Did the Royals bring in the right outfielders at the trade deadline?

The trade deadline superlatives have been used ad nauseam. The most succinct way Kansas City Royals fans could look at the past trade deadline is how the Royals positioned themselves as cautious buyers. The front office didn’t mortgage the future for a 2025 playoff push, but they also did enough to show belief in the current roster. Kansas City’s postseason odds remain long, but their outfield additions may be just enough to keep the October window cracked open.

The Royals added outfielders Randal Grichuk and Mike Yastrzemski in two separate deals ahead of the deadline. Neither move made headlines, but taken together, they filled the lineup holes that were most pressing.

Grichuk has been one of baseball’s best hitters against lefties—his .552 slugging percentage against southpaws since 2022 ranks sixth among qualified MLB hitters. Meanwhile, Yastrzemski offers a strong glove in right field and has consistently hit right-handed pitching across seven seasons.

The Royals look to the present without risking their future in their OF additions.

Sure, fans would prefer one star who offers both skill sets, but this deadline was a buyer’s market—and the Royals walked away with two solid fits. The price? Rookie reliever Andrew Hoffman and Low-A pitcher Yunior Marte. While that’s not nothing, neither arm profile is a major contributor in the next year or two. The outfielders, on the other hand, can help right now.

Yastrzemski especially has been as advertised in his small body of work. He homered in his first plate appearance with the Royals, the first player to do so since Nelson Velázquez in 2023. He has an unsustainable .615 slugging percentage through his first five games, thanks to all of his hits going for extra bases until a leadoff single against the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 6. Kansas City needed the pending free agent to hit right-handed pitching in the lineup, and he has done just that to this point in his Kansas City career.

Is he the perfect outfielder? No, he has his warts. But he is the right choice for Kansas City, weighing the prospect capital and the role the team needed.

Grichuk, on the other hand, has not been the addition Kansas City wanted him to be just yet. The 33-year-old has a 63 wRC+ through a meager nine games of action, but hasn't exactly been valuable in right field either. Grichuk was a victim of underperforming compared to his expected stats with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the same has continued in Kansas City.

The Royals need him to break out of his funk, but given his niche role, his low points are still an upgrade over other Kansas City outfielders. No offense to Hoffman, but Kansas City bet on some positive regression and only lost a non-prospect reliever. This was the right gamble that hopefully pays off sooner rather than later.

With a week of work to look at, neither player is a world-beater or All-MLB contender in 2025. But they have their value and raise the floor of Kansas City's lineup, even if the ceiling remains relatively middling.

Since Grichuk's debut, the Royals are a top-10 run-scoring team, and their wRC+ is dead even at 100. Ranking 17th in that regard is not ideal, but the Royals ripped off some wins and showed what this team looks like with an average lineup.

Correlation or causation? That will become clear over the final games. For now, the Royals took their shot—and it was a sensible one.