The Royals’ offseason work starts with the 40-man, and there’s a lot to sort through before the anticipated December 1 lockout shuts down roster movement.
Right now, Kansas City sits at 39 players on the 40-man roster, but that number is misleading. Eight players are on the 60-day IL and, under the current rules, they all have to be brought back onto the roster when the season ends.
That means the Royals have to create room while also keeping one eye on the Rule 5 Draft, even if it never actually happens. You do not want to be the club caught flat-footed if it does.
A few moves are easy to map out. Jonathan India is headed for free agency, so he comes off the board.
Carlos Estévez has a club option that gets declined. Connor Seabold gets non-tendered.
Craig Kimbrel, Luke Maile, and Josh Rojas are also free agents, and Easton McGee gets non-tendered as well. Even after all that, the roster still needs trimming once the 60-day IL players are added back in.
The next layer is prospect protection. Lucas Braun and Carson Roccaforte are the two obvious additions, since both look like players who could factor into the big league mix next year anyway.
Beyond that, there’s nobody else here who feels worth the protection risk. Because of that, Mitch Spence and Matthew Lugo get designated for assignment to open those spots.
Then comes arbitration, where the Royals have a long list to work through:
Kyle Isbel (Arb3)
Nick Mears (Arb3)
Nate Pearson (Arb3)
Michael Massey (Arb2)
Daniel Lynch IV (Arb2)
Alex Lange (Arb2)
Anthony Gose (Arb2)
James McArthur (Arb2)
Randy Dobnak (Arb2)
Lucas Erceg (Arb1)
Alec Marsh (Arb1)
The clear keeps are Daniel Lynch IV, Michael Massey, and Randy Dobnak. At the projected prices, Lucas Erceg, Anthony Gose, and Nate Pearson also make sense to hold onto.
Kyle Isbel is another story. The price is too steep for a fourth outfielder on a team with cheaper options, so the plan is to try to trade him for a reliever before tender decisions lock in.
That leaves Nick Mears, Alex Lange, James McArthur, and Alec Marsh. Lange and Mears are easy to move on from because they have no options and were both bad and hurt.
McArthur and Marsh are harder calls. Both had stretches where they were really good before getting hurt, so they get tendered for now.
There’s also a practical reason to keep them around: the longer the Royals have them, the better the odds of working out a minor league deal later if 40-man space becomes tight again.
As part of the cleanup, Isbel gets shipped to the Yankees for Bradley Hanner. Hanner misses bats, though the stuff isn’t elite, and he’s had issues with walks and home runs. He’s 27, not a flamethrower, but if Sweeney and company can turn him into a usable middle reliever, that’s a deal worth making for Kansas City.
After all of that, the Royals are down to 38 men on the roster. The big-picture needs are still obvious: relief pitching, some starting pitching, and at least one or two bats for the outfield. For now, though, the roster work is just beginning.
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Among the names already drawing attention is Padres left-hander Adrian Morejon, whose recent run has put him on the radar as a possible fit in Kansas City. The appeal is obvious for a club trying to shorten games, but so is the problem: a reliever with his profile figures to come with a steep price tag and plenty of competition, making the Royals search as much about timing and resources as it is about need. [Read more 🡒]