Royals Sign Salvador Perez To Two-Year Extension
Salvador Perez will remain in Kansas City for at least another two seasons. The Royals announced an extension with the nine-time All-Star that covers the 2026-27 campaigns. It’s reportedly a $25MM guarantee for the Beverly Hills Sports Council client, though it actually amounts to $23MM in new money. Perez had been guaranteed a $2MM buyout on a $13.5MM club option for the upcoming season.
There’s a decent amount of deferred money that reduces the net present value. Perez receives a $7MM signing bonus that will be paid in annual installments between 2030-34. He makes $9MM salaries for the next two seasons, with $2.5MM annually deferred until 2030-34. The Royals will only pay Perez $13MM during the next two years. Meanwhile, the decent-sized signing bonus ensures he’d get that money even if a work stoppage threatens players’ salaries in 2027.
General manager J.J. Picollo said at the end of September that the Royals would bring Perez back, though he left open the possibility of a new contract rather than simply exercising the option. That’s indeed how things played out. Teams and players have until Thursday to decide on all option decisions. That presumably served as an unofficial deadline for the Royals and Perez to get a new deal in place. The deferrals save the Royals $7MM next year compared to the option value, while the catcher locks in more money down the line with some protection against a lockout.
Perez, 36 in May, is headed into his 15th full season in the big leagues. He’s obviously one of the most accomplished players in team history and seems likely to be a Royal for life. He’s seventh in franchise history in games played and trails only George Brett in both home runs and runs batted in. Perez isn’t going to make up the nearly 600 RBI he’d need to run down Brett, but he should become the franchise’s home run leader next season barring a significant injury. He has 303 longballs, placing him 14 behind the Hall of Famer’s career total.
A healthy Perez should still easily hit 15+ homers in 2026. He drilled 30 round-trippers this year and has eclipsed 20 homers in all but one full schedule dating back to 2014. The lone exception was the ’19 season which he missed due to Tommy John surgery. Perez trailed only Cal Raleigh, Shea Langeliers and Hunter Goodman in home runs among primary catchers this past season. Raleigh is the only other catcher who drove in at least 100 runs.
While Perez remains a legitimate power threat, the flaws in his game are equally well known. He has never been a patient hitter, and he’s coming off his third sub-.300 OBP in the past four seasons. Perez hit .236/.284/.446 across 641 trips to the plate. The overall slash line is a little worse than league average despite the gaudy homer and RBI tallies. It is still strong production from the catcher position, but Perez has begun to branch out to first base or designated hitter a little more often as he has gotten into his mid-30s.
The five-time Gold Glove winner still has a plus arm and did an excellent job shutting down the running game. Pitch framing metrics have panned his receiving work throughout his career. That remained the case in 2025. Statcast also graded him as the second-worst blocking catcher in the sport, better only than Marlins’ rookie Agustín Ramírez (who somehow committed 19 passed balls in 73 games).
There’s very little chance that Wins Above Replacement models are going to look favorably on this deal. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference had Perez only marginally above replacement this year. The Royals have long valued the player a lot more highly than public advanced metrics would suggest. He has always been a revered clubhouse presence and fan favorite, and he won the Roberto Clemente award in 2024 for his contributions in the community (both in Kansas City and his native Venezuela). He served as the bridge between their 2015 World Series team and the ’24 club that returned to the playoffs after a nine-year drought.
They weren’t able to get to October this past season. A lack of offense and some late-season rotation injuries combined to drop them to an 82-80 record. Perez will be back as the primary catcher and should split first base/DH work with Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. The Royals will want to work rookie Carter Jensen into the mix more frequently behind the dish. The 22-year-old was called up in September after K.C. traded longtime backup Freddy Fermin to the Padres at the deadline. Jensen hit .300 with three homers in his first 20 games, an impressive follow-up to a .290/.377/.501 season at Triple-A Omaha.
