Royals trade deadline pickup oddly picked to be on the move in August

The Kansas City Royals still have hopes of really getting back into the Wild Card race. Unfortunately, time is growing short, and the club hasn’t been able to catch fire the way it needs to to jump several teams ahead of it in the postseason race.

Should the team continue to tread water and eventually decide it’s out of the race, could it find a way to shave some salary and help a real contender? At least one analyst thinks the Royals might send Mike Yastrzemski packing if things don’t change soon.

Obviously, the trade deadline has come and gone, and the waiver wire trades don’t work like they used to, but a team like the Royals can still help other teams and save a little cash with the waiver wire. And when it comes to guys like Yastrzemski, who might not be in KC’s plans for 2026, there’s always a chance he could be waived.

Could Mike Yastrzemski be an August waiver candidate for the Kansas City Royals?

That’s the rationale of Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report offered up when writing about 15 potential waiver wire moves that could be made before the roster deadline kicks in on August 31. Miller believes that, should the Kansas City Royals decide they’re out of the race, they might make the outfielder they acquired just a few weeks ago available to those positioning themselves for a real postseason run.

“Thus far, the Royals can’t argue with what they’ve gotten, as he had a 1.068 OPS in his first seven games with KC—which is quite the improvement upon what had been a .733 OPS in his final 4.5 seasons with the Giants,” Miller wrote.

However, Miller pointed out that getting rid of Yastrzemski and having him picked up on the waiver wire could save Kansas City at least $1 million.

All of this seems extremely unlikely for the Kansas City Royals, who want to fight for a playoff bid. It seems like it would take a long losing streak just ahead of the end of the month. But stranger things have happened.