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?

With the field of lefty hitters narrowing, could the KC Royals be talking to Yasiel Puig?

Most Royals’ followers long ago dismissed the notion of Yasiel Puig becoming a Royal. Any thought of the former Dodger star coming to Kansas City simply didn’t deserve a second, especially considering the Royals’ oft-expressed desire for a new lefthanded power hitter. The fact Puig is righthanded logically disqualified him from consideration.

Or so it seemed. The club’s failure so far to land a lefty bat grows increasingly conspicuous with the recent narrowing of the market, and the unlikelihood of Jackie Bradley Jr. agreeing to join the Royals leaves the field thin. But perhaps more important to the Puig discussion is an interesting statistic.

Puig, it seems, hits righthanded pitching pretty well. The proof is in his career .285/.350/.495 line against righties which, interestingly enough, is far better than his .255./.343/.419 against lefthanders. It defies baseball’s logic, its conventional wisdom, and much of its statistics.

So it is that if the Royals can’t reel in a lefty bat, Puig may be the next best thing. He hits righties like a lefty. And the idea of Puig in Kansas City isn’t so far-fetched anymore: the Royals want the kind of power against righthanded pitching he can deliver, and they can provide Puig with what he needs most—a place to play. KC and Puig both haven’t found what they need, so the right deal would be mutually beneficial.

Suddenly, the thought that General Manager Dayton Moore and his staff might be working on Puig doesn’t seem strange. We shall see.

Could a deal for a Trevor not named Bauer be in the KC Royals’ immediate free agent plans?

No, there’s no reason to believe KC ever considered Trevor Williams, Pittsburgh’s once-promising starter who really hasn’t panned out as hoped and who the Pirates DFA’d in November. (He apparently has a new deal with the Cubs, anyway). Nor are there signs the Royals had any interest in bringing Trevor Cahill, whose best years are probably behind him, back.

That leaves Trevor Rosenthal. The fireballing reliever rejoined manager Mike Matheny, for whom he worked in St. Louis, last season, and took away Ian Kennedy’s closer job via a stunning reclamation of his Cardinal form. Faced with inevitable trade deadline rumors, Rosenthal publicly pronounced the Royals to be his team of choice, then professed similar affection for San Diego after the Royals shipped him to the Padres. That’s not surprising considering he pitched so well there (four saves, no runs, one walk and 17 strikeouts in 10 innings across nine outings).

Because the Padres gave Rosenthal his fifth taste of postseason play and are far more likely than the Royals to give him another one soon, and have a far better team and much more money, logic says he’ll return to San Diego. And Toronto’s recent signing of former Padres’ closer Kirby Yates, whose 2020 injury made trading for Rosenthal necessary, should increase the Padres’ interest in him.

All that makes a Royals-Rosenthal reunion improbable, but not entirely impossible. He clearly liked playing in Kansas City and grew up in nearby Lee’s Summit; the club would welcome him back at the right price. It’s hard to believe that the Royals ever wrote him off completely, or he them, so something could be afoot. Considering the potential competition, it’s a process that might require some time and quiet deliberation.

In the end, perhaps Kansas City is the famous, but always anonymous until the last minute “mystery team” working quietly behind the scenes on a major free agent. One never knows. The most likely scenario may be that the Royals are, due to competition or by their own design, out of the major free agent market until at least next winter. But a big, big signing would be much better. Maybe it’s in the works.

Only the Royals know why they’re being quiet. The rest of us should find out soon.