The Royals have around $140MM in estimated commitments for next season, according to RosterResource. Perez joins Bobby Witt Jr. ($19MM), Seth Lugo ($20MM), Michael Wacha ($14MM) and Cole Ragans ($7.5MM) as their players with contracts for 2027. They’re also locked in to at least a $2MM buyout on a club option for Carlos Estévez.
Anne Rogers of MLB.com first reported the $25MM guarantee, the $7MM bonus, and the presence of deferrals. The Associated Press had the specific deferral structure. Image courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images.
White Sox Name Zach Bove Pitching Coach; Derek Shomon To Be Hitting Coach
The White Sox have made two notable additions to their coaching staff. James Fegan of Sox Machine reports that Derek Shomon will be the new hitting coach and Zach Bove the new pitching coach. The Sox have already announced Bove’s hiring. It was announced back in September that the Sox would be making multiple coaching changes, with pitching coach Ethan Katz and hitting coach Marcus Thames among those not coming back.
Bove has spent the past three seasons as an assistant pitching coach for the Royals. It’s always tough to determine how much credit one coach gets for the performance of several individual players, but for what it’s worth, the Royals pitched better during his tenure.
The club was rebuilding when he was hired and had a team-wide 4.72 earned run average in 2022, better than just three other clubs. There wasn’t a step forward in his first season. Kansas City had a collective 5.17 ERA, better than just two clubs, in 2023. But in 2024, they were tied for seventh with a 3.76 ERA. In 2025, they were sixth with a 3.73 ERA.
Like the Royals a few years ago, the Sox are now rebuilding and have a big collection of young and fairly inexperienced pitchers on the roster. Bove will now be tasked with helping manager Will Venable develop the staff as the Sox look to climb of their rebuild.
Shomon has been an assistant hitting coach in the big leagues for the past three years, the first two with the Twins before spending 2025 with the Marlins. The Twins had a top ten offense by wRC+ in 2022, before Shomon was there, and that continued during his two seasons in Minnesota. The Marlins had an 87 wRC+ in 2024, ahead of only three clubs. This year, they improved to a 96 wRC+, just behind middle of the pack.
Like Bove on the pitching side, Shomon will be dealing mostly with young and developing players for the time being. The Sox have lost 100 games in three straight seasons. They will want to come out of the rebuild at some point but no one will be expecting immediate contention.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin, Oncea-Imagn Images
Royals Place Kyle Wright On Outright Waivers
The Royals have placed right-hander Kyle Wright on outright waivers, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s missed each of the past two seasons following shoulder surgery performed in October 2023. Assuming he clears, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment and become a free agent based on his service time (4.151 years).
Wright, 30, came over from the Braves two years ago in exchange for a fellow change-of-scenery first-rounder, Jackson Kowar. He was just a month removed from surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder at the time. Kansas City knew he wouldn’t pitch in 2024 but hoped that he could bounce back for the 2025 season. That didn’t happen. Wright’s recovery lingered into 2025, and he was pulled off a minor league rehab stint in May due to fatigue in his surgically repaired shoulder. He also eventually sustained an oblique injury, which further set him back.
Though he spent two years as a member of the Royals organization, Wright never pitched in the majors with Kansas City. He was projected for the same $1.8MM salary he earned in 2025, but the Royals weren’t comfortable making any form of commitment after two lost seasons. Perhaps another club will roll the dice — Atlanta has brought back several old friends as depth options over the past year — but if not he’ll become a free agent and sign a minor league deal somewhere.
Prior to his injury, Wright looked to have broken out. The former No. 5 overall draft pick took a good while to do so, but in 2022 he tossed 180 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA, a 23.6% strikeout rate and a 7.2% walk rate for Atlanta. Whether he can ever get back to that form is an open question. Wright hasn’t pitched in the majors in more than two years, and his once-95.1 mph average fastball was sitting at a flat 92.0 mph during his limited Triple-A work in 2025. There’s little harm in a team taking a flier on a minor league deal if and when he clears waivers, but he’s a pure depth option right now.
