Royals’ Trade Stance On Key Starters Could Make Adding A Bat More Difficult

The Royals may have made it harder on themselves.

Apr 16, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Logo on stadium seats prior to the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Kansas City Royals have an important offseason ahead of them. They know they need to boost their offense after a down year in which they scored just 651 runs during the regular season.

The team is looking for an outfield bat, and they can do this via trade or free agency. If they do it via trade, they’ll have to part ways with a starting pitcher, and Kris Bubic seems like the most logical candidate to be moved with just one year left on his contract, per Will Sammon of The Athletic.

However, when concerning other pitchers, it appears the Royals don’t have any interest in listening to offers.

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Royals Search For A Bat Just Got More Difficult

Jul 26, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic (50) delivers a pitch against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

 “League sources suggest it’s unlikely the Royals would trade Cole Ragans, their ace, especially after a down season and with him under club control for multiple seasons. It’s equally unlikely they’d trade veterans Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo after both starters made commitments to Kansas City,” Sammon wrote.

If teams want to trade with the Royals to get a starting pitcher, they could show interest in Bubic. However, this might complicate things a little, as teams may prefer to target somebody with more than one year of club control.

Wacha has two years left, as does Lugo. Lugo signed an extension during the regular season and Wacha was signed to one last offseason.

Trading a starter to get a bat now might be a little bit harder for Kansas City. If they can’t add a bat via trade, they can always dive into the free agent market, though options will be limited there as well, as the Royals won’t spend on players like Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber or Alex Bregman.

They could bring back Mike Yastrzemski, but he doesn’t add the same kind of impact that other options would, so it’s going to be difficult to find that piece for Kansas City, even though it makes sense for them to trade Bubic.

It will be fascinating to see how the Royals go about adding to their offense, but it would seem that they have made it a little bit harder on themselves in terms of landing the quality of hitter they would need to be considered a force.

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