J.J. Picollo's post-deadline remarks make Royals' trade inactivity look so much worse

Kansas City Royals fans were likely geared up to be be somewhat disappointed at the trade deadline after it came out that they were reluctant to move their controllable talent. However, it likely came as a shock to see just how inactive they were when the dust settled on Monday evening. They traded away a few names such as Lane Thomas, Kris Bubic and Bailey Falter, but that was it.

The Royals confusingly opted to keep other expiring contracts like John Schreiber and Starling Marte and be content with letting them go for nothing in the offseason. Fans had every reason to be upset with the front office for squandering the opportunity to get any sort of return for the future from names that won't be here for it - especially considering that was supposedly their focus approaching the deadline. But after J.J. Picollo's post-trade deadline remarks revealing how much interest their roster received on the trade market, fans should be wanting to riot.

"I think it's fair to say that 75% of our everyday players were asked for or inquired about," Picollo said according to FOX4's Rob Collins.

Now, Picollo did touch on how serious some of the approaches were, whether or not they were just teams feeling out how available someone might be. That being said, if 75% of their everyday roster was discussed, it seems hard to believe they couldn't find suitors for low-cost veterans like Schreiber or Marte. Contenders are always looking for veteran additions to bolster a postseason push and those two could've easily scratched that itch for them.

Royals' trade deadline can only be viewed as massive miss for competitive future

With their belief that this core group of Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone along with complementary pieces like Vinnie Pasquantino and Isaac Collins could fuel a competitive bounce-back in 2027, it was somewhat understandable as to why they were reluctant to move off All-Star starters like Michael Wacha or Seth Lugo or a breakout reliever like Daniel Lynch IV - even if they were wrong to do so - given the uncertain state of the rest of their pitching staff due to injury and inconsistency.

However, considering they already weren't going to be optimizing their future with potentially high returns for this trio of arms, not making the most of their expendable names can only be seen as a massive error in judgement. Even the smallest of returns (yes, I'm alluding the ever so exciting player to be named later or cash considerations) would set them up for the future more than nothing would (I can't believe I'm writing that).

They have to be given a shred of credit for improving their pitching depth with the likes of Carlos Duran, Nolan Hoffman, Lucas Braun and Carter Holton all coming in between Saturday and Monday. But at a trade deadline where they were looking to add major league or near-major league talent, to have no new additions on their 26-man roster on August 4 seems like the bare minimum they could've done. Sure any of these names, perhaps minus Holton, could be on this roster by year's end, but the fact their not now indicates the Royals didn't land any surefire solutions for 2027.

The focus now shifts to the offseason, where the Royals cannot afford to have another quiet one if they have any hope of getting back to the October promise land they briefly got a taste of in 2024.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow