Royals Should Have One More Move Up Their Sleeve After Starling Marte

The Kansas City Royals made what could be their final move of the offseason on Saturday, signing veteran outfielder Starling Marte to a one-year contract. He can serve as a right-handed bench bat with some power, as well as more outfield depth for a team that needed help in that area at the start of the offseason.

However, they shouldn’t be done just yet. Last week, right-hander Stephen Kolek suffered an oblique strain, and he is currently shut down as the Royals assess their options.

There is not a clear timetable just yet. But if he is out long-term, the Royals would be smart to look for a little insurance in free agency.

Royals should look into adding more pitching

As the old saying goes, a team can never have too much pitching. Kolek was going to make an appearance on February 25 when the Royals were facing the Seattle Mariners.

He can be used as both a starter and a reliever when healthy, so the Royals would be wise to look into options from both areas in free agency, even though their starting rotation is mostly set.

They already have Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Noah Cameron, Kris Bubic and Michael Wacha, which is a pretty solid starting five. But Zack Littell, Nestor Cortes, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson, Jon Gray and Marcus Stroman are still available as insurance options

There are also plenty of pitchers still on the market that can be used in both roles such as Joey Lucchesi and Max Kranick. The Royals don’t know how long Kolek is going to be out. If he returns quickly, then they should be fine, but a little more depth can’t hurt, especially if he ends up being out for a long time.

Oblique injuries tend to take a while to heal, especially for pitchers, and with plenty of underrated options still left unsigned, the Royals have a few different directions that they can go.

But simply standing pat, depending on the severity of the injury, may not be the best idea in this scenario. Pitching depth can be affected quickly and negatively by any injury, so it will be interesting to see if the Royals decide that it’s worth going back into the free agent market and plucking somebody off the board that hasn’t been scouted yet by other teams.

Other than that, the Royals are looking pretty solid heading into 2026.