Most teams in Major League Baseball are searching for a superstar, but the Kansas City Royals are lucky enough to have one. They just need to find him some help.
Bobby Witt Jr. is the face of the Royals in 2024, and he’ll be their face for at least another decade moving forward. But beyond Witt, the Royals lineup was well below average this past season, which put a cap on their potential to compete for a championship.
Though they don’t necessarily need stars, the Royals must add a handful of quality hitters in 2025 to keep the bottom of their order from becoming a black hole again. The Royals’ six through nine hitters did next to nothing offensively, which meant if Witt wasn’t producing, the team flat-out couldn’t score.
Outfield is a position of need for the Royals, and the San Francisco Giants may have a veteran outfielder to spare. Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report predicted that the Giants would shop veteran Mike Yastrzemski this winter, and named the Royals as a potential fit for his services.
“Though (Yastrzemski has) spent the last six years as a reliably above average (hitter) for the Giants, he’s also 34 years old and standing in the way of young guys who deserve an opportunity,” Rymer said. Further, he is projected to earn $9.5 million in 2025. Though far from an outrageous sum, it’s not quite a steal for a platoon outfielder who doesn’t offer much on defense or on the basepaths.”
Yastrzemski has spent the duration of his six-year major league career with the Giants, and is beloved by the Bay Area fan base. He has a .778 career OPS and 114 OPS+, averaging just under 18 home runs per season despite playing in a brutal pitcher’s park in San Francisco.
If the money is a concern for the Giants, it shouldn’t be for the Royals to get a one-year rental. Yastrzemski would prove to be a valuable veteran for the Royals to have in their clubhouse, but he should also be able to keep their lineup balanced, especially when facing right-handed pitching.
There are lots of outfield options out there, but Yastrzemski does seem to make a lot of sense as a trade target. It remains to be seen how anxious the Giants might be to get him off their books.
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