Royals GM J.J. Picollo Charting His Own Course – Farm to Fountains

When the Kansas City Royals named J.J. Picollo the new club’s President of Baseball Operations after the dismissal of Dayton Moore in September 2022, the constant narrative went around that Picollo was going to be “Dayton Moore 2.0”. As we enter 2024, I think it is more than fair to say that is untrue. 

Picollo has worked with the Kansas City Royals since Dayton More started as General Manager, and their relationship goes back as far as their days at George Mason University. But that doesn’t mean they are the same people. 

Since Picollo has replaced Dayton, numerous moves have shown that he has an entirely different way of going about things. Piccolo has demonstrated that he is charting his course, whether free agent signings, trade deadline trades, front office hirings, the development of minor leaguers, etc.

People were quick to judge in his first offseason as the club’s new President of Baseball Operations. In his first offseason, the free agent class was a combination of Jordan Lyles, Ryan Yarbrough, Aroldis Chapman, and Zack Greinke. 

Many believed the Royals would stick their “cheap free agent” signing ways. But little did they know some of these moves would lead to many last-minute moves at the trade deadline. 

That is the first difference that comes to mind with Picollo. The fact he is willing to be more transactional. He isn’t afraid to make a move that will better the team and put them in a better position to win. He showed that with his first trade deadline move in 2023 sent Aroldis Chapman to the Texas Rangers for left-handed pitcher Cole Ragans and outfielder Roni Cabrea. 

As most know, Cole Ragans quickly became the best-starting pitcher in the Royals rotation. The work they put in to scout, analyze, and evaluate Ragans is something that should be taught everywhere. 

According to the Kansas City Star, “evaluated his entire makeup before acquiring him from the Rangers.” That included his medicals, nutrition, mental performance, and more. On top of that, they dove deep into his arsenal and the underlying data behind the makeup of his pitches. What they saw was a potential star.

The front office has come a long way under Picollo’s watch to evaluate players more with data. You can see it in many of their acquisitions during the last year. They brought it guys like Nelson Velazquez and James McArthur, who quickly hit the ground running in Kansas City and found success. So they are not just being transactional to be transactional; they are finding what seems to be potentially good quality players. 

Another theme from the last trade deadline was Picollo’s willingness to acquire upside, young DSL/AZL players. They brought in outfielder Roni Cabrera in the Aroldis Chapman trade, infielder Derlin Figueroa in the Ryan Yarbrough trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and right-handed pitcher Jesus Rios in the Scott Barlow trade with the San Diego Padres.

They’ve continued this trend this offseason when they traded Jonathan Heasley to the Baltimore Orioles for right-handed pitcher Cesar Espinal and Dylan Coleman to the Houston Astros for right-handed pitcher Carlos Mateo. 

These types of players are years away from impacting the major league club but are pieces that could give their farm system some depth if they figure things out with the Royals. The upside play on these types of young talents is something you saw only sometimes in the Dayton Moore era.

Transactional Picollo has continued this offseason as the team has gone out and signed the likes of Seth Lugo (RHP), Michael Wacha (RHP), Chris Stratton (RHP), Will Smith (LHP), Garret Hampson (UTL), and Hunter Renfroe (OF) to fill team needs. These signings could be part of ownership pushing for the team to compete, but regardless, Piccolo has taken full advantage of the green light. 

On top of that, Piccolo has also made some exciting trades this offseason. An area where he excels at. In terms of more significant trades, the Royals were able to move right-hander Jackson Kower to the Atlanta Braves for right-hander Kyle Wright and cash to the Braves for right-hander Nick Anderson. 

Wright is out until 2025 but is a former 21-game winner and top 10 vote-getter in the Cy Young Award race. Nick Anderson is expected to be a decent piece in the back end of the bullpen. 

Picollo isn’t just revamping efforts to build the team from outside the organization. He is bringing brilliant minds into the front office to help them scout both the amateur and international classes. They brought in long-time and well-known Atlanta Braves scout Brian Bridges as their Scouting Director. He was most recently the national crosschecker for the San Francisco Giants. They just recently brought in Johnny DiPuglia, the Washington Nationals International Scouting Director, into the fold. 

This kind of change in the front office shows they are serious about improving their farm system, which has continued to rank near the bottom of the league. 

Lastly, the most significant change I’ve noticed is Picollo’s openness and transparency about the team’s direction with fans. In multiple media interviews, he has been highly transparent about the moves they are trying to make and the directions they are trying to move in. And it is not just blowing air into the wind to make it seem like they are trying. Action follows his words.

There are plenty more examples of how Picollo is different than Dayton Moore. Still, his willingness to be transactional, the increased reliance on data and analytics, and his openness and transparency are just a few ways he has pushed to turn things around in Kansas City. 

It is more than safe to say that Picollo is charting his course, and it will be exciting to see how things turn out moving forward