The Royals are in sell-mode as the trade deadline approaches.
The Kansas City Royals are one of the few teams in the American League that entered Monday’s trade deadline as sure sellers. With six teams currently within five games of the third and final wild-card spot, currently occupied by the Cleveland Guardians, there have been a lot of questions as to who will sell, who will buy, and who will stay put.
Those questions do not exist for the Royals, who entered the day 46–67, which is the second-worst record in the American League, second only to the 43–69 Los Angeles Angels. Fourteen games back of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the American League Central Division, the Royals have taken a major step back from last season, when they went 82–80 and hoped to build on that this season. That obviously hasn’t happened, leaving them with no choice but to sell.
On Monday afternoon, it was reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN that Kansas City is sending left-handed starting pitcher Kris Bubic to none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA, of course, acquired a different left-handed starting pitcher from the American League Central Division, making the splash of the deadline to land Tarik Skubal, and now has brought in Bubic as additional starting pitching help.
Bubic has made just nine starts this season due to injury and was not his usual self in those outings. In 50.1 innings pitched, he has surrendered 23 earned runs, which converts to a 4.11 ERA. This is after he made the All-Star team in 2025, posting a 2.55 ERA in 20 starts and striking out 116 batters in 116.1 innings pitched. For his career, Bubic owns a 4.14 ERA, but that is inflated from his early years in the big leagues, when he struggled to find his way.
Since the start of 2023, Bubic owns a 3.04 ERA in 59 outings, 32 starts, spanning 213 innings pitched, where he has punched out 222 batters. That converts to a very strong 136 ERA+, which means he has been well above average the last few seasons.
While the Dodgers have a dominant starting rotation on paper, there have been some question marks about the pitching availability of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, which has seemingly upped the urgency for LA to bolster its rotation depth. Injuries to the pitching staff have been an issue for the Dodgers in recent years, but they always have a surplus of depth to step in and help out. Looking to make sure that stays the case, LA not only got the headliner in Skubal but made another impact move for Bubic as well.
