\"A dim view of humanity\" -Lee Judge
The Royals may have finally made their big move for an outfield bat, and it didn’t cost Cole Ragans. It also didn’t cost Noah Cameron or even Kris Bubic. Isaac Collins is a switch-hitter who primarily played left field with a little bit of right field and even a couple of innings at second and […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
Anne Rogers has more on the Maikel Garcia signing. According to a source, Garcia will make $4 million in 2026 (what would have been his first arbitration year), $7 million in ‘27, $10 million in ‘28, $13 million in ‘29 and $19 million in ‘30. The club option is for $21 million. There are other […]
about 1 month ago | 6 reads
The Royals announced they have brought back reliever José Cuas on a minor league deal. Cuas previously pitched for the team in 2022-23. He did not pitch in the big leagues last year, spending the season in the Braves organization. In 132 career MLB games, he has an ERA of 4.37 with 122 strikeouts in […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
For the second straight preseason, Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections – now available at Fangraphs – see the Kansas City Royals as a club with strong pitching that can compete for the division. Szymborski projects the Royals to “finish with somewhere between 82-86 wins or so, depending on the assumptions”, and this is before the Royals […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
The Royals had a quiet Winter Meetings, but have been pretty active in the days since, signing outfielder Lane Thomas to a one-year deal, and inking All-Star third baseman Maikel Garcia to a long-term deal. In his write-up of the Garcia deal, ESPN reporter Jeff Passan notes the Royals continue to be active on the […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
The Royals have locked down the left side of their infield. Having already signed shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to a long-term deal, they have now signed third baseman Maikel Garcia to a five-year contract with a club option on a sixth year, according to ESPN reporter Jeff Passan. Update at 1:54 p.m.: The deal is […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
This week, the Kansas City Royals signed outfielder Lane Thomas to a one-year, $5.25 million contract. Thomas joins the Royals after spending the last year and a half with the Cleveland Guardians. The Royals are hoping the right-handed hitting outfielder who hit 28 home runs in a season as recently as 2023, can bounce back […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
The Royals announced they have signed utility infielder Kevin Newman to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. Newman is a 32-year-old right-handed hitter, and an eight-year MLB veteran, mostly with the Pirates. He played in 56 games with the Angels last year, hitting .202/.209/.272. Newman was originally a first-round pick by […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
In this episode of the Royals Rundown Podcast, hosts Jacob Milham and Jeremy “Hokius” Greco dig into a pivotal week for the Kansas City Royals and Major League Baseball. First up: No Rule 5 Draft pick. Was this a missed opportunity or a calculated decision? The hosts explain the logic behind passing and how it […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
I didn’t realize until I went to a Nippon Professional League game in Japan just how much sports fashion is a thing here in the United States. Walking the streets there, you don’t see a whole lot of NPB merch being worn. Sure, you see some ball caps, some stickers, that sort of thing. It […]
about 1 month ago | 5 reads
Anne Rogers writes about the Royals landing Lane Thomas. After that uneven 2024, Thomas was limited to 39 games and 125 at-bats for the Guardians in 2025, mostly due to a lingering case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, which required surgery in September. And before that, Thomas missed a month with a right […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
The Royals are signing former Cleveland Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas to a 1-year, $5.25M deal according to Will Sammon and Mark Feinsand. The deal includes $1M in incentives as well. Thomas is a 30-year-old, right-handed outfielder who has spent most of his defensive innings in center field and right field. He has bounced around during […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
I recently read John Helyar’s 1994 baseball classic Lords of the Realm. Somehow, I had never heard of it until I spotted it on a baseball top-ten list. If you haven’t read it and want to avoid spoilers, stop here, go buy the book, and return after you’ve finished. That might sound dramatic, but after […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
The Winter Meetings have concluded with the Royals yet to address their glaring outfield needs. The free agent market became thinner when former Royals outfielder Mike Yastrzemski signed a two-year deal with the Braves this week. With Harrison Bader looking for a three-year deal, the free agent market isn’t looking like a promising avenue to […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
Despite a quiet Winter Meetings, the Royals remain on the hunt for outfield help: “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? [With] free agents, do you feel like it’s a fair asking pricing right now and does […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
Mike Yastrzemski proved to be a terrific pickup for the Royals last summer. But he won’t be returning in Royals blue. The Braves signed Yastrzemski to a two-year, $23 million deal, according to ESPN reporter Jeff Passan. The contract includes a third-year club option. The Royals acquired Yastrzemski for pitcher Yunior Marte at the July […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
Does it really matter which outfielders the Royals bring in? The answer is certainly yes, but let’s not get bogged down in that. Step back a bit and look at the broader scope here. It makes a huge difference if they for some reason spent 300 to 400 million to get Kyle Tucker, but we […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
The Winter Meetings conclude with the Rule 5 draft, which will be held on Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT. The Rule 5 draft is a way for teams to select players buried in deep organizations to give them a shot at a big league career. Players are eligible if they are not on a […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
A lot of different things can happen over the course of a baseball season, and so thinking probabilistically is one of the better ways of predicting what’s going to happen. For instance, it is very likely that Aaron Judge is going to be good next year. It is not very likely that, say, MJ Melendez […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Lady Luck smiled on the Kansas City Royals in the 2026 MLB Draft lottery on Tuesday, much to the pleasure of the front office. “It’s awesome. It’s exciting,” said Royals general manager J.J. Picollo. “We had less than a one percent chance of getting the first pick, we probably should have been closer to 16, […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Christmas came early for the Royals this year. The MLB draft lottery has hurt the Royals before – in both 2022 and 2023 they were pushed back in the order due to lottery results. But this year, fortune shone upon them, and they were awarded the #6 overall pick in next summer’s draft, despite finishing […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
The Royals continue to be attached to several outfielders during the Winter Meetings as they look to upgrade their outfield. The latest reports indicate they are looking at Astros outfielder Jake Meyers, who enjoyed a career season in 2025. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com writes the Royals are one of a number of teams interested in […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
In this episode of Royals Rundown, hosts Jacob Milham and Jeremy “Hokius” Greco take a deep dive into a crucial stretch of the Kansas City Royals’ offseason. With the MLB Winter Meetings heating up, the pair explores what’s real and what’s just rumor, breaking down how previous winter meetings laid the groundwork for future blockbuster […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
The Royals have spent the early offseason signaling an appetite for upgrades in the outfield, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reporting they prefer to add two outfielders – one via free agency and one via trade. The free agency market is thin, leaving the Royals to sort through potential platoon options. But the Royals […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Anne Rogers writes the Royals aren’t likely to deal Cole Ragans. “It would be really difficult for us to trade Cole,” general manager J.J. Picollo said Monday. “When Cole is right, he’s as good as anybody in the game. It’s rare that you get an opportunity to have somebody like that, and we have him […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read