4 pitchers KC Royals should target if they lose Michael Wacha

If Michael Wacha declines his player option for 2025, the Royals will have a hole to fill in their rotation.

A lot of the Kansas City Royals’ offseason plans hinge on starting pitcher Michael Wacha. Before the 2024 season, the 33-year-old joined the Royals a one-year, $16 million contract with a $16 million player option for 2025, and whether or not he exercises that option will determine the team’s next move to lock in their starting rotation for next season.

If Wacha opts in, the Royals will welcome him back with open arms, but that scenario is looking increasingly unlikely. If Wacha declines his player option — which he is almost certain to do — the Royals can extend a qualifying offer (set at $21.05 million for 2025), but if he declines that as well, the former All-Star will become a free agent, and the Royals will need a new starter to take his place in the rotation.

Here are four pitchers the Royals should target this offseason.

Corbin Burnes is a dream signing for the KC Royals

This is an extremely hopeful pick, bordering on entirely delusional. Still, Corbin Burnes is the best starter on the market this offseason and he would be a perfect addition to the Royals’ rotation — if the team is prepared to spend VERY big.

Burnes established himself as an ace with the Milwaukee Brewers before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles in February 2024. In 32 starts this season, the 29-year-old went 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 181 strikeouts in 194.1 innings.

Sportrac predicts that Burnes will sign a 6-year, $180 million deal out of free agency, which is substantially lower than a lot of other projections — in June, Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer predicted the ace would land an 8-year, $288 million contract. Either way, it’s no small chunk of change, and the Royals are unlikely to shell out enough to even be in the conversation.

KC Royals could trade for veteran Erick Fedde

Signing a player out of free agency isn’t the only option for the Royals to acquire a top starter this offseason. The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a rebuild, and as a result, newly-acquired starter Erick Fedde is likely to be available for trade — and he may not be as expensive as some would think, even after a strong 2024 campaign.

Fedde signed a two-year, $15 million deal with the Chicago White Sox before the 2024 season, setting him up to make $7.5 million in 2025. It’s a substantially lower salary than anything the Royals would pay a top free agent (or Wacha, if he exercises his player option), and the Cardinals would likely only ask for one or two prospects in return.

In 31 starts split between the White Sox and Cardinals this season, Fedde put up the best stats of his career, posting a 9-9 record with a 3.30 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 154 strikeouts. This was his first year back in MLB after pitching the 2023 season in South Korea’s KBO League, and it’s clear he’s sorted out a lot of issues that plagued him earlier in his career.

The Royals are trending upwards, and Fedde appears to be as well.

Max Scherzer still has a lot to offer the KC Royals

At 40 years old and coming off an injury-filled season, it could be easy to write off Max Scherzer as being at the end of his career. This year with the Texas Rangers, the eight-time All-Star only managed 9 starts — but Scherzer isn’t done yet, and he could be exactly what the Royals need.

He may have had limited time on the mound this season, but Scherzer proved he’s still fierce. In 43.1 innings of work this season, the three-time Cy Young Award winner went 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 40 strikeouts. In his season debut on June 23, Scherzer threw five scoreless innings against the Royals and struck out four, giving him a career strikeout total of 3,371 to tying him with Greg Maddux for eleventh place on MLB’s all-time list.

Making him more attainable for Kansas City, Scherzer isn’t going to cost nearly as much years past. He signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the New York Mets before the 2022 season and after being traded to the Rangers, he exercised his $43 million player option for 2024, but Rymer predicted Scherzer’s new contract out of free agency would sit around 1-year, $21 million. Sportrac projects even lower, expecting Scherzer to land a 1-year, $15.2 million deal.

KC Royals could focus on getting Michael Wacha back out of free agency

If Wacha declines his player option for 2025 and becomes a free agent, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road for a reunion with the Royals. Kansas City can still attempt to re-sign the star pitcher, though it will almost certainly cost them a substantial amount more than the $16 million player option would have.

Wacha made 29 regular-season starts for the Royals this year, posting a 13-8 record with a 3.35 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 166.2 innings. He made two starts during Kansas City’s playoff campaign — one in the Wild Card series against the Baltimore Orioles and one in the ALDS against the New York Yankees — where he didn’t fare quite so well, accumulating a 5.19 ERA in 8.2 innings.

There’s no question that the Royals would be ecstatic to see Wacha back in the rotation next season, and general manager J. J. Picollo remains optimistic that it’s a very real possibility.

“We would like to have him back,” Picollo told the Kansas City Star’s Jaylon Thompson on Monday. “There is no question, we would like to have him back… I do believe that Michael and his wife enjoy being in Kansas City and that’s always an advantage. He had a very good experience here. I think he and (Royals pitching coach) Brian Sweeney got along great. So there are reasons to be optimistic.”

“But he pitched very well this year and he is going to have opportunities with other clubs, so we will work on that,” Picollo continued. “Luckily, we have a few weeks to sit down with Michael and his representation and try to see how we can work something out.”

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