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Kansas City Royals: Free Agent Bargain Hunting?

By Jason Evans

Dec 7, 2016; National Harbor, MD, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore speaks with the media after announcing a trade of relief pitcher Wade Davis for outfielder Jorge Soler (both not pictured) on day three of the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2016; National Harbor, MD, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore speaks with the media after announcing a trade of relief pitcher Wade Davis for outfielder Jorge Soler (both not pictured) on day three of the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Kansas City Royals have been very active in the trade market so far this off-season. Will they get involved in free agency?

The Kansas City Royals have been very active since the calendar changed to 2017. After trading Wade Davis for Jorge Soler during the Winter Meetings, the Royals made two trades this past week. They got Peter O’Brien from the Arizona Diamondbacks after he was DFA’d and then traded Jarrod Dyson to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Nathan Karns.

The Royals deals have saved them $10 million so far. With pending free agents Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar, Danny Duffy, Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain, every little bit counts. Now, the Royals are in position to wait out the free agent market. 

"“When the music stops, there’s always going to be a few guys without chairs,” Moore said in an interview this week. “And unfortunately, for those players, the options dwindle. For the clubs that stay aggressive and keep their pulse on everything, you can get some potential deals.”"

With the addition of Karns, they are most likely out of the starting pitching market. Maybe with their savings they try and add a veteran reliever to help Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera. Guys like Fernando Salas and Jerry Blevens are available or even former Royals Greg Holland and Luke Hochevar.

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On the offensive side, if the club wants to role with O’Brien vs lefties at DH, maybe they target a bat like Pedro Alvarez to DH against right-handed pitchers. With Kendrys Morales gone, they could use some additional pop in the middle of the order. Those two would strike out a ton, which is the antithesis of how the Royals lineup was so productive during their AL pennant run in 2014 and World Championship in 2015, but maybe having your DH be a boom or bust guy isn’t such a bad thing.

The Royals owe it to themselves to try and compete one more time with this core group. Yes, Cleveland looks quite good on paper, plus getting their injured guys back who didn’t play in the postseason and adding Edwin Encarnacion for Mike Napoli. Detroit should still be competitive as well unless they start selling other pieces that we don’t see coming.

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The Royals can always shop players around the deadline if it doesn’t work and reload for the next wave. Their players in contract years will have value then too. They should spend some of the $10 million surplus they now have, whether it helps locking up a player or adding piece for the upcoming. It’s only January 9. They have time.

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