With the Kansas City Royals’ 2025 campaign officially over, it’s time to look towards 2026. There’s plenty of young talent coming back that could make a big difference in the standings next summer.
Still, the club will need to add some free agents, or rather keep some free agents from leaving to compete in what is clearly a winnable AL Central.
There are, in fact, three soon-to-be free agents that the team should make every effort to keep around. It’s unlikely they’ll be all that costly, and they could be lovely pieces on a contending team.
Adam Frazier is a nice complementary player for a club needing offense
When the Royals added Adam Frazier near the trade deadline, it was an interesting move if for no other reason than it showed they wanted to buy when many thought they’d be sellers.
He rewarded the team with a solid if unspectacular second half, posting a 101 OPS+ and slashing .283/.320/.402 after an extremely unimpressive stint with the same club in 2024.
While his numbers were good with KC, it’s unlikely he’s going to fetch a high price on the open market. His success with the Kauffman denizens might convince the well-traveled utility man to sign a new deal that will be beneficial for both sides.
Hunter Harvey could be a solid, cheap option for the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen
Hunter Harvey missed most of the season with various injuries, but when he was able to pitch, he posted the kind of numbers that should get him an invite back.
Harvey didn’t allow an earned run in 12 appearances and 10.1 innings. He also struck out 11 batters.
Considering he’d likely sign a one-year “prove it” deal to show he can stay healthy, he could even come with a smaller price tag than the $3.7 million he got last year to avoid arbitration.
Mike Yastrzemski could offer some punch for the Royals’ outfield
Like Frazier, Mike Yastrzemski was a low-cost, high-reward acquisition near the trade deadline who didn’t put up eye-popping numbers but was good enough at times that it might be worth bringing him back in 2026.
The outfielder slashed .237/.339/.500 for KC, but most importantly, he showed that he’s still got a power stroke when he got away from San Francisco.
In 50 games for the Kansas City Royals, he had more homers (9) than he did in the 96 previous games for the Giants.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
