Royals fans will hope inactivity at Winter Meetings is just the calm before the storm

The MLB Winter Meetings have come and gone, and apart from the trio of big-time free agents coming off the board – Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber and Edwin Díaz – there were few transactions that actually occurred.

Many teams weren’t very active in terms of additions, including the Kansas City Royals, who didn’t make a single move during the three days in Orlando.

However, while the inactivity can’t be denied, there were plenty of rumors surrounding them this week, which fans will hope meant productive dialogue was had and that they were able to lay the groundwork for a busy offseason.

Royals fans will surely hope inactivity at Winter Meetings is a sign of action to come

Every baseball fan hopes that when the league’s brain trusts all congregate in one spot that it will result in a myriad of signings and flurry of trades that’s reminiscent of Christmas morning.

However, sometimes that’s not the case. But that’s not to say that executives were just sitting on their hands all week.

In fact, if the rumblings are true, such as the report from Anne Rogers of MLB.com, J.J. Picollo and the front office might’ve had themselves a very “productive” week.

“GM JJ Picollo called this week “productive” in terms of continuing discussions with free agents and teams despite moves not being made yet,” Rogers wrote on X. “Said they have offers out to free agents but ‘we’re at the mercy of the pace they want to go’.”

According to Ken Rosenthal’s report over the weekend before this week’s festivities really got underway, the Royals were in the hunt for multiple outfielders, “one through free agency and the other through trade.”

Given their primary focus is on their outfield search, according to a separate report from Rogers, her most recent post-meetings tidbit could be a good sign.

The Royals were connected to multiple free agent outfielders throughout the week by industry insiders, including the likes of impactful Harrison Bader and Austin Hays among others, so perhaps one of them received an offer. Then there’s the trade market, which could bear fruit soon considering a quartet of starters have been receiving some trade interest across the league.

And Picollo even mentioned as much himself that conversations were had to progress their offseason plans.

“It’s a lot of communications with teams, a lot of communication with agents,” Picollo said to Rogers. “That’s what we’re here for. There’s progress. You have a better idea of where people stand, what might be happening, ideas that you once had going away.”

This early in the offseason, it’s important to remember sometimes this is chess not checkers. There’s nothing wrong with setting the scene, so long as it’s followed up by making moves down the road to adequately meet the needs in front of them.

Time will tell if that’s what really occurred this week, but as of right now, there’s no reason to think it didn’t.