Royals Rumors: KC continues to be linked to 'reliable' free agent outfielder

The Kansas City Royals have been active in shoring up arguably their biggest need of the offseason, their outfield.

The signing of Lane Thomas and the acquisition of Isaac Collins have certainly deepened their outfield unit and undoubtedly improved their offensive group year-over-year.

However, the overarching consensus is that more work needs to be done. And while trades for Jarren Duran or Brendan Donovan would be the dream moves, the reality is there are plenty of hurdles that the Royals would need to jump to accomplish such deals.

This could result in the Royals turning to some consolation options to keep up their offseason momentum.

And perhaps a familiar free agent target may be resurfacing as a strong option to address Kansas City's continued outfield need.

ESPN's David Schoenfield listed Harrison Bader as a fit to be a "reliable contributor" for the Royals among other teams.

Harrison Bader is still proving to be a strong fit for the Royals in the deeper stages of the offseason

Bader was a frequently mentioned fit for the Royals in the later stages of the 2025 calendar year, but had seemingly been mentioned less as offseason progressed and the Royals began acquiring other outfield options.

That being said the additions of Thomas and Collins don't mean the Royals couldn't still use a name like Bader.

While he may be another right-handed hitter like Thomas and Collins, Kansas City entered the offseason with a pretty lefty-heavy lineup to begin with.

So, bringing in a player coming off a 3.2 fWAR season, thanks to a 122 wRC+ showing at the plate and Gold Glove-worthy defense in both center field and the corner outfield, would be a worthy addition regardless of his handedness at the plate being similar to the Royals other offseason additions.

And again, it's not as if there isn't a place for even further right-handed bats in this 2026 lineup. Kyle Isbel hasn't exactly been the greatest of bats in center, Jac Caglianone is coming off a rookie season where he looked overmatched and frankly out of place, and the newly acquired switch-hitting Collins had a strong year overall, but showed some early-career vulnerabilities down the stretch with a .191 AVG, .664 OPS and 97 wRC+ in the month of September.

In all of these cases, a right-handed platoon bat could be in order and Bader fits that mold to a T.

He hits well, defends well and runs the bases to high a high degree, making him somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades, which any competitively-focused team could stand to bring into the mix.