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Report: “Growing Belief” That Marlins Will Trade Jazz Chisholm Jr.

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The Marlins announced their status as deadline sellers more than two months ago with their surprising early trade of Luis Arraez, and with the trade deadline now just 22 days away, their activity on that front should pick back up. While much of the focus has been on closer Tanner Scott, who’s a free agent at season’s end, Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that there’s a “growing belief” Jazz Chisholm Jr. will also be traded. Mish lists the Mariners as  a “club to watch” if Chisholm is moved and also suggests the Pirates and Royals could join the bidding.

Chisholm, 26, is enjoying a solid season at the plate, hitting .255/.326/.407 (105 wRC+) with ten homers and 17 steals (albeit in 25 tries). He’s struggled with strikeouts on the past, and while his 24.9% rate is still worse than average, it’s a notable improvement over the 29.2% clip he registered in the four prior seasons. He’s paired those improved contact skills with a career-best 8.8% walk rate.

There’s little doubting Chisholm’s raw tools and star-caliber upside. He’s averaged 26 homers and 32 steals per 162 games played in his career. However, he’s never topped 124 games in a season and has only reached 400 plate appearances once to this point in his major league career. Injuries have frequently hobbled Chisholm and caused him to miss significant time. Since establishing himself as a regular in 2021, Chisholm has missed time due to a shoulder injury, a back strain (which required a 60-day IL stint), turf toe and an oblique strain.

Chisholm is earning an affordable $2.625MM this season and is controlled for two more years following the current campaign. He’s been the Marlins’ primary center fielder over the past two seasons, though that move was borne out of necessity. Miami has been unable to develop a center fielder and has come up empty in its long-running attempts to acquire a controllable option at the position. Chisholm, a natural shortstop who slid over to second base early in his career, moved to center field last year and has drawn mixed reviews from most public defensive metrics. He was a plus defender in just over 1300 innings at second base before the move to the outfield.

All three of the potential teams listed in Mish’s report stand as clear fits in a theoretical Chisholm deal. Royals general manager J.J. Picollo has been open about his desire to add a bat capable of playing both the infield and the outfield — a need Chisholm would fill nicely. The Royals have fairly even platoon splits as a team, but the bulk of the team is right-handed — including Kansas City’s two best hitters, Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and second baseman Michael Massey (who’s been limited to just 142 plate appearances due to injury) are the only left-handed bats on the roster who have turned in average or better production, by measure of wRC+.

The Pirates, meanwhile, have received sub-par offensive production from second base this season. Since being called up, former first-round pick Nick Gonzales has delivered roughly league-average offense (.269/.307/.414, 99 wRC+), but he’s been more productive against lefties than righties. Pittsburgh outfielders are also hitting just .227/.299/.352 as a collective unit this season. Chisholm could provide an offensive boost in either role or potentially split his time between the two positions based on matchups.

Both the outfield and second base have been weaknesses for the AL West-leading Mariners as well. The hope in Seattle was that the offseason acquisition of Jorge Polanco would have solidified second base, but the switch-hitter’s steady offensive output unexpectedly cratered this season; in 214 plate appearances, the former Twins infielder has slashed just .189/.280/.284 with a career-worst 33.6% strikeout rate. Their outfielders have combined for a .230/.285/.365 batting line.

With two and a half seasons of club control remaining, an affordable salary and another productive season highlighted by his typical blend of speed and power, Chisholm should come with a relatively steep cost of acquisition. Mish notes that a deal in the offseason is possible as well, if the Marlins don’t get an offer to their liking in the next three weeks, and suggests that even some current non-contenders could look into a deal for Chisholm (both now and in the offseason) as they look toward the 2025 campaign and beyond.

Royals Activate Kris Bubic From 60-Day IL, DFA Colin Selby

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The Royals announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Colin Selby for assignment. The move clears a spot for left-hander Kris Bubic, who has been activated from the 60-day injured list, on the 40-man roster. Lefty Walter Pennington was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Bubic on the active roster.

