Royals predicted to sign $5.5 million All-Star to become depth option behind Jac Caglianone

Royals predicted to sign $5.5 million All-Star to become depth option behind Jac Caglianone originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Kansas City Royals were looking for another outfielder all offseason, but were unable to get one to take over a starting job. Now, they should shift from focusing on starters, and looking for depth options if they want another outfielder.

FanSided’s Christopher Kline predicts that the Royals could find another outfielder in veteran All-Star Jesse Winker, who was a decent backup for the New York Mets last season.

MORE: White Sox predicted to sign $7 million two-time All-Star ace to create 1-2 punch with Shane Smith

“He may be more of a DH than an outfielder at this point, but if the Royals — a team still in search of consistent outfield production — stick him in right field every now and again, there could be worse outcomes.Winker is basically a spark-plug emergency bat at this stage. He won’t cover much ground on defense and he’s not an everyday thumper in the heart of a lineup. As Kansas City searches for more juice behind Maikel García and Bobby Witt Jr., however, sprinkling in Winker as a fourth or fifth outfielder is a worthwhile adventure,” Kline wrote.

This past season, Winker slashed .229/.309/.400/.709 with five doubles, two triples, a home run and 10 RBI in 26 games. While it’s definitely a small sample size, if he were to do that for the Royals as a backup, it would definitely be worth it.

MORE: Mets predicted to gut punch cross-town rivals by signing $90 million three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove to become utility man behind Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco

He’d also be cheap. Winker’s projected to receive a one-year, $5.5 million deal, and for a mid-market team like Kansas City, that’s a contract they definitely give out.

The Royals are 4-4 in the AL Central, so if they want to see if Winker can be the guy to shake things up for them, they better get to working on a deal, and quickly.

MORE MLB NEWS

Proposed emergency Tigers trade sees Detroit land $64.5 million 2.89 ERA starting pitcher to save Tarik Skubal’s last season in Detroit

Pirates predicted to finally cut ties with $3.3 million star outfielder as result of Konnor Griffin extension, disastrous opener to 2026 season

Phillies No. 25 overall prospect predicted to be true dark horse threat to Konnor Griffin for NL ROTY

‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’

‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’