Royals’ Alec Marsh Undergoes Labrum Surgery
Royals starter Alec Marsh underwent labrum surgery, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The right-hander did not pitch at all this season because of recurring shoulder issues. He’s going to miss most or all of the 2026 season as well. Rogers suggests it could be a yearlong rehab process.
A second-round pick in 2019, Marsh debuted as a swingman four years later. He held a rotation spot for most of the ’24 season, tossing 129 innings over 26 appearances. The Arizona State product put up a 4.53 ERA with slightly better than average strikeout and walk rates. He averaged 94 MPH on a four-seam fastball that headlined a six-pitch mix. Marsh looked like a fine fifth starter and would have battled for a spot at the back of Matt Quatraro’s rotation had he been healthy.
The 27-year-old is now in line for a second straight mostly lost season. There’ll be uncertainty about how well he’ll bounce back until the team finally sees him on the mound. Marsh spent this past season on the 60-day injured list. Kansas City reinstated him — along with James McArthur and Kris Bubic — this afternoon. Their roster count sits at 38.
Marsh has a little over two years of major league service. He will not qualify for arbitration until the end of next season and wouldn’t have the body of work to rack up significant earnings, at least in year one. If the Royals keep him on the roster all winter, they can place him back on the 60-day IL at the beginning of Spring Training.
Kansas City will go into 2026 with Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo locked into rotation spots. Bubic will be in there as well unless the Royals trade him for a hitter. Noah Cameron projects as the fifth starter, while Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek and Luinder Avila are on the 40-man roster and have minor league options. Bailey Falter and Kyle Wright hold 40-man spots for now, but there’s a good chance the Royals non-tender them. It’s a talented group but one that was hit hard by injuries late in the season, so it’d make sense for K.C. to add an innings eater even if the offseason focus is on upgrading the outfield and second base.
Randal Grichuk Declines Mutual Option With Royals
The Royals announced Monday that outfielder Randal Grichuk declined his half of a $5MM mutual option. He’ll be paid a $3MM buyout and return to free agency.
Grichuk, 34, was acquired from the Diamondbacks prior to the trade deadline in a deal that sent reliever Andrew Hoffmann back to Arizona. He’d been in the midst of a roughly average year at the plate and came to Kansas City with a strong track record of pummeling left-handed pitching. He didn’t produce in his new surroundings, however, as his .206/.267/.299 slash in 105 plate appearances with K.C. dropped his season-long batting line to a well below average .228/.273/.401.
As recently as 2024, Grichuk mashed at a .291/.348/.528 pace (139 wRC+) with a dozen homers in only 279 plate appearances for the D-backs. The majority of his production that year came versus left-handed pitching, which has been the righty-swinging Grichuk’s bread and butter throughout his big league career. He’s a lifetime .268/.318/.500 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, compared to a .241/.287/.446 hitter in right-on-right situations.
Earlier in his career, Grichuk was a capable center fielder, but his sprint speed has dropped more than a foot per second since its peak levels, per Statcast. He now ranks in the 41st percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed. Grichuk has a strong arm, so he’s a capable corner outfielder even with the diminished speed, but he’s at best an occasional backup in center at this point. He played exactly one inning of center field with the D-backs and one with the Royals.
At 34 and coming off a down season, Grichuk isn’t going to find a robust market. However, he’s an established veteran with a lengthy track record who could hold down the short side of a corner outfield platoon while providing a serviceable backup across all three outfield spots, should his next team incur an injury among its starting group. He’ll probably be capped at a relatively affordable one-year deal once again, though some teams will surely prefer to wait and see if he’ll accept a non-roster invite to spring training later in the offseason.
Royals Decline Mutual Option On Michael Lorenzen
The Royals have declined their end of the $12MM mutual option in Michael Lorenzen‘s contract for the 2026 season, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports. Lorenzen will instead receive a $1.5MM buyout and enter free agency.