Selby, 26, made his MLB debut with the Pirates last year and struggled to a 9.00 ERA despite a 4.80 FIP in 24 innings of work. He remained on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster throughout the offseason but was designated for assignment in early April when the Pirates needed to clear space for catcher Joey Bart on their 40-man roster. The Royals promptly swung a trade to acquire Selby later that week, and he’s been in the Royals organization ever since. The righty made just two appearances total for Kansas City at the big league level where he surrendered three runs (two earned) on two walks and two hits without recording a strikeout.

The majority of Selby’s season has come at the Triple-A level, where he’s pitched to a 5.32 ERA in 22 innings of work between his time with the Pirates and Royals. Those mediocre results have come despite an excellent 29.5% strikeout rate at the level, as Selby has been held back by an elevated 11.6% walk rate. Selby’s penchant for giving up free passes has followed him at the big league level as well, as he’s walked 13.4% of the batters he’s faced in his 27 innings of big league experience while striking out a decent 23.6%. The Royals will have one week to work out a trade regarding Selby or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he clears waivers, the club will have the opportunity to outright him to Triple-A, where he’d serve as a non-roster depth option.

Selby’s departure makes way for Bubic, who is making his return to the big leagues after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April of last year. The 26-year-old was selected by the Royals with the 40th overall selection in the 2018 draft and made his big league debut with the club back in 2020 as a starting pitcher. In three years as a member of the club’s rotation, Bubic generally posted results commensurate with those of a typical back-end starter. He pitched to a 4.89 ERA (90 ERA+) with a similar 4.93 FIP in 309 innings of work. While he struck out a decent 20% of batters faced, his 10.5% walk rate was on the high side and limited his effectiveness.

Bubic entered the 2023 season once again as a part of the rotation in Kansas City, and through three starts he appeared as though he may have been turning a corner. His 3.94 ERA, while it was 17% better than league average, wasn’t exactly anything to write home about. That being said, his peripheral numbers suggested the former top prospect may have been in a much better place than previous years. He was striking out 23.5% of batters faced on the year and, most importantly, was showcasing much stronger control with a minuscule 2.9% walk rate that left him with an excellent 2.63 FIP. Unfortunately, Bubic’s season was cut short by surgery before he or the Royals could see how sustainable that improved control truly was.

The lefty began his rehab process this year once again in a starting role, but recently moved into the bullpen near the end of his rehab assignment. That likely offers a hint as to the role he’ll be used in now that he’s back in Kansas City, as the Royals figure to stick with a rotation consisting of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha, and Alec Marsh for the foreseeable future. While Bubic is seemingly poised to join the club in a multi-inning relief role, he’ll nonetheless look to carry over the strong results he achieved during his rehab assignment in Triple-A over to the majors. The lefty made nine appearances (five starts) at the highest level of the minors during his rehab, and pitched to a 2.63 with a 25.4% strikeout rate and an 8.8% walk rate in 27 1/3 innings of work.

Royals Select Walter Pennington

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The Royals announced today that they have reinstated infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier from the injured list and selected the contract of left-hander Walter Pennington. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder CJ Alexander and right-hander Carlos Hernández. To open a 40-man spot for Pennington, right-hander Dan Altavilla was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Pennington, 26, signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent in 2020. That year’s draft was reduced to just five rounds due to the pandemic. Since then, he has been climbing the minor league ladder, getting lots of strikeouts and ground balls but also struggling with command at times.

Last year, he tossed 70 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, allowing 3.18 earned runs per nine frames. He struck out 25.5% of batters faced and got grounders on more than half of the balls allowed in play, but he also gave out walks at an 11.9% clip. Here in 2024, he’s tossed 53 2/3 innings over 32 Triple-A appearances. He has a huge 35.3% strikeout rate and 52.6% ground ball rate, also reducing his walk rate to 8.8%.

That strong performance will get him called up to the big leagues for the first time. He’ll provide the Royals with a left-handed reliever, one capable of pitching multiple innings per outing. 14 of his 32 appearances this year have been for two innings or longer, with Pennington getting as high as four frames.

