The Kansas City Royals were a Wild Card team in 2024, winning 86 games during the regular season and making it to the American League Division Series. Unfortunately, they couldn’t follow that up with more success in 2025. They still finished with a winning record at 82-80, but they missed the postseason and fell to third place in the AL Central behind the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers.
The offense let them down this season, and the pitching staff could only do so much to keep the Royals afloat. This offseason, there will likely be some roster turnover, and certain players may not be back.
Caleb Moody of Kings of Kauffman listed five players that will likely not return in 2026, and among them was right-hander Michael Lorenzen.
“What may have been the revealing factor to his potential departure was when the Royals were faced with a roster crunch at the end of the season when Cole Ragans and Michael Wacha returned to the rotation and it was Lorenzen who was demoted to the bullpen to make room,” Moody wrote.
“And their crowded rotation situation will be no different this winter with a group that includes Ragans and Wacha along with Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, Bailey Falter and Luinder Avila all under contract or team control at the moment.”
Lorenzen had a difficult season with the Royals in 2025. He went 7-11 with a 4.64 ERA in 26 starts and one relief appearance. He struck out 127 batters in 141 2/3 innings of work. He has a mutual option for 2026, but the Royals will likely decline their end of it, which could result in him returning to free agency.
The 33-year-old right-hander was an All-Star back in 2023 with the Detroit Tigers, but hasn’t quite been the same pitcher since then. He can be used as a starter or a reliever and could be had on a one-year deal by a team looking for pitching.
However, the Royals have plenty of arms in their mix, and it is likely that they will choose to let Lorenzen walk. It will certainly be interesting to see where he ends up, but the Royals will have work to do to bolster their offense instead of adding more pitching.
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