Rebuilding Kansas City Royals for 2026

Rebuilding Kansas City Royals for 2026

The Kansas City Royals failed to make the postseason despite following a similar recipe for success as the year prior. Now with another offseason to correct the roster, will the Royals make the moves necessary to make it back to the postseason? Or will they fall short once again? Hello, my name is Avery Taylor and welcome to Rebuild October, a series where we rebuild every team across the month of October. So whether you’re looking for your favorite team or just generally curious as to how every team could approach the offseason, then this is the series for you. And with that being said, let’s get right into the video. As you can see from the war by position, this team has some of the most drastic strengths and weaknesses in baseball. Their pitching and the left side of the infield are as good as anyone, while their corner outfield continues to be a thorn in their side. The main fix to right field has to come internally from their youngster Jack Kaggleon. Kegleion was a monster all throughout his minor league tenure and forced the Royals hand to push him to the major leagues. His play left a lot to be desired, especially considering how poorly the position change the corner outfield went. He probably won’t ever be a judge or Tatis defensively, but to hit like them was sort of the expectation. If he can come anywhere close to that expectation, then seeing a few errors is okay. The other solution to the corner outfield problem is actually due to hit free agency after being acquired by the Royals at the trade deadline. Mikeky was incredible for the Royals during his 50 games in KC. And while they ran him out in center more than I would like, getting him back in Kansas City should be the primary goal of this offseason. The Royals have five other players set to hit free agency this offseason, only having team control over one. In this rebuild, the Royals will hang on to two of them and let the other three walk into free agency. Salvador Pres’s time as the primary catcher in Kansas City has ran its course. The defense has slipped away and the offense is a lot closer to average than a lead. For his $20 million price tag on his club option, I’m just not quite sure he’s worth that. But I would like to see the Royals resign the veteran. Perez still hits the ball very hard and has massively underperformed his expected numbers. While Kaufman Stadium will do that to somebody, Perez should be given the opportunity to come back, but as the team’s primary DH, he can still catch a game or two in a pinch, but his role should be to mash from here on out. And then the other name the Royals should latch on to is Hunter Harvey. Harvey’s time with the Royals has been defined by injury and underperformance. However, that doesn’t mean that Harvey isn’t good. when he is on the field and performing, he is a very, very good reliever and for the Royals, this could be an excellent grab on a budget. The Royals already have an established bullpen, so grabbing a high upside name could be very beneficial for them. Other beneficial places for the Royals to look would be their prospect system, and what better place to start than their number one man, Carter Jensen. Jensen actually cracked the major league roster towards the tail end of the season and continue his dominance over the field. In that short 20 game stretch, he was able to post a 941 OPS and three homers. While I wouldn’t expect those numbers long term, he should be a plus bat behind the dish and good enough back there to stick for a while. In this rebuild, he’ll start the season as the opening day catcher for the Royals. Another name who did big things for the Royals in limited time was Luendo Ravila out of the bullpen. In 13 games, he was able to post a 1.29 RA while holding opponents to a 143 batting average. He probably won’t ever be looked at as more than a good bullpin arm, but if he can continue to produce those sort of numbers, then it will make our addition of him to the opening day roster a good one. Joining him on the opening day roster will be the pass squatch at first base, Jonathan India at second, Bobby Wood at short, Michael Garcia at third, Luke Meley will be back as the backup catcher with Kyle Isel as the fourth outfielder, Tyler Tolbert playing all over, and Michael Messi as the additional infielder. That leaves a gaping hole in center for the Royals to fill. But with their financial limitations, they’ll have to get creative. Here’s where things get a little wild because they’ll be sending Chris Bubich to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yasen Garcia, Brandon Clark, and Mikey Romero. Bubich was not only the Royals ace last season. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball and would have got some Sai Young votes if he got the innings. From the Red Sox point of view, this deal has to sound eerily similar to the Crochet trade they made a year prior. They need a strong number two behind Crochet. And who better to get than Boubage. For the Royals, they can look to gain off the left-hander sudden success with a trade. It’s hard to believe given his recent rise to stardom. But Bubich is on the last year of his deal. And if any pitching staff could afford to lose someone, it’s the Royals. The centerpiece of the return would be Yos Tensson Garcia, who would instantly come in to fill out center field for the Royals. Another situation where if there is a team that could lose an outfielder, it’s the Red Sox. Garcia provides the Royals with a muchneeded improvement to their outfield that has some serious upside. Sure, there are some swing and miss concerns, but he has big-time pop and a really good arm. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him slide over to right field later on in his career, but for now, he makes a solid center fielder with a lot of potential. Speaking of potential, that’s exactly what the Royals would be dreaming on with Brandon Clark coming in as well. Clark uses a 6’4 frame to generate an electric fastball slider combination that rivals even the best in the prospect world. The next step for him to become one of the elite prospects in baseball would to be develop his change up to have versus right-handed batters as well as to work on his control. If he can do those things over the next few seasons in the Royal system, then this could be the next great Royals left-hander. Then the final addition to the trade for the Royals is Mikey Romero, who will likely make it to the majors at some point during the season. He’s an upthe-middle prospect with a decent amount of pop. The strikeout rate continues to climb as he gets higher into the Red Sox system and it’s to the point where it’s concerning. However, as a last throwin for the trade, it isn’t a bad value ad. Turning to the weekend rotation, it still boasts a killer top three with Michael Walka, Seth Lugo, and Cole Reagan’s with the back end of the rotation being filled out by Stephen Kolic and Noah Cameron. Still a top rotation in the game, but it might not have the same topend punching power as it would with Bubich. Then the bullpen will also remain unchanged with Carlos Steves, Lucas Erg, Taylor Clark, Angel Zerpa, Jonathan Bolan, and Ryan Burgerer, who will move down from the rotation. All in all, this team isn’t that much different from last season, but I think it has more upside despite the loss of Bouage. This team’s going to try to set itself up to succeed both this season as well as for years to come. Nixon provides that instant spark that this team needs alongside outfielders Jack and Yas. And it should aid the pitching staff to more wins in 2026.

The Kansas City Royals failed to return to the postseason in 2025, and are just a few pieces away from returning to October baseball once again. However will the front office actually make the moves necessary, or will the organization fall short once again.

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