After doing some light buying at the trade deadline over the summer in order to keep themselves in contention, the Royals have some interest in reuniting with two of the rental bats they brought on board back in July. According to a report from Jaylon Thompson of The Kansas City Star, the club has interest in reunions with both outfielder Mike Yastrzemski and second baseman Adam Frazier.
That the Royals would want to bring Yastrzemski back into the fold is hardly a surprise. The 35-year-old veteran was a late bloomer with the Giants who didn’t debut in the majors until his age-28 season, but he’s been a consistently above-average hitter in seven seasons since then. Over the past three years, Yastrzemski is a .232/.322/.426 (107 wRC+) hitter with a 23.4% strikeout rate against an excellent 11.0% walk rate. He’s a consistent source of decent power as well, typically offering 15 to 20 homers and 20 to 30 doubles in a given season.
All of that already points to Yastrzemski offering a solid floor for an outfield that desperately needs stability, but Yastrzemski also impressed in a big way after being dealt from San Francisco to Kansas City down the stretch last year. While the team wasn’t able to squeak into the playoffs, Yastrzemski delivered a phenomenal performance with nine home runs and a 127 wRC+ in 50 games for the Royals while also walking (13.4%) more often than he struck out (11.8%). All of this occurred in a small sample of just 186 plate appearances, but if Yastrzemski could turn in a performance even close to that in 2026 he’d surely be one of the biggest bargains in this winter’s free agent class.
As for Frazier, a reunion for the 2026 campaign would mark the soon to be 34-year-old’s third stint in Kansas City across three seasons. Frazier struggled badly as a Royal in 2024, posting a wRC+ of 65 across 104 games in a part-time role. He rejoined the team in a trade with the Pirates at this summer’s deadline, however, and turned in a much more respectable performance. In 197 plate appearances with the Royals, Frazier slashed .283/.320/.402 with a wRC+ of 98 to lift his season-long figure across 134 games to 89. Frazier lacks the track record of consistent above-average offensive that Yastrzemski offers but would help back up Michael Massey and Jonathan India at second base, which proved to be a major hole for the Royals last season.
Neither player’s contract figures to break the bank, which is surely part of why Kansas City is interested in re-upping with both players. Club payroll isn’t expected to go up much in 2026 if it does at all, and with the team already projected by RosterResource for $139MM in payroll ($1MM more than last season) the Royals find themselves in a bit of a financial bind as they look to reshape their offense. They’ve already expressed a willingness to deal from their rotation mix in order to bring in offense, but with holes all over the outfield and on the bench they’ll surely need to add more than one bat if they hope to improve their offense in 2026. That’s where a cheaper free agent addition like Yastrzemski or Frazier could come in, providing roughly average production at an affordable rate.
Wow
Mike Y is my guy!
His grandpa was my guy!
KC needs to bring back Yastrzemski to bat lefties for Jack C in RF and for Kyle Isbel in CF. Trade Bubic, C #62 prospect Blake Mitchell, P prospect Drew Beam to St. Louis for Donovan to play LF.
That’s not a bad offer,but a couple of issues with it the Cardinals really don’t need another catching prospect and Bubic would have to agree on an extension one would think. Cardinals want years of control on a pitcher. I’m good with Beam…Bergert,Kolek and Beam would work for me.
Bergert & Kolek.That is too much. How about Kolek & Bubic for Donovan. St. Louis has the money to extend Bubic. ST.L get 2 Starters and we get the bat,LF in Donovan.
Actually that’s not to much to ask for Donavon.. in my mind he is worth more than Freddie. Kolek and Bergert was the return for Freddie. Yes I would do that deal if Bubic shoulder checked out.
You are right it was Bergert & Kolek for Freddy. If that is what the Cards wanted, I would pull the trigger for Donovan. We could always bring in a vet for 1 year as pitching depth for injuries to stack with Kurdna and Black in AAA
Don’t forget to add Beam to that PKG as well. We could throw in a lower level lotto ticket
The royals are not going to give you both bergert and kolek and a prospect. How many years of control is Donovan? How old is he?
