would you rather have great numbers?

Are you superstitious where, if I hit well in spring training,

I'm almost always going to start poorly in April.

I mean, one of the Royals best hitters in Vinnie Pasquintino

has seemingly struggled in April the last couple of years.

And he said that.

He said that in our interview, which you can go back and listen to.

But his numbers are never going to matter in spring training,

whether they're great or they're bad.

It does not correlate to what he does in April.

It's just different.

The weather's different.

Players are going to tell you the warmer the weather,

the better they feel.

It's easy, or easier, I should say.

It's never easy to hit a baseball,

but it's easier to go out there and swing about

when it's 75 and sunny than when you're in Cleveland in April

and it's 45 degrees and rainy.

I mean, that's a tail as old as time.

Now, the second part to this, though,

the numbers never really matter for the everyday guys.

It does matter for guys trying to make the roster,

because quite frankly, it's what the coaching staff

has to go off of.

It's not the end all be all where if Josh Rojas is hitting 350

and Nick Lofton's hitting 340,

they're going to go with Josh Rojas.

It also comes down to the battered ball metrics.

Is it a lucky 350?

Or are they scorching the ball?

Are they scalding it?

And you will also look at the competition they're facing.

Are they hitting 350 against AAA guys?

Or are they hitting against guys that are going to be

in big league rotations and are trying to earn a spot

in the rotation?

If I had to be really specific about where I can get excited

about a spring training at bat or a spring training outing,

you look at a guy who's trying to make the team,

facing another guy who's trying to make the team,

they're both big leagueers,

and you know they're going for the most part all out.

They're trying to impress.

I mean, the guys that are on the fringe,

they're not working on all these different pitches.

They're not doing what Carlos has steves is doing.

They're having to go out there and show why they've earned a spot

on the 26 man roster.

But just because the numbers look good

does not mean they're going to roll into the regular season

red hot.

That's also to say though, too,

that they could have a great spring

and a great regular season.

They can go that way.

Michael Garcia had a great spring training

and a great regular season.

Michael Massey had a great spring training last year,

really poor regular season.

There's never going to be that perfect science

of what really matters.

And the Royals have a couple of guys

that are fighting for roster spots.

They have young guys who are trying to prove

that they're everyday players,

and they want to play well.

They want to look good while doing it.

And certainly with the World Baseball Classic,

they want to play well so that every fan out there

can see what type of potential they really have.

Now, I will say this,

I'm never going to tell a fan how to be a fan.

If you buy into the numbers, you buy into the numbers.

Right, if you're high on somebody

and then they look good in camp right now

and that's to go on off of

and they look good in the regular season,

you have every right to say that's why it happened.

There's also people that will say it doesn't matter at all.

This guy may be hitting 450 in spring

and he's going to be terrible in the regular season.

And that might happen.

That very well could happen.

But the only thing that I would say we have to go off of,

we have to look at is with the guys

that we've been talking about throughout this episode,

the fringe guys, the ones that are battling for a spot.

I guess the only hang up would be,

yeah, it might be good enough to get them on the roster.

Just don't be surprised if those numbers don't translate.

If Nick Lofton or Josh Roas finishes camp in 20 plus games,

slashing 350, 440 with a 500 slug.

It's something ridiculous.

I know last year, mass EOPS, North of 1,000,

but if they do that,

I'm not trying to say that people are believing

they're going to put up those exact same numbers.

Just don't be shocked if they then hit 200 in the regular season.

Guys pitch them differently,

and they're not playing as frequently.

It's tougher to get into the lineup.

Pictures, a guy that I'm loving what I'm seeing so far.

In Mason Black.

Mason Black has terrific horizontal run on his fastball.

His slider looks good.

He hasn't given up a run just yet.

I'm sure he's going to get a ton of opportunities

while guys are at the World Baseball Classic.

Don't be surprised if he breaks camp

and goes to Omaha and the numbers never, never translate,

never correlate as great as spring training is,

as fun as it is to talk about real live baseball games.

Boy, does it lead us astray many, many times?

It's where we get hope for players.

It's where we rule out players.

And though it's been around forever.

We've never had this exact science of what it really means

because we can't go inside the mind of a player

and understand how much they're putting into that outing

or how much they're putting into that effect.

Some guys put in 110%.

Some guys put in about 50.

The weather's great.

It's comfortable to play there

and there's barely anybody at the games.

They play in front of the smallest crowd.

They will all season long.

And all of those factors and ballpark factor as well,

it's easy to put one on the berm, it's a prize stadium

and much easier to do it when it's 80 degrees

than it will be even when the fence is coming into Kaufman

to park one over the wall and right center field

when it's 50 degrees and windy,

with the wind blowing in I should say.

So though there's still many games to go

and I'd even go as far to say

the world baseball classic numbers

aren't going to dictate a lot

because the regular season's just different.

When you're playing every single day,

you're seeing guys maxing out, left and right,

it's going to be a challenge

and it's always an adjustment for everybody.

Just don't let some of these numbers fool you.

Lead or have them lead you to your predictions,

your opening day roster, your starting nine,

let it do all of that,

but never fall for numbers in spring training

and let them lead you to believe

that those numbers are going to correlate

to the regular season.

The funny part about this too,

those numbers might correlate

and there will be no direct reason.

There will be no answer as to why that happened

for somebody and not the other guy.

And that's just spring training 101.

Do you have anybody that you're really high on

in spring training right now

or anybody that you're not worried about?

Let us know in the YouTube comments below.

That's going to do it for another edition

of Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown podcast.

Network, I've been your host, Jack Johnson.

Until tomorrow, you take it easy, Kansas City.