<\/p>\n
Improving the offense (and in particular the outfield) was the key focus of the Royals\u2019 offseason, and there was plenty of speculation that K.C. would again look to move an arm for a bat.\u00a0 Instead, the Royals hung onto their rotation depth and made some moves that still leave the lineup with a few question marks.<\/p>\n
Major League Signings<\/span><\/p>\n 2026 spending: $7.15MM Trades And Claims<\/span><\/p>\n Option Decisions<\/span><\/p>\n Notable Minor League Signings<\/span><\/p>\n Extensions<\/span><\/p>\n Notable Losses<\/span><\/p>\n After reaching the playoffs in 2024, the Royals hoped to significantly upgrade their lineup last winter, except the trade that brought Jonathan India<\/a><\/strong> to Kansas City from Cincinnati (with Brady Singer<\/a><\/strong> going to the Reds) ended up being the Royals\u2019 biggest offensive addition.\u00a0 General manager J.J. Picollo was open with his frustration, telling Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star<\/a> in February 2025 that \u201cthat\u2019s probably the one area in the two years we haven\u2019t been able to reach our goal of getting that [offensive bat].\u00a0 It\u2019s a little disappointing, but we can\u2019t force teams to make trades they don\u2019t want to make.\u00a0 We were active in the free-agent market; we just weren\u2019t able to land the guys<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Thirteen months and another offseason later, an argument can be made that the Royals have again had to settle for a half-measures approach.\u00a0 To be clear, the additions of Isaac Collins, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas should help the outfield, although that\u2019s in part because there was really nowhere to go but up.\u00a0 The Royals\u2019 outfield combined for a dismal -1.7 bWAR in 2025, so even if Collins and Marte just replicate their combined 3.1 bWAR from last season, that\u2019s already a substantial step forward.<\/p>\n That said, Royals fans were surely hoping that the team\u2019s biggest free agent expenditure of the offseason would be on a player who didn\u2019t also have a sub-replacement year.\u00a0 Thomas played in only 39 games with the Guardians due to a bone bruise in his right wrist, and then multiple IL stints due to plantar fasciitis that eventually led to foot surgery in late September.\u00a0 Over 142 plate appearances for Cleveland, Thomas hit only .160\/.246\/.272, translating to -0.6 bWAR and just a total wash of a year for the 30-year-old.<\/p>\n Thomas isn\u2019t far removed from a 23-homer, 109 wRC+ 2023 season with the Nationals, and he was still hitting well before his bat cratered following a trade to the Guards at the 2024 deadline.\u00a0 It could be that a change of scenery to another AL Central team will help Thomas get his career on track, but he can\u2019t be counted on as a sure thing for 2026.\u00a0 For a Royals club working within a limited budget, committing $5.25MM to Thomas carries some extra risk, especially since he might end up being just a part-time player.<\/p>\n Kyle Isbel<\/a><\/strong> will continue to get regular work in center field, as his excellent defense makes up for the lack of punch from his left-handed bat.\u00a0 Thomas (a right-handed hitter) could end up platooning with Isbel in center, or take platoon duties or even everyday duties in right field depending on Jac Caglianone<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s development.\u00a0 The Royals would like nothing more than to see Caglianone start to live up to his top-prospect potential, though his first 232 plate appearances in the majors resulted in a measly .157\/.237\/.295 slash line.\u00a0 Given Caglianone\u2019s bigger-picture importance to the organization, the Royals would have no problem relegating Thomas to platoon duty if it means Caglianone has a sophomore breakout.<\/p>\n Collins is expected to hold down the everyday left field job in 2026 and potentially for years to come.\u00a0 Kansas City\u2019s most notable trade of the winter saw Collins and righty reliever Nick Mears acquired from the Brewers in exchange for left-hander Angel Zerpa.\u00a0 Milwaukee may yet explore<\/a> moving Zerpa back into a starting role, but on paper, the Royals were able to land a controllable (through 2030) outfielder as well as some more bullpen help without dealing from their rotation depth.