The Kansas City Royals are caught in a real conundrum at the moment. At 12 games below .500 at 28-40 on the season entering Thursday’s action, they look as though they’d be in the position to start gearing up for a trade deadline fire sale. However, with preseason contention ambitions, a hot start to the month of June and now sitting just 5.5 games out of a wild Card spot, there’s reason to believe that the Royals could be somewhat in buying position ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline as well.
Given their current undecided stance, many have speculated what names could be on the market if they do end up selling. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic put some insider knowledge to where the Royals may be at when it comes to tradeable assets.
Most notably he seemed to pour some cold water on the notion that the Royals would deal either of their two veteran starters in Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, both of which are still under guaranteed control through next season. That being said, he didn’t completely eliminate the chances of a potential deal for the veteran starters if dealing them were to bring them closer to winning while stars like Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are under contract.
“The Royals, like all teams, are open to anything,” Rosenthal wrote. “If they could trade Wacha and/or Lugo for quality pitchers under longer club control, they would need to consider it. Any form of teardown, though, is likely not an option.”
Rosenthal did also bring up a quartet of names on expiring deals that the Royals could be more inclined to move off of this summer to get a return.
“Left-hander Kris Bubic, a potential free agent, would be more likely to go, along with others on expiring contracts — outfielder Lane Thomas, lefty reliever Matt Strahm and righty reliever John Schreiber, among them,” Rosenthal wrote.
What might the Royals look for in return if they trade assets this summer?
As Rosenthal alluded to, the Royals want to compete as soon as possible to take advantage of the current five year window they have with both Witt and Garcia signed through 2030. So, if they can find ways to elevate their squad at a major league level, perhaps they’ll be more inclined to take those opportunities. How daring they’d be willing to go midseason remains to be seen, but there are certainly areas that even smaller scale moves could go a long way to addressing.
While Michael Massey may be looking a lot better now than what he looked when he started the year, he’s been a notoriously streaky hitter. So, the long-time notion that the Royals could use a second base upgrade beyond the duo of Massey and Nick Loftin still seems valid.
Then there’s always the outfield, which certainly looks better than the putrid form they displayed last year, but could still due with an upgrade of sorts. They sit very average-looking with a 100 wRC+ and .711 OPS this season as a unit, but could do with a power upgrade. Their outfield’s .371 SLG and 15 HR sit 22nd and tied for 27th in the league respectively.
Then, from both a MLB and depth standpoint, the Royals starting staff and bullpen have been ravished by injuries. Perhaps if they can turn some of those aforementioned expiring deals into some arms with more control, it would set them up to address their pitching depth issues beyond just 2026.
Lastly, from a prospect standpoint it seems only logical that some older farmhands closer to making a major league impact, whether that be positionally or from a pitching standpoint, could help balance their very teenaged heavy top-half of their farm system.
However the Royals go about addressing their squad at the deadline, they certainly have left plenty of room for intrigue. Now it’s just time to play the waiting game.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
