4 standout outfielders Royals can reasonably acquire with pitching at Winter Meetings

The Kansas City Royals seem to be busy searching for their outfield reinforcements, with no shortage of rumors surfacing on potential names they could target.

The Royals’ search reportedly is two-fold, according the Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, encompassing both the free agent and trade market.

“The Royals’ preference, according to people briefed on their discussions, is to add two outfielders, one through free agency and the other through trade,” Rosenthal wrote.

While free agents aren’t always simple to sign, there’s potentially less hoops to jump when it comes not having to deal with other teams like they would in the trade market.

So, let’s look at the back half of Rosenthal’s statement and discuss some names the Royals could reasonably bring in via trade during the Winter Meetings.

4 standout outfielders Royals can reasonably acquire with pitching at Winter Meetings

Now for the purpose of this exercise, let’s consider where the Royals are as team. They certainly have contending ambitions, given they are only a year removed from making the playoffs, have an offensive core centered around one of the best players in baseball and statistically have one of the better pitching staffs in MLB.

However, they also did happen to miss the postseason last year and are a smaller market team that has been traditionally risk-averse in the past.

Then, there’s the recent reports that state they’re likely not willing to give up their key controllable veterans like Cole Ragans and potentially keen on also holding onto their standout rookie in Noah Cameron.

In this case, a safe profile for a potential target could be a younger outfielder with multiple years of control and some notable upside that may not have been on full display last season. In some cases too, they also could be part of crowded outfield unit that’s in need of some narrowing down.

Heliot Ramos – San Francisco Giants

The Royals need outfield help and the Giants starting rotation looks pretty thin at the moment behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray.

This is where Ramos could come into play. The 26-year-old is surely a valuable piece to San Francisco’s lineup but as ESPN’s David Schoenfield put it, despite their shallow outfield depth, they “have only three starters back who made more than 10 starts this past season”. In a division with the offensive prowess of the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks, strong starting pitching becomes increasingly important.

Perhaps a name like Kris Bubic would be intriguing, coming off his All-Star season – whom in the same article Shoenfield listed the Giants as “another team to watch for him”. Perhaps a young controllable arm like Ryan Bergert could peak their fancy as well, especially considering how strong he looked with a division rival in San Diego before his trade deadline move to Kansas City.

Schoenfield also touched upon the Giants weaker farm system, who outside of the likes of Top 100 prospects in Bryce Eldridge and Josuar Gonzalez gets very thin.

The Royals don’t have a strong farm system themselves, but perhaps packaging prospects where they have road-blocking depth – like catcher, middle infield or pitching – alongside a major league starter might be a way to sweeten the deal for a promising name like Ramos.

And as promising as Ramos has shown he can be, with a 120 wRC+ in 2024, he’s shown his limitations. This past season was good but not great for him, as while he remained a 20+ HR and near-70 RBI threat, the run production numbers were eerily similar to his 2024 totals in 36 more games. Then, there’s the power output, where his SLG dropped 69 points from .469 to .400.

These things could make him more affordable as perhaps we’ve seen his ceiling. And despite his shortcomings, a right-handed corner outfield bat capable of posting a 106 wRC+ would still be a godsend for the Royals compared to what they got from their cast of characters last season.

Wilyer Abreu – Boston Red Sox

Then there’s the Red Sox, who may be match made in heaven for the Royals. While the eyes might go to Jarren Duran, perhaps the All-Star moniker he carries could make him a lot pricier than the Royals would be willing to live with.

However, his outfield teammate, who’s younger and has four years of team control remaining, might somehow be more accessible to the Royals – and potentially a better fit.

In his first two full seasons with the Red Sox, Abreu has proven he’s a good hitter, carrying a 116 wRC+ in ’24 and 110 wRC+ in ’25. What he doesn’t have that Duran has is that aforementioned All-Star worthy season.

This means that with presence of Duran, former top prospect Roman Anthony and center fielder extraordinaire Ceddanne Rafaela, perhaps Abreu is the one that has the least to dream on.

Still, the Royals would be getting a proven above average hitter with 20+ HR power capabilities and Gold Glove worthy defensive prowess..

He may not be the right-handed platoon bat to pair with Jac Caglianone in right field, but at this point beggars can’t be choosers and a name like Abreu, regardless of his handedness at the plate, would be a game changer in the outfield.

Jasson Domínguez – New York Yankees

Then, we move to the Yankees for what might be the most unique name on this list in former top-tier prospect in Jasson Domínguez, whom ESPN insiders Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel listed as a name “who could move” this winter.

In 2025, Domínguez showed that there’s at least a solid bat in there after a slow start to his big league career, after hitting .257 with .719 OPS and 103 wRC+ in 127 games.

However, these numbers are respectable but not great. This makes him potentially expandable for the Yankees, who already have Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham in the outfield and are in the conversation of the being a fit for top free agent outfield names like Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger.

This means that someone like Domínguez, who’s already felt like a castoff at points in his big league career, may not be able to get the regular run he’d need to really continue to develop into the potential he held as a prospect.

Maybe a change of scenery away from the bright lights of New York could do him good, and there’s certainly an open spot in left field in Kansas City for him to get plenty of run.

And a switch-hitting outfielder that’s shown he can at least be an average hitter in the big leagues would do wonders in this Royals lineup that doesn’t necessarily need a bona fide star, but just better pieces to complement their core quartet of Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.

What a return could look like is uncertain, but the Yankees could stand to gain from the Royals starting pitching depth. With Gerrit Cole working his way back from Tommy John and both Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt on the shelf after elbow surgeries of their own, their rotation looks thinner beyond their trio up top in Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Luis Gil.

Jake Meyers – Houston Astros

The there’s Meyers, who’s already been linked to the Royals at the Winter Meetings by MLB.com’s Brian McTaggert.

The Astros reportedly value controllable starting pitching in a trade for Meyers according to a report last week from Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic.

While he’s a natural center fielder and the Royals’ needs appear to be more aligned with a corner bat, like I’ve said earlier, beggars can’t be choosers and a right-handed bat coming off a 107 wRC+ season seems like a good fit here regardless of outfield position.

He could easily come in and serve as a platoon partner for the underwhelming bat of Kyle Isbel in center and he has the defensive chops that a move to a corner doesn’t seem egregious.

And given the fact that last season was breakout for Meyers, from an affordability standpoint, now might be the perfect time to acquire him. He’s shown enough offensive upside to pair with his strong defense, decent speed, multiple years of remaining team control to make a worthwhile asset to pursue. However, he also hasn’t yet proven this is lasting change, meaning the Astros likely need to be reasonable with their asking price.

With Bergert and Stephen Kolek as well as prospects like Luinder Avila and Ben Kudrna, there are plenty of controllable arms that aren’t top-tier assets the Royals could dangle to the Astros to center a package around.