Cole Ragans gets honest about Royals' $58,000,000 acquisitions Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen

Kansas City Royals All-Star pitcher Cole Ragans voiced his opinions about the club's recent acquisitions, Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen.

In an appearance on MLB Radio published on Jan. 15, Ragans discussed his feelings regarding the arms slated to fill out the Royals rotation this season.

Ragans had this to say about Wacha:

“He’s the man… He is an unbelievable clubhouse guy. Also, a really big part of our team.”

As for Lorenzen, Ragans had nothing but positive things to say about his locker mate.

“I’m excited to have him back. We talked a lot about pitching, you know, he’s always watching video, and stuff like that, trying to find ways to get better," he said.

“So, it’ll be fun, you know, to have both of those guys back," Ragan added.

Both Wacha and Lorenzen are under contract for next season with the Royals. Wacha signed a three-year, $51 million extension, while Lorenzen signed a one-year, $7 million deal to stay with the team for one more season.

In total, Kansas City’s $58 million hurlers will look to help the Royals get back to the postseason, potentially getting back to the World Series since winning it all back in 2015.

Projecting Kansas City Royals' rotation for 2025 season

The Royals are expected to go with a six-man rotation in 2025. Leading the pack is Ragans. After his All-Star season in 2024, he’s earned the staff ace designation. Behind him, Seth Lugo projects to be the No. 2 pitcher.

Then, Wacha and Lorenzen figure to slide into the numbers three and four spots in Kansas City's rotation.

The final two spots could be up for grabs in Spring Training. As it stands, FanGraphs projects lefty Kris Bubic and righty Alex Marsh as the No. 5 and 6 arms in the rotation, respectively. Bubic was the club’s 2018 first-round pick, with Marsh being Kansas City’s second-round selection in 2019.

The rotation seems to have a solid balance of righties and lefties, with enough depth to offset the fact Kansas City has one of the oldest rotations in the American League. Notably, Lugo, Wach and Lorenzen are all 33 or older.

As such, having Ragans, Bubic and Marsh – who are 27 or younger – helps balance youth with experience as the club looks to improve on its 86-76 mark from last year, which was good enough for a Wild Card berth.

This time around, the Kansas City Royals will hope to close the gap on the Cleveland Guardians, potentially capturing the Central Division title.

How do you think the Kansas City Royals will fare next season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.