Royals News: Michael Lorenzen, Randal Grichuk free agents, Will Klein honored in HOF

The MLB offseason is officially here now that the 2025 season is officially wrapped up with the World Series being the bow on the season that was.

The baseball world will be all consumed by the hot stove as the rumor mill, as always, will take it's stronghold on the headlines.

With projecting what the Royals future in 2026 and beyond surely taking the lead in Kansas City news until Opening Day, some other headlines will fly a bit under the radar, but are still important for the fans to be aware of.

Royals News: Michael Lorenzen and Randal Grichuk are now free agents after mutual options declined

The news that veterans Michael Lorenzen and Randal Grichuk have had their mutual options declined shouldn't surprise anybody.

Last week, MLB.com's Anne Rogers reported that their exit from the organization was "pretty likely" and now it's firmly in the hands of the Royals of whether they return or not.

Lorenzen's mutual option was declined on the team-end after posting a 4.64 ERA and 1.33 WHIP across 141.2 innings of work in 27 outings. Given the amount of starters the Royals have on their hands even without Lorenzen, the 33-year-old was the definition of superfluous.

Lorenzen may not have performed the best, but you can't say he didn't serve a purpose in this injury-riddled rotation this year.

The same really can't be said for Grichuk who was the only real low-light to what was a great trade deadline for Kansas City in July.

In 105 plate appearances across 43 games with the Royals, the veteran outfielder hit just .206 with a .566 OPS and a 56 wRC+.

Luckily for the Royals, Grichuk did the work for them as he was the one who declined his end of the mutual option.

Kansas City will still have a need for a right-handed outfield bat this winter, but it doesn't seem like 34-year-old is a viable option to match their contending ambitions.

Royals News: Will Klein's stellar World Series performance will be honored in Cooperstown

The 2025 World Series was one for the ages. And no game will be as memorable as the Game 3, 18-inning marathon which saw former Royals reliever Will Klein play hero.

Klein came into the game in the 15th inning as the last man remaining in the Dodgers' bullpen and would go 4.0 innings, allowing no runs, on just hit and two walks while striking out five.

It was a performance for the ages and to recognize his series-altering heroism, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced on Sunday that Klein's glove would be sent to Cooperstown.

"If it wasn't for Will Klein's gutsy performance in Game 3, there may never have been a Game 7," they wrote on X.

Klein's glove was just one of many pieces of Dodgers memorabilia entering the Hall of Fame to commemorate their second consecutive World Series title.

This list also included Freddie Freeman's bat that he used to hit his Game 3 walk-off homer, Mookie Betts' glove that he used to turn the series winning double play in Game 7 and Will Smith's cleats that he wore when he belted the go-ahead home run in the 11th inning of Game 7.