The veteran right-hander first came to Kansas City in a trade from the Rangers prior to the 2024 deadline, and Lorenzen delivered 28 2/3 innings of 1.57 ball down the stretch for the Royals even though a hamstring strain kept him on the injured list for about a month. The two sides reunited on a one-year free agent last winter worth $7MM in guaranteed money — a $5.5MM salary for 2025, and then the $1.5MM buyout.
Mutual options are almost never mutually exercised, so both sides surely viewed the contract as just a one-year pact. Lorenzen’s numbers weren’t as sharp in 2025, as he posted a 4.64 ERA, a subpar 21% strikeout rate, and a host of other uninspiring Statcast metrics over 141 2/3 innings (starting 26 of 27 games). Lorenzen’s 4.16 SIERA at least outpaced his ERA by almost half a run, perhaps due to a solid 6.4% walk rate that matched the righty’s career best.
Kansas City brought Lorenzen back with the idea that he could eat innings at the back of the rotation, and he ended up being particularly important given how many Royals starters missed time on the IL. The injury bug bit Lorenzen himself in July when an oblique strain sidelined him for a month, but over the last three years, Lorenzen has quietly averaged 141 2/3 innings per season.
Lorenzen’s lack of velocity and strikeout ability will limit his earning potential, and he’ll probably get just one-year offers since he turns 34 in January. But plenty of teams are in need of back-end rotation help or starting depth in general, plus Lorenzen’s past history as a relief pitcher makes him a candidate to be converted into a bullpen role on a postseason roster. Kansas City has enough rotation depth that another deal with Lorenzen is probably unlikely, but the Royals could look to trade a starter and then re-sign Lorenzen to fill that void later in the winter. This is exactly what the Royals did last offseason, in trading Brady Singer to the Reds and then signing Lorenzen about six weeks later.
The Royals’ other option decisions include a $5MM mutual option with Randal Grichuk‘s services for 2026 (with a $3MM buyout), and a $13.5MM club option Salvador Perez. It is expected that Grichuk’s option will be declined and Perez’s option will be either exercised, or the team will negotiate another multi-year extension with the longtime catcher.
Kansas City’s Impressive Rotation Stockpile Is Ripe For A Trade
After making it to Game 4 of the ALDS last year on the back of a solid 86-win campaign, the Royals took a step back this year with an 82-80 record that left them five games back of an AL Wild Card spot when all was said and done. It was a disappointing season, though Kansas City really performed rather admirably considering that they got just 13 starts out of staff ace Cole Ragans while Kris Bubic found himself sidelined for the second half by an injury of his own. While health in the rotation helped to sink the team this year, it’s possible that the team’s deep arsenal of starters could help them reinvent the team on the trade market as they look ahead to 2026.
Given that Kansas City’s rotation being unable to stay healthy proved to be the difference between a return to the playoffs this year and sitting at home this October, it might sound like blasphemy to suggest trading from that same rotation should be on the table for the Royals this winter. The reality of the club’s situation, however, is that they would have been able to get by with their contributions from the rotation had their offense put up more of a fight. The Kansas City offense posted a 93 wRC+ this year, good for just 22nd in the majors as they slashed just .247/.309/.397 as a team.
That’s a tough slash line to put together a contender with as it is, but the need for improvement is highlighted by the success of the team’s stars. Three players made up the majority of that production: Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino. Meanwhile, production at second base and in the outfield left much to be desired thanks to disappointing seasons from players like Jac Caglianone, Jonathan India, and Michael Massey. While no one should give up on Caglianone this soon, an improved supporting cast for Witt, Franco, and Pasquantino will be necessary if the club is going to find success next year.
Perhaps a well-executed move or two in free agency (like bringing back Mike Yastrzemski, who excelled with the team after a mid-season trade) could help get the offense on track for next year. But RosterResource projects the Royals for a payroll of $129MM in 2026 as things stand. That means they’d exceed last year’s payroll simply by picking up a club option on franchise icon Salvador Perez. Ownership seems reluctant to raise payroll beyond where it was this past year, and while non-tenders for some of the club’s pricier and less productive arbitration-level players like India and right-hander James McArthur could create more flexibility, money is sure to be tight this winter for Kansas City.
