Royals' pitching dilemma continues to loom large as offseason enters final stages

Sometime in the next few weeks, the salary stalemate hanging over Kris Bubic and the Kansas City Royals will be resolved.

Whether the two parties settle their million-dollar dispute — MLB.com KC beat writer Anne Rogers reports Bubic wants $6.15 million to pitch for the Royals this season, while the club thinks $5.15 million is enough — before submitting it to an arbitration panel in February remains to be seen. The Royals could also avoid paying Bubic anything by trading him.

How the disagreement about how much he's worth ends is anyone's guess. The Royals have a long history of avoiding arbitration, but that they didn't get a deal done with Bubic before now suggests a hearing might be inevitable. Also realistic, especially in light of Kansas City's glut of starting pitchers and pressing need to improve its offense, is a swap with another club, talk of which continues to swirl as spring training nears.

What seems quite possible at this point, though, is that employee and employer will either come to terms or let arbitration take its course, and that Bubic will be a Royal when the team opens the new season in Atlanta on March 27.

But resolving their financial disagreements with Bubic won't eliminate another dilemma he presents.

The Royals must decide just what to do with Kris Bubic

The Bubic Problem is easy to understand. Simply put, he'll be eligible to test free agency for the first time when the 2026 World Series ends, which means the Royals stand to get nothing for him if he ends the season with them and decides to leave for greener financial pastures.

They could, of course, give him a qualifying offer and reap an extra draft pick if he rejects it and signs elsewhere, but don't bet the farm the club will give him one — the next QO will exceed this offseason's $22.025 million figure.

But solving the problem isn't as easy as understanding it. Sure, general manager J.J. Picollo could trade Bubic today — he proved in his All-Star 2025 campaign that he could successfully return to starting after blossoming as a reliever in 2024 — but a Bubic deal now, after the best free agent bats have joined richer teams, won't reap the kind of offensive punch the Royals need unless they throw in more than him.

There's also the question of Bubic's health. He missed almost all of the 2023 season, and about half the 2024 campaign, after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, then sat out the final two months of 2025 with a rotator cuff issue. That kind of history isn't something potential trade partners will ignore.

So, the difficulty of realizing a superb return from a Bubic-centric trade could lead Picollo to keep the skilled left-hander ... at least for now. That approach has its advantages — despite his own battles with injuries, Bubic can serve as a decent hedge against a repeat of the health issues that struck KC's 2025 rotation and sidelined him, Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha for varying periods.

At the same time, though, retaining Bubic increases the risk of losing him for nothing after this season. The Royals could hang on to him with the idea of moving him at the midsummer trade deadline, but what do they do if they're contending and he's having such a good season that trading him would constitute a harmful self-inflicted wound? And if they're sellers instead of buyers, prospects would likely be the return, and this is a club needing big league or big league-ready help.

Either scenario could cause Picollo to keep Bubic off the deadline market.

A contract extension is always possible, but in Bubic's case not probable. He needs to prove his durability over the course of a full season; what's more, the Royals already gave Maikel Garcia a big extension this winter and should plan one for Vinnie Pasquantino before he becomes free agency-eligible after the 2028 season.

What, then, are the Royals to do with Bubic? Expect them to keep him; for how long is the question.