3 Royals players who will be off the 40-man roster by the trade deadline

After winning a difficult interleague series against the mighty Chicago Cubs this week, the Kansas City Royals find themselves in a better place than they were entering the week.

They now sit under five games away from the final AL Wild Card spot at 4.5 games, gaining a game on the pack after sitting 5.5 back after Sunday's series finale in Miami.

This puts them in a better position to consider being buyers at the trade deadline, especially considering their offense has shown up more often than not since the All-Star break, with four of their last six games resulting in run totals of at least seven.

So, if the Royals do end up buying, like some insiders believe they'll do to some degree ahead of next week's deadline, that mean's space will need to be made on the 40-man roster to accommodate those additions.

Which current Royals are most likely to fall victim to those logistical decisions?

3 Royals players who will be off the 40-man roster by the trade deadline

OF Mark Canha

Canha's fit with the Royals seems to be dwindling more and more by the day, as after a strong month of April (129 wRC+) the following three months have been putrid for Canha, with a 44 wRC+ in May, a -12 wRC+ in June and a 38 wRC+ so far in July. This has culminated in an extremely unproductive .212/.272/.265 slash line with one homer, six RBI, a 49 wRC+ and -0.7 fWAR.

As a result, manager Matt Quatraro has opted to give the majority of outfield starts to the younger options like former top prospect Jac Caglianone as well as John Rave, Nick Loftin and when he was in the majors, Drew Waters.

With so many outfield options that now also includes the likes of Adam Frazier, as well as Caglianone's ability to play Canha's secondary position of first base, it's tough to see a path for the 36-year-old to play even semi-regularly again.

While he's currently on the 10-day IL at the moment, he was placed on the shelf on July 8, meaning he's served his designated time, making a DFA logistically easier.

OF Joey Wiemer

I think enough of the 2025 season has passed to say that the Joey Wiemer experiment has failed for the Royals.

While he was merely a throw in piece to sweeten the India-Singer trade with the Cincinnati Reds this winter, he's done no such sweetening. Through 267 plate appearances across 65 games in Omaha, he's sporting a .181/.292/.326 slash line with 64 wRC+.

At some point the Royals will need to call a spade a spade and accept that this is a 26-year-old outfielder with a single underwhelming year in the majors under his belt back in 2023 and has been a below-average hitter in Triple-A since.

If he can't help Omaha, there's no reason to believe he could be of any use in Kansas City. So, there's no reason to keep him around any longer to take up a useful roster spot.

RP Andrew Hoffmann

If the rumors are true and the Royals are in fact switching gears to expand their trade search beyond the outfield and onto the mound for both starting and relief help, odds are they'll need to make room on the 40-man from their current pitching depth to accommodate new arms.

While there's a couple of pitchers in Triple-A that have yet to grace the big leagues who are in the midst of poor seasons in starter Luinder Avila (4.52 ERA) and reliever Eric Cerantola (5.16), both of these names have prospect pedigree to warrant keeping them around, ranking in the Royals' Top 30 prospects list according to MLB Pipeline.

Then, there's the likes of the recently selected Rich Hill, but given the Royals current injury issues in the rotation, as well as the struggles of Avila and the rest of the Triple-A staff to provide any sort of reliable depth, having a major league capable starting arm like Hill holds immense value, especially with the solid outing he put up in his MLB return this week.

This means it will likely be a reliever on the chopping block and Andrew Hoffmann has unfortunately not been the same arm for the Royals that he's been for the Storm Chasers.

In 39.0 innings across 31 appearances in Omaha, Hoffmann holds an impressive 2.31 ERA, 2.12 FIP, 1.13 WHIP and .224 BAA. However, in his 4.2 innings of major league work this season, his 3.86 ERA may not look the worst, however it's paired with a very poor 6.31 FIP, 2.36 WHIP and .318 BAA. His 6.38 xERA and .298 xBA don't paint a better picture by any means either.

He's looked outmatched at the big league level. Given the fact he's on the wrong side of 25, the 2025 Triple-A season has been his only real productive year in the upper minors, and he was not a member of the 40-man roster to start the season, he seems like the logical choice for the Royals to move off their 40-man roster if a productive major leaguer is added to the fold.