3 players whose time with the KC Royals may be short

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Change is nothing new for this season's KC Royals. First-year manager Matt Quatraro, for example, frequently mixes up lineups, defensive assignments, and pitching choices. In-season trades took several players, including Scott Barlow, Aroldis Chapman, Ryan Yarbrough, José Cuas and Nicky Lopez, away to greener pastures. Hunter Dozier was released in May.

Expect more change as soon as the season ends. General manager J.J. Picollo, a baseball operations executive more willing to make necessary moves than was Dayton Moore, his predecessor and mentor who principal owner John Sherman ushered out the door 11 months ago, must improve the starting rotation and bullpen and the club's offense. And he'll have to trim some players from the organization.

Who'll be coming to the Royals remains to be seen, but time with the franchise may be running out for several players. Here are three.

Outfielder Jorge Bonifacio's second stint with the KC Royals could end soon

To say that Kansas City's offseason March signing of Jorge Bonifacio was surprising understates the transaction. A former Royal whose numbers eventually soured, and who served a PED-related suspension while with the club, had appeared in only 37 major league games after KC let him go after the 2019 season.

Considering the Royals' flock of talented outfielders, it's no surprise that Bonifacio hasn't made it back to Kansas City this year. Instead, he's spent the season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where in 97 games he's clubbed 19 homers, driven in 73 runs, and has a .259 average and .355 OBP.

Despite those encouraging numbers, nothing suggests the Royals will call him up this month, and they're not about to use one of their two September roster expansion slots on him when they need to get looks at younger (Bonifacio is 30) prospects. He probably isn't in the club's long-term plans; look for him to move on after this season.

Who else might be on the way out?

Is Edward Olivares reaching the end of the line with the KC Royals?

Edward Olivares joined the organization via the 2020 trade deadline deal that sent closer Trevor Rosenthal to San Diego. Those who cited Olivares' subsequent and frequent trips back and forth between Triple-A Omaha and Kauffman Stadium as proof that perhaps the Royals weren't serious about him might have been changing their tune this year. After all, Olivares began the season in Kansas City and by Aug. 13 had played only 25 games fewer (85) than he'd played in his previous three campaigns with the club.

But Aug. 13 didn't bring good news for Olivares. The Royals, presumably because they're growing increasingly satisfied with outfielders Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, Nelson Velázquez, and Dairon Blanco,
sent him back to Omaha when Waters returned from the Bereavement List.

Olivares is 9-for-25 with a home run and seven RBIs in six games since rejoining the Storm Chasers, but that might not be enough to save his 40-man roster spot or his future with the franchise. His latest demotion, coming as it did when he'd finally spent so much time with the big club, isn't a good sign — farming him out again suggests, perhaps now more than ever, that he just doesn't fit in the club's plans.

Next?

A promising Triple-A catcher may not have a future with the KC Royals

Unlike Olivares, the Royals haven't kept Logan Porter busy traveling Interstate 29 between Kansas City and Omaha. Porter, in fact, hasn't spent even a regular season day with the Royals.

And that's a bit of a mystery. Porter, a veteran of five minor league seasons and a capable catcher who can also play first base and boasts some power, owns a decent .280/.408/.464 career line. He homered 14 times in 77 games at High-A Quad Cities two years ago, 13 in a campaign split across Double-A and Triple-A last year, and has 10 through Tuesday's play.

But for one reason or another, the Royals haven't seen fit to give Porter even the proverbial big league cup of coffee in Kansas City, electing instead to take looks at him in Cactus League games in the spring and minor league contests in the summer. And the club should have called him up earlier this season but didn't.

That Kansas City has Salvador Perez and Fredy Fermin sharing time behind the plate, and can in a pinch call on MJ Melendez to catch, complicates things for Porter. So, too, does backstop Blake Mitchell who, only a month after the Royals took him in the first round of this year's amateur draft, is already ranked by MLB Pipeline as the club's No. 1 prospect.

Porter's recent performance also doesn't help his cause. Hitting .284 with a flashy .388 OBP at the end of June, he slumped to .167 and .291 in July, and .163 and .268 so far in August.

So, where does Porter stand? He's Rule 5 eligible again; the Royals didn't protect him last winter, and almost certainly won't this year. His remaining time with the franchise could be pretty short.

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