Given that reality, the trade market seems like the team’s best bet for improving the offense. That brings us back to the team’s incredible deep group of rotation candidates. Ragans and Bubic are joined by veteran right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha as locks for the 2026 rotation, with rookie southpaw Noah Cameron standing as the overwhelming favorite for the fifth starter job. Behind that quintet, however, the Royals have a number of viable starters on affordable deals: Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, Bailey Falter, and Kyle Wright. Any of that quartet could at least theoretically be dangled as part of a package to improve the offense.
Falter struggled badly in 12 innings with the Royals but had a 3.73 ERA in 22 starts with the Pirates prior to a midseason trade, while Wright last pitched in the majors back in 2023 due to injuries but won 21 games and finished in the top 10 for NL Cy Young award voting with Atlanta during the 2022 season. Neither pitcher could be expected to bring back a valuable bat by themselves, but perhaps a starting-pitching hungry club would be interested in trading a hitter for a package that combines either Falter or Wright with some of the Royals’ prospect capital.
Kolek and Bergert, meanwhile, are intriguing arms. Acquired from the Padres in the Freddy Fermin trade at this year’s deadline, both Kolek (3.51 ERA in 19 starts) and Bergert (3.86 ERA in 15 starts) pitched like capable mid-rotation arms in part-time roles last year and will still make the league minimum next season. Virtually any team in baseball would be interested in getting their hands on them, and it’s not at all hard to imagine a team with an excess of interesting young hitters like the Mets, Cubs or Giants being willing to part ways with some of that talent to acquire one of those players.
Dealing Kolek or Bergert could bring back a similarly controllable hitter who hasn’t yet fully established themselves at the big league level, but it’s also entirely possible that the Royals could look to take another shot at a deal like the Brady Singer for Jonathan India swap from last offseason. That one didn’t go very well given India’s struggles this winter and Singer’s respectable mid-rotation performance in 32 starts for Cincinnati, but perhaps this winter could go differently if the Royals decided to listen to offers on lefty Kris Bubic.
Bubic dominated this season with a 2.55 ERA and 2.90 FIP in 20 starts that earned him an All-Star nod, and while a rotator cuff strain ended his 2025 campaign early he’s expected to have a normal offseason and be ready for Spring Training 2026. After emerging as a legitimate front-of-the-rotation arm this year, Bubic’s value to the 2026 Royals is obvious. With that being said, he’s also slated to reach free agency following the 2026 campaign, and if he turns in another season anything like last year the Royals won’t be able to afford to keep him in town.
That could make listening to offers on the lefty an attractive proposition, particularly if a quality everyday regular controlled beyond 2026 could be had in exchange for Bubic’s services. Teams like the Mets and Red Sox figure to have interest in the high-end pitching market this winter and have plenty of controllable hitters who could help transform the Royals lineup. With Bergert and Kolek available to backfill the rotation after a hypothetical Bubic trade, it’s easy to imagine the team being able to put together one of the more productive rotations in baseball even without Bubic.
Cost-controlled, high-upside pitchers are some of the hottest commodities on the trade market in baseball for a reason. They aren’t easy to come by, and “you can never have too much pitching” is a baseball cliche for a reason. Even teams with deep groups of potential starters are often reluctant to deal them away for fear that a rash of injuries could leave them understaffed and wishing they still had that young arm they dealt away during the offseason.
With all that being said, the Royals are in clear need of a makeover on offense, and a higher payroll doesn’t appear to be on the way to make that happen in free agency. This winter could be a particularly fruitful trade market for pitching as well, given the lack of a slam-dunk ace at the top of the class like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Blake Snell, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have been in recent offseasons. If Kansas City hopes to compete with the Tigers and Guardians headed into next season and make the most of Witt’s time with the team, dealing some of their coveted pitching assets might prove to be a necessity.