As for Altavilla, he landed on the 15-day IL on June 2o due to a right oblique strain. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be the middle of August.

Royals Outright Jake Brentz

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The Royals announced that left-hander Jake Brentz has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He has the right to reject that assignment and elect free agency, but doing so would mean forfeiting what is left of his $1.05MM salary, so he’ll likely stick with the club as non-roster depth.

Brentz, now 29, had a strong major league debut in 2021. He made 72 appearances for the Royals that year, allowing 3.66 earned runs per nine innings over his 64 frames. His 13.3% walk rate was a bit concerning but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced and kept 49% of balls in play on the ground. He earned a couple of saves and 15 holds that year.

However, it’s been a rough go since then. After just eight appearances in 2022, he found himself on the injured list and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in July. The Royals non-tendered him at the end of that year but then brought him back on a two-year deal to cover the 2023 and 2024 seasons, knowing that the first of those two years would mostly be about rehab and recovery for the southpaw.

He started a rehab assignment in August of last year but unfortunately suffered a lat strain after just three appearances. This year, he suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in mid-March, slowing him down yet again.

Since getting back on the hill, he’s tossed 17 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. While staying healthy is something of a victory after so many setbacks, the results have not been worth celebrating. He has a 12.71 ERA so far this year, striking out 15 batters but giving out 30 walks. On top of that, he’s also hit nine batters and thrown a couple of wild pitches. Given that wildness, it’s perhaps unsurprising that other clubs weren’t itching to claim him off waivers.

Players with more than three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but they need five years of service in order to do so while retaining what remains of their salary. Since Brentz has more than three but less than five, he’ll probably stick with the Royals as opposed to walking away from roughly half a million dollars.

He can focus on shaking off the rust for the next few months and try to earn his way back onto the roster. If not, he’ll qualify for free agency at season’s end, as is the case for all players with more than three years of service who accept outright assignments but aren’t added back to the roster by the end of a given season.

Royals Sign Jesus Tinoco To Minor League Deal

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The Royals signed reliever Jesús Tinoco to a minor league contract. The move was announced by Kansas City’s Triple-A team in Omaha. Tinoco elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Rangers last week.

A 29-year-old righty, Tinoco has pitched in parts of five MLB campaigns. That includes nine appearances with Texas this season. Tinoco had a rough go during that stretch, surrendering nine runs across 10 innings. He struck out nine, walked seven and hit a pair of opponents. Tinoco had turned in solid results for Triple-A Round Rock, working to a 3.80 earned run average through 21 1/3 innings. He fanned upwards of 30% of batters faced with a 47.1% ground-ball rate.

Tinoco owns a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 big league frames. His underlying marks are quite a bit worse, as Tinoco has a career 18.1% strikeout rate while walking 14% of opponents. The 29-year-old has a 4.46 earned run average in 153 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a solid 2.83 mark over 35 frames in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball a season ago.

The Royals have had one of the worst bullpens among postseason contenders. GM J.J. Picollo has made clear that upgrading the late innings will be a deadline priority. Tinoco isn’t going to impact the deadline calculus, but the mediocre bullpen could afford him a path back to the big leagues.

Royals Prioritizing Bullpen Help Over Outfield Bat

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The Royals have been linked to both bullpen and outfield help in recent weeks. General manager J.J. Picollo has gone so far as to publicly acknowledge a desire to improve in both areas in advance of next month’s trade deadline. At the moment, however, it seems the two needs are not viewed as equally necessary. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Kansas City is currently prioritizing relief help over its search for additional outfield talent.

Royals relievers currently rank 21st in the majors with a 4.37 earned run average but sit last in baseball with a well below-average 17.7% strikeout rate from their bullpen. Kansas City’s 10% walk rate from the ’pen is also the seventh-worst mark in MLB, and their 93.6 mph average fastball this season is tied for 28th overall. Based on Picollo’s prior comments in an appearance on Jayson Stark’s podcast, adding the type of power arm they’re lacking could be of particular interest (though that’s just my own inference/speculation, to be clear). “I’ve talked in the past about strikeouts,” Picollo said at the time. “We’re more of a matchup bullpen without necessarily the big power.”