<\/p>\n The trade made some sense for both teams, beyond just the Royals\u2019 outfield need and the Brewers\u2019 surplus on the grass.\u00a0 From the Brewers\u2019 perspective, they may have felt they were selling high on a late bloomer (Collins turns 29 in July) who didn\u2019t make much hard contact in 2025 and may have benefited from a .326 BABIP.\u00a0 Teams may have figured Collins out a bit, given how his numbers cooled off drastically over the season\u2019s last six weeks.\u00a0 For the Royals, Collins brings a switch-hitting bat, good left field defense, very strong walk and chase rates, and room to grow after his fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting.\u00a0 Milwaukee has plenty of outfield depth, and Zerpa has an extra year of control over Mears, who like Collins struggled down the stretch (5.89 ERA in his final 20 appearances).<\/p>\n Marte signed with K.C. two weeks into Spring Training, bringing another notable name into the position-player mix.\u00a0 Nobody expects Marte to return to his old All-Star form at age 37, and he\u2019ll likely spend most of his time at DH with only a handful of outfield appearances.\u00a0 But, Marte hit a respectable .269\/.331\/.398 with 16 homers over 699 plate appearances for the Mets in 2024-25 working in this same part-time capacity.\u00a0 The Royals will happily take those numbers for the low cost of $1MM and some incentive bonuses.<\/p>\n Kameron Misner was also acquired from the Rays in an early-offseason trade.\u00a0 Between Misner, John Rave<\/a><\/strong>, Drew Waters<\/a><\/strong>, and utility types Tyler Tolbert<\/a><\/strong> and Michael Massey<\/a><\/strong>, the Royals have depth on hand as they try to finally establish some stability in their outfield mix.<\/p>\n Marte may end up sharing DH at-bats with either Salvador Perez or Carter Jensen<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The Royals will want to try to give Jensen at-bats beyond just a backup catching role, and also give Perez a fair amount of rest days (which opens the door for Jensen to get more reps behind the plate).\u00a0 The rest of the infield picture is set, with Maikel Garcia at third base, Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a><\/strong> at shortstop, India at second base, and Vinnie Pasquantino at first base.<\/p>\n India\u2019s return is the only surprising element of the otherwise stable K.C. infield.\u00a0 The Royals opted to give India another chance by signing him to an arbitration-avoiding one-year, $8MM contract, rather than simply non-tendering the veteran second baseman.<\/p>\n While it seems like the team simply believes India can bounce back in his second year in Kansas City, committing $8MM to this belief is another matter.\u00a0 Owner John Sherman indicated in October<\/a> that the Royals would be spending at roughly the same levels as their $138MM payroll from last year, and as per RosterResource<\/a>, K.C. has around $148.6MM on the books for 2026.\u00a0 India and Thomas combine for $13.5MM of that number, and one has to wonder whether the Royals could\u2019ve done more with that money than investing in two players who simply weren\u2019t productive in 2025.<\/p>\n Letting India go would\u2019ve created another hole to address at second base, though since Collins has some experience there, the Royals could\u2019ve still acquired him and toggled him between both the keystone and left field.\u00a0 Even after agreeing to India\u2019s contract, the Royals were still linked to a couple of prominent infield trade targets.\u00a0 Kansas City was among the many teams who had interest in Brendan Donovan<\/a><\/strong>, though the utilityman might well have seen more time in the Royals\u2019 outfield than the infield.\u00a0 The Royals\u2019 interest<\/a> in the Nationals\u2019 CJ Abrams<\/a><\/strong> indicated a scenario of Abrams moving to second base (since Witt obviously wouldn\u2019t be moved off shortstop) and India then perhaps dealt back to Washington or dealt elsewhere.<\/p>\n Abrams and Donovan were just two of the many players linked to the Royals in hot stove chatter.\u00a0 On the free agent front, K.C. had some interest in re-signing old friends Mike Yastrzemski and Adam Frazier, and other outfielders like Harrison Bader<\/a><\/strong>, Adolis Garcia<\/a><\/strong>, Austin Hays<\/a><\/strong>, and JJ Bleday<\/a><\/strong> were all reportedly on the radar.