Ramos for Bubic !
I like Heliot a lot. Rusty Kuntz could teach him angles in LF.
Totally agree. I thought Yaz was great. Did not know much about Donovan but in looking seems like a great fit. Gritty, team guy, good defense, Utility which Royals love, possible Hitting upside, but getting what he did at STL would be fine. I just hope the Royals pull the trigger on something. The outfield is starting to remind me of the stadium move…a lot of talk and no action.
After resigning Has and Frazier, what more do they need? That’s a powerhouse lineup!/s
If they do end up bringing those two back, I would understand, but this early in the off season, shouldn’t they aim higher? Its not like there are a ton of teams bidding for their services. These are guys that will likely be available in the spring to fill out the roster. No rush.
Biggest bargain is not what any free agent wants to be, but Yaz is solid in all aspects of his game. Decent power, accurate arm.
Hope he gets a good payday. Any team could use him as a 4th outfielder.
Yaz is my Plan K or so for the Dodgers’ OF hole
Solid player
Damn consistent too. He’s been worth between 2.0 to 2.8 bWAR each of his 7 seasons.
I don’t understand a team like the Royals spending as much as they did on SP and then not spending on OF at all. Yaz is fine as the 3rd piece of a strong OF, not ur main add of the offseason. Also how has a team like the Royals not checked in on salary dump OF, Bos has more OFs then they know what to do with and would love to get rid of Yoshida, the Phillies (castellanos) and Angles (adell/soler) are all reportedly looking to unload OFs. I’m sure the White Sox would love to unload Benintendi. None of these guys is going to fix the Royals OF on their own, but also if u take on enough of the contract u might also get a prospect back.
They are better off with who they have than Soler and Benintendi. Benny showed he doesn’t want a “shot” at remaining a Royal. Why give him a “shot” now? Give me John Rave any day and he can have fun with the Sox.
Soler is part of one of the more puzzling trades we have had and had not grasped fielding when he was at the K.
I think there is a couple reasons. Yoshida is a much less useful player. He spent nearly the entire season as Bostons DH because he has a terrible glove with, maybe a comparable bat to Yaz. Yaz is clearly the superior player and while he will cost more than the players you mentioned, Yaz shouldn’t command a huge salary.
Maybe a Royals fan will correct me on this next thought but I suspect Kansas see themselves competitors so it makes some sense that they would rather not downgrade.
The problem with Yoshida, Castellanos, and Soler is that you would need to play them in the field, and none of them are passable in the OF. They may be able to get two of them after their current team releases them, if they wait. Adell comes with extra K’s, and would cost you a player or two. Better than what the Royals have, but aim higher.
I like Ragans, Kolek, Zerpa, and India to the Dbacks for Marte & LF McCarthy for bounce back. This would Give KC a power bat and LF. Then sign Frazier as UT.
That would be a massive overpay by the Royals.
both former Orioles with a little bit of life left in them. best wishes to both. neither have anything in their careers to regret.
The market for hitters is obsolete.
True. The market would rather chase theoretical, marginal gains then tangible ones.
I actually wouldn’t mind Atlanta signing Yaz. He could play outfield some and DH some. Certainly he wouldn’t play every day, but he can play adequately enough defensively that he could rotate and would be better on the grass than Profar.
Yeah, like to see Atlanta get one of Yaz or Mike Tauchman. Tauchman projected by MLBTR to get $3.4M. I like Tauchman’s game and price. Either one could push Eli White to the 5th outfield spot and give the Braves a solid mix.
I really wish the Reds would sign Yastrzemski. He’s the kind of blue collar guy Cincinnati fans get behind. Not flashy, just goes about his business and gets it done
Yaz is fine to sign, feel like they could do better than frazier. I like the idea of signing Bader.
They need to stop entertaining the idea of trading their better and established starters. Keep Ragans, trade Bubic if only you get a substantial improvement. Their strength is their rotation, the rest of the team isn’t strong enough to compensate if the rotation is weakened.