Things have been particularly dicey of late. As the Royals have fallen in the AL Central standings in the midst of a 3-11 swoon, their bullpen has been a key culprit. Kansas City relievers are lugging an ugly 5.31 ERA over the past 14 days while punching out just 15.7% of their opponents and surrendering a woeful 1.99 homers per nine innings pitched (far and away the highest mark in the sport, leading 29th-ranked San Diego’s 1.75 HR/9 in that span).

The Royals had hoped that offseason additions Chris Stratton and Will Smith would join righty James McArthur, who was one of MLB’s most dominant relievers over the final few weeks of the 2023 season, in bolstering the 2024 bullpen. That hasn’t panned out.

Smith has pitched better of late, helping to nudge his ERA just under 5.00, but he’s been working in lower-leverage spots since late April. It’s a similar story with Stratton, who began the year working the seventh and eighth innings with regularity before dropping to the fifth, sixth and seventh amid a handful of rough meltdowns. He’s recently been throwing well and returned to some setup work, however. McArthur has rattled off four straight scoreless outings but still has a 6.35 ERA dating back to May 1 and a 4.70 earned run average overall.

With that group struggling, Kansas City has been linked to a handful of relievers known to be available — Chicago’s Michael Kopech and Miami’s Tanner Scott among them. They’re also tinkering with some in-house options in an effort to see if they can upgrade the ’pen internally. Starter Kris Bubic is on a rehab assignment working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery but will work in a relief capacity once he completes is rehab window.

It’s still early in trade season, although that doesn’t rule out a deal coming together. The Padres already acquired Luis Arraez back in early May, clearly illustrating the Marlins’ willingness to sell at any point. We’re also coming up on the one-year anniversary (June 30) of the Royals themselves trading Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers in a deal that netted them current top starter Cole Ragans.

While the Royals’ more immediate priority may be adding a reliever (or multiple relievers), it bears repeating that Picollo has been candid about his desire to add a bat — ideally one that can handle both the infield and the outfield. A left-handed bat, specifically, seems prudent for the righty-heavy Royals. Kansas City’s outfield, led by the trio of MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel and Hunter Renfroe, has been the least productive unit in baseball this season. In addition to placing Renfroe on the injured list, the Royals just yesterday optioned struggling corner outfielder/DH Nelson Velazquez to Triple-A Omaha.

A trade for an outfielder feels almost inevitable, and adding one who’s controlled beyond the current season would be particularly helpful. As I explored here in greater depth last month, the Royals have struggled immensely to develop outfielders internally; they’ve received little to no production from homegrown outfielders since the departures of now-retired former All-Stars Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon.

Kris Bubic Moving To Bullpen On Rehab Stint

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Royals left-hander Kris Bubic is closing in on his first major league work since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. The Stanford product began a rehab assignment last month and has made seven starts between Double-A and Triple-A.

While Bubic has worked from the rotation in the minors thus far, that won’t be his role with the big league club. General manager J.J. Picollo tells MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that the Royals are moving Bubic to the bullpen for now (X link). He has a week and a half left on his rehab assignment, so he’ll begin working in relief at Triple-A Omaha.

The assignment probably doesn’t come as a shock. While the 6’3″ southpaw has been a starter for essentially his entire career, Kansas City already has a defined front five. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh have taken all but four of the team’s starts this season. Ragans, Lugo and Singer have been varying degrees of excellent. Wacha is having his typically solid year, turning in a 4.07 ERA with plus control. K.C. signed him to fill that role as an innings eater and certainly isn’t bumping him from the rotation while he’s pitching this effectively.

Marsh is arguably the one question mark of the group. The second-year righty overcame a 15.9% strikeout rate to turn in a 2.70 ERA during the first month of the season. He dramatically increased the whiffs and ran a 3.86 ERA behind a 27.4% strikeout percentage in May. The wheels have fallen off over the past couple weeks, though. Marsh’s strikeout rate has normalized in between the levels of his first two months and he has allowed 6.66 earned runs per nine in June. He dominated the Yankees for seven scoreless innings on June 13 but has allowed at least three runs in the other six of his most recent seven starts.

