Who, if anyone, will the Kansas City Royals sign to improve their outfield?
It was the most obvious Achilles Heel on a very fun, very flawed 2024 Royals team. The outfield’s most valuable contributor was center fielder Kyle Isbel with 1.8 bWAR, most of which came on defense, while no other outfielder had even 0.5 bWAR.
Kansas City likely doesn’t have much budget left, but it would be negligence not to add even one more player to the outfield mix in 2025. Especially, that is, when the ideal corner outfield/designated hitter candidate is still sitting unclaimed on the market.
Randal Grichuk had a fantastic year for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024, forming the right-handed half of one of the sport’s most effective platoons. After compiling an .875 OPS in 106 games, Grichuk is in search of a more permanent lineup role entering his age-34 season.
On Saturday, FanSided’s Rachael Millanta discussed Grichuk’s fit for the Royals, naming his as a top-four free-agent candidate for Kansas City who was “somehow still available.”
“With Teoscar Hernández, Anthony Santander, and Jurickson Profar now signed with new teams, the list of free agent outfielders for the Royals to target is rapidly shrinking, but one player worth considering is Randal Grichuk,” Millanta wrote.
“Mostly utilized against left-handed pitching, Grichuk proved himself to be one of the season’s best platoon outfielders, batting .291/.348/.528 with 12 home runs and 46 RBI in 279 plate appearances, including a .319/.386/.528 line against left-handers.”
Grichuk also performed well against righties, posting an .801 OPS in 95 plate appearances. But even in a pure platoon situation, Grichuk would be so much better than any current lefty masher the Royals have that it would be worth the hassle of signing him.
Spotrac projects Grichuk for a two-year, $6.6 million contract, which seems like a wise investment for any team if that’s truly all it takes. Even the same amount on a one-year deal would make sense for the Royals at this stage of the game.
Whatever role he might play, Grichuk would make a perfect fit for the Royals right now. The question is which other teams are in the running, and how that competition might affect Kansas City’s budget.
More MLB: Phillies $42 Million All-Star Free Agent Tabbed As ‘Good Fit’ For Royals
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
