Kansas City Royals: Three offseason free agent targets
These three free agents are realistic targets of the Kansas City Royals this offseason.
The Kansas City Royals enter the 2020-2021 offseason with numerous holes to fill on their roster, but how active will they be this winter? It’s not hard to guess that the Royals won’t be major players for the top free agents on the market, but there are a handful of moves they can make to take a step forward in 2021.
With a pair of promising pitching prospects in their starting rotation in Brady Singer and Kris Bubic and a core group of hitters in place, the Kansas City Royals may not be a playoff team next season, but there is an opportunity for this organization to take a step forward while not bringing in the high-priced free agents.
More top prospects like Asa Lacy, Bobby Witt Jr, Daniel Lynch, and Jackson Kowar aren’t too far away from making an impact at the major league level, meaning the time to jump on the Kansas City Royals bandwagon is now before the impressive talent down on the farm system reaches the big leagues.
But where can the Royals go this winter to fill some gaps and put together the competitive team Dayton Moore expects to have on the field? With needs in the outfield, starting rotation, and bullpen, here are three free agents the Royals can target this offseason.
After the retirement of Alex Gordon, the Kansas City Royals have a hole in the outfield.
The Kansas City Royals will have the near-impossible task of replacing outfielder Alex Gordon after his 14-year career with the Royals came to an end after the 2020 season, a task that won’t happen this winter.
Franchy Cordero will get an opportunity to fill the open outfield spot, but injuries continued to haunt the extremely-talented outfielder after coming over to Kansas City, the same issue that haunted him in San Diego. If he can stay healthy and click in 2021, Cordero makes the Royals lineup a more improved unit, but that’s a big “if”.
One way the Royals could upgrade their lineup is to sign Robbie Grossman to provide outfield depth and someone in the lineup who can get on base.
Grossman slashed .241/.344/.482 with 22 extra-base hits (eight home runs) and eight stolen bases in 51 games last season with the Oakland A’s. With a career on-base percentage of .350, Grossman’s 10.9% walk rate in 2020 was the lowest percentage of walks he has drawn since 2015, but it’s still a solid number and typically sits much higher across a full season. His ability to get on base is greatly needed in Kansas City.
Only Salvador Perez (.353) recorded a higher OBP than Grossman last season as the Royals finished 27th in the major leagues in OBP (.309).
Jurickson Profar is also an option here and brings in the ability to play second base, but after a solid season in San Diego last season, he may be in search of a bigger contract than what Grossman commands. If the Royals want to wait out his market, there’s always the chance he remains unsigned and forced into a more team-friendly deal that would benefit Kansas City.
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.
Bringing back Greg Holland would solidify a solid Kansas City Royals bullpen.
By bringing in a free agent starting pitcher to round out the starting rotation, the Kansas City Royals are looking to move Jakob Junis to the bullpen, a role the organization hopes he can excel in and become the next notable bullpen arm to come out of Kansas City.
Taking risks on Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal proved to pay off well as the Royals bullpen finished 12th in terms of Wins Above Replacement (1.8), 8th in combined ERA (3.84), and sixth in strikeouts (10.26/9 IP). It was a solid unit that figures to be a bright point once again in 2021.
But this is a group that could use a reliable veteran to help guide the way through a full season and what better veteran option than Greg Holland. Both Holland and Rosenthal figure to be in high demand this offseason, with Rosenthal likely getting a large handful of money thrown his way by a playoff team looking to beef up their bullpen.
Perhaps, the Royals can bring back Holland on a team-friendly deal. After a number of ups and downs and bouncing around the league from 2017-2019 after recovering from Tommy John surgery, Holland regained his footing with Kansas City in 2020, a franchise he successfully began his major league career with.
In 28 appearances, Holland went 3-0 with six saves, a 1.91 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and a .191 average against. He recorded his usual high strikeout numbers (27%), and walked just 6% of hitters. It was the first time since 2014 in which he walked fewer than 10% of batters faced.
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The Kansas City Royals could end up being more aggressive in free agency, but with some new decision-makers in place, an uncertain financial market, and a large arbitration class, it’s a little more difficult to pinpoint exactly how the Royals will attack free agency, but these three names do improve a roster that’s on the up and up.