{"id":2195469,"date":"2025-12-11T20:29:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2195469"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:29:18","slug":"royals-rumored-mike-yastrzemski-backup-plan-would-be-a-shocking-dodgers-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-rumored-mike-yastrzemski-backup-plan-would-be-a-shocking-dodgers-pivot\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals&#8217; rumored Mike Yastrzemski backup plan would be a shocking Dodgers pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div q:key=\"QW_4\"><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=5r q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>After news broke on Wednesday night that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/seamless-royals-outfield-fit-signs-surprising-multi-year-deal-with-braves-01kc5gqcgfrb\">the Royals would be missing out on a reunion with Mike Yastrzemski<\/a>, the need to pivot and head back to the drawing board was imminent.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=5s q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">After news broke on Wednesday night that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/seamless-royals-outfield-fit-signs-surprising-multi-year-deal-with-braves-01kc5gqcgfrb\">the Royals would be missing out on a reunion with Mike Yastrzemski<\/a>, the need to pivot and head back to the drawing board was imminent.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=5u q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>In the wake of Yaz&#39;s move to Atlanta, it appears the Royals have their sights set on another veteran name, who would also represent quite the pivot.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=5v q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">In the wake of Yaz&#8217;s move to Atlanta, it appears the Royals have their sights set on another veteran name, who would also represent quite the pivot.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=5x q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>According to a Thursday morning report from Katie Woo and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic,<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6876659\/2025\/12\/10\/dodgers-mlb-winter-meetings-free-agency\/?\" target=\"_blank\"> the Royals appear to have interest in Dodgers corner outfielder Teoscar Hern&aacute;ndez<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=5y q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">According to a Thursday morning report from Katie Woo and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic,<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6876659\/2025\/12\/10\/dodgers-mlb-winter-meetings-free-agency\/?\" target=\"_blank\"> the Royals appear to have interest in Dodgers corner outfielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=60 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>&#34;The Dodgers continue to &ldquo;kick the tires&rdquo; on trading Teoscar Hern&aacute;ndez, a league source said, though general manager Brandon Gomes said Monday that trading the right fielder still &#39;doesn&#39;t seem likely&#39;,&#34; Woo and Ardaya wrote. &#34;Still, the Dodgers might feel inclined to deal Hern&aacute;ndez, whose defense declined last year, to free up roster space.&#34;<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=61 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">&#8220;The Dodgers continue to \u201ckick the tires\u201d on trading Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, a league source said, though general manager Brandon Gomes said Monday that trading the right fielder still &#8216;doesn&#8217;t seem likely&#8217;,&#8221; Woo and Ardaya wrote. &#8220;Still, the Dodgers might feel inclined to deal Hern\u00e1ndez, whose defense declined last year, to free up roster space.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=63 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>&#34;The Kansas City Royals have coveted an offense-first outfielder, and have interest in Hern&aacute;ndez, a league source said,&#34; they also wrote.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=64 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">&#8220;The Kansas City Royals have coveted an offense-first outfielder, and have interest in Hern\u00e1ndez, a league source said,&#8221; they also wrote.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=66 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<h2>Royals appear to have interest in Dodgers veteran slugger Teoscar Hern&aacute;ndez<\/h2>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=67 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">Royals appear to have interest in Dodgers veteran slugger Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/h2>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=69 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>The rumors of the Dodgers <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6860854\/2025\/12\/04\/mlb-offseason-notebook-tatsuya-imai-teoscar-hernandez\/\" target=\"_blank\">at least entertaining trade conversations around Hern&aacute;ndez<\/a> surfaced last week from Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney. However, the thought was that &#34;the Dodgers [viewed] a deal as unlikely&#34;. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6a q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">The rumors of the Dodgers <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6860854\/2025\/12\/04\/mlb-offseason-notebook-tatsuya-imai-teoscar-hernandez\/\" target=\"_blank\">at least entertaining trade conversations around Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> surfaced last week from Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney. However, the thought was that &#8220;the Dodgers [viewed] a deal as unlikely&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6c q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Still, while Woo and Ardaya say a deal remains unlikely, the fact that the narrative has at least shifted towards kicking the tires on a trade makes it seem at least a tad more realistic that something could happen.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6d q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">Still, while Woo and Ardaya say a deal remains unlikely, the fact that the narrative has at least shifted towards kicking the tires on a trade makes it seem at least a tad more realistic that something could happen.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6f q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Now, Hern&aacute;ndez isn&#39;t without his red flags and to be honest <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/royals-shouldn-t-waste-their-time-on-latest-high-profile-dodgers-trade-candidate-01kbn9ykqf3d\">isn&#39;t the greatest fit in the world for the Royals<\/a> considering where he&#39;s at in his career.