\u00a0 Most of this group ended up signing one-year deals on modest salaries, though Yaz (two years, $23MM from the Braves) and Bader (two years, $20.5MM from the Giants) might have been beyond Kansas City\u2019s preferred price range.<\/p>\n Without much to spend in free agency, the Royals featured in several trade rumors over the winter.\u00a0 Apart from exploring MacKenzie Gore<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s availability as part of their talks with the Nats, most of the Royals\u2019 reported targets were outfielders, including Boston\u2019s Jarren Duran<\/a><\/strong>, Houston\u2019s Jake Meyers<\/a><\/strong>, and the Dodgers\u2019 Teoscar Hernandez<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Since there are still more than two weeks before Opening Day, we can\u2019t entirely rule out the possibility of a late-spring swap involving any of the outfield trade candidates.\u00a0 Hernandez is the least-likely of the group due to his hefty remaining salary.\u00a0 Meyers is the most established player within the Astros\u2019 own shaky outfield, so it could be tricky for Houston and Kansas City to line up on a deal that addresses both teams\u2019 needs.\u00a0 The Red Sox and Royals, meanwhile, seemed like logical trade partners for most of the winter due to Boston\u2019s outfield glut.\u00a0 No deal came together between the two sides, perhaps because<\/a> the Royals weren\u2019t interested in moving Cole Ragans<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t known exactly what players or offers were bandied about during all of these negotiations, but to return to Picollo\u2019s words from last winter, \u201cwe can\u2019t force teams to make trades they don\u2019t want to make<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 This naturally doesn\u2019t absolve the front office of their responsibility to improve the team, but in relation to the 2025-26 offseason, perhaps the Royals\u2019 rotation depth wasn\u2019t quite as enticing as it seemed in terms of trade talks.<\/p>\n Seth Lugo<\/a><\/strong> and Michael Wacha<\/a><\/strong> weren\u2019t going anywhere after being recently signed to extensions, so the trade speculations focused around the likes of Ragans, Kris Bubic<\/a><\/strong>, Noah Cameron<\/a><\/strong>, Ryan Bergert<\/a><\/strong>, and Stephen Kolek<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 There didn\u2019t seem to be much chance that K.C. would move Ragans in the wake of an injury-shortened down year, which is only natural given that he looked like an ace when healthy in 2024.<\/p>\n Bubic showed some front-of-the-rotation ability in 2025 before a rotator cuff strain ended his season early, and while Bubic drew some trade buzz, the combination of his health status and his impending free agency after the 2026 season may have limited his trade value.\u00a0 For Cameron, Bergert, or Kolek, maybe the offers for any of these more back-end rotation types didn\u2019t meet Kansas City\u2019s expectations, if the plan was to bring back an everyday outfielder.<\/p>\n Again, it\u2019s not out of the question that the Royals could still trade a starter in what remains of the offseason.\u00a0 Or, perhaps crucially, the Royals might be more open to moving a starter closer to the deadline, once the team has a better sense of its rotation mix.\u00a0 The 2025 rotation was hit with a number of injuries, so it makes sense that Kansas City wouldn\u2019t want to trade away any starters unless the return was too good to ignore, or if the club was more confident in its starting pitching depth.<\/p>\n Turning to the relief corps, the Royals had to fill some gaps in the bullpen after Hunter Harvey signed with the Cubs, Taylor Clarke was non-tendered, and Zerpa was traded.\u00a0 Mears hasn\u2019t shown much consistency over his six MLB seasons, but 2025 was his best year yet, with a 3.49 ERA and a 5.9% walk rate over 56 2\/3 relief innings for Milwaukee.\u00a0 Alex Lange was another inexpensive free agent signing, with the Royals spending $900K to see what the righty can do after a lat surgery sidelined him for almost all of the 2024-25 seasons.<\/p>\n Zerpa\u2019s role as the top southpaw relief option was filled by Matt Strahm, who broke into the majors with the Royals in 2016.