Sam McDowell covered the Royals’ decision-making at the trade deadline.
But the most consequential decisions the Royals made were the moves they refused to make.
And they entail a big risk.
The Royals hung on to starting pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, despite interest from contending teams, though general manager J.J. Picollo characterized the reports as a bit overstated.
The rationale is easy enough to follow. Wacha and Lugo are more than rentals, under control through 2027 with team options
for 2028, and cheaper than they could find on the free-agent market. And most notably, the Royals believe they need them to be competitive next year.
The problem: Kansas City is already failing to be competitive with Wacha and Lugo.
Why is that going to change next year?
Jaylon Thompson wrote about the Royals trading Kris Bubic to the Dodgers.
On Monday, the Royals traded Bubic to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed pitcher Carlos Duran, the team announced officially after the 5 p.m. trade deadline.
…
Bubic, 28, is currently on the 60-day injured list. He was limited to nine starts due to left elbow and shoulder soreness. The Royals had received interest due to Bubic’s expiring contract — he is a free agent this winter — and his versatility.
This season, Bubic posted a 4.11 ERA in 50 ⅓ innings. He also made his lone All-Star appearance during the 2025 campaign.
Anne Rogers wrote about the Kris Bubic trade as well.
Duran could find himself in the Royals bullpen very quickly. The 6-foot-7 right-handed reliever has spent all of this season in Triple-A, where he has a 3.38 ERA and 61 strikeouts across 42 2/3 innings (37 appearances). The Dodgers signed him to a Minor League contract this offseason after the A’s released him, and he was added to the 40-man roster on July 6 but remained in Triple-A. He has one Major League appearance, which came in 2025 with the A’s, when he allowed three earned runs in one-third of an inning.
Duran’s results in the Minors have been much better, especially this season. The 25-year-old has a 31.1% strikeout rate and mainly utilizes a 95-97 mph four-seam fastball and a swing-and-miss slider. His 14.3% walk rate will need to improve, but the Royals have been interested in his big arm for a while.
“We need to try to build a bullpen for next season,” Picollo said. “Carlos was a guy that we actually tried to acquire earlier this season. He’s a really big guy. Power arm. Upper 90s fastball. He strikes a lot of guys out. The command is something that we’ve got to work on — like a lot of power relievers, there’s some work to be done there.”
The Royals also acquired Nolan Hoffman from the Phillies.
Hoffman, 29, was designated for assignment Monday. The Royals quickly worked out a trade to add him to their 40-man roster. In a corresponding move, the club transferred right-hander Connor Seabold to the 60-day injured list.
The Royals needed bullpen help. The relief unit has underperformed this season, and injuries have made things even more dire. It’s led to an unsightly 5.40 combined ERA — second-worst in the majors.
Hoffman has spent the majority of the 2026 campaign in the minors. He posted a 4.72 ERA in 34 ⅓ innings with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. However, he did post 40 strikeouts in a relief role.
David Lesky made a valiant attempt to write about the weekend, uh, *performance* against the Rockies.
It’s been months since what the Royals actually did on the field mattered. Losses are just more losses. Wins can be fun, but don’t change what’s happened this season. And, yes, this roster is a shell of itself at this point, so some of it is because of that. But spending a weekend in Colorado against the team that had the worst record in baseball should have been an opportunity to get some wins. Instead, the Rockies walked away with a sweep while their pitching staff held an offense that actually hasn’t been bad (not great or anything either) to just eight runs in three games.
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep asked if the Royals made the right choices at the trade deadline.
Yirsandy Rodríguez at Royals Keep looked at Alex Lange’s problems.
Caleb Moody at Kings of Kauffman wrote about the players the Royals did NOT trade.
Cleveland traded *four* players to acquire former Royal and All-Star Foster Griffin, and they got Jo Adell from the Angels.
The Padres acquired two starters, Casey Mize and Robbie Ray, at the deadline.
The Cubs grabbed Clay Holmes from the Mets.
The Orioles traded Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox.
The Cardinals traded Lars Nootbaar to the Diamondbacks.
The Blue Jays traded Daulton Varsho to the Astros and acquired José Soriano from the Angels.
As a result of the Luis Arraez trade, Bryce Harper will move to right field.
Winners and losers of the trade deadline.
Larry Berg, part-owner of LAFC, will become the new MLS commissioner to replace Don Garber in 2027. Apparently Jimmy Haslam co-chaired the committee to pick a new commissioner, and that guy owns the Browns. I have the lowest of expectations.
Mauricio Pochettino signed a deal to stay head honcho of the USMNT through the 2030 World Cup.
Soccer’s transfer window remains open, as Borussia Dortmund acquired an 18-year-old Greek midfielder, Konstantinos Karetsas, from Belgian club Genk for a $34.6M fee.
The new Spider-man movie is making a bunch of money.
Your song of the day is The Day That Never Comes by Metallica.
