If the Royals wind up selling at the trade deadline, they’ll have some obvious names to shop. Lane Thomas fits the expiring-contract mold.
Matt Strahm has struggled. Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo carry the kind of money contenders sometimes chase.
But Kansas City’s injuries - especially to Kris Bubic - have made this a rougher deadline picture than anyone wanted.
The young core still looks protected, and it should. Bobby Witt Jr., Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen belong nowhere near the block.
The trickier calls are the players who are not untouchable, but still make more sense in Kansas City than anywhere else. They may not bring back much.
They may not be fan favorites. Still, the Royals would be better served keeping them through the rest of 2026.
Salvador Perez is the clearest example.
No one should be lining up to trade for him right now, not after a season in which the veteran has fallen off hard at the plate while dealing with a long list of injuries. That’s a painful turn for a player who hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 runs in 2025. Father Time was coming for Perez, and in 2026 it hit him hard enough that every trip to Kauffman Stadium starts to feel a little more uncertain.
He’s on this list because his bat has been so quiet and his availability so spotty that some fans would probably accept almost any move just to clear a roster spot. That kind of decision would not be shocking for a front office that says it wants to be more transactional than the one before it. But Perez brings something bigger than the box score: legacy.
He is still chasing George Brett’s franchise home run record of 317. Perez has 11 home runs this season and 314 in his MLB career, which keeps the mark within reach with more than 65 games left, so long as he stays healthy and spends less time behind the plate. And in a sport where loyalty gets talked about constantly, Perez remains one of the rare stars whose entire career has unfolded in one organization.
There’s also the uncomfortable human side of it. Imagine Perez in another uniform in August and September, only to still be walking out after game 162.
That would feel like piling on a player already down. With his home country also dealing with recovery from an earthquake, the Royals and their fans have a bigger question to sit with: is moving him really the right thing to do?
Lucas Erceg is another name Kansas City should probably keep.
The Royals badly need Carlos Estévez to look like himself again, because he has not been right from the start this season. That has put more weight on Erceg, who was a key bullpen piece last year after the Royals acquired him.
Over his time in Kansas City, he has posted 2.3 fWAR, 28 holds and 13 saves in 84 appearances. But this season has not been nearly as clean.
His velocity has not fallen off, and hitters are still putting the ball on the ground more often than not. The problem is command. Erceg owns a career-worst 1.19 K/BB, driven by a 15.6% strikeout rate and a 46.7% zone rate.
The two-strike work is especially ugly. He has thrown 33.8% of his pitches in two-strike counts, which ranks in the 91st percentile for relievers, but only 11.9% of those pitches have ended in strikeouts, a mark that sits in the 5th percentile. He may not be melting down every outing, and he has not been giving up as many runs over the last month, but he is still walking more batters than he strikes out.
That is not the profile of a reliever a contender should be eager to pay for at the deadline. And even if someone did, the Royals would have to decide whether they really want to move a pitcher they control through 2030, with three minor league options left, after giving up multiple top-30 prospects to get him less than two years ago. That does not sound like a move for now.
Isaac Collins rounds out the group, and his recent stretch is exactly why Kansas City should hold tight.
The first season in Kansas City has been uneven for the former Brewers outfielder, and the early reviews have been mixed at best. He arrived as the Royals’ best long-term outfield addition of the offseason, so the expectations were already high. But his play over the last couple of weeks has started to change the conversation.
Since June 26, Collins has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games. In that span, he is slashing .333/.444/.600 with six extra-base hits, and his batting average has climbed from .225 to .237. He is still hitting low in the order, but he has been doing the job Kansas City wanted from him: work counts, get on base and keep innings alive.
Like Erceg, Collins comes with years of control remaining, and that matters for a Royals club that may need to spend its free-agent money elsewhere this offseason. Trading away a player who still has multiple pre-arbitration years left, while he is already producing at the major league level, would be a strange choice. It gets even harder to justify with Lane Thomas and Starling Marte not likely to be around much longer.
Keeping Collins also gives the Royals room to experiment. A bad team can afford to tinker, whether that means giving him a shot at leadoff in the right matchup or testing his infield utility skills. Right now, that flexibility looks more valuable than whatever return he might bring in July.
In Other News...
Royals Just Became Part Of A Surprising Mets Deadline Twist
A game against the Royals ended up carrying bigger deadline ripple effects for the Mets than anyone expected. Mark Vientos was hit by a pitch on July 9 and the injury now leaves New York dealing with a lineup hole at a time when the club was already weighing whether to move him before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
For Kansas City, the immediate result was just another tense moment in a midseason series, but the broader impact now reaches into New Yorks roster math. The Mets, sitting at 40-54 and well back in the National League Wild Card race, suddenly have a harder decision to make with a player they had considered as a possible trade chip, and the timing of any move has become far less straightforward. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Could Finally Get A Much Needed Lineup Boost Friday
After spending time at Triple-A Omaha, Vinnie Pasquantino is close to giving the Royals the kind of lineup jolt they have been waiting for. Manager Matt Quatraro said the first baseman is nearing a return from a right-hamate fracture, and his comeback should give Kansas City a more settled look in the middle of the order while also restoring some defensive flexibility.
Pasquantinos return would likely send Jac Caglianone back to right field after covering first base in his absence, a move the Royals have been anticipating as they try to piece together the lineup. There is also a broader injury picture to monitor, with Maikel Garcia and Kyle Isbel both working their way back and possibly helping in the coming weeks, which could make the roster look a lot deeper before long. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Hold More 2026 Draft Power Than Most Fans Realize
The Royals are heading toward the 2026 MLB Draft with far more ammunition than a lot of fans may realize. Kansas City owns the sixth overall pick, and it also has another selection in Competitive Balance Round A, giving the club three picks inside the top 60 and five before pick 120 as it builds out a full draft board for what could be a pivotal class.
What makes that especially interesting is how much flexibility it gives the front office once the board starts taking shape. The early picks around the league could influence the Royals approach, and their own range of possibilities is broad enough to include prep position players or collegiate pitchers, with slot and underslot considerations likely to matter as the draft unfolds. [Read more 🡒]