The Kansas City Royals lost left-handed hitting outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. Yastrzemski inked a two-year deal with Atlanta, the team announced officially.

“The Atlanta Braves today signed OF Mike Yastrzemski to a two-year contract worth $23 million guaranteed, with the outfielder set to make $9 million in 2026 and $10 million in 2027,” the Braves wrote. “The deal includes a club option worth $7 million for the 2028 season, with a $4 million buyout. Yastrzemski has agreed to donate 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves Foundation.”

This marks a big loss for the Royals, who relied heavily on Yastrzemski down the stretch of 2025. His .839 OPS in 50 games for Kansas City after arriving from the San Francisco Giants via trade was a difference maker. And by all accounts, it helped him ink a nice deal with Atlanta.

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The Royals now must pivot. Outfield was already an area of need, and even more so now that Yastrzemski has departed.

“So much of it comes down to, whoever you’re trying to acquire: What’s the competition for it [and] are you willing to beat the competition?” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said at the Winter Meetings prior to Yastrzemski departing (via MLB.com’s Anne Rogers).

He added, “[With] free agents, do you feel like it’s a fair asking pricing right now and does it fit our payroll? You got to weigh all those things. … I’ll say we’re in a good spot in the sense that we haven’t lost out on anybody we have a great interest in. It’s a matter of just hanging in, especially on the free agent side. On the trade side, the avenue we get to where we want to go via trade is a little complicated. That’s just going to take time if it’s going to happen.”

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Among the top remaining outfielders in MLB free agency are Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Harrison Bader, Rob Refsnyder, Miguel Andújar, Austin Hays, and Jesse Winker. KC does not project to be players in the Tucker or Bellinger sweepstakes, but could make a bid for some of the lower-tier names.

Veterans Starling Marte, Randal Grichuk, Lane Thomas, and Adolis García are also on the market and could be more realistic options for a team like the Royals. With Yastrzemski gone, that production will need to be replaced somewhere.