{"id":383095,"date":"2026-01-02T06:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/383095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T06:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:50:07","slug":"will-the-royals-trade-a-starter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/383095\/","title":{"rendered":"Will The Royals Trade A Starter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early in the offseason, Royals president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo said the team was open to trading a starting pitcher<\/a> for offense. That would have been focused on the outfield, which has been a problem for the club for years.<\/p>\n

Kansas City has acquired a pair of outfielders in the month since Picollo\u2019s comments. They signed\u00a0Lane Thomas<\/a> to a reclamation $5.5MM free agent deal, then swapped lefty reliever Angel Zerpa<\/a> to Milwaukee for\u00a0Isaac Collins<\/a> and middle reliever\u00a0Nick Mears<\/a>. Those moves raised the floor relative to where the outfield stood at the end of the 2025 season, yet it remains one of the weaker on-paper groups in MLB.<\/p>\n

Kyle Isbel<\/a> is a low-end regular in center field. Collins had a strong season but was a 27-year-old rookie whose results outpaced mediocre batted ball metrics. The Royals probably don\u2019t expect him to be more than an average regular in left field. Jac Caglianone<\/a> has the highest ceiling of the group, but MLB pitchers exploited his aggressive plate approach in his first 62 games. Caglianone so thoroughly dominated the minor leagues that the Royals might feel he has little to learn by going back to Triple-A. Still, there are sure to be peaks and valleys even if he takes a step forward in his first full MLB season. Thomas battled injuries and was mostly unproductive after being traded from the Nationals to the Guardians at the \u201924 deadline.<\/p>\n

Depth options\u00a0John Rave<\/a>,\u00a0Dairon Blanco<\/a>, Drew Waters<\/a> and\u00a0Kameron Misner<\/a> (acquired in a DFA trade with Tampa Bay) have shown very little at the big league level. That makes it unsurprising that the Royals continue to monitor<\/a> the outfield market after the Collins\/Thomas deals. Working with seemingly limited payroll space and a weak farm system, trading a starter could still be on the table \u2014 even if it seems less likely than it did a month ago.<\/p>\n

Picollo has strongly downplayed the chance of moving\u00a0Cole Ragans<\/a>. He\u2019s controllable for three seasons and has shown ace upside but is coming off a significant rotator cuff injury. They extended Michael Wacha<\/a> last offseason and\u00a0Seth Lugo<\/a> before the trade deadline. It\u2019s hard to see either veteran righty going anywhere.<\/p>\n

Left-hander\u00a0Kris Bubic<\/a> is headed into his final season of arbitration control. He pitched at a top-of-the-rotation level but suffered a season-ending rotator cuff strain not long after the All-Star Break. Southpaw Noah Cameron<\/a> had a sub-3.00 ERA over his first 24 career starts despite a below-average 20.5% strikeout rate. Controllable depth arms\u00a0Ryan Bergert<\/a> and\u00a0Stephen Kolek<\/a> have drawn interest but have minor league options and could be key injury insurance in Triple-A. They\u2019re presumably open to moving\u00a0Bailey Falter<\/a>, but he\u2019d have minimal trade value. Alec Marsh<\/a> has gotten interest in the past but underwent labrum surgery<\/a> in November and will likely miss the entire season.<\/p>\n

Will anyone from that group be on the move before Opening Day?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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