Over these last two seasons, the Kansas City Royals pitching staff has been the strength of the team. More specifically, you can point to the starting rotation, but the bullpen has been a mostly solid unit over the last two seasons as well.
With all the injuries last season to the starters, Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic, among others, the Royals made some trades that replenished the much-maligned unit.
Going into the 2026 season, the Royals have a multitude of guys that could be in the starting rotation. This isn’t what I think is going to happen, I have no insider knowledge, and I’m not saying this is the path the Royals should take… however if I was in control of things, this is how I would carve out the Opening Day starters and relievers.
Opening Day starter: Seth Lugo
I know he may have the highest ceiling of all the Royals starters and he’s been rather awesome when he’s been healthy, but I would trade Cole Ragans if I had a say in things. The biggest red flag for Cole Ragans is his availability, the 28-year-old left hander, has already gone through two Tommy Johns and had a rotator cuff strain last season that held him out most of the season. I think the Royals could sell high on him, especially if he’s going to help get you some much needed offense, like Jarren Duran. While I would be sad to see Ragans leave, the Royals need to capitalize on Bobby Witt Jr’s prime and give themselves the best chance to compete for a title.
I was honestly between trading Ragans or Bubic, as I think one will have to be traded for the Royals to get the much-needed outfielder, they need in the offense. Also, the pitching staff was still rather good with Ragans on the shelf last year, it was the offense that struggled.
So, everyone else gets boosted up a spot in the rotation order with Ragans shipped out, Noah Cameron and Ryan Bergert fill out the remaining two spots, and Stephen Kolek remains a great fallback option, but I think he may crack the team in the bullpen to start the year.
Set up men: Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm
Other high/middle relief options: Nick Mears, John Schreiber and Stephen Cruz
Mop up roles: (I don’t mean this in a bad way, but guys that could work their way up or be a long relief type): Daniel Lynch IV and Stephen Kolek
That puts eight men in the Royals bullpen and with the five starters, gives them 13 Opening Day pitchers, the amount the Royals typically have throughout the season. Of guys that are currently on the active roster, that I didn’t mention, Luinder Avila, Mason Black, Bailey Falter, Alex Lange, Alec Marsh and James McArthur didn’t make my cut. With that being said, I could see one of them making the team out of Spring Training or being called up at some point.
I still think the Royals need to add another left-handed relief option to pair with Strahm, who is a huge upgrade over Angel Zerpa. They need another leverage guy, because I don’t know how much you can trust Lynch in a high leverage situation. I would personally target Danny Coulombe or Andrew Chafin who are currently free agents still. That would probably bump Lynch or Cruz off my MLB roster.
This is just my take on how I would do things, running a team isn’t easy or fun, I don’t envy the job. How do you think the Royals should shape their pitching staff this season?
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