Kansas City Royals: Three offseason free agent targets
By Nick Stevens
Who will the Kansas City Royals bring in to round out the starting rotation?
The starting pitching market isn’t a deep or overly impressive class if you’re a team shopping within the top tier of free agents, but there are plenty of options within the price range the Kansas City Royals will be looking for.
With an upcoming list of non-tendered players expected to be larger than usual, teams like the Royals will be actively looking for the next reclamation project, someone who can be added at a cheap price and hopefully flipped at the deadline, but there are a handful of pitchers who fit this mold already on the market.
One name who stands out is former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood. Wood doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he has produced at the major league level when he’s been healthy.
Injuries have limited him to less than 50 innings over the last two seasons, but he did rack up the strikeouts in his 12.2 innings in 2020, striking out 23% of hitters he faced.
An eight-year veteran who was an All-Star as recently as 2017, Wood beings World Series experience to a young Royals starting rotation and has averaged more than 5 IP/GS across much of his career.
With a group of young arms hoping to reach the majors shortly, Wood can not only slot into the backend of the starting rotation to start the season, but if younger arms do push their way into the rotation, Wood has experience out of the bullpen and can move into a long-relief role for Kansas City, a valuable role with a number of young arms preparing for what is hopefully a 162-game season in 2021.
The Royals have already been connected to Matt Shoemaker this offseason, another arm who can be a solid fifth starter, but if Wood can be had for a decent price, he has one of the higher upsides among free agents in this same tier.