J.J. Picollo Explains Royals' Hopes for Tony Gonsolin in 2027

The Kansas City Royals need starting pitching this winter, and general manager J.J. Picollo made it sound like one answer could already be on the roster.

At the GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Picollo talked about right-hander Tony Gonsolin, who joined the Royals in August while he was still working back from right elbow surgery.

Gonsolin posted a 4.41 ERA over 16 1/3 innings in four rehab starts with Triple-A Omaha and then made his only big-league appearance of the year on Sept. 22 against the Chicago White Sox.

On paper, that outing was rough, since Gonsolin threw two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third and ended up allowing five runs with three walks and five strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings in a 14-11 loss.

Picollo said it was good for Gonsolin to compete at the major league level and go into the offseason feeling good.

He liked the swing and miss, along with the 32-year-old's split-change, slider and velocity, and he saw the fatigue Gonsolin showed in later innings in the minors as part of the recovery.

"He's putting himself in a really good spot," Picollo told reporters in Las Vegas. "Hopefully, we recapture a little bit of what he was in the past."

That past version was very good.

Gonsolin was an All-Star with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022, going 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 24 starts, and he won a World Series with them in 2020, but injuries have taken a big chunk of his career since then, with Tommy John surgery costing him all of 2024 and internal brace surgery on his elbow in August 2025.

Kansas City finished 69-93 and last in the AL Central, and the rotation posted a 4.58 ERA that ranked 25th in the majors.

The bullpen was even worse at 5.07, the second-highest ERA in the majors, and fixing it is one of the two big needs on the list this winter.

Healthy starters are also in short supply.

Four Royals pitchers, including left-hander Cole Ragans and right-hander Ryan Bergert, had elbow surgery during the season, and Ragans and Bergert are not expected back until around the middle of 2027, which leaves a lot of early innings that right-handers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo cannot cover by themselves.

The Royals showed they believe in Gonsolin when they picked up his club option for $2.5 million while declining a $13 million option on closer Carlos Estévez.

I think that was a smart bet, because at that price Gonsolin does not need to be an All-Star again, and even a steady back-end starter would be worth far more than he costs.

He has come a long way since the Royals first signed him in August, and with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1, the front office may have less time than usual to add arms.

If Gonsolin reports to spring training healthy, I expect him to win a rotation spot and give Kansas City a cheap answer to one of its biggest questions.