MLB insiders weigh in on outfield search, J.J. Picollo on Cole Ragans

The first day of the MLB Winter Meetings has come and gone and while there wasn’t many concrete moves at all throughout around the league, the rumor mill was churning out plenty of food for thought.

For the Royals the main two matters at the top of conversation were, of course, their search for outfielders and their starting pitching surplus.

Here’s what some baseball’s biggest insiders are reporting with Day 1 in the books.

Jon Heyman reports Royals are interested in several outfield free agents

While Ken Rosenthal may’ve reported on Sunday evening that Kansas City could be “priced out” of the Harrison Bader sweepstakes, Jon Heyman of the celebrity.land and MLB Network reported that that they still have interest in the veteran outfielder.

“Royals among teams considering Harrison Bader,” Heyman wrote on X. “KC interested in position players, especially righty hitters.”

After a major bounce back season in 2025, Bader could fill a more everyday outfield role while also potentially taking some right-handed bats from the glove-first Kyle Isbel in center field.

Heyman also listed another pair of veterans that the Royals reportedly have interest in Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Hays and said Kansas City is “closely surveying the OF market”. Both of these names could be in the mix to occupy the Royals’ open left field spot.

Royals fans are familiar with Yastrzemski’s game after he hit the ground running when he arrived at Kauffman Stadium following his deadline day trade from the Giants – he posted an .839 OPS and 127 wRC+ in 50 games with Kansas City.

Then, there’s Hays, who has been a consistently decent bat since becoming a major league regular back in 2021 in Baltimore. In the five seasons since then, Hays has posted an above average wRC+ in four of the five years and the one year he didn’t, he at least teetered on the verge of being average with a 97 wRC+ in 2024.

Ken Rosenthal lists potential outfield alternatives to Harrison Bader

As we’ve already discussed on the site, Ken Rosenthal believes the Royals may be forced to look beyond Harrison Bader.

In that same report he did mention a series of other free agent options the Royals could pursue as alternatives.

“Among free agents, a reunion with Mike Yastrzemski is one avenue the Royals are exploring.” Rosenthal wrote. “Adolis García, Max Kepler and Mike Tauchman are among the other free agents they could pursue, along with bounce back candidates Lane Thomas and JJ Bleday.”

The Royals know what they’d have in Yastrzemski and he seems like the safest option. Tauchman is name that’s coming off a strong 2025 season with the White Sox in which he posted a .756 OPS and 115 wRC+.

Then, the other four names in García, Kepler, Bleday and Thomas are all buy-low candidates each coming off seasons at a 90 wRC+ or lower.

MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart links Royals to Astros center fielder

Later on in the day, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggert suggested the Royals as team who could be in on Astros center fielder Jake Meyers.

“Sources say the White Sox, Dodgers, Reds and Royals are interested in the 29-year-old who’s under team control for two more seasons,” McTaggart wrote.

Meyers is a center fielder by trade, but considering he’s a right-handed bat and coming off an above-average 107 wRC+ season, it’s not wild to think that perhaps the Royals might not be opposed to not completely relying on Isbel and his 79 wRC+ bat in center.

The multiple years of remaining control are nice, he was making strong contact with a near-.300 average and wasn’t striking out often with a 17.6% K-rate, he’s a well above-average defender at a premium position and he’s got some notable speed.

There’s a lot reason as to why the Royals might have interest in Meyers.

Anne Rogers reports J.J. Picollo doesn’t see Cole Ragans getting moved this offseason

Lastly, we round off away from the outfield with Anne Rogers offering the latest, and arguably most important tidbit of information on the Cole Ragans trade saga.

While multiple insiders have been discussing the Royals potentially Ragans for the right price and exploring possible trade options for him, it seems GM J.J. Picollo might be shutting the door a potential trade of his ace, according to Rogers.

“It would be really difficult for us to trade Cole,” Picollo said to Rogers. “When Cole is right, he’s as good as anybody in the game.”

“It’s rare that you get an opportunity to have somebody like that, and we have him for three more years,” he said. “It’s fun to talk about, but the reality is, if we didn’t have Cole Ragans in our rotation, we’d feel like we’re missing something really big.”

“We’re in a really good spot [with depth], so if the right trade comes along, and it costs us a starting pitcher, we have to look at it,” Picollo said. “It’s just not going to be Cole.”

Now the question is, who will the Royals consider dealing from their rotation? Because at the end of the day, while depth is never a bad thing, they simply have too many starting pitching arms right now.