{"id":415471,"date":"2026-01-18T19:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415471\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:43:07","slug":"royals-increasingly-unlikely-to-trade-for-jarren-duran-brendan-donovan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415471\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals “Increasingly Unlikely” To Trade For Jarren Duran, Brendan Donovan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Royals have been fairly active this offseason on the trade market and have already worked out deals that brought outfielder Isaac Collins<\/a> (alongside righty Nick Mears<\/a>) and lefty setup man Matt Strahm<\/a> to Kansas City. They\u2019ve explored bigger trades than those throughout the winter as well, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic<\/a> reported recently that the club is \u201cincreasingly unlikely\u201d\u00a0to be successful in their efforts to trade for either Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran<\/a> or Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan<\/a>. While that doesn\u2019t completely rule out the club pulling off one of those deals, it\u2019s surely disappointing news for Royals fans who had been dreaming on a big trade.<\/p>\n

Upgrading the team\u2019s lackluster outfield mix has been a priority in Kansas City this winter, and either Duran or Donovan surely offer a big boost. Duran is a full-time outfielder who has experience in both left field and center field, and would likely play center for the Royals if acquire. That would push Kyle Isbel<\/a> into a depth role and move Lane Thomas<\/a> over to right alongside Jac Caglianone<\/a>. Donovan, meanwhile, is capable of playing all over the infield and outfield. If acquired, he\u2019d likely split time between the outfield corners and second base. That would cut into playing time for Collins in left field, Caglianone in right field, and Jonathan India<\/a> at second base while also moving Thomas into a timeshare with Isbel in center.<\/p>\n

Either of those situations would substantially improve the Royals\u2019 lineup, but it seems a deal coming together is a long shot at this point. That\u2019s not necessarily a shock. The team\u2019s top trade chip at this point might be southpaw Kris Bubic<\/a>, but both Duran and Donovan are valuable enough that it would be hard to see them being moved for a rental player. Other pitchers on the roster like Cole Ragans<\/a> and Noah Cameron<\/a> would surely be more attractive, but taking a long-term piece out of the rotation that\u2019s helped buoy the Royals to their solid 2024 and \u201925 seasons (alongside Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a>\u2019s emergence as a superstar) seems like a tough pill for the team to swallow.<\/p>\n

Without further additions, that would leave the team with Collins as the regular left field, Isbel in center, Caglianone in right, and Thomas spelling Isbel and Caglianone against left-handers. Dairon Blanco<\/a>, Kameron Misner<\/a>, and Drew Waters<\/a> are depth options as well, though none is a lock to make the Kansas City roster at this point. It\u2019s hard to see that group being anything more than below average, as the Royals posted the worst wRC+ in the majors (73) on the grass last year. Collins (122 wRC+) should be a substantial improvement over the production the club got out of left in 2025, and Caglianone could certainly take a step forward after a tough rookie campaign. But Thomas\u2019s 48 wRC+ last year makes it hard to count on him offering impact to the team, while Isbel and the depth pieces seem unlikely to take meaningful steps forward.<\/p>\n

Of course, Donovan and Duran aren\u2019t the only ways the team could improve its offense. Perhaps a free agent like Mike Tauchman<\/a> or Austin Hays<\/a> will fall through the cracks and be available for relatively cheap later this offseason. It\u2019s also possible that a different trade could come together. Players like Luis Robert Jr.<\/a> of the White Sox, Jesus Sanchez<\/a> of the Astros, and Ramon Laureano<\/a> of the Padres have all found themselves in trade rumors this year, and while none has been directly connected to the Royals at this point it would certainly make sense for Kansas City to check in. Given the team\u2019s pursuit of Donovan, perhaps even an infielder who could either take up a utility role themselves or push India into that sort of role could make sense. Cubs infielders Nico Hoerner<\/a> and Matt Shaw<\/a> and Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a> are among the players who have seen their names pop up in rumors lately, as have the Mets\u2019 many young infield talents. Trade whispers in Queens, specifically, may only grow louder in the aftermath of the club\u2019s recent signing of Bo Bichette<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royals have been fairly active this offseason on the trade market and have already worked out deals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[13195,28642,363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-415471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-brendan-donovan","9":"tag-jarren-duran","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}