If the Royals wanted to push Bubic back into the rotation, Marsh was the only one who might’ve been bumped. His overall body of work is still solid — a 4.40 ERA with average strikeout and walk rates — so the Royals will push Bubic to the bullpen instead.

Productive as their starting five has been, Kansas City’s relief group has been a weakness. They entered play Monday ranked 22nd in the majors with a 4.43 earned run average. No bullpen has recorded fewer strikeouts (17.5%) or missed fewer bats on a per-pitch basis (8.9% swinging strike rate). Picollo has already made clear the front office will try to add some firepower via trade.

Bubic isn’t the kind of power arm the front office has been seeking. His fastball sits in the low-90s and he leans on a low-80s changeup, not a power breaking ball, as his go-to secondary pitch. Yet Bubic had flashed bat-missing upside just before his elbow gave out. He ran a massive 14.7% swinging strike rate and punched out 23.5% of opposing hitters over his first three starts in 2023. Bubic’s elbow never gave him a chance to prove he could sustain that extra level.

The early returns on his rehab stint have been promising. Bubic owns a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings with Omaha, where he has fanned nearly 26% of opposing hitters.

Royals Option Nelson Velázquez

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The Royals announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Michael Massey was reinstated from the injured list and the club selected the contract of infielder CJ Alexander. In corresponding moves, the club placed infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier on the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb strain and optioned outfielder Nelson Velázquez to Triple-A Omaha. To open a 40-man spot for Alexander, left-hander Jake Brentz was designated for assignment.

Velázquez, now 25, was acquired from the Cubs in a deadline trade last year with reliever José Cuas going the other way. It seemed like that deal was going to work out brilliantly for the Royals, as Velázquez hit 14 home runs in 40 games after the deal last year.

That seemed to set him up to play a prominent role in Kansas City going forward but it hasn’t played out that way. He has added eight more home runs this year but is slashing just .200/.274/.366 overall. Part of that could be his .237 batting average on balls in play but he’s also not squaring it up like last year. He had a 21.4% barrel rate in 2023 but that figure is down to 8.8% this year. His average exit velocity has dropped by almost three miles per hour. His hard hit rate is down more than ten points and his infield fly ball rate has more than doubled.

The Royals have been good overall this year, currently at 42-35 and just half a game outside of a playoff spot. However, their outfield has been their weakest link, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked at last month. Velázquez is a poor fielder and doesn’t provide value on the basepaths, so the drop-off at the plate has made him a big drawback on the roster this year.

He’ll head to Omaha to try to get things back on track for now, though this move could also have implications for him down the line. He came into this season with his service time count at one year and 13 days, meaning he would have finished the campaign at 2.013 if he had stayed up for the entirety. If this assignment lingers for more than a few weeks, it will push back his trajectory to free agency and/or arbitration. Coincidentally, Cuas also struggled with his new club and was designated for assignment by the Cubs, getting claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays over the weekend.

As for Alexander, he gets to the majors just before his 28th birthday, which is coming up in July. A 20th-round pick of Atlanta in 2018, he came to the Royals via the 2022 trade that also sent Drew Waters to Kansas City. He is hitting .323/.369/.555 in Triple-A this year, which is at least partially inflated by a .400 batting average on balls in play, but is impressive nonetheless.

He has played all four corner spots this year, but more third base than anywhere else. He is in the lineup at the hot corner tonight with Maikel Garcia having been moved over to second base and Massey in the designated hitter slot. Massey will stick in the DH spot for now, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com on X. He landed on the IL last month due to a low back ligament sprain and says he feels good enough to swing a bat but not take the field. With Massey and Frazier both unable to play second, perhaps Garcia will get regular time there with Alexander at third, though Garcia could also go back to the hot corner with Nick Loftin and Garrett Hampson taking some time at the keystone.