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6g q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Now, Hern\u00e1ndez isn&#8217;t without his red flags and to be honest <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/royals-shouldn-t-waste-their-time-on-latest-high-profile-dodgers-trade-candidate-01kbn9ykqf3d\">isn&#8217;t the greatest fit in the world for the Royals<\/a> considering where he&#8217;s at in his career.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6i q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>He&#39;s coming off his worst season at the plate, with a 102 wRC+, since his 41 game rookie cameo with the Houston Astros back in 2016. On top of that his power and plate discipline took noticeable hits across the board.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6j q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">He&#8217;s coming off his worst season at the plate, with a 102 wRC+, since his 41 game rookie cameo with the Houston Astros back in 2016. On top of that his power and plate discipline took noticeable hits across the board.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6l q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Then there&#39;s the defense where, apart from an above-average 63rd percentile arm, Hern&aacute;ndez is not strong at all. In 2025, while he posted 1 DRS, he paired that with very underwhelming -9 marks in both OAA and FRV.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6m q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">Then there&#8217;s the defense where, apart from an above-average 63rd percentile arm, Hern\u00e1ndez is not strong at all. In 2025, while he posted 1 DRS, he paired that with very underwhelming -9 marks in both OAA and FRV.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6o q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>And all of this is wrapped up in a decently hefty price tag. Although his $14.7 million AAV in 2026 and $16.9 million AAV in 2027 isn&#39;t the biggest in the world, an average luxury tax hit of $19.9 million is pretty substantial for smaller market team like Kansas City - especially for a bat that&#39;s coming off the down year he did.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6p q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">And all of this is wrapped up in a decently hefty price tag. Although his $14.7 million AAV in 2026 and $16.9 million AAV in 2027 isn&#8217;t the biggest in the world, an average luxury tax hit of $19.9 million is pretty substantial for smaller market team like Kansas City &#8211; especially for a bat that&#8217;s coming off the down year he did.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6r q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>However, the Royals outfield search can only be described as dire and apart from Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger - whom they don&#39;t appear to be in on - there&#39;s not many names on the open market that are surefire home runs. Steven Kwan might be nice too, but <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/guardians-trade-candidate-is-a-perfect-royals-fit-but-a-huge-hurdle-hurts-chances-01k9923gfr4v\">trading with a division rival seems like a pipe dream<\/a> at best.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6s q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">However, the Royals outfield search can only be described as dire and apart from Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger &#8211; whom they don&#8217;t appear to be in on &#8211; there&#8217;s not many names on the open market that are surefire home runs. Steven Kwan might be nice too, but <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/guardians-trade-candidate-is-a-perfect-royals-fit-but-a-huge-hurdle-hurts-chances-01k9923gfr4v\">trading with a division rival seems like a pipe dream<\/a> at best.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6u q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>This will surely force the Royals to get creative and at the end of the day, despite his flaws, a 102 wRC+ hitter who&#39;s essentially a surefire source of 25+ homers and 80+ RBI would certainly be  welcome addition to this outfield that was the least effective in all of baseball in 2025 with a combined 73 wRC+.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6v q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">This will surely force the Royals to get creative and at the end of the day, despite his flaws, a 102 wRC+ hitter who&#8217;s essentially a surefire source of 25+ homers and 80+ RBI would certainly be  welcome addition to this outfield that was the least effective in all of baseball in 2025 with a combined 73 wRC+.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6x q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>And at the end of the day, the Royals don&#39;t necessarily need him to be a All-Starand Silver Slugger caliber bat he once. Although they wouldn&#39;t be opposed to this, at the end of the day they&#39;ll likely be satisfied finding a hitter that can complement the core of Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez and just lengthen this lineup.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6y q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">And at the end of the day, the Royals don&#8217;t necessarily need him to be a All-Starand Silver Slugger caliber bat he once. Although they wouldn&#8217;t be opposed to this, at the end of the day they&#8217;ll likely be satisfied finding a hitter that can complement the core of Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez and just lengthen this lineup.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=70 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Only time will tell how the Royals plan to address their corner outfield spots, but J.J. Picollo and Co. seem to have some irons in the fire.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=71 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Only time will tell how the Royals plan to address their corner outfield spots, but J.J. Picollo and Co. seem to have some irons in the fire.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After news broke on Wednesday night that the Royals would be missing out on a reunion with Mike Yastrzemski, the need to pivot and head back to the drawing board was imminent. In the wake of Yaz&#8217;s move to Atlanta, it appears the Royals have their sights set on another veteran name, who would also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2195470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2195469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Royals-rumored-Mike-Yastrzemski-backup-plan-would-be-a-shocking.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2195469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2195471,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195469\/revisions\/2195471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2195470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2195469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2195469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2195469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}