Royals lose out on 2 possible free agents after official qualifying offer decisions

The Kansas City Royals already have their work cut out for them this offseason with plenty of areas in need of an upgrade in order to hopefully restore themselves to postseason status in 2026.

The two most notable needs are of course the outfield and second base, which were both arguably their most unproductive positions in 2025.

And while insiders and analysts every speculate on who J.J. Picollo and Co. might bring in to address these dire needs, their list of potential free agent targets just shortened on Tuesday thanks to a pair of solid names accepting the qualifying offer.

Of the four names to accept the one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer were second baseman Gleyber Torres and outfielder Trent Grisham.

Torres and Grisham accepting qualifying offers means free agent field gets smaller for Royals

Both Torres and Grisham came with their pros and cons, but it's hard to look at their offensive profiles in 2025 and think they both couldn't have made an impact in the middle of the lineup.

Torres, who will now return to the Tigers in 2026, had a great bounce back season in his first year in Detroit. He returned to All-Star form, hitting .256 with 16 HR, 74 RBI, a .745 OPS, 13.5% walk-rate and 113 wRC+.

He may not have been the answer to their power struggles, nor would he be anything to write home defensively, but his plate discipline would certainly help this Royals squad who posted the second lowest walk rate in MLB last season and a 113 wRC+ is miles better than Jonathan India's 89 wRC+ and Michael Massey's 57 wRC+.

Then there's Grisham, who after playing all season in center field for the Yankees, seemed like a clunky fit. The Royals already have a defensive wizard in Kyle Isbel in center and Grisham hasn't played in a corner since his 2019 rookie season in Milwaukee.

That being said, getting a great bat through the door and finding a defensive fit later is sometimes the route to take. And it's hard argue against the impact he could've made in the top half of the order after the career year he just put together.

In 581 plate appearances across 143 games, Grisham slashed .235/.348/.464 with 34 HR, 74 RBI, a 14.1% walk rate and a 129 wRC+.

The silver lining to take out of all of this is that at least the Royals won't have to weigh whether or not to surrender draft capital to bring these names in.

However, losing two offseason targets in a field that already seemed limited is never an ideal way to start the winter the months.