Every year, each team makes a variety of roster transactions involving bullpen arms and just general pitching depth. Traditionally, the result of those moves by the Royals has been less than stellar; from 2021 through 2023, the Royals bullpen had the second-worst ERA and the fourth-worst K-BB%. They were bad in aggregate, and outside of Scott Barlow, there weren’t a lot of reliable late-inning arms, either.
So when the Royals acquired James McArthur last year, there wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare. In fact, there was a lot of...the opposite of fanfare? Haterfare? When we wrote about the transaction, the comment section quickly filled with some rather pointed criticism of the team and the move, with quotes like “This is a zero upside move for a team that absolutely stinks” and “Surely you can find questionable pitchers somewhere without trading a 19-year old prospect to get one” and “This move has DM 2.