Royals must aim higher than Matt Moore comeback dream to address dreadful pitching depth

Injuries have ravished the Kansas City Royals of late with their pitching staff consistently taking the brunt of it since day one of the season. In both the starting rotation and the bullpen, there are several key names on the injured list that is testing the Royals thin starting pitching depth. The Royals have made numerous moves of late to address this issue, such as trading with the Toronto Blue Jays for Connor Seabold to join the big league bullpen and then trading with the Seattle Mariners days later for Randy Dobnak to assume the role as 40-man depth in Triple-A Omaha.

And on Saturday, they made another pitching move, but this time, it makes much less sense than the aforementioned duo of Seabold and Dobnak. The Royals announced that they’d signed former All-Star left-hander Matt Moore to a minor league contract.

One would say that beggars can’t be choosers and Moore does give the Royals a warm body and major league capable arm to occupy a spot amongst their depth. The question is though, how major league capable is the former promising Tampa Bay Rays starter at this moment in time?

Moore is far removed from those excellent days in the Rays’ rotation back in the early-to-mid 2010’s and even more relevant to today’s day and age, he hasn’t thrown professionally since 2024. In that season he was a member of the Los Angeles Angels bullpen and only mustred a 5.03 ERA, 6.17 FIP and 1.34 WHIP. His K% rate dropped from 17.5% to 19.5% in the span of a year and his walk rate spiked back up to over 12% where it’s consistently sat more often than not since his return from NPB in 2021.

Moore also doesn’t solve the Royals biggest current pitching issue of thin starting pitching depth. While his best days may’ve come as a starter, he hasn’t been part of a major league rotation since returning from Japan in 2021 with the Phillies, where he split the season between their starting staff and the bullpen.

Royals have a starting pitching problem in Triple-A Omaha in 2026

With the potential of Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic not returning to the Royals rotation anytime soon, and Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna already on the shelf for the rest of the year, the Royals have had to call upon Stephen Kolek and transition Luinder Avila back into the rotation. This has left them with the likes of Mitch Spence as their only real true starting option worthy of calling upon in a pinch – and even that statement has been a stretch this season.

The three primary starting options beyond Spence in the Storm Chasers’ rotation are Aaron Sanchez, Ryan Ramsey and Ben Sears. Sanchez looks far from his major league peak with the Blue Jays, throwing to an 8.26 ERA in 12 starts in Omaha. Ramsey, has no major league experience himself and doesn’t look close to gaining some this season, throwing to a 5.01 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 64.2 innings. And speaking of lack of major league experience, not only does Ben Sears not have that, his eight starts in 19 appearances are his only eight starts of his five-year professional career. And with a 4.46 ERA and 1.46 WHIP across 38.1 innings in Omaha, the results haven’t exactly been great.

Matt Moore is a name that draws eyes and has a past track record that looks appealing, but not only is a major league return potentially a pipe dream for the 37-year-old, he’s no longer the starting option the Royals could use more than another bullpen arm right now.