Royals monitoring trade market to boost offense. A look at team’s plans & assets
Where do the Kansas City Royals truly stand? It’s a question intriguing fans and pundits alike as a potentially busy July 31 trade deadline looms across Major League Baseball.
The Royals want to be known as contenders. That’s been their expectation since the final out of Game 4 in the 2024 American League Divisional Series — KC came up short in the ALDS against the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium last October.
The club’s desire to get back to the postseason was clear in spring training this year. It was confirmed even earlier, during the offseason, when the Royals re-signed veteran starters Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen and acquired second baseman Jonathan India and top closer Carlos Estévez.
The Royals wanted more, to be sure, but the 2025 season hasn’t been trending in that direction. Instead, KC has slowly sagged in the AL standings. A winless homestand last week didn’t help matters; meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers have surged forward in the AL Central.
“I think we are just tired of losing,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said recently. “It’s as simple as that. Tired of losing and tired of not scoring runs.”
Entering Thursday, the Royals (36-38) find themselves 11 games behind the Tigers in the division. This is not an insurmountable margin, but the Royals’ current position is cause for legitimate concern.
An AL Wild Card remains a viable option for returning to the playoffs. But a jumbled group of teams will be vying for just three spots.
So what will the Royals do at the deadline? Will they be buyers or sellers? Or perhaps stand pat?
The club desperately needs more offense in order to compete at a higher level. The trade deadline presents an avenue for adding required reinforcements. But acquiring proven big-league talent would require the Royals’ front office to part with valued prospects.
Here is a look at what the Royals have to offer and how they might envision being able to improve.
Trade evaluations ongoing
The Royals are prepared to scour the market for help.
Discussions will undoubtedly intensify over the next several weeks, ahead of that July 31 deadline.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of action late in July ...” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said on 96.5 The Fan’s Cody and Gold show. “If you have a bunch of teams that are 3-4 games out of the wild card — like the American League right now — there are all but three teams that should believe they are going to make the playoffs.
“You wouldn’t expect a lot of heavy trading to happen in early July.”
The Royals can use this time to put themselves in a more favorable position. They need help around such stars as Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. Infielders Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia have produced at a high level this year, but that may not be enough.
In the past, the Royals tried to rely on the likes of MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe to drive in runs. But neither was able to get the job done. Melendez is now at Triple-A Omaha and Renfroe was designated for assignment.
Kansas City’s need for consistently good hitting isn’t new. The Royals ostensibly chased legitimate run producers all offseason. They reportedly had interest in free agents Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar, for instance, but each decided to sign elsewhere.
So the search for a difference-maker is ongoing, and it should be: The Royals rank last in home runs and OPS (on-base plus slugging) with runners in scoring position.
There’s still hope that top prospect Jac Caglianone, who made his big-league debut this month, can infuse the lineup with more power this season. But that alone might not be enough to take KC where it wants to go.
“I think we are just trying to monitor things,” Picollo said. “Nobody seems to be very active right now (in the trade market). ... It just doesn’t seem like teams are actively shopping players right now.”
As Picollo said, the trade market will heat up eventually. Rumors will continue to swirl into July. And the Royals are no strangers to making midseason deals.
In 2023, Picollo acquired All-Star starter Cole Ragans from Texas. Last season, the GM engineered trades to bring in top relievers Hunter Harvey and Lucas Erceg.
If the Royals are going to be aggressive on the trade market this summer, they will have to take a hard look at which prospects they might be willing to move.
Royals’ prospect outlook
On Tuesday, the Royals were the subject of trade rumors.
A report circulated that ownership had advised Picollo to “start thinking” about moving veterans in potential trades. The Royals denied the report, calling such speculation “unequivocally false.”
The inference was that the club is more likely to be a buyer than a seller at this year’s deadline. But if the Royals are truly looking to arrange a deadline deal, what might they have to offer?
With Caglianone and starting pitcher Noah Cameron already graduated to the MLB level, the Royals will have both in the fold for the foreseeable future.
That leaves a pair of catchers atop their list of potentially movable prospects. Blake Mitchell (KC’s No. 2 prospect) and local product Carter Jensen (No. 3) are making their way through the minors.
Jensen is raking at Double-A with a .302 batting average, five home runs and 35 RBIs. Mitchell is coming back from a broken right hamate bone in his hand, an injury sustained during spring training.
The Royals have two intriguing young pitchers in Ben Kudrna (No. 4) and Steven Zobac (No. 7). Both are currently playing with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. And outfielder Gavin Cross (No. 6) is another option who might intrigue potential trade partners.
Other high-upside players dot the rosters of the Royals’ affiliates in the lower levels of the minors. The Royals must decide whether it’s worth going all-in this season, even if that means sacrificing a piece of their future.
What’s on the horizon?
Compounding matters, the Royals are facing a difficult stretch of games ahead.
They finish a road series with the Rangers on Thursday before beginning a three-game series against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego. After that, they play host to home series against the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers to finish out the month.
A winning streak could vault the Royals right back into the division race. And KC shouldn’t be too concerned about the AL standings right now, anyway — not with 87 games remaining, as of Thursday. There’s ample time for a rebound.
At the same time, last week’s players-only meeting underscored an important point: The Royals do need to start playing up to their own expectations.
That’s the only way to guarantee themselves another postseason appearance.
“My understanding is that it was a very positive meeting and there wasn’t any finger-pointing,” Picollo said. “It was like, ‘Guys we have to get going here. We are under-performing right now.’”
Witt, for one, took full responsibility for the team’s rough patch of late. But he might as well have been speaking for all of his teammates.
They know that the future is largely in their hands, no matter what the organization does between now and the MLB trade deadline.
“For me, it’s been not good,” Witt said. “I’ve gotta look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘What do I need to do?’
“And I just need to get better. It starts from me. And honestly, that’s something where, when I’m going (good), things are going better.”
