Jarren Duran grabs headlines, but Royals should target his teammate instead

The Royals have several holes to fill for 2026, but like an eight-year-old's Christmas list, there’s only one thing Royals fans truly want on their offseason wish list as the Winter Meetings start to unfold. It's not a stretch to say the Royals should be desperate to add a bat or two (or three) to the Major League lineup.

If you watched this team in 2025, you don't need to know the advanced numbers the Royals outfield produced. It was abysmal. Doesn't matter if it was right, left, or center; all the fields were unacceptable.

The Royals ranked 24th or worse by wRC+ at each spot in 2025, giving their outfield a collective 73 wRC+, the worst in baseball. The most frustrating part is that this has become a theme in Kansas City for the last three seasons. The Royals finished 2023 and 24' with a wRC+ of 27th or worse.

It's clear where the Royals need to concentrate their resources, and there has been considerable smoke around names like Brendan Donovan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox. While those names would be welcome additions to Kansas City, there's a player who could be a better fit for the Royals and is going under the radar.

This so happens to be Jarren Duran's teammate, Wilyer Abreu.

Royals' trade target Abreu has quietly one of the best outfielders in baseball

Duran gets all the shine (and ridicule) in Boston because of his All-Star prominence, but it's his teammate in right field who is a better fit in KC. Wilyer Abreu profiles as an underrated power bat who plays a Gold Glove right field.

Abreu has a career .791 OPS in 275 games (three seasons). He hit a career-high 22 dingers in 115 games in 2025, after hitting 15 in 2024. He's only 26-years-old and has an attractive contract with team control through 2029.

He's exactly the type of player that would excel at spacious Kauffman Stadium. He would bring back-to-back gold gloves in 24' and '25' to the table if the Royals were able to trade for the young Venezuelan.

Here's one way to look at his potential value to the lineup: He walks at the rate of Maikel Garcia (9.6%) and has power like Bobby Witt Jr (22 homers,.223 ISO).

Although he sounds like the perfect player, there's a reason the Red Sox have been hesitant to give him a long-term contract. He has real strikeout issues with a career 24.5% K-rate. He saw his BABIP drop from .326 in 2024 to .277 in 2025. His 31 DRS since the start of 2024 rank him fourth amongst all major league outfielders while his 17 FRV places him within the Top 10 (9th).

Abreu also has a reputation for not hitting lefties well, as his career .205 average against southpaws would suggest. He only hit one homer in 68 plate appearances and saw his BABIP drop from .326 in 2024 to .277 in 2025.

The good news is that his average against lefties jumped 50 points from 2024 to '25, so there's good reason to believe he can be even better in 2026.

He was also a below-average runner on the basepaths in 2025 with a -1.0 BsR, but his 1.2 BsR in 2024 provides hope that he can rediscover that part of his game.

What would a Royals trade package look like for Abreu?

A trade package for Abreu should be more affordable than All-Star players like Donovan and Duran. However, the Red Sox would want a proven pitcher in return, meaning Bubic, Ragans, or Cameron could be on the move if the Royals were able to cook something up.

In terms of prospects, names like David Shields and Kendry Chourio should be absolutely off limits, but prospects like Ben Kurdna, Drew Beam, or Luinder Avila could be attractive pieces to pair with one of the Royals' big league arms.

Abreu is an intriguing player that the Royals should covet at the Winter Meetings, but a player like him will have multiple suitors for his services.