"Kansas City has acquired a pair of outfielders in the month since Picollo's comments. They signed Lane Thomas to a reclamation $5.5MM free agent deal, then swapped lefty reliever Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee for Isaac Collins and middle reliever . Those moves raised the floor relative to where the outfield stood at the end of the 2025 season, yet it remains one of the weaker on-paper groups in MLB."
"Collins had a strong season but was a 27-year-old rookie whose results outpaced mediocre batted ball metrics. The Royals probably don't expect him to be more than an average regular in left field. Jac Caglianone has the highest ceiling of the group, but MLB pitchers exploited his aggressive plate approach in his first 62 games. Caglianone so thoroughly dominated the minor leagues that the Royals might feel he has little to learn by going back to Triple-A."
"Depth options , Dairon Blanco, Drew Waters and Kameron Misner (acquired in a DFA trade with Tampa Bay) have shown very little at the big league level. That makes it unsurprising that the Royals continue to monitor the outfield market after the Collins/Thomas deals. Working with seemingly limited payroll space and a weak farm system, trading a starter could still be on the table - even if it seems less likely than it did a month ago."
Kansas City acquired outfielders Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins recently, signing Thomas to a $5.5 million deal and trading for Collins in exchange for lefty reliever Angel Zerpa. The additions raised the floor of the outfield but the group remains one of the weaker on-paper units in MLB. Collins is expected to be at best an average left fielder after a strong rookie season that outpaced his batted-ball metrics. Jac Caglianone offers the highest ceiling but showed vulnerability to major-league pitching in his first 62 games. Depth options have produced little big-league success, keeping trade conversations for outfield help alive.
Read at MLB Trade Rumors
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