Rockies Narrow Front Office Search To At Least Two Finalists
Reports emerged a few days ago that the Rockies were entering the finalist stage of their search for a new front office leader, and the field has now been whittled down to perhaps just two names. The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal report that Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman and Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye are under consideration for the job, though it is possible another unknown finalist may also still be in the mix. Former Astros GM James Click and Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp had been candidates for the Rockies job but are no longer in consideration.
Forman, Sharp, and Click were the only names linked to the Rockies’ search, though naturally the team has likely been speaking with other candidates like Sawdaye who weren’t publicly known until now. Sawdaye has previously been a candidate for top front office posts with the Giants (before Farhan Zaidi was hired) and Angels (who hired Perry Minasian), plus he was at least contacted by the Nationals about their president of baseball operations opening this offseason before Paul Toboni was hired. Sawdaye has never held the top post in a front office before, but he did take over day-to-day operations for the D’Backs in 2021 when GM Mike Hazen took a temporary leave of absence.
Sawdaye is a longtime executive who started his baseball career with a 15-year stint in the Red Sox front office, rising to the levels of VP of international and amateur scouting. He worked closely with Hazen for a decade of that time, and when Hazen was hired as Arizona’s GM in October 2016, Sawdaye followed as Hazen’s assistant GM and has since been the de facto chief lieutenant within the Diamondbacks front office.
All this time in the NL West has given Sawdaye plenty of familiarity with the Rockies, and thus Sawdaye may well have some insight into how the Rox can get their organization on track. Colorado’s search for a new front office head is particularly intriguing since owner Dick Monfort is finally looking at external hires, as a way of bringing some fresh perspective into an organization that has long been accused of being too insular and outmoded in its thinking.
Seven straight losing seasons will tend to convince a team that things need to be changed, especially after the particular embarrassment of the Rockies’ near-record 119-loss campaign in 2025. Whether it’s Sawdaye, Forman, or another finalist who gets the job, a massive task lies in front of them in simply modernizing the Rockies’ baseball operations department, before getting around to upgrading the on-field roster.
The latest round of interviews for the finalists will take place later this week, Ghiroli and Rosenthal write, with the assumption being that the Rockies will have someone hired before the GM Meetings in early November. Interim manager Warren Schaeffer technically remains a candidate for the full-time managerial position, but chances are the new GM/president of baseball operations would want to make their own choice as Colorado’s next skipper.
Giants Interview Vance Wilson In Manager Search
The Giants interviewed Royals third base coach Vance Wilson as part of their managerial search earlier this month, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Wilson is also a candidate to interview for the Twins’ position, Rogers adds.
The 52-year-old has worked as K.C.’s third base coach for the past six seasons. He’d spent the preceding two years as bullpen coach, giving him eight seasons on an MLB staff. Wilson has worked under each of Ned Yost, Mike Matheny and Matt Quatraro.
The Royals interviewed him during the hiring cycles that resulted in the Matheny and Quatraro hirings. While Wilson didn’t get the top job on either case, Kansas City has valued him enough to keep him on staff through multiple managers.
Wilson has never managed in the major leagues, but he has seven seasons of managerial experience in the K.C. farm system. He played parts of eight MLB seasons as a backup catcher with the Mets and Tigers. He’s one of a few former catchers on the radar for the Giants. Nick Hundley and Kurt Suzuki have also interviewed, with Hundley reportedly viewed as a favorite. Minnesota is known to have spoken with Nick Punto, Derek Shelton, James Rowson and Ramón Vázquez as part of their search to replace Rocco Baldelli.
Poll: Where Will Nick Castellanos Play Next Year?
