General Manager J.J. Picollo fielded media questions at the Kansas City Royals' 3rd annual Royals Rally, held on February 1 at Kauffman Stadium, and the call for an impact bat to support the middle of the lineup was resounding. Coming off their best finish and first playoff appearance since their 2015 World Series win, the Royals are going into 2025 with the goal of securing another postseason berth, but their offense needs help.
In 2024, the Royals were eliminated from the AL Division Series by the New York Yankees in four games as their key hitters — Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino — combined for just 3 hits across 33 at-bats. Still, Picollo hasn't been able to bolster the lineup this winter.
“It’s a little disappointing," Picollo said, "but we can’t force teams to make trades they don’t want to make. We were active in the free-agent market; we just weren’t able to land the guys.”
KC Royals pursued multiple free agent hitters this winter
During the Winter Meetings, Picollo commented on the Royals' desire to bring in a left-handed power bat to support the lineup. At the time, he acknowledged that teams were less willing to make trades with so many free agents still available, which is hard when the Royals' lack of payroll flexibility means they can't pursue many of those free agents themselves.
In an offseason that boasted five of the top 25 major league free agents holding down outfield positions, the Royals came up empty-handed. Juan Soto, Anthony Santander, Jurickson Profar, Tyler O'Neill, and Tesocar Hernandez all signed free agent deals before February.
There was little expectation that the Royals would be in on the Juan Soto sweepstakes — there were ever only two or three legitimate contenders — but Anthony Santander garnered significant attention from the Royals front office. Coming off a 44 home run season and his first full season sporting an OPS north of .800, Santander fulfilled many wishlist items for the Royals; a corner outfielder capable of significant middle-of-the-order power from the left side of the plate. Whether his price would creep too high was the only question heading into the Royals' pursuit of the lefty masher.
As the winter weeks wicked away, so too did the free agent outfielder market. O'Neill and Soto were quick to sign with their respective clubs — the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets — in the second week of December, while Teoscar Hernandez returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers shortly after the New Year. With three of the top outfielders off the board, the hunt was on for Anthony Santander. However, the former Oriole landed his new five-year, $92.5 million dollar contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on January 20.
While the terms for O'Neill and Hernandez were both very friendly by comparison to Santander's contract, you could argue they didn't fill a specific need for the Royals as right-handed bats. The same could be said for Profar, who will begin the season as a 32-year-old who has a career OPS+ below 100, despite coming off a career year and All-Star selection in 2024.
KC Royals have their sights set on Anthony Santander
Santander was the ideal free agent acquisition in Picollo's eyes, and you can't fault him for squarely placing their focus on signing him above the other outfield candidates.
When details emerged of the Blue Jays' offer, the shock and awe amongst fans was palpable. A five-year contract for a player entering his age-30 season who has accumulated a career WAR just one point greater than that of Royals outfielder Hunter Renfroe at the same age. While it may seem a little silly to compare the two, Renfroe has five seasons of 25-plus home runs to Santander's three. Sure, Renfroe never came close to 40 in a season — let alone topping it — but it demonstrates that the Royals were in a difficult position to recklessly loosen the purse strings to sign Santander.
When The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal broke the news that the Royals had reportedly offered a three-year, $66 million dollar deal to Santander, it was clear that the team had strongly pursued the lefty slugger, albeit unsuccessfully. Going into 2025, the Royals still don't have the power bat they need, but there's a lot to respect about a team that sees the flaw in their lineup and pursues a potential remedy, while still having the restraint to not mash the the panic button — as it seems the Toronto Blue Jays may have done.