The Kansas City Royals will not be joining the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas after missing a key legislative deadline.
The teams had until Dec. 31st to accept the offer, which the Chiefs did exactly two weeks ago.
However, the Royals let the deadline pass. House Speaker Hawkins tells us; the legislature does not intend on extending that offer.
“We put an end to it on December 31st,” said Hawkins. “Believe me, I was not kidding when I said that.”
He tells us, with the Chiefs new stadium and other new recent
developments, he’s happy with the progress The Sunflower State has made with or without the Royals.
Missouri legislators also had three bills filed in response to the Chiefs’ leaving.
MLB.com’s Anne Rogers has some updates on where the Royals are in the post-holiday baseball lull.
“It always takes a little bit of a dip between Christmas and New Year’s, but there [has] still been ongoing conversations about acquisitions for players,” general manager J.J. Picollo said on Monday. “We’re in a position [where] we’ll continue to make our team better. I don’t know what shape or size or form that will come in, or what position that will be, but there’s going to be activity through the month of January and into February. We’re just going to stay on top of it. If there’s a way we can make our team better, we’re going to try to capitalize.”
The Royals would like to add one more bat, and a trade remains the best path to do so. But the likelihood of that remains to be seen. There is interest in Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, but the asking price — starting pitcher Cole Ragans — is simply too high for the Royals, and talks have stalled.
There have been extensive talks with the Cardinals about utility player Brendan Donovan, but the asking price is high, too, and there are other teams interested. The Royals would be willing to slightly overpay for Donovan, who comes with two years of contractual control. But they won’t meet the Cardinals’ ask — several top prospects and players with years of control.
David Lesky looks at how Jac Caglianone’s performance is a massive step on the Royals path to winning in 2026.
There were two big problems. The first is that his tendency to chase was being exposed. He swung at 37.5 percent of pitches outside the zone in those first two weeks, which is a lot, but he has such insane plate coverage that it’s not a huge deal. It was 40.8 percent for the rest of the season. But the other problem, and this was plaguing him during his bad but seemingly unlucky start, is that he was pounding the ball into the ground. He had a 50 percent ground ball rate in the big leagues, which is not what you want for a guy who will derive almost all of his value from hitting the ball over the wall. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I believe that hitting the ball on the ground makes hitting it over the wall pretty difficult.
Craig Brown has his first roster projection out to kick off the new year. But it is who isn’t on the roster that matters here.
As you’ve probably noticed, there are a couple of interesting omissions from this pitching staff. Namely Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek. I think both guys could be good enough to secure a back of the rotation spot, but if everyone is healthy coming out of spring training (and that’s the assumption—however misguided—I’m working from here), the former Padres duo gets caught up in a numbers game. The silver lining, as I see it, is they can get optioned to Omaha and stay stretched out and ready to jump to back to the majors when the need arises. And as we saw last summer, the need will most certainly arise.
The guy I’m perhaps most curious about who did not make the cut here is Luinder Avila. He made his major league debut last summer and was impressive in 13 innings coming out of the bullpen. A starter for most of his minor league career, he was supposed to make his debut earlier in the summer, but went down with a shoulder impingement just ahead of getting the call. Bad timing. If the Royals decide to keep him pitching out of relief (which is where it feels like he will ultimately settle), he looks like he could be a late game weapon. I don’t have him breaking camp with the big league team because I’m wondering if the Royals will try to work him as a starter for a bit longer. If the Royals decide for sure that his future is in the bullpen, he moves ahead of Cruz on my projection.
With Opening Day nearly three months away, BetOnline sets the Royals over/under on 81.5 wins. Betting on a winning season or not seems pretty straightforward.
Former Royals pitcher Tucker Davidson is joining the Philadelphia Phillies on a minor-league deal.
Chris Bzozowski profiles former Royals utilityman and current free agent Adam Frazier.
ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers have some MLB intel updates.
The Athletics miss out on key trademarks ahead of Las Vegas move.
The Tampa Bay Rays traded for outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy from the Detroit Tigers for cash.
Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins celebrates signing Kazuma Okamoto.
Pitcher Justin Bruihl heads from the Cleveland Guardians to the St. Louis Cardinals.
How could real-world events in South America affect the World Baseball Classic and MLB?
A current all-free agent MLB team holds some hopeful Royals additions.
Michael Baumann talks about the small spenders spinning together (relatively) big deals this offseason.
Dayn Perry looks at the top storylines for the year of baseball ahead.
The Baltimore Ravens fired long-time head coach John Harbaugh.
Late-game heroics lead to overtime victory for Kansas Jayhawks over TCU Horned Frogs.
College football playoff viewership is up.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are officially divorced.
Please don’t let public libraries fail.
Today’s song of the day is Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush.
