History suggests it will be a quiet and unproductive Christmas for KC Royals

December 23: Kansas City picks up pitchers

The Royals acquired pitchers in their only two December 23 deals.

Reliever Nick Wittgren signed in 2022 and went 1-0 with a 27-game 4.97 ERA before his mid-August demotion to Triple-A Omaha. He hasn't worked in the majors since. In 2019, the club traded outfielder Cristian Perez to the Yankees for Chance Adams, who in 2020 gave up nine runs in the only 8.2 innings he ever pitched for the Royals.

December 26: An unsuccessful Rule 5 Draft acquisition

Baseball held its 2002 Rule 5 Draft the day after Christmas and the Royals picked catcher Ronny Paulino from Pittsburgh, but they sent him back to the Pirates before the 2003 season opened. Paulino made it to the big leagues two seasons later and played for Pittsburgh, the Mets, the Florida Marlins, and the Baltimore Orioles.

December 27: A couple of fair free agent signings

The Royals have enjoyed some luck with their December 27 transactions. Searching for a suitable replacement for third baseman Mike Moustakas after trading him in 2018, the club signed Maikel Franco in 2019. He came through by playing all 60 games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and batting .278 with eight homers and 38 RBI. But in a move probably designed to avoid giving him a substantial raise, the club non-tendered the arbitration-eligible Franco after the campaign ended.

Kansas City also did well in 2007 when Miguel Olivo signed. He caught Royals pitchers for two years and clubbed 35 homers with 106 RBI before testing free agency again after the 2009 season. He ended his big league career with the Dodgers five years later.

The Royals' other two December 27 transactions didn't work out as well. After signing in 1996, Jim Converse pitched only three times in 1997 before the club released him in June. Alex Liddi signed in 2014, spent the 2015 campaign at Double-A Northwest Arkansas where he hit .287 and homered 13 times, then tried free agency again and ended up playing in Mexico. The Royals re-signed him in early 2018; he returned to Northwest Arkansas and clubbed 23 home runs in 107 games before heading back to free agency and another year in Mexico.

December 28: Not the best day for KC Royals transactions

December 28 hasn't been especially kind to the Royals. Take, for example, their signing of pitcher Jordan Lyles to a two-year deal in 2022 — he had the worst ERA (6.28) and most losses (17) in the majors in 2023, and appeared in only five games this season before going on the restricted list in July. He later signed with the Dodgers, worked in five games for their Triple-A club, and went on the temporarily inactive list in August before becoming a free agent in November.

The Royals signed infielder Jason Donald and outfielder Melky Mesa, neither of whom made it to Kansas City, on December 28, 2013. Donald hit .231 in 25 games at Triple-A Omaha in 2014 before the organization traded him to Texas. Mesa played 23 games for Omaha and hit .284, but found himself traded (with pitcher P.J. Walters) to the Toronto Blue Jays in a late-May players-for-cash deal.

So it is that the Royals haven't had a lot of success with their Christmas season deals. That doesn't bode well for the next several days of the offseason.