The playoffs are already more than half over, which means the Royals need to be preparing working on their roster for the offseason ahead of the anticipated December 1 lockout that will preclude all roster transactions. The SB Nation offseason simulations may not take place anymore, but I’m not going to let that stop me from attempting to build the 2027 Royals in my own image.
This article is going to focus on preparing the 40-man roster for the offseason. Under the current rules, everyone on the 60-day
IL has to be returned to the 40-man roster following the conclusion of the season. Some players will leave as free agents, but the Royals also need to be prepared for a Rule 5 Draft even though one might not happen. You don’t want to be the one team that assumed you didn’t need to worry about it only for it to happen anyway.
The Royals currently have 39 players on the 40-man roster. They also have eight players on the 60-day IL who ostensibly need to be activated and added to the roster. The good news is that Jonathan India is a free agent, so that’s one we don’t have to worry about. Additionally, Carlos Estévez has a club option I’m going to decline. Similarly, I will non-tender Connor Seabold. That leaves us with 44 guys for the 40-man roster, still. However, Craig Kimbrel, Luke Maile, and Josh Rojas are all free agents, too. That gets us to 41. I’ll go ahead and non-tender Easton McGee, and that will get me down to 40.
But that’s not where we stop. Because, as noted above, the Royals need to protect some of their prospects from the Rule 5 draft, just in case it happens. For what it’s worth, it did not happen after the 2021-2022 lockout, but that doesn’t mean things won’t be done differently this time. You can read a breakdown of who is eligible.
Lucas Braun and Carson Roccaforte are no-doubt guys to be added. Both figure to play some kind of role on next year’s big league team, regardless. Unfortunately, no one else seems worth protecting. Most of those guys are too far away to be seriously considered for selections under the current system, which requires players to be offered back to their old teams rather than be demoted. There has been some negotiation around potentially allowing drafted teams to keep those players even when they want to send them to the minors, but I have to imagine that if they made that change and then did hold the Rule 5 draft, teams would get a chance to adjust again beforehand.
To clear those two spots, I will designate Mitch Spence and Matthew Lugo for assignment.
Now let’s address the remainder of our arbitration-eligible players.
- 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)
You can readMLB Trade Rumors estimates for arbitration salaries for those players. Out of that list, the easy keeps are Lynch, Massey, and Dobnak. For the salaries they’re likely to get, I think it makes sense to keep Erceg, Gose, and Pearson. I don’t want to pay Kyle Isbel that much to be a fourth outfielder on this team when I have so many cheaper options, but I’m going to try to trade him for a reliever before I have to tender.
That leaves us with Mears, Lange, McArthur, and Marsh. Lange and Mears don’t have options and they were both bad and hurt, so they’re gone. McArthur and Marsh are more difficult. I really like both players – they each had long-ish stretches of being quite good before being hurt – so I think we can tender them for now and not much money is lost if we end up not being able to keep them. Plus, the longer we have them, hopefully the easier it would be to get them to come back on a minor league deal if we end up needing the 40-man room.
The Yankees need some center field defense help; let’s deal Kyle Isbel to them for Bradley Hanner. Hanner strikes guys out, but he doesn’t have elite stuff, and he’s struggled with walks and home runs at times. Plus, he’s already 27. He’s not a flamethrower, but if Sweeney and company can turn him into a useful middle relief piece for Kyle Isbel, I think I’d be pretty happy with that.
So that leaves us with 38 men on the roster and plenty of holes to still fill. Just to reiterate, the Royals need a lot of relief help, some starting pitching, and a bat or two for the outfield. We haven’t added anything yet, minus that one reliever. That’s for next time, though. What do you think so far?
