The Kansas City Royals need an outfielder who can provide offensive upside this offseason, preferably one that can also play any of the three positions.
Harrison Bader certainly makes sense as a fit. He put up an impressive 3.9-WAR season for the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies, setting a new career-high in on-base percentage at .347 and belting a career-high 17 home runs.
But the Phillies might well want Bader back, and a handful of other teams would be easy to project as potential suitors. What are the odds the Royals actually pull off the signing?
Phillies predicted to land Bader to boost outfield
MLB Trade Rumors recently released their annual free agency predictions, and one of the four writers, Anthony Franco, predicted that the Royals would be the team to snag Bader.
“Interested clubs can probably expect average offense, good speed and strong defense from Bader. For a 31-year-old (32 in June) who’s entering a bleak market for center fielders, that should be enough to get him a multi-year deal this time around,” the article read.
“Glove-first outfielders with volatile offensive performances typically don’t break the bank in free agency … But Bader has likely shown enough to get a multi-year contract — likely a two-year deal with an outside chance of three. The Phillies could try to keep him, and clubs like the Guardians, Royals, Mets, D-backs, and Tigers got little to no production out of center field in 2025.”
We were talking about Bader as a fit for the Royals last offseason too, and it sure would have worked out nicely in hindsight. His ability to play any of the three outfield positions would have given the Royals some stability as they tried out new combinations, and the same could still happen this time around.
Price tags are yet to be determined, as Bader’s projections land in the two-year range anywhere from $20 million to $32 million. It feels like the Royals would be more interested the lower the price tag would be, but they’re also free to prove us wrong on that account.
There are a lot of signs that point toward Bader being a good fit, but a lot of teams would feel the same way, if we had to guess.
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