Following their lo s to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals are 14-28 on the season.You read that right: Kansas City's win total is the same amount of games the club is below .500 in 2022.Things aren't going particularly well for a team that expected to improve on 2021's mark of 74-88. That was a 45.7% win rate, and this season's 33.3% clip puts the Royals on pace for roughly 54 wins. Things will almost certainly improve at least a bit over the course of the year, but the simple fact is that this year's Royals team isn't good.Despite that, there's plenty to talk about. In the very first edition of the mailbag, and will answer them below. A huge thank you goes out Gerald Everett Jersey to everyone who asked questions we'll do another mailbag soon. Without further ado, let's get to it. What percentage chance does Bobby Witt Jr. have of winning AL Rookie of the Year?Before the season, Bobby Witt Jr. had pretty darn solid odds to win the American League Rookie of the Year award. Although he's been heating up as of late, aslow start has caused his production relative to his peers to be underwhelming overall. Houston Astros rookie Jeremy Pena has been nothing short of fantastic this year, slashing .293/.347/.504 in 38 games and posting a wRC+ of 150. He's the winner if the season ended today, and names such as Gilberto Celestino, Brendan Donovan, Luis Gonzalez, Steven Kwan, Julio Rodriguez, Spencer Torkelson and others must still be taken into account as well.As far as a percentage goes, I'll give it 10% as of right now. I'm not sure whether this is too much or too little but considering the fantastic starts we've seen thus far, it seems like I'm still giving Witt the appropriate amount of respect for his talent. He has plenty of time to catch fire and finish the year on a high note, and how the eventual winner finishes could be what snags them the award. Witt's made of the right stuff to go on a run. Will the Royals win 75 games?Much like with Witt, asking the same question before the season would've garnered a much more positive response. A 75-win campaign would be a one-game improvement over last season but given how poorly Kansas City has started this year, I'm going to offer up a pretty resounding "no" here. Changes made (more on that here in a second) could lead to incremental improvements, but this is no longer a cold spell. It's a very bad baseball team, and one that will have to scratch and claw just to avoid losing 100 games at this rate. How in the world does (Cal) Eldred still have a job?Firing Cal Eldred could be one of the aforementioned changes that helps the Royals both Joey Bosa Jersey in the short and long-term. The club's pitching staff not just the starting rotation and not just the bullpen . Teams can't win games that way, even if their offense is above-average. The Royals don't have that luxury from their bats, and the product is one of the bottom-five in the game.President of baseball operations Dayton Moore took responsibility for the Royals' young pitchers failing. He said he rushed them through the system aggre sively and that's why they haven't panned out. He also said that if people are going to blame Eldred for the shortcomings of Brady Singer (who went down to Omaha and is now playing better) and Jackson Kowar, they need to give him credit for Daniel Lynch. Not much of that makes sense, and Kansas City's loyalty to Eldred is more of the same. That loyalty is why he still remains with the club.Scroll to Continue Why are the Royals so committed to giving Ryan O'Hearn at-bats?See above re: loyalty for better or worse. Rashawn Slater Jersey This season, O'Hearn is slashing .171/.222/.244 with a home run and five RBIs in 45 plate appearances. He hasn't logged a wRC+ above 70 since his 44-game 2018 rookie campaign. He isn't a plus baserunner nor defender. Logically speaking, things (again) don't align. Should the Royals trade (Andrew) Benintendi? Seems like exactly the guy to keep around if you're ready to compete but the corner OF has a lot of mouths to feed and the return would likely be good.This is a very interesting question. On one hand, the Royals just lost their arbitration case to Andrew Benintendi and there haven't been any rumblings about a po sible contract extension. It makes sense for the club to ship him elsewhere at the trade deadline if he isn' J.C. Jackson Jersey t in any long-term plans. That would net at least a prospect when Benintendi could otherwise hit the free agent market and the Royals would then recoup nothing. It's also po sible to trade him now, then attempt to re-sign him later. That proposition is unreasonably risky, though.On the other hand, Benintendi is a good player. In addition to playing above-average defense in left field, he's having the best offensive season of his career. His power has disappeared, but he's getting on base at a career-best clip and also striking out le s often than he ever has. That's a winning recipe and his age (27) makes him a prime candidate for an extension. Depending on how the Royals feel about the future of their outfield, it makes sense to keep him around despite having guys like Edward Olivares and Kyle Isbel in the picture. I'd lean extend, but only if the price is right.Preston also had a second question.Is Nick Pratto the corner OF of the future? Vinnie (Pasquantino) has been playing 1B, DH is taken by Salvy (Salvador Perez) for years, and Pratto has played more LF/RF in Omaha.Another absolute banger from Preston. Because of how good Vinnie Pasquantino's bat is and considering how likely he is to be confined to a first base or designated hitter-only role, it makes sense to leave him at first base. That not only opens the DH role for someone like Salvador Perez (or even Hunter Dozier, if he's around), but it allows the Royals to rest a sured knowing that they're getting as many good bats in the lineup as po sible moving forward.For as good as Pratto can potentially be at first base, he's athletic enough to hold down a corner outfield spot adequately (in this writer's estimation). That could also help partially solve the Benintendi problem should the Royals let him walk. It's an imperfect science here, but it isn't hard to squint and see a way in which Kansas City can figure this logjam out. That's a relatively good problem to have. Can even Jesus save this team? Why am I so sad?I didn't want to leave either of these nice guys hanging. Chandler: Jesus would certainly help but unle s he can be Mike Trout at the plate pitch virtually every single day, the answer is no. Tucker: Just hang in there. Brighter days may not be ahead until next year or 2024, but they're (allegedly) coming.Well, that's all the time we have for the inaugural mailbag. To submit questions for next time and give feedback on how this one went, reach out Derwin James Jr T Shirts to the site on Twitter or myself . Again, thank you to everyone who asked questions! It's greatly appreciated, and my hope is that t