KC interested in strong consolation prize should big dreams fail

The end of December is always a strange time of the baseball offseason. Teams are coming off the high of the Winter Meetings and the immediate aftermath afterwards. But then it suddenly drops off as the holiday season takes center stage when everyone sort of takes a festive break.

Before the pause button was hit though, there were a few rumors and reports that may’ve slid under the radar while the baseball world had their mind on holiday celebrations.

One of those rumors came on Christmas Eve from Jon Heyman of MLB Network and the celebrity.land, who reported that the Royals were among the teams interested in veteran free agent Austin Hays.

The Royals still have a need for additional outfielders despite signing Lane Thomas and trading for Isaac Collins already. And while their minds may be focused on trading for All-Stars like Boston’s speed and run producing specialist Jarren Duran or St. Louis’ dynamically versatile utility man Brendan Donovan, Hays would constitute as a solid consolation prize.

Austin Hays wouldn’t be the worst option for the Royals to sign in free agency

Now, would Hays come anywhere close to matching the hype that signing a Duran or Donovan would? No, but he wouldn’t be a consolation prize if that were the case.

However, it would be unfair to dismiss Hays and what he’s done over the past few seasons in the major leagues and how it could benefit the Royals just because he’s not one of the upper echelon offseason targets.

To put things in it’s simplest form, Hays has been one of the more underappreciated outfield contributors in baseball in recent years.

With the Cincinnati Reds in 2025, the 30-year-old crafted a .266/.315/.453 slash line with 15 homers, 64 RBI with a 105 wRC+.

And 2025 was simply a microcosm of what’s been a solid five-year stretch as a major league regular post-COVID. In that span he’s never posted an OPS lower than .699 or wRC+ below 97. All in all he’s seemingly a guarantee to be a near or mildly above average outfield hitter.

In the Royals case, with their pitiful looking outfield offense last season, which finished dead in MLB with a 73 wRC+, Hays would be nothing short of a godsend – especially as a right-handed corner bat.

The Royals might be focused on names like Duran and Donovan right now, but whether it be steep asking prices, intense competition for their services, or both, deviating to Hays wouldn’t be the worst decision by any stretch of imagination for J.J. Picollo and Co.