Early in the offseason, Royals president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo said the team was open to trading a starting pitcher for offense. That would have been focused on the outfield, which has been a problem for the club for years.
Kansas City has acquired a pair of outfielders in the month since Picollo’s comments. They signed Lane Thomas to a reclamation $5.5MM free agent deal, then swapped lefty reliever Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee for Isaac Collins and middle reliever Nick Mears. Those moves raised the floor relative to where the outfield stood at the end of the 2025 season, yet it remains one of the weaker on-paper groups in MLB.
Kyle Isbel is a low-end regular in center field. Collins had a strong season but was a 27-year-old rookie whose results outpaced mediocre batted ball metrics. The Royals probably don’t expect him to be more than an average regular in left field. Jac Caglianone has the highest ceiling of the group, but MLB pitchers exploited his aggressive plate approach in his first 62 games. Caglianone so thoroughly dominated the minor leagues that the Royals might feel he has little to learn by going back to Triple-A. Still, there are sure to be peaks and valleys even if he takes a step forward in his first full MLB season. Thomas battled injuries and was mostly unproductive after being traded from the Nationals to the Guardians at the ’24 deadline.
Depth options John Rave, Dairon Blanco, Drew Waters and Kameron Misner (acquired in a DFA trade with Tampa Bay) have shown very little at the big league level. That makes it unsurprising that the Royals continue to monitor the outfield market after the Collins/Thomas deals. Working with seemingly limited payroll space and a weak farm system, trading a starter could still be on the table — even if it seems less likely than it did a month ago.
Picollo has strongly downplayed the chance of moving Cole Ragans. He’s controllable for three seasons and has shown ace upside but is coming off a significant rotator cuff injury. They extended Michael Wacha last offseason and Seth Lugo before the trade deadline. It’s hard to see either veteran righty going anywhere.
Left-hander Kris Bubic is headed into his final season of arbitration control. He pitched at a top-of-the-rotation level but suffered a season-ending rotator cuff strain not long after the All-Star Break. Southpaw Noah Cameron had a sub-3.00 ERA over his first 24 career starts despite a below-average 20.5% strikeout rate. Controllable depth arms Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek have drawn interest but have minor league options and could be key injury insurance in Triple-A. They’re presumably open to moving Bailey Falter, but he’d have minimal trade value. Alec Marsh has gotten interest in the past but underwent labrum surgery in November and will likely miss the entire season.
Will anyone from that group be on the move before Opening Day?
Will they? Probably not. Should they? Yes
Jarren Duran looms a strong target for them involving their starters
I would trade the Royals Victor Scott and Lars Nootbar and Andre Pallante for one year of Bubic and Drew Beam from the minors. I would throw in Cesar Prieto for the infield as well if I’m the Cardinals. I would then move Nathan Church to CF full time if I’m the Cardinals. I believe the Royals would at least consider this perhaps..
But why though? The Birds aren’t even going to make the playoffs next year, what do you need one year of Bubic for?
Pallante is going to be your #1 starter, why would you trade him away?
Lol
Kris Bubic and top catching prospect/#2 prospect Blake Mitchell for Duran. Royals have multiple catching prospects.
Caglianone was a victim of serious bad luck and actually improved on his chase rate, so this article is a bit misleading.
I suspect he’ll be just fine.
Kris Bubic for Kevin Alcantara and Ben Brown.
I’m hoping that Bubic would perhaps like St. Louis and then would consider a new contract by management.
Then sign him next year when he’s a free agent?
Duran from the Red Sox just makes too much sense in this situation, but I don’t know who the Royals are sending back…maybe a three-way trade will work.