Royals' trade hopes receive ultimate gut punch after Rangers acquire MacKenzie Gore

Will the Kansas City Royals trade from their starting pitching surplus this season, or will they enter 2026 with a bit of logjam on their hands?

That's been one of the overarching questions of the Royals' entire offseason to this point, especially when they could use it to their advantage to bolster their lineup and potentially add a real spark to their promising existing core.

The problem of late though is that the starting pitching market seems to be settling and suddenly the Royals are left with less and less trade partners by the day.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic poured some cold water on potential deals for Jarren Duran and Brendan Donovan (although there still might be hope for the latter) with the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals respectively last week.

Then, the New York Mets went ahead and acquired not just one of the top starting pitchers on the trade market in Freddy Peralta, but a second big league capable starter in Tobias Myers as well, after a Wednesday night blockbuster with the Milwaukee Brewers.

And the Royals didn't have to wait a full day until one of the perceived safer potential trade partners shockingly made a major splash, as the Texas Rangers came out of nowhere to trade for now former Washington Nationals ace, MacKenzie Gore.

Rangers no longer feel like a suitable trade partner for Royals starting pitching surplus

There had been some reports at the beginning of the offseason that the Rangers may have some financial questions clouding their winter, and after dealing Marcus Semien and his $26 million salary for 2026 in exchange for Brandon Nimmo and his nearly $10 million in savings compared to the former, that notion seemed to affirmed.

Perhaps that's why the Rangers were underestimated by many to land a big offseason fish, but with an injury-prone and/or young starting staff, the need for reinforcements was definitely there.

This is what made them a strong fit for an All-Star on his last year of team control in Kris Bubic, or potentially a younger name with plenty of affordable years of team control.

However, the Gore trade makes a lot of sense given he's still an arbitration eligible arm, but perhaps many counted the Rangers out given their current financial status. Again though, a $5.6 million salary this season hardly breaks the bank.

Given their recent trade history with the Rangers in the Chris Young era in Arlington - having acquired both Cole Ragans and Michael Lorenzen from them since the former Royals starter took over their front office - the relationship seeme to be there to really make this a better fit.

But as it's been said seemingly countless times lately, Kansas City will probably have to look elsewhere if they want to move off of some of their immense starting pitching surplus.