Bold Royals move could be quick and easy solution to looming bullpen problem

The importance of left-handed relievers isn't what it used to be. Commissioner Rob Manfred's "three-batter rule", first implemented for the ultimately shortened 2020 season, significantly reduced a manager's ability (including Kansas City Royals skippers) to lean heavily on handedness when choosing which reliever to deploy in high-leverage situations.

The rule did not, however, totally eliminate southpaws as useful bullpen pieces. Its exceptions leave room for some use of lefty-lefty (or righty-righty, for that matter) matchups, and some big league clubs remain heavy on left-handed-dominated lineups.

Making sure their bullpens include one, if not more, lefties remains an imperative for general managers like KC's J.J. Picollo.

And recent events — most notably the recent trade that sent lefty reliever Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee for Isaac Collins and Nick Mears, and the prior departure of left-hander Sam Long for free agency — left the Royals' relief corps short on southpaws.

It's a gap Picollo must solve. How to do that is at first blush a tough question to answer: the free agent market isn't teeming with promising left-handed relievers, and trading for one means sacrificing other talent.

The solution for the Royals, though, may be in their own backyard. Why not simply move starter Kris Bubic to the bullpen?

The Royals could cure their bullpen problem with Kris Bubic

It's important to preface, moving Bubic back to relief work would be a bold move for Picollo.

After pitching inconsistently as a starter during his first four seasons with the Royals, including a disastrous 3-13, 5.58 ERA effort in 2022, Bubic finally proved in 2025 how valuable a rotation piece he can be. Before a rotator cuff strain cut his season short in late July, Bubic was 8-7 with a career-low 2.55 ERA.

That 20-start performance triggered heavy speculation that he's in high demand on this winter's trade market, and could be dangled in swap talks designed to strengthen KC's questionable offense.

That Bubic could be part of a key deal is certainly possible ... maybe even probable; Kansas City's surplus of talented starters provides some rich trade fodder, and Bubic must be counted among potential trade chips.

On the other hand, keeping him off the market and in the rotation makes sense too for a team striving to prove its 2024 return to postseason play wasn't an outlier.

But what could also be sensible, and certainly not as talked about, is switching him back to the bullpen, where he performed so well after returning two seasons ago after Tommy John surgery.

Pitching exclusively in relief and leaving little, if anything, to be desired, Bubic posted a 27-game 2.55 ERA, 1.022 WHIP, 1.95 FIP, struck out 39, and walked only five of the 121 batters he faced across 30.1 innings.

And what cannot be overlooked is the that returning to relief work could ease the strain on that right rotator cuff.

Few, if any, people outside of One Royal Way know precisely what the Royals have planned for Bubic. They might trade him; they might not. He could stay in the rotation. Or perhaps he could play a key role in the club's bullpen.