Royals Sell in Pieces But Protect Their Core at Deadline

The Kansas City Royals spent Monday watching the clock as much as the scoreboard, and by the end of it the front office had made three trades.

Atlanta got outfielder Lane Thomas and left-hander Bailey Falter on Sunday for pitching prospects Carter Holton and Lucas Braun, and hours before the 6 p.m. ET deadline Kansas City sent left-hander Kris Bubic to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Triple-A reliever Carlos Duran.

Bubic made the All-Star team last year but has been out since mid-May, finishing the season at 4.11 in nine starts.

The Royals also grabbed right-hander Nolan Hoffman from Philadelphia for minor leaguer Manuel Colon.

Reliever John Schreiber and outfielder Starling Marte should also have been in trade talks, both on expiring deals for a last-place team thinking ahead.

The Thomas trade set the tone for how general manager J.J. Picollo wants to handle a lost year, selling without blowing up the roster.

Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, the two most established starters, are staying because the front office believes both will still matter once this team competes again.

Wacha has a 3.51 ERA across 22 starts, and letting him leave for a rental return would have been a hard sell to fans already frustrated with the season.

Kansas City also activated center fielder Kyle Isbel from the injured list Sunday after a torn plantar fascia, giving the outfield a body back just as Thomas left.

Pasquantino is out with wrist soreness and eligible to return around August 8, and Garcia is still working through a hand injury that forced the club to place him on the injured list with no timetable.

None of this is a surprise given where Kansas City sits. The Royals have won 46 games and lost 67 this season, last in the American League Central and 14 games back with two months to play.

A record like that pushes a front office toward next year instead of this one, and moving rentals like Thomas while keeping Wacha and Lugo only makes sense if the plan is to contend again soon rather than start over completely.

Bobby Witt Jr. summed up the mood of this season in July after a sweep in Baltimore, saying, "It wasn't what we wanted. It wasn't what we thought we were capable of doing."

Moves like the Bubic trade add depth to a farm system Bleacher Report just ranked 25th overall after this year's draft, a ranking that shows how much rebuilding is left.

The bigger question is whether keeping Wacha and Lugo pays off.

Both are respected across the league, and passing on any offer for them is a bet that Kansas City's young core, led by Bobby Witt Jr. and his 30 stolen bases, can climb back into contention by 2027 instead of needing a longer teardown.

People can disagree on whether that bet is worth it, but it fits a team selling in pieces without waving a full white flag.

Kansas City opens a series against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, its first game since the deadline passed, with a roster that already looks different.