Royals' list of outfield targets just got even shorter (but fans shouldn't sweat it)

As the Kansas Royals continue their search for outfield upgrades, another potential option came off the board on Wednesday night.

According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a one-year contract with veteran center fielder Cedric Mullins.

The likelihood of J.J. Picollo and the front office needing to get creative on the trade market to address their outfield needs was already high. So, the fact that another free agent name in an already weak field has come off the board, could have some fans worried.

However, in the case of Mullins heading to the sunny skies of Florida, there's really no reason for the Royals faithful to panic, as they don't appear to have missed out on a potential solution.

Royals fans shouldn't worry about "missing out" on Cedric Mullins

Mullins certainly doesn't come without a decent resume under his belt. He's a previous All-Star and SIlver Slugger Award winner with several above average wRC+ seasons under to his name since his 2021 breakout.

However, that's the point...his season for the ages came back in 2021.

In the four seasons since then, he's just looked average at best, with a 107 wRC+ in '22, 98 wRC+ in '23, 104 wRC+ in '24 and a 94 wRC+ last season.

And 2025 was a pretty concerning season for Mullins to enter free agency on.

He posted the lowest totals of his career in AVG (.216), OBP (.299), SLG (.391) while also seeing a 4.5% rise in his strikeout rate and falling from an over 2.0 fWAR player to a just a 1.3 fWAR player year-over-year.

From an underlying metrics perspective, he ranked in just the 19th percentile in hard-hit rate, 25th percentile in barrel rate and below the 10th percentile in across the board in every primary expected metric (xBA, xSLG and xwOBA).

On top of this, and argubaly even more concerning detail, Mullins got significantly worse when he changed scenery for the first time and left Baltimore for the first time in his career. In 143 plate appearances across 43 games with Mets after the trade deadline, the 31-year-old slashed just .182/.284/.281with just two homers, 10 RBI and a 66 wRC+.

Then, there's the fact that he doesn't really fill a positional need for the Royals. Sure he's an outfielder, but the Royals primary need is in the corners and Mullins hasn't patrolled left or right field since 2020, and even then it was in an extremely limited capacity - he's accumulated just 35.0 total major league innings at both spots combined.

While Kyle Isbel isn't anything to write home about at the plate himself, Mullins also being a left-handed bat, wouldn't offer a different look for the Royals from what they already have.

While they could be open upgrading in center, it would likely have to be for an outright upgrade or at the very least someone who can either be a right-handed platoon partner for Isbel or can also patrol the corners (cough, cough...Harrison Bader)

Mullins may have decent plate discipline and strong speed on the basepaths, but as a whole, if the Royals were to have signed him, they would've been gambling on a bounce back. And given how bad their outfield production was last season, paired with their contending ambitions, they could not afford to a spend money on a player like that, who already wasn't a natural fit for their obvious needs.