KC likely to forgo major trade and stick with questionable status quo

For the entire offseason the Kansas City Royals have been prominently linked to two major trade targets; Boston’s Jarren Duran and St. Louis’ Brendan Donovan.

And both made plenty of sense for a Royals team in desperate need of offensive improvements. Kansas City’s lineup was a below average entity overall with arguably the two worst positions being their outfield and at second base.

However, despite months of speculation, it appears it may’ve all been for not, as a prominent baseball insider has dumped cold water on any rumors of either of these All-Star names joining the Royals for 2026.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic earlier this week, a Duran or Donovan addition doesn’t seem to be in the cards this winter for Kansas City.

“The Kansas City Royals are increasingly unlikely to land either of the two hitters they pursued in trades: the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan and Boston Red Sox’s Jarren Duran,” Rosenthal wrote.

Royals set to rely on current status quo offensively rather than make a blockbuster trade

Instead, Rosenthal suggests that Kansas City could be relying on internal improvements from a pair of new acquisitions already made and some names that severely underperformed in 2025.

“Barring further moves, the Royals expect to rely heavily on offseason acquisitions Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas in their outfield, as well as rookie Jac Caglianone and holdover Kyle Isbel,” Rosenthal wrote.

“Though the Royals’ outfield production might remain below average, their infield of Vinnie Pasquantino, Jonathan India, Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia should again be one of the most productive in baseball, particularly if India bounces back,” he wrote.

While there’s reasons to get excited about the new signings Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins, after the former crafted solid power and speed when fully healthy in recent years and the latter just finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, neither constitutes that game changing All-Star potential that a Duran or Donovan would.

Again at his best back in 2023, Thomas was a 109 wRC+ hitter who belted 28 homers, drove in 86 runs and swiped 20 bags, which he followed up with a decent 99 wRC+ season with 15 homers, 63 RBI and 32 stolen bases in 2024.

However, in 2025, Thomas only appeared in 39 games due to injury, and when on the field, only mustered a .160/.246/.272 with a 48 wRC+

Collins looked like a true major league fit for most of his rookie campaign last year with a 122 wRC+ and 2.6 fWAR.

That being said, he ended the season on less than ideal note with a 97 wRC+ in September and thus was only sporadically used and ineffective when getting the call in the Brewers’ postseason run to the NLCS.

Then there’s the returning question marks Rosenthal mentioned of Jac Caglianone, Jonathan India and Kyle Isbel.

Isbel’s not overly surprising as depite the extremely poor 79 wRC+ in bat in 2025, his Gold Glove-worthy 9 DRS, 12 OAA and 10 FRV defense means there’s value to be had even if it’s not in the batter’s box.

The real question marks come with Caglinaone and India.

Caglianone didn’t come anywhere close to replicating the production he displayed in the upper minors in his meteoric rise to the majors in June, posting a .157/.237/.295 slash line with a 46 wRC+.

He’s still young in his career and could very well be poised for a season worthy of his top prospect pedigree, but the reality is that there’s already potentially some doubt surrounding how quickly he could rise those heights, given GM J.J. Picollo entered the offseason in search of a platoon partner for him.

Then, there’s India, who’s already had Royals fans scratching their heads after an early bode of confidence was shown to him after receiving an early $8 million contract for the 2026 season despite turning in a career worst .233/.323/.346 slash line and 89 wRC+ in 2025.

This offseason has undoubtedly been more productive than the business done last winter, and as Rosenthal eluded to, there’s a possibility that further additions could be made, just not Duran or Donovan.

However, it’s hard for the Royals faithful to see a report like this and not get the feeling that the front office could be settling once again in an offseason where their postseason dreams and the AL Central division seemed attainable once again.

This isn’t to say they can’t achieve either of those things in 2026, however a push for a star-caliber bat to insert amongst the heart of the order would have made it an easier feat to accomplish.