Random man broke KC Royals' Brady Singer trade early in the funniest way possible

Friday night was a busy one around Major League Baseball as the non-tender deadline came and went. The Royals stole the headlines amongst the chaos by announcing a significant trade involving a pair of former first-round picks.

In the deal, the Royals acquired second baseman Jonathan India and outfielder Joey Wiemer from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for starting pitcher Brady Singer.

Both clubs addressed needs around their roster in this move, but while nothing officially broke until the evening, it seems the trade news broke early by a member of the Royals' online community of fans, who put his eagle eyes to good use.

Or, rather, he spotted box after box of overflowing gear. Hard to miss that, honestly.

X user Richard Tater (@BigMacDak) shared a picture on the platform of a massive stack of Royals gear that was apparently donated by Singer himself to a local thrift shop (check out the No. 51 on the jacket). This led to some obvious speculation that the one-time ace-of-the-future was being traded away, which was confirmed just a few hours after the post went live on social media.

Random Royals fan accidentally broke Brady Singer trade news early

While it's funny to see how things shook out here, it's also understandable that Singer may have been a little bit frustrated at the move. He just finished putting together one of the best seasons of his five-year big league career, only to be traded away from the only organization he's ever known.

In what was his final year on the Royals, Singer went 9-13 with a 3.71 ERA, 3.94 FIP and 114 ERA+ across a full 32-start season. He also set career-highs in strikeouts and innings pitched.

The right-hander was projected to earn $8.8 million in arbitration this winter while India will make $7.5 million in the 2025 campaign. With a few different spots around the roster in need of an upgrade, the reasons behind the Royals' side of this trade become a bit clearer. The club is never going to rank amongst the league leaders in total payroll, so they'll need all the help they can get by making small moves like this.

In all reality, this is a trade that should work out for both teams and all players involved. India and Wiemer both have fits on the Royals' big league roster (India in particular), and Singer is going to insert himself straight into the Reds' starting rotation. Both organizations are in the middle of their contention windows, so no players involved will be going from a winning organization to a losing one.