The Royals saw their fair share of roster turnover this winter with several veteran names from last season latching onto new organizations as non-roster invitees or through waiver claims.
And on Wednesday three of those names who featured for the Royals in 2025 received news of how they’d be starting their 2026 seasons. Two of them discovered their major league dreams would immediately live on, while one sees his future remain uncertain.
Utility man Adam Frazier and outfielder Randal Grichuk, a pair of midseason trade additions for Kansas City in 2025, saw their contracts selected by the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees respectively, while speedster Dairon Blanco was DFA’d for the second time this offseason, this time by the Texas Rangers.
Former Royals Adam Frazier and Randal Grichuk took a gamble on themselves this winter and won
Frazier was a great clubhouse presence in both 2024 and when he returned in 2025, and he managed to redeem himself after a poor statistical showing his first time around in Kansas City, posting a respectable 98 wRC+ for a utility bench bat after the trade.
While Royals fans may’ve initially hoped to bring him back to fill their utility needs this season, Frazier landed with the Angels as a non-roster invitee and thrived in Cactus League action. In 19 games, he hit .265 with a .785 OPS, 17.8% walk rate, 13.3% K-rate and a 121 wRC+.
With the constantly rebuilding Angels, there’s plenty of reason to believe the versatile Frazier will get plenty of run with them this year.
Grichuk on the other hand may be in the same scenario as Frazier, having latched on with his new major league team, however, the competitive Yankees pose a bit more of a pressure-filled sitution than the Angels do.
However, Grichuk has had a respectable and lengthy big league career – even if his 56 wRC+ with the Royals last season was very underwhelming, as well as his 19 wRC+ showing in limited spring training run with the Yankees.
With Jasson Dominguez lurking in the wings, his days in the Bronx may very well be numbered. That being said, he landed a major league job and for Grichuk, that’s all that matters.
Former Royals speedster Dairon Blanco suffers same fate that Royals handed a few weeks ago
Moving from celebration to commiseration, after being claimed by the Rangers following being DFA’d by Kansas City earlier this spring, former Royals speedster Dairon Blanco has been DFA’d yet again by his new squad.
Blanco didn’t exactly show out with his new squad, posting a -36 wRC+ in a very limited six plate appearance showing with the Rangers, so it wasn’t a shock to see him on the chopping block.
Despite his poor bat – which wasn’t just limited to 2026 spring training, but has been largely absent since 2023 – his blistering speed and ability to play both in center field and the corner outfield could land him a new home sooner rather than later.
That being said, for the time being, the 32-year-old’s major league future is once again in limbo.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
