Royals can still salvage one lackluster trade from last offseason 

No matter the teams involved, pulling off successful trades in baseball can be extremely difficult. Some players perform well in certain cities while others play like they somehow forgot the rules of the game. It’s hard to predict which one you’ll get sometimes.

The Kansas City Royals pulled off a handful of trades last offseason that can already be considered complete duds. Uttering the name Matt Strahm can probably send a shiver down any Royals fan’s spine. However, the jury is still out on the move to acquire outfielder Isaac Collins. 

After going 82-80 and missing the postseason in 2025, the Kansas City Royals seemed like a team that just needed to add a few pieces in order to bounce right back into contention. In an attempt to beef up the team’s offense and upgrade the outfield, the Royals traded left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Collins and right-handed pitcher Nick Mears last December. 

Collins was fresh off a strong season sporting a .263/.368/.411 slash line in 372 at-bats. With a modest amount of pop in his bat and a solid glove to go along with it, the move was seen as a good pickup without breaking the bank. Collins wasn’t acquired to be “the guy” or even be the sidekick to Bobby Witt Jr. He was simply projected to be a nice fit for a Royals team in search of consistency in their lineup.     

“At this point, we felt like this was a very good move for us considering our needs," Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said of Collins at the time of the trade. “The need for on-base, the need for an outfielder. Adding a switch-hitter to our roster, and then Isaac’s positional versatility is very attractive when you combine that with the number of years of control.” 

Following his first season with the Royals, Collins is still a versatile player under team control for the next several seasons. His ability to get on base is a whole other story. 

Isaac Collins could thrive in a different role for the Royals  

With a .320 on-base percentage in 442 at-bats this past season, Collins was a far cry from the player that Picollo had envisioned when he pulled the trigger on the trade. In fact, Collins only got worse at the plate as the 2026 season went on. He notched just four hits in 54 at-bats in September. That was good for a .074 batting average. That extreme lack of production makes it hard to justify penciling Collins into the lineup every day moving forward. And maybe that’s a good thing. 

At 29 years old, Collins is no longer a young prospect looking to develop as a ball player and expand their game. Can he improve at the plate and continue to improve with more playing time? Sure. But at this point in his career, he is who he is. And that’s a soft-contact hitter with above-average plate discipline. He's also a player who has average speed with an average arm. Collins has even shown flashes of decent range in the outfield. 

You put all of that together and you get a valuable bench player, not someone who should be getting more than 400 at-bats a year. That’s not the most glamorous role for any ball player, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a vital role for the Royals. If you look at a team like the Brewers or the Tampa Bay Rays, you’ll see rosters dotted with those utility players. With a young core built around Witt Jr., Carter Jensen, and Jac Caglianone, the Royals will need players like Collins to fill in the gaps. 

The Royals didn’t give up a lot to get Collins, but the trade still feels like a loss at this point. That doesn’t mean that it has to stay a loss. By shifting Collins to the bench and taking the pressure off of him to produce on offense, the Royals may actually salvage something out of the trade.

Collins has the tools to be a valuable utility player in limited playing time. With his eye at the plate, he may even provide an excellent at-bat off the bench in late-game situations. The possibilities are endless. Just as long as those possibilities come off the bench. 

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