One-In-A-Million Blue Jays-Royals Trade Idea Would Ship $28.5 Million All-Star To KC

Sometimes, it's nice to indulge in a fantasy.

The Kansas City Royals have one transcendent superstar in Bobby Witt Jr., but the rest of the lineup beyond him is fairly pedestrian. Pairing Witt with another superstar might well elevate the Royals from plucky playoff participants to World Series contenders.

The issue, of course, is that superstars are extremely expensive, and the Royals have historically been a low-budget Major League Baseball club. Even in 2024, when they spent more money than anticipated in free agency, they fielded the sport's 21st-highest payroll.

What if the Royals could somehow wave a magic wand and trade for Toronto Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr., though? It's far from a likely scenario, but one baseball writer does believe it's worth entertaining the idea.

On Friday, Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer named the Royals as a "long shot worth mentioning" for Guerrero if a surprise trade does happen this winter.

"The Royals are too early in their contention timeline to do a deal like this," Rymer wrote. "But if any star in MLB needs more support, it's Bobby Witt Jr. He's a great hitter who is unfortunately surrounded by middling or downright bad ones."

Guerrero, 25, is a four-time All-Star, and finished sixth in American League Most Valuable Player voting in 2024. Pairing him with Witt, who finished second, would make the Royals a fearsome lineup to face moving forward. But there are more than a few obstacles standing in their way.

Guerrero will make $28.5 million in 2025, and one can rest assured that if the Blue Jays are willing to trade him, they're not willing to pay a dime of that money. The Royals would have to move mountains to pay that salary, and extending him beyond this, his final year of team control, would be nearly impossible.

Plus, the Blue Jays are far from guaranteed to trade Guerrero in the first place. However, if they become desperate to move him, perhaps they could accept a slightly lesser prospect haul than he might fetch if he had more than a year left under contract.

We can all acknowledge at this point that the Royals probably aren't trading for Guerrero. But they did check in on the possibility of signing Juan Soto earlier this offseason, so maybe their superstar pursuits will slowly start to become more serious.

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