Are the KC Royals working on a blockbuster signing?

Could the KC Royals’ recent free agent inactivity mean they’re working on a major signing?

The KC Royals have been uncommonly busy this offseason. Indeed, several years have passed since this typically tightwaddish franchise pleased its fans with so many promising free agent signings. Add the ongoing search for new lefthanded firepower, and this offseason has the makings of a free agent feast so unlike the bland appetizers the Royals usually dish up.

But as satisfying as it’s been, this uncharacteristic aggressiveness seems to have left Kansas City fans hungry for more. That unabated appetite is manifest in emerging Internet chatter wondering if the team has wrapped it up for the winter; besides the unsatisfyingly equivocal “Maybe,” there are two possible answers. One is “Yes” and draws support from the recent absence of any obvious signals that a specific signing is imminent. Such silence is often a Royal tell.

The other answer is, of course, “No,” but it’s not one the KC Royals are giving. The same silence that might suggest the end of their free agent hunt could also indicate the opposite—perhaps the Royals are quietly working to finalize a blockbuster signing. If so, who could it be?

It’s not Trevor Bauer, so let’s get him off the table from the get-go. It’s been said before in this space—he’s not coming. Not now, not ever. Bauer wants to play for a winner, and most likely in a new home where he’ll be adored and championed as the pitcher most likely to guarantee a World Series title. He could probably get all that in Kansas City someday (fans always love winners), but the winning part won’t come soon enough for him and the Royals won’t pay what it takes to get him. If there’s a big deal in the works, it won’t be for Bauer.

Then who?