SURPRISE, AZ — Seth Lugo’s first question to Will Smith was not one a free agent often asks a potential new teammate:
Does anyone else on the team have children?
Smith, 34, was recruiting Lugo, also 34, to join him with the Kansas City Royals. Lugo’s wife, Amanda, knowing the team was young, had said to him in a near-panic: “We’re going to have the only kids!”
The Lugo children are 3 and 1. Smith, texting rapidly with Lugo as the two families tried to get their kids to sleep, relayed that he understood Amanda’s concern.
“You don’t want to be the only wife there with a kid,” Smith said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’m married. Yeah, we have a son (less than a year old). Your wife won’t be out there solo.’”
With that, the Royals’ offseason began to accelerate, featuring Smith, a respected, popular veteran who has played for three straight World Series champions, as lead recruiter.
The Royals ended up spending $109.5 million on seven free agents, then signing shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year, $288.8 million extension and adding reliever John Schreiber from the Red Sox on Saturday in a trade. The projection systems to this point are unimpressed. Fangraphs has the Royals winning 76 games, PECOTA 70. But the club’s new additions offer a singular vision,…
