What Can Royals Fans Take Away from the Salvador Perez Drama?

It's been a nightmare start for a Kansas City Royals team that was looking to improve upon its 82-80 record in 2025.

After a 13-4 loss on Saturday, the Royals fell to 7-14 for the season, tied for last in the AL Central with the Chicago White Sox. Their -25 run differential is the second-worst mark in the AL Central and the third-worst in the American League overall (the Blue Jays are the only other team with a worse run differential). Furthermore, the offense and bullpen have been an abject disaster through 21 games. 

In terms of offense, the Royals rank 26th in batting average and OBP and 28th in OPS and runs scored. The bullpen has arguably been even worse. They rank 30th in ERA and WHIP, 29th in BB/9 and H/9 allowed, and 27th in HR/9. 

Safe to say, Kansas City Royals baseball has not been a lot of fun this year.

Unfortunately, after Saturday's sixth-straight loss, the bad vibes seemed to spill into the clubhouse with comments from manager Matt Quatraro and Royals captain Salvador Perez.

So What Happened With Quatraro and Salvy?

On Saturday, the Royals gave Perez his first day off of the 2026 season. Before the game, the Royals manager talked to the media, and this is what he shared with MLB.com Royals beat writer Anne Rogers. 

Later that evening, after the Royals' nine-run loss to the Bronx Bombers, Salvy took to Twitter to share this "indirect" response to his manager's comment.

As expected, Royals fans on social media automatically went into panic mode, pointing fingers at Quatraro and the Royals organization in general. Things didn't look good at the surface either, with Salvy's comment coming shortly after news broke from Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extra Base that Kansas City would be calling up catcher Elias Diaz from Omaha.

Thus, all kinds of theories and drama were shared on social media last night (I am not going to share them, but just type in "Salvy," and you'll see the damage). Some theorized that the clubhouse was fractured, especially when compounded by the Carter Jensen incident a couple of weeks ago. Some said that Salvy had lost trust in the organization and the manager. Some said it was being over-exaggerated, and it was more of a venting from the captain about his lackluster start to this season.

Regardless, the Salvy "drama" was a distraction that a team already floundering didn't need at this point in the season.

Things Looking Slightly Better on Sunday

Before Sunday's series finale, Quatraro talked to the media, and Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star shared this comment from Quatraro about the comments from Salvy (as well as the manager's own comments and discussions with the captain).

Quatraro also confirmed, via Joel Goldberg of Royals.TV, that he and Salvy had talked about the day off and the incident "multiple times" and that they were in a good place, both ready to move on. He also pointed out that whenever Salvy doesn't play, it becomes a big story.

It doesn't seem like there are any lingering issues from the incident, at least on a lineup perspective. Today, Perez will be batting cleanup in the final game of the road trip.

Furthermore, Salvy addressed the media regarding his comments. While he didn't necessarily agree with the characterization of needing a "mental breather", he did say that he understood Quatraro's decision and was ready to move on from it. He also mentioned that he had a sore hip and would need more time at DH, which explains the Diaz promotion.

 It's not the situation the Royals would like to deal with as they prepare to avoid a winless road trip. However, at least it seems like the Royals are moving on from this misunderstanding between Quatraro and Salvy.

Is This Something to Worry About?

With the Royals seven games under.500, it's easy for Royals fans to search for anything to explain their struggles, especially on the offensive end. While Salvy is a franchise icon, he hasn't been good this year, especially offensively.

In 81 plate appearances, he has a .169 average, 36 wRC+, and -0.3 fWAR. Furthermore, his -29 wRC+ in RISP situations is the sixth-worst mark of qualified hitters this season, according to Fangraphs. 

Granted, Salvy isn't the lone problem of this Royals offense. However, Royals fans who constantly point the finger at Quatraro, hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, Vinnie Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr., or secondary players like Lane Thomas or Isaac Collins also need to understand that Salvy has been part of the problem in the Royals' first 21 games. He can't avoid criticism just because he's the captain and a fan favorite. That helps, but it isn't an excuse, especially if "winning" is what matters most to Royals fans.

I don't think Salvy is trying to avoid criticism here, either. Salvy is aware of his struggles, and that probably fuels his desire to stay in the lineup, so he can overcome this bad start and get back on track. My guess is that's where the miscommunication stemmed from. He wants to stay in to overcome his struggles. However, as a manager, Quatraro has to figure out when to let a player work through it and when to override that desire and give a player a needed reset.

Quatraro and Salvy talked about it before, according to Quatraro. However, why did Salvy react the way he did on social media?

My guess is that he didn't appreciate Quatraro's "mental breather" comment. At the end of the day, English is not Salvy's first language, and in different cultures, anything "mental" can be seen as a "weakness." It's not true, but that's just the impression some people and cultures can have with anything tied to the word "mental." I believe that if Quatraro had just said, "He needs a day off after playing in so many games back-to-back," this would not have been an issue. 

For Royals fans thinking this is the ammunition that JJ Picollo or owner John Sherman needs to fire Quatraro, you can forget it.

He signed a two-year extension this offseason. There are still 141 games remaining this season. Zumwalt may be a different story, especially after they hired two new assistant coaches this offseason. He may be "reassigned" if the Royals head into Memorial Day with a bottom-five offense. He's been with the Royals since 2019, and he's had plenty of time to show whether or not he's the right lead voice for this group.

However, Quatraro has only one fewer winning season than the previous manager, Ned Yost, in six fewer seasons. The Royals have a good thing with Q, and that shouldn't be overlooked because of a tough start and a weird misunderstanding between him and the captain.

Does this mean Royals fans need to overlook this situation? Absolutely not. It's something to monitor over the course of the year, especially if things do not improve on the record. 

However, this incident is likely being amplified more than it actually is due to Royals fans' frustration with the start the club is going through. If the Royals had a better record, it would be dismissed as not a big deal.

Hopefully, the Royals can begin that turnaround soon to help put this incident behind them.