To get Alexander onto the 40-man, Brentz has been bumped off. The 29-year-old lefty had an encouraging major league debut back in 2021, making 72 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average. His 13.3% walk rate was quite high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced and kept 49% of balls in play on the ground.

Unfortunately, he’s had a challenging time since then. He landed on the injured list early in 2022 and ultimately required Tommy John surgery that summer. He was non-tendered at the end of that season and re-signed on a two-year deal. He started a rehab assignment in August of 2023 but was shut down with a lat strain, unable to return to the big league club.

Here in 2024, he suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in the middle of March, putting him back on the IL to start the season. He started a rehab assignment about a month later and was optioned to Omaha when reinstated off the IL.

The results have been abysmal thus far, as he has a 12.71 ERA through 17 innings on the farm this year. He has struck out 15 opponents but given out 30 walks, hit nine batters with pitches and thrown two wild pitches as well.

Some rust after so much missed time is understandable but the Royals clearly felt this was too much. They will now have a week to trade Brentz or pass him through waivers. He still has a full slate of options and could perhaps appeal to a club that believes in the stuff and has enough patience to let him get back on track.

If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has more than three years of service time and can therefore elect free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment. However, since he has less than five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting what remains of his salary. As part of that aforementioned two-year deal he signed with the Royals, he is making $1.05MM this year with more than half a million left to be paid out. He presumably wouldn’t want to walk away from that money and would likely accept an outright assignment if no other club wants to grab him off waivers.

Royals Among Teams With Interest In Tommy Pham

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There may be no player who is more likely to be traded over the next month than Tommy Pham, who is hitting well as an affordable rental on the worst team in the league. It’d be very surprising if the White Sox didn’t move him before the July 30 deadline.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Royals are one of the teams that have shown interest. There’s nothing to suggest the Royals are the favorite or that any Pham trade is imminent. Heyman writes that multiple clubs are unsurprisingly looking at the veteran outfielder.

Kansas City has the worst outfield among playoff contenders. Royal outfielders have been the least productive offensive group in the majors. They entered today’s game with a cumulative .209/.268/.343 batting line. They’re 28th in batting average and slugging and dead last in on-base percentage. Six of the seven players who have logged meaningful outfield reps for K.C. have been well below-average hitters. The lone exception, utility player Garrett Hampson, has league average numbers propped up by a .418 batting average on balls in play.

The Royals have used Hunter Renfroe, Kyle Isbel and MJ Melendez as their primary outfield. Melendez is hitting .180/.246/.364 over 224 plate appearances. Isbel’s .225/.270/.348 line isn’t much better. Renfroe had a terrible first two months after signing a two-year free agent deal. He’d started to heat up in June before suffering a left foot injury that shelved him last week. Since Renfroe went down, the Royals have rotated Adam Frazier, Dairon Blanco and primary designated hitter Nelson Velázquez through right field. None of that trio has provided much offensively this year.

Pham is probably a better hitter than anyone in the Kansas City outfield. The 36-year-old ran a .256/.328/.446 line with 16 home runs across 481 plate appearances between the Mets and Diamondbacks last season. That didn’t translate into the kind of free agent interest that his camp was anticipating. Pham remained unsigned into the middle of April. He eventually inked a minor league contract with Chicago, though that came with an understanding that he’d be called up by the end of the month after getting some tune-up work in Triple-A.

The deal comes with a $3MM base salary and includes a $500K assignment bonus in the event of a trade. Pham and the Sox front office were likely both hoping for such an outcome. A trade would allow the Sox to recoup a mid-level prospect while giving the outfielder an opportunity to play for a contender.

Pham has held his up his end of the bargain, turning in solid numbers over 39 games. He’s hitting .276/.349/.388 over 169 plate appearances. His power is down — he has only three homers — but he’s drawing walks at a solid 9.5% clip against a 20.1% strikeout rate. Pham had a minimal injured list stint earlier this month because of a mild left ankle sprain.