It appears the Nick Castellanos era in Philadelphia is coming to a close. Reporting yesterday indicated that the Phillies plan to either trade or release Castellanos this winter, ahead of the final season of his five-year contract with the club, following a year where he clashed with club manager Rob Thomson and struggled to produce at the plate or in the field. It remains to be seen whether Castellanos will be traded or released to sign somewhere else on the league minimum, but either way, it seems likely at this point that his next MLB game will come in a different uniform. Which team fits him best? A look at some of the most intriguing landing spots:
Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians are perhaps the most straightforward fit for Castellanos available. They’ve already made clear they hope to upgrade their outfield mix. As a club without much money to spend most years, the fact that Castellanos could be had for a fraction of his salary (or perhaps even the league minimum) has to be enticing. Lackluster as Castellanos’s production was this year, he could be a good fit for a club that produced a wRC+ of just 70 from right field this year between players like Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel. Castellanos perhaps fits best as a DH given his poor defensive abilities, but that opportunity could be available to him as well with Kyle Manzardo likely to take over first base duties after being blocked by Josh Naylor and Carlos Santana in previous years.
Kansas City Royals
Sticking in the AL Central, Castellanos would be an interesting fit for the Royals as well. Kansas City has struggled to find any sort of production in the outfield for years now. This past year, they got a 69 wRC+ (30th in MLB) from right field with a 75 wRC+ (29th in MLB) from left field. Castellanos would surely provide a major upgrade to either of those spots and is capable of playing every day if needed, which would be a step in the right direction for a team that has too often needed to platoon all around the roster recently. One major flaw with Castellanos’s fit in Kansas City, however, is the presence of Salvador Perez. Perez is expected to remain with the Royals next year, whether via club option or a fresh deal, and started 66 games at either DH or first base this year. Any first base starts would push Vinnie Pasquantino to DH, meaning that Castellanos would have to play the field frequently to be a fit for Kansas City’s roster.
San Diego Padres
The Padres might seem like an odd fit for Castellanos’s services at first glance, but San Diego has frequently had to get creative with some of its additions in recent years to balance its budget while filling holes in the roster. That figures to be true once again this winter, with both Dylan Cease and Michael King leaving major holes in the rotation as they head into free agency. Starting pitching figures to be the focus for the Padres this winter, which leaves the club to replace Luis Arraez and Ryan O’Hearn in the lineup at DH on what might be a shoestring budget.
Enter Castellanos, who won’t cost much but could capably handle regular duties at DH while also potentially spelling Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramon Laureano in the outfield corners. San Diego hasn’t been afraid to take risks on players in need of a rebound in the past. While not all of those shots have landed, they have found success with some, such as Gavin Sheets. If there’s a flaw with Castellanos’s fit in San Diego, it’s perhaps that Sheets played just 13 games at first base this year and the club might view him as their DH headed into the offseason.
Other Options
These teams aren’t the only ones for whom Castellanos would make sense, though they are perhaps the best fits. The Cubs are about to lose Kyle Tucker to free agency but they could slide Seiya Suzuki into the outfield more often, opening the DH spot for Moises Ballesteros. Guys like Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara are also around to bolster the outfield mix and are probably better than Castellanos at this point anyway. The Diamondbacks could use Castellanos as a right-handed complement to their heavily left-handed outfield and DH mix, but he might be able to do better than a pure bench role and Blaze Alexander might be better suited for that job anyway. Perhaps the Rangers could sign Castellanos to share time with Joc Pederson at DH and back up lefty outfielders like Evan Carter and Alejandro Osuna if they end up non-tendering Adolis Garcia, though even if that happens they might still prefer to try to reunite with him at a lower price point, given his superior defense. The Pirates got very little production from their offense last year but would be a better fit if Andrew McCutchen departs the club. The Giants got minimal production from right field this year but Rafael Devers is likely to be their everyday DH next year.
Where do MLBTR readers think Castellanos would fit best in 2026? Have your say in the poll below:
For Whom Will Nick Castellanos Play Next Year?
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Somewhere Else (Specify In Comments) 38% (2,203)
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Cleveland Guardians 24% (1,359)
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Kansas City Royals 21% (1,222)
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San Diego Padres 16% (942)
Total votes: 5,726