The theme of the winter so far for the Kansas City Royals has been outfielders.
Earlier this month, the Royals signed right-handed hitting outfielder Lane Thomas and trade for switch-hitting outfielder Isaac Collins. Adding those two to a mix that already included Kyle Isbel, Jac Caglianone, Nick Loftin, and a handful of others could help keep Kansas City out of the dead last spot for outfield fWAR this year.
However, it appears that the Royals aren’t done pursuing outfielders, as made evident by their pursuit of Adolis García, who eventually signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Red Sox trade candidate Jarren Duran.
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New Royals target: Austin Hays
On Wednesday, Jon Heyman of the celebrity.land provided an update on another outfield bat the Royals were at least casually targeting: former All-Star Austin Hays, who played for the Cincinnati Reds this season and put up a strong platoon campaign with a .949 OPS agaisnt left-handed pitching.
According to Heyman, the Royals were “among other teams that remain interested in Hays” as of Wednesday, as the insider also listed the New York Yankees and New York Mets as teams in his market.
On one hand, players like Hays give the Royals the opportunity to win free-agent bidding wars against the New York teams, which they wouldn’t be able to do in the cases of Juan Soto or Cody Bellinger. Just because they could potentially land Hays, though, doesn’t mean they should.
With an abundance of righties already in the lineup, the Royals need a left-handed outfielder who can provide real offensive impact. There’s also no guarantee at all that Hays will be better than Thomas this year, and their spots on the roster would be relatively redundant.
Bringing in one more outfielder means that Caglianone or Isbel, and possibly both, will be out of most everyday lineups. So the Royals need to clear a high bar.
If they’re not getting someone of Duran’s caliber, or perhaps a half-step below, there’s really no need for the Royals to keep poking around the outfield market hoping to hit singles.
More MLB: Royals GM Hints Kansas City Already Has Solution To Lackluster Offense
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