Chicago gave Pham 26 starts in center field while Luis Robert Jr. was on the shelf. That’s his first fairly regular work there since 2018. A contender wouldn’t view him as more than an emergency option in center, but he’s a roughly average defender in left field.

That has been Melendez’s purview in Kansas City. He’s a former top prospect who hasn’t made enough contact to tap into his power upside. Melendez has punched out in 26.5% of his career plate appearances and owns a .217/.302/.388 line over parts of three seasons. He’s a left-handed hitter who hasn’t found consistent success against pitchers of either handedness.

The Royals presumably still have hope for Melendez, who is in his age-25 season. K.C. general manager J.J. Picollo said he anticipates improvements from the in-house outfielders while acknowledging the team could look outside the organization if they don’t start getting more production.

Earlier this week, Picollo told Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville on The Windup podcast that the team would like to add a player with the versatility to move between the infield and outfield. That’s not Pham, who has played all 7000+ innings of his MLB career on the grass. Picollo’s comments certainly don’t rule out acquiring a traditional outfielder, though. The GM expressed a broad desire to deepen the batting order and suggested he’d be aggressive in supporting the organization’s best chance at a playoff berth since their 2015 World Series.

The White Sox won’t have any qualms about trading Pham within the division. Conversely, the return would be modest enough that Kansas City shouldn’t be concerned about surrendering the kind of prospect capital necessary to a division rival. Beyond the desire for offensive help, Picollo has spoken on a couple occasions about their desire to add power arms to the bullpen. White Sox closer Michael Kopech fits the bill and has reportedly drawn some attention from K.C., among others. There’s no indication the teams have actively explored any kind of package deal, but it’s easy enough to see the potential appeal of that kind of arrangement.

GM: Royals Hope To Deepen Bullpen, Add Hitter Who Can Play Outfield And Infield

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The Royals have been one of baseball’s best turnaround stories in 2024, currently sitting nine games over .500 and in possession of the second Wild Card spot in the American League. At five games back of the division-leading Guardians and a half-game up on the third-place Twins, they’re in a tightly contested race for their division as well.

Royals general manager J.J. Picollo joined Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville on The Windup podcast yesterday to discuss an aggressive offseason that saw Kansas City sign nine free agents for more than $100MM in total guarantees before signing franchise shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year, $288.7MM extension. Royals fans, in particular, will want to listen to the excellent, roughly 45-minute interview in full to hear about the work to establish a new identity for the team, some inner-workings on that Witt extension and plenty of anecdotes stemming from Picollo’s lengthy career in the industry.

But Stark noted late in the conversation that given the Royals’ performance and the timing of the chat, he’d be remiss not to inquire about the Royals’ deadline needs. Picollo, naturally, didn’t tip his hand in too much detail but did speak about his desire to deepen the bullpen and add a bat that’s capable of playing both the outfield and the infield in an effort to lengthen the lineup.

“Some of our relief corps is starting to pitch to the capabilities and abilities we’ve seen in the past,” Picollo said of his relief corps. “That’s going to be helpful, which will help put pieces of the puzzle together, but getting deeper in our bullpen to come alongside of those guys, I think, would be great. Whether or not it’s a closer — that’s going to be very difficult for anybody — there’s only going to be so many of them, and the competition will be steep. But if we can get deeper and be more reliable in our bullpen, that would be great. I’ve talked in the past about strikeouts. We’re more of a matchup bullpen without necessarily the big power. Now, we do have a couple guys we think might fit the bill internally but haven’t done it quite yet.”

The Royals indeed lack the type of power arms that proliferate the late innings of modern MLB games. The Kansas City bullpen’s 93.6 mph average fastball (per Statcast) is tied for fourth-slowest in MLB. The only entrenched Royals relievers who’ve averaged 95 mph or better on their heater this season are James McArthur and Angel Zerpa. Righties Carlos Hernandez, Dan Altavilla and Will Klein have each averaged 96.7 mph or better, but none has thrown even six innings with the big league club.