\u00a0 Kansas City\u2019s late-game trio of closer Carlos Estevez<\/a><\/strong> and set-up men Strahm and Lucas Erceg<\/a><\/strong> looks to be a strong group, as Strahm looks to continue his excellent recent track record as a workhorse reliever.\u00a0 He posted a 2.71 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate, and a 6.2% walk rate over 212 2\/3 innings for the Phillies during the 2023-25 seasons.<\/p>\n The Phillies were open to moving Strahm for a few reasons \u2014 some tension existed<\/a> between Strahm and the coaching staff, and Philadelphia has other lefties in their pen, so the Royals\u2019 offer of righty Jonathan Bowlan was a fit for both sides.\u00a0 Kansas City was also willing to absorb the $7.5MM owed to Strahm in the final year of his contract, which represents the Royals\u2019 largest investment in new talent this offseason.<\/p>\n Three extensions represented the Royals\u2019 biggest overall spends of the winter, including a deal with Pasquantino covering two of his arbitration-eligible years.\u00a0 The biggest investment was a long-term extension with Garcia that will pay the All-Star at least $57.5MM through 2030, with a club option for 2031.\u00a0 The Royals gain cost certainty through Garcia\u2019s extended (as a Super Two player) arbitration years, and control over what would\u2019ve been Garcia\u2019s first two free agent-years.\u00a0 It\u2019s a nice deal that reflects Garcia\u2019s emergence as both an offensive and defensive force, and his breakout was of massive import to a team in need of hitting.<\/p>\n It was a foregone conclusion that the team was planning to at least exercise its $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026, and the Royals took it a step further with a two-year, $25MM extension covering the 2026-27 seasons.\u00a0 The deal includes $12MM in deferred money, freeing up some shorter-term savings for the Royals and giving Perez a soft landing for what could potentially be the final two seasons of his big league career.\u00a0 Moving on from Perez and entrusting the catching job to Jensen and (further down the road) top prospect Blake Mitchell<\/a><\/strong> might\u2019ve made sense from a pure logic standpoint, but there\u2019s also obvious value for the Royals in retaining Perez, one of the most beloved players in franchise history.<\/p>\n Manager Matt Quatraro also got in on the extension action, as the skipper\u2019s new contract<\/a> keeps him in Kansas City through at least the 2029 campaign.\u00a0 The 2026 season was the final year of Quatraro\u2019s previous deal, and there was little doubt the Royals were going to keep a skipper who has delivered consecutive winning seasons (and a playoff appearance in 2024) to bring the team out of a rebuild period.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most interesting wrinkle of the Royals\u2019 offseason came not exactly off the field, but to Kauffman Stadium\u2019s field itself.\u00a0 The team is slightly reducing<\/a> the dimensions of the spacious outfield and lowering the wall from 10 feet to around 8.5 feet, all in the name of making the notoriously pitcher-friendly ballpark more conducive to power hitters.\u00a0 As Picollo told MLB.com\u2019s Anne Rogers and other reporters, the aim is \u201ca very fair ballpark. We don\u2019t want it to turn into a bandbox and every ball up in the air turns into a home run. We just want hitters to be rewarded when they hit the ball well, particularly in the gaps<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe there\u2019s a metaphor here for the Royals\u2019 offseason, as the team is also hoping that some minor adjustments to its roster can yield larger results.\u00a0 After winning 82 games in 2025, a return to the playoffs certainly seems plausible if the Royals can get more offense and the pitching stays healthy.\u00a0 Kansas City\u2019s chances are helped by playing in the relatively weak AL Central.\u00a0 Giving Witt and Garcia more established lineup support would\u2019ve been helpful, but the Royals are hoping that Caglianone and\/or Jensen can deliver as much or more than the new additions.<\/p>\n
Total spending: $7.15MM<\/p>\n\n
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How would you grade the Royals’ offseason?<\/h3>\n