3 World Series standouts the Royals should have on their Hot Stove radar

The waiting is over. The Dodgers’ thrilling Saturday night Game 7 win ended the World Series, so the trade and free agent markets are open.

That means the Kansas City Royals can launch efforts to strengthen a roster that wasn’t quite good enough to land a spot in the 2025 postseason. The Royals can immediately make trades with anyone, but can only sign their own free agents until the current collective bargaining agreement’s five-day “Quiet Period” ends.

Expect general manager J.J. Picollo to cast a wide net on both markets. His Royals desperately need an established power bat, have a good but not flawless bullpen, and another starting pitcher could make a good rotation great.

Picollo won’t leave many, if any, stones unturned in his quest for improvement … and some standouts of the just-completed Fall Classic who are free agents, or could opt into free agency by declining player options, should be on his radar.

Here are three of those players.

The Royals should take a long, hard look at Bo Bichette

Picollo’s search for a lineup-sparking, game-changing hitter could begin and end with Toronto’s Bichette. His three-run, third-inning homer off Dodger starter Shohei Ohtani was the highlight of Game 7 for the Blue Jays, and he finished the Series with six RBI and a .348/.444/.478 line.

But there’s more — much more — to Bichette than his stellar Series performance. The two-time All-Star may not be inclined to leave Toronto, where he’s played his entire career since debuting in 2019. Picollo would be remiss if he didn’t at least check in with the free agent’s camp.

That Bichette would beef up KC’s lineup is obvious. He’ll carry a career .294 average, 122 wRC+, 20 fWAR, and 111 home runs into next season, and he’s clubbed at least 20 homers in each of his four full big league campaigns (not including the pandemic-truncated 2020 season).

There is a problem, though, with Bichette. He’s a shortstop, and the Royals don’t need another as long as Bobby Witt Jr. is around. And making Bichette a full-time DH isn’t an option, not with Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen needing to spend a lot of time in that slot next year.

The answer? Convince Bichette to switch to second base, a position posing less physical risk for a player who missed almost all of this September with a knee strain, and two months of the 2024 campaign with calf injuries. He hadn’t appeared at the keystone in a big league game until the opening contest of this year’s World Series.

Bringing Bichette in as the second baseman would displace at least Michael Massey, who we’ve previously suggested should have the job full-time. But if principal owner John Sherman shakes loose the cash necessary to lure Bichette to Kauffman Stadium, moving Massey to the bench becomes a no-brainer.

Shane Bieber could give the Royals an incredible rotation

Bieber, long a nemesis of the Royals when he pitched for American League Central Division rival Cleveland, took an odd route to this season’s World Series.

Sidelined early in the 2024 campaign by Tommy John Surgery, he didn’t throw a big league pitch this year until Aug. 22 when, after a trade deadline deal sent him from the Guardians to Toronto, he started for the Blue Jays and struck out nine in six innings to beat Miami. He finished his short season 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA. Small-sample stats to be sure, but commensurate with his 66-34, 3.24, eight-season career record.

And although he gave up the winning run in Game 7, he was otherwise good this postseason, posting a 3.57 ERA in four pre-Game 7 outings, beating the Dodgers in Game 4 of the Fall Classic, and striking out 13 in defeating Seattle in Game 3 of the ALCS.

Bieber also won the AL Cy Young award for the short 2020 season, when he mesmerized opponents by leading the majors with a 1.63 ERA and winning eight of nine decisions for Cleveland. He’s a two-time All-Star and owns a Gold Glove.

But with their plethora of good starters, do the Royals need another? Perhaps not, but this season proved how decimating injuries can be to a rotation, and the club may well need to draw from its strong stockpile of starters to get the offensive boost it needs.

So, if tempted to shake up the rotation with another proven starter, Picollo can’t be blamed if he calls Bieber (something we advocated for last winter) if the right-hander opts for free agency by declining his $16 million player option for 2026. Picking him up could give Kansas City an incredible rotation.

Dodgers veteran has the versatility the Royals prize

Picollo could satisfy his obvious hunger for versatility — think about all his players who are capable of playing multiple positions — with Kiké Hernández, the all-purpose Dodger who sealed his club’s Game 6 World Series victory with this stellar play:

Hernández epitomizes versatility. Although he’s spent more time in the infield than anywhere else, he’s logged over 600 games in the outfield and played everywhere except behind the plate during his 12 years in the majors. Hernández’s glove is adequate across the field.

Offensively, Hernández has some power — he homered 10 times this season, 12 times last year, and even hit 21 homers in 2018 and 20 in 2021. His home run accounted for LA’s only run in Game 5 of the Series. His .236/.305/.403 career line won’t get him into the Hall of Fame, but he isn’t horrible at the plate.

He’s also played on now three World Series championship teams — the 2020, 2024 and now 2025 Dodgers — and has seen action in 24 postseason series.

Now a free agent, Hernández may well return to Los Angeles, where he’s played three-fourths of his big league seasons. But if the Dodgers move on from him, the $6.5 million he made this year suggests he’d fit within the Royals’ 2026 budget.