McArthur, Klein and Hernandez are likely among the names to which Picollo alluded when suggesting that the organization has power arms in house that could eventually fit that bill but haven’t done so at a consistent level. Hernandez had a big first half in 2023 and averages nearly 99 mph on his blazing heater, but has struggled with subpar command and troubles keeping the ball in the park. McArthur had a dominant finish in 2023 and a big first month in 2024, but he’s sitting on a 7.20 ERA in 15 frames since the calendar flipped to May. Klein is one of the organization’s top bullpen prospects but has walked nearly 16% of his opponents in Triple-A Omaha this year.

Kansas City has gotten particularly shaky results from its two free-agent additions to the bullpen. Left-hander Will Smith and righty Chris Stratton both have pitched to ERAs north of 5.00. Stratton’s 29 1/3 innings are tops in the Royals’ bullpen, but he’s walking a career-worst 15.2% of his opponents and sitting at 92.2 mph with his heater — his lowest mark since moving from a starting role to a bullpen gig back in 2018. Smith’s 91.4 mph fastball velocity is also a career-low, as is this year’s 17.4% strikeout rate.

It’s feasible that the Royals could look to upgrade over either of those veteran additions to the pitching staff. However, Stratton signed two-year, $8MM deal with a surprising player option standing as the second season of that contract. That could afford him a longer leash, as the Royals know they’re on the hook for $4MM to him next season unless he can turn things around and put himself in position to turn down that second-year option. Smith is on a one-year, $5MM deal but has pitched better of late, with just two earned runs allowed over his past 14 2/3 innings.

With regard to the offense, it seems the Royals are open-minded as to where a new bat could slot into the defensive alignment. Picollo mentioned at multiple points throughout the interview that the Royals need more production from the outfield — as we recently detailed at length for MLBTR Front Office subscribers — but targeting a pure outfielder isn’t necessarily set in stone.

“Offensively, you always want to add a bat somewhere — lengthen your lineup,” the GM explained. “…We have three or four guys that are in the lineup every day, and we mix and match a lot, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be an outfielder, but somebody who could play outfield and infield would be ideal. Just another bat that we could lengthen our lineup out and get a little more production in the back half of our lineup.”

No team in Major League Baseball has received less production from its outfield in 2024 than the Royals, whose collective has turned in a .210/.271/.345 batting line. The resulting 72 wRC+ (indicating they’ve been 28% worse than league-average at the plate) is the lowest in the game. Hunter Renfroe, Kyle Isbel and MJ Melendez lead the Royals in outfield appearances, but of the 262 MLB hitters with at least 150 plate appearances this season, that trio ranks 218th (Renfroe), 238th (Isbel) and 250th (Melendez) in terms of wRC+.

The Kansas City infield has been far more productive, led by the aforementioned Witt, their recently extended superstar shortstop. Witt is a bona fide MVP candidate, while second baseman Michael Massey was quietly strong (.294/.306/.529) in 110 plate appearances before landing on the IL with a back injury late last month. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has been slightly better than average, and while third baseman Maikel Garcia hasn’t hit much (.247/.299/.365), he’s played plus defense and provided outstanding value on the basepaths (17-for-17 in steals).

One common theme among the Royals’ top hitters is handedness. Pasquantino is the only healthy left-handed bat who’s provided even close to league-average offense. Melendez, Isbel, Adam Frazier and switch-hitting Drew Waters (who was optioned to Omaha as I wrote this) have all floundered at the plate. Massey, who just went on a minor league rehab assignment this week, will add another interesting left-handed bat when he returns. Even then, Kansas City will still have a predominantly right-handed lineup. Picollo didn’t specify, but adding a left-handed bat — or at least a switch-hitter who provides more from the left side of the dish — would seem particularly prudent.

However things shake out, Picollo’s comments clearly underscored a strong desire to continue the active offseason mindset into this year’s deadline. He noted that the fans in Kansas City deserve to see that level of aggression but said the motivation is about more than that.

“I also think about the players who committed to coming to Kansas City and bought into a vision that we had, which included winning and potentially getting to the playoffs,” said Picollo. “So you do feel a need to help supplement what we already have and the motivation that ownership had this offseason in signing those players.”

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