Royals’ 2026 payroll may already be a little tight

It is time to shift gears and look to next season, for me at least. To that end, the first thing to know is – what kind of space does the front office have to add talent? Or what can be done to free up enough money to get what the team needs?

Here are the salaries the Royals are definitely on the hook for in 2026, assuming they don’t trade the contracts. I am putting Salvador Perez’s option as well. He is not leaving this team unless something very weird happens. The most likely change would be that instead of picking up his option, they signed him to a new deal.

So, the team has just shy of $82 million in contractual obligations if you ignore the two mutual options that Michael Lorenzen and Randall Grichuk have, althoug they will owe $4.5 million in buyouts on the two. Mutual options never get exercised. The team also has a very interesting decision to make on Jonathan India who will be entering his final year of arbitration and will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million. Do you pay that to a guy who they don’t seem to like at any defensive position and hasn’t been a particularly good hitter? Second base is still a big question mark, so maybe, but I am not sure. If kept, that pushes them above $90 and then there are several other arbitration eligible players that are going to get paid including Kris Bubic, Vinnie Pasquantino, John Schreiber, Kyle Isbel, Daniel Lynch, Angel Zerpa, and maybe Michael Massey, Sam Long, and Bailey Falter if they want to keep those who are still relatively cheap as Arb 1 players.

Of the arbitration folks, Bubic and Schreiber are starting to get expensive. My guess is Bubic in Arb 3 gets $7-8 million, and Schreiber is going to get in the $4-5 million range. Bubic is a no-brainer unless the shoulder is cooked, but moving Schreiber could make sense in some scenarios. Isbel is Arb 2 and will make around $4 million. As a useful position player that is good enough value that I don’t think it is a question whether or not you tender him.

Everyone else is Arb 1 and not going to crush the payroll. Still, this group is going to push the payroll up by around $25 million and maybe a bit more. Even if India isn’t retained, that puts the payroll over $100 million before all the group of pre-arb players start getting their dribs and drabs. I would not be surprised if Picollo only has between $5-$15 million in the free agency budget with the option to drop India and add some more if there is a better or cheaper option. That is also assuming they are going to stay in the $120-$130 million range for overall payroll.

While it would be lovely to go sign Kyle Tucker, we all know that isn’t going to happen. I think a lot of people would like to retain Mike Yastrzemski, but $5 million or whatever he would receive might matter to the budget. Plus, if we assume Jac Caglianone in right field, having two left-handed right fielders seems like an odd choice on an already lefty-heavy team. Also, I don’t want to have to commit to learning how to spell Yastrzemski from memory. On the other hand, free agency this offseason is looking pretty weak at the two positions – second base and outfield – where the Royals could upgrade the most.

They could clear up some payroll by moving someone like Estévez. You would not get much in return, but clearing $10 million might be worth it if the front office thinks the current bullpen can take care of the situation. Also, these are easier to trade for at the deadline than impact bats if you are in the race next July.

Anyway, this is going to be an interesting offseason, and I think the potential for some big trades is very high, which is something I will definitely get to writing about over the next several months. Money is not going to be something I expect them to throw around aggressively, both because of the lack of quality free agents and the limited amount I think the front office will be given from above. How they play this will be super fun to watch, if you are into a very nerdy sort of fun, or it will be incredibly boring as they just sit on their hands and basically expect Carter Jensen and Caglianone to boost the offense up through improvement along with maybe a bounce back from India.

This is just the first salvo of preparation for the offseason, which will be followed by lots of how Royals writers trying to find fixes to the anemic offense that sunk them in 2025. I wish I could tell you the tens of millions and a lot of options, but I think they are going to have to get more creative than splashing around money in free agency, as per usual. That does not mean that six months from now we won’t be looking at a much more solid 26-man roster than they had going into this season.