Carlos Estévez’s season is over, and his future in Kansas City is almost certainly headed the same direction.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Tuesday that Estévez is set for right shoulder surgery next week, bringing an end to a year that never really got off the ground for the reliever. He hasn’t pitched since March, and after a brutal first outing of the season on March 29 - when he blew a save against the Braves on Dominic Smith’s walk-off grand slam - the problems kept stacking up.
Estévez had already been dealing with a spring marked by diminished velocity and shaky command, a bad sign for the right-hander the Royals were counting on to handle the ninth inning again. He filled that role all of 2025 and led MLB with 42 saves.
The path from there only got messier. While rehabbing a left foot contusion that sent him to the injured list in early April, Estévez strained his right rotator cuff and ran into setback after setback through the summer.
He started a mound progression at the beginning of August and was even facing hitters in Arizona by the end of the month, but another setback sent him back to square one. With the velocity never returning and rehab running out of road, surgery became the only option.
“It’s going to be somewhat exploratory,” Quatraro said. “They don’t know exactly what they’ll end up doing when they go in there.
He and we have exhausted the whole rehab process. He’s tried everything he can, and it just wasn’t responding.”
The Royals are expected to move on from the two-year, $22.2 million deal Estévez signed before 2025. That contract includes a $13 million club option for ‘27, and Kansas City is all but certain to decline it this offseason and pay the $2 million buyout instead. When that happens, Estévez’s run with the club will close with a 3.66 ERA over parts of two seasons and an All-Star nod in 2025.
“He’s missed the entire year trying to chase this thing down and finally ends up needing surgery,” general manager J.J. Picollo said.
“I’m more disappointed for him. We realized a couple of weeks ago that we were probably not going to see him in 2026.
It’s been a void for us from Day One. You hate to see guys go through surgeries, in this case, it’ll be a shoulder surgery.
But it’s something guys are faced with. You just want the best for him on the other end of it.”
With rosters expanding Tuesday and John Schreiber claimed off waivers by the Yankees a day earlier, the Royals had two open pitcher spots and a vacancy on the position-player side. They used them on relievers Easton McGee and Nolan Hoffman, plus outfielder Drew Waters.
McGee is back for a second stint after giving up seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings from July 28-Aug. 10.
Hoffman, acquired from the Phillies on Aug. 3, is getting his first look in Kansas City. At Triple-A Omaha, the right-hander allowed five runs in 8 2/3 innings while striking out 14.
His lower arm slot, similar to Schreiber’s, could make him a useful option in right-on-right situations. Hoffman is a Lincoln, Neb., native and went to the same high school as Royals Hall of Famer Alex Gordon.
“This is an opportunity for us to get a look at some guys that hopefully are a part of the future,” Quatraro said.
Waters was the surprise of the group, especially after spending the entire season at Triple-A with a .251/.312/.420 slash line and 17 stolen bases. The Royals added him to the 40-man roster Tuesday, and another move appears likely Wednesday when Michael Massey returns from the 7-day concussion injured list. Waters also fits the roster picture because Kansas City already has several left-handed-hitting outfielders on the active roster.
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