Ready for some bold predictions?
The Kansas City Royals have an interesting list of objectives for this offseason, and they don’t seem to be willing to settle for half-measures. And seeing how hot stove season unofficially kicked off with the Seattle Mariners re-signing Josh Naylor on Sunday night, now seems like a fitting time to figure out what comes next.
We know the Royals have extra starting pitchers and want a full-time left fielder and a right-field platoon partner for Jac Caglianone. So here are the moves we think they’ll make that hit on all of those targets.
If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.
Trade SP Kris Bubic to San Diego Padres
It’s felt for weeks like Bubic was getting traded, but the main question has been where. In a perfect world, the Royals would love to send him somewhere they could find a starting-caliber outfielder, but he’s only got one year left on his deal, so the guess here is that they don’t match up with some of the contenders who have outfielders to spare.
Instead, they might be able to take advantage of the always-aggressive San Diego Padres, who need starters, probably won’t want to pay them in free agency, and might even trade Nick Pivetta as his contract gets more expensive. The Royals could pilfer whatever is left of San Diego’s farm system and then use prospects to…
Trade for Angels OF Jo Adell
Adell has two years of team control remaining and if the Los Angeles Angels were ever going to trade him, the time would be now. He just popped 37 home runs and put up a very strong .778 OPS. He’s turning 27 in April and although he manned center field in SoCal this year, he’s better suited to be a corner outfielder.
Maybe Royals fans would prefer a deal for one of the Boston Red Sox’s starting outfielders, Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu. But unless they’re willing to do something like Bubic for Duran straight-up, the Red Sox don’t seem like as clean a match. Kansas City deals three prospects, including catcher Blake Mitchell, to Los Angeles.
Re-sign OF Randal Grichuk
No, Grichuk wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire for the Royals in the two short months he played for them. But we’ve seen in recent years that he can be an impact bat against left-handed pitching, and he shouldn’t be expensive, as the main reason he turned down his $5 million mutual option was because his $3 million buyout outweighed it.
Now, the Royals have all the offensive support they feel they need. Grichuk can be a platoon partner for Jac Caglianone, Adell can play close to every day in left, and potentially even spell Kyle Isbel in center against lefties.