The Royals' defending World Series champion MVP wanted to know how far the team was from making it again last season.
General manager JJ Piccolo didn't lie to franchise great Salvador Perez, who made a name for himself as the Mets killer in October 2015.
Why would he say something like 106 Loss refuted?
“When he asked for an honest assessment, I said, 'A lot of things have to go right for us to get back to the playoffs.' “We have to turn this roster around. And you have to stay healthy all year long,'' Piccolo said Saturday at Yankee Stadium. “But we are here, and Salvi is part of it.”
The Royals' unexpected path to Game 1 of the ALDS included an incredible 30-game upset in the regular season (from 56-106 in 2023 to 86-76 in 2024) and an A series that included a two-game wild-card sweep of the Orioles.
According to MLB.com, this is a franchise-record 100 million free agent pitcher (such as Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Will Smith, and Chris Stratton, to name a few) before spring training. It was said to have cost him $9.5 million.
They then acquired closer Lucas Erceg and outfielder Tommy Pham during the season.
“Our starting pitching didn't have the depth to compete at a high level,” Piccolo said. “It was about trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Starting pitching was the biggest piece, but we also had to address the bullpen and batting lineup. We also wanted guys with playoff experience, so , young players who were still learning what the playoffs were all about, were around guys who were in the playoffs.”
Around the same time last August, the Royals invented the “Today” slogan that adorns their team T-shirts, and carried it over this season.
At the time, coach Matt Quatraro didn't want players to be emailed as “competent players” at the end of a lost year with an eye toward the future.
Now, it means something different.
Follow The Post's coverage of the Yankees in the postseason.
“We don't care what happened last year. That's what happened last year. This is the year,” said Cole Regans, who will start Game 2 of the series on Monday. “We're taking it one day at a time. That was our mindset going into spring training. We expected to be better, but we're not done yet.”
Quatraro said he didn't even realize he was saying “today” as often as he did during career-decision meetings, but Piccolo said his “down-to-earth” personality influenced his year-over-year performance. He admits that.
The Royals have at least a few more games left today to ruin the Yankees' World Series dreams.
“That wasn't intentional for me to come up with a mantra or anything,” Quatraro said. “But that's how I try to live my life, and I think my employees accept that and understand that they don't have to think about the future until they're working on